The radio plays games

Introduction: Theoretical background and research area

The main aim of this article is to present an outline of the game-playing element that has become an important part of modern radio communication. The play-element (often called ludic) and its cultural importance was a matter of interest for such prominent figures as Johan Huizinga (2003) and Roger Caillois (2001), though they did not connect it to the mass media. On the other hand, the role of media in everyday life was raised by Paddy Scannell (1996). All of these authors seem important in discussing the given issue; however, the theoretical framework offered by Caillois seems most inspiring and therefore was chosen as a model for this study. He set out four categories of games/play ¹ (Caillois, 2001: 12):

Caillois (2001) also drew a continuum of games, starting from paidia and leading to ludus. The first was defined as spontaneous, exuberant activity (typical for children’s games), while the latter meant something calculated, subordinated to established rules. They are not types of game, but rather different ways of playing games.

Despite the fact that Caillois did not refer to mass communication in his book, it seems that his theory may be useful to approach some of the communicational tendencies that can be observed in modern radio. The concept of mimicry seems to be particularly interesting in this context and will be developed further in the text.

The research is based on examples from Polish radio stations and consists of transcribed fragments of programmes that illustrate radio games. The selection of stations is determined by the intensity of entertainment and game-playing elements. The commercial stations chosen for the study (Radio Eska, Eska Rock, RMF FM, Radio Wawa and Radio Złote Przeboje) are among the most popular in Poland and they share the majority of the domestic audience. Their formats vary from Contemporary Hits Radio (CHR) and All Hits Radio (AHR) to Golden Oldies and Rock, but generally they are music stations and their target audience is between 20 and 45 years of age, living in big cities and earning above average salaries. The stations also dictate certain trends and thus can be perceived as the leaders of change. ² The programmes that are quoted in this article include different types of radio shows (morning shows, gossip columns, game shows). A list of these can be found in the Appendix at the end of the article. The most heavily represented programme is Poranny WF, which itself consists of play-elements: its name is based on a word-play (WF stands for the surnames of two popular DJs and celebrities: Wojewódzki and Figurski, but in Polish schools ‘WF’ represents ‘games’ or ‘physical education’). ³

Radio, though changing as are other modern media, seems to be somewhat removed from the main attention of researchers, as television and internet offer much more in terms of content analysis. However the process of media convergence has caused many changes in the way that radio operates nowadays. The number of links between different types of media is growing. The influence of internet and social media seems to be an extremely important factor in further development of radio games. Radio stations’ profiles on Facebook give more opportunities for ‘playing games’ with listeners/users. It creates a completely new space of interaction which certainly deserves elaborate analysis in another article. This one, however, concentrates solely on traditional radio on the air.

The radio is playing. . .

Even if Huizinga’s point about culture beginning in entertainment ⁴ (Huizinga, 2003) is not true, entertainment has always been an inseparable part of culture, generating particular social behaviours. Radio games are a pretext to make the roles people play in society more flexible. Listening to the radio and participating in programmes may mean becoming open to other interpretations that are not necessarily our own. Depending on the overall goal and target group of the sender, such an opening may only be of a playful and ludic nature, but it may also consist of experimenting with one’s transformative abilities. Rooted in culture and promoting various cultural patterns in a playful manner, the radio uses a whole range of language and technical media to make the game as attractive as possible and make sure it is continued.

‘The radio’s playing’ is a colloquial Polish phrase for listening to various radio broadcasts. I can say that my radio is always ‘playing’ when I am preparing dinner. What I mean is not necessarily that I am just listening to the radio but that I am entering into some kind of game when I turn on my radio set. This game may be happening in my imagination: I can analyse the content or message and either identify with it or reject it, but I can also ‘enter’ the radio game by calling in so that my voice will be heard on the air. Paul Levinson coined a term describing the tendency of mass media to be more and more in harmony with people. He saw this phenomenon as an anthropomorphic tendency, which can best be explained as mass media evolving so that they work like the human senses (Levinson, 1979: 124). Observing the radio’s evolution – from a detector to a compact and portable headphone receiver and, simultaneously, the evolution of radio communication from one-way and official speaker broadcast to multidirectional and more spontaneous broadcasts resembling everyday conversations – one may discover the secret of the medium’s success. Despite the fact that television and the internet are developing rapidly, the radio still fills a niche in the market. Treating radio communication as media-interpersonal and including the feedback loop between radio, computer and phone networks, one may say that communication is sometimes accompanied by face-to-face contact as well as immediate reaction or closeness (although this closeness is sometimes only apparent or pretended). ⁵

Sound-playing

While listening to the radio, one is naturally influenced by the timbre of the speaker’s voice. This timbre results from a number of characteristics including various genetic, anatomic and acoustic features. Even on the radio, timbre allows one to communicate a sense of one’s physicality. Of course this communication is based on a number of stereotypical representations corresponding with a particular voice which are present in our imagination.

Communicating through sound allows the sender to develop many contexts of the message: carefully distorted articulation may become an attribute of a radio presenter and stress a particular aspect of the message or manifest being cool on the air; speaking in a ‘happy/smiling’ way is intended to make the listener feel good; communication power (using various phrases and changing the pace of the broadcast) introduces dynamic and unusual elements into the broadcast. Radio stations usually select their speakers in such a way that their voices communicate particular characteristics of the station, depending on their target format (music and information, entertainment, talk and so on).

But how can sound-playing be described in the context of radio game-playing? The voice qualities and sound effects are elements of radio’s imaginary world and its sonic landscape. Their proper use may encourage listeners to take part in the games offered. Radio personalities know that very well.

Game shows and ‘hidden’ games

The genologic context of the game helps ‘translate’ its characteristic features into a radio broadcast:

Therefore, by definition, games on the radio include game shows, i.e. games, contests, competitions and quizzes in which listeners participate. Game shows are often formula-based and accompanied by a number of technical and sound effects. One of the biggest advantages of a game is its relevance to current developments as well as the relevance of the prizes to the subject of the game. This is illustrated in the example below alluding to the upcoming holidays and the type of prizes on offer, including the following: T-shirts, caps, sleeping bags, tents and bikes, all of which people will find useful in their leisure time. However, if a programme is to perform its ludic function, the listener should adapt to a particular set of conventions. Since the listener wants to win, he or she adopts the convention (RMF FM):

DJ: Are you able to swim thorough our pool of questions?

Listener: I’ll try not to drown . . .

Despite the fact that the game show is closely related to the phone-in formula, one needs to remember that not every game competition is about telephone contact with the listener. Sometimes other media are used as communication channels. They include text-message or internet competitions or contests by mail/letter, although the latter are less common in these times of fast communication.

What kind of games are they? Usually alea or agôn. Listeners need to call the radio station at a certain hour to win something (tickets, caps or T-shirts, etc.). If the line is free they do not need to answer difficult questions – phoning-in is enough to win. It depends on pure luck, or alea. But sometimes radio games seem to be something more than that. They create the illusion of a task that needs to be done to provide a listener with a prize. Here is an example (Eska Rock: 5):

Michał Figurski: Hello, Justynka!

Listener: Hello, hello, I’m here.

MF: You know what the finals of a radio competition look like?

L: No, I don’t.

MF: You don’t?! That’s a nice surprise. Are your friends somewhere around?

L: Yes, they are in the next room . . . (speaking to her friends from work): Girls, I’m on air and I need you to be all here in the room!

MF: Well. Dear ladies, what you’re wearing now?

L: Huh-huh . . . (silence and confusion)

MF: Well, what you’re wearing in general, I mean, I am not asking you about underwear, yet . . .

L: Pyjamas.

MF: Very good. You’re gonna hear a song in a little while. Please follow the rhythm and listen to the melody of the song because right after that we’ll ask you to beat it out on your naked buttocks.

L: Good!

MF: Wow . . . Is one of you keeping the phone by the buttocks of the others instead of beating out the tune? . . . They can’t hear me – they’re really beating it out!

Beating the rhythm on naked buttocks is not exactly what one might call a demanding task. It does not involve any training or any particular knowledge. But neither is it a purely chance-based game like alea. It is difficult to describe this sort of game show in strict categories, as some elements of three types of games can be found here:

To set such a game in full motion, a group of people (made up of at least two persons) should be participating in it. Although one can play a game with oneself, it is not very easy and the game loses its attractiveness, which is often achieved through reactions and responses to provocation. Therefore, involving listeners in the game is what determines a programme’s success. The listeners, on the other hand, seem happy to be involved, as they can take part in the game, may win it and become ‘someone else’ for a while.

‘Hidden’ radio games are usually unpredictable (compared with game shows, when the listener sometimes knows that he/she may gain something, but does not always know what it might be). When a game participant is not aware of the fact that a game is going on, he/she may become an involuntary participant (like, for instance, in the call-joke formula). In this case he or she is not familiar with the convention, his or her replies are not flexible, and it is often the presenter’s task to keep up the ludic character of the game (Eska Rock: 4):

Man: Hello.

Kuba Wojewódzki: Good morning. Is this Rumia?

M: Yes, it is.

KW: Hello, this is the Polish Football Association, my name’s Misiura. Could I rent two buses from your company?

M: Well, we don’t rent buses. We sell them, new and old, but we don’t rent them.

Michał Figurski: Matanga speaking, Polish Football Association. Couldn’t we somehow make a deal? It’s gonna be a short ride, we have to take the Polish national team to Johannesburg.

M: Where?

KW: Johannesburg, two buses.

M: If it’s gonna take two weeks maybe it’s better to rent a plane? . .

MF: Anyway we can make this deal?

KW: Have you ever eaten a man?

M: Well, yes, I have.

MF: ’Cause you know that during the championship the losing team gets eaten by the winners.

KW: We’ll have to eat Boniek! ⁶ (laughter). Good bye.

It looks like a game that is played at the third party’s expense. The entertainment factor is provided mainly by the DJs who use the confusion of the unaware interlocutor as a background for their jokes. The game is ‘hidden’ for him, but not for the listeners or for the presenters who set the rules. The aim of such a game is to give the audience some fun, but its reaction one can only imagine: it may be laughter, a childlike manifestation of paidia.

Playing someone else: Call-jokes mimicry

In addition to such games being associated with entertainment, freedom, risk and relaxation, one may also consider the games’ metaphorical context. They are not called ‘games’ on the radio but their game/play context is integral to them. Following Caillois’s game classification one can state that it is mimicry that applies here. Then, how is mimicry transposed into an audio context? This happens by ‘escaping’ the world through transmuting one’s own persona and becoming an imaginary figure behaving in a particular way, all of which are elements of the ludic message on the radio. It is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon which can be observed in a ‘diluted form’ throughout the whole programme as a certain style of the presenter, joking and putting his/her audience in a good mood, or in a ‘condensed form’, in some specific formats and formulas which could be defined as talk-jokes or call-jokes.

One may wonder then what a talk-joke actually is. It is a form of directed and simulated or fixed dialogue, lasting from several dozen seconds to a few minutes and having a clearly humorous character, where the leading role is performed by the presenter(s) managing the conversation in order to evoke a desired effect. The goal here is to create an illusion of reality by using fragments of an actual statement by the interlocutor (performing a very passive role during such a process) and inserting it into the formula of a joke, which can sometimes be absurd. Given its character, a talk-joke is often previously prepared from fragments of recordings or (in the case of a real dialogue) it is presented after being edited and stripped of any unnecessary elements; only those elements which are supposed to make the audience laugh are left in.

The audience is assured that the respondent is actually in the studio or they accept the convention of his or her quasi-presence. It is a dramatic ploy that the audience recognizes very easily because they know the rules of such programmes. Its goal, however, is to provoke surprise and juxtapose what is known (the person – the subject) with the unusual (with a new situation which is not associated with a particular person); thus one can talk about elements of radio suspense. Edited and earlier prepared and recorded responses are inserted in the dialogue of two speakers.

Mimicry means invention. No previously prepared audio material is used in fixed conversations; the interlocutor is a real person but is not aware of the staged ‘plot’ consisting in performing nonsense roles during the interview. In the following example the speaker impersonates a dwarf and asks a craftsman to make some stone sculptures. The problem is that the size of the stone is the size of a pinhead. However, as if ignoring the fact, the craftsman picks up the conversation, thanks to which the game continues (Radio Wawa):

Presenter: Hello?!

Interlocutor: Yes, who’s calling?

P: Good morning, how are you? This is Sneezy calling. I am calling from the Association of Polish Dwarfs. You deal with stonework, right? Stone-masonry, but how exactly?

I: But what do you need this information for?

P: Well, actually I’d like to ask you, on behalf of the association, if you could make stones that we need . . . for our garden . . .

I: Stone? Sure thing, I can order it all right. Depends what kind of stone you mean, right?

P: Well, actually . . . we do have the stone but someone would have to quarry it.

I: So it’s a big one?

P: It’s a figure, a stone figure of Little Orphan Mary.

I: Well . . .

P: And besides we wanna make stairs from the stone and we do have some lighter-stone.

I: What stone?

P: Lighter stone. You need to take it out and process it, that’s all.

I: Well, well, well . . ., is it big? Do you know?

P: Well, it’s a piece of stone. You know lighters?

I: Well . . . not really.

P: Well, there’s a lighter, yes?

I: Yeah.

P: And there’s a stone inside.

I: Yeah.

P: That’s what we’ve got. A lighter. But would you be able to process it?

I: I can cut it. But up to fifty . . . because then I have to turn it from both sides, yes?

P: So we gotta bring that lighter?

I: Yeah, yeah.

P: Gotta bring it to you?

I: Yes, so I’m gonna make this figure . . . maybe one day will do. A real professional can do it.

This example shows how easily the convention of mimicry may be accepted by the randomly chosen interlocutor, who seems to be confused only at the beginning of the dialogue. He becomes aware of the unreality of the situation, but then he starts to respond, as if according to an unwritten scenario. His instant spontaneous reaction would probably result in rejection, but instead of that he follows the DJ, who implies the invisible rules. The situation resembles a switch from paidia to ludus as described by Caillois. The rules are not yet strict and coded, but the awareness of their existence appears somewhere during the conversation.

Between paidia and ludus

As noted, mimicry, according to Caillois’s assumptions, means oscillating between the dominance of paidia, i.e. spontaneous representations of ludic instinct, and ludus – an inclination to make an unselfish effort and training in a craft whose goal is entertainment. The ludic context of radio communication is a complex phenomenon because the radio seeks programme profiling, which results in various programming strategies. Therefore, the element of ludus may be more or less intensive, depending on the format. One has to remember, however, that no radio station avoids this in its programming. The analyses of commercial radio stations presented here show that, on the one hand, broadcasters seek to provide their audience with entertainment, on the other hand though, they are also interested in the resulting mercantile benefits. Play and game can then be treated as certain ploys (also genological). This process is undoubtedly subject to standardization, and what seems spontaneous on air is actually planned ahead in minute detail. One should also note that entertainment messages are becoming more and more trivialized and reduced to taboo-breaking and vulgar ‘pranks’ on the air. What may be contributing to those developments is the radio’s susceptibility to the influences of pop culture and the struggle for a relatively limited group of listeners in Poland’s poor media market.

In the context of radio games this assumption could be extended to the area of ludus, the ultimate goal of the game, which is only known to the person in charge of the programme – the sender, speaker or the host.

Directed dialogues on the air lean towards ludus when the focus of the radio speakers is directed ‘outwards’, i.e. focusing on the sound, staging linguistic plots and trying to involve the interlocutor in weird situations. However, remaining in the sphere of ludus, the speaker can get involved in the whole situation to such an extent that his or her behaviour on air may become only an apparent performance, turning into manifestations of a particular position or stance. The overall goal here might be to transmit a particular persuasive message in a seemingly ‘innocent’ manner, for instance during an election campaign. For example (Eska Rock: 4):

Kuba Wojewódzki: Let’s play the sound of a real DJ.

Michał Figurski: Ladies and gents, there’s lots of groups like B52s, UB 40 – these are groups for Underground Secret Political Police members, ⁷ well, there’s also U2, the group that makes youngsters rock and wins their hearts.

(part of presidential candidate Jarosław Kaczyński’s comment): ‘I prefer to listen to, say, the Beatles, rather than all those groups which are popular today, like U2.’

KW: Oh Lord, we pray to you not to have such a president . . .

The comment made by the DJs was provoked by the fact that the candidate pronounced ‘U2’ as in Polish, not in English. But the DJs never tried to hide their dislike of the politician anyway, and during the elections openly supported his opponent. Is it still a game, one may ask, when the play-element crosses the line of conventionality and reaches the territory where ‘the real world’ (i.e. election results) may be influenced? Such games then are difficult to place on the continuum between paidia and ludus, especially when the balance is unsettled. Following protest from listeners after one controversial show, the authors explained that everything should be treated only as a joke, but nevertheless one of the sponsoring companies withdrew its support for the programme.

Given the context of these explications, one can state that behind the entertainment, broadcasters sometime pursue another goal, i.e. political persuasion, using the game and its associated symbols as a cover.

Ilinx of radio games

Mimicry derives its ‘leitmotiv’ from the culture in which media are immersed. Paul Valéry once described modern times as ‘the culture of intoxication’, where ‘it is necessary to increase the dose or change the drug’ (Valéry, 1993: 91). The state of ‘intoxication’ is very closely related to ilinx, as both are connected with daze or vertigo. According to Caillois, mimicry often leads to ilinx. A disguise or a mask are an essential attribute of a jester or a clown who elicits either fear or amusement from his audience, evoking ilinx. In the modern world the role of the clown is often played by the media celebrities who deliberately step into such a role. The strategy of shock and controversy is typical for them. Here is another sample dialogue between two scandalmongers of Polish media (Eska Rock: 2):

Kuba Wojewódzki: Once I read on Wikipedia that they’ve set the record for using the word fuck in that film [Goodfellas], namely 246 times.

Michał Figurski: Is it where the small guy gets killed with baseball bats in a field?

KW: No, that is Casino. He gets killed here too but they also deform his face.

MF: Oh, yeah . . .

KW: You know, if they wanna make sure the mother will never open the coffin, they hit him right in the eye socket.

MF: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The dialogue includes an issue ‘packed’ within trivial words, verbless sentences, careless replies, vulgarisms, instances that break the bounds of good taste, intrigue and apparent disgust. But couldn’t this also be interpreted as a kind of ilinx played through the use of words that intend to shock the audience? In that case the ludic context could also be associated with shocking, disturbing and scandalizing intentions and material. The example of the American DJ Howard Stern illustrates a controversy-based career. Stern focused on scandal and moral provocation. He did lose his job working for mainstream stations WNBC and CBS, but gained a ‘cult’ status and lucrative career on his own channels. His guests, in addition to movie stars and celebrities, include porn stars and strippers. In addition to moral provocation, Stern loves making politically incorrect comments on any subject – from politics to issues regarding racial minorities to ecology and other hot topics. In Poland some of the concepts used by Stern are also utilized in, for instance, Kuba Wojewódzki and Michał Figurski’s programmes. Using media hype, they dedicated their first programme on a new, affluent radio station to ‘the oldest profession in the world’, i.e. prostitution. During the programme they called various escort agencies asking whether their business was good, giving their names and the radio station they were calling from. They also called various banks to deposit the money they were given for moving to the new radio station. Finally, they set up a peculiar email address – dziwki@eskarock.pl ⁸ – to which the listeners could send names of people whose lives they wanted to destroy. The strategy of ‘shock-jock’ pays off, as they are well-recognized celebrities, whose careers extend beyond radio. ⁹ The audience (or at least a part of it) accepted their roles as jesters.

Paidia and the lack of rules . . .

Radio mimicry usually lacks consistent game rules. The on air rules are usually sketched out very roughly and the listener accepts the fact that the players will not perform equal roles in the game; on entering the game, one realizes that his or her time on air will be limited by the host. Therefore, using audio substance for constructing texts which are presented only orally on the radio acquires a double context: the receiver decodes them on the level of information and interprets the sound as semantic added value. The system of sound and audio signs that the radio uses has its references in reality and includes a practical aspect of radio communication, which is specific to this medium. Therefore, if the speaker is to impersonate a particular role this will require not only changing his/her air name and last name, but also in the modification of his/her voice, i.e. their ‘fingerprint’.

Mimicry on Polish commercial radio has a limited number of participants, defined as a result of applying a specific formatting strategy in order to select the target group and constructing programmes tailored exactly to their needs and expectations. If the reaction from the listener is positive and it translates into good audience ratings, the game continues, and if not then the sender tries to find another formula that the listener is going to respond to. Communication between game participants takes place on various levels. Two-way communication requires additional dimensions, including split narration (if the programme is broadcast from several places or on different media simultaneously) and a ‘polyphony’ of voices (if the programme is conducted by several presenters). The message is sent in this way to the ‘internal’ circle whose recipients are all members of the radio public; generally speaking, the listeners constitute an external ‘circle’ as the addressees of a programme. The presence of the audience in the studio (or on air if this is a live programme) and the interaction between them and the presenter and his or her guests creates a mediation circle.

The participants play roles which are not permanent due to the fact that communication is of a multidirectional character. Members of the audience speaking on air become senders and performers in that particular moment. The example below shows a game in which the mediation circle is apparent: the presenter is an arbitrator of a game taking place between listeners. The presenters impersonate the roles of matchmakers. They reconcile quarrelling couples or suggest making interesting acquaintances. The prize is either a special dinner (‘party’) or 50 Polish złotys (‘cash’). The result of the game depends on the person to whom the proposal is directed. If the person considers a compromise (in the case of a quarrel with the boy- or girlfriend), then he or she is likely to accept invitation to dinner with candles. The other option is ‘cash’ oriented. A listener who does not want to continue the conversation takes the money. Quite often one can hear disappointment, dejection or grief. One could venture to assume then that the people who enjoy the scenario the most are those who are not directly involved (Radio Eska):

DJ-1: Good! The phone is ringing! We’re gonna check if Dorotka picks up the phone and you keep silent for a while.

Listener: Hello?

DJ-1: Hello, Dorotka! It’s Kamila and Wiktor – Radio Eska. We’re on the air, please don’t swear!

DJ-2: Good morning! And this is true! This is not a joke. We’re calling you to move your heart. . . .

DJ-1: As a matter of fact it was Wiktor who wanted to ask if your heart is beating?

L: Well, it is beating.

DJ-1: Beating, beating . . . But who is it beating for? . . .

L: Well . . .

DJ-2: The question is pretty simple. Are you free or not? Can I have a date with you? Or, is there already someone around?

L: Well, you know, there is someone around, but . . .

DJ-1: But what? Exactly, but what, let’s focus on this ‘but’. Go ahead, tell us!

L: Uhm . . . Is it about Andrzej?

DJ-1: We don’t answer questions. We neither say yes nor no.

L: Oh, Gee!

DJ-1: Dorotka! We know that you were . . . well, you were hurt in your previous relationship and you’re afraid to get involved but what we’d like to do, I know it doesn’t sound very nice, but we’d like to push you a bit into the arms of Andrzej! That’s why we’re calling you asking ‘Party or Cash?’

DJ-2: Andrzej’s inviting you to a romantic dinner which is on Radio Eska and you have to agree, I mean you don’t have to agree and you can rebuff him but . . .

DJ-1: And then you’re gonna get 50 złotys!

DJ-2: And then things are gonna become sad again, so what do you say?

DJ-1: Give him a chance! Give him a chance!

L: Sweet Jesus! No, no, the answer is ‘party’, most def!

DJ-1: Hurray!

This extended dialogue brings associations with the phone-in, in which the goal is not to inform the listeners about something but to develop a kind of emotional relationship or verbal exhibitionism. The game has two dimensions: the participants are playing for a particular prize (dinner or cash) but the whole situation also bears a resemblance to a psychodrama; for the listeners it constitutes entertainment at someone else’s expense, like in a classic reality show. The rules of the game are fluid, two prizes set up two possibilities: acceptance of one, also means acceptance of its rules. The ‘party’ option imposes more rules on the participant, while ‘cash’ means the rejection of the rules and the end of the game; but either way the listener wins something.

. . . and the rules of ludus

One of the rules of mimicry is the obligation of ‘civility’ imposed on the participants. This implies the element of ludus, rather than spontaneous paidia. According to Richard Sennett, civility is constituted by ‘the activity that protects one’s ego from other egos and thus, which permits it to enjoy the company of others. The wearing of a mask is the very essence of civility. The mask allows for pure social interaction, independent of subjective feelings of power, of embarrassment, etc., of those who wear it’ (Sennett, 1978: 264). Civility underlines the superficiality of radio contact. Simulated closeness is subordinate to the strategy of maintaining contact with the listener as long as it is useful. Usually the determinant of this usefulness is the attractiveness of the comment, the need to fill in air time or just sheer entertainment.

One could venture to state, then, that the ‘authenticity’ of the roles has been distorted by mass culture, which offers everybody access to the media but also exposes its consumers’ gaps in cultural competence. The concept of competence implies a set of fixed skills and disposition allowing one to exhibit particular behaviour and actions. Therefore, a clearly defined frame of interpersonal communication has become a useful structure for both sides of the interaction. A simple question and answer minimizes the possibility of exposing such gaps. Limiting verbal acts to a particular pattern allows the listeners to enter the role of the sender, but only based on previously defined conditions. One could say then that a model of ‘radio services’ which has currently developed also consists of interpersonal communication as a ‘school’ of social functions; unfortunately, these functions are often trivialized and limited to the aspect of entertainment.

In mimicry the radio can implement its goals (related to the mission of the radio station or simply economic goals) using a formula that implies maximum achievement. Since, in addition, radio is immersed in cultural transmutations, the goals also influence the content of the message. It is interesting that the only factors highlighted in the whole process are the benefits that the receiver gets from the communication: being in an exclusive group of programme listeners, being able to articulate something on air, a chance to undergo catharsis and the enjoyment of the escapist context are excluded. The goal of the game can also be to create an image and increase popularity through personalities taking part in conversations on air. (Radio Złote Przeboje):

R: Grochola, you can show your legs while dancing because you have nice legs. . . . By the way, Kasia, when are you dancing again?

G: I am dancing tonight.

R: Grochola’s dancing tonight! . . .

A reference here is made to popular romance and drama writer Katarzyna Grochola’s performance on Dancing with the Stars on TVN; on the one hand this is an advertisement for the programme and self-advertisement for the writer, but also a confirmation of her celebrity status. The rule of the game is simple: a protagonist must accept the conventions of the show; in return he/she is given a reward: fame, more publicity, etc. The audience is only a witness to such a game, not taking part directly.

Game-playing language and communicational interactions

It can be stated that game participants constitute a community. Air egalitarianism plays an important role here since the presenter and listeners often address each other by first name (not typical for Polish culture, where the forms ‘Sir’ and ‘Madam’ are still obligatory). Enthusiasm, artificial ease and the aura of uniqueness have all become typical communication strategies whose goal is to attract the listener. The use of Englishisms ¹⁰ and neologisms often based on English words and expressions ¹¹ is part of the strategy. The message becomes ‘flashy’, colloquial and chaotic. As a result of media convergence, radio stations use many forms of communication (a live comment on air, reading emails, text messages or comments from internet forums). Radio language reflects a number of developments and conventions from the Polish language, transferring them to the public sphere, which influences the area of public and private communication, providing certain models and patterns or shifting the borders of language norms and standards.

The participants of radio games do not see each other. The whole context of talking on the radio may sometimes be equivocal due to the fact that most of the ‘live performances’ are at least generally planned ahead or even scripted. Recorded sound allows for time shifts. The spatial duality of radio imposes a limit to the type of interaction that can occur on the radio. All compensation strategies which have been developed are related to the characteristic limitations of mass media. Sometimes the radio uses a strategy covering the deficiencies resulting from the specificity of the medium. These strategies can have different forms (Mancini, 1998):

The participants of mimicry may remain closed in their private sphere (outside the speakers) and an additional game on the radio involves hidden participants who, due to the mass character of the medium, become unintentional companions in the game, providing some kind of comfort and safety. Despite the fact that there are a number of limitations related to the interactive formulas, the radio facilitates interpersonal contacts. However, such anonymity may encourage one to express uncritically one’s views and opinions and lead to unrestrained behaviour. Speakers who are not identified feel less responsible for their words. The anonymity of game participants encourages them and becomes an excuse for the bluff which cannot be revealed in any way. The role that the player chooses can be a matter of his or her own choice. ‘Fun-based’ communication is partial to colloquialisms and abbreviations and is often banal; however, it always follows certain conventions that the listener needs to adopt to get on the air. The required flexibility is rewarded.

Conclusion

It seems that all types of games can be found among radio programmes. They may play different roles – entertaining, communicating and building social interactions, hidden persuasion and last, but not least, they give a chance to win something. The most characteristic game feature – mimicry – teaches one flexibility in interpreting what one hears because the context of the message is entertaining. Ludus or paidia become not only an element of the game but also a value in themselves. Studying the influence of sociocultural phenomena on people’s perception of the world, American anthropologist Frank Manning observed a growing tendency towards the ‘emergence of great celebrations and festivities in the lives of more and more societies, changing the functioning of the individual in his or her professional and socio-political life’. According to Manning, it is leisure time that fosters the development of multi-aspect celebrating, no matter how industrialized a particular society might be (Manning, 1983: 20–23, 30). The modern apotheosis of a healthy lifestyle also makes one seek ‘top’ entertainment. The radio seems ready to offer this. The postmodern cult of youthfulness corresponds to the following statement by Roger Scruton: ‘For the fact is that the culture of youth is the official culture of Britain and probably of everywhere’ (Scruton, 2006: 17). He says that ‘the cultivation of “identity” is a mode of “being-for-others” ’, within which one draws on any elements of cultural heritage as long as they help to achieve this identity. In this way the concept of culture may include various arbitrary elements to which no particular value is attached. Culture becomes a bottomless sack into which one can throw almost anything indiscriminately. The media have found their place in the sack because it is the media who focus on various trends, fashions, phobias and ideologies. The good old radio is thus contributing to the development of a new culture using all the devices and tools offered by the new telecommunications technologies. Radio games, as described in this article, are one of these tools. They help in pursuing commercial success, whose foundation does not consist only of entertaining the listener but also of ‘forming’ and developing such a listener so that he or she resembles the ‘ideal consumer’ as much as possible. In this way radio games acquire a new dimension, particularly in relatively young markets like Poland.