"Scannell's book is a gem - distinctive and original. His commitment to a broad phenomenology of communication and the media offers an approach unlike anything else in the field, and his historical insights about the development of talk in broadcasting are unrivaled."
Martin Montgomery, University of Macau
"In this probing set of personal meditations, Paddy Scannell plumbs our existential depths as interactive animals who find our ultimate meaning and freedom in the play of music and voice."
John Durham Peters, Yale University
* Preface
* 1 The Voice of the Friend
* 2 Talk, Radio and Television
* 3 Technologies of Record
* 4 Why Do People Sing?
* Further Reading
* References
Paddy Scannell is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan.