Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the production of Canadian radio drama. Radio drama production is first situated within the historical context of Canadian governmental regulation of broadcasting and its use as an agent of socialisation for the promotion of a unified national identity. The analysis of radio itself is focused directly on the cultural process rather than on the finished cultural product, something not usually done in cultural studies. This is done from the perspective that cultural products can be represented by a diamond model whose interacting points, in this case, represent (1) the drama production team, (2) the CBC context, (3) the broadcast radio drama, and (4) the audience. Furthermore, the members of the production team were treated as a community and examined through social network analysis. Findings indicate that radio drama in Canada is produced in a highly co-operative atmosphere that, through the producer, involves the audience in an "anticipated" role; the audience is part of the production. Also, the creative process was defined as a decision making process where choices are made in order to achieve creative goals and to compensate for constraints (i.e., equipment malfunctions, studio-time scheduling, regulations, etc.).