September 8-10, 2025 

Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey

Deadline: February 17, 2025

ECREA Radio and Sound Section

(ALSO: PhD pre-conference - 7 September 2025 - information will be circulated separately)

Media Department, Faculty of Communication, Istanbul Bilgi University, SantralIstanbul Campus 

This conference aims to examine the past, present, and evolving role of radio around the world within a dynamic global media landscape. We will highlight the transformation of radio from a static entity to an adaptive component of the larger media ecosystem, continually reshaping itself in response to socio-political, economic, and technological changes. In the early 20th century, radio played an important role in the establishment and development of nation-states — especially militarily, economically, politically, and linguistically. Today, it is ubiquitous in various forms, multi-faceted, and present throughout the world. With the advent of artificial intelligence and non-human presenters, along with rising public mistrust and the prevalence of disinformation, radio faces new pressures to evolve. Nevertheless, radio endures as a critical medium, especially during global conflicts, where it serves as a source or way of communication for the different parties to the conflict as well as for the diaspora communities. 

Starting from this premise, we invite papers that help conceptualise “radio” as a cog in a changing wheel and focus on the dynamics that have shaped, over time and across the globe, the role of radio, be these roles assumed, attributed, or presumed by both broadcasters and listeners and be these radios private, public, university, community, clandestine, political, and more. We seek papers which explore the resilience and ongoing transformation of radio, emphasising its vital role in a shifting media environment and welcome interdisciplinary perspectives. We also welcome papers that contribute to investigating the various roles and forms that radio has occupied, as well as the various topics it has tackled since its inception to the present day across different political, geographical, economic, and cultural contexts. We are particularly interested in exploring the contexts and reasons behind these evolutions.

Furthermore, we aim to understand how the materiality of what is sometimes too quickly labelled as “radio” has evolved. Our goal is to investigate radio's transition from live, real-time broadcasting to a platform that accommodates on-demand audio formats and genres, working alongside podcasts, streaming, and downloadable content. This evolution has rebranded the industry as "audio" or "sound media", showcasing new capacities for audiences to listen almost whenever and wherever they want, thanks to the Internet and associated technologies. 

We also welcome conceptual and theoretical proposals that address the place of radio and sound studies in academic landscapes. These fields are tackled by researchers from various disciplines, from engineers to art researchers, and are mobilised to explore many topics, from the role they could play in war contexts to their place in the artistic and cultural development of groups and nations.

Lastly, we invite practitioners in the fields of radio and sound studies who are eager to combine their reflections with those of academics. By merging practical insights with theoretical perspectives, we aim to foster a rich dialogue that bridges the gap between practice and research.

The conference will feature keynote speeches, panel discussions, and paper presentations that address the following themes related to the one or many main topic(s) of this conference:

RADIO AND SOUND: PRODUCTION, FORMATS AND PURPOSES

• Production 
  
• • Practices
  • Studies
  • Podcasting 
  • Ethnographies
  • Broadcast locations (e.g. prisons, hospitals, educational institutions, refugee camps, farms, armed forces, …)
  • …
• Formats
• • Information
  • Storytelling
  • Narratives
  • Musics
  • Sounds
  • Codes (non-talk)
  • Drama
  • Sound Creation
  • Documentaries, 
  • Talk shows, 
  • Podcast typologies
  •  …
• Purposes
• • Politics
  • Pedagogy and education
  • Awareness raising
  • Activism
  • Entertainment
  • (Dis)information
  • …

RADIO AND SOUND: MEDIUM IN CONTEXTS 

• Medium
• • Civic radio 
  • Free radio
  • Pirate radio
  • Alternative radio
  • Radical radio 
  • DIY radio
  • Not-for-profit radio
  • NGOs radio
  • Feminist radio 
  • Community radio 
  • Local / national / regional radio 
  • …
• Contexts
• • Radio in the global media landscape
  • Ownership, regulation and governance of radio
  • Freedom of speech
  • Political and economic constraints
  • Policies of broadcasting 
  • …

RADIO AND SOUND: AUDIENCES AND LISTENING 

• Audiences
• • Community
  • National
  • Transnational
  • Diasporas
  • Demographics within audiences
  • …
• Listening
• • Poetics of listening
  • Philosophy of listening
  • Politics of listening
  • History of listening
  • Listening as a cultural practice
  • Phenomenology of listening 
  • …

RADIO AND SOUND: TECHNOLOGIES 

• DAB, streaming or LTE broadcasting
• Podcasting distribution
• Sound platforms 
• Internet
• • Social media 
  • Radio as an app
  • (De)materialisation
  • Hybrid radio
  • …
• Artificial intelligence 
• • Radio production and reception
  • Trust, information and disinformation
  • …

RADIO AND SOUND: RESEARCH

• Radio and sound as research fields 
• Theories of radio and sound studies
• Political economy of the radio
• Radio and gender studies
• Methodological approaches to sound research
• Digital ethnography
• Digital methods
• Network analysis
• Archiving and oral history
• Radio history
• Journalism
• Radio journalism
• Radio art
• Sound art
• Aural culture and cultural aural expressions
• Reception studies 
• ...

The conference situates radio and sound studies within the broader contemporary media landscape and aims to start a dialogue with, and accept contributions from platform studies, Internet studies, sound studies, social media studies, critical political economy of the media, media history, digital media management, cultural studies, production studies, ethnography, and social sciences.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Deadline for abstract submissions: 17 February 2025
  
• Notification of acceptance (and announcement of Early Bird date): 31 March 2025
  
• Publication of Programme: w/c 28 April 2025
  

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Proposals for individual papers and panels can be submitted until 17th February 2025 through the conference website’s platform, which will be https://ecrearadioandsound2025.org/ The submission system will be available from early January 2025. Abstracts should be written in English and contain a clear outline of the argument, theoretical framework, and, where applicable, methodology and results. Individual abstracts and panel proposals should be between 300 and 500 words. In the case of a panel, proposals should contain a short summary of the panel and include the 4 or 5 individual contributions (with the title and author’s names of each contribution composing the panel.

SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE RADIO JOURNAL: INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN BROADCAST & AUDIO MEDIA 

We will invite delegates of the Conference to submit their full papers no later than February 2026 to be selected for a special issue of the Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, edited by Intellect (www.intellectbooks.com/radio-journal-international-studies-in-broadcast-audio-media), to be published in the second issue of 2026.

For further information, please contact the organising committee at this email address: radioandsoundconference@gmail.com