The first
October 24, 2003 11:19 AM   Subscribe

The Guardian is reporting that blogger Matt Wake, writer of the fictional blog the South London Diaries, has signed a contract to broadcast his stories on Resonance FM. Wake claims that this makes him the world's first "Radio Weblogger".
posted by Ufez Jones (12 comments total)
 
Is it really fair to call him a weblogger when he writes fiction?
posted by xmutex at 11:27 AM on October 24, 2003


What about Garrison Keillor? I think he would be a first, especially if you're talking about fiction.
posted by nagrommit at 11:40 AM on October 24, 2003


ResonanceFM also has an hour-long B3TA programme on a Friday.
posted by Blue Stone at 11:41 AM on October 24, 2003


My point of view: I just don't understand (or quite buy) the "radio weblogger" claim. He's basically going to convert his posts into a script for a serial drama on radio. Sure, they stem from his blog, but the end result is the same: a manuscript. It's an interesting way to begin writing something for larger production, but the end result is still the same, as if he had begun by writing on a typewriter, a pad of paper, or recording into a personal tape recorder.

But the blog to production does seem to be a first (Keiller's would be production-with blog support coming later). And from that point of view, I do find it pretty interesting.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:46 AM on October 24, 2003


nagrommit, that's exactly who I thought of, too.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:15 PM on October 24, 2003


.... What about these Radio weblogs?
posted by webmutant at 12:42 PM on October 24, 2003


I blog for a radio show.
posted by Mick at 1:13 PM on October 24, 2003


It's only bloggish if a) One can do on one's own schedule, and b) There is no other editorial oversite except for the author.
posted by Ayn Marx at 4:21 PM on October 24, 2003


Absolutely, Ufez. Why must people be assigned the tag "blogger", and have that extend to everything they do from that point on? So... a weblog writer gets stories broadcast on radio (by the way, there was an Australian weblog based net radio show back in 2000). Come see the first blogger to swim across the English channel! Come see the first blogger to climb Everest! How relevant is it that the person accomplishing these feats happens to post to a weblog, really? Unless they're sending down reports from the summit, or, in this case, unless Wake is actually integrating his weblog with his radio show in anything other than a superficial, "I'll read out my fiction on radio" fashion.

A weblog is a specific and highly flexible format of publication. Remove that format, and move the content to another (radio) and, quite frankly, it ceases to have anything at all to do with weblogs.
posted by Jimbob at 4:28 PM on October 24, 2003


this just looks like a work of fiction, most probably a reasonable easy going book, converted into daily posts for publicity.

wow.
posted by triv at 3:36 AM on October 25, 2003


"The South London Diaries are being broadcast... yadda yadda yadda... by Resonance FM, making it the world's first radio web log." -----

'Couldn't be further from the truth. xmutex, nagrommit, Ufez, Mr Crash, webmutant, Mick, Jimbob and triv nailed it but good.

I don't understand the "qualification" of such a claim. The world's first radio weblog? I've work in broadcasting professionally nearing twenty years. In the last three years, I could name somewhere around one to two thousand radio "weblogs," if that's what to call them. For arguments sake, as close a definition as South London Diaries claims of a "radio weblog," yes - I could easily supply a hefty list. I'd assume Mick could as well. Hell, any of you likely could.

Triv sums it up well.
posted by bluedaniel at 4:08 AM on October 25, 2003


Resonance FM is fantastic, but very strange. Nothing weirder than driving around on a Saturday afternoon in London dial-surfing, only to come across lengthy segments of 1950s radio dramas, interspersed with live studio chanting and tambourine bashing. Also the current home to Coldcut's awesome Solid Steel sessions.
posted by bifter at 3:25 AM on October 27, 2003


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