Turning away from the television tape loop: Characterizing some local rock, pop, and country music radio stations’ responses to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

Abstract

This article identifies three types of response strategies used by local popular music radio stations and their listeners in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Qualitative surveys and telephone interviews with key informants were used to build on existing functionalist research. The study suggests that radio stations served as virtual community space for their listeners, providing a mode of interaction that television did not offer. Audiences and DJs actively constructed responses to the attacks and found opportunities for expression and emotional release through negotiation with popular music. Radio stations negotiated the problem of a lack of material that directly addressed the attacks by the creation of mix songs, which served as institutional interpretations of existing material and a reclamation of virtual space. Two additional categories of media function during crisis are suggested.