Inside an outside broadcast with Goffman: Exploring radio personalities' performance and interaction in engaging radio broadcasting

Radio stations conduct outside broadcasts to create awareness of their brands, promote their business clients’ interests, invest in their communities, and interact with their listeners. The outside broadcast is considered the most difficult form of radio broadcasting. Yet the experiences radio personalities encounter during outside broadcasts are under-explored in academic literature. This study explored the factors that impact positively and negatively on outside broadcast performance and interaction; and established the interplay between these two concepts. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eleven radio personalities at a central South African community radio station. The data analysis was driven by theory (Goffman’s dramaturgical model of social interaction) and a thematic content analysis. The findings suggest that outside broadcasts involve four finely tuned components that work in tandem to enable radio personalities to perform and interact in meaningful ways with their respective audiences. These are control of the setting, accessibility to performing zones, teamwork, and creative script. The recommendations for best practice may assist radio stations in connecting more meaningfully with their clients and listeners.