Modes of address in radio programs: the Itatiaia News Program¹

Abstract

The article discusses the potential of the mode of address concept for analyzing how radio programs relate to their audience by constructing a particular style. Two weeks of the Itatiaia radio news program from Minas Gerais, Brazil, were analyzed (from 18 to 23 July 2016 and 10 to 15 April 2017) considering some of the main dimensions of the analysis of how the program addresses the public. It was found that the role of the anchor, the organization of issues and distribution of professionals in journalistic coverage and advertising are fundamental components of the news program’s strategies of address.

Keywords
Mode of address; Radiojournalism; Interpretation of radio products; Journal of Itatiaia; Journalism and society

Resumo

O artigo discute o potencial do conceito de modo de endereçamento para analisar a maneira como programas de rádio se relacionam com a sua audiência por meio da construção de um estilo próprio. Analisou-se duas semanas (edições de 18 a 23 de julho de 2016 e de 10 a 15 de abril de 2017) do jornal da rádio Itatiaia. de Minas Gerais, a partir de algumas das principais dimensões de análise do modo como o programa se endereça ao público. Constatou-se que o papel da apresentadora, a organização de temas, a distribuição de profissionais na cobertura jornalística e a publicidade são componentes fundamentais nas estratégias de endereçamento do Jornal da Itatiaia.

Palavras-chave
Modo de endereçamento; Radiojornalismo; Interpretação de produtos radiofônicos; Jornal da Itatiaia; Jornalismo e sociedade

Resumen

El artículo discute el potencial del concepto de modo de direccionamiento para analizar la forma en que los programas de radio se relacionan con su audiencia a través de la construcción de un estilo propio. Se analizó dos semanas (ediciones del 18 al 23 de julio de 2016 y del 10 al 15 de abril de 2017) del periódico de la radio Itatiaia (Minas Gerais, Brasil) a partir de algunas de las principales dimensiones de análisis del modo en que el programa se dirige al público. Se constató que el papel de la presentadora, la organización de temas, la distribución de profesionales en la cobertura periodística, y la publicidad son componentes fundamentales en las estrategias del programa dirigirse a su publico.

Palavras clabe
Modo de direcionamento; Periodismo radiofônico; Interpretacion de productos de radio; Jornal da Itatiaia; Periodismo y sociedad

Introduction

On the air since 20 January 1952, Itatiaia radio positions itself to its public as the “radio of Minas”², permanently investing in an image linked to veneration of Minas Gerais culture (SALOMÃO, 2003). The broadcaster was a landmark in the history of radio in Minas Gerais state, mainly because it was the first in the state that presented sports programing. In 1958 it became the first in Minas to stay on the air 24 hours a day (PRATA, 2011). It made a strong investment in news programming, with influential coverage of trials of accused criminals, large events and even international events. It took the station more than a decade to be among the most listened to in the city of Belo Horizonte, the state capital. But since the 1980s, it has become consolidated as the largest radio station in audience and income in Minas Gerais (SALOMÃO, 2003).

News programming at Itatiaia gained space on the program schedule mainly after 1964 and even greater importance after a reorganization by the radio station in 1974, when the Jornal da Itatiaia (JI), [Itatiaia News] appeared from 7h am to 8h am. The expansion of news programming in the 1980s led to the creation of the two editions of JI that still exist, on the prime radio time slots. The first is in the morning, from 6h30 to 7h30 am daily; and the second edition from 12h30 to 13h pm, from Monday to Saturday³.

The JI, in its two editions, is the most popular news program in Minas Gerais, according to surveys by the Instituto Brasileiro de Opinião e Estatística (Ibope) in 2015, cited on the broadcaster’s website⁴. It is considered the station’s leading program (SALOMÃO, 2003). This article focuses on the JI segunda edição [Itataia News, Second Edition]. We are interested in analyzing this radio-news product, considering the concept of mode of address, which is understood as the particular mode, or style, with which each media or specific radio or television program directs itself to and establishes a relationship with its audience or its readers (HARTLEY, 2001; GOMES, 2007, 2011).

The main objective of this article is to explore the potential of the concept of the mode of address for interpreting radio programs, including news programs, as is the case of the Jornal da Itatiaia, which is our empiric object. We understand that the concept is useful for exploring different research problems related to the way that radio and audio productions establish communication with their public – something still not explored in studies in the field. In the bibliographic research that we conducted in the period of this study (2016 – 2017), the only study we found published in Portuguese that used the concept of mode of addressing concerning radio was Costa Filho and Marques (2015). These researchers analyzed some of the modes of address used in the broadcasts of Rádio Rebelde – an initiative of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), in Chiapas, Mexico – to understand the contribution of the broadcaster in the construction of imaginaries about Zapatista autonomy. To do so, the researchers focused on an analysis of the issues, mediators, technical resources, radio broadcast language, verbal text and the social role of the broadcaster as the main elements for identifying the strategies of address used by the radio broadcaster (COSTA FILHO; MARQUES, 2015, p.219).

We believe that our study goes farther and offers another contribution to studies of radio. This is because it systematizes and discusses different possible dimensions to be considered for analyzing the specific way that radio productions are directed at audiences and to explore other problematics of research related to this tie between production and reception. This reflection is made from the case of the Jornal da Itatiaia segunda edição. How does the JI construct its relationship with the listeners? What is unique to its style of dialoging with or convoking its public? What image does it project of itself and of the other – its listeners – through the resources of its mode of address? These are the central questions that guide this study.

The article is organized in three parts. The first discusses the concept of mode of address and of the operators for the analysis proposed by Gomes (2004, 2005, 2011), adapting them to a study aimed at radio programs. In relation to this topic, we explain the procedures for defining the corpus of the study. The second part identifies and analyzes the strategies of address of JI segunda edição. Finally, the conclusions present our considerations about the findings of this study and the potential of the concept of modes of address to describe and interpret a radio news program.

The concept of mode of address

Mode of address is a concept that arose in film analysis and since the 1980s has been adapted and used in other fields, particularly for the interpretation of how television programs construct a relationship with viewers (GOMES, 2011). In his reflection on the use of modes of address in cinema, Ellsworth (2001, p.11) synthesizes the concept in this way: “who does this film think you are?” For the author, the mode of address is not a visual or spoken moment, but an organization of the relations between the film and its viewers, which is developed over time (ELLSWORTH, 2001). It is, as Gomes adds (2011, p.34), an “invisible process” through which the audience is interpellated to assume certain positions from which to watch the film.

In studies of television, mainly reception studies, the concept has been understood as the “style” or “tone” of a program and is used to comprehend the interdependent relationship between broadcasters and receivers in the construction of meaning of a text or television product (GOMES, 2007, 2011; ROCHA, 2011). According to Gomes (2007, p.22), “the concept leads us not only to the image of the audience, but to the style, to the specificities of a certain program”, to the particular “appeal” that it aims at its audience. The construction of specific modes for addressing the public point to the dynamic relationship between what is proposed in the realm of the production and of the audience (GOMES, 2007; ROCHA, 2011). Based on an audience imagined by the production - Rocha explains (2011, p.183) -, “programs create a certain identity that mobilizes its own language, as well as specific narrative and argumentative structures that dialog with that public in question”.

From this perspective, the mode of address is that which is characteristic of the specific communicative forms and practices of a program; it refers to the strategies used to attempt to construct a particular form of relationship with the audience (GOMES, 2011). The mode of address depends on and is organized “based on the characteristics of each media, both in what refers to the support as well as the cultural forms acquired by each media in a certain society” (GOMES, 2011, p.36). Thus, for example, film, television and radio are distinguished as a function of their technical possibilities, the language resources and genres adopted and the historic relationship constructed with the public, which are conventions that regulate the audience’s expectations in relation to each one of them (GOMES, 2011).

Applied to journalism studies – the emphasis of the work of Gomes (2004, 2005, 2007, 2011) – the mode of address approach leads to adopting the presumption that the production of a news report should consider both an orientation in relation to the event and in relation to the receiver, with a specific mode of speaking (GOMES, 2011). The mode of address is this “orientation to the receiver” and “it is what provides a large part of the appeal of the program” to its public (GOMES, 2011, p.36 – Emphasis in the original).

This approach inspires us here to also think of the mode of address as a useful concept for describing and analyzing radio programs and the unique way that they construct a tie with their listeners. Thus, we adopt the concept, in this study, in the sense proposed by Gomes (2011, p.36): “mode of address refers to how a certain program relates with its audience based on the construction of a style, which identifies it, and which distinguishes it from the others”. We believe that this perspective allows both the concrete investigation and analysis of the program (of what is characteristic of the materiality of a given product of radio or audio and the specificities of the media and its languages) as well as the consideration of the social, cultural and historic context to which it is linked (GOMES, 2011; ROCHA, 2011).

Dimensions for analyzing the mode of address of a news program

The ways that a program – of television or radio – addresses its audience, seeking to construct a relationship and an identity that distinguishes it from other programs of the same genre, can be grasped from various elements. Nevertheless, they cannot be seen as something isolated, but as something deeply interlinked (GOMES, 2011). The nine dimensions listed below result from a systematization that we have made of the operators of analysis worked with in studies developed or coordinated by Gomes (2004, 2005, 2011) and that we adapt here so that we can test their use in the interpretation of a radio news program. This does not involve, however, their mere transposition to describe and analyze radio programs, but an adaptation that considers the socio-technical specificities, and specific languages and formats of this communication media and its modes of constructing the tie with the public.

The mediator

The comprehension of the mode of address of a program implies analyzing its mediators: who they are, how they position themselves in the program and to its audience, with whom they establish certain types of ties (of familiarity, formality or informality). In the case of journalism, given the variety of formats, a single program can have various mediators: announcers, reporters, commentators. The announcer or anchor, however, is normally the central figure in any program format. He or she is the “face” or the “voice” of the program: the person who constructs the connection with the listener and also with the other members of the production such as the reporters, producers (GOMES, 2004, 2005, 2011). Therefore, the performance of the announcer or anchor – their execution in the representation of that role (GOMES, 2011), the use that the anchor makes of the spoken language, of voice and its characteristics – is fundamental to understanding how a radio program addresses listeners. “The news program acquires the ‘face’ of the anchor [...]. His participation on the air and in the production of the news program identify the anchor with listeners” (BARBEIRO; LIMA, 2001, p.52). The anchor is “perhaps the most important factor for the creation of a consistent style [...], it is who regulates the tone of the program according to the way that he addresses the listener” (MCLEISH, 2001, p.142).

Thematic organization and proximity with the audience

The organization of the issues given priority by a program involve an investment in the production of certain interests and competencies of its audience. In a thematic program such as sports journalism, the theme is the main dimension for analyzing the form of address. The analysis is thus conducted of how the theme is approached and how it is articulated with the other operators of analysis. In programs with various themes – such as JI, which we examine here – the analysis and the understanding of the thematic organization also requires observing the specific form of organization and presentation of sections, blocks, construction of geographic proximity with the audience (GOMES, 2004, 2005, 2011; MCLEISH, 2001).

Communication context

The communicative context in which the program acts involves the broadcaster, the audience and the space-time circumstances in which the communicative process takes place. The communication occurs in a shared physical, social and mental environment, and is guided by certain “instructions” or regulatory principles of communication. That is, “the ways that the broadcasters present themselves, how they represent their receivers and how they situate both of them in a concrete communicative situation” (GOMES, 2011, p.39). A journalistic program presents definitions of its participants, its objectives, its forms of communicating. It positions itself and the others (listeners), in a certain manner. These definitions are explicitly manifest (“you, friend of CBN”; “the radio of Mineiros”; “for you who are listening to us now”; “this is the most important news of the day”) or implicitly, through the posture or positioning of the announcer, of the technical choices realized (GOMES, 2004, 2005, 2011; MCLEISH, 2001).

The pact about the role of journalism

In journalistic programs, a pact about the role of journalism in society regulates the relationship between the program and its public. This pact indicates to the listener what to expect from the program, what expectations it proposes to attend. These expectations may be, for example, investigation and “information of quality and credibility”, in the case of programs of a journalistic genre (GOMES, 2004, 2005), or entertainment, enjoyment, in the case of programs of the genre of entertainment or leisure, such as music, artistic, radio-drama (BARBOSA FILHO, 2003). Understanding the pact between the program and the receiver supposes analyzing the way that the program deals with or revises certain notions, norms, values and conventions that constitute journalism as a social institution: objectivity, impartiality, factuality, public interest, social responsibility, freedom of expression and opinion, currentness, the fourth estate; truth, pertinence and relevance of the news, priority to certain news-values (GOMES, 2004, 2005, 2011; TRAQUINA, 2005).

Technical resources at the service of journalism

Also related to the pact between the program and the audience, the dimensions synthesized in the sequence (language, formats), are important for identifying the mode of address. The first of these refers to the technical resources of the broadcasters for producing their journalism: technologies and quality in capturing sounds, editing, and the organization of programming contents (the blocks, intervals, vignettes, sound effects, sound tracks). In addition, the live appearances and coverage, and the appeal to certain resources that signal to the audience the work of news production are other important devices for the construction of the credibility and identity of the program and the broadcaster and of the authenticity and agility of its journalistic coverage (GOMES, 2004, 2005, 2011; COSTA FILHO; MARQUES, 2015). In the current context of the reconfiguration of the media system and of the convergence of media, the understanding of how a program directs itself to its listeners also implies being attentive to the appropriation that the broadcasters – and each program specifically – are making of technological resources (PRATA, 2012; FERRARETO; KLOCKNER, 2010).

Resources of radio broadcast language

This dimension of analysis refers to the exploration of the potential of the specific language of the media, as it is constructed in a program and shared by the audience (GOMES, 2005, 2011). In the case of radio, the observation of this aspect can take place along two lines that are connected. The first is attentive to the resources of recording and editing used by the program and or the way that a greater or lesser technical capacity (mentioned in the previously mentioned operator) contributes to strengthening the use of the language specific to the media. The language constituted by words, sound and sound effects, music, noise and silence (MEDITSCH, 1995; MCLEISH, 2001; BARBOSA FILHO, 2003), which leave marks in the style of the program and that collaborate in the construction of its credibility. The second line is attentive to the specific way that the program conceives, deals with or revises a set of characteristics that are considered specific to radio and important to the understanding of the mediation between production and reception: orality, power of penetration, mobility, instantaneousness and autonomy (ORTRIWANO, 1985); sensorial quality, regionalism, intimacy, immediacy/instantaneousness (BARBOSA FILHO, 2003); and innovation, intonation, clarity, repetition, speed and simultaneity (PRADO, 1989).

Formats of presentation of information

The formats that a news program uses to present the news provide clues about the type of journalism practiced and also about the investment of the broadcaster in the production of news (GOMES, 2005, 2011). Among the various formats of the journalistic genre on the radio, we can mention, inspired by Barbosa Filho (2003, p.89): news briefs; radio broadcast news; bulletins; reporting; interviews; chronicles; news program, a format that congregates journalistic formats like the ones mentioned previously [called a journal or radio journal in Brazil]; commentary; editorials – which are not often used on the radio; documentaries; round-tables or radio debates; police programs and sports programs, broadcast within the news or on specific programs; and science and technology programs.

Relationship with the information sources

In addition to the journalistic formats given priority, the relationship of the program with the sources that it uses for the production of information is another important indicator of the journalistic choices made, as well as the construction of credibility and impartiality and the presentation or not of explicit opinions (GOMES, 2005, 2011). Beyond the different forms of classifying the journalistic sources (LAGE, 2011), for the purposes of this study we highlight three basic types of sources that are normally used: official sources (authorities) and specialists, both considered voices authorized to give credibility to the news and to the program; and common citizens, normally mentioned when they are affected by a subject, when they become news and or to humanize the report and authenticate the journalistic coverage (GOMES, 2005, 2011).

Verbal text

Analysis of the verbal text reveals the strategies used by the mediators to construct the news, directly interpellate the audience and construct credibility (GOMES, 2005, 2011). In the case of radio, it is important to observe this aspect to understand the mode of address of a program. After all, as Meditsch (1995, p.3) highlights about radio language: “orality in radio is only its apparent manifestation, there is a written world and an electronic mode behind its production”. The observation of the verbal text, according to Gomes (2005, 2011), can be made based on the identification of the narrative and argumentative strategies, rhetorical and persuasive resources adopted, as well as the linguistic “modalizers” that reveal different strategies: of interpellation and approximation with the listener (“Hello, good afternoon”; “You are now listening to the Jornal da Itatiaia”), of updating, objectivity, didactic and others.

It can thus be seen that the comprehension of the strategies used for the construction of the modes of address imply, as Gomes (2011) emphasizes, the articulation of semiotic, discursive, social, ideological and communicational elements. In this way, it is important to consider that these dimensions of the mode of address are not exclusionary and exhaustive. They are articulated among each other. They should not, therefore, be observed or interpreted in an isolated manner. “It is the mode itself of configuration of the programs that will tell the analyst from which operators a concrete program is built” (GOMES, 2011, p.38). Simultaneously “the objective of analysis should not be to describe or interpret each one of the operators in isolation, but, through the operators, to access the mode of address of a specific program” (GOMES, 2011, p.38).

To explore the possibilities of the concept of the mode of address in the analysis of radio programs, we now describe and interpret a news program of Radio Itatiaia, the radio station with the largest audience in Minas Gerais state in 2015 and the fifth largest in the nation, according to the Ibope survey⁵

For this analysis, we recorded twelve editions of the JI segunda edição, which were broadcast between 18 and 23 of July of 2016 and from 10 to 15 of April of 2017, respectively, from 12h30 pm to 1h pm. This is, therefore, the corpus of this analysis. For this study, first an exploratory study was done of the program, in an effort to understand its organization: its blocks and priority themes and to conduct a first identification of the more prominent operators in the program. We then focus on describing and interpreting the JI, to analyze how the program, as a journalistic product on radio, dialogs with its audience based on the construction of a particular style. What is unique to JI? How does it convoke listeners?

The strategies of address of the Jornal da Itatiaia

The JI has numerous characteristics that collaborate to its identification with the news genre of a radio news program: the issues and formats of the organization of information, the agencying of informative sources, the presentation and organization of the program. The program affirms that it practices “journalism executed in a responsible, impartial manner with high credibility”⁶. This positioning indicates the pact that the JI proposes to its listeners about what it understands to be the role of journalism in society, reaffirming classic journalistic values, like the ideas of objectivity, impartiality and responsibility, by means of which the program seeks to sustain credibility with its audience.

The JI is approximately 28 to 30 minutes long and is organized in four blocks that present news of the main events of the day in Minas Gerais, Brazil and the world. The blocks are organized in sections. The first block is composed of national news about politics and economics, normally with the same themes and framings that predominate on the agenda of the hegemonic information media and that are presented by the reporter Aparecida Ferreira, directly from Brasília⁷. If, in the first block, the JI refers its readers to the outstanding issues on the country’s official political scene, marking its presence at the center of the events that affect Brazilians (especially in Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), on the second block the news program localizes them thematically and geographically in the large territory of Minas Gerais. It presents issues from the capital, Belo Horizonte and from the state’s interior, it presents the situation of state and federal highways and highlights the issues that it proposes to its audience as being the main ones of the day in the state⁸. The third block presents the opinion of the renowned commentator from Rede Globo⁹, Alexandre Garcia, directly from Rio de Janeiro, about national issues¹⁰; news produced by reporters in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro¹¹; and some outstanding fact on the international scene, particularly those that reinforce information presented by the Brazilian media about Brazil’s domestic scene¹². The final block is dedicated to sports news, in particular to the two main football teams in the state (Atlético and Cruzeiro).

The thematic organization of the JI thus displays a group of strategies of addressing, at the same time that it also gives indications about the communicative context. Through the way that it selects, organizes and distributes the issues that it loos at, the JI positions itself in relation to its listeners as a news program that is present in places that are key to state residents (the various regions of Minas Gerais, as well as Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) and that it has sufficient technical and human resources for the production of news and reporting – its main informative formats – from different and distant places. The 12 editions analyzed are highlighted by the presence of reporters spread through strategic places in the world (New York, London and Jerusalem, for example), Brazil (Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) and the state of Minas Gerais (in the capital of Belo Horizonte and cities in the interior). It thus involves presenting itself as a news program capable of organizing for its listeners events judged relevant in important capital cities of the country and the world, at the same time that it approximates them to and locates them in that which currently affects or occurs in Minas Gerais.

These aspects of the form of addressing of JI (its construction of a presence in various places and in the coverage of various issues – from the most distant to the closest) are reinforced by the emphasis given to the news coverage and to the apparent valorization of the work of the reporters. These professionals are referred to in various reports, thus revealing in some cases the regional accents of the reporters, and emphasizing the work of construction of the referentiality of the news and of the credibility of the news program. This occurs both in special coverage, as at the 2016 Olympic Games¹³, and in regular daily coverage¹⁴. JI’s effort to construct for its listeners an image of near omnipresence, of its power to be in various places, of its ability to expand geographic and thematic coverage, is noted¹⁵.

The JI thus reinforces the image that the radio station seeks to construct of itself: “the radio of Minas”, “of all Mineiros” [as state residents are known], of sports, but also of political, economic and social issues. At the same time, the news program projects to its public: they are residents of Minas Gerais or Mineiros who live in, circulate or are interested in the regions and cities close to the state (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasília, Goiânia) and who can hear the news from Itatiaia online. It is a public that is interested in the political, economic, social and sports issues highlighted by the program. The themes treated are specific to the coverage of the broadcaster concerning the regional and state agenda but are the same as those covered by Brazil’s national media, in terms of national and international issues.

This form of guiding and constructing the relationship with listeners – based on the construction of the geographic (and thematic) proximity of the Southeast and Midwestern regions of Brazil – is complemented by a relatively formal and polished style in the presentation of the news. In this aspect, the role of the mediator stands out in the construction of the mode of address of the JI. As soon as the vignette opens the program, announcing only the name of the program, appears the voice of the announcer Kátia Pereira, who informs the time and temperature in Belo Horizonte, the city from where the program is broadcast. Kátia Pereira has led the JI since 2009, longer than any other previous anchor. She stands out in her radiophonic locution, a space usually occupied by men, which also signals a strategy of JI to distinguish itself from other radio programs of this genre. Considered one of the main voices of journalism in the state, she won the Women’s Press Trophy¹⁶ in 2016 in the category radio anchor. In the presentation of JI, soon after the vignette for Rádio Itatiaia, the anchor announces the main headlines. With an agile, polished, nearly formal intonation, the anchor calls the listeners’ attention to what the program highlights as the most important facts of the day. The greeting and opening she presents (“Hello, good afternoon! The second edition of Jornal da Itatiaia is now beginning!”) reveal, in the verbal text and in the intonation of the voice, a call to accompany the radio news program and the intention to establish proximity with listeners.

It is an approximation, however, that maintains a certain distance. This is because the presenter maintains a dose of formality or impersonalism, which is ratified by the style of presenting the news, and even in the way that she concludes: “With the presentation of Kátia Pereira, the second edition of Jornal da Itatiaia ends here. Have a great afternoon”.

Within the structure of the program, the announcer for the news program performs a role that seeks to affirm a certain neutrality: she only “presents” the news, the reporters and the commentators, without presenting her position at any time. This posture of only presenting is one of the key points for perceiving how the JI addresses its listeners. It reinforces the strategy of constructing the impartiality of the news that JI constantly reaffirms, as part of the pact with its public about the role of journalism. This reaffirmation appears in various discourses by the broadcaster and in the slogan of the JI: “journalism executed in a responsible, impartial manner, and with high credibility”. In addition to reserving explicit opinion about the important themes on the national agenda to the commentator Alexandre Garcia, the relative distancing of the anchor from the news presented is, therefore, a central element in the notions of impartiality, objectivity and credibility with which JI operates. This is because the framing used to interpret the events and the themes treated in the news, as well as the absence, in some issues, of the basic rule of listening to the two sides implicated in a fact, do not corroborate the radio station’s discourse of impartiality of that of JI.

Distinguishing itself from other similar radio news programs – and thus revising the genre – the JI presents the program staff (those involved in direction, editing and coordination) right at the beginning, after the daily headlines are read. Then, the sponsors¹⁷ are presented and show – to the public and to our analysis – how much advertising has an important role in the program’s mode of address to the listeners. The advertising assists in the construction and (re)affirmation of identities (of the program, of the radio and of the state of Minas Gerais), and in the strategy of Itatiaia and of its news program to position itself before the listeners as a broadcaster present in various places (in Minas Gerais and the Southeast and Midwestern regions Brazil) and as the “radio of Minas” and “of all Mineiros”. In this sense, right at the beginning of the program appears the “offer from the Banco do Brasil” – either as “the Bank of Agribusiness”. or as “supporting Brazilian sport”. An offer also appears from “Codemig¹⁸, waters of Minas Gerais, a pure source of development”. In this way, in the commercial breaks, the ads help to show that JI is in all regions of Minas, and that it speaks with broad sectors of the state population, whether by the cities of origin or coverage of advertising spots, whether by the regionalism and accent of the voices in the advertisements. This aspect is illustrated, for example, by the voice of a woman from the interior in an ad from the Banco Mercantil, and by the voice of a youth connected to new technologies in an announcement for telephone and Internet services (“Aff, why would I leave a house with Net?!”).

The advertising performs a role so central to the strategy of address of JI that there are moments when an ad is linked to the news report that precedes it and is introduced by the same reporter who presented the previous news item. At other times, the advertising is constructed in the format of radio news: a reporter presents the issue and interviews a source. An illustration is given by the ad for “Trem da Vale” train line, which was widely promoted in June 2016, in which a representative of the mining company Vale S.A. is interviewed about the company’s train services that take passengers between Belo Horizonte and Vitória (the capital of Espírito Santo state).

The construction of the advertising on JI and of the role that is attributed to journalism, the relatively formal and impersonal presentation by the part of the anchor, and the organization of the program – the blocks, the themes, the presence of professionals in different locations of coverage of events – are, therefore, salient aspects in the particular way that the Jornal da Itatiaia constructs a radio news style and a bond with its public.

Conclusion

This study sought to explore the potential of the concept of mode of address for describing and analyzing radio programs, including those in the news genre. To test our argument, we conducted an analysis of the JI segunda edição, the radio news program with the highest audience in Minas Gerais state. We sought to identify how JI steers and constructs links with its public and what is characteristic of this program in the construction of the relation with the listener.

The analysis shows how much the organization of the program and its production – the selection of issues and geographic and regional aspects of their handling – is important in the way that JI relates with its listeners, and how much advertising also performs an important role in the construction of this relationship. Both contribute to positioning JI as a news program present throughout the state and in neighboring states, and to reinforce the institutional image of the “radio of Minas”, and to (re)affirm identities (of the program, of the radio and of the state of Minas Gerais).

Moreover, the organization of the program – the division into blocs, with their local, regional, national and international themes, and the distribution of professionals in different places – contributes to constructing the image of a radio with technical-human authority and near omnipresence in cities of Minas Gerais, Brazil and the world. We also highlight the mediating role of the program in the way that the Jornal da Itatiaia addresses the listeners, revealing a strategy that seeks to construct a proximity, but simultaneously a certain formality and distancing that reinforces the discourse of impartiality and credibility of the news program.

Finally, we understand that the analysis of the JI segunda edição supports the argument defended in this work. We maintain that the mode of address is a useful concept for grasping the unique way that each program seeks to establish a relation with its public, based on a unique style that identifies and differentiates that program from other similar ones of the same genre. In addition, it is a methodological tool that can assist in the exploration of other objects of study related to the dialog between radio production, its reception and the socio-cultural context in which they are inserted.

• 2
  The broadcaster reaches 92% of Minas Gerais territory at the frequencies 610 kHz – AM and 95,7 MHz – FM.
• 3
  The first and second editions are on the air on both Rádio Itatiaia AM and FM and can be heard at the site: www.itatiaia.com.br
• 4
  Available at: http://www.itatiaia.com.br/programacao. Accessed on: 18 jul. 2016.
• 5
  Available at: http://www.ouvintes.com.br/
• 6
  Rádio Itatiaia. Available at: http://www.itatiaia.com.br/programacao . Accessed on: 18 jul. 2016.
• 7
  We can mention examples such as the following announcements taken from the corpus of the research: “Government attempts reapproximation with Congress for the country to take its foot off the brake”; “Federal Superior Court Minister [Judge] Edson Fachin opens an investigation of new minister and three governors”; “Senator Aécio Neves is mentioned in testimony by JBS executive Joesley Batista” (JI – 2ª edição, 2016 and 2017).
• 8
  For example: “Vacation mood fills movie theaters in the capital”; “PF fulfill arrest warrant in ‘Operation Hashtag’ in Varginha”; “To decrease risk of contagion, SUS will provide cocktail against HIV in Minas”; “Bank branches of the Caixa Econômica in the capital open early for withdrawal of FGTS”; “More than two thousand people are addressed in Belo Horizonte in Operation Safe Trip” (JI segunda edição, 2016; 2017).
• 9
  Rede Globo was created in 1965 and is the most important TV network in Brazil, in terms of audience, resources and capacity to produce news and entertainment programming.
• 10
  The issues mentioned in the 12 editions analyzed are highlighted by: the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff; a discussion about discounting the salaries of federal congressmen who miss work; promotion of audio tapes of the executive of JBS Joesley Batista affirming the involvement of Senator Aécio Neves and President Michel Temer in schemes of corruption and money laundering.
• 11
  For example: “Wave of terrorism has Brazil expand inspections in Rio de Janeiro”; “Four people are arrested in São Paulo for suspicion of connection with the Islamic State” (JI segunda edição, 2016; 2017).
• 12
  For example: “France prolongs state of emergency”; “Islamic State claims responsibility for attack with ax in German train”; “Missile attack in Syria by government of Donald Trump causes international instability” (JI segunda edição, 2016; 2017).
• 13
  For example: “From Rio de Janeiro, Nívea Santos, for Jornal da Itatiaia”; “For Jornal da Itatiaia, the official radio of the Olympic Games, from Goiânia, Welinton Campos” (JI segunda edição, 2016).
• 14
  For example: “Here in Minas, FIEMG has just reported the data...”; “Here in Minas products consumed on Easter Week are more expensive this year, according to Dieese” (JI segunda edição, 2016; 2017).
• 15
  As some headlines illustrate: “After national title Pampulha will gain tourist boat and bus”; “Price of kitchen gas increases more than 10% in the interior of the state”; “Militia may be connected to attack on vehicles in Rio de Janeiro”; “In Brasília, Federal government wants to speed changes to labor laws”; “In São Paulo, Islamic community issues note about attacks”; “Man invades school in the United States and kills teacher” (JI segunda edição, 2016; 2017 – Emphasis ours).
• 16
  Award issued by the Brazilian magazine and portal Imprensa to women who work in the communications field.
• 17
  In 2016 and 2017, the sponsors were Banco do Brasil and Codemig.
• 18
  Codemig is a public economic development company, controlled by the Minas Gerais state government.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Oct-Dec 2018

History

• Received
  28 Dec 2017
• Accepted
  30 Oct 2018