Phone-in
programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments
In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio (especially talk radio), it is common for an entire programme to be dedicated to a phone-in session. On television, phone-ins are often part of a wider discussion programme: a current example in the UK is the "Jeremy Vine" TV show.
The concept dates to the early radio era: a December 1924 BBC 5NG Nottingham phone-in programme is described in a 1925 Radio Times article: "listeners ... enjoyed the novelty of hearing their own voices taking part". A prior attempted phone-in to a BBC 2LO London programme "led to such a rush on the telephones that the Post Office had to intervene".
Speech based Talk Radio UK was launched in 1995, with much of its programming featuring phone-ins. It also introduced the notion of the shock jock to the UK, with presenters like Caesar the Geezer and Tommy Boyd conducting heated discussions.
Ian Hutchby has researched power relations in phone ins, looking at arguments and confrontations. Using conversation analysis, he describes how the host retains power through devices such as "The Second Position" – the concept of going second in a discussion, giving the host time to formulate a response.
The public source identifies “Phone-in” as programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Phone-in, programme and format.
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This entry incorporates text from “Phone-in” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.