Some things we should know about talkback radio

This article serves as the introduction to this special issue, but it also presents an overview of the current state of research into talkback radio in Australia. It is only recently that significant interest in researching this format has surfaced, despite its importance within the Australian mediascape. In what follows, I argue that this comparative neglect has had its effects — for instance, we are still working through elite assumptions about the inherently tabloid nature of the format which research into other media such as television has overcome. Most importantly, though, I argue that we need to move beyond the notion that talkback is defined by its demographic profile in order to more fully and more contingently examine its social, cultural and political functions