[ecrea] CFP: Seasonal Television, A Special Issue of the Journal of Popular Television

Call for Proposals: Seasonal Television, A Special Issue of the Journal 
of Popular Television

The subject of seasonality in relation to broadcasting is one that is 
acknowledged in a number of places, but barely researched in any depth. 
Roger Silverstone in Television and Everyday Life and Frances Bonner in 
Ordinary Television both refer to the way that television relates to the 
passing of seasons, and the rhythms and patterns of everyday life, but 
research beyond that is fairly minimal. Tara Brabazon has considered 
'Christmas and the Media' in Sheila Whiteley's collection Christmas, 
Ideology and Popular Culture and David Budgen has discussed the Doctor 
Who Christmas episodes in Andrew O'Day's The Eleventh Hour. But 
seasonality in television and radio extends beyond Christmas specials, 
and raises wider questions about how broadcasting interacts with various 
social, cultural and industrial structures, formal and informal.

We are currently seeking proposals of around 300 words, to be received 
by 1 August 2014. Full versions of the accepted articles would be 
required by 30 June 2015, being between 6,000 and 8,000 words in length 
using the Harvard referencing system. If you have any queries, including 
if you wish to informally discuss ideas before making a formal proposal, 
please contact Derek Johnston at (derek.johnston /at/ qub.ac.uk).

This call for papers invites proposals for articles relating to 
seasonality in relation to broadcasting in its broadest scope for a 
special issue of The Journal of Popular Television. The issue will 
broadly consider the question: how does broadcasting mark out the 
calendar year, in terms of shifting patterns of programming, or seasonal 
specials? Articles may include broad overviews, or specific case 
studies, and may relate to any broadcasting structures internationally. 
Subjects may include, but are certainly not limited to:

•    Specific celebrations - Christmas, Hogmanay, Easter, April Fool's 
Day, Holi, Diwali, Kwanzaa, and many others. How are they marked by 
broadcasters? Are there particular programmes, or a general shift in 
emphasis across programming? How do they operate in different 
broadcasting contexts? Do particular programmes make changes, as in 
seasonal specials? How has the presentation of these celebrations 
changed over time?
•    Sporting seasons - how does broadcasting shift to interact with 
different sporting seasons? How do the different power structures of 
sports organisations and broadcast organisations interact?
•    Political calendars - how does broadcasting interact with the 
calendars of politics, of Parliamentary sessions, of Presidential 
holidays, of summits, and elections?
•    Genres - are certain genres related to certain times of year? Does 
horror belong to winter? Is serious drama inappropriate to summer? Are 
variety programmes better suited to holidays?
•    Internationalising calendars - how do the international markets in 
broadcasting influence the production and reception of programmes that 
relate to holidays? Has the American Halloween been popularised by its 
presence in television programming? What about Christmas, and 
Valentine's Day? Are celebrations with religious roots secularised in 
broadcasting in order to appeal to an international audience?
•    Roots of celebrations - how do the broadcast forms of these 
celebrations relate to their cultural roots? How much is programming in 
industrial nations influenced by the agricultural calendar? What effect 
does industrialisation have on scheduling?
•    Transferring traditions - how does broadcasting adopt and adapt 
existing traditions? Why have broadcast pantomimes been so popular in 
Britain when the significant element of audience interactivity has been 
lost? How do seasonal episodes travel, or not travel, between nations 
and cultures?
•    Calendars and taste - why are programmes that would normally be 
considered minority interest promoted during certain seasonal 
celebrations? Opera and ballet become more prominent during the BBC 
Christmas schedule, for example. Countries also compare taste: why is 
Dinner for One a Christmas tradition in Germany, Denmark and Australia, 
and why do the BBC run items declaring this to be 'strange' every Christmas?
•    Media rituals - probably the most widely-researched subject related 
to calendar and seasonal broadcasting, but how can the marking of the 
seasons by broadcasting be considered in terms of media rituals? Or does 
the delineation of the broadcast year by programming need its own 
theoretical framework?
•    Channel branding and identity - how do different channels use the 
broadcast calendar to brand themselves? Do channel identities shift with 
the seasons, and why?
•    Dominant and subordinate cultures - how does broadcasting's 
treatment of different cultural calendars operate to promote division or 
integration into society?
•    Depicting the seasons - how are the seasons used in broadcast 
programmes to project ideas of time, the calendar, culture and society? 
What does the popularity of the televised observation of the natural 
seasons in programmes such as Lambing Live, Springwatch and Autumn Watch 
tell us about British society?
•    Calendars, seasons and identity - how do broadcasters suggest a 
national or cultural identity through their interaction with calendrical 
and seasonal events? How do their audiences use these broadcast patterns 
in their constructions of identity? How are multiple cultural and 
religious calendars dealt with in multi-cultural societies? What does 
this suggest about cultural and social roles of broadcasters?


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