The Remote Control in the New Age of Television

Subjects:

• Popular Culture » Radio, TV
• Popular Culture » Popular Culture (General)

Reviews:

• The evolution of this small device as an interface of the technology that produced cable TV and the VCR is well presented, as are the statistics verifying its rapid and complete penetration into American TV households. The final three chapters, whose authors thoughtfully analyze the role of the remote in the larger of the political economics of the TV industry, along with Americans' infatuation with technology, and television's ability to confound fiction and reality, are provocative and indicative of where we should look for effects.
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  Choice
• . . . . This is a highly useful collection on a topic everyone lives with but few have yet analyzed.
  —Communications Booknotes

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Overview and Developmental Perspectives
• The Remote Control Device: An Overlooked Technology by James R. Walker and Robert V. Bellamy, Jr.
• At the Touch of a Button: A Brief History of Remote Control Devices by Louise Benjamin
• From Gadget to Necessity: The Diffusion of Remote Control Technology by Bruce C. Klopfenstein
• Individual RCD Use
• Measuring RCD Use: Method Matters by Nancy C. Cornwell, Shu-Ling Everett, Stephen E. Everett, Sandra Moriarty, Joseph A. Russomanno, Michael Tracey, and Roger Trager
• Surveillance and Cluster Viewing: Foraging through the RCD Experience by Paul J. Traudt
• Remote Control Devices in Television Program Selection: Experimental Evidence by Jennings Bryant and Steven C. Rockwell
• Future Zap: Next Generation Smart Remotes by Carrie Heeter, Kak Yoon and James Sampson
• Antecedents of Remote Control Use: Gratifications and Psychological Dimensions
• The Gratifications of Grazing: Adult Motivations for Remote Control Use by James R. Walker, Robert V. Bellamy, Jr., and Paul J. Traudt
• Is the Remote Control Device a Toy or Tool? Exploring the Need for Activation, Desire for Control, and Technological Affinity in the Dynamic of RCD Use by Lawrence A. Wenner and Maryann O'Reilly Dennehy
• Group Viewing in Remote Control Use: Family and Gender Issues
• "OK, Where's the Remote?" Children, Families and Remote Control Devices by Kathy A. Krendl, Cathyrn Troiano, Robert Dawson, and Ginger Clark
• Domination of the Remote Control during Family Viewing by Gary Copeland and Karla Schweitzer
• Gender Differences in Remote Control Use by Elizabeth M. Perse and Douglas A. Ferguson
• The Impact of Remote Control Devices on Media Industries
• The RCD's Impact on Television Programming and Promotion by Susan Tyler Eastman and Jeffrey Neal-Lunsford
• Remote Control Devices and the Political Economy of a Changing Television Industry by Robert V. Bellamy, Jr.
• Critical Perspectives on the Remote Control
• Remote Control: Mythic Reflections by David Lavery
• Technoromancing the Clicker by Bruce E. Gronbeck
• References
• Index