Professor Tim Wall
Tim Wall is Professor of Radio and Popular Music Studies in the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research. His work focuses on popular music cultures and their mediation and history, notably those around jazz, soul and reggae. He has published extensively in international journals and books, and he applies his insights in his work with doctoral research students. He currently leads the Global Reggae Research Project.
He has led five major collaborative research projects, was formerly an AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellow, and has worked with the BBC as well as a range of smaller radio and music businesses. He has also led research project on social media citizen journalism in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and with Syrian activists. Tim was formerly an AHRC Strategic Reviewer, was Editor of The Radio Journal, and chair of the Radio Studies Network.
His two textbooks have become widely used in popular music and media studies. His jointly-edited book on the northern soul scene has been very well received. He is currently jointly-editing a book on jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and writing the history of jazz on BBC radio.
Areas of Expertise
- Popular music of black origin: jazz, soul and reggae
- Radio and the mediation of popular music
- Music Industries and production cultures
Qualifications
- PhD Cultural Studies (Birmingham University)
- MA Cultural Studies (Birmingham University)
- PGCE (North Staffordshire Polytechnic)
- BA (Hons) Economics with Philosophy (Lancaster University)
Memberships
- IASPM
- MeCSSA
- Radio Studies Network
Teaching
- PhD Media and Cultural Studies
Research
Tim Wall researches into the production and consumption cultures around popular music, radio and other media. He has a particular focus on the white British response to popular music of black origin, including jazz, soul and reggae; how popular music is mediated, especially by radio; and how the tangible and intangible culture of popular music is archived.
His work is often collaborative, with other members of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, or in cross-university projects.
Postgraduate Supervision
I supervise students working on projects in British and US music radio, community media, popular music industry and culture.
Current student projects include practice-based work in community radio documentary, British jazz history, reggae production cultures, Palestinian hip-hop.
Publications
Publications since 2000
- Jazz and BBC Radio 1922 to 1972 (forthcoming, Equinox 2025).
- Media studies: texts, production and context (fourth edition) [with Paul Long, Beth Johnson, Shana MacDonald, Schem Rogerson Bader] (forthcoming, Routledge, 2025).
- Rethinking Miles Davis [with Roger Fagge and Nic Pillai eds] (forthcoming, OUP 2024).
- ‘Miles on a Second Major: Miles Davis’ Career From Columbia to Warner Bros Records’ in Roger Fagge, Nic Pillai and Tim Wall Rethinking Miles Davis (forthcoming, OUP 2024).
- ‘Locating Tutu’ in Roger Fagge, Nic Pillai and Tim Wall Rethinking Miles Davis (forthcoming, OUP 2024).
- ‘Orchestrating Miles’ [with Bobbie-Jane Gardner] in Roger Fagge, Nic Pillai and Tim Wall Rethinking Miles Davis (forthcoming, OUP 2024).
- ‘My One LP: a photo essay on the personal resonance of Miles Davis’ recorded music’ [with William Ellis] in Roger Fagge, Nic Pillai and Tim Wall Rethinking Miles Davis (forthcoming, OUP 2024).
- Re-imagining the music photographic portrait: Capturing the place of recorded music in our cultural identity. A collaboration between William Ellis and Tim Wall (2024).
- ‘(Re)Presenting British Reggae Culture on Film: Reggae Britannia, Babylon and Small Axe Lovers Rock’ [with Ben Torrens] in Conference Papers, 7th Global Reggae Conference. (forthcoming, UWI 2023).
- ‘Retelling the story of the early BBC through jazz broadcasting 1922 to 1932’ The Journal of Radio & Audio Media (2023)
- ‘Reframing Materiality in the Caribbean Diaspora Podcast’ [with Rachel-Ann Charles] in Iain Taylor and Oliver Carter (eds) Media Materialities (2023).
- ‘“Since Tommy Atkins Taught the Chinese How to Charleston”: what is jazz in Jack Payne's Hotel Cecil Dance Band’s 1927 BBC Broadcasts’. in Jazzforschung / Jazz Research: Jazz Journeys Vol. 50 (2022).
- ‘Hidden in Plain Sight: Stories of gender, generation and political economy on the northern soul scene’ [with Sarah Raine] in Martin James and Chris Anderton Media Narratives in Popular Music (2021).
- Media studies: texts, production and context (third edition) [with Paul Long, Beth Johnson, Shana MacDonald, Schem Rogerson Bader] Routledge, 2021
- ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll: Cars, Convergence and Culture’ [with Nick Webber] in Mark Duffett and Beate Peter [eds] Music & Automobiles Bloomsbury, 2019.
- ‘Co-operative Inquiry between research student and their supervisor’ [with Sarah Raine] in Geof Hill [ed] 10 ways to Investigate Research Supervision Practice SEDA, 2019.
- ‘“Out on the Floor”: The Politics of Dancing on the Northern Soul Scene’ in Sarah Raine, Tim Wall and Nicola Watchman-Smith [eds] The Northern Soul Scene Equinox, 2019.
- ‘Myths on/of the Northern Soul Scene’ [with Sarah Raine] Scene’ in Sarah Raine, Tim Wall and Nicola Watchman-Smith [eds] The Northern Soul Scene Equinox, 2019.
- ‘Interviews with Tony Palmer, Elaine Constantine, and Liam Quinn’ in Sarah Raine, Tim Wall and Nicola Watchman-Smith [eds] The Northern Soul Scene Equinox, 2019.
- ‘Introduction’ [with Sarah Raine and Nicola Watchman-Smith] in Sarah Raine, Tim Wall and Nicola Watchman-Smith [eds] The Northern Soul Scene Equinox, 2019.
- ‘Critical Reflection’ in Sarah Raine, Tim Wall and Nicola Watchman-Smith [eds] The Northern Soul Scene Equinox, 2019.
- The Northern Soul Scene [with Sarah Raine and Nicola Watchman-Smith eds] Equinox, 2019.
- ‘Screening popular music’s past: Music documentary and biopics’ [with Nicolas Pillai] in Sarah Baker, Catherine Strong, Lauren Istvandity, Zelmarie Cantillon [eds] The Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage, Routledge 2018.
- ‘Jazz on radio’ in Nick Gebhardt, Nichole Rustin-Paschal Tony Whyton Routledge Companion to Jazz Studies Routledge, 2018.
- 'Radio Sound' in Michael Bull (ed) Routledge Companion to Sound Studies. Routledge, 2018.
- ‘La Radio Musical Entra a Internet’ in post(s). Volumen 3. Agosto 2017. AKADEMOS
- ‘Participation and role in the northern soul scene’ [with Sarah Raine] in Paula Guerra and Tânia Moreira (eds.) Keep it Simple, Make it Fast!: an approach to underground music scenes (vol. 3) Porto, 2017.
- ‘Duke Ellington, the meaning of jazz and the BBC in the 1930s’ in Roger Fagge and Nicolas Pillai (eds) New Jazz Conceptions: History, Theory, Practice Routledge, 2016.
- ‘Music Radio Goes Online’ in Christina Baade et al Music and the broadcast experience: performance, production, and audience OUP, 2016.
- ‘Sight and Sound in Concert? The Interrelationship Between Music and Television’ [with Paul Long] in The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music Andy Bennett and Steve Waksman (eds) Sage, 2015.
- ‘Collective cultures and live jazz in Birmingham’ [with Simon Barber] in Nicholas Gebhardt and Tony Whyton (eds) The Cultural Politics of Jazz Collectives: This Is Our Music Routledge, 2015.
- ‘Personal Listening Pleasures’ [with Nick Webber] in Martin Conboy and John Steel (eds) The Routledge Companion to British Media History Routledge, 2015.
- ‘Anarcho-Punk webzines: transferring symbols of defiance from the print to the digital age?’ [with Matt Grimes] in Matthew Worley (ed) Fight Back: Punk, politics and resistance Manchester University Press, 2014.
- ‘Changing cultural co-ordinates: the transistor radio and space / time / identity’ [with Nick Webber] in Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies OUP, 2014.
- ‘Mobilising specialist music fans online’ in Helen Thornham and Simon Popple (ed) Content Cultures: Transformations of User Generated Content in Public Service Broadcasting IBTaurus, 2013.
- ‘The X Factor’ in Peter Bennett and Julian McDougall (eds) Barthes’ "Mythologies" Today: Readings of Contemporary Culture, Routledge, 2013
- ‘Tony Palmer’s All You Need Is Love: Television’s first pop history’ [with Paul Long] in Benjamin Halligan, Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs, and Robert Edgar (eds) The Music Documentary, Taylor & Francis/Routledge, 2013.
- Studying popular music culture (second edition) Sage, 2013.
- ‘Duke Ellington, radio remotes, and the mediation of big city nightlife, 1927 to 1933’ Jazz Perspectives 2013.
- ‘The collective organization of contemporary jazz musicians in the UK’ [with Simon Barber], Jazz Research Journal 5/1&2, 89-112, Equinox 2012.
- ‘Musica popular y radio en siglo XXI’ in J. Ignacio Gallego y Ma Trinidad Garcia Leiva Sintonizando el future: Radio y producción sonora en el siglioXXI Madrid: Instituto rtve, 2012.
- Media studies: texts, production and context (second edition) [ed with Paul Long] Pearson, 2012.
- ‘Bienvenido a la nueva era de la radio: la comprensión de la actualidad de radio del pasado de la radio’ (Welcome to the third age of radio: understanding radio's present from radio's past) in Itxaso Fernandez et al (eds) The Radio is dead. Long live the Radio! Proceedings of I Congreso Internacional de Comunicación Audiovisual y Publicidad 24 y 25 de Noviembre 2012.
- ‘Constructing the histories of popular music: the Britannia series’ [with Paul Long] in Ian Inglis (ed) Popular Music on British Television Ashgate, 2010.
- ‘Jazz Britannia: mediating the story of British jazz on television’ [with Paul Long] Jazz Research Journal 3/2, 145-170 2010.
- ‘Experimenting with fandom, live music, and the internet: applying insights from music fan culture to new media production’ [with Andrew Dubber] Journal of New Music Research, 39/2, 159-169, 2010.
- Media studies: texts, production and context [ed with Paul Long] Pearson, 2009.
- Tony Levin: a life in jazz [with Simon Barber] online http://www.tonylevin.org, 2009
- ‘Specialist music, public service and the BBC in the internet age’ [with Andrew Dubber] the Radio Journal 7/1, 27-47, 2009.
- 'Rocking Around the Clock: dance fads from 1955 to 1965', in Julie Malnig (ed) Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake: A Social and Popular Dance Reader 2009.
- ‘Finding an alternative: music programming in US college radio’ in the Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media 5/1, 35-54, 2007.
- ‘David Murray: The making of a progressive jazz musician’ Jazz Research Journal 1/2, 173-203, 2007.
- Making money out of music: the development of regional music economies Digital Central, 2007.
- New broadcast technologies [editor] UNESCO, 2006.
- ‘Calling the tune: resolving the tension between profit and regulation in commercial radio’ Southern Review 39/2, 77-95, 2006.
- ‘Out on the floor: the politics of dancing on the Northern Soul scene’ Popular Music 25/3, 431-445, 2006.
- Online music enterprise: new technologies of music distribution and consumption LSC, 2006.
- ‘The Specialist Radio Degree at UCE’ [with Peter Windows], The Radio Journal, 2/2, 101-122, 2005.
- ‘The political economy of internet music radio’ The Radio Journal 2/1, 27-44, 2004.
- Studying popular music culture, Arnold, 2003.
- ‘Commercial radio and the construction of audiences’ Electronic Working Papers in Radio, 2002.
- ‘Policy, pop, and the public: The discourse of regulation in British commercial radio’ Journal of Radio Studies, 7/1, 2000.
Conferences since 2000
- ‘The British Broadcasting Corporation and new British jazz 1960-75’ at Jazz in the European Media: Historical considerations and current trends. 47th Radio Jazz Research Meeting. Bad Ischl, Salzkammergut, Austria, April 2024.
- ‘Gendering Jazz on BBC Radio’ Rhythm Changes Gratz, Austria, April 2024.
- ‘What is your One LP?’ [with William Ellis] 2023 Prolight + Sound Frankfurt, Austria, March 2024.
- ‘The One LP Project: re-imagining the music based photographic portrait’ [with William Ellis] Haarlem Vinyl Festival, Nederland September 2023.
- ‘The Global Reggae Research Project’ International Summer Institute for Reggae Studies, Minnesota, USA, May, 2023.
- ‘Positionality in reggae culture research’ [with Ben Torrens] in absentia at Subcultures Network International Conference Bristol April 2023
- ‘Listeners-in and jazz: the emergence of ‘the audience’ in early BBC radio jazz programming’ at BCMCR Seminar, February 2023.
- ‘100 years of music at the cutting edge on the BBC’ [with Roger Fagge, Chris Marshall] BBC at 100 Symposium, Bradford, September 2022.
- ‘The now-ness of Miles Davis’ Tutu’ Rhythm Changes: Jazz Then & Now, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 2022
- ‘Listeners-in and jazz: the emergence of ‘the audience’ in early BBC radio jazz programming’ at BCMCR Seminar, February 2023.
- ‘Discourses of race in BBC jazz programming 1923 - 1933’ Documenting Jazz, Jazz Heritage Wales, Swansea, November 2022.
- ‘100 years of music at the cutting edge on the BBC’ [with Roger Fagge, Chris Marshall, ] BBC at 100 Symposium, Bradford, September 2022.
- ‘The now-ness of Miles Davis’ Tutu’ Rhythm Changes: Jazz Then & Now, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 2022
- ‘Beat Street: “the birthplace of reggae, ska and rocksteady” as a site for economic and cultural sustainability’, Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! (KISMIF) DIY Cultures, Sustainability and Artistic Eco-systems, Portugal July 2022.
- ‘(Re)Presenting British Reggae Culture on Film’ [with Ben Torrens], 7th Global Reggae Conference University of the West Indies, Mona, April 2022.
- ‘A question for the BBC Jazz Committee in 1973’ Documenting Jazz Edinburgh / Virtual June 2021.
- Opening keynote Documenting Jazz, Birmingham City University, January 2020.
- ‘British Radio Broadcasting and the idea of European Jazz 1962 to 1972’ Jazz and Cultural Identity – In and Out of Europe, University of Central Lancashire, June 2019.
- ‘“Since Tommy Atkins Taught the Chinese How To Charleston’: what is jazz in Jack Payne’s BBC Dance Orchestra 1928-32’ Sixth Rhythm Changes Conference: Jazz Journeys, University of Music and Performing Arts, Graz, Austria April 2019.
- ‘Reggae on British Commercial Radio’ 6th Global Reggae Conference: Reggae Innovation and Sound System Culture II University of West Indies, Jamaica February 2019.
- ‘Exploring the documents of the documenting of jazz: understanding the BBC’s role in making British jazz in the jazz age’ Documenting Jazz Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin January 2019.
- ‘The Past as a Legitimising Country: Mapping out the ‘hidden histories’ of multigenerational music scenes’ [with Sarah Raine] Writing the Noise: The Second International Conference of the Subcultures Network, University of Reading September 2018.
- ‘Duke Ellington, Radio Remotes, and the Mediation of Big City Nightlife, 1927 to 1933’ In the Beginning, Duke: The Three-Day Ellington Summit Birmingham City University May 2018.
- ‘Co-Production as Research into UK Reggae Culture’. Reggae Futures University Of London, November 2017.
- ‘Jazz on the BBC in the interwar years’ The Impact of Jazz: Britain in the 20s and 30s London Jazz Festival, November 2017.
- ‘Negotiating Between Trads and Moderns: BBC jazz radio broadcasting 1947 to 1967’. Rhythm Changes: Re/Sounding Jazz Amsterdam, September 2017.
- ‘Jazz on BBC Radio 1923 to 1973’. Continental Drift: A Century of Jazz on Record. Edinburgh Napier University / Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival July 2017.
- ‘Reggae on British Commercial Radio 1973 to 1996’ Reggae Research Network Expanding the Field Symposium Liverpool, May 2017.
- ‘Miles On A Second Major – Locating Late Miles And Warner Brothers Records’ Miles Davis and John Coltrane at 90: Retrospect and Prospect University of Surrey, Guildford October 2016.
- ‘Creation myths of / on the northern soul scene’ [with Sarah Raine] Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! (KISMIF) DIY Cultures, Spaces and Places Porto, Portugal July 2016.
- ‘Imaging a British Jazz 1945 to 1975: Jazz on the BBC and the pursuit of cultural nirvana’ Rhythm Changes: Jazz Utopia Birmingham City University, Birmingham April 2016.
- ‘Radio One on the Road: creating that festival spirit for live radio broadcasts’ keynote address, Festival Cultures: Media, Place, Music University of East Anglia, Norwich, May 2015.
- ‘Popular Music and the BBC: three moments in the history of the BBC’s relationship with popular music’ Salford Music Seminar Salford University June 2015.
- ‘On Screen Off Record: Media Discourses of War, Political Filmmaking and Ethical Practice’ [with Dima Saber] Artistic practice as an alternative to news media CARISM – IFP – University of Panthéon-Assas, Paris II, Paris June 2015.
- ‘The line between jazz and not-jazz: music broadcasting and the BBC 1923 to 1953’ The Jazz Beyond Borders Conference, Conservatory of Amsterdam, September 2014.
- ‘The X Factor vs the Cobweb Collective’ keynote address, PopLife: The Value of Popular Music in the Twenty First Century, The University of Northampton, June 2014.
- ‘City culture and cultural identity and its role in economic success’ Birmingham Made Me Birmingham City University, Birmingham June 2013.
- ‘Rethinking ‘European jazz’ through the work of Steven Feld’ Rhythm Changes II Conference, Salford University, April 2013.
- ‘Jazz Britannia’ Rotterdam Film Festival, Rotterdam, January 2013.
- ‘Stomping Ground: how northern soul built a dance community’ keynote address, Northern Soul: Community, Memory and Place Manchester Metropolitan University, June 2012.
- ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll: cars, convergence and culture’ [with Nick Webber] Popular Music and Automobile Culture, University of Chester, June 2012.
- ‘Live Jazz in Birmingham’ [with Simon Barber] Interesting Times for Local Live Music Live Music Exchange, Leeds College of Music, May 2012.
- ‘How could (and should we) we study music consumption?’ [with Nick Webber] Music, Methods and the Social Open University / Curve Theatre, Leicester, May 2012.
- ‘Welcome to the third age of radio: understanding radio's present from radio's past’ EL I Congreso Internacional “The Radio is Dead. Long Live the Radio! University of Basque Country, in Bilbao, Spain, November 2011.
- ‘Locating British Jazz Under Milk Wood’ Rhythm Changes: Jazz and National Identities Conference, Amsterdam, September 2011.
- ‘Contemporary live jazz scenes in the UK regions’ The Business of Live Music Conference Edinburgh, June 2011.
- ‘Using social media in music promotion’ Jazz World Meeting Amsterdam December 2010.
- ‘Northern Soul: there’s nothing northern about it (and while we’re at it, it isn’t soul and the dancers aren’t break dancers)’ Rare Records and Raucous Nights conference, November 2010.
- ‘Discursive repertoires of blackness and transatlantic exchange: three moments in the making of British Jazz’ Jazz and Race, Past and Present Conference, OU Milton Keynes UK, November 2010.
- ‘Public Service broadcasting, archives, and cultural television’ On, Archives! Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, July 2010.
- ‘Radio remotes and the nightlife of the big city’ Broadcasting in the 1930s; radio, television and the Depression University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, July 2010.
- ‘Creating British jazz archives: experimenting with online media’ [with Simon Barber] MeCCSA Conference LSE, January 2010.
- ‘Jazz and new media’ Mediating Jazz Conference Salford University, November 2009.
- ‘Ken Burns’ ‘Jazz’: popular intellectuals and the vox populi’ Leeds International Jazz Conference, March 2009.
- ‘Mediating popular music heritage: British television’s narratives of popular music’s past’ [with Paul Long] IASPM, 2009.
- ‘Specialist music, public service broadcasting and the challenge of new social media’ The Radio Conference, York University, Toronto, Canada, July 2009.
- ‘Jazz Britannia: mediating the story of British jazz’s past on television’ [with Paul Long] Salford New Jazz Histories Seminar, November 2008.
- ‘BBC jazz radio listeners online’ Leeds International Jazz Conference, March 2008.
- ‘BBC specialist music radio listeners online’ MeCCSA, January 2008.
- ‘Music programming on college radio in the USA’ The Radio Conference, Lincoln University July 2007.
- ‘Studying popular music culture’ inaugural professorial lecture UCE, April 2007.
- ‘David Murray: inside and outside jazz’ Leeds International Jazz Conference, March 2007.
- ‘College radio in the USA’ MeCCSA Conference, January 2007.
- ‘Consuming online music’, MeCCSA Conference, Leeds, 13-15 January 2006.
- ‘Jazz on UK radio: a historiography’, Leeds International Jazz Conference, Leeds, March 2006
- ‘Ofcom’s radio consultation and the future of over-the-air radio in the UK’ Radio Studies Conference, UCE in Birmingham, March 2005.
- ‘National regulation in an age of global radio’ Public and Alternative Broadcasting Conference, Seville, February 2005.
- ‘The internet and changes in the structure of the international radio industry’ Radio Studies Network Conference, University of Luton, January 2004,
- ‘The political economy of internet radio’ the Radio Conference, Madison-Wisconsin, July 2003.
- ‘Rethinking audience research through the Radio Research Project’ MeCCSA Conference, Sheffield University, January 2000.
Media Work
Tim Wall is one of the University’s dedicated team of trained media champions, and can comment on a range of subjects including:
- Popular music
- Radio
To arrange a media interview, please contact Birmingham City University Press Office on 0121 331 6738, 07967 271532,
email press@bcu.ac.uk or via Twitter @BCUPressOffice
Work With Industry
- I have worked with the BBC and a variety of independent record companies.