Introduction

In a society where all the communications are interfered by technology, mediatic education is necessary at an early stage. Besides being traditional consumers, young people have become active consumers who require, by no means, a series of competences more and more complex to understand new formats, interpret new narrative structures, elaborate new audiovisual contents and share them through social networks. As in other traditional media, radio audiences are familiar with this new type of communicative scenario: Young people and adults listen to the radio more and more using mobile phones. This implies it is necessary to be familiar with screens and technology (from photography to video) until the interaction in social nets from a sound experience.

In spite of the technological evolution experienced by the radio in Spain through transmedia narratives (^{Peñafiel Sáiz, 2016}) and multidevice consumption which attract young audience at first sight, a number of research show that it is not enough to attract young people’s attention (^{Catalina-García, López de Ayala & Martín, 2017}; ^{López Vidales & Gómez Rubio, 2014}; ^{Perona, Barbeito Veloso & Fajula Payet, 2014}). One of the reasons is related to the lack of radio content targeted toward young people. In this sense, ^{Santos Diez and Pérez Dasilva (2016)} points out that there is a separation between programmes in traditional radio and what young people prefer to listen to. As a consequence, the relationship between radio and young people is being reduced to a key situation which makes this work possible: young people in Spain do not have the habit of listening to the radio and, so, they do not know either the media content (^{Pérez-Maíllo & SánchezSerrano, 2013}) or its real potential in the digital era. It is obvious that society changes and it is worth noting that technological development reflects new consumer habits. However, applied technology in radio will be only useful if it can attract new audiences, apart from improving not only the transmission but also the reception and new narrative formats. As such, young people may start listening to the radio and understand the media and its communicative up-to-date model.

In this context, the article presents and evaluates empirically Viaje al Centro de la Radio, a transmedia educational and communicative project, which seeks to promote radiophonical culture among students. These being Compulsory Secondary Education among students of ESO and high school. The aim is to recognize the media and prepare young people when they consume new digital forms. It is a pioneer experience in transmedia literacy in the local area developed as an initiative of the Universidad Pontificia of Salamanca in cooperation with other local agents: radio companies, cultural institutions and educational centres in Salamanca.

Radio and young people: from mediatic literacy to transmedia literacy

In 2003, Buckingham proclaimed that “media are without the shadow of a doubt and by no means the main contemporary resource of cultural expression and communications: who participate actively in public life will have to use the modern media of social communication” (2003, p. 22). From this starting point, it can be stated a common idea in which the main international and national researchers coincide in this area, at pointing out communication media as an object of mediatic literacy (^{Buitrago, Navarro & García Matilla, 2015}). From international institutions such as the UN, UNESCO, The European Parliament or the Council of Europe, the mediatic education starts as a basic right for citizenship. This takes into account, among its main objectives, the development of a critical education, active and plural among communication media (^{Pérez-Rodríguez, Ramírez & García-Ruiz, 2015}). Young people nowadays were born in a highly technified and mediatic society and are exposed constantly to media information which is impossible to digest and interpret fully and with minimum understanding of media consumption. This is why it is necessary for media education. ^{Aguaded Gómez and Guzmán Franco (2014)} state:

The daily consumption of media does not guarantee efficient use, that is why it is necessary a training in audiovisual and media literacy, understanding these as skills, abilities, attitudes and no professional minimum aptitudes to be able to interpret sensibly the variety of images, contents and communication applications in our daily lives (p. 39).

In the case of radio media literacy, ^{Perona and Barbeito Veloso (2007)} used to propose some iniatives led to work this media as one of the main axis for the audiovisual communication. However, as ^{Scolari (2016)} points out: “The mediatic literacy cannot be limited to the critical analysis of television contents or the production of communication school pieces inspired in the broadcasting model or the printed press” (p.19). In this society, hyperconnected to most communications, and which are based on the use of technologies at earlier stages in a more and more participative culture, the users -in this particular case young people in the digital area who became mediatic prosumers- make and consume content. It is precisely within this multiplatform and proactive context where mediatic literacy may be insufficient. Thus, this author prefers to talk about transmedia literacy as a more adequate proposal, which “may enrichen the traditional conception of mediatic literacy” (^{Scolari, 2016, p. 20}).

From Jenkins’ point of view (2003), transmedia narrative is defined as “a type of narration where history is displayed through multiple media and communication media and where a part of consumers assumes an active role in this expansion process” (^{Scolari, 2013, p. 46}). Now, is it accurate to use the concept of transmedia literacy in the radio media? If we agree to a relation among transmedia, transmedia consumption and transmedia literacy, we should question if radio follows the parameters, which characterize transmedia narratives. ^{Martínez-Costa (2015)} says that “the radio has been included in understanding of communication, so there are more existing models of innovative voiced products which are integrated in several platforms, explore diversity of languages and interrupt the classical script model in the traditional radio” (p. 168).

The presence of radio in digital screens has fostered, besides, the inclusion of new strategies to spread and distribute radio programmes in order to make it part of a daily basis of media consumers with this new ecosystem (^{Pedrero-Esteban & Herrera-Damas, 2017}). Thus, if Spanish radio makes progress towards a new communicative model based on transmedia narratives, the mediatic literacy of those who need to improve their radio skills should be transmedia.

Source: Own elaboration.

Figure 1 Correlation among transmedia industry/transmedia consumption/ transmedia literacy 

From this starting point, Viaje al Centro de la Radio is presented as a pioneer experience, which seeks to contribute to spreading this radio programme among young people who dominates the digital era in an innovative way. It is a transmedia project which has the following characteristics: it is cooperative because it is developed by several agents; the narration is spread through multiple media and platforms -radio, theatre, television, web, nets- and consumers who participate actively in the spread of this medium.

Methodology

As there is “an existing lack of a unified methodology to research transmedia narratives” (^{Scolari, 2013, p. 295}), to carry out this research an ad hoc method has been created following the aforementioned objectives. Thus, a mixed methodology regarding quantity and quality has been followed.

The quality focus includes parameters which contain the compilation of academic research about the object of the study, identification and analysis of didactic actions about the radiophonic digital era; interviews with radio businessmen, scriptwriters, directors of schools and academic and cultural institutions; the design of the transmedia project or the employment of qualitative methods such as the non- participant observation used as a technique to collect data about the first edition from Viaje al Centro de la Radio as the object to minimize errors in the second one.

Regarding the quantitative analysis, empirical research is conducted using three phases:

Depending on the number of schools and students, a sample of 120 students for enquiries before (pre) and (post) experience was achieved. This N of cases (120) guarantees the representation of the sample with an error range of 6.8% (precision) for a degree of confidence of 95% and expected proportion p=q=50% (maximum variability). The distribution of the sample planned for school and group was the one observed in Table 2. The sample is near 100% to the planned obtained (see Table 2). The representation was proportional to the number of assistants in every school (see Tables 1 y 2).

The sample by gender could not be shown because the schools did not facilitate this information. In the sample a slight majority of women participated (53.3%; 64) to men (46.7%; 56). Regarding age range, individuals between 13 and 26 were asked, but in the majority of cases most were between 13 and 18 years: 80%; that is 96 out of 120 participants. Some subjects over 20 participated. In spite of this, the media of the sample is 16.43 with a deviation of 2.49.

Description of the Transmedia Experience

The project Viaje al Centro de la Radio started in June 2015 and ended in April 2017. It constituted an experience shared with a high level of exchanges among radio enterprises, schools, cultural institutions, scriptwriters, actors, communication students, teachers, journalists, technicians, work team meetings, audiovisual productions recordings, training programmes, web management, press conferences, premières organization, extra contents production (videos, podcasts, photography) and design and survey analysis.

Viaje al Centro de la Radio was conceived from the beginning as a pioneer experience of transmedia literacy from original radio. From this, the project was carried out with this purpose:

Source: Own Elaboration.

Figure 2 Platforms, channels and expansion media of Viaje al Centro de la Radio 

Transmedia experiences are not limited to fictional and non-fictional narratives but are also found in other cultural areas, such as theatre or music. How does theatre enter transmedia narratives? For example, it can be added to media networks -the answer is yes, theatre is a communication medium!- and contribute to the expansion of stories created from cinema or television (p. 77).

This way students participated in a didactic masterpiece, interactive and ludic, which commemorated The Radio World’s Day. Combining reality and fiction, the work -about an hour long- performed in the Theatre Liceo of Salamanca and told about the ins and outs of the radio: live interviews, news, connections, advertising, chronicles, live musical shows, presenters, sport or explanations of key concepts in the digital era, for instance, the podcast. The assistants could participate in a prize, through digital nets, whose prize was recording a podcast in the radio studios located in the Faculty of Communication of UPSA. The work was written, directed and played by professional actors, who have trained as journalists, in cooperation with students and teachers from UPSA. During the play, the public interacted with the actors and could share their experiences through the hashtag#Viajealcentrodelaradio.

In view of the success, the experience accomplished two important achievements: the Salamanca City of Knowledge Foundation created a training proposal in digital Audiovisual Culture including the play, and the Castilla y León Board awarded the project with the Francisco de Cossío Award 2016 in the Radio mode.

Results

In this section, the description and contrast⁵ of the answers that respondents offer before and after participating in Viaje al Centro de la Radio is analysed. The most relevant data are presented to validate the research hypothesis:

Conclusion

Viaje al Centro de la Radio experience is set as a transmedia literacy project designed for young people to discover, know and understand radio in the digital environment. After the results obtained in the research, we can conclude that students who participate in the experience better understand and are more prepared to listen to radio. The value of the project is also derived from these results, allowing the validation of the general hypothesis and the achievement of the objectives defined in the initial approach of the investigation. The results obtained stand out when contrasting the answers that the participants contribute before (pre-test) and after (post-test) to participate in the Journey to the Radio Center experience. This data reveals significant differences in all the questions raised. For example, students attitude about radio changed once their ideas and misconceptions that they had about the medium altered. There was a significant increase in the radio’s interest after participating in the study. The participants were more willing to listen to it, to know it better and, in short, to modify and improve their perception of the radio. According to the results, the need for media literacy in young people to face the sound ecosystem on the Internet is evident. A fact is striking: almost 70% of respondents do not know what a podcast is, this being the key support for the distribution and commercialization of sound content in the digital environment. If young people do not know this component of current radio, they will hardly be able to interact in and with the medium.

The transmedia design that forms part of Viaje al Centro de la Radio, based on the multi-channel expansion of the story through theatre, web, flyers, radio, printed and digital press, television and social networks, offers young participants a collaborative, interactive and transmedia experience that awakens interest in radio. The opportunity to access, produce and distribute content, the ability to interact, the possibility of alternating the roles of producer and consumer, together with the collaborative nature that emerges from this proposal -multiple participants, training workshops, rehearsals and meetings- make of this didactic activity an effective and motivating alternative to traditional forms of media literacy. The results support this.

In addition to this positive analysis, the recommendations and conclusions included in Transmedia Literacy in the new ecology of the media are added: Libro Blanco (White Book) (^{Scolari, 2018a}), from which, it is ratified that the pedagogical design of Viaje al Centro de la Radio, as a proposal for transmedia literacy, is not misguided. In this sense, if we look at the map of transmedia competences and informal learning strategies identified by the researchers of the Transmedia Literacy project (^{Scolari, 2018a, p. 9}), we can recognize which have been well used, activated and enhanced in the transmedia activity that we present.

Firstly, Viaje al Centro de la Radio especially introduces a “strategy of learning through practice” (^{Scolari, 2018b, p. 85}) based on the active participatory methodology “learning by doing”. Secondly, the transmedia competences that are applied in the proposal, have to do with the design of the experience -activities that promote an intense participation of young people in a variety of media and informatics support, even involving them in the same investigation- which allows the authors of the survey and young participants collaborate together closely “... so that they feel part of the project, not as subjects ‘of an experiment but as participants of an enriching experience” (^{Scolari, 2018b, p. 124}). Some of the media competences identified and categorized by the Transmedia Literacy team (^{Scolari, 2018a, p. 9}) are collected, they can be considered, to a certain extent, as the essence of the Viaje al Centro de la Radio: a) Skills production: Create and modify written, audiovisual, photographic and audio productions; use tools for filming and editing and photographic and editing; use audio recordings and editing tools; use software and writing applications; b) Competences performance: acting; c) Social management skills: participate in social networks; to collaborate; coordinate and lead; teach; d) Content management competences: search, select and download; manage content files; manage the dissemination of content; e) Competences with the media and technology: recognize and describe; evaluate and reflect; apply; g) Ideology and ethics competences: recognize and describe; evaluate and reflect; apply and f) Narrative and aesthetic competences: interpreting; recognize and describe; compare; evaluate and reflect; apply.

To conclude, it can be stated that Viaje al Centro de la Radio accomplishes the recommendation of the Transmedia Literacy project when it points out the importance of taking advantage of the high degree of useful skills many adolescents have when it comes to tackling future literacy actions of transmedia literacy. According to ^{Scolari (2018a)}:

This is important from the perspective of future actions for the development of the Transmedia Literacy: in a class there is a higher possibility to be a number of students with high useful skills than adolescents with skills related to ideology and ethics (p. 10).

And that is precisely what Viaje al Centro de la Radio has sought: to put into practice those productive and creative competences that are most familiar to young people with regards to the effectiveness of the didactic activity, such as planning the organization of videos, podcasts, advertising spots, editing, writing scripts, designing websites, etc. in the different media and informatics supports that make up the experience.

The experience also shows that one of the keys to the success of transmedia literacy initiatives such as the one described here lies in the involvement of different stages. Collaboration between institutions with responsible, educational, cultural and communication professionals is fundamental if they want to promote innovative strategies of media literacy that contributed to generating among students, the ability to analyse, evaluate and create messages through a wide variety of media and formats, as well as feeling more involved in the communication process. In short, this study, although evaluated in the local environment, could well be extended to other territorial areas with the same scheme. That is the intention of the authors of this article: expand the Viaje al Centro de la Radio.