Who speaks and who is addressed in radio phone-ins?

•Goffman's (1979) production and participation framework are applied to radio data.•Burger's (2001; 2005 [1984]) communicative circles complement the analyses.•Goffman's (1979) framework can be applied well to radio phone-ins in general.•Goffman's (1979) framework needs expansion for inner circle conversations.

The present paper shows that the “primitive notions of hearer and speaker” (Goffman, 1979:23) are not sufficient to analyse radio phone-in conversations. The format and (the audible as well as the non-audible) participants can be traced in the language used in conversations of different phone-in shows comprised in the British National Corpus. The application of Goffman's (1979) participation and production format and Burger's (2005 [1984]) communicative circles proves helpful to account for the special personal as well as technical constellations of phone-ins. Depending on how (ratified) ‘participation’ is understood, however, a further category of addressed, but not ratified participants has to be added to Goffman's (1979) participation framework when focusing on one conversation within a phone-in programme.