Dial the Difference—How and Why BBC Local Radio and Independent Local Radio Developed Different News Services

This article is principally concerned with how and why these 2 types of radio news developed. It discusses the culture, ethos and practices of the 2 services and, in particular, if and how each was influenced by the other. Much of the article is concerned about how the new commercial stations developed practices and styles that were consciously different from, and in some cases in direct opposition to, those at the BBC, both nationally and locally. The article argues that it was the BBC which adopted and integrated commercial radio’s style and practices, rather than, as is often supposed, the other way around.     

BBC Radio Ulster: Public Service Radio in Northern Ireland’s Divided Society

BBC radio has been broadcast in Northern Ireland since shortly after the establishment of the country in the early 1920s. Throughout this period it has been faced by the challenge of how to deliver public service radio in a divided society, one that has for many years experienced violent conflict. Today as BBC Radio Ulster, the station has the highest audience reach of any BBC network radio service or those nations services in Scotland and Wales. This article outlines how BBC policy serves to deliver this performance, by examining a BBC Trust Service Review in relation to culture and diversity.     

Right-Wing Pirate Radio Broadcasting in Israel: The Political Discourse About Channel 7, 1993–2003

This study examines an Israeli right-wing pirate radio station, Channel 7. Channel 7 was established in 1988 as a sea-based pirate radio station of the right-wing block in the religious-Zionist movement. Three questions were posed in the research: (a) What is the social representation of right-wing pirate radio station in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) discussions? (b) Did Yitzhak Rabin (Israeli Prime Minister) assassination influence the social representation of Channel 7 in the Knesset discussions? and (c) How does right-wing Knesset Members' social representation of Channel 7 differ from that of left-wing Knesset Members? An analysis of 115 parliamentary debates held in Israel between 1993 and 2003 referring to Channel 7 suggests the Knesset tended to affirm right-wing argumentation, Rabin's assassination strengthened right-wing as well as left-wing contentions, both right-wing and left-wing MKs tended to preserve the status quo and avoid changes, and right-wingers turned down left-wing demands for regulation.     

Local Radio Audiences in Iran: An Analysis of Ardebilian People's Trust in and Satisfaction with “Sabalan” Radio

There are numerous local radio stations across Iran. Considering the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural characteristics of their audiences, local stations endeavor to produce and broadcast diverse programs. One local station is “Sabalan” situated in Ardebil province in northwest Iran. Since the audience of this station speaks the same language as the inhabitants of the neighboring countries of Azerbaijan and Turkey, whether Sabalan can attract and satisfy its audience becomes significant. The paper is the result of a research project done in relation to the extent to which the Ardebilian audience is satisfied by Sabalan and trusts its programs. The findings reveal that the audience is less than satisfied with Sabalan and has almost no trust in the news, information, and programs. The reasons they mention for their attitude are: censorship of the news and little reflection of reality, lack of respect for indigenous culture and language, and broadcasting too many programs in Persian.     

Queer in Your Ear: Connecting Space,Community, and Identity in LGBT BBC Radio Programs, 1992–2000

This article analyses two long-running gay and lesbian radio programs from the BBC from the 1990s to highlight different approaches to notions of identity and definition, based on items that focused on interactions with physical space, both public and private. The weekly program Gay and Lesbian London broadcast in London on BBC GLR94.9 contained items that constructed a different relationship between gay identity and locations, compared to Gaytalk on BBC GMR, and its relationship with Manchester. By exploring the significance of gay and lesbian radio in relation to ideas around community, and its relationship with the editorial narrative, the paper argues there is fluidity between community and identity. The subsequent analysis of the radio output in the two programs focuses on the intersection between spatial relationships and sexuality. Content from the Manchester program foregrounded the prominence of the city’s commercial area, the Gay Village, in queer lives, while in London, domesticity and dispersed community apart from the gay scene dominated the narrative. The way these two programs mediated the relationship between communities of listeners and their locations throws light on gay and lesbian experiences during an important period of social and political change.     

Factors Influencing the Adoption of HD Radio™ by Local Radio Station Managers

A sample of 114 radio stations measured attitudes toward the adoption of HD Radio? and found that stations that have gone digital were motivated the most by 2 of 5 identified factors: image enhancement and programming considerations. The lesser factors were competition, revenue, and cost. The study also examined the relation between risk and survival. The data confirmed the importance of managerial attitudes toward disruptive technologies and their relation to image, programming, and competition.     

Local Radio—A Different Sort of Animal

There was extensive mutual influence between BBC Local Radio and Independent Local Radio (ILR), particularly during the set-up periods for both systems. Although they competed for locations and frequencies, often fiercely, they developed through a single governmental mechanism and came to feel at times a close affinity. Had the proposals of the Annan Committee been agreed, that these 2 systems of local radio should be brought together under a single regulator, both could have benefited and the long-term prospects for local radio in the UK might have been enhanced.     

Undervaluing Mutual: The FCC’s Missed Opportunity to Restructure Radio Broadcasting in the New Deal Era

This article reexamines the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation into monopoly practices by the “chain” or network radio broadcasters in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The FCC targeted NBC and CBS and eventually succeeded in forcing NBC to sell its Blue radio network. But the Commission ultimately failed to prevent network domination of affiliates. I argue that the Commission missed an opportunity to recognize that the Mutual Broadcasting System offered an alternative, cooperative model for organization of the industry that could have better served the FCC’s goals of harnessing the power of chain broadcasting and promoting localism in broadcasting.     

The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967: Radio’s Real Second Chance

This introductory essay serves to frame this special public radio symposium that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, on November 7, 2017. Drawing from his earlier writings on public broadcasting history, the author tells the story of how educational radio got its start and continued to struggle for survival until the fledgling enterprise could be reborn as public radio, a result of what may be the most significant piece of communications legislation of the second half of the 20th century. The author argues that despite the enterprise’s marginalized roots and repeated political attacks that span a half century, public radio, in one form or another, will survive well into the future.     

The Beginnings of Radio Communication in Germany, 1897–1918

This article surveys the prehistory of broadcasting in the German Reich. It focuses on wireless telegraphy, where the Telefunken Company succeeded internationally with its quenched spark system on the eve of the war. Telefunken's system was developed as an efficient military technology between 1905 and 1908, and it soon became the core of Telefunken's successful attempt to break Marconi's monopoly in maritime radio communication. Encouraged by this success, Telefunken started to establish wireless transoceanic connections to build a global German radio network. The properties of radio broadcasting as a possible new mass medium only gradually became evident before 1918.     

BBC Radio4节目分析及其对中国谈话类节目的启示

BBC Radio4作为以新闻时事为主要内容的综合频率,拥有最广的受众面和最丰富的节目内容,其节目形态和结构反映了广播机构的自身定位和文化理念。本文通过对其谈话节目“我们的时光”的分析,透视BBC节目独特的文化内涵,为提升我国广播谈话类节目的文化品质和精神内涵提供范本和观照。