“A certain stigma” of educational radio: Judith Waller and “public service” broadcasting

This paper explores Judith Waller’s radio programming philosophy over her career that began in 1922 at WMAQ Chicago. In the 1940s, representing the interests of her employer NBC, Waller began to use the phrase “public service” as a way to break free of the “stigma” of educational radio. The concept of public service programming shifted during the 1930s and 1940s in the US, redefined and negotiated in response to assumptions about radio listeners, the financial motivations of commercial radio, and Federal Communications Commission rulings. This paper brings renewed attention to the past and present political economy of media in the US, providing a window into the historically complex relationship between commercial and noncommercial media that continues to this day.     

Radio Station Innovation and Risk Taking: A Survey of Programmers and General Managers

We conducted a survey of radio station program directors and general managers to explore the perception and role of innovation within radio programming and the key factors that influence this perception. In the study, we found that, in general, programmers and general managers perceive little innovation in programming except at their own stations. Results also indicate perceptions that more risk taking is needed in radio programming, that risk taking is essential for the financial health of a station, that increased artist diversity and an innovative music rotation influence the perception of innovation at the station level, and that too many commercials are being placed within an average hour of programming.     

Market Size,Preference Externalities,and the Availability of Foreign Language Radio Programming in the United States

Using data for 320 radio stations operating in the 50 largest Arbitron metro radio markets during 2004 that offered at least some programming in 1 or more of 19 different foreign languages, strongly positive statistical relations were found between the size of foreign language populations in the radio market and the amount, or variety, of radio programming in their respective language that is available. A preference externality effect was also found: consistently negative relations between the variety of foreign language programming available and size of the English language population. Similar results were found for a measure of programming quality: the percentage of news and talk programming that is locally produced. Conventional wisdom that minority populations tend to be “underserved” by media is generally supported.     

A Syndicated Show in a Network World: Frederic Ziv's Favorite Story

Across his career as one of the most successful producers o f syndicated radio and television programming, Frederic W. Ziv continually battled against network domination. Forced to operate under constraints that resulted from network monopolistic practices, Ziv had to devise ways to compete with network programming at a fraction of network budgets. An industrial analysis of how one of his radio shows, Favorite Story, tried to mirror network dramatic anthologies but at considerably lower expense illustrates how a syndicator could survive and thrive in a network world. The paper utilizes archival documents and an interview with Frederic Ziv as its primary sources.     

Defining a Medium: The Educational Aspirations for Early Radio

This essay examines the attempts by many writers to steer the burgeoning U.S. radio industry towards educational uses and programming in the 1920s. At the same time that commercial radio began to take shape, several competing and seemingly incompatible visions of the airwaves emerged—one of which privileged the use of radio for educational purposes. Using discourse from trade journals, general interest magazines, and newspapers, this article explores the calls for educational programming amid the rapidly expanding and consolidating commercial radio industry.     

"The Farmer's Friend": Radio Comes to Rural America, 1920–1927

Nowhere did the coming of broadcasting have more social impact than in America's rural areas. With radio, farm families that were once isolated by vast distances and poor roads were brought into immediate and continuous contact with the rest of the nation. The United States Department of Agriculture was quick to seize the potential of the new medium and began producing weather forecasts, market reports, and other agricultural programming at an early date. Commercial interests also built stations and designed programming to serve the rural audience. This article examines the arrival of radio on America's farms during broadcasting's earliest years, from the introduction of radio in 1920 to the passage of the Radio Act of 1927.     

J. Podber,The Electronic Front Porch. Macon,Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2007

This article discusses the development of radio broadcasting in the new Russia that emerged in the years 1991–2011. Changes in radio were part of the larger, complex and controversial process related to major economic, political and social changes in the Russian Federation after the Soviet Union dissolved. Radio programming developed to reflect the new political, social and public lives of the Russian people. The analysis examines the functioning of state, public, and private radio, and their competition for audience, the role of radio advertising, and programming broadcast content. The article shows that there has been the formation of a new type of free, uncensored journalism with experienced radio journalists experiencing a new environment.     

(Residual) Public Music Radio in the Streaming Era: Listening for Diversity and Frequency on CBC Music

The aim of this article is to assess whether and how the CBC’s music radio programming reflects the corporation’s mandate of showcasing a diversity of music and culture. I argue that a program logic that privileges an international corporate music industry strategy persists (particularly during the peak morning and afternoon drive time programs) and limits the capacity for public radio to imagine and project alternative musical trajectories. My aspiration is to imagine CBC Music’s over-the-air radio as a residual broadcast service, one that presents novel opportunities at a time when digital and online streaming music is dominant.     

The Hidden Radio Audience in Spain: Study on Children's Relationship with the Radio

The arbitration imposed in the audience measurement systems used in Spain excludes a major swath of the population as soon as it segments the potential radio audience starting at the age of 14. Thus, the child-listener is ignored by both programming and advertising strategies. However, is this marginalisation fair? The purpose of this article is to answer this and other questions and to demonstrate to what extent the existence of the child-listener is a sufficient condition to seek mechanisms that include children in radio audience measurement systems.     

Mining the Peabody Archive

This paper provides an overview of the Peabody Collection of radio and television programs housed at the University of Georgia. The collection is one of the largest broadcast archives in the county, with holdings of more than 30,000 programs. Instructions are provided for scholars wishing to utilize this goldmine of early programming dating back to 1940 (for radio) and 1948 (for television). The archive's tie to the Peabody Awards process is detailed, because the connection impacts access procedures and speaks to the potential biases and strengths of the holdings. The unique advantages of the archive include the large cache of companion print materials and the wealth of public service and local programming. The limitations are discussed, primarily the time-consuming protocols necessary for locating programs of interest Scholarly work utilizing both radio and television materials from the archives is briefly noted.     

Turn On,Tune In,Drop Out: Radio Listening,Ownership Policy,and Technology

Radio listening in the United States fell by more than 10% between 1998 and 2003. During this time, broadcast radio faced new competition from satellite radio and the Internet while the industry was also undergoing significant changes due to increased radio ownership caps. This article quantifies the effects of these factors on audience sizes and explores the implications for audience composition and programming content. The results show that industry consolidation played a larger role in decreasing overall listening than new technology. New technology did have a role in altering the distribution of listeners among programming formats.     

Historical Constitution of Public Radio Stations in Brazil

Educational, state, cultural, and university radio stations have already developed over more than 70 years of history in Brazilian radio broadcasting. Currently, there are hundreds of stations transmitting across the country, from the North to the South. Some of them—that in the 1990s included 100 broadcasting stations and among these, the oldest and nationally referenced—up to this decade operated and were referenced as a component of the educational radio system. Mainly from this period on, most of these stations began to call themselves public. And, especially due to their programming, they have been attempting to define themselves within the profile of public radio stations. The purpose of this article is to uncover the historical construction of this group of radio broadcasting stations, by means of a timeframe, from the advent of the non-commercial segment in the 1930s until today. It reconstructs referential models and presents main threads and features of the programming of these stations throughout these seven decades. In this way, it will also evince how Brazil is constructing its model of public radio.     

Play For All at Chicago Children's Museum: A History and Overview

In 2004, Chicago Children's Museum founded the Play For All initiative, which creates a community where play and learning connect for visitors of all abilities. The Play For All team discovered that families with children with disabilities were looking for an opportunity to explore and enjoy the museum without limitations and the fear of being judged. CCM also learned that being ADA compliant was not enough; being accessible and inclusive meant going above and beyond the ADA. Children's museums are a rare treat where almost everything should be interactive and ready to be played with. The Play For All team has made significant changes to the exhibits, staff training, and programming at Chicago Children's Museum by working with local families with disabilities and partner organizations. A culture shift has taken place within CCM. Play For All is now a top priority when decisions are being made.     

Kern,Jonathan. (2008). Sound reporting: The NPR guide to audio journalism and production

This article examines the emergence of local radio in a rural southeastern Turkish city called Sanllurfa in the early 7990s following the end of the state's media monopoly on broadcasting. Informed by a media ethnography conducted there in 2001, this article discusses local debates over the content and quality of local radio and the influence of the state's official cultural policies on the programming decisions of local radio owners, managers, and DJs. This paper also illustrates Turkish young people's local and national radio preferences, their responses to local programming and on-air personalities, and the meaning of music and local radio in their lives.     

Latino USA: Constructing a News and Public Affairs Radio Program

The development of Latino USA, a news and information public radio program about Latino issues, is the focus of this paper. From a Gramscian theoretical framework three primary factors-economics, demographics and technology-are examined which may have contributed to the creation of Latino USA. The need for public radio, at both the network and local level, to increase its funding in the 1980s led to more diverse programming. Simultaneously, a redistribution of income within the Latino community in the U.S. created a segment of the Latino population attractive to public radio managers. Finally, changes in communication technologies made possible the production of a magazine format program at lower costs.     

Effects of Local-Market Radio Ownership Concentration on Radio Localism,the Public Interest,and Listener Opinions and Use of Local Radio

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and ensuing radio ownership consolidation are often blamed for harming radio localism and the public interest. The present research sought to determine effects of local-market radio ownership concentration on listener opinions and use of radio—potentially indicative of stations' localism and public service—by surveying listeners in markets categorized by ownership concentration. Findings suggest concentration does not strongly influence perceptions; however, overall results indicate potentially negative consequences from local and national consolidation on amounts of local music, news, and public-service programming; live-local programming; and station responsiveness.     

Eyapaha for today: American Indian radio in the Dakotas

American Indian radio serves the role of “eyapaha,”; the voice in the community that ties people together across the vast prairies of North and South Dakota. Local news, tribal council meetings, public service announcements, birth and death notices, and indigenous music are essential programming on the reservations, where Indian people seek to maintain and enhance their tribal cultures and languages. This article compares the six American Indian radio stations in the Dakotas, examining their facilities, budgets, programming, and governance.     

Back to the Future: Allegheny Mountain Radio and Localism in West Virginia Community Radio

Community radio is a form of noncommercial broadcasting designed to serve audiences in a specific geographic area. In recent years, community radio has become a viable alternative to both commercial and public radio, which produce nationally oriented programming designed to attract mass audiences. The value and impact of community radio can be seen through the work of Allegheny Mountain Radio, a three-station network serving a rural and geographically isolated region of southern West Virginia and Virginia.