RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

Universitv of Minnesota

Donaid R. Browne ,

WHAT'S LOCAL ABOUT LOCAL RADIO?

А CROSS -NATIONAL COHPARATIVE STUDT Much has been written about mass media at the community level , e.g. the 1981 UNESCO study "Communications and the Community," Simon Partridge's "Not the BBC/IBA : the case for community radio" Jarren anđ Wiđlok"s LokđJradio , Berrigan's "Access ; Some Western Models of Community Media," Crookes and Vittet-Philippe's Local Radio and Regional Development in Europe , Lafrance's Les radios nouvelles dans le monde . ' ) Radio has a minor part in some studies, a major one others. If there are comparisons of community radio experiences , they often are confmed to present practices , and give little idea of how the stations evolved . Rarely is there much treatment of regulatory or programming philosophies . Documents and surveys account for the bulk of sources used , with only occasional evidence of direct observation . The present study of which this article is an abbreviated report , was carried out over ten years and in severa! nations . It comblnes a number of elements : a brief general history of the development of local radio , a consiđeration of regulatory philosophies and practices , and some conclusions that address the broader guestion of what's iocal about local radio and what are its future prospects . A BRIEF HISTORV ‘Radio amateurs' were active promoters of the development of broađcasting in many countries dunng the early 19205. They were present by the thousanđs m Belgium, the Netherlands , Sweden anđ other smaller nations , and by the tens of thoysanđs in бегтапу , Great Bntain apd other larger ones . Their combmed voices, heard through radio clubs , hobbyist periođicals and newspaper coverage of thetr activities , freguently calieđ for the creation of national broadcastmg services , e.g. m Оегтапу and in Great Britain . They frequently created them own stations , as well, whether as purely mdividual ventures (common m the Umted States ) or as the collective efforts of

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