RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

being raised (cf. Commercial Radio .... 1986). The guestions we have to ask ourselves is what do all these developments mean in terms of radio-’s place and role in the life of individuals and societies; what future do they augur for rađio as a medium of social communication? 1 ) Our main concern will be to try and identify general processes which will determine what we call the socio-institutional model of radio in highly developed Western countries in the context of its evolution so far . To this end , we will consider some aspects of processes unfolding in highly developeđ countries , i.e. primarily Western Europe anđ North America, concentrating on similarities between them , but of course without forgetting that a fuller treatment of the issue under consideration would reguire more đetailed examination of the situation prevailing in each country separately . Thomas McCain ( 1986) warns against a generalized approach to dif f erential patterns of mass communication in Western Europe , arguing that these patterns are a result of varying relationships between technology , media content and the special contextual issues of the society in which they were introduced . That is no doubt true , even if mass communication research has yet to decide whether the media mirror or mould social reality (Katz, Szecsko, 1981). Nevertheless , if we adopt an even broađer perspective , we may also argue that highly developed Western countries evolving from industrial to information societies display enough common characteristics to justify a generalized approach (this was found , for example , by Blumler et al. , 1986) Мапу scholars and groups of scholars (cf . McQuail, Siune, 1986; Ferguson , 1986; Smudits , 1987) have found it useful to begin by adopting international comparative perspectives in order to sketch in the general picture of changes unfolding in those countries , and setting them all apart in this respect from other countries at a different level of đevelopment. THE MANY NEW FACES OF RADIO Rađio is being overtaken by many of the same technological developments and innovations that are changing the face of television. Below , we present an overview of selected new developments to provide some idea of the scope of change takmg place . One immediately obvious development has been the emergence of portable transistor radios , with their far-reaching impact on patterns of radio listenmg , reflected m the "types" of r ađio in use in the Umted States , for example : "bedroom" , "kitchen" ,