RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

of the media as a part of its goal of a 'post-industrial' society , while the reformist turn of the Russian nomenklatura is closely connected- with its policy of glasnost. Since the end of the post-war boom , there have been vanous forecasts of a post-Fordist society based around the fragmentation of mass production and its markets through the mtrođuction of new technologies and labor disciplmes . As the future is charactenzeđ as an mformation есопоту , the media is increasingly seen as a leading sector in thls restructuring of production and consumption. The expansion m the number and vanety of radio statlons could demonstrate how a reorganized society will provide specialized goods and services to targeted consumers through deregulation and market competition. If this vision of post-Fordism is unworkable in the media , then this will have implications for other sectors of production threatened with restructunng. The continuing debate over the strategies for the development of radio broađcasting in Britain аге part of a wider struggle over the đirection of the есопоту . THE COSY DOMINANCE OF THE DUOPOLV Bntains's existmg radio broađcasting system is a L duop6ly' of state and commeraal broadcasters . The difference between the different systems is not just characterized by the two types of ownership, state and commercial. but also through distmct forms of revenue. One of the foundation stones of the l duopoly is that they do not compete for revenue,: l . . . competition for the same source of fmance lowers programmmg standarđs so as to satisfy the lowest common đenommator'. (Annan 1977: 72) This has created svmbiosis rather than competition between state anđ commercial broadcasters . For some , this has provideđ Bntam with 'the best broadcastmg system m the world' , while others see it as the đommation of the amwaves by a smug elite . The BBC (Bntish Broađcastmg Corporation ) was foundeđ as a nationalized monopoly suppiier of radio broadcastmg m Britain. It grew out of an earlier private monopoiy set up by the radio set manufacturers who wisheđ to create a market for their products . The American solution of advertisijtg fundmg was barred for the new broadcastmg service because of political pressures from the Newspaper Proprietors' Association. There was an attempt to raise топеу for the BBC by puttmg a levy on rađio set sales . Only when this system faiied was there- a move towards a ticense fee levied on set owners . (Barbrook 1985) From the begmnmg , this was seen as a ргчсе for hstenmg to radio programs . As a government committee on broadcastmg saw it :

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