'It's Not Just Radio'
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'It's Not Just Radio' Models of Community Broadcasting in Britain and the United States PhD Thesis Submitted Fall, 2005 Approved Spring, 2006 Kate Coyer Department of Media and Communications Goldsmiths College' University of London I declare that the work presented in the thesis is my own. Kate Coyer 2 Table of Contents Abstract page 4 Acknowledgements 5 Chapter 1 Introduction and Methodology 6 Chapter 2 Literature Review 27 Mapping the Theoretical Landscape ofRadio Studies, Alternative Media, and Community Broadcasting Chapter 3 The Context of Community Radio Broadcasting 66 National Policy and Reform Movements in the UK and US Chapter 4 Low Power Community Radio: from RSLs to Access 144 Case Study ofLondon Access Pilot Stations Chapter 5 "High Power" Community Radio 197 Case Study ofKPFK and the Pacifica Radio Network Chapter 6 Transnational Broadcasting in a Local Context 237 Case Study ofIranian Radio in Los Angeles Chapter 7 Where the "Hyper Local" and "Hyper Global" Meet 268 Case Study ofIndymedia Radio Chapter 8 Conclusion 299 Bibliography 312 3 Abstract Necessary and important focus has been given to the future of digital, satellite and Internet radio as a means of increasing flows of information and culture irrespective of geographic boundaries. At the same time, radio is primarily a local experience. This research examines the phenomenon of community radio through case studies in Britain and the United States. The contested site of audio broadcasting lies beyond the national framework via new technologies and, at the same time, is rooted locally. The political impetus for this project emerges out of the current media reform movements in both countries for the expansion of low power community radio and their connection to broader concerns around media democracy and pluralism. The research seeks to explore the phenomenon of community radio and how its characteristics are challenged in practice; the extent to which there exists both continuity and difference in the development of community radio sectors in both Britain and the United States; how radio is both de-linked from geography and rooted in localities; and whether or not the medium of radio itself embodies potential as a more participatory and democratic means of communication. This research is situated in both radio studies and alternative media studies. In order to investigate these questions, the research considers content production and internal organisational stmcture among its case studies, representing different models of community radio; examines the impact of technology on radio as a local space; and considers questions of media and democracy raised by community radio projects. 4 Acknowledgements I would like to thank all the faculty, staff and students in the Department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, most especially my supervisor Des Freedman who made me finish and whose insightfulness, tough critiques and keen editing I value greatly. At Goldsmiths, I am also grateful to James Cunan who first suggested I consider undeliaking a PhD, David Morley, Angela McRobbie, Gareth Stanton, Tony Dowmunt, Chris Beny, Natalie Fenton, Tim Crook, the Journalism Research Unit, Zehra Arabadji, and Brenda Ludlow. I would also like to thank friends and colleagues in the depaliment past and present, and elsewhere, who have commented on, edited and otherwise provided support, including Bill Gabbett, Jonathan Gray, Salvatore Scifo, Hugh Doar, Tracey Joffe, Bertha Chin, and especially Sally Miller, a gal who knows a thing or two about Endnote. I would also like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who took the time to be interviewed by me, many of whom spoke openly and at length about their work and personal experiences. In particular, I would like to thank Pete Tridish, Lawrie Hallett, Steve Buckley, Chris Burnett, Dave Adelson, Rosie Parklyn, Shane Carey, Lol Gellor, Chris Weaver, Richard Thomas, Ajit Khera, Amerjit Khera, Indymedia London, the Community Media Association, and the Prometheus Radio Project with whom I've had the pleasure of helping build more community radio stations. I'd also like to thank Jean Retzinger, Dorothy Kidd, DeeDee Hallick, Alan Fountain, and Kevin Robins. Lastly, I'd like to thank my mom, Patricia Schromen, for her unconditional love and timely editing, Lindsey and Seth Schromen-Wawrin for being my brothers and editors, Dan Knapp for letting me win the race, Penny Koutrulikou for showing me London, Stuart Tilley for supplying the soundtrack, and Miguel Esteban for keeping me fed. If one can dedicate a thesis, this is for my mom Mary. 5 Chapter 1 Introduction & Methodology 'Why did I get involved in radio? I didn't know how to spell. ' (Frank Stoltz, reporter for NPR affiliate station KPCC, fonner News Director Pacifica Radio station KPFK) Introduction An increased level of attention has been paid recently to the future of digital, satellite and Intemet radio as a means for circulating information and culture inespective of geographic boundaries and as a means of subverting the dilemma of scarcity within the limited analogue bandwidth. At the same time, tenestrial radio itself exists within the regulatory parameters of national broadcast policy. What is interesting is that while the Intemet and, to a lesser extent, other digital means of delivery, address the problem of scarcity, there has been an increasing amount of grassroots pressure and regulatory progress made towards the development of low power community radio sectors around the globe. Analogue radio remains the primary means of news and broadcast entertainment for large parts of the world and radio itself remains largely a local experience. As this research will suggest, community radio is more than just radio. It is a means of social organising and representation coalesced around "communities of interest" and/or small-scale geographic locales. While key media policy debates centre around ownership, spectrum allocation and the lack of localism in programming and management, community broadcasting offers one important response to an increasingly globalised world that is not a contradiction, but instead, an altemative. As Martin-Barbero asserts: '[t]he contradictOlY movement of globalization and the fragmentation of culture simultaneously involves the revitalization and worldwide extension of the local' (2002: 236). How we conceptualise community radio is about how we conceptualise both radio and the social environments within which 6 broadcasting occurs. In many ways, then, community radio says more about the space of social engagement and collectivity then it does about broadcasting. While transnational broadcasting challenges geographic baniers of access, analogue, tenestrial radio exists within national regulatory contexts. It is this place where policy meets practice that my research enquiry began. An examination of community radio legislation around the world finds a sector dominated by a lack of cohesive policy. There are countries with well established community radio sectors and those where community radio is still not recognised. Where there is not licensed community radio, there often exist thriving landscapes of unlicensed, micro-radio stations, and such "pirate radio" operate even if there is legal community broadcasting owing to the fact that there will always be needs and interests not met by any regulatory system as well as those wishing to operate outside state infrastructure, either for ideological or practical reasons. By contrast, some community radio stations operate under threat of harassment in highly volatile and sometimes dangerous conditions, some continuing to broadcast at constant risk of harassment and closure. Deregulation of media industries has brought mixed results for community radio. In some instances, the weakening of state broadcast monopolies has resulted in the launch of new community radio stations, but in most instances, unless specific safeguards to ensure community ownership or frequency set-asides have been made, deregulation has largely resulted in increased privatisation owing to excessive market pressures. Regulatory changes encouraging private ownership and consolidation have weakened the status of community radio in Chile, Brazil and Argentina, for example. Community radio is, however, making its way into more and more broadcast policies and is at times a microcosm for larger national tensions. Further, '[t]he growing popular interest in community media across the globe indicates profound dissatisfaction with media industries preoccupied with increasing market share and profitability at the expense of public accountability and social value' (Howley 2005: 2). 7 Political organising around community radio has also played an important role in the movements for media reform and democracy. In the United States, the successful lawsuit to block implementation of cross-platform media ownership was filed against the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) by the Prometheus Radio Project (Prometheus v FCC), itself a non-profit organisation otherwise at the forefront of the movement for low power FM (LPFM) radio. Among intemational NGOs, the World Association of Community Radio (AMARC), the campaign for Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) and others have signed a declaration calling on govemments to ensure non-discriminatOlY legal frameworks for community media, equitable and sufficient allocation of frequencies by transparent accountable mechanisms, and targets for opening up spectrum and licensing