Oliveira, M.; Portela, P. & Santos, L.A. (eds.) (2012) Radio Evolution: Conference Proceedings September, 14-16, 2011, Braga, University of Minho: Communication and Society Research Centre ISBN 978-989-97244-9-5 Live and local no more? Listening communities and globalising trends in the ownership and production of local radio 1 GUY STARKEY University of Sunderland
[email protected] Abstract: This paper considers the trend in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world for locally- owned, locally-originated and locally-accountable commercial radio stations to fall into the hands of national and even international media groups that disadvantage the communities from which they seek to profit, by removing from them a means of cultural expression. In essence, localness in local radio is an endangered species, even though it is a relatively recent phenomenon. Lighter- touch regulation also means increasing automation, so live presentation is under threat, too. By tracing the early development of local radio through ideologically-charged debates around public-service broadcasting and the fitness of the private sector to exploit scarce resources, to present-day digital environments in which traditional rationales for regulation on ownership and content have become increasingly challenged, the paper also speculates on future developments in local radio. The paper situates developments in the radio industry within wider contexts in the rapidly-evolving, post-McLuhan mediatised world of the twenty-first century. It draws on research carried out between July 2009 and January 2011for the new book, Local Radio, Going Global, published in December 2011 by Palgrave Macmillan. Keywords: radio, local, public service broadcasting, community radio Introduction: distinctiveness and homogenisation This paper is mainly concerned with the rise and fall of localness in local radio in a single country, the United Kingdom.