From Broadcasting Research to Media Studies A Historical Review and Analysis of Radio Research in Finland

TAISTO HUJANEN

The academic study and research of radio al. 1990). Naturally, with respect to broad- and television developed side by side with casting research, YLE’s role was to be even the institutionalization of the modern more decisive. In YLE’s organizational communication and mass communication practices broadcasting research was adop- research in the Finnish universities. In fact, ted in the late 1960s as a major element of broadcasting as a field of mass communi- planning and policy. cation played towards the end of the 1960s In order to understand YLE’s active a dominant role in the expansion of the role as the site and promoter of broadcas- new area of academic studies. Like in ting research one needs to pay attention to American universities, broadcasting re- the particular historical context of broad- search became linked with professional casting in Finland in the late 1960s. In gen- training of journalists. In Finland, such a eral, what happened then can be charac- linking was demonstrated by the new chair terized as modernization of broadcasting. of mass communication research which Besides a huge expansion of production the University of Tampere set up in 1969. and technology modernization meant a By this chair broadcasting research became radical re-interpretation of values and institutionalized as a particular field of norms of broadcasting. The broadcasters mass communication research as well as an started questioning the traditional legitima- aspect of professional training of journa- cy of broadcasting and wanted to substi- lists. tute it with a new one which fitted better When trying to trace the early develop- to the requirements of modern society. In ment of radio research in Finland the aca- this way, the adoption of broadcasting re- demic institutionalization of broadcasting search as an aspect of policy and planning research is only a part of the story. The became closely linked with the legitimation rest of the story leads to the role of the of broadcasting, a connection which is national broadcasting company YLE as the considered typical to the history of public site and promoter of research. Scholars service broadcasting institutions (cf. Ang agree that in the late 1960s YLE played a 1991). key role in the introduction of mass com- Below the introduction of broadcasting munication research in Finland (Pietilä et research within the national broadcasting

5 company YLE will be, at first, considered. 1967, a system of regional production Then, the parallel institutionalization of centres was created. All this, along with nu- mass communication research in the uni- merous other reforms, resulted in consi- versities will be reviewed and analyzed. It derable changes of the programme output will be shown that the first decade of and in a rapid increase of the production broadcasting research from 1965 to 1975 staff. was characterised by an intensive coopera- In the late 1960s radio was still the tion between broadcasters and universities. dominant broadcast media. However, by Another boom of cooperative research the end of the decade, the signal of YLE’s arose in the middle of the 1980s, in a new television programme 1 covered 90 per and different socio-cultural and political cent of the population and, consequently, context. As to the broadcasters, the interest television could be considered as a natio- towards research cooperation was again nal medium. In terms of culture and poli- motivated by legitimation needs; first of tics, norms and values, the broadcasting re- all, the legitimation crisis of public service form of the late 1960s is often character- broadcasting in the new competitive media ized as a break-up with the old culture of environment. In the universities, the new the so called steam radio era. In a historical boom was parallel to the growing interest perspective, one can say that the new ideo- towards media studies, a trend which was logy of broadcasters, known as the infor- deeply critical to the old mass communi- mational programme policy, clearly acted cation research tradition. Until now, tele- for the modernization of the Finnish so- vision and cinema have dominated the Fin- ciety (more on this in Hujanen 1995; on nish media studies. But the new trend in- the informational programme policy see cludes a promise of specific radio studies, Nordenstreng 1973). A rational citizen, al- qualitatively different from the former ways ready to re-consider his/her view of broadcasting research paradigm. the world on the basis of the new and more valid information was the vision of YLE – the Promoter of the audience which the reformers had in mind. Broadcasting Research The modern, rational ethos of the in- The growth of empirical mass commu- formational programme policy did not nication research and the broadcasting re- only refer to the role of broadcasting in search as a part of it was parallel to a great society, but it also affected the organiza- expansion of broadcasting in the country tion and institutional practices of YLE. A from the middle of the 1960s to the early logical consequence of such an approach 1970s. With the launching of its second became the close link between policy and television channel in March 1965, the Fin- research, i.e. the policy making within the nish Broadcasting Company YLE re-adop- broadcasting should be based on the scien- ted its role as the national monopoly of tific knowledge of the effects and func- broadcasting. By the same time, on the side tions of broadcasting as well as of the of radio, the new national FM network be- composition and behaviour of the audien- came completed and the system of two ce. This is the point of departure from parallel programmes covered the whole which one can understand why the national country. In 1965 YLE introduced its own broadcasting company YLE was to play a news transmissions and, two years later in key role in the introduction of broad-

6 casting research in Finland and even of the expert group was set up chaired by one of academic study and research of mass com- the deputy directors of the YLE, Mr. Hel- munication in general. ge Miettunen, a Doctor of Philosophy in The active role of the national broad- general literature and since 1964 a docent casting company in the late 1960s as the in journalism and mass communication at promotor of the academic research is de- Tampere (see Nordenstreng 1965). He was scribed in the following passage of a re- later to be the main competitor with Mr. search report published by YLE in 1968: Kaarle Nordenstreng over the new profes- sorship of radio and television studies, set The Finnish Broadcasting Company is generally a up by the University of Tampere in 1969. central actor from the point of view of Finnish com- Nordenstreng acted as the secretary of the munication research, because its program-policy re- expert group and the members consisted search establishment is the only research center in the of two professors of sociology (Erik country concentrating specifically on the study of Allardt from Helsinki, Yrjö Littunen from communication activity, and, further because it con- Tampere), the then only professor of jour- tinues to support the university mass media research nalism and mass communication (Raino by arranging its own research field work in the uni- Vehmas from Tampere), and four profes- versity research centers. (Nordenstreng 1968, 6) sors of education (Väinö Heikkinen from The above report was published in Eng- Tampere, Annika and Martti Takala from lish, a response to the growing interest to- Jyväskylä, Johan von Wright from Turku). wards the Finnish broadcasting reform in As to the contents of the sponsored re- other countries. The author of these lines search, Nordenstreng (1966, 4-6) reports himself, Mr. Kaarle Nordenstreng, then a of the following: At Turku the research research expert of YLE, marketed actively concentrated on the typification of radio the ideas of the informational programme listerners and television viewers. This re- policy in several international gatherings search was based on the further analysis of of broadcasters and mass communication the so called audience index studies which researchers. In the above citation, the ”pro- were started by the statistical office of gram-policy research establishment” refers YLE in 1964. Nordenstreng was already to the section for long-range planning able to identify one the important results which was officially formed in 1967. By of the research project (op.cit., 5). The the end of 1969 the section consisted of a analysis showed that the contents of the director, a programme expert, two research programmes was secondary when selecting experts, a technical expert, an expert of programmes on radio; the primary factor economy and two experts responsible for seemed to be the time of transmission. monitoring programmes (Stormbom & Nordenstreng concludes that the next step Nordenstreng 1968, 16-17). A number of for the research is to investigate of what project researchers was also hired. sort of people the audience is constituted The sponsoring of the research at the in the various time of the day and what universities started soon after the nomina- their programme preferences are. tion of a new director general Mr. Eino S. At Tampere two projects were laun- Repo in 1965. For the coordination of the ched. The Research Institute for Social Sci- cooperation between the broadcasting ences studied the mechanisms of program- company and the universities, an informal me selection, its cognitive, social and

7 psychological processes. The other project, • research of YLE as an institution and on the side of journalism and mass com- its programme producers munication, dealt with the evaluation of In the development of the audience re- various mass media, in particular, as a search in the form of the index studies the channel of news. In Helsinki a sociological year 1968 formed an important milestone. study of radio and television audience was The Research Institute for Social Sciences launched focusing on ”the conditions of at the University of Tampere developed reception”. It analyzed the position of ra- for YLE a new research instrument of sea- dio and television in families, the way the sonal panels. The sample was now formed mass media affected the social interaction on the basis of the total population; the within the family (an early reminder of the collection of data was based on pro- research interest towards the family con- gramme diaries, and that was comple- text, typical to the 1980s television stud- mented ”qualitatively” by a number of se- ies). The professors of education at Tam- lected interviews. The objective was, as pere and Jyväskylä were interested in tele- two researchers involved in the develop- vision as a teacher and as an agent of so- ment said, ”to present a clearer picture of cialization. the world, level of knowledge, interests After these initial projects a number of and basic attitudes of various audience more permanent interest areas developed groups for program policy planning” in the research cooperation between the (Suhonen & Varis 1968, 2). universities and the national broadcasting In general, the University of Tampere company. In a joint paper by Stormbom played a central role in the cooperation be- and Nordenstreng (1968) the authors iden- tween YLE and universities. A prime ex- tified the main theme groups of the re- ample of this close link is the so called search in the years 1965-1968. These are Merano university which offered the pro- listed below: gramme producers of YLE an opportunity • the ways of listening to radio and view- to complete the basic studies in journalism ing television; index studies and mass communication at YLE’s facili- • the audience reactions to the pro- ties in Helsinki. In 1968, still working grammes; feed-back studies and the within YLE, Nordenstreng described the comprehension of programmes contribution of the University of Tampere in the development of communication re- • complementary studies on special audi- search in Finland as follows: ences (old and young people, Swedish speaking audience) Outside the areas of the Finnish Broadcasting Co. • effects studies (for example, concerning the most active communication research is being con- the introduction of television in the ducted at Tampere University, where there is at the Eastern Lappland) present time the only university institute of journa- lism and mass communication in the country – and • world-view studies; focusing on the life- in all of Scandinavia – with a professorship. Com- world of the audience, interest areas, munication Science has recently been introduced into knowledge of the world, attitudes the curriculum of the Helsinki University Depart- • programme studies; balance in the ment of Social Science, which means livelier mass news, language style on radio communication research than there has formerly been

8 also in Helsinki University. (Nordenstreng munication. The added aspect of mass 1968, 6) communication in the definition of the chair demonstrated the beginning of a new era in the academic training of journalists The Academic Institutionaliza- and in the research on journalism and mass communication media in Finland. tion of Broadcasting Research In the journalism training offered by As the above consideration of cooperation the University of Tampere, a gradual shift between YLE and universities hinted, the towards the specialization between the introduction of broadcasting research as press and electronic media started in the an academic field of study and research early 1960s. Since the academic year 1965- took place side by side with the institutio- 66, the training in radio and television nalization of mass communication re- journalism formed a separate option and, search in the Finnish universities. The ini- as a logical consequence of this, a new tiator and the main site of the new field chair in mass communication research was was University of Tampere which is lo- founded in 1969, specializing to radio and cated in the city of Tampere some two television. With the new chair, the broad- hundred kilometers north from Helsinki. casting research became institutionalized Since 1965, the second national television as a field of mass communication research channel of YLE operates in Tampere. in the new University of Tampere, a status The history of the University of Tam- which the former College of Social Sci- pere can be traced back to 1925 as the new ences adopted in 1966. Below, the key as- College of Social Sciences was founded in pects of this process of institutionalization Helsinki. The degree in journalism was will be identified. among the three original degrees offered The notion of broadcasting research as by the new college. The first professorship such was never adopted as an identification in journalism was founded in 1947, but it of a particular field of mass communica- lasted until 1956 before the first professor tion research in Finland (on the develop- in the field, Mr. Eino Suova, was nomi- ment of the broadcasting research in the nated. As to his research orientation, Mr. American universities, see Delia 1987). In Suova represented the German tradition the definition of the new chair in the Uni- of the press research, ’Zeitungswissen- versity of Tampere, the particular field was schaft’, theory and aesthetics of newspa- referred to as radio- ja tv-oppi which could pers and history of the press. be translated into English as radio and tele- The College of Social Sciences was vision studies. However, from the present- transferred to the city of Tampere in 1960, day point of view, the notion of studies as in the wake of the regionalization of the description of the new field is a prob- higher education. In the same year, Mr. lematic one, because it easily links the defi- Suova died, and a gradual turn towards nition with the later fragmentation of the what Himanen (1975) calls the American field towards media studies. In the context media sociology started. Suova’s follower, a of the latter half of the 1960s, the notion sociologist from the University of Turku, of radio and television studies referred to Mr. Raino Vehmas took over in March the fragmentation of the mass communi- 1963 and, with him, the name of the field cation research tradition, similar to the was changed to journalism and mass com- development in the American schools of

9 journalism under the heading of broad- ... media studies is based on the technical appa- casting research. ratus of radio, television and cinema and will study In the Finnish name of the field, the the possibilities of expression grounded on such an part ’oppi’ corresponds in fact to the Ger- apparatus. Programme theory deals with the man word ’Kunde’ which was used in such functions of broadcasting and, with respect to them, combinations like ’Rundfunk/Radiokunde’ studies the forms of programmes and their combina- or ’Fernsehkunde’. These two areas, refer- tions as well as the essence of programme policies. ring to the respective distinction between Communication studies considers the institu- radio and television studies, represented tional forms of broadcasting and, as a part of gene- the fragmentation of the German ’Zei- ral communication research, consists of the research tungswissenschaft’ tradition. Similar to the on the potential and customary uses of the electronic distinction in German between ’Kunde’ media and on their effects. (ibid.; translated by and ’Forschung’ the Finnish word ’oppi’ re- TH) ferred more to theory than empirical re- search. Among the three substance areas, media As the above consideration of the ety- studies and programme theory were based mology of the notion radio- ja tv-oppi dem- on the German tradition; communication onstrates, the name of the new field of studies linked the definition with the academic research was a curious combina- American mass communication research. tion of old and new. Himanen concludes in As to the notion of media studies, one his study on the introduction of mass should again emphasize the importance of communication research in Finland (1975, the particular historical context. When 86) that the person responsible for the translating the Finnish word ’välineoppi’ definition of the field was Mr. Helge into English as media studies, no reference Miettunen, a deputy director at YLE and is made to the present notion of media the chair of the expert group which coor- studies. In this context, media studies re- dinated the research cooperation between fers to the theory and aesthetics of the the broadcasting company and the univer- electronic media based on the technical sities (see the discussion on that above). As features of those media. Such an approach a docent of the university, he coordinated was a part of the German traditions of the new specialized training in radio and ’Rundfunk/Radiokunde’ and ’Fernseh- television journalism launched in 1965-66. kunde; in German the notion of ’Apparat- In the definition of the new professorship theorie’ is also used (for a recent example Miettunen followed the basic ideas of his of this, see Hickethier 1991). book from 1966 entitled in Finnish Radio- ja An interesting detail in the above defi- tv-opin perusteet (in English, Basics of Radio nition is the incorporation of cinema as a and Television Studies). In line with his part of the new radio and television stud- book Miettunen divided the substance area ies. This hints to the personal academic of the new chair into three fields which background of Mr. Miettunen who wrote were media studies (välineoppi), pro- his PhD on cinema and was known as an gramme theory (ohjelmateoria) and com- expert of theory and aesthetics of cinema. munication studies (viestintäoppi). These His background in aesthetics, arts and lite were specified as follows: rature affected strongly the way he defined

10 his approach to radio and television studies tual-analytical deliberation of goals. (Norden- in his main work from 1966. As to com- streng 1971, 257) munication studies, the interesting point in Miettunen’s definition is the way he links The prime example of such a deliberation radio and television with the general com- of goals was the working group consider- munication research. In this connection he ing YLE’s future news policy. The group selects the term ”electronic media” to rep- discussed the research data on the compre- resent the contribution of radio and televi- hension of the news, considered the for- sion studies to general communication stu- mulation of news criteria and searched for dies. new solutions in the organization of pro- Miettunen acted as a professor in the duction and distribution. The experiences new position during the nomination pro- from this deliberation were mediated to cess until summer 1971. Besides him, two the international research community by other applicants appeared, Kaarle Norden- Nordenstreng in a research paper which streng and Osmo A. Wiio. After a dramatic was published in McQuail’s book on socio- process, Nordenstreng received the nomi- logy of mass communications (Norden- nation and started as a professor in August streng 1972a). 1971. Nordenstreng had a PhD in psycho- Despite the strengthening critical and logy from the University of Helsinki and normative undertone in YLE’s research like Miettunen he was a man of YLE. Dif- and policy, one can conclude that the no- ferent from Miettunen, both of his com- mination of Nordenstreng as professor of petitors over the chair represented the radio and television studies marked a knowledge of the American style empirical choice towards empirical mass communi- mass communication and communication cation research and, as a part of it, towards research. In his position as a research ex- broadcasting research. Such an emphasis is pert of YLE’s long-range planning and, clearly expressed in the research-policy later on, the head of research at YLE, outline which Nordenstreng wrote (1970) Nordenstreng acted for the introduction as a demonstration of competence for the of broadcasting research as a central aspect new chair. His categorization of the basic of policy-planning. But by the time of his approaches of radio and televisions studies nomination to the new chair, he was al- was structured according to the general ready known as a representative of the mass communication theory. Accordingly, specifically Finnish style of broadcasting his listing of approaches included the re- research, the normative approach. The search of channel, sender, message and re- point of departure of the Finnish app- ceiver. These were complemented by three roach is described by Nordenstreng him- joint approaches named as research of the self as follows: medium, research of the social process of information and research on the social The Finnish broadcasting researchers have come to functions of mass communication. the conclusion that empirical behavioural research is In Nordenstreng’s categorization, only a able to serve the development of broadcasting activity minor role was reserved for the aesthetic only on a limited scale. The most important branch approach of Miettunen’s radio and televi- of research in this connection appears to be, more sion studies. That could be included in the and more, a ”radio-TV philosophical” and concep- research of messages and of the medium.

11 An illuminating conclusion with respect to ted by a number of PhD and Licentiate Nordenstreng’s later career as a professor dissertations published in the early 1970s, is the critique which he directs against and all of them having a connection with what he calls ”empirist-positivist behaviou- YLE’s long-range planning projects (V. ral science” and ”humanistic-aesthetic re- Pietilä 1972, K. Pietilä 1973, Varis 1971). search” (op. cit., 14-15). According to Nor- In the preface of a book published in denstreng these approaches dealt with mi- 1975 (Littunen & Sinkko 1975), Norden- cro-level phenomenon and, opposite to streng acknowledges the central impact of that, he stressed the importance of the YLE’s ”research philosophy” in the institu- macro-level expressed by his joint app- tionalization of the mass communication roaches (cf. Nordenstreng 1968, 1972b and research at the University of Tampere. 1973). As a topical field of research he This book presents the main results of the mentioned the research on the goals of research cooperation between YLE and broadcasting, adopted within the YLE as a the universities in the first half of the combination of research and policy 1970s. The book was entitled Yhteiskun- (op.cit., 10-11). nallinen tieto ja tiedotustutkimus which in Eng- In Nordenstreng’s research-policy out- lish means ”socio-political knowledge and line the new academic field of studies, ra- mass communication research”. As the title dio and television studies, was linked with demonstrates, the book focused on the the rising critique of positivism in the ge- socio-political process of information, one neral mass communication and communi- of the joint approaches in Nordenstreng’s cation research. Such a linking was to be research-policy outline from 1970 (see the dominant one in Nordenstreng’s later above). career as a professor (on this, see Hujanen From the present-day perspective, one 1995). Otherwise, his research-policy out- can conclude that the above book by line was based on ideas which were formu- Littunen & Sinkko from 1975 remained lated and tested within YLE as aspects of the last major work in the research coop- its long-range planning ideology. In this eration between YLE and the universities sense Nordenstreng’s outline marked more which was introduced ten years earlier in an end of an era than the future direction. 1965. Broadcasting research lost its posi- As a professor Nordenstreng personally tion as a bridge between theory and prac- orientated towards mass communication tice. An important consequence of this theory and research of international com- break-up was that, in a sense, both the aca- munication. demic researchers and the broadcasters However, Nordenstreng’s experience as narrowed their perspectives. The academic a broadcasting researcher within YLE of- researchers turned more to theory, even to fered an opportunity to continue coopera- the theory of theory, as the discussion on tion between the academic researchers and the status and position of mass communi- the national broadcasting company. cation research in the Nordic conference at Through this link, the empirically oriented Orivesi in 1977 demonstrates (the confer- broadcasting research became the central ence is reported in Hemanus & Hujanen point of departure in the institutionaliza- 1977). On their side, the broadcasters tion of the new field of radio and televi- showed hardly any interest towards theory sion studies at the University of Tampere. and the research was seen as a pure social The importance of the link is demonstra- technology.

12 At the University of Tampere, the year The Finnish Radio Research 1975 marked a principal change in the since 1975 fragmentation and specialization of the training in journalism and of the research The next ten years period following the field. In the definition of the substance ar- separation of YLE and the academic re- eas of the two professors the reference to search is marked by silence with respect to specific media was abolished and a joint radio research. The print outs from the notion of mass communication research Nordicom’s data bank of mass communi- (in Finnish, tiedotusoppi) was adopted. In cation research show that in the years a similar way, in the practical courses of 1975-1985 alltogether 105 research reports journalism more emphasis was put on the and papers on radio were published. How- general journalistic skills and less on the ever, the division of publishers shows that specific features of the particular media. 85 of them (81 per cent) are published by Such an integration of the substance area YLE. Among YLE’s publications the do- completed the development which Nor- minant group is constituted by the reports denstreng, in fact, opened up already in his of seasonal audience measurements. official inaugural speech in 1971. As his In the academic research on broadcast- view of the future development he pointed ing in the late 1970s and the early 1980s out the following: television dominated almost exclusively the research agenda. In this period, four doc- The research should not be divided on the basis of toral dissertations were published and, all the medium into press research and radio and televi- of them, dealt with television (Sisättö sion studies. Instead of that, one should pay atten- 1977, Steinbock 1983, Wiio 1984, Kasari tion, independent of the medium, to those social 1985). Among these four, Steinbock repre- forces which regulate the production, contents and sented the new trend towards television consumption of mass communication. (Norden- studies; the others’ approach was more of streng 1972b) the kind typical to broadcasting research. When looking back at the decade of In the Nordicom’s print outs from broadcasting research in the years 1965- 1975-1985 there are only a few hints of a 1975 one can conclude that no specific re- new kind of research interest towards ra- search tradition in relation to radio deve- dio. One of them is a couple of writings loped. The common and dominant nomi- which discuss music in radio from a musi- nator of the research was the notion of cological or sociological perspective (Gro- broadcasting, meaning radio and television now 1983, Lipponen 1983). Saraneva’s together. In fact, the list of the early YLE (1982) research report on the construction sponsored research projects from 1965-68 of the radio audience in the period 1920- shows that television already then domi- 1960 is also an interesting example of the nated over radio as an object of research growing sociological interest towards me- (on the list, see Stormbom & Norden- dia studies. He used as a research data a streng 1968, 247-260). However, one collection of writings from radio listerners should remember that the media studies dealing with their early experiences of ra- aspect in the original formulation of radio dio. His approach represented the socio- and television studies at the University of logical study of the way of life, a popular Tampere offered a logical possibility of the approach among the Finnish sociologists in specific radio studies. the early 1980s.

13 The sociological study of the way of in general. This is the context in which also life and the interest towards television stu- a renewed interest towards radio as an ob- dies formed towards the mid 1980s a rene- ject of research arised. wed link between the universities and YLE. A milestone of this new linking is Research on the New Competitive the book which YLE published in 1986 as a celebration of its 60th anniversary (Heik- Environment of Radio kinen 1986). An illuminating aspect of this Table 1 below demonstrates the link be- book is that the academic mass communi- tween the new competitive environment of cation research is only scarcely represented radio broadcasting and the renewed inter- among the authors. The only one from the est towards radio research. University of Tampere is a sociologist (Pert- The table 1 is based on the analysis of ti Alasuutari) interested in media studies, the references to radio brodcasting in the and not a mass communication researcher. Finnish bibliography of mass communica- YLE’s interest towards intensified coop- tion research in the years 1985-1990. With eration with universities can be understood respect to this time period, one should re- in the context of the new competitive situ- member that the Finnish government ation of broadcasting, demonstrated by the granted the first franchices for commercial introduction of cable and satellite televi- local radio stations in 1985, and that marks sion and the privatization and commerciali- the end of 50 years’ public radio mo- zation of radio. The routinized measures nopoly in Finland. Based on references of broadcasting research were not enough only, the figures of table 1 do not as such for the understanding of YLE’s new posi- describe the number of research reports tion. New kind of qualitative insights were and papers in relation to radio (the total needed both in YLE’s relationship with the number of publications is 127, less than a audience and with the society and culture half of the references). However, the figu-

Table 1. The References to Radio in the Bibliography of the Finnish Mass Com- munication Research by Nordicom in the Years 1985-19901

Amount of references Word of reference Total Percentage Radio (in general) 18 6 Language and expression 11 4 Radio journalism 3 1 Radio advertising 8 3 Radio programmes 76 26 Programme producers 6 2 Radio news 5 1 Local radio 158 55 Media policy (radio) 2 1 In total 287 100

(Cf. references to television in total 430)

1 The search of references was carried out by Ms. Eija Poteri, the Finnish Nordicom at Tampere.

14 res convince that local radio was the domi- The break-up of the radio monopoly nant theme of the Finnish radio research stressed, in a new way, the role of the regu- in the latter half of the 1980s. latory state authority in the field of com- The publications dealing with the local munication, the Ministry of Transport and radio reform are too many to be listed here Communication. The sponsoring of radio in detail. After the reform, a discussion research, especially as a part of the follow- arose on the notion of ’local’ as an aspect up of the radio reform, was a part of its of local radio stations (Heiskanen 1988, new role (see Paikallisradiotutkimus I & Moring 1988; cf. Tamminen 1992). Pönti- II). nen (1989) applied Bourdieu’s sociological theory on culture to the analysis of Radio City in Helsinki and demonstrated how the Towards Radio Studies new radio stations challenged the old radio The above consideration of the renewed culture. From the point of YLE’s tradition, interest towards radio research emphasizes the new radio culture was analyzed and the important role of the institutional and discussed in Alm & Salminen (1992). Their political context of broadcasting as an ex- book is one of the major works in relation planation of research policy. On the other to the new radio; the title of the book side, one should emphasize that also in the Toosa soi (in English, The Box Is Sounding) academic research important changes oc- refers to one of the key aspects of the new curred in the course of the 1980s which radio culture, music. Among the contribu- created ground for a new kind of radio re- tors of the book was an American re- search. Within the mass communication re- searcher G. Ferrel Lowe who wrote a PhD search the new methodological approach is dissertation for the University of Texas at identified as a qualitative turn (see, for ex- Austin on value transformation in the ample, Jensen & Jankowski 1991). In the Finnish public service broadcasting (Lowe wake of such transformation new cross- 1992). In his later work, Alm (1993) turned road areas of research have been deve- to a more comprehensive analysis of the loped like cultural studies, and the tradi- production culture of radio in the context tional contradiction between social scien- of the new competitive situation (cf. Ala- ces and humanistic studies is decreasing. Fossi 1995). In Finland television studies and, later On the side of the YLE, there was also on, media studies have been the central a keen interest to follow the impact of fields where mass communication resear- commercial local radio stations on the be- chers have learnt to communicate with arts haviour of the listening audience. In this and literature. Audio-visual media/com- field, the most active researcher is Erja munication and audio-visual culture have Ruohomaa who analyzed the changing pat- been the common nominators of the new terns of radio listening in the 1980s joint interest area. As a result, new forms (Ruohomaa 1991 and 1992). The competi- of the academic institutionalization of tion between YLE and the commercial sta- study and research have been developed. tions resulted in a considerable increase of The former cinema studies in Turku is radio listening; from two hours a day to now called cinema and television studies; a more than three hours a day. Parallel to similar programme of studies is available that, qualitative changes in the patterns of on a minor scale in University of Oulu. In radio listening took place. the far north at Rovaniemi, University of

15 Lappland offers media studies in the facul- for journalism training was grounded in ty of arts since 1992. A new chair of se- University of Jyväskylä in Mid-Finland. miotic information studies was introduced Journalism is there a part of the Depart- in Vaasa, the Western coastal area of Fin- ment of Communication where the major land, in 1994. research tradition is the American style In the main academic centre for jour- speech communication. In fact, the only nalism training, University of Tampere, the doctoral dissertation on radio until now in Department of Journalism and Mass Com- Finland was completed in speech commu- munication offers a joint special program- nication at Jyväskylä by Valo (1994) who me of studies with arts and literature un- analyzed the acoustic features of speech der the heading ’audio-visual culture’. Pa- on radio. Another example of the interest rallel to that, the department set up a new towards radio in speech communication is chair of associate professor in electronic Gerlander’s (1991) study on unsuitable lan- media which can be seen as a re-formula- guage in YLE’s national programmes. tion of the earlier tradition of broadcasting The scheme in Figure 1 demonstrates research. generally the methodological shift towards Six per cent of Finns speak Swedish as media studies. The scheme presents a com- their native language. The Swedish lan- parison between the traditional approach guage education of journalists is attached of broadcasting research (emerging from to University of Helsinki which operates the general mass communication research) also a major department of communica- and the new media studies. The compari- tion. In 1987, an additional academic site son is structured according to the follow-

Figure 1. The Methodological Shift from Broadcasting Research to Media Studies

Communication Research tradition Context Theory Object of research Method Society: Knowledge - audience, effects, General Broadcasting - politics Information contents (quantitative) Reseach - economy - norms, values, - democracy - attitudes - power - world-view - public sphere - objectivity - informativeness - comprehension - manipulation, indoctrination

Culture: Language - myths & rituals - as a meaning- Meaning - codes, conventions ful cosmos Text - discourse Specific Media studies - social and - ideology, hegemony (qualitative) (Radio studies) interpretative - gender action - genre, format - reception - media culture - way of life, pleasure and taste - sub-cultures

16 ing four categories: 1) context of research, analyze the historical trends of radio pro- 2) communication theory, 3) objects of re- gramming. search, and 4) method. Through media As to the textuality of radio, a couple studies, the scheme demonstrates the logi- of other publications could be mentioned; cal possibility of media-specific radio stud- these are Salomaa’s (1989) book on docu- ies, an option of development which could mentarism in radio and a report by Nukari be compared with the institutionalization and Ruohomaa (1992), analyzing the his- of television studies in the academic world torical development of programming at (see Hujanen 1993). YLE. With respect to the new competitive A question remains how much the new situation, the latter authors demonstrate joint interest expressed by the media stu- that programming is a strategic area which dies has resulted in a new kind of research needs to be taken more seriously by the on radio. The answer is – something but public service broadcasting institutions. In not much, until now. An example is Ala- their recent work (Nukari and Ruohomaa suutari’s (1993) sociological study of the 1995) they argue for a even more compre- radio in the everyday life of the Finnish hensive view of programming including people, following the model of the ethno- evaluation of quality. graphic studies of reception. Ruohomaa is The history of radio broadcasting is preparing a doctoral dissertation for the one of the growing areas of research inte- University of Sussex in which her inten- rests. Oinonen’s (1994) study on the cul- sion is to develop media theory for radio tural history of radio entertainment is an from the users’ point of view (see example of such an interest. A similar ap- Ruohomaa’s paper in this book). In their proach is represented by Nieminen (1994) musicological analyses of radio, Alm’s and who studied religious programmes on ra- Salminen’s contributions (1992) can also be dio. The institutional history of the Finn- linked with the trend towards media stud- ish Broadcasting Company YLE was re- ies on radio. Their work is complemented cently complemented by a series of volu- by a recent doctoral dissertation of Gro- mes which celebrate the 70th anniversary now (1996) which considers the develop- of YLE in 1996 (Lyytinen 1996, Salokan- ment of the Finnish record industry from gas 1996, Ilmonen 1996; for an abridged a musicological perspective. version in English, see Enden 1996). The Alitalo (1988) is an example of that earlier compilations of broadcasting histo- some interest towards textual analysis of ry were published in 1976 (Tulppo 1976) radio is also visible. Alitalo discusses the and 1951 (Suomi 1951). textuality of radio from the point of view History of broadcasting was already in- of cinema studies but makes also referen- corporated as an aspect of the earlier ces to the old German theory of radio (see broadcasting research tradition. But as the also, Alitalo 1991 and Huhtamäki 1988). A above examples demonstrate, there is also recent example of growing interest to- evidence of a shift towards more speci- wards textual analysis of radio is given by fically oriented radio studies. From the the journal Lähikuva (Close-Up) which is point of view of the new competitive si- published by the Society of Cinema Stu- tuation of broadcasting, it seems some- dies. In a special issue on radio (Lähikuva what surprising how central YLE’s role re- 1/1996) the contributors discuss the histo- mains in initiating, implementing and ry of individual radio programmes and sponsoring research on radio. The national

17 public service broadcasting company con- vision and lately multimedia are the clear tinues sailing as the flagship of the Finnish priorities, and radio remains a marginal radio research. In the academic world, tele- phenomenon.

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