A Historical Review of Radio Research in

CECILIA VON FEILITZEN

How has Swedish radio research develo- the 1st of January, 1925. This program- ped? Which problem areas have been stud- ming was, and still is, free from advertising. ied, by which institutions and with what fi- The shares were at the outset owned by the nancing? A review of these matters is ma- press (2/3) and radio salesmen (1/3). Be- de here, based on time periods correspon- fore the national network was built out, ding to the reorganisations of radio, and private local radio stations were also allo- with that the altered forms of radio distri- wed, but only for a few years. Radio thus bution and programme policy, since this became a joint-stock company – but with evolution appears to be one of the most parliament regulating the annual grants, important causes of growth and changes in and a radio law and an agreement with the radio research. The periods are sometimes state laying down the broad outlines for more relevant to radio, sometimes to TV, programming. No one outside Radiotjänst but valid for both, as the public service had the right to influence what was broad- media in Sweden – and research about cast, but complaints about possible viola- them – have, to a great extent, been institu- tions against law and agreement could, af- tionally connected up until 1992. The sum- ter broadcasting, be made to Radionämn- marising discussion asks in whose interests den (The Radio Council), set up in 1936. and for what purposes the radio studies In 1994, this function was taken over by have been performed. Granskningsnämnden för radio och TV (The Broadcasting Commission); thus the 1925-1955 same general construction is still valid. Apart from 1925, the first years’ radio On Radio listeners had a varied programme menu of During the period 1925-1955, radio in facts and education, entertainment and Sweden was the only medium on the air. music to choose from during 7-8 hours a Trial broadcasts could be heard even in the day, mainly in the evenings. On Sundays, early twenties, but AB Radiotjänst (Swed- there were 12 hours of broadcasting. How- ish Broadcasting Corporation), the inde- ever, news and programmes on current af- pendent, politically established, licence fi- fairs were few. For example, during the nanced company with sole right to broad- first seven years, the news was limited to a cast national radio in the service of the quarter of an hour each day at 9.15 p.m., public, started its regular programming on and then only slowly increased by a few

23 short newscasts at other times of the day. lation to what was broadcast. Approxima- It was Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT) tely 155,000 persons or 43 per cent (The News Agency of the Press), not Ra- responded (this group is not representative diotjänst, that had been given responsibility of the licence holders, who in their turn for the radio news activity, and TT did not are not representative of the other mem- want radio to compete with the press for bers of the household). Various genres of the news. Not until 1937 was Radiotjänst traditional light music of that time topped permitted to start a programme on current the list. High up on the list were also talks, affairs of its own, Dagens Eko, but still news, as well as sketches and cabaret. At with TT as the supplier of news bulletins. the bottom of the list landed modern When the war ceased in 1945, Radiotjänst dance music, i.e., mainly jazz, and different wilfully broke the agreement on TT´s news forms of serious music. monopoly. From 1947 and thereafter, Ra- More genuine surveys were done dur- diotjänst was lawfully allowed to broadcast ing the war and afterwards. In 1943, when news bulletins of its own, in addition to around 70 per cent of the population had those of TT, but they were not regularly access to radio at home, the size and com- set up until 1956 (Elgemyr 1984a). position of the radio audience during one Until the last year of the period, 1955, week were studied at the request of Radio- radio had pauses in broadcasting during tjänst. Peaks in listening were observed du- the day – one could mainly listen in the ring news broadcasts – according to the mornings, mid-days and evenings. In 1955, study, nearly 80 per cent of yesterday’s ac- radio broadcasting began to develop faster, tual radio audience (not of all persons with as radio then got its second channel, P2, access to radio) listened at 7 p.m. – but via the FM-system. old-time dance music, the gramophone hour, entertainment programmes, radio plays and morning devotions also attracted On Radio Research 40-50 per cent of the actual audience. On During the beginning of the 20th century average, these listeners heard 2 1/2-3 up to the Second World War, little media hours a day (Svenska Gallupinstitutet 1943, research existed at any level in Sweden. SOU 1946:1). Afterwards, some people Exceptions were mainly some literature re- have been amazed by this daily listening search done within the discipline of litera- time and the high per centages shown for ture science and some press research with- many programmes in the report, and con- in the disciplines of history and political cluded ”that radio during the war was an science. extremely important mass medium”. Even When it comes to radio, however, Tele- if that is not to be doubted, it is worth grafstyrelsen (The Board of Telecommuni- mentioning that listening time per listener cations), in consultation with Radiotjänst, today is about the same – but with the dif- arranged in 1928 a kind of voting enquiry ference that listening is spread out around (Radiotjänst 1929, SOU 1935:10). All the the clock and across many radio channels, then licence holders (still less than one with the consequence that each single pro- fourth of the households had radio) recei- gramme reaches a much smaller audience. ved a postal questionnaire and were asked After the war, some studies were made what they wanted to hear more or less of about listening to special radio program- for 20 programme items – nota bene, in re- mes. Further, audience surveys were per-

24 formed about the role of radio in the elec- If we use a simple transmission para- tion campaigns of 1948 and 1950. (Until digm of the mass communication process, 1969, Radiotjänst mostly ordered the large, nowadays abandoned by many media re- quantitative data collections from institutes searchers but at that time a common model on the market.) It appeared that election and therefore appropriate in this context – programmes on the radio were of much sender>message>medium>receiver – the more interest to the public than correspon- focus of radio research during 1925-1955 ding content in the press, film and other can schematically be delineated as in figure 1. sources. Also, in 1947, the living habits of Thus, the problem areas of research du- the Swedish population were studied to ring this first period were, above all, the ac- find out about suitable broadcasting times. tual and potential radio listeners. Also, the This last study has often been somewhat studies on the role of radio in the elections ironically referred to afterwards, since it mainly focused on the listeners, even if showed that 79 per cent of the population they, in a broader sense, touched on the so- was ”already” awake at 7 o’clock – a result cietal function of radio for formation of that astonished the middle class radio staff. public opinion and for democracy, as well. The consequence was that morning pro- When looking from this period into the fu- grammes were broadcast one hour earlier, ture, we see that these three problem areas at 6.15 a.m. – the actual and potential audience, along In 1948-49, Radiotjänst also tested a with the political role of radio – comprise new method, so-called listening councils the agenda of radio research for a long (in the form of discussion forums). These time to come. Even if a few studies were were carried out relatively regularly during carried out at universities, it was altogether some ten years. At the same time, the num- radio itself that initiated and financed re- ber of customary listening studies (mostly search during this period. ratings) increased. A survey about the elec- tion campaign on the radio in 1954 was 1956-1968 contracted out to a university political sci- ence department. In 1955, Radiotjänst es- On Radio – and TV tablished its own Section for Listening Stu- This period starts when Sweden got its dies. first TV channel. Radiotjänst began trial

Figure 1. The Direction of Radio Research 1925-1955

Research institutions sender contents medium audience researchers at - voting enquiry Radiotjänst/insti- - audience ratings tutes on the - listening councils market - living habits - the role of radio in the elections universities - listening to special programmes - the role of radio in the election

25 TV transmissions a few years earlier, but it On Radio Research was in 1956 that regular TV broadcasting got going. Radio and TV were, thus, inte- The first years of this period were domina- grated within the same company. In 1957, ted by surveys about radio listening, al- ownership was broadened: 40 per cent of though TV viewing was studied as well. the shares were owned by the press, 40 per 1958 was the year, however, when the first cent by popular movements and 20 per comprehensive TV ratings were perfor- cent by trade and industry. That same year, med, and those were soon a rule. In 1959, Radiotjänst was renamed to Sveriges Ra- the Section for Listening Studies at Sveriges dio. Radio changed its name to the Section for As mentioned, radio channel P2 started Audience Studies – in short PUB. More and in 1955. With that, music, entertainment, more studies on more and more aspects of culture, news and regional programmes the audience were done. Some examples were given more air space. The new FM of special ventures, besides the common network also meant that broadcasters audience ratings, concerned the new radio could take into consideration the portable channels and the enlarged programming – transistor radios and car radios that influ- for details, see figure 2. But even if radio enced listening habits. But it was the fact studies increased, those on TV became far that a commercial pirate radio, Radio more frequent, in spite of the fact that ra- Nord, illegally started broadcasting music, dio listening only slightly and temporarily advertisements and short news program- diminished with the spread of TV. mes from the archipelago in Most of the studies were descriptive 1961, that, remarkably after only a few and concerned primarily structural condi- weeks, ultimately brought about permis- tions – but there was also, at Sveriges Ra- sion and money for Sveriges Radio to dio, more theoretical research on the func- broadcast Melody radio – light music – tions and effects of the communication over the P2 net, as well as night radio on process. One study, which was based on P1. Already in 1962, the building of a third American models of the formation of channel, P3, started, which was designated public opinion, focused on the election in for light music and night radio. In 1966, 1960 on the radio (and TV), in terms of when P3 could be heard all over the coun- the role of ether media in propaganda, opi- try, the profiles of P1, P2 and P3 were es- nion leaders, voting behaviour and political tablished and remained essentially the mobility. Another example consisted of a same until 1992: P1 became the talk chan- series of studies about the effects of ra- nel with information, P2 the channel for dio’s and TV’s information campaigns be- serious music and programmes for special fore the switch-over to right hand traffic in target groups, and P3 the channel for light Sweden in 1967 – these studies, as well, music and entertainment (Elgemyr 1984b, initiated because of a political decision. Holmbäck 1984). In a survey of Swedish mass communi- At the end of the period (1967), the dis- cation research during 1957-1962 concerning tribution of shares of Sveriges Radio was all media, Nowak (1963) found that resear- changed again, as a sign of increasing inde- chers had paid great attention to only one pendence: 60 per cent were now owned by clearly defined theoretical field – namely, popular movements, 20 per cent by the political public opinion. Of those studies press and 20 per cent by trade and industry. that had been brought about outside Sve-

26 Figure 2. The Direction of Radio Research 1956-1968 (main examples)

Research institutions sender contents medium audience the research - audience ratings department at - listening possibili- Sveriges Radio ties, sound quality, (PUB)/institutes listening and needs on the market regarding P2, Melo- dy radio, P3, music, music radio, regio- nal programmes, night radio - children, youth and radio - living habits - the role of radio in the election - effects of radio’s traffic campaign governmental - the information - the role of radio for institutions for consumers opinion leadership universities: – analyses of propa- - radio’s formation of social ganda political opinion sciences - the objectivity of - effects of radio’s news traffic campaign - the needs that radio fulfills for indivi- duals universities: - the radio drama humanities riges Radio, it was chiefly within this field During this period, analyses of media that radio had been included as one (of contents were pursued as well. One of the several) objects of study. The institute that university departments mentioned above had devoted itself mostly to the question had made several analyses of propaganda, of opinion leadership was a governmental mainly in the press, but also on the radio institution. With respect to the formation and radio transmissions in Swedish from of political opinion and the effects of elec- other countries. At the end of the period, tion propaganda, it was instead a university Sveriges Radio commissioned the same de- political science department that, since the partment to study the objectivity of its beginning of the 1950s, had carried out in- news. That content analyses began to vestigations concerning the elections (and emerge on the scene is also shown by the the referendum in 1957). One university fact that a governmental institution made study had, however, a totally different ap- an inventory of the extent and quality of proach. It proceeded from the uses and information for consumers in radio and gratifications model and shed light upon other media. Radio drama (radio plays) was the needs that individuals fulfil by using another content studied from a historical various media, among others radio. and cultural perspective, but at a university

27 humanities department. With this excep- social scientific university research on ra- tion, all radio research up to this point – dio had also received support from Sveri- within Sveriges Radio, at governmental in- ges Radio and an authority. stitutions and at the universities – had However, the governmental radio com- emanated from the social sciences. mission of 1960 (SOU 1965:20, SOU 1965: One reason that radio research increa- 21) emphasised in a whole chapter the sed during this period, at the same time as need for augmented research about radio it was getting into the back-water of TV and TV. It strongly stressed that such re- research, was the substantial expansion of search was needed not only for Sveriges radio – but also of TV – during the 1960s. Radio and the governmental authorities Another was that mass communication re- and in order to realise education via radio search in Sweden became more widespread and TV – but also because of general sci- in general, something which also affected entific viewpoints and for the public. radio research. Besides surveys of the ra- It was around this time that the results dio audience, studies on radio contents, as of PUB’s studies became public – available mentioned, were given some weight. But for everyone and for scientific discussion. still, the actual and potential audience, as From now on, PUB’s reports, books and well as the political functions and effects articles were widely circulated, contacts of radio, were the dominating problem ar- with and talks for interested groups be- eas. The fact that certain nations had ex- came common, and co-operation with uni- ploited radio for propaganda during the versities became more frequent. war was not to be forgotten, and the duty of Sveriges Radio, as a public service com- 1969-1977 pany, to supply impartial information based on facts became one of the lodestars On Radio – and TV for radio research. In 1969, a second TV channel was establi- In agreement with Nowak (1963), we shed. The two TV channels were to work can state that, for the most part, mass com- within the same company ”in stimulating munication research constituted a natural competition”. Colour TV was officially in- part of only certain media companies’ ac- troduced the following year. tivity – i.e. radio research for radio. At in- As regards radio, the governmental radio stitutions outside the media, media re- commission of 1969 (SOU 1973:8) was of search had with few exceptions a marked great importance. It proposed, among side position. When media had a more dis- other things, the setting up of local radio, tinguished position there, it was principally that the parliament decided should be some specific problem or aspect that was working in 1977 and consist of 24 local ra- studied, e.g., the focus on mass communi- dio stations (later on 25). Radio had had cation from a political angle. Also, outside long term activity in some ten districts, and Sveriges Radio, the radio medium had al- in Spring 1973, it had experimented with most always been studied in combination local radio at three places in the country. with TV and/or the press. Planning concerning the prospect of the In addition to radio itself as an inter- coming daughter company, Local Radio, ested party and financier of radio research, became intensive during the period in it was chiefly authorities that provided the question. Economic reductions of Sve- means for research during this period. The riges Radio were simultaneously carried

28 out, and the phonograms (records, sound tions about the role of radio in people’s en- cassettes) spread rapidly. vironment, and about the changed radio Radio and TV in school education was listening after the introduction of TV. Now the subject of several governmental com- radio listening took place much more dur- missions as well. School radio and school ing the daytime and parallel to other activi- TV existed within Sveriges Radio, but in ties, at home and on the job. 1967, TRU, a state committee for radio and Studies performed on the experiment TV in the educational system, was started with local radio in 1973 and before the outside Sveriges Radio. The activity of start of local radio in 1977, did not only TRU was made permanent in a company apply to the usual listeners but also to ra- of its own, Utbildningsradion (Educational dio journalists’ views of local radio, as well Radio), in connection with the dissolution as expectations from local radio among or- in 1978 of Sveriges Radio’s sole right to ganisations, companies, associations, local broadcast (at the beginning of next pe- authorities, county councils, news papers, riod). etc. Consequently, these and other studies also dealt with the sender in the mass com- munication process. On Radio Research The theoretical and long term orienta- In 1969, PUB, the Section of Audience tion of the projects became stronger and Research at Sveriges Radio, received the treated, for instance, the comprehensibility status of a department and a new name, of the news (based on psychological theo- Audience and Programme Research De- ries), the relative importance of radio and partment. Moreover, in the same year, it TV in diminishing or increasing the infor- formed an organisation of telephone inter- mation gaps in society (based on media so- viewers of its own, which at the start per- ciological theories), and children, radio and formed ratings and other telephone stud- TV (based on socialisation perspectives, ies, 300 days of the year (soon, however, psychological theory and the uses and gra- the interviews were slimmed because of tifications model). There were several ele- the economic cuts at Sveriges Radio). TV ments of critical research within Sveriges has always paid for far more audience rat- Radio. Of the research outside Sveriges ings than radio, and before local radio Radio, studies on objectivity in radio and started in 1977, radio ordered standardised TV news brought up an on-going critical audience ratings for only a few weeks per debate about the definition of ’objectivity’ year. When PUB’s own interview organisa- as well. tion was established, it stopped ordering In a survey of Swedish mass media re- corresponding data collections from other search as a whole during 1965-1975 (Kron- institutes on the market. vall 1976), PUB was proved to be the larg- Besides, PUB made a great deal of spe- est individual research institution in the cial studies for radio, which figure 3 exem- country, but overall, media research at uni- plifies. versities and other institutions had, at this Among the overall trends and themes point, greatly increased. Three fourths of during the period, the following could be the media researchers during the decade accentuated: A new feature of audience re- surveyed had worked at some university search was qualitative soft data studies department. An interesting fact is that of based on informal interviews and observa- these university researchers, about half

29 Figure 3. The Direction of Radio Research 1969-1977 (main examples)

Research institutions sender contents medium audience the research - the experiment - analysis of - audience ratings department at with local radio -73 the news - listening to regional Sveriges Radio - expectations from programmes, elec- (PUB) local radio -77 tion programmes, - the decisions of radio plays, serious The Radio Council music - the experiment with local radio - 73 - expectations from local radio -77 - advance informa- tion about program- mes - the listening situa- tion - comprehensibility of the news - the role of radio for information gaps - education via radio - emotional and other experiences of pro- grammes - the importance of radio in people’s lives - children and radio - the audience of programmes in minority languages governmental - the credibility of institutions radio - the news diffusion of radio and its role in situations of crisis universities: - the experiment - the objectivity - the experiment social with local radio -73 of news with local radio -73 sciences - expectations from - analyses of - expectations from local radio -77 propaganda local radio -77 - the paragraph on - the role of radio for democracy in the information gaps Agreement - the news diffusion of radio and its role in situations of crisis universities: - the concept of humanities objectivity - the news language

30 were attached to The Faculty of Arts and ”into the bargain” when, strictly speaking, around half to The Faculty of Social Sci- the main interest was TV. ences. Thus, media research generally was Even if radio research during the pe- much more multidisciplinary than was pre- riod in some cases was paid for by research viously imagined. Unfortunately, research councils and foundations, Sveriges Radio projects on radio and TV were not kept se- and, secondly, several authorities were – as parate in this survey, and thus it is difficult previously – the major financiers. to distinguish precisely those which con- cerned radio. The commissioner himself 1978-1986 found, however, that: On Radio – and TV the absolute majority of research on ether me- As a consequence of a proposal by the go- dia takes place at Sveriges Radio or at institu- vernmental radio commission of 1974 tions/departments that are specially commis- (SOU 1977:19), Sveriges Radio was re- sioned by Sveriges Radio or The Radio Coun- organised from 1978 onwards into a com- cil. Research about Sveriges Radio outside this bine of four daughter companies – Sveri- frame is inconsiderable (Kronvall 1976). ges Television (TV), Sveriges Riksradio We can say, therefore, with great certainty (National Radio), Sveriges Lokalradio (Lo- that the radio research principally con- cal Radio) and Utbildningsradion (Educa- sisted of those studies presented in figure tional Radio) – as well as a mother com- 3, and that the greater part of it, as earlier, pany, Sveriges Radio. With that, the mono- was of a social scientific nature. poly formed in 1925, which allowed only Accordingly, the period was character- one company in Sweden to broadcast, le- ised by more and more radio research, gally ceased after some 50 years. During which also became more diverse, nuanced this period, TV also got competition from and in some cases more theoretical. The cable and satellite TV (and video). main lines of research were still the same At the beginning of the period, Local problem areas focused on during earlier Radio transmitted its programmes in spe- periods – the actual and the potential radio cial ”windows” in P3, which widened with audience, and analyses of the news and po- time. In 1985, Local Radio also made an litical contents of radio. Beyond this, how- experiment with full-scale transmissions ever, the areas had considerably widened. from three stations, i.e., 12 hours a day for But despite the multidisciplinary character three months. Not until 1986, at the end of of media research generally, cultural scien- the period, did the parliament decide to tific radio studies were rare; the humanistic build a net for a new radio channel, P4, for element concerned the radio language and these local broadcasts. At the beginning of criticism of the objectivity studies. At the the period, Local Radio and Educational same time, the growth of TV research dur- Radio made experiments with ”everyone’s ing the period was proportionally much radio”, in which individuals and associa- greater than that of radio research. And tions could make radio programmes of when radio was studied in more general their own. As a result of one of the very and theoretical projects, this often hap- many governmental commissions in the pened in combination with TV and/or the media field during this time, there were, press. It was often the case that radio got however, since 1979 also trials – made in-

31 dependently of the Sveriges Radio combi- Even though the social sciences still ne – concerning neighbourhood radio (radio were responsible for the lion’s share of ra- with limited local capacity especially for dio research, the humanities also became broadcasting by associations). Neighbour- more visible, e.g., studies performed by lin- hood radio became permanent in 1986. guists, theologians and historians. Thus, the multidisciplinary nature of media research generally at the universities had begun to On Radio Research have an enduring effect on research on ra- The many kinds of quantitative and quali- dio as well. The humanistic radio studies tative enquiries at PUB about the actual were mainly oriented towards contents or and potential audience of radio and of texts, but to some degree also towards the various programme types mentioned above communicator. The last-mentioned ones continued and deepened. New methods attached, among other things, importance were developed. In the data base of to how politics, society and the struggle for Nordicom (valid from 1975 on), there are power between different groups had influ- several hundreds of Swedish research pub- enced the development of radio histori- lications related to radio documented for cally, its news broadcasting, as well as the this period, of which half or more were reorganisations and ideologies of radio performed at PUB and – to a less degree – (and TV). According to these historical by a newly appointed research group at studies, the independence and freedom of Educational Radio. Figure 4 gives exam- Swedish public service radio stand out as a ples of research interests during this pe- chimera. riod. A certain distribution of work between As before, the backbone of radio re- the research at PUB, on the one hand, and, search during this period was composed of on the other, the research at governmental the same, however broadened, problem ar- institutions and universities, also began to eas – the actual and potential audience, to- crystallise: While PUB’s studies more often gether with the societal and political role focused on the audience, authorities and of radio in electioneering, news surveil- universities more often focused on the lance, news diffusion and crisis situations. sender and contents in the communication But in the abundance of research reports, process. a new wave of interest in radio studies can Clearly, radio research had become even especially be noticed with the origin of lo- more voluminous – both at PUB, govern- cal radio and the experiments with neigh- mental authorities and universities. Univer- bourhood and ”everyone’s” radio. Conse- sity research began directly and indirectly quently, radio studies were now carried out to reflect the fact that, in the 1980s, media both on national and local levels – and this and communication research was being es- was the case both for research inside and tablished as a scientific discipline of its outside Sveriges Radio. Theories and dis- own. For this reason, there were also more cussions about the functions of local me- projects of interest to radio that were fi- dia from, among others, the perspectives nanced by research councils and founda- of decentralisation and public access, were tions. All the same, the overwhelming part lively. The new local media also contrib- of radio research was still paid for by Na- uted to more and more radio studies about tional Radio, Local Radio, Educational Ra- the communicator and the contents. dio, ministries and other authorities.

32 Figure 4. The Direction of Radio Research 1978-1986 (main examples)

Research institutions sender contents medium audience the research - costs for radio - religious - audience ratings department at - ”everyone’s radio” programmes - local radio and the Sveriges Radio - work for equal - gender roles audience (PUB)/ possibilities for in programmes - neighbourhood researchers men and women radio and the at Educational within radio audience Radio - a great deal of quan- titative and qualita- tive studies of the actual and potential audience (as earlier) - attention of the listening - comprehensibility of the news - the news diffusion of radio - children, youth and radio - mens’ and women’s listening - listening among linguistic and other minority groups governmental - the decisions of - the contents of institutions The Radio Council local radio - the news of radio/ local radio - the objectivity before the referendum on nuclear power universities: - local radio - the contents of - local radio and the social - ”everyone’s radio” local radio audience sciences - neighbourhood - the contents of - neighbourhood radio neighbourhood radio and the radio audience - election campaigns - the news diffusion on the radio/local of radio radio - the news surveillance of radio/local radio - the image of Sweden in news over time - analyses of propaganda - gender roles in programmes universities: - the media adaption - the consumers’ humanities of the devotions programmes - the organization etc - the religion on of the radio histo- the radio rically seen - the news language - the language of the local radio - a phone-in and music request programme

33 1987-1992 of the 1980s. If we were to point out so- On Radio – and TV mething special, it could be a very large venture at the end of the period – before In 1987, a reform of ’s the coming fusion of National and Local two existing channels, initiated by the Radio – which included numerous second- authorities, resulted in a Stockholm chan- ary analyses of PUB’s large data bases, as nel and a Sweden channel. Also, the dere- well as several quantitative and qualitative gulation during this period was a tangible special enquiries about, among other fact – competition from other TV channels things, geographical differences in radio became gradually stronger. Partly it occur- listening and individuals’ needs and wants red because of access to more and more in terms of radio and radio contents on satellite TV channels, partly because of the national and local levels. These reports ha- start of a third earthbound TV channel in ve remained confidential, something which 1990-91. This national public service chan- applied to several PUB-studies of this pe- nel, TV4, which is financed by advertising, riod. The justification was that Sveriges is completely independent of Sveriges Te- Television had been – and National/Local levision. Radio would soon be – put into a situation From the beginning of the period, the of competition with other TV and radio stations of Local Radio that had existed stations. Local Radio also did several stud- for ten years could ”loosen” themselves in ies through a private market institute which stages with the building of the net for the were not made public either. new radio channel, P4. The net was ready At the universities, interest in local ra- in 1990, thus, the first year in which all the dio and neighbourhood radio continued. 25 local radio stations could broadcast on Not least, neighbourhood radio stations their own frequencies on a separate chan- were scrutinised which – e.g., because of nel. unusually extensive listening by young peo- The ministries, however, gave signals ple – could herald the coming competition about a near reorganisation of radio and from the private local radio stations. Scien- TV – the combine of Sveriges Radio tific prognoses were made about the ef- would be dissolved by the turn of 1992/ fects of radio advertising generally and on 93. This also meant that National Radio the daily press in particular. In part, the and Local Radio – again – would be fused studies on local media had, accordingly, ta- into one company and that commercial, ken on a different, forward-looking per- private local radio transmissions would be spective owing to the announced commer- permitted (see next period). Several neigh- cial private radio. bourhood radio stations had already intro- Humanistic radio research, seen during duced advertising illegally. the last preceding periods, had come to stay, but from a more pronounced histori- cal perspective. The historical interest is, On Radio Research furthermore, in evidence within the radio During this relatively short time period, ra- and TV media themselves. Towards the dio research went on with unreduced in- end of the period, radio and TV held an tensity at PUB. Most studies focused on si- introductory seminar which kicked-off one milar problem areas as those taken up dur- of the largest radio and TV research pro- ing the end of the 1970s and the beginning jects ever – on the history of the ether me-

34 Figure 5. The Direction of Radio Research 1987-1992 (main examples)

Research institutions sender contents medium audience the research - the contents of - audience ratings department at local radio - local radio and the Sveriges Radio - radio’s presenta- audience (PUB) / tion of the disaster - neighbourhood radio researchers in Tjernobyl and the audience at Educational - a great deal of quan- Radio titative and qualita- tive audience studies - deep-going studies with listeners to special programmes - secondary analyses of PUB’s data bases - geographical diffe- rences in listening - needs and wants of local radio features - the role of radio for individuals’ experien- ces of the disaster in Tjernobyl - tests of music taste - children and radio - the audience of mul- ticultural and immi- grants’ programmes - the need for radio among people having visual defects governmental - the news surveillance - the role of radio in institutions of radio/local radio situations of crisis - the racialism on the neighbourhood radio trade and - the news surveillance industry of radio universities: - local radio - the news surveillance - local radio and the social - neighbourhood radio of radio/local radio audience sciences - prognoses on radio - the history of the - neighbourhood radio advertising ether media and the audience - the news diffusion of radio - the need for radio among people having visual defects universities: - the organization etc - radio’s presentation - the radio as an adult humanities of radio historically of the disaster in educator historically seen Tjernobyl seen - radio religion - the role of radio in historically seen building up the Swe- - Sven Jerring’s dish welfare state language histori historically seen cally seen - the listeners’ view- - radio genres where points on radio listeners can take language historically part per telephone seen - the history of the ether media

35 dia. This project would be carried out by movements) withdrew. The shares are now the universities, and funded by radio and owned by foundations. TV. It would be completed in the year of In order to meet the rapidly approach- 2000, when public service radio and public ing competition from the commercial pri- service TV become 75 years of age. vate local radio, the new Sveriges Radio es- The direction of radio research during tablished, at its start in January 1993, new the period is described in more detail in fi- profiles for P3 and P4 according to age. At gure 5. present P3 targets the younger half of the The problem areas and financiers of ra- population (<40 years of age) with ap- dio research correspond as a whole with proximately 2/3 light music and 1/3 ambi- those prevailing during earlier periods – tious journalistic features. P4 broadcasts but with the successive changes that have approximately 40 per cent light music and, occurred over time because of the devel- above that, news, entertainment, culture, opment of radio in terms of organisation, social issues, sports, traffic and service in- distribution and program policy, and be- formation, as well as many local inserts, cause of the development of research at and targets the older part of the popula- PUB, universities and other organisations. tion (>35 years of age). P1 is, as pre- As mentioned, nuances specific to the pe- viously, the channel for spoken informa- riod have, among other things, to do with tion and P2, as previously, the channel for the approaching private radio and have a serious music and programmes in minority rather double nature. Partly, research inter- languages. In 1993, the government started est is focused on the future. National and auctioning off frequencies for local private Local Radio, authorities, trade and industry radio stations, which mainly and gradually and some researchers make predictions started operating from 1994 onwards. about economy, technology, organisation, Even the neighbourhood radio stations programme contents and listening in the were, at this point, allowed to advertise. In expected media situation. Other research- the Spring of 1996, around 90 per cent of ers, and at the same time National and Lo- the population in Sweden could listen to cal Radio, simultaneously turn their inter- private radio, which has almost without ex- est towards the past – in search of history. ception profiled itself as music radio sta- tions, attracting a multitude of listeners, 1993- chiefly in the younger half of the popula- tion and above all teenagers. (Neighbour- On Radio – and TV hood radio reaches, as before, a rather In early 1993, the mother company and the small audience). combine of Sveriges Radio were abolished. The present agreements between the National Radio and Local Radio were fu- public service media and the state will be sed into one company, Sveriges Radio, the subject of renegotiations from 1996, thus, with the same name as the abolished but no clear signals about further develop- mother company. The new radio company ment have been made – other than those Sveriges Radio, as well as Sveriges Televi- about new sharp economic cuts now in sion (TV) and Utbildningsradion (Edu- progress for Sveriges Radio, Sveriges Tele- cational Radio) became three independent vision and Educational Radio. In Septem- enterprises. The former share holders (the ber 1995, Sveriges Radio received permis- press, trade and industry, and popular sion to broadcast with DAB technique (di-

36 gital audio broadcasting), which makes it and several private radio stations, on the possible to have far more programmes other hand, jointly own another, new insti- within given frequencies. tute (RUAB) which generates running ra- dio ratings by means of telephone inter- views. Only overall figures on listening are On Radio Research made public. In addition to that, Sveriges When the combine of Sveriges Radio cea- Radio has, mainly via a new small internal sed, and because Sveriges Television wan- research function, performed a great num- ted measuring methods other than tele- ber of special studies about radio, for the phone interviews for the continuous audi- time being confidential – see problem ar- ence ratings, PUB was shut down (in June eas in figure 6. Prominence can be given to 1993). Instead, Sveriges Television and se- extensive studies on the population’s music veral satellite TV channels have the TV rat- tastes and life styles interpreted from a ings done jointly, with people meters via a Bourdieu perspective, which also shed light market institute (MMS). Sveriges Radio on basic methodological questions. As a

Figure 6. The Direction of Radio Research 1993- (main examples)

Research institutions sender contents medium audience researchers at - men and women - audience ratings the radio / in the radio output - the audience’s view- institutes on points on program- the market me quality - listeners’ attitudes to channels and programme con- tents - the news diffusion of radio - music tastes and life styles of the population - tests of music taste - children, youth and radio - the Finnish- speaking popula- tion’s need for radio - people’s need for DAB radio universities - the history of the - multiplicity of - radio sound and - the history of the ether media: orga- the radio output radio as an aural ether media: nisation, techno- - the history of the medium the audience logy, democracy ether media: news, - radio habits etc current affairs, sports, music, culture, enter- tainment, children’s programmes etc

37 company of its own and in the new com- studied during previous periods as well. petitive situation, Sveriges Radio has hith- There is a certain new tendency, however, erto during this period invested more in ra- towards studies of light radio contents. In dio research than during any of the previ- part this occurs in the history project, in ous periods. The confidential results are a part in research on music taste and studies consequence of the market situation. Cer- of the listeners’ attitudes towards existing tain trends and analyses are, however, deli- channels and programmes. It is precisely in vered to the parliament and government in this field of popular culture that the fight public annual reports, supply estimates, for listeners is most intense, now when ra- etc. dio competition has become a fact. Private radio and agencies for advertis- For the universities, a division into so- ers finance radio studies as well – first the cial scientific and humanistic media re- above-mentioned audience ratings, second- search becomes less and less relevant, as ly tests of music taste. The results are busi- media and communication science includ- ness secrets. ing journalism, in the course of the previ- In addition to this, Sveriges Radio and ous period, was established as a discipline Sveriges Television have, as mentioned, of its own, and in some places is also of a initiated and pay for the research project multi- or interdisciplinary character. With on the history of the ether media, that at reference to the financing of radio re- present engages quite a number of social search during the present period, radio is, scientific and humanistic university re- till now, dominating heavily. searchers up to the year of 2000 (other in- terested parties also contribute economi- cally). Further examples of university re- Summarising Discussion search are pointed out in figure 6. Not Radio research in Sweden has been exten- least, certain researchers have begun to re- sive, though as a whole more empirical flect on the significance of ’public service’, than theoretically innovative. It has to the and the need for radio and TV in the serv- highest possible degree been influenced by ice of the public. more and more national and local radio Since knowledge of the audience di- channels and stations (including competi- minished outside Sveriges Radio when tion from TV), the successive profiling of PUB ceased and audience results financed their contents and the many reorganisa- by the radio became confidential, there are, tions of the radio medium – which, in their at the universities, several examples of in- turn, were caused by political decisions in a vestigations of media habits in which radio society of changing ideologies. listening is included. Nordicom at Göte- Radio itself has been the greatest finan- borg University has also, since the 1970s, cier of radio research, followed by state au- issued many periodical publications includ- thorities. Even the radio research carried ing summary statistics and analyses about out at the universities has only partly been the development of radio and radio listen- supported by grants from independent re- ing. search councils and foundations. This need Up until now, the problem areas during not mean that the radio or the authorities the period concern, in sum, both audience, always have been initiators of the concrete contents, communicator and the medium. studies. But even if the researcher some- Many areas of current interest have been times took the initiative, or if the initiative

38 was made in an interplay, the research pro- contents, news objectivity, and the func- blems must be of relevance to those who tions of radio in news diffusion and crisis pay. situations have been the topics. Such stud- The fact that radio has paid for a great ies have often been funded by authorities portion of the radio studies is not surpris- as well. ing. Radio is, on one level, the party most In spite of the fact that radio research interested in such research, and equivalent has been comprehensive, radio has – when conditions have applied to media research media research at PUB, other organisations all over the world. The fact that Swedish and universities started to spread in Swe- authorities have invested money in studies den after the Second World War – been on the informative role of radio and on pushed into the background by other me- new media, e.g., local radio, is also to be ex- dia, which for various reasons seemed pected, as the state sets up recurrent com- more interesting or easily accessible to missions prior to new agreements with study. The fact that TV research became public service radio, prior to reorganisa- more extensive than radio research was, tions of the radio, and prior to regulations among other things, due to the public de- and deregulations of radio activity. An im- bate which to a higher degree stressed the portant circumstance in this context is also import and effects of TV. Another circum- the organisational edification of Swedish stance was that radio and TV – and their media research. Much radio research has audience research – were organisationally been anchored in organisations outside the interlaced during a long time. Thus, radio universities. It was, as mentioned, not until was often ”dragged” into research which, during the 1980s that media and communi- after all, was characterised by an interest in cation science in combination with journa- TV. lism was built up as a university discipline According to tradition, the press took of its own. It is a documented fact that, precedence at the journalism high schools previously, when university researchers in- and at departments of political science at terested in the media were dispersed across universities, not least since much radio various other disciplines (sociology, politi- (and TV) research was in progress at PUB. cal science, history, philosophy, linguistics, The press was also materially more easily ethnology, etc.), they functioned with few accessible before The Archive for Sound exceptions in isolation, lacking colleagues and Pictures was established in 1979. In with similar interests and, with that, having terms of university research about the few prospects of getting grants for large news and the political role of radio, radio research projects. has often been studied in connection with The research funded by radio has pri- the press and TV, of which the press was marily focused on multiple aspects of the the most usual starting-point for research. actual and potential radio audience, a type Thus, although radio and TV are the of research that overwhelmingly was per- media people use most, and although radio formed within Sveriges Radio – until 1992 research has been comprehensive, radio at the Audience and Programme Research nevertheless has been met with a more Department (PUB). Secondly, radio has fi- lukewarm interest from researchers than nanced analyses of radio programme con- TV and the press. During long periods, ra- tents, often as tasks given to universities. dio has been there beside, or as a comple- Principally, in these cases, political radio ment to the scientific main stream.

39 Two occasions exist, however, when gathered speed in the Swedish research Swedish radio research was vitalised. One world, but is characterised by some uncer- was at the entry of local and neighbour- tainty and resignation. hood radio from the 1970s onwards. Sveri- Radio research in Sweden has, above all, ges Radio, Local Radio and authorities of- been of a social scientific character, both fered large grants, and researchers came within and outside the universities. The flocking. A great number of studies scruti- less frequent humanistic radio research has nised most parts of the communication slowly grown from the 1970s onwards, process and theories about decentralisation mainly at the universities. Proportionally, and audience participation were eagerly humanistic research at the university level put forward. has been funded by grants from research The other occasion was associated with councils and foundations more often than the rise of commercial private local radio social scientific research. Of special inter- in the 1990’s. Yet, the situation is different, est for the humanistic researchers has been among other things because no large gov- radio as an organisation and radio contents ernmental commission with a need for re- from a historical perspective, as well as search preceded the auctioning of fre- news, adult education, religious program- quencies for the private radio. Radio re- mes and language on the radio. A large search in this situation has partly become part of both the social scientific and hu- forward-looking – how to meet the compe- manistic radio research at the universities, tition? what will the economic conse- has, accordingly, been influenced by preva- quences be? At the same time, radio re- lent traditions and interest areas in the se- search has turned its focus to the past, as if parate, scattered disciplines (political scien- to summarise the epoch of public service. ce, linguistics, theology, ethnology, etc.). Even if commercial radio spread earlier Radio research has been ”a serious mat- in several other Nordic and European ter”. The concentration on news, informa- countries than Sweden, it is probably the tion, politics, organisation, adult education, deregulation, the threat against public serv- language, religion, and the like, is, among ice radio and industry’s awakened interest other things, an expression of the resear- in radio advertising, that led the long active chers’ aspirations for that culture which – association E.S.O.M.A.R (European Soci- in society and among academicians – is ety for Opinion and Marketing Research) most established or ”legitimate”. Only a to arrange its first research symposium on few radio studies have dealt with light mu- radio only in Paris, July 1995 – and that sic, sports, contests where listeners can also led to the arrangement of a Nordic take part, phone-in programmes, traffic academic, seminar in Tampere, Finland, in and service information, tips on local cul- October of the same year which focused tural and amusing events, congratulation only on radio. The same factors probably and request programmes, nature, personal brought about the present working groups relations, jokes, satire and entertainment – on public service at the Nordic confer- and people’s needs for these. Only a few ences on media and communication sci- studies have treated radio as companion- ence, in a similar way as workshops on lo- ship, as a source of feelings and experien- cal radio or local media started in the ces, as something personal in people’s lives. 1970’s. The discussion about the meaning It has more often been the case that such of ’public service’ has, however, not really programmes and needs have been studied

40 within radio’s own audience research than ity of the studies, but is caused by the fact at the universities, although some excep- that some problem areas have been studied tions exist there as well. The fact that radio exhaustively, while others, that are at least is, by and large, a medium of popular cul- as essential from the point of view of the ture and that most people, besides listening listeners, the main radio users, have more to the news, use radio as a source of popu- or less been forgotten. lar culture has been more or less neglected Both public service radio and private by research. The development towards me- radio must take the audience into consid- dia research in Sweden which is based on eration – but in different ways. In the com- new theories of culture, noticeable for mercial case, it is a question of reaching other media, has, therefore, hardly embra- the largest possible audience within a ho- ced radio of today. Who is making discour- mogenous section of the population (the se analyses of radio texts? Who is talking target group). Radio contents are formed about radio cultures? Who is making recep- and formatted according to the lowest tion studies of the meanings and imports common denominator, and the activity that radio and radio contents have for va- continues if a sufficient number of adver- rious users? Who is taking up the role of tisers find it worth supporting. In the pub- radio channels for subcultures – e.g., youth lic service case, it is a question of broad, groups – in proving their identity in the impartial programming, which should be context of their different life conditions? characterised by multiplicity and quality A tendency towards studies of light radio and which, to the extent possible, should contents and radio listening as a life style also serve the interests of minority groups. can, however, be discerned during the last The public service media must still show years – not owing to academic vitality, but reasonably high total audience figures to to the circumstance that there is an ongoing government, parliament and board mem- struggle between private and public service bers to be allowed to continue an activity radio, which takes place in the field of the in the service of the public. established popular culture and which has The research which public service radio brought such research to the fore. initiates, is, consequently, done for the au- With the radio medium and the authori- dience, but at the same time to legitimate ties as economic motors, the organisational its own activity, and live up to laws and development of the radio medium, its new agreements before the decision makers. As forms of distribution and changed pro- long as public service radio was in a situa- gramme policy as technological and politi- tion of sole right and the population did cal spurs, as well as the traditional, intro- not have another radio, research about im- verted university research with the ”seri- partiality and matter-of-factness, news, in- ous” social and cultural issues in focus, one formation and other ”heavy” programme may reflect on the legitimacy of radio re- activity, has been what the decision makers search. In whose interests and with what have attached most importance to. Neither aims have the radio studies been perfor- were light music nor entertaining material med? previously any great ”problem” in this Here, the matter of legitimacy does not context, as such radio contents neverthe- primarily mean a questioning of the re- less got high audience ratings. searchers’ possibilities to design and carry Similarly, the authorities have initiated out the studies themselves, or of the qual- radio research done in the interest of the

41 population – but within the framework of new thinking or critical approaches with what the authorities in periods of varying respect to, specifically, radio research. political ideologies consider, or have been It is desirable that research is of rel- charged to consider, to be appropriate ra- evance both outside and inside science, i.e., dio activity (e.g., information in situations is both of practical use and contributes to of crisis; local, neighbourhood and private scientific development. Consequently, re- radio). Hence, to a great extent, the investi- search ought to serve the aims of parties gations that the authorities pay for, act to other than the individual researcher, the in- legitimise the decisions of the authorities. dividual medium or the individual author- Nothing in the review indicates that the ity. In light of the fact that radio research university research on radio, not even that also, above all, has been governed by the with independent research grants, has been development of the radio medium – its more free or critical than other radio re- technology, forms of distributions, reorga- search. There are individual exceptions – nisations, media competition and changed but those exist also within the radio re- programme policy – which, in turn, has search financed by radio and authorities. been due to societal political resolutions in The idea that the research at PUB, for ex- changing spirits of time, it must be espe- ample, has only been administrative, or has cially underlined that the relevance of re- merely implied a desperate hunting for a search in a democratic society should apply fictive audience from an institutionally to the people as well. Accordingly, radio constructed perspective (Ang 1990) is not studies must be of importance to and true. Such statements would point to igno- achieve something for the radio users. Ra- rance, or an attempt to uphold the univer- dio research must to a greater extent be sity researchers’ own interests at the ex- performed in the interests of the listeners. pense of the more decision-oriented re- The review has pointed out a number search. Taken as a whole, it seems that par- of neglected areas in the field of radio re- ticularly university research on radio which search – and there are many other areas – has not been dependent on radio and au- which ought to be elucidated more from thorities, through its direction towards ”se- the perspective of the listeners. It would be rious” established culture, has, to a great ironic – but unfortunately consistent – if it degree, served the researchers’ personal in- is chiefly the introduction of private radio terests and legitimised the survival and that governs the direction of radio re- within-scientific traditions of the research- search during the next years, towards the ers’ own disciplines. Neither has the build- meaning of ’public service’, towards histo- ing up of media and communication sci- ry, and towards the fact that also light mu- ence to a university discipline, a strength- sic and radio entertainment should imply ening of the possibilities of free media re- multiplicity and quality in the service of search, so far contributed to any essential the public.

42 References Radiotjänst (1929) Radiotjänst. En bok om pro- grammet och lyssnarna. Stockholm, P A Nor- Ang, Ien (1990) Desperately Seeking the Audience. stedts & Söners förlag. London & New York: Routledge. SOU (1935:10) Utredning och förslag angående Elgemyr, Göran (1984a) ’Skall rundradion få Rundradion i Sverige. Stockholm, Kommunika- parasitera på pressen eller ej?’ Relationerna tionsdepartementet, P A Norstedts & Sö- mellan pressen, TT och ljudradion 1922- ners förlag. 1970. In Cederberg, Jörgen & Elgemyr, SOU (1946:1) Betänkande angående Rundradion i Göran: Tala till och tala med. Perspektiv på den Sverige. Dess aktuella behov och riktlinjer för dess svenska radion och televisionen. Stockholm, Le- framtida verksamhet. Stockholm, Kommunika- genda, pp 19-57. tionsdepartementet, P A Norstedt & Söner. Elgemyr, Göran (1984b) Ljudradiotekniken och SOU (1965:20) Radions och televisionens framtid i programmen. In Cederberg, Jörgen & Elge- Sverige. Del I. Stockholm, Kommunikations- myr, Göran: Tala till och tala med. Perspektiv på departementet. den svenska radion och televisionen. Stockholm, SOU (1965:21) Radions och televisionens framtid i Legenda, pp 209-221. Sverige. Del II. Stockholm, Kommunikations- Holmbäck, Bure (1984) Frihet, ansvar, mång- departementet. fald. Om rundradion ’i allmänhetens tjänst’. SOU (1973:8) Radio i utveckling. Lokalradio, sam- In Cederberg, Jörgen & Elgemyr, Göran: hällsinformation, utbildning, sändningsutrymme, Tala till och tala med. Perspektiv på den svenska stereo. Betänkande avgivet av 1969 års radioutred- radion och televisionen. Stockholm, Legenda, pp ning. Stockholm, Utbildningsdepartementet. 236-255. SOU (1977:19) Radio och tv 1978-1985. Betän- Kronvall, Kai (1976) Massmedieforskning i Sverige. kande av Radioutredningen. Stockholm, Utbild- Rapport från Massmedieforskningsutredningen. ningsdepartementet. Stockholm, Utbildningsdepartementet, Ds Svenska Gallupinstitutet (1943) En undersök- U 1976:15. ning av radiolyssnandet veckan 27 mars-4 Nowak, Kjell (1963) Masskommunikationsforsk- april 1943. Utförd för AB Radiotjänst av ning i Sverige. Stockholm, Företagsekono- Svenska Gallupinstitutet AB, Stockholm. miska forskningsinstitutet vid Handelshög- skolan i Stockholm, Norstedts.

For the period of 1975-1992 the data base of Nordicom has been used to a great extent. I am much obliged to Nordicom for the data list of Nordic publications on radio that was at my disposal.

43 44