Copyright by Lei Guo 2014
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Copyright by Lei Guo 2014 The Dissertation Committee for Lei Guo Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Engaging Voices or Talking to Air? A Study of Alternative and Community Radio Audience in the Digital Era Committee: Hsiang Iris Chyi, Supervisor Mercedes de Uriarte, Co-Supervisor Laura Stein Robert Jensen Regina Lawrence Engaging Voices or Talking to Air? A Study of Alternative and Community Radio Audience in the Digital Era by Lei Guo, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2014 Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my parents. Acknowledgements The completion of this dissertation and a Ph.D. degree has been an amazing journey and it would not have been possible without the support and help of a lot of people. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my two dissertation chairs: Dr. Mercedes de Uriarte and Dr. Hsiang Iris Chyi. I have been most fortunate to be a student of Dr. de Uriarte; she cared so much about my work and my intellectual development. She always encouraged me to conduct research that could make a real-world impact and her steadfast support and guidance have been invaluable throughout my graduate years. I have also benefited greatly from Dr. Chyi, who has been a great mentor and friend. Her advice for the dissertation as well as on being a young scholar entering an academic career has been enormously helpful. I am also very much grateful for my other committee members. I thank Dr. Laura Stein for giving me meticulous and constructive comments that shaped my understanding of alternative media. I thank Dr. Robert Jensen for his great suggestions of research resources and for sharing his knowledge and experience about community radio. I thank Dr. Regina Lawrence for her encouraging and thoughtful feedback. The other person who has had a significant academic influence on me is Dr. Maxwell McCombs. I have had the privilege of working with him and learning from him how to do solid and innovative research. Dr. McCombs is truly my role model of a great researcher and educator. v Completing this dissertation would have been all the more difficult were it not for the support and friendship provided by my colleagues at the School of Journalism at UT- Austin: Summer, Angela, Hsuan-Ting, Qian, Hong, Melissa, and many others. I must also acknowledge my fellow community radio programmers at KOOP and many others who participated in this research project. I would particularly like to thank the Chop Suey and Asian Radio team: notably, Brandon, Lorin, Larissa, Ginny, Yezhou, Suchada (“Sushi”), Shanshan, Clint, and Jenna. Special thanks to Brandon Webb for introducing me to the world of community radio in the United States and for his generosity and patience throughout the process of this media experiment. My heartfelt appreciation also goes to Lorin Lee, my longtime co-host and friend, who has always been willingly to help, listen, and share her insights as a community radio programmer. Her accompaniment and support made this whole research process so enjoyable. Words cannot express the feelings I have for my father, GUO Caide, and my mother, XIE Yuanxian, for their unconditional support and love. They have been my greatest cheerleaders. Finally, I want to thank my fiancé, YANG Kai. I would not have had the courage to pursue a Ph.D. degree in a foreign country and would not have been able to complete it without his encouragement, support and sacrifices. He has experienced all the ups and downs of my graduate years and always has faith in me. He is my rock. vi Engaging Voices or Talking to Air? A Study of Alternative and Community Radio Audience in the Digital Era Lei Guo, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisors: Hsiang Iris Chyi, Mercedes de Uriarte In November 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the implementation of the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, which marks the largest expansion of community radio stations in U.S. history. The act responds to the decade- long community radio movement in which many civilian groups advocated that community radio—an “old-fashioned” yet affordable public medium—still plays a significant role in fostering the expression of diverse voices and citizen participation in this digital era. Despite the successful advocacy effort in the policy-making arena, the real impact of community radio remains a question. Who listens to and participates in community radio? Does the connection between community radio and community exist? This dissertation investigates audience interaction and participation in the U.S. community radio sector, seeking to empirically and theoretically advance audience research in community radio and alternative media in general. Methodologically, this dissertation is based on case studies from two community radio stations KOOP and KPFT in Texas through multiple methods including 5-year ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews with 70 individuals including staff, vii programmers and listeners, a web-based listener survey with 131 respondents, and a textual analysis of producer-audience communication platforms such as blogs and social networking sites. The results demonstrate the limitations of audience interaction and participation caused by resource constraints and community radio programmers’ tendency to speak with themselves. Therefore, I recommend that community radio broadcasters should consider developing systemic approaches to evaluate and facilitate audience participation, which requires an understanding that the value of community engagement lies beyond audience size or the amount of listener donations. This dissertation concludes that community radio remains relevant in this digital era. This affordable and accessible form of alternative media to some extent bridges a digital divide. The medium also facilitates the development of a genuine relationship between radio programmers and listeners, thus the formation of virtual and real communities. These are the very elements that make meaningful dialogues possible in any communication environment. viii Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures ...................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................1 Chapter 2 Theoretical Background and Literature Review ...................................10 2.1 Mainstream versus Alternative media ....................................................10 2.2 Hegemony and Post-hegemony ..............................................................12 2.2.1 Ideology, Hegemony and Hegemonic Articulation ....................12 2.2.2 Alternative Hegemony? ..............................................................13 2.2.3 A Poststructuralist Criticsm of Alternative Hegemony ..............14 2.2.4 New Political Spaces ...................................................................16 2.3 Conceptualizing Alternative Media ........................................................17 2.3.1 Content versus Process ...............................................................17 2.3.2 A Revisit of Access and Participation ........................................20 2.3.3 A Working Definition .................................................................21 2.4 Community Media and Community Radio .............................................23 2.4.1 Community Media ......................................................................23 2.4.2 Community Radio in the United States ......................................25 2.5 Audience and Alternative Media ............................................................27 2.5.1 The Audiences of Mainstream Media .........................................27 2.5.2 The Audiences of Alternative Media: A Normative Model .......30 2.5.3 Audience Interaction and Participation in Community Radio ....34 2.6 Research Questions .................................................................................37 Chapter 3 Research Background and Methods ......................................................40 3.1 Research Background .............................................................................42 3.1.1 Austin and KOOP Radio .............................................................43 3.1.2 Houston and KPFT Radio ...........................................................45 3.1.3 Community Radio Programs as Case Studies .............................47 ix 3.2 Research Methods ...................................................................................55 3.2.1 Participatory Ethnography ..........................................................55 3.2.2 Staff and Volunteer Leaders: In-depth Interviews ......................56 3.2.3 Programmers: In-depth Interviews .............................................57 3.2.4 Listeners: In-depth Interviews and Web-based Survey ..............57 3.2.5 Survey Procedures and Protocols ................................................59 3.2.6 In-depth Interview Procedures and Protocols .............................59 3.2.7 An Overview of Research Participants .......................................60 3.2.8 Textual Analysis .........................................................................60