public-service radio

…of radio broadcasting that emphasizes public service programming and/or public access to radio airwaves. This entry further defines community radio and then discusses its origins and its manifestations throughout the world.

Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating through the 1990s, economic pressures on industrial countries’ traditional public-service radio operations had a telling and growing impact. While the government-supported national systems saw themselves as protectors and disseminators of a high-quality vision of national culture and…

…norm, even in countries where public-service radio long held sway. (There remained exceptions, of course, especially in states with strongman governments—e.g., Iraq, North Korea, Libya—that still used radio primarily as a means of propagandizing their listeners, with entertainment playing a distinctly secondary function.) This general move to commercial radio was…

Rather than entertainment, such public-service systems would focus on cultural broadcasts, education, public affairs, and the like. In such countries, government policy was often established before any stations were allowed on the air. This paternalistic approach—to program what audiences “needed” rather than what they might actually desire—strongly characterized radio…

This public-service network was supported by a small tax on radio receivers, following the model set in Britain and the rest of Europe. The CBC built new transmitters, and by World War II it was reaching 90 percent of the population, compared with only half just…

…parallel lines—usually government-operated or government-supported public-service operations with a limited number of stations and an even more limited choice of programs. Again, the emphasis was on high-quality culture, education, and music, often with a strongly nationalistic tone. Most European countries operated a relative handful of stations because the countries were…

…lay the foundations for a public-service broadcasting service with the primary goal of providing information and education. Senior BBC producer Lionel Fielden spent five years in India as controller of broadcasting, creating All India Radio (AIR). Programs of Indian music, drama, and public affairs were increasingly broadcast over AIR in…

Other European public-service broadcasters faced similar tensions because of the voracious appetite of television for both money and programs.

Public-service-oriented radio systems changed more gradually, their mission continuing into television; because of its high cost, however, public-service television grew slowly, thus extending the importance of educational radio.

Despite (or perhaps because of) their high-quality programming, Europe’s monopolized public-service radio systems provided little popular music and no opportunity for broadcast advertisers. In 1958 the first “pirate” (unlicensed) broadcasters appeared, using transmitters built into small ships moored beyond territorial limits. The first,…

…of the first American national public-service radio network.