Page 179 - Comparing Political Communication Theories, Cases, and Challenge

P1: JZZ
0521828317c07.xml CY425/Esser 0521828317 May 26, 2004 15:56

Local Political Communication

of the small providers, while the latter could gain a share in the adver-
tisementrevenueofthewholenetwork.Thus,anumberoffactorsrelated
to technology, state regulation, and economic interests have produced
nationally unique infrastructures of local radio culture that in the begin-
ning – as in the case of Britain – left little, or – as in the case of the United
States – much space for journalistic reporting that originated within the
local public sphere.
The Scandinavian countries were historically most concerned about
the autonomy of local radio stations. Scandinavia has therefore gained
the reputation of being a “model for non-commercial local radio with
afocus on the activation of its listeners, on citizen representation and
neighborhood assistance” (Koschnick 1995, 785). But even Scandinavia
was not exempt from the repercussions of the trends toward mixed
public/private systems in all Western European countries – albeit the
differentiation and commercialization of local stations came later and
was less severe. Today, Denmark is seen internationally as the country
with the strongest localization in radio, hosting about 300 local stations
of which about 60 to 70 percent are financed through advertisements
(Koschnick1995).Finland(withfifty-eightlocalstations),Norway(with
350 to 400 local stations), and Sweden have also continued to put
emphasis on making radio stations the public signatures of cities and
communities. 6
Besides the Scandinavian countries, Great Britain can be singled out
as having counteracted the global trend toward privatization in the ra-
dio segment most creatively and successfully. Today, the nationwide ra-
tio between public and private radio stations is stable at around 40 to
60 percent. While the national government has given licenses to pri-
vate providers since the 1960s – initially trying to counteract the steep
rise of local pirate stations – it has also managed to balance out the
prevailing orientation toward easy-listening formats through an exten-
sion of attractive local BBC programming (Berrigan 1977, 195). Today,
thirty-nine local BBC stations operate in England and additional ones
in Scotland, North Ireland, and Wales in competition with about 180
independent stations (Crisell 1998). Since the early 1990s, the BBC has
aimed at strengthening and reinventing its news-based identity in the lo-
cal radio markets. More specifically,a focus on ethnic minorities and on

6
See the country-specific case studies on local radio and television in Western Europe
in Jankowski et al. 1992.

159