Community Radio Help Us to Tell Our Stories, But to Whom?

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session III
  In Interactive Paper Session: Mass Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

The majority of alternative media research focused on media content and the production process, leaving the audience—a crucial dimension of communication—understudied. As Downing (2003) states, the audiences of alternative media are “the absent lure of the virtually unknown” (p. 625). To narrow this gap in the literature, this study investigates audience interaction and participation in a particular alternative media outlet, community radio sector in the United States. The analysis is based on case studies from two community radio stations in Texas through 5-year ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews with 70 individuals including programmers and listeners, and a listener survey with 131 respondents. The study suggests that community radio serve to facilitate the development of a genuine relationship between radio programmers and listeners, thus the formation of imagined communities. It also demonstrates the limitations of audience participation caused by resource constraints and community radio programmers’ tendency to speak with themselves.

Author

• Lei Guo, Boston U