Internet radio flows: Between the local and the global

Abstract

The term 'international radio' has traditionally been used to refer to programmes that were broadcast to foreign audiences by government-owned radio stations from most countries using shortwave broadcasting technology. Since 1995, though, the possibility of making live transmissions simultaneously available on the Internet has meant that radio stations can reach international audiences without the limitations faced by shortwave radio. The single public radio station per country, sometimes only operating for a few hours a day with repeated news, has been replaced by a multitude of stations broadcasting their regular programming 24 hours a day without repetition. This research focuses on 'radio via the Internet', taken as a type of 'international radio'; and on 'Internet radio flows', understood as a type of 'international radio flow'. It is based upon an empirical investigation of the content and origin of such stations. It aims to map 'potential' (since it does not attempt to measure the audience of each station) international flows of radio content on the Internet by surveying a sample of 378 radio stations from 145 countries, extracted from an universe of 3450 radio stations, through a combination of probabilistic and non-probabilistic methodologies. The results show an overwhelmingly 'local' and diverse content to these broadcasts, but that over a nearly 20 per cent of broadcasts originate in the United States. This article discusses the implications of such findings in terms of technological access and the notion of 'internationally oriented' radio.