Policy, Pop, and the Public: The Discourse of Regulation in British Commercial Radio

Abstract

This paper examines the language and practices of regulation that have constructed the idea of British commercial radio. It concludes that the regulator's definitions of its purpose and practice are characterized by variability because of the attempt to draw simultaneously from repertoires of definition established in Britain's public service, commercial, and community traditions. In turn, it is noted that this discourse of regulation does not seem to be shared by those who run commercial radio stations. The paper explores the way that the dominance of a particular public service ideal is negotiated with the increasing influence of commercial orders of discourse, and the marginalization of concepts of community broadcasting.