The Changing Nature of Public Service Radio: A Case Study of iCat fm

Abstract

In an openly hostile environment in which public service broadcasting (PSB) has to justify its mere existence, its relationship with new technologies and its transformation into Public Service Media (PSM) have been the subject of controversy in Europe, with respect to the legitimate use of new technologies by a public broadcasting service. Making use of qualitative techniques with a case study, this article illustrates how the Catalan public broadcaster iCat fm uses diverse technological distribution platforms in order to successfully achieve its public service remit proposals and provides an example of a successful public service radio that uses diverse technological distribution platforms.