Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Human social life depends upon the constant development and varied uses of modes of communication. Social existence also relies on shared and contested understandings of the world. This necessitates the systematic study of communication and culture, and of their mediation through a variety of channels. The sociology of radio concentrates on the role of the radio medium in this process. Radio is now embedded in a complex intermedia world. It is not a medium that has been substantially substituted by the subsequent development of alternative modes of communication. But the changing nature of communications technology has led to a change in style of content and social function of radio in human communities. In most societies radio enjoyed a paradigmatic status in the electronic arena prior to the establishment of television. During this time radio content contained a significant amount of speech programming. Following the assertion of television as the dominant form of electronic entertainment and information, radio formats became dominated by music programming. In the post-industrial age speech and cultural affairs programming now tends to be underwritten by public/state broadcasting institutions. The sociological approach investigates the regional, national, and global order in which the radio cultural and communications industries have played an increasingly central role, and the ... log in or subscribe to read full text