Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T04:29:41.537Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beyond the playlist: commercial radio as music culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2017

Heikki Uimonen
Heikki Uimonen*
Affiliation:
University of the Arts Helsinki, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article presents the historical transformation of Finnish commercial radio popular music policies from 1985 to 2005 and contemplates the role of terrestrial radio in contemporary digital age. It argues that a sender-centred paradigm of early commercial radio was replaced swiftly by receiver-centred paradigm, which has been applied since the early 1990s. The change of radio music cultures is described in detail by dividing it into three different eras: Block Radio, Format Radio and Media Convergence. The study draws on the research project consisting of case studies analysing the music content of various radio stations. The primary empirical data is composed of 32 interviews of radio personnel and the analysis of 4,500 individual songs broadcast by popular music radio stations with newspaper and journal articles supporting the primary data. Radio music culture is approached theoretically from the ethnomusicological perspective and thus defined as all practices that have an effect on broadcast music, including the processes of acquiring, selecting and governing music. The empirical results of the study show that the transformation of radio music cultures is affected by economic, technological, legal, organisational and cultural factors.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , May 2017 , pp. 178 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ala-Fossi, M. 2005. Saleable Compromises. Quality Cultures in Finnish and US Commercial Radio (Tampere, Tampere University Press)Google Scholar
Barnes, K. 1988. ‘Top 40 radio: a fragment of the imagination’, in Facing the Music. A Pantheon Guide to Popular Culture, ed. Frith, S. (New York, Pantheon Books), pp. 8–50 Google Scholar
CDO. 2013. ‘Media convergence’ in Cambridge Dictionaries Online. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/media-convergence (accessed 15 April 2014)Google Scholar
Fairchild, C. 1999. Deterritorializing radio: deregulation and the continuing triumph of the corporatist perspective in the USA. Media, Culture and Society, 21/4, pp. 549–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frith, S. 1988. Rockin potku. Nuorisokulttuuri ja musiikkiteollisuus [Sound Effects] (Tampere, Vastapaino)Google Scholar
Frith, S. 1996. Performing Rites. On the Value of Popular Music (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gjerdingen, R.O., and Perrott, D. 2008. ‘Scanning the dial: the rapid recognition of music genres’, Journal of New Music Research, 37/2, pp. 93–100 Google Scholar
HS. 2012. ‘Kaksi suomalaista tv-kanavaa ja useita radiokanavia Discoverylle’, in Helsingin Sanomat. http://www.hs.fi/rithtalous/Kaksi+suomalaista+tv-kanavaa+ja+useita+radiokanavia+Discoverylle/a1305628314313 (accessed 11 March 2014)Google Scholar
Hujanen, T. 2001. ‘Ääniradio’, in Suomen mediamaisema, ed. Nordenstreng, K. and Wiio, O.A. (Vantaa, WSOY), pp. 93–113 Google Scholar
Kelner, M. 2008. ‘Heard the same song three times today? Blame the craze for “testing” tunes’, Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/19/radio.bbc1 (accessed 23 April 2015)Google Scholar
Kemppainen, P. 2010. ‘Pirates and the new public service radio paradigm’, in Music Breaks In. Essays on Music Radio and Radio Music in Finland, ed. Kurkela, V., Mantere, M. and Uimonen, H. (Tampere, University of Tampere), pp. 15–30 Google Scholar
Kleinsteuber, H.J., and Sonnenberg, U. 1990. ‘Beyond public service and private profit: international experience with non-commercial local radio’, European Journal of Communication, 5/1, pp. 87–106 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurkela, V., and Uimonen, H. 2009. ‘De-monopolizing Finland. The changing contents of Finnish commercial and public radios 1980–2005’, Radio Journal, 7/2, pp. 135–54.Google Scholar
Kurkela, V., Mantere, M., and Uimonen, H. (eds). 2010. Music Breaks In. Essays on Music Radio and Radio Music in Finland (Tampere, University of Tampere.)Google Scholar
Malm, K., and Wallis, R. 1992. Media Policy and Music Activity (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
Ministry of Transport and Communications. 2013. Mobile Phones, Telephones and Radio. www.lvm.fi/web/en/mobile-phones-television-and-radio (accessed 17 April 2013)Google Scholar
Nielsen 2012. Music Discovery Still Dominated by Radio, Says Nielsen Music 360 Report. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-room/2012/music-discovery-still-dominated-by-radio--says-nielsen-music-360.html (accessed 15 April 2013)Google Scholar
Nostalgia. 2013. Radio Nostalgia. http://www.radionostalgia.fi/b2b/radio-nostalgia/radio-nostalgian-ohjelmat (accessed 17 April 2013)Google Scholar
NRS. 2014. National Radio Survey. http://www.finnpanel.fi/en/tulokset/radio.php (accessed 20 February 2014)Google Scholar
RT. 2014. Roundtable on radio playlists chaired by H. Uimonen. Panelists: M. Harjunpää, Music Director of Radio Nova; P. Lankinen, Music Director of YLEX; P. Eklund, Kaiho Records; and A. Sirppiniemi, Head of Research at the Finnish Composer's Copyright Society TeostoGoogle Scholar
Rudin, R. 2015. ‘Pirates, popularity and the rise of the DJ’, in The Routledge Companion to British Media History, ed. Conboy, M. and Steel, J. (London, Routledge), pp. 334–44Google Scholar
Sirppiniemi, A. 2014. Lecture at MARS Festival, Seinäjoki, 31 JanuaryGoogle Scholar
Smythe, D.W. 1981. Dependency Road: Communication, Capitalism, Consciousness, and Canada (New Jersey, Ablex)Google Scholar
Stiernstedt, F. 2013. Från radiofabrik til mediehus. Medieförändring och mediaproduktion på MTG-radio (Örebro universitet). http://oru.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:574571/FULLTEXT02.pdf (accessed 11 March 2014)Google Scholar
Teosto. 2012. Teosto. http://www.e-julkaisu.fi/teosto/vuosikertomus/2012en/ (accessed 13 February 2014)Google Scholar
Titon, J.T. 2009. Worlds of Music. An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples (Belmont, Schirmer)Google Scholar
Uimonen, H. 2010a. ‘The changing music culture of 1990s commercial radios in Finland’, in Music Breaks In. Essays on Music Radio and Radio Music in Finland, ed. Kurkela, V., Mantere, M. and Uimonen, H. (Tampere, University of Tampere), pp. 139–54Google Scholar
Uimonen, H. 2010b. ‘Towards streamlined broadcasting. The changing music cultures of 1990s Finnish commercial radio’, IASMP@, 1/1. . http://www.iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal (accessed 11 March 2014)Google Scholar
Uimonen, H. 2011. Radiomusiikin rakennemuutos. Kaupallisten radiokanavien musiikki 1985–2005 (Tampere, Tampere University Press)Google Scholar