Toni Sellas

This paper offers a first exploratory approach to the comparative study of radio systems in Catalonia and Wales. Within the framework of comparative media systems studies, this paper uses the concept of subsidiarity as its central axis for analysing two cases. It represents one of the first comparative analyses of the structure of radio systems as well as a first approach to the reality of media systems in stateless nations, areas usually ignored in literature about this subject. In doing so, it compares five core dimensions of any radio system using a variety of secondary and comparable sources: ownership, pro- gramming, language, funding and regulation. The results illustrate the asymmetry of the two radio systems, which have different degrees of development. Regulation and language emerge as cornerstones for designing media systems in stateless nations. At the same time, the level of subsidiarity of these systems to state media systems also plays a central role in structuring these systems.

Nearly half of Catalans use social network sites (SNS), on of the most growing uses of the Internet in recent years. These sites allow new communicative practices of citizens, who are involved in the flow of information and interact with others and with the media. Social network sites accelerate the transformation of the social and technological context of mass media. Radio has adopted them to spread content and to interact with the audience. The study of the use of Twitter by the morning magazines of the Catalan talk radio stations will allow us to see how the stations use social networks, how they engage with users and how they manage these new platforms. [paper in Catalan]

Over the last decade, technology has transformed traditional radio broadcasting, not only as a mass medium but also as a cultural industry. Podcasting has been adopted by broadcasters as a useful tool for radio on demand. For broadcasters, it also offers the opportunity to explore new formats and new radio content and the possibility of reaching listeners in new ways. This article discusses the use of podcasting by the main radio networks in Spain. It is based on a quantitative study amongst broadcasters, focused on those chains that have adopted podcasting to offer some of their conventional broadcast programmes. The aim of the present study is to establish which elements of programming and business strategies are motivating the use of podcasts by these radio stations. In addition, this article also provides a first approach to the main genres and programmes supplied in this format.

iVoox, a service that supports publishing, listening to and recommending digital audio content, is described. By the premise of simplicity, iVoox aims to facilitate the diffusion and localization of audio content. The management of audio archives and the curator role exerted by the user community are the key factors for iVoox to become the reference in digital audio and the sound repository of our cultural memory. [paper in Spanish]

La radio vive un período de transformación. El podcasting, fruto de la suma del audio digital y la sindicación web, es una de las nuevas plataformas que expanden el medio. Pasamos de la radio a la distribución de contenidos sonoros y mientras las emisoras exploran el potencial de los podcasts, otros actores (amateurs y profesionales) irrumpen en su terreno. Este libro es una introducción al podcasting. Con el objetivo de contribuir a su conocimiento, explica el concepto y su contexto, aborda su relación con la radio y ofrece una panorámica del universo podcast, así como las claves para quien quiera iniciarse como podcaster.

Sport is a phenomenon that forms part of the lives of thousands of people, whether as players, fans or simply spectators. At the same time, it is often presented as a paradigmatic element of globalisation which alters local cultural practices (Rowe, 2003). This creates tensions with national identities, even more so in the case of stateless nations. Such is the case with Catalonia, where national identity is closely linked to the local language, Catalan (Guimerà and Fernández, 2014). Sport, and football in particular, has a strong symbolic component in Catalonia because it has often been a way of expressing an identity and a culture that have been persecuted at various times in history (Xifra and McKie, 2012). The media play a very important role in this relationship. Since the end of the 1970s, sports broadcasts in Catalan have been fundamental to the recovery and more widespread use of the language. In the context of today’s society, where democracy prevails and the use of Catalan has become a normal occurrence, the language no longer faces a threat from political regimes. It does, however, face other challenges deriving from the inherent tendencies of globalisation.
This chapter studies the contribution of football broadcasts in consolidating the Catalan language after four decades of democracy and language normalisation in Catalonia – the concept of “language normalisation”, which is used throughout the text, refers to the policy of recovering the Catalan language and returning it to standard everyday use after the stage of imposing Spanish had passed. The aim is to analyse whether 40 years after the end of the Franco dictatorship the use of Catalan has become a purely professional issue or whether sports broadcasters still act as guarantors of the language in a country where the use, maintenance and dissemination of minority languages carry great political weight.

In the era of networked publics, social media (SM) and social network sites (SNS) transform the communicative attitudes of citizens and their interaction with mass media. Radio broadcasters have incorporated social media as a channel to interact with listeners, but they are using them basically as a promotion tool. This study analyses how the structural factors determine the use of social media, focusing on the daily production routines, the professional culture and the material and organizational context. The method is based in a qualitative approach combining a questionnaire with in-depth interviews to social media managers of eight public and private broadcasters from Italy and Spain. The results show that the SM managers seem to have understood the value of engaging with listeners. However, it doesn't seem that radio industry, at least the Italian and Spanish one that we analysed, have completely grasped the value embedded in the social media managers' job. In addition, structural factors such as the dynamics of production and the lack of a consolidated professional culture of social media difficult the professional management of these channels into the daily routines of the stations.

Sports programmes have always comprised a significant part of radio broadcasting in Spain. In recent years they have begun to incorporate social media into their professional routines. This chapter examines how the two main sports programmes in Catalonia –which both broadcast Barcelona Football Club matches live– interact with their audiences via Twitter. The aim is to show the type of relationship established between broadcasters and listeners, as well as the role adopted by the audience on this social medium. We discuss how listeners share a collective experience based on content that has historically contributed to normalization of the Catalan language and a sense of national identity.

This research analyzes the social networks strategies of the main Catalan talk radio stations. The study is based on a content analysis of their Twitter and Facebook profiles. The field work also includes in depth interviews with some managers and other members of the staff.