RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

But the spirlt of 'professionalism' referred to throughout this monograph plays a role here, t6o. If station managers anđ program directors have a national sets of standarđs in minđ , they're unliKely to take the initiative to search out local talent. And if that talent presents itself to them , they may feel that the available broadcast eguipment won't permit the maintenance of 'proper' recording standards . The same argument шау appear with respect to community news; volunteers, whether as stringers, association members or whateyer , can be highly useful as voices of the community , but not if the station news director thinks it ‘unprofessional' to utilize their services or conceives of the community as made up of already established centers of power and significance . It isn't that there should be only one kind of local radio . Hopefully, the expansion of broadcast licensing at the local level that starteđ in much of Western Europe and in Australia in jthe mid to late 1970s will continue , so that there'll be a variety of community voices . A 3CR Melbourne may have many fascinating programs to offer , but there are large dull stretches, as well, anđ its almost unremitting tone of social activism anđ protest could be hard to take as a several hour a đay , seven day a week điet. (That diet can become especially limiting when program presenters fail to focus their talks or interviews . Му ten уеаг study leads me to f eel that the ability to focus and organize shoulđ be a sine qua non for апу type of local radio operation . ) Luckily , the Melbourne listener who wishes to vary her or his diet may turn to 3RRR for 'alternative' rock music in a program such аз "Skull Cave," may listen to country n' western music interspersed with information about what's on at the central market tomorrow , or may turn to national news delivered and analyzed in some detail by the ABC . But at least the Melbourne broadcast market doesn't feature four or five stations broadcasting a nearly iđentical line-up of rock or country or whatever else. In that regard, the regulatory authority DOES seem to make a dif ference ; the ABT expects stations to present diff enng broadcast f ormats , and to stick to those formats . The resulting diversity for the local broadcast scene is greater than one generally finds in the larger Canadian, U.S., French, Belgian and Italian cities, where duplication, triplication and even puadruplication are common. The expansion of local radio does seem bound to continue on into the future . The opening up or eniargement of space in the ГМ (UHF ) portion of the frequency spectrum in Western Europe and m Australia has created posslbilities for local broadcasting where none existed bef оге . But jf it is to be a part of апу nation's national commumcations policy to see to

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