RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

Colin SparKs

, PCL Scnool of Communicatlon , London

VERY SLOW PROGRESS; DEREGULATION AND COMMUNITY RADIO IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

in the summer of 198 1 the Home Secretary in the Conservatlve Government announceđ in in the House of Commons that he was giving serious consideration to the prospect of expanding the radio services substantial)y , including the construction for the first time of Community Radio stations . Seven years tater , in the summer of 1988, informed opinion has it that the Government-’s Broadcasting Bitt, scheđuted for the Autumn of 1988 and expected to be in many respects an extremety far-reaching document, is likety to postpone yet again апу decision on radio . How can we explain this remarkabte detay? Аз is wett-known , there are no major technical reasons which have helđ up progress : other developed urban societies have had targe numbers of radio station operating in the same city for уеагз without encountering serious problems. As is also well known , this particular Government has shown little hesitation in imposing its wilt in most other areas of tife ; it has defeated the opposition parties in elections , the Argentinians in international war and the miners in ctass war . Once it has made up its mind what to do it has done so with a ruthtess determination that is invariably lacking in governments of the other persuasion . The only possible explanation Is that in this one rather small area of concern the Government actuatly does not know what it wants to đo . Certainty , it has made it guite clear that intenđs to do something , but precisely what is much less clear . The general f eatures of Government poticy in the broadcasting sphere аге well known and extremely simpte : they are in favor of 'deregulation' . In the British context this means that they have the aim of breaking up the existing structure of broadcasting in which there is a division of labor in both radio and television between the state-financed BBC and the privately owned 'indepenđent' companies financeđ by ađvertising revenues . Most discussion has taken place around television , since the sums of топеу involved are very large indeed, the pace of technologicat change is very rapiđ, and the

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