Radio and Post-Radio in Spain: A Necessary and Possible Cohabitation

Abstract

The new digital landscape is forcing traditional media to a redefinition of their role as contentproviders. As in the rest of the world, the radio in Spain has gone from the exclusivity of the hearingaid to a much wider scope in which has converged with other media, with other forms ofmultimedia services brought about by ICT. Therefore, now, it is possible to talk about radio to refer tothe traditional conception and post-radio to describe the convergence of new media distributionplatforms. The new situation is leading to the coexistence of structures and patterns of traditionalradio broadcasting structures and innovative ways of distributing audio content. The transformationof the soundscape and the emergence of new patterns of production and management of theradio business are the direct result of this cohabitation. The aim of the text is twofold: on the onehand, the aim is to make an approximation of the current radio in Spain, as seen from theperspective of the multimedia scenario ICT; on the other hand, it wants to contextualize the newforms of production, distribution and consumption of audio content, once overcometechnologically terrestrial route, the denominated "post-radio." The starting point is a bet for thecohabitation of the two scenarios. To raise the work, it was carried out a literature review of thestructure and development of the radio industry in Spain and it has analyzed the web contentoffering leading spanish webcasters. Generally, there were three the variables which have beenstudied: the web-radio contents, the new alternative systems and the changes at the radiophonicstructure. The result of this review and analysis is contextualized in relation with phenomenon whichconditioned the development of the radio medium, such as "podcasting", the “streaming or themedia mobile.