Content Structure of University Radio Stations in Turkey As Part of Their Broadcast Policy

Connectist, no.61, pp.213-240, 2021 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)

This study aims to examine to what extent the university radio stations in Turkey are

alternative to popular, commercial radio stations by analyzing the program contents and

general approaches within the framework of their music and program policies. Using the

qualitative research method, in-depth interviews were carried out with the employees and

representatives of 25 public and 9 foundation university radio stations across various regions

and different cities of Turkey. 20 university radio stations were examined on-site by direct

observations and face-to-face interviews while the representatives of 14 university radio

stations were interviewed via telephone or video communication. The same semi-structured

questions were asked to all interviewees. Besides, the supervisors of the 11 sample-radios

who archive their programs regularly selected some of the programs and shared their archives

with the researchers. These selected programs were analyzed in terms of the duration of talk

and music, and they were categorized according to the production elements. It is found that

the university radios in Turkey have problems in content production for various reasons and

are exposed to certain restrictions. Therefore, considerably differentiating from international

practices and the existing literature, they have contents similar to those of the commercial

radios, instead of acting in an alternative manner.

Keywords: Radio, university radio stations, alternative broadcasting, community

broadcasting