Corporate and customized radios: new players in the audio broadcasting market

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate a recent phenomenon, which is yet to be properly studied: the expansion of corporate andcustomized radio stations, which bring new forms of mediation, establishing direct connections between organizations andtheir stakeholders. Large, medium and even small companies from the most various fields of activity have been investing inradio broadcasting, both online and offline, posing challenges to the credibility and sustainability of the medium and settingaside the public interest. One also investigates to what extent this process entails the emergence of new intermediaries in thecommunication business (re-intermediation), a phase characterized by the multiplicity of supply of radio content produced bybusiness groups having no prior connections with the radio broadcasting business. It is understood that radio, when expanding tonew distribution platforms, becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the wake of downsizing and market reconfiguration processes.