Radio mobility in the digital era: interactivity, participation and content share possibilities in Iberian broadcasters

摘要

In the context of the scientific research into radio, recent years have encouraged manytheories about the meaning of a post-radio (Oliveira & Portela, 2011), thus enlisting several parametersregarding the inclusion of contemporary radio in the digital and online environments.This digital migration has led to the development of mobile applications for radio, broadeningthe communicative potential of audiences (Aguado, Feijoo & Martínez, 2013), as well as promotingconvergence of interactive content among listeners-users. Aware of this opportunity, themain broadcasters in Spain and Portugal have broadened their radiophonic scope to the mobileplatform, especially geared towards smartphones through the development of mobile applications,commonly known as apps (Cerezo, 2010). As a symbol of a culture in permanent changing,smartphones not only provide greater easiness in terms of access and interaction, but also affordlarger opportunities for disseminating content among audiences, a phenomenon that somestudies have labelled as user distributed content (Villi, 2012). This article presents an exploratoryanalysis of the current policies of the main Spanish and Portuguese radio broadcasters regardingmobile applications, evaluating the different levels of interaction and participation in these platforms.This observation led to the conclusion, among other findings, that the mobile platformrepresents a supplementary channel for traditional FM radio, rather than a new medium with itsown language and expression.