Crowding in the Radio Ether – Analysis of Radio in Slovenia

In the diploma thesis, the author documented the state of radio broadcasting from Slovenia's independence to the present day (from 1991 to 2009). The year 1991 was set as a milestone because Slovenia separated from Yugoslavia and gained independence that year, which brought numerous changes to the media sector as well. The diploma thesis was concluded with an overview of the current state and a table listing all radio stations currently operating in Slovenia or at least registered in the media register as radio stations. Purpose of the diploma thesis: the number of radio stations has been growing rapidly from the beginning of independent Slovenia to the present day.

Problem

In the diploma thesis, the author documented the state of radio broadcasting from Slovenia's independence to the present day (from 1991 to 2009). The year 1991 was set as a milestone because Slovenia separated from Yugoslavia and gained independence that year, which brought numerous changes to the media sector as well. At that time, the commercialisation of radio space also took place, which led to the establishment of private radio stations.

Before that, listeners could only listen to the national radio station, Radio Slovenija. In 2001, the Mass Media Act was replaced by the Media Act, which brought renewed changes to the media sector. The previous non-commercial radio stations were replaced by stations with special status.

The author described how the number of radio stations increased, when and how they acquired the status of commercial radio stations and stations of special importance, and focused particularly on the emergence of commercial radio networks. Previously, commercial radio networks had no legal basis in the law; today they do, but the law does not provide for the financing of commercial stations.

Results

The diploma thesis was concluded with an overview of the current state and a table listing all radio stations currently operating in Slovenia or at least registered in the media register as radio stations. Purpose of the diploma thesis: the number of radio stations has been growing rapidly from the beginning of independent Slovenia to the present day. Therefore, the purpose of the diploma thesis is to create an overview of radio broadcasting during independent Slovenia.

Objective of the diploma thesis: through documenting the development of radio broadcasting, to determine how many commercial radio networks currently operate in Slovenia. The Media Act does not support commercial radio programmes. Therefore, the author assumes that radio station owners, when establishing radio networks, help themselves by connecting radio stations by purchasing individual, usually smaller radio stations in different locations across Slovenia, and then creating a national programme through programme sharing.

A limitation in the research will certainly be the inaccessibility and incompleteness of data on ownership structures in Slovenian media.