Radio Guangdong and the liberalisation of Chinese media: 1978 - 1997

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Since the birth of the People's Republic in 1949, broadcasting in China has been conceived as 'the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party and its people'. For more than thirty years, its principle function was to enlighten, guide and educate the public, and its spoken word programmes were all pre-scripted and pre-recorded in order to ensure political orthodoxy. However, in 1986, the first genuinely live radio channel was launched by Guangdong People's Broadcasting Station, which, among other significant changes, claimed to establish the audience as 'the master of broadcasting'. For the next ten years, Radio Guangdong would continue to lead media reform by seeking to run broadcasting as a business as well as an organ of the state.This project will trace the history of a process which transformed China's broadcasting system, and uncover the dilemmas and tensions that confront broadcasters wherever media are regarded as 'a public utility', whether in the form of a direct organ of the ruling party, as in China, or as a semiautonomous but publicly funded body like the BBC, yet are also required to behave increasingly like a company in the marketplace.This project will- Investigate why Radio Guangdong became the crucible of the radical transformation that began in the late eighties, in other words, what were the forces at play that brought about the transformation that started from Southern China.- Explore how the Chinese Communist Party's changing policies and conflicting agendas (Fewsmith 1994; 2001; 2013; Vogel 2011) together with increasing market forces shaped broadcasting output and management practices from 1986 to 1996.- Investigate the roles of both broadcasters and media scholars in the sweeping changes, both in media and the liberalisation process.- Investigate what roles audience played in the broadcasting reform, and what choices were made available to them.- Examine what were the limits of media liberalisation in China. Research methodsBesides drawing on the above-mentioned publications and on transcripts of Radio Guangdong's award-winning programmes, the project will review the station's archive materials, such as its weekly listings paper The Voice (known as Guangdong Broadcasting until 1993), and the inhouse quarterly journal Broadcasting Approaches. It will also draw on with past and present broadcasters, many of whom were my colleagues at Radio Guangdong. The above activities will involve at least yearly trips to China both to source fresh materials and to conduct face to face interviews. I will reference my own experiences at Radio Guangdong,first as producer in its education section, and later as editor and presenter of western music and cultural programmes on two of its live radio channels. The aim will be to investigate how Chinese broadcastersunderstand and define their roles in society, and how such understandings might differ from those of their western colleagues.