The history of student radio in Poland

107

ISCC 6 (1) pp 107ndash125 Intellect Limited 2015

Interactions Studies in Communication amp Culture Volume 6 Number 1

copy 2015 Intellect Ltd Article English language doi 101386iscc61107_1

UrszUla DoliwaUniversity of Warmia and Mazury

The history of student

radio in Poland

absTracT

The earliest student radio stations in Poland were set up in the early 1950s They broadcast as closed-circuit stations in student hostels and were accessible only by inhabitants of the campus The level of freedom of speech at such stations was higher than in other types of media not only because of special concessions with reference to students but also because of a large number of such initiatives in Poland that were difficult to control This type of student broadcasting lost a significant part of its audience in the early 1990s because of the development of the commercial radio sector However at the same time new possibilities for student broadcasting emerged The Act on Radio and Television Broadcasting in 1992 introduced a new way of transmitting the signal ndash on air with a licence Contemporary student radio stations can be divided into two main groups licensed and non-licensed (closed-circuit and Internet streaming) Between these two groups there are significant differences concerning organizational financial and management issues as well as the social functions they perform Today student radio is one of few mediums that broadcast spoken word programming and alternative music as well as promoting participation dialogue and marginalized voices

inTroDUcTion

Student radio broadcasting in Poland has a 60-year tradition Over the years it has had its ups and downs but it remains a mainstay of freedom creativity participation and alternative music The ephemeral character of radio art in

KeyworDs

student radioradio in Polandcommunity radiobroadcasting in PolandCentral and Eastern

Europealternative media

ISCC_61_Doliwa_107-125indd 107 41415 11624 PM

Urszula Doliwa

108

conjunction with a lack of solicitude for archiving achievements of consecu-tive student generations causes some difficulties in reconstructing the history of student broadcasting in Poland However this sector is certainly worth examining

The basis for writing this article was the analysis of documents collected in the archives of student radio stations articles about student radio broadcast-ing especially from the student press interviews with student radio managers and content analysis of programmes broadcasted by student radio stations Most of the above were carried out for my PhD thesis between 2002 and 2007 To present a more contemporary face of student radio broadcasting in Poland some additional data were collected in January 2011

When talking about the contemporary history of Poland it is impossible not to mention the year 1989 which was the turning point not only in the history of Poland but also many countries in East-Central Europe During this year the Iron Curtain collapsed and almost everything changed including the form of student radio its goals and problems Thus in this article the history of student radio broadcasting is divided into two parts before and after 1989

sTUDenT raDio broaDcasTing before 1989

There are no data about student radio broadcasting in Poland before World War II However there is no doubt that the real development of student radio projects all over the country took place in the early 1950s due to the connec-tion with building new student campuses Usually they were equipped with a closed-circuit cable system Due to a lack of radio receivers (which had been confiscated during World War II by the Nazis) creating cable radio networks in factories housing estates and campuses was very popular at that time The new regime in Poland was interested in the development of radio broadcast-ing as a tool of propaganda and cable radio networks were the easiest and cheapest way to rebuild the radio audience

One of the first such student radio initiatives started in Białystok in 1951 (Pietrasik 1973 8) Then new projects in other parts of Poland came into being in 1952 Radio Akademik at the University of Technology in Warsaw and in 1955 intercollegiate Radio Przyjazn located in the student hous-ing estate Jelonki in Warsaw and Radio Centrum in Torun In the following years new projects in Poznan Łoacutedz Szczecin Katowice and Cracow emerged (Kosiec 1984 4)

The 1960s was a period of great development for student radio journalism in Poland In 1963 there were 116 student radio centres with 2000 students involved in this movement Together they broadcast about 800 hours of programming per week and had an audience of about 60000 students (Wilusz 1963 7) The numbers were also growing because at the begin-ning of the 1970s more than 130 student radio centres were active with 3500 student journalists working there Student cable radio stations were at that time within reach of almost half of the student population in Poland (Roacutezdzynski 1977 193ndash94)

At the beginning cable student radio stations broadcast amateur-ish programming with some basic announcements and music (Pietrasik 1973 7ndash8) Later on some of them achieved a far higher standard and they created features radio drama and commentaries A typical student radio station in the 1960s broadcast programming that can be divided into three main categories news and social information literary broadcasts and music


The history of student radio in Poland

109

broadcasts Sixteen to eighteen students working in a typical student radio centre at that time prepared seven to eight hours of programming per week (Wilusz 1963 7)

The student journalism movement had a difficult time after the implemen-tation of martial law in Poland in 1981 when all student radio centres and press titles were closed Although the break in broadcasting was not too long a lack of continuity in the functioning of student radio stations was one of the reasons why student radio broadcasting in the 1980s did not shine as brightly as it had before The other reason was the development of new technical devices like hi-fi players The old monophonic loudspeakers in student hostels started to seem old-fashioned and the number of student radio stations as well as listeners of this kind of station was falling (Beyrowski 2002 85)

In the late 1980s the consolidation campaign under the supervision of the Socialistic Association of the Polish Students (Socjalistyczny Zwiazek Studentoacutew Polskich) ndash the ancillary student association of the Polish Unified Workers Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza) ndash was conducted Officially it was carried out in order to create strong centres with up-to-date equipment but the hidden reason was the fact that numerous small student radio initiatives were difficult to control which was inconvenient for the authorities at that time This campaign also caused a decrease in the number of student radio centres

In general as the only alternative to public radio student radio stations before 1989 were very popular They were a platform through which it was possible to listen to something that could not be heard on public radio not only music but also spoken word broadcasts that sometimes opposed the communist system In some cases two versions of a programme were prepared one for broadcasting and the other for censorship (Masnicki 2002 150) The radio team of Studencka Agencja Radiowa from Gdansk broadcast direct reports from strikes in the Gdansk Shipyard in September 1980 where the Independent Trade Union Solidarity (Niezalezny Zwiazek Zawodowy Solidarnosc ) was founded (Slesinski 2002 196) Although it was strictly forbidden in Poland before 1989 (not only broadcasting but even listening to the station) some of the student stations also disseminated Radio Free Europe programming (Guzinski 2002 37 Biały 2003 5) Generally student radio was a haven of freedom before 1989 Maciej Przysucha ndash a former worker at Radio Centrum in Lublin ndash recalls how important it was for students at that time

We had known that someone was pricking up ears during broadcast-ing We had to control ourselves [hellip] Some of us got the sack because of retransmitting the signal of the Radio Free Europe We were crazy but the communist system forced us to be crazy Today everything has changed Young people think that they deserve everything They have democracy the Internet and legal highs We had only radio

(Maciej Przysucha in Dudkowski 2010)

Summing up the period before 1989 in the history of student radio it is also worth underlining that student broadcasting was an important element of a vibrant student culture and student journalism Young Poles started the collaboration with cable student radio stations willingly and student radio was the most popular form of student journalism activity In 1975 out of 2729 people officially involved in the student journalism movement as many as 1706 worked for student radio (Waskiewicz 1977 8)


Urszula Doliwa

110

1 The official name of Poland from 1952 to 1989

Despite programme limitations and problems with censorship it is possi-ble to conclude that student radio in the Peoplersquos Republic of Poland (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa)1 in many respects had its Golden Age at this time Polish authorities were interested in the control of student stations and from time to time tried to use them as a tool of propaganda However at the same time they supported the development of the student radio movement The best student journalists had the opportunity to acquire practical training in public radio and there were also many other training opportunities available Locally they were provided by Student Journalistsrsquo Clubs (Kluby Dziennikarzy Studenckich) Moreover every year from the mid-1960s summer schools for student journalists in Soczewka were organized For students it was a unique chance to meet and learn from the best Polish journalists There were also plenty of student radio contests organized all over Poland The most impor-tant of these were the national Red Rosa Laurel Contest (Konkurs o Laur Czerwonej Roacutezy) for the best student (not only radio) journalists organ-ized from 1973 and Przestwoacutera organized from 1983 by Akademickie Radio Pomorze in Szczecin (Doliwa 2008 63)

At that time the large-scale development of student broadcasting was an exception rather than a rule in communist states in Central and Eastern Europe For example in the German Democratic Republic only one student radio station before 1989 was active This was Radio HSF Ilmenau founded in 1950 at the Technical University from Ilmenau which used megaphones to disseminate programmes (Naumlhrlich 1996 101) As Sandra Krischker argued no other student radio initiatives followed this first one (Krischker 2004 20) Such was the case also in Slovenia Radio Student was created in 1969 in Ljubljana by the University Student Association and was the only student radio station in this republic before 1989 (Darland 2009 437)

When compared with other communist countries Polish student radio was a part of a vibrant overall student culture For example in the early 1960s when students from Prague were dreaming about having their own clubs student clubs in Warsaw were already flourishing (Klimke et al 2011 35) Students in Poland also created their own theatres cinemas concerts and independent newspapers It is also worth mentioning that they did not hesitate to protest openly against some of the decisions made by the Communist Party Such was the case in March 1968 when students in large Polish cities protested against banning the performance of a play by Adam Mickiewicz Dziady directed by Kazimierz Dejmek at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw which was cancelled on the grounds that it contained Russophobic and anti-socialist references Many students were arrested for participating in this protest and many could not finish their studies Student radio in Poland was an active participant in the student movement that generally opposed the communist system (Walczak 1990)

sTUDenT raDio broaDcasTing afTer 1989

In the early 1990s closed-circuit cable student radio stations lost a significant part of their audience mainly due to the quick development of the commer-cial radio sector in Poland which despite no legal permission was booming at that time For most of the newly created radio stations young people were the main target audience Student radio stations stopped being the only alter-native for the state-controlled media and many of them disappeared

However at the same time new possibilities for student radios emerged The Act on Radio and Television Broadcasting (lsquoUstawa o radiofonii i telewizjirsquo)



111

gave them a chance to broadcast on air with the licence (Parliament of the Republic of Poland 1992) Even before this act was passed some student radio stations had started broadcasting as pirate radio stations For exam-ple in 1990 the student radio station Radio Afera in Poznan emerged on air (Anon 1997 48)

On the basis of the Act on Radio and Television Broadcasting while the existing pirate radio stations could legalize their existence others could also apply for permission to broadcast However it should be mentioned that neither the legislator nor the Polish regulator of the broadcast media market the National Broadcasting Council (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji) worked out the system of support for non-commercial and non-public media In practice Polish universities applied for the licence on the basis of the same rules as commercial radio stations This was one of the reasons why only eight universities decided to do it Six of these applica-tions were accepted in 1994 Rzeszow University of Technology ndash Studenckie Radio Rzeszoacutew Bialystok University of Technology ndash Radio Akadera Poznan University of Technology ndash Radio Afera University of Science and Technology in Cracow ndash Radio Rak Maria Skłodowska-Curie University in Lublin ndash Akademickie Radio Centrum and University of Agriculture in Poznan ndash Akademickie Radio Winogrady (Mirecka-Pawłowska 1995 16) In the following years the number of student radio stations on air grew In 1996 the licence was given to Zielona Goacutera University of Technology ndash Akademickie Radio Index and Łoacutedz University of Technology ndash Studenckie Radio Z

ak and in 2000 to the University of Warmia and Mazury ndash Radio

UWM FMHowever in the late 1990s the condition of student radio broadcasting

was difficult When we compare the more than 200 student radio centres that were active in the 1970s with eight licensed radio stations on air (plus a few still existing closed-circuit cable radios in student hostels) we can easily observe that the role of student broadcasting in Poland was marginalized The ways of transmitting the signal that were used by cable radio stations became outdated and unsuited for the audience entering the twenty-first century

In contrast to previous expectations the running cost of licensed student radio stations appeared to be high Instead of generating profits for universi-ties they brought more and more losses The financial difficulties were intensi-fied by the economic crisis in Poland at that time and there was a real danger that some of them would stop broadcasting Such was the case at Radio Centrum from Lublin as the university administration decided to liquidate it at the beginning of 2004 The reason was the high running cost of the station that was estimated to be 75000 euros per year Finally the station survived after mass protests by students and other student radio stations but its yearly budget was reduced by half A significant role in the preservation of the station was played by the student council from the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin which promised financial support for the station (Anon 2004 75) The case of Radio Centrum in Lublin is evidence that the student community is bound together by social and cultural ties with lsquotheirrsquo student radio station and ndash if required ndash is ready to stand up for the station

Radio Centrum was not the only station that was endangered Financial problems at the student radio station in Cracow led to advertising and programme cooperation between the station and a large commercial media group in Poland ndash Zjednoczone Przedsiebiorstwa Rozrywkowe which drove the station to the commercial sector (Doliwa 2008 160) Fortunately


Urszula Doliwa

112

this station also overcame its problems In 2009 this radio station again became more student oriented and started broadcasting under a new name (Radiofonia) and with a new student team engaged in its creation

In the face of financial problems licensed student radio stations started to integrate In 2005 the All-Polish Agreement of Student Radio Stations (Ogoacutelnopolskie Porozumienie Rozgłosni Akademickich) was created It was not the first but definitely the most significant student radio organization It represents licensed student radio stations in contact with authorities and is active in the field of integration of the student journalistsrsquo community Thanks to this agreement some common projects have been carried out An exam-ple is the broadcast Pimp My Mind about science and technology that started in 2010 (Radio Afera) This broadcast ndash produced by Radio Afera in Poznan ndash is retransmitted on all member stations of the All-Polish Agreement

Since the late 1990s the situation of student radio broadcasting has been growing increasingly better After years of efforts Warsaw University with the project Radio Kampus located in the capital of Poland also obtained the licence (2005) As of now (2012) the last licence for student broadcasting was given to Wrocław University of Technology ndash Radio Luz (2006) Ipso facto the number of student radio stations active on air has increased by ten

However the appearance of Internet radio stations introduced the most significant change in the image of student radio Studencka Agencja Radiowa from Gdansk was the first Internet student radio station in Poland and it started broadcasting in 2002 The number of Internet radio stations has been growing ever since In 2004 there were six such radio stations and in 2005 more than ten (Doliwa 2008 39) Nowadays the number of Internet radio stations in Poland hovers around 30 and this figure is higher than the number of licensed and closed-circuit student radio stations counted together Not only public but also private universities are interested in the develop-ment of Internet student radio studios Starting up an Internet radio station in comparison with a licensed one on the air is easier and ndash even more important ndash much cheaper For example the Internet radio of the Technical University from Warsaw started broadcasting with two computers two micro-phones and a simple radio broadcast mixer They also needed one room with basic furniture and of course broadband Internet access which normally is not a problem in Polish universities A similar set of equipment needed to start up an Internet student radio station was also mentioned by Łukasz Sejfert from the Internet student radio Radio Emiter He declared that they had no more than 1300 euros when starting the project in 2004 and they succeeded (Doliwa 2008 135)

Together with the development of Internet broadcasting the number of closed-circuit cable radios in student hostels was falling In 2005 there were only six such stations A brief Internet study done by the author in 2011 showed that out of these six stations only one still broadcasts using the closed-circuit cable system Radio Sfera from Torun The rest of the stations resigned from disseminating the signal in this way in favour of Internet broadcasting only

The characTerisTic of conTemPorary sTUDenT raDio sTaTions broaDcasTing in PolanD

Contemporary student radio stations in Poland can be divided into two main groups licensed and non-licensed ones (Internet and closed-circuit stations in student hostels) These two main groups differ in the way they transmit the



113

signal In addition the research conducted between 2005 and 2007 (Doliwa 2008 11ndash12) showed that these groups can be characterized as follows

lsquoLicensed radio stationsrsquo have a broad broadcasting range a diversified bullprogramme offer an audience composed not only of students a profes-sional team with some people employed high running costs and in most cases the possibility of earning money in the advertising marketlsquoNon-licensed radio stationsrsquobull have an amateur character broadcast mainly in the evenings very rarely employ working staff rely on the involvement of student volunteers have low running costs a small number of listeners almost no advertising and often suspend broadcasting during holidays

The number of existing licensed radio stations is not high but it is worth underlining that they are all located in large cities This is the reason why student radio broadcasting is within reach of more than five million people ndash almost 15 per cent of the population of Poland (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji 2010)

The running costs of such radio stations are quite high The average budget of licensed student broadcasters varies from 50000 to 150000 euros

Figure 1 Map of licensed student radio stations Source Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji (2010) httpwwwkrritgovplData Files_publicPortals0sprawozdaniaspr2010informacja_krrit_za_2009r_2pdf Accessed 23 March 2015


Urszula Doliwa

114

2 In the case of Radio UWM FM i Radio Akadera news bulletins broadcast at 8 orsquoclock were taken into consideration because of the fact that they had no such bulletins at 9 orsquoclock

per year (Doliwa 2008 93) They are financed mainly by universities who are holders of the licence Commercials and various grants are additional sources of station revenue However the contribution of these additional sources to student radio budgets is limited

It is worth emphasizing that the existing model of licensed student radio stations in Poland causes significant problems when defining the role and place of such stations in the broadcasting system On the one hand they are financially supported by universities with a lot of volunteers working there obliged by the licence to broadcast student programming This factor suggests that the character of the programming should be amateur favourable to the improvement of journalistic skills and concentrating on student issues On the other hand the running costs of such radio stations are high They often broadcast like in the case of Radio UWM FM from Olsztyn as many commercials as commercial radio stations and they have high-power radio transmitters that encourage the stations to adopt some commercial strategies As a result existing radio stations differ significantly from each other Most of them are looking for a golden mean ndash they broadcast universal programming with some student and academic elements and one can observe this listen-ing to the news on licensed student radio The research conducted between 25 and 29 April 2005 on the basis of news bulletins broadcast at six student radio stations at 9 orsquoclock showed that student and academic news consti-tuted only 44 per cent of the total amount (Doliwa 2008 105)2 Music prevails as stations monitored by the National Broadcasting Council in 2003 showed that music constituted 77ndash81 per cent of the offer (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji 2004)

However it is worth noting that in comparison with other radio stations in the market licensed radio stations broadcast ambitious and diversified programmes The audience tired of listening to the formatted radio stations that prevail in the Polish market can find many interesting spoken word broadcasts on student radio as well as alternative music that cannot be heard on any other type of radio on air The leading catchphrase of licensed student radio stations associated with the All-Polish Agreement of Student Radio Stations is lsquoThe alternative on airrsquo However it is not easy to define precisely what lsquoalternativenessrsquo in radio production means (Wall 2007 40) In practice this alternativeness differs from station to station Yet managers of student radio stations generally agree that the main element of alternative programmes should be music that is not heard on commercial radio

The attitude towards music of Polish student radio managers seems to be similar to their US counterparts As some authors underline the tradition of college radio in the United States as a medium promoting alternative music is long and fruitful Suffice it to mention the role that college radio played in promoting the band Nirvana (Wall 2007 42 Waits 2008 85) Student radio in Poland does not have such spectacular successes to its credit but the rela-tion between alternative bands and student radio is very close An example of a successful cooperation between these two sectors is the indie music broadcast Swiezy towar from Radio Kampus (Warsaw) dedicated to young artists (2011) Anyone can send his or her own piece of music into this broadcast Another example is the success in the Polish music market of the band lsquoThe Lollipopsrsquo who were promoted by Radio UWM FM (Olsztyn) However as Waits rightly noted the lsquoindependencersquo and lsquoalternativenessrsquo of student radio stations do not only mean playing so-called lsquoindiersquo music they can also be constituted by the variety of music that is presented on air (Waits 2008 93) This is also the



115

case in student radio broadcasting in Poland On these stations one can find rock post rock trip hop acid jazz jazz ndash but also from time to time classical or poetic music or even pop music At licensed student radio stations playlists generated by the stationsrsquo broadcast automation system are used but often especially in the evenings they do not forget how important the handcraft of choosing music is Another important element that makes the programmes different from other radio stations is culture broadcasts and specialty shows where authors are almost fully independent from station control

The group of non-licensed radio stations is more homogenous and coherent in terms of the programmes they broadcast as well as the organi-zational and financial model in comparison with licensed radio stations One may get an impression that these student radio stations are more concen-trated on student issues than their licensed counterparts The programming is more unconventional and not free from foul-ups but at the same time full of creativity and originality In this way these stations seem to fulfil the idea of a student station as lsquoan open platform tolerant of expected errors and blundersrsquo (Sauls 2000 168) better Due to low running costs and the support from the university students radio journalists feel more independ-ent and often represent studentsrsquo and not universitiesrsquo points of view in their programmes They seem to be less inclined towards self-censorship when it comes to the university authorities and less responsible for the promotion of the university

Non-licensed student radio stations broadcast spoken word programming mainly in the afternoons The most important element of the programming is specialty shows They also broadcast news and magazines centred on student issues (Doliwa 2008 141ndash46)

The great majority of non-licensed radio stations make their living by using financial support from universities and a number of them are addi-tionally co-financed by student councils An exception is Radio TEAM from Warsaw which is an independent student radio initiative based on sponsorsrsquo support as well as members of the teamrsquos financial engagement The running costs of non-licensed student radio stations in Poland are low and vary from 1000 to 10000 euros per year (Doliwa 2008 136) The most important finan-cial barriers in the development of Internet radio stations are high copyright fees In Poland there are four organizations that are authorized to collect these fees In practice this means that even very small non-commercial student radio stations that broadcast for a few listeners have to pay at least 100 euros a month for copyright (Doliwa 2010b 117)

Most non-licensed student radio stations do not employ even one person full-time In other cases it is only one person ndash the editor-in-chief ndash who is paid by the station The exception is Radio Sfera from Torun The organizational and programming momentum of the station gives an impression that the function-ing of the station is more similar to the licensed model however the station is not allowed to broadcast on air The station broadcasts regular programming 24 hours a day with spoken word not only in the evenings and afternoons but also in the mornings Some of the students and management are paid

Research conducted in 2005 and 2006 showed that managers of licensed and non-licensed radio stations see the following functions of student radio stations as the most important providing training opportunities (thanks to these stations students have the opportunity to become involved in any of the aspects of radio operation) and the integration of the student and academic society and entertainment (for listeners as well as for producers of the


Urszula Doliwa

116

programme) (Doliwa 2008 132 150) It is worth noting that these research results to some extent coincide with the outcome of similar research carried out by Samuel Sauls in the United States in 1995 Similarly to Polish editors-in-chief managers of non-commercial student radio stations in the United States indicated lsquoproviding students with a journalistic trainingrsquo as the most important function of student broadcasting (Sauls 1995 23)

The sTUDenT raDio anD commUniTy raDio secTor

Existing licensed student radio stations in Poland are to some extent simi-lar to community radio stations that develop all over the world However they do not fully follow the community media model more common in other parts of Europe as concretized by the Community Radio Charter for Europe (AMARC 1994) which was approved at the first European meeting of AMARC in Ljubljana An important definition of community media at the European level was also formulated in the lsquoDeclaration of the Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion and intercul-tural dialoguersquo where community media was characterized as follows

independence from government commercial and religious institutions and political parties a not-for-profit nature voluntary participation of members of civil society in the devising and management of programmes activities aiming at social gain and community benefit ownership by and accountability to the communities of place andor of interest which they serve commitment to inclusive and intercultural practices

(Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe 2009)

When we compare this definition to the organizational model of licensed student radio stations first we should look at the fact that most of them have commercial licences Moreover it is generally very difficult to obtain a special licence for non-commercial broadcasting in Poland and this opportunity is in most cases unavailable for student radio broadcasters To understand the reason for this it is worth outlining the overall radio policy concerning the third sector of broadcasting in Poland

After the pirate phase in radio broadcasting during the first years after 1989 a new media law the Act on Radio and Television Broadcasting was passed on 29 December 1992 (Parliament of the Republic of Poland 1992) This act introduced a dual model of Polish broadcasting By virtue of this law public radio television commercial radio and TV stations came into being However it is worth noting that some people engaged in the creation of this act claimed that a third type of broadcast media should also exist private broadcasters with non-commercial goals They proposed ways in which the state could support such initiatives tax exemption exemption from licence fees and governmental subsidies Unfortunately their proposals were not taken into consideration in the creation of legal rules for broadcasting There was no legal recognition for the community radio sector

In 2001 a new category of broadcast media ndash lsquosocial broadcasterrsquo ndash was introduced however the number of broadcasters that could exercise the right was limited To be granted this legal status only the following could apply

An association within the framework of implementing its statutory bullobjectives



117

A foundation within the framework of implementing its statutory bullobjectivesA church or a religious legal person of a given church or a religious bull organization whose status is regulated by an Act of Parliament

This is the reason why it is very difficult or even impossible for licensed student radio stations to apply for this status At almost all stations the chancellor of the university and not an association or foundation is the holder of the licence This excludes student broadcasters from the potential entities quali-fied to apply for such status Only one student station is run by an association that consists of several universities ndash Radiofonia from Cracow

Another important issue is the fact that holding this status is connected with limitations as well as obligations and relatively few privileges For exam-ple this type of broadcaster should propagate learning and educational activi-ties promote charitable deeds respect the Christian system of values be guided by the universal principles of ethics and strive to preserve national identity in the programme service Such stations cannot transmit any adver-tising or sponsored broadcasts In return lsquosocial broadcastersrsquo are exempt from fees for being awarded the licence but it is worth underlining that the licence fee is not high in comparison with the starting and running costs of a licensed radio station in Poland This is why the exemption from this fee is not of significant help One of the serious problems connected with the lsquosocial broadcasterrsquo status is the fact that the legislator does not define from which sources lsquosocial broadcastersrsquo excluded from the advertising market may be financed For all the above-mentioned reasons this offer appeared to be unattractive for Polish broadcasters that try to fulfil non-commercial goals An exception is the religious broadcasters that are able to collect money for broadcasting among listeners Polandrsquos civil society is probably still not strong enough to provide the financial support for other non-commercial radio initia-tives to be found among its Western European counterparts This is one of the reasons why there are only ten lsquosocial broadcastersrsquo in Poland all connected to churches

It is worth mentioning that this sector of media was introduced in the Act on Radio and Television Broadcasting mainly to simplify the existence of stations connected to the Catholic Church The person who was directly involved in lobbying for the introduction of the lsquosocial broadcasterrsquo status in Polish law was Tadeusz Rydzyk ndash the editor-in-chief of the all-Polish Catholic radio station Radio Maryja (Sygut 2005) Radio Maryja also became the biggest beneficiary of this regulation The exemption from the licence fee which is not of significant benefit for a local broadcaster means a lot of money in the case of an all-Polish licence For the commercial licence Radio Maryja would have to pay as much as two million euros in the first ten years of the binding force of this regulation

To summarize the existing media legal system regarding broad-cast community media is insufficient Although in 2001 a new category of broadcast media ndash lsquosocial broadcasterrsquo ndash was introduced the number of stations that could benefit from this legal regulation is limited and this offer seems to be unsuitable for student broadcasters

This is the reason why formally all licensed student radio stations exist outside the lsquosocial broadcastingrsquo sector Yet it is worth noting that in 2001 the National Broadcasting Council changed the type of licences for student radio broadcasting Instead of obtaining licences for universal local broadcasting


Urszula Doliwa

118

they started to function on the basis of licences for specialized lsquoacademic broadcastingrsquo However this type of broadcasting was not incorporated into the Act on Radio and Television Broadcasting as an additional sector (Doliwa 2008 155) The introduction of such licences was mainly dictated by concern by the broadcasting regulator with saving the diversity on air in Poland and preventing this sector from being overtaken by big media groups These licences precisely defined what type of programmes should be broadcast and in what proportions For example student radio stations are obliged to prepare as much as 10 per cent of the programme in the form of spoken word broadcasts about problems as well as scientific cultural and sports activity of the student and academic society Additionally not less than 5 per cent of the programme should be composed of broadcasts in which studentsrsquo artistic initi-atives are presented lsquoAcademic broadcastersrsquo should also create news services about universities that are located in the broadcasting area (Doliwa 2008 99)

These obligations appeared to be demanding for licensed student broad-casters In 2003 the National Broadcasting Council monitored the programmes of student radio stations with these new licences from 12 to 18 May (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji 2003) The results were disadvantageous for student broadcasters because none of the five monitored stations fulfilled all the licence requirements For example student radio Centrum from Rzeszoacutew devoted only 1 per cent instead of the required 10 per cent to spoken word broadcasts about the university community The most positively evaluated station from this group ndash Radio Z

ak from Cracow ndash broadcast only 43 per cent

of such content The other monitorings of individual student radio stations that were conducted in the following years indicate that the problems with fulfilling licence requirements are still present For example a content analysis of the programme that was carried out in 2009 on Radio Index from Zielona Goacutera showed that this station broadcast only 15 per cent instead of 10 per cent of programmes about the student and academic community in this city (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji 2009b) Stations that do not meet the licence requirements in Poland can be fined or even closed However until 2012 student broadcasters in Poland were only disciplined through calls to align with licence requirements Moreover the National Broadcasting Council started negotiations with all student radio stations aimed at the adjustment of licence requirements to the character of the contemporary student radio stations The quota of 10 per cent of the programme dedicated to student and academic issues will probably remain the same but the number of broadcasts that may be called lsquostudentrsquo or lsquoacademicrsquo will be ndash after changing definitions of such programmes ndash somewhat larger

Despite difficulties with fulfilling all licence requirements it seems that the idea of determining programme obligations in the licence is beneficial for the Polish media landscape To some extent it protects student stations from being too universal and too similar to commercial stations Unfortunately these demands are not followed by any kind of support (financial or organiza-tional) from the National Broadcasting Council which makes matching these requirements difficult

In the group of student licensed radio stations Radio Zak from Łoacutedz is the

most similar to the community radio model There are no commercials at the station and its budget is very small in comparison with other licensed student radio stations No one at this station is paid including the editor-in-chief Moreover the system of management is very democratic ndash the editor-in-chief is elected by the general assembly of the student radio team Thanks to these



119

rules student radio journalists feel independent but at the same time respon-sible for their own station The vice-editor-in-chief of Radio Z

ak Magdalena

Rybak characterized the station as a place where lsquoeveryone can realise dreamsrsquo (personal communication) The organizational model of this station is a continuation of the radio principles that have been clarified during the last 52 years of Radio Z

akrsquos existence and also before the station appeared on air

Radio Zak has a long and successful history of which it is proud

The sTUDenT raDio anD commUniTy meDia movemenT

Nowadays a serious debate regarding the role and place of public media is taking place in Poland The subject lsquocommunity mediarsquo or lsquonot-for-profit mediarsquo is absent in the public discourse However there are some initia-tives that could be seen as evidence that the community media movement in Poland exists The Independent Broadcast Initiative Niezalezna Inicjatywa Nadawcza (NINA) established in 2005 was one of the first such initiatives Polish Internet radio stations supported by pirate radio stations were the initi-ators of this agreement The founder of the Internet Radio ART Tomasz Lida was the supervisor of this initiative NINA voiced a protest against the unclear situation of community broadcasting in Poland The aim of this organization was to lobby for non-licensed access to airtime for small local radio stations with up to 10 watts of power (for citizens of small towns villages or housing estates) (Anon 2005) This proposal was not taken into consideration and the non-formal coalition stopped their activity

Representatives of the small community media movement including some student and Internet radio activists were also active in creating subse-quent projects of the broadcasting law For example the new project of the broadcasting act entitled Ustawa o zadaniach publicznych w dziedzinie usług medialnych (Parliament of the Republic of Poland 2009) was an incentive for undertaking lobbying Community-oriented Internet broadcasters as well as student radio representatives and researchers expressed their active protest against a lack of recognition for community media sectors in this act They were supported by the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) (CMFE 2009a 2009b) Some of their demands and suggestions were incorporated into the act However this project was finally rejected by the Presidentrsquos veto

Community media activists were also involved in the creation of the follow-ing project of the broadcasting law prepared by the Civil Committee of Public Media in 2010 It is not a new version of the broadcasting act but only a project of an amendment to this act concerning the public media sector However in this project community media are not only mentioned but also defined as

non-profit aimed at specified social groups independent from the government local governments religious groups and political parties organized by schools universities or non-governmental organizations which do public benefit work accountable to the communities which they serve and whose representatives participate in the production of the programme

(Komitet Obywatelski Medioacutew Publicznych 2010)

Community media in this project has been incorporated into the financing system of the Public Media Fund devoted not only to the public sector but


Urszula Doliwa

120

also to support valuable media content Yet it must be said that this project stands little chance of being supported

The fact that the regulation concerning lsquosocial broadcastersrsquo does not support the development of this sector of media was noticed by the regu-lator ndash the National Broadcasting Council ndash which announced in May 2012 public consultations on broadcasting-related issues including lsquosocial broad-casterrsquo status Student radio representatives also took part in these consulta-tions (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji 2012)

Another important sign showing that a community media movement exists in Poland appeared when Stowarzyszenie Nadawcoacutew SpołecznychThe Association of Community Broadcasters was created in 2009 under the supervision of the manager of the student radio station in Cracow Marcin Lewandowski The founders of the organization included the following as the main aims of this association promoting the idea of community media as a separate media sector integrating the community broadcasters encour-aging cooperation between different community broadcasters popularizing the idea of media literacy raising the competence of community broadcast-ers and lobbying for law regulations favourable for community broadcasting (Stowarzyszenie Nadawcoacutew Społecznych 2009) However despite ambitious plans this association is still in the starting stages and except for giving an opinion about media law projects has no other achievements yet

The lack of more spectacular successes in the community media-lobby-ing field may be partly connected to the weakness of the non-governmental sector in Poland as a whole As shown in the report prepared in 2011 by the Kosciuszko Institute the non-governmental sector in Poland is underdevel-oped in comparison with other EU countries Moreover the development of this sector stopped from 2002 to 2003 (Instytut Kosciuszkowski 2011)

conclUsion

One could ask the question Why do student radio broadcasters in Poland matter First such stations perform many important functions that cannot be put into practice by other broadcasters they inform their listeners about prob-lems overlooked by other media and integrate the university community they offer training possibilities for students educate promote the university play alternative music that is not heard on any other type of radio station organize various campaigns and cultural events and provide entertainment for univer-sity communities (Doliwa 2008 48)

But student broadcasting is also important for another reason ndash student radio stations enrich a radio market that is schematic and homogenous There are two main types of broadcasting in Poland public and commercial Both of them have significant disadvantages

The main problem connected with commercial broadcasting is that it leads to networking This is not a trait specific to Poland but rather a universal problem (Day 2009 13) Formatting makes stations all over the country but also all over the world sound similar and as a result locality and originality is disappearing from airwaves The numbers show that in Poland the process of networking continues According to the National Broadcasting Council in 2001 there were 91 independent local radio stations on air while in 2008 there were only 43 such broadcasters (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji 2009a)

The public sector is to some extent the answer to networking commercial-izing and uniforming the programmes However public service broadcasting



121

is also not free from significant disadvantages One of the most important is the fact that public broadcasters operate on a large scale and they have prob-lems serving small communities Usually which is also the case in Poland they are not an attractive medium for young people In Poland there is also another problem that plays an important role Public service is not fully inde-pendent from national and local authorities which calls the objectivity of this kind of media into question

Moreover there is no fully recognized non-commercial sector in Poland Admittedly in 2001 a new category of broadcast media was introduced in the Act on Radio and Television Broadcasting lsquosocial broadcasterrsquo However this regulation provided an opportunity for development in the third sector of broadcast media in Poland only theoretically In practice as mentioned only religious radio stations were beneficiaries of this regulation

This is why student radio stations as a part of a few lsquothird forcersquo stations are an important element of the radio landscape in Poland which is dominated by the commercial and public sector They not only diversify programmes on offer but also introduce some community media strategies important to the relation between the media and the democracy Democratic societies need access to information and knowledge but also open forums and spaces in which this knowledge can be produced distributed discussed and published (Tremetzberger 2003 53) One of the key elements of the third media sector is lsquoparticipationrsquo connected with many other important issues like lsquohaving their voices heardrsquo lsquoproviding with alternative representations discourses and formats that vary from those originating from mainstream mediarsquo lsquoallow-ing for its members to co-decide on the media organisationsrsquo policies and managementrsquo (Carpentier and Scifo 2010 116) Moreover the projects that provide space for people to meet each other and to compete and negotiate on a broadcast schedule are in fact democracy lessons in practice ndash they help to build a more democratic society (Lewis 2008) One rarely finds such strate-gies among Polish broadcasters although student radio stations are one place where they are present This is why without student broadcasting the Polish airwaves would definitely be poorer

Yet the cases of the student radio station in Lublin which was close to liquidation and the station in Cracow ndash close to being overtaken by a big media network ndash suggest that the existence of this sector may be endangered The financial help of the university which is sometimes not willing to offer such support is essential for student radio To make student radio stations more independent it is advisable to secure additional sources of financial help for such initiatives The introduction of the community media sector into the Polish legal system with the student radio sector inside combined with the creation of a community media fund could be an answer to this problem This is not to suggest that the government should fund the entire operation but some additional funding would be beneficial for student radio stations The location of student broadcasters in the non-commercial community radio sector would also help them define the lsquomissionrsquo of the station more precisely and at the same time serve the student community better

references

AMARC (1994) lsquoThe community radio charter for Europersquo httpwwwamarcorgindexphpp=Community_Radio_Charter_for_Europe Accessed 14 September 2011


Urszula Doliwa

122

Anon (1997) lsquoOsiem stacji w jednym miesciersquolsquoEight stations in the same cityrsquo Press 9 20 p 48

mdashmdash (2004) lsquoRuch w regionachrsquolsquoMovement in the regionsrsquo Press 1 96 p 75mdashmdash (2005) lsquoUwolnic eterrsquolsquoFree the etherrsquo httpwwwwirtualnemediapl

artykuluwolnic-eter Accessed 15 September 2005Beyrowski Mariusz (2002) lsquoSAR by Bayermanrsquo in M Serafin

W Andruszkiewicz B Masnicki and M Nowicka (ed) Studencka Agencja RadiowaStudent Radio Agency Gdansk Kelo pp 83ndash90

Biały W (2003) lsquoRWE w kołchoznikursquo Gazeta w Lublinie 58 p 5Carpentier Nico and Scifo Salvatore (2010) lsquoIntroduction Community

Media ndash the long marchrsquo Telematics and Informatics 27 2 pp 115ndash18Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (2009) lsquoDeclaration of the

Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion and intercultural dialoguersquo httpswcdcoeintViewDocjspid=1409919 Accessed 11 February 2011

Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) (2009a) lsquoCMFE asks for support for Community Media in Polandrsquo httpwwwcmfeeusupportcmfe-asks-for-support-for-community-media-in-poland Accessed 4 July 2011

mdashmdash (2009b) lsquoNew licence type proposed in Polish Broadcasting actrsquo httpwwwcmfeeupolicynew-licence-type-proposed-in-polish-broadcasting-act Accessed 4 July 2011

Darland Daniel (2009) lsquoRadio Student and Radio Mars (Slovenia)rsquo in John D H Downing (ed) Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media London Sage pp 436ndash37

Day Rosemary (2009) Community Radio in Ireland Participation and Multiflows of Communication Cresskill NJ Hampton Press

Doliwa Urszula (2008) Radio studenckie w PolscelsquoStudent radio in Polandrsquo Olsztyn UWM

mdashmdash (2010a) lsquoElektroniczne media społeczne w Polsce Stan obecny i pers-pektywy rozwojursquolsquoElectronic community media in Poland Current status and prospects of developmentrsquo Studia MedioznawczelsquoMedia Studiesrsquo 4 43 pp 65ndash78

mdashmdash (2010b) lsquoRadio internetowe ndash realna alternatywa dla rozgłosni koncesjonowanychrsquolsquoInternet Radio ndash a real alternative to licensed radio stationsrsquo Media-Kultura-Komunikacja SpołecznalsquoMedia-Culture-Social communicationrsquo 6 pp 112ndash22

Dudkowski Łukasz (2010) lsquoAkademickie Radio Centrum konczy 15 latrsquolsquoAcademic Radio Centre completes 15 yearsrsquo httpwwwmmlublinpl1852520101022akademickie-radio-centrum-konczy--lat Accessed 10 February 2011

Guzinski Andrzej (2002) lsquoPoczatekrsquolsquoBeginningrsquo in M Serafin W Andruszkiewicz B Masnicki and M Nowicka (eds) Studencka Agencja RadiowalsquoStudent Radio Agencyrsquo Gdansk Kelo pp 36ndash38

Instytut Kosciuszkowski (2011) lsquoTrzeci sector ndash piata władzarsquolsquoThe third sector ndash the fifth powerrsquo httpikorgplcmswp-contentuploads201105BPIK_052011_instytut_kosciuszki_3sektor_5wladzapdf Accessed 20 September 2011

Klimke Martin Pekelder Jacco and Scharloth Joachim (2011) Between Prague Spring and French May Opposition and Revolt in Europe 1960ndash1980 Oxford Berghahn

Komitet Obywatelski Medioacutew Publicznych (2010) lsquoProjekt ustawy o mediach publicznychrsquolsquoDraft law on public mediarsquo httpwww hfhrpolwawpl

ISCC_61_Doliwa_107-125indd 122 42215 110346 AM


123

obserwatoriumindexphpoption=com_contentampview=articleampid=2449za oenia-projektu-ustawy-medialnej-krrit-w-drodze-losowaniaampcatid=42zkrajupolskaampItemid=64 Accessed 12 January 2011

Kosiec T (1984) lsquoRadiowezły studenckie w Polsce ndash działalnosc i perspektywy rozwojursquolsquoStudent Stations in Poland ndash the business and prospects of deve-lopmentrsquo MA thesis Warsaw University of Warsaw

Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji (2004) lsquoInformacja o podstawowych problemach radiofonii i telewizjirsquolsquoInformation about basic problems in broadcastingrsquo httpwwwkrritgovplDataFiles_publicPortals0sprawozdaniaspr2004inf2004pdfAccessed 10 March 2015

mdashmdash (2009a) lsquoInformacja o podstawowych problemach radiofonii i telewizjirsquo lsquoInformation about basic problems in broadcastingrsquo httpwwwkrritgovplbipLinkClickaspxfileticket=fZY2bR7bGZaU3damptabid=417 Accessed 11 January 2011

mdashmdash (2009b) lsquoWyniki kontroli (monitoringu) programoacutew pod katem realiza-cji koncesji przeprowadzonych w listopadzie-grudniu 2009rsquolsquoThe results of the control (monitoring) of programs for the implementation of the concession carried out in November-December 2009rsquo httpwwwkrritgovplbipLinkClickaspxfileticket=XDjbt6Uc4vQ3damptabid=270 Accessed 11 May 2011

mdashmdash (2010) lsquoInformacja o podstawowych problemach radiofonii i telewizjirsquo lsquoInformation about basic problems in broadcastingrsquo httpwwwkrritgovplDataFiles_publicPortals0sprawozdaniaspr2010 informacja_krrit_za_2009r_2pdf Accessed 10 January 2012

mdashmdash (2012) lsquoPodsumowanie konsultacji publicznych w sprawie modernizacji prawa medialnegorsquolsquoA summary of the public consultation on the moder-nization of the media lawrsquo httpwwwkrritgovplkrritkonsultacje-krritwyniki-konsultacjinews746podsumowanie-konsultacji-publicznych-w-sprawie-modernizacji-prawa-medialnegohtml Accessed 27 December 2012

Krischker S (2004) lsquoDie Idee Uni-Radio-Organisation und ProgrammrsquolsquoThe idea University radio organization and programmingrsquo MA thesis Berlin Freie Universitaumlt Berlin

Lewis Peter M (2008) lsquoFinding and funding Voices the London experiencersquo Information Society and Justice 2 1 pp 5ndash20

Masnicki Bogusław (2002) Studencka Agencja RadiowalsquoStudent Radio Agencyrsquo (eds M Serafin W Andruszkiewicz B Masnicki M Nowicka) Gdansk Kelo pp 138ndash51

Mirecka-Pawłowska A (1995) lsquoAkademicki duch w eterzersquolsquoAcademic spirit in the etherrsquo Forum Akademickie 8 pp 16ndash17

Naumlhrlich Gisela (1996) lsquoDie Arbeitsgemeinschaft Funk in HeidelbergrsquolsquoThe broadcast workgroup in Heidelbergrsquo in C Fischer (ed) Hochschul-Radios in Deutschland Konstanz UVK Medien pp 101ndash122

Parliament of the Republic of Poland (1992) lsquoUstawa o radiofonii i telewizjirsquolsquoAct on radio and television broadcastingrsquo httpwwwkrritgovplbipLinkClickaspxfileticket=zjV5rRFtZQU3damptabid=73 Accessed 12 January 2011

mdashmdash (2009) lsquoUstawa o zadaniach publicznych w dziedzinie usług medialnychrsquolsquoAct on public tasks in the field of media servicesrsquo httpwwwsenatgovplk7doksejm0351847pdf Accessed 11 May 2011

Pietrasik Z (1973) lsquoTu radio AkademikrsquolsquoDormitory radio herersquo ITD 3 pp 8ndash9Radio Afera (2010) Pimp my mind httpwwwnaukaipostepplpimp_my_

mindprogramy Accessed 14 March 2015


Urszula Doliwa

124

Radio Kampus (2011) Swiezy towar httpradiokampuswawplramowkaprogramymuzykaswiezy_towar Accessed 14 March 2015

Roacutezdzynski Jan (1977) lsquoStudencki ruch dziennikarskirsquolsquoJournalism student movementrsquo in A K Waskiewicz (ed) Czasopisma studenckie w PolsceStudent magazines in Poland Warsaw ZG SZSP pp 189ndash98

Sauls Samuel J (1995) lsquoFactors which influence the funding of college and university noncommercial radio stations Purposes and predictorsrsquo httpwwwericedgovERICWebPortalsearchdetailminijsp_nfpb=trueamp_ampERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED410625ampERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=noampaccno=ED410625 Accessed 14 February 2010

mdashmdash (2000) The Culture of American College Radio Ames Iowa State University Press

Stowarzyszenie Nadawcoacutew Społecznych (2009) lsquoStatut Stowarzyszenia Nadawcoacutew SpołecznychrsquolsquoStatute of the Association of Social Broadcastersrsquo archive of the Association of Social Broadcasters personal document

Sygut Tomasz (2005) lsquoModlitwa na falachrsquolsquoPrayer on the wavesrsquo httpwwwprzeglad-tygodnikplplartykulmodlitwa-na-falach Accessed 14 September 2011

Slesinski Ryszard (2002) lsquoSAR foreverrsquo in M Serafin W Andruszkiewicz B Masnicki M Nowicka (ed) Studencka Agencja RadiowaStudent Radio Agency Gdansk Kelo pp 193ndash215

Tremetzberger Otto (2003) lsquoTowards a society of control New digital stan-dards and their impact on freedom of information current consequen-ces and strategies for an independent public spherersquo in C Schoumlpf and G Stocker (eds) Code The Language of Our Time Ostfildern Hatje Cantz pp 51ndash54

Waits Jennifer (2008) lsquoDoes ldquoindierdquo mean independence Freedom and restraint in a late 1990s US college radio communityrsquo The Radio Journal International Studies in Broadcast amp Audio Media 5 2amp3 pp 83ndash96

Walczak Jan (1990) Ruch studencki w Polsce 1944ndash1984lsquoThe student move-ment in Poland 1944ndash1984rsquo Wrocław Zakład Narod im Ossolinskich

Wall Tim (2007) lsquoFinding an alternative Music programming in US college radiorsquo The Radio Journal International Studies in Broadcast amp Audio Media 5 1 pp 35ndash54

Waskiewicz Andrzej (1977) lsquoWsteprsquolsquoAdmissionrsquo in A K Waskiewicz (ed) Czasopisma studenckie w PolsceStudent Magazine in Poland Warszawa ZG SZSP pp 5ndash15

Wilusz Stefan (1963) lsquoRadosc z radiarsquolsquoThe joy of radiorsquo ITD 42 p 7

sUggesTeD ciTaTion

Doliwa U (2015) lsquoThe history of student radio in Polandrsquo Interactions Studies in Communication amp Culture 6 1 pp 107ndash125 doi 101386iscc61107_1

conTribUTor DeTails

Urszula Doliwa is an Assistant Professor and former Vice Director of the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn Poland She is the author of the book Radio studenckie w PolsceStudent Radio in Poland (2008) Nowadays her research interests centre on community media She has been the Secretary of the Community Media Forum Europe since 2014 and is a member of the



125

Polish Communication Association the Radio Research Section of ECREA and the Editorial Board of the Polish journal Media-Kultura-Komunikacja SpołecznalsquoMedia-Culture-Social Communicationrsquo

Contact Institute of Journalism and Social Communication University of Warmia and Mazury ul Kurta Obitza 1 10-725 Olsztyn PolandE-mail urszuladoliwauwmedupl

Urszula Doliwa has asserted her right under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work in the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd


Intellect is an independent academic publisher of books and journals to view our catalogue or order our titles visit wwwintellectbookscom or E-mail journalsintellectbookscom Intellect The Mill Parnall Road Fishponds Bristol UK BS16 3JG

European Journal of American CultureISSN 1466-0407 | Online ISSN 1758-9118

3 issues per volume | Volume 32 2013

Aims and ScopeThe European Journal of American Culture aims to encompass the evolution of America and its culture It is particularly interested in how the visual arts politics literature history and media engage with cultural issues EJAC aims to present a fresh perspective on American culture in all its forms

Call for PapersEJAC aims to produce a journal that undergraduates postgraduates and academ-ics find truly useful and interesting While the principle emphasis of the journal is on American literature and history contributors are invited to broaden its focus to include wide-ranging reviews of American cinema music art and other cultural forms

Editor

John WillsUniversity of Kentjwillskentacuk

intellectwwwintellectbookscom

publishersof original

thinking


Urszula Doliwa

108

conjunction with a lack of solicitude for archiving achievements of consecu-tive student generations causes some difficulties in reconstructing the history of student broadcasting in Poland However this sector is certainly worth examining

The basis for writing this article was the analysis of documents collected in the archives of student radio stations articles about student radio broadcast-ing especially from the student press interviews with student radio managers and content analysis of programmes broadcasted by student radio stations Most of the above were carried out for my PhD thesis between 2002 and 2007 To present a more contemporary face of student radio broadcasting in Poland some additional data were collected in January 2011

When talking about the contemporary history of Poland it is impossible not to mention the year 1989 which was the turning point not only in the history of Poland but also many countries in East-Central Europe During this year the Iron Curtain collapsed and almost everything changed including the form of student radio its goals and problems Thus in this article the history of student radio broadcasting is divided into two parts before and after 1989

sTUDenT raDio broaDcasTing before 1989

There are no data about student radio broadcasting in Poland before World War II However there is no doubt that the real development of student radio projects all over the country took place in the early 1950s due to the connec-tion with building new student campuses Usually they were equipped with a closed-circuit cable system Due to a lack of radio receivers (which had been confiscated during World War II by the Nazis) creating cable radio networks in factories housing estates and campuses was very popular at that time The new regime in Poland was interested in the development of radio broadcast-ing as a tool of propaganda and cable radio networks were the easiest and cheapest way to rebuild the radio audience

One of the first such student radio initiatives started in Białystok in 1951 (Pietrasik 1973 8) Then new projects in other parts of Poland came into being in 1952 Radio Akademik at the University of Technology in Warsaw and in 1955 intercollegiate Radio Przyjazn located in the student hous-ing estate Jelonki in Warsaw and Radio Centrum in Torun In the following years new projects in Poznan Łoacutedz Szczecin Katowice and Cracow emerged (Kosiec 1984 4)

The 1960s was a period of great development for student radio journalism in Poland In 1963 there were 116 student radio centres with 2000 students involved in this movement Together they broadcast about 800 hours of programming per week and had an audience of about 60000 students (Wilusz 1963 7) The numbers were also growing because at the begin-ning of the 1970s more than 130 student radio centres were active with 3500 student journalists working there Student cable radio stations were at that time within reach of almost half of the student population in Poland (Roacutezdzynski 1977 193ndash94)

At the beginning cable student radio stations broadcast amateur-ish programming with some basic announcements and music (Pietrasik 1973 7ndash8) Later on some of them achieved a far higher standard and they created features radio drama and commentaries A typical student radio station in the 1960s broadcast programming that can be divided into three main categories news and social information literary broadcasts and music



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The history of student radio in Poland

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Transcript of The history of student radio in Poland