Description

This article presents research data obtained from interviews with 22 administrators of RadComs (community radio stations), with the purpose of analyzing the working standards of legalized community radio stations in the northeastern region of São Paulo State, Brazil. The goal was to identify what are the relationships between RadComs and the powers and how these affect the activities of RadComs, discussing topics such as local participation, citizenship and democracy. The results demonstrate that, established under the class of “community”, most of the new authorized RadComs, reproduce models similar to the commercial networks constituted as instruments of local political, economic and religious powers. In the majority of cases, they are also business investment opportunities for small local enterprises without the necessary circumstances or financial structure to participate in commercial tenders.