Radio and its listenership in the internet age: case studies of the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) and VOVNews.

Abstract

After approximately 100 years of radio, it is inevitable that radio in Western countries not only survives but also develops, despite fierce competition with visual media. However, having competed with other media for more than 15 years, radio in Vietnam is experiencing a significant loss of audience (especially the youth, the well-educated, and the people in urban areas). It should be noted that due to a 30 year war and 20 years of embargo by the US and other Western countries, information about Western countries in general, and journalism in particular, was in short supply in Vietnam. For this reason, gaining experiences from radio's developments and its adaptability in Western countries - in order to apply these to Vietnamese radio - is an imperative need. However, at present, radio in Western countries has reached a significant turning-point, when a number of terminologies - which are used according to the radio's variants, including web radio, digital radio, and visual radio - have challenged the perceptions of radio which have been accepted for almost a century. The questions 'What is radio?', 'Is web radio 'radio'?' and 'Does web radio enhance radio development?' are contentious issues which have been discussed for some time without a conclusion. On the other hand, web radio has a significant impact on Vietnamese radio in the sense that it brings radio to the Internet community who are generally believed to be the young, well-educated and people in urban areas who listen to traditional radio the least. It is suggested that web radio is potential way to capture the neglected traditional radio listeners in Vietnam. From an historical point of view, this thesis will investigate the changes of radio in terms of technology, radio programming and ways of listening, in order to understand the development of radio from its inception to date. Moreover, radio will be placed in the context of the competition and interplay between mass media. This will be done in order to explore the contention that the existence and development of each medium depends not only on its own characteristics, but also on its ability to adjust itself to a new technological environment - as well as the ability to adapt methods and tools from other media to strengthen its position. It is contended that web radio is the product of the competitive and interactive environment in which it operates: and its characteristics can only be clarified with reference to those relationships between mass media systems. Having investigated the political, historical, sodo-economical and cultural contexts of radio and web radio in Vietnam, the thesis explores the ways in which modem radio theories and practices from Western countries can be applied to Vietnamese radio, and examines if web radio is a means to capture new audiences, particularly the groups who have neglected traditional radio. In order to achieve this aim, three major research methods will be applied: historical and secondary data; online and offline surveys and in-depth interviews of radio listeners, non-radio listeners, and web users about their habits of consuming media, the impact of the Internet on their habits, and their needs towards web radio also will be undertaken.