KJLH-FM,South Central's Hub to the World: Black Radio's Emergence on the Internet

Abstract

KJLH-FM's Peabody Award winning Front Page programme was transformed in 1992 during the Los Angeles civil unrest. Ten years later, the internet provided the impetus for KJLH to present its community issues to a national audience, while continuing its commitment to local listeners. This case study examines how one small community commercial radio station extended its audience through streaming its popular and controversial public affairs programme across the internet. KJLH-FM, with only 5,600 watts of transmitting power, has embraced new technologies in its efforts to extend its audience across the USA and beyond, and to remain competitively and civically engaged in a highly deregulated and consolidated marketplace.