Radio stations for children on the internet. Analysis of an alternative offer for the child-listener

Abstract

Radio programs dedicated to children have suffered a gradual disappearance in the last years. This extinction has been overcome by the expansion of stations created especially for them, most of which operate basically through the internet. This work is a first approach to this phenomena, analyzing the offer of 25 web radios, mainly from Europe and Latin America. In the selected stations is possible to listen to more or less regular programs in streaming or podcasting form. These stations add an extra value to their programs, sharing with their audience a wide range of complementary multimedia content. This exploratory-descriptive research, concludes that musical spaces, fictional short stories and general bits of advice for parents are the common denominators in these web radio programs. In adition, these broadcasters shows that they believe that teaching good values are the driven force for the future social integration of children, they are in this way fulfilling the rights of boys and girls, opting for the design of alternative contents.