Information Radio Stations Business FM, Vesti FM and Kommersant FM: a Comparative Analysis of the Morning Air

Abstract

The article presents the results of the second stage of the research titled “Transformation of the content strategies of modern radio and television broadcasting in the digital environment” carried out by a research team of the Department of Television and Radio Broadcasting, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University. The authors analyze the content of the morning broadcast of all-news radio stations of Moscow FM band (Business FM, Vesti FM, and Kommersant FM) in the period of 2018.05.14 to 2018.05.20 chosen by the continuous sampling method. The comprehensive study required working out a questionnaire of 25 questions to analyze various parameters from air time, running time, and type of program to interactive communication with audience. The study shows that all the three radio stations demonstrate a stable broadcast schedule and strip programming. Business FM and Kommersant FM broadcast linearly in a continuous information stream. Vesti FM includes long analytical talk-programs with experts and guests interacting with the audience via SMS. The content-analysis of the three radio stations’ morning broadcast enables the authors to confirm a previously advanced thesis that Business FM and Kommersant FM fall into the category of all-news radio stations, whereas Vesti FM does not. The latter, despite its wide variety of interprogram and structural elements, is transforming its format into news talk.