A Study Of Marketization Of China's Foreign Language Radio

In China, foreign language radio has always been taken as one of the major media for"waixuan", that is to do propaganda targeting foreign audiences. This paper adopts a fresh view to observe the foreign language radio: back to its real function as media and consider it as an economic body with special mission, yet has to compete for social and economical benefits via information and service.This paper firstly analyzes the necessity for foreign language radio to be marketized, i.e., drove by pressures from three markets: the audience market, program market and advertising market. Meantime, the market is also providing opportunities. Then it comes to what should the foreign language radio do on its marketization path? To answer this question, the paper recaps the failed marketization efforts by some local foreign language radio bands in early 1990s, focusing on the difficulties they were trapped by; then it observes the current marketization status of foreign language radio programs, including the features of their mother radio stations and the program patterns, as well as case studies on the operation of current foreign language bands in terms of successful pattern and problems. In the end, based on comparison between failed and successful cases, suggestions are given to the foreign language radio in China on its marketization path.