Performance features of the Albanian speaking web radios

Abstract

Albanian speaking internet radios is the media units, that about a decade ago have eliminated state borders, have exceeded the limits that newsrooms have for the expansion of the transmission frequency and coverage zone, becoming accessible on any of the points of the globe where Albanians live and work. Opening an online radio solution is not only driven by the lack of frequencies for wireless transmissions, or reaction against the effects of economic crisis, but it is also in synchrony with the technological developments in the media industry and expansion of the internet in a wide scale.

Internet radios promote decentralization in the broadcasting market and with the trend of 3G and 4G standards they come more and more to the features a radio like the others available since smart phones started existing, without having the need to be equipped with a dedicated receiver – one of the problems with the economic and financial features that has slowed down the process of transition from analog broadcasting to digital audio.

Radio newsrooms are becoming more and more in favor of the dual access to their products; in the classic version, as well as through online services in the virtual space. This is a forced relocation of many factors inside and outside the premises of the radio station, technological momentum on one of the aspect, increasingly large infiltration of the internet or the limitless race performed by the telecommunication industry with the numerous offers of the mobile telephony and on the other, associated with the above, is the pressure that comes from the modification of the audience behavior. Considering that the media customer “delves” more to informative and entertaining content on the virtual space, then the radio owners and managers maneuver by serving a portion of the product in the online format. According to David Hendy, internet radio presence creates a new dimension, since its audience from local becomes global. “This offers radio companies the chance to build a global presence and in some cases perhaps a global brand”.[1]

This paper has in its focus the main aspects of the performance in the flow of the Albanian speaking online radios, type of the content broadcasted, information and entertaining columns, the degree of interactivity with the followers and multimedia offerings in the virtual space. In addition to the most encountered formats, it is also treated the legislation for audio broadcasting in Albania, as well as changes to improve the online radio market regulation.