This paper focuses on a case study of the free radio movement to examine the relations between grassroots activism and policy reform efforts.  The paper contends that grassroots activism is a major component to the success of the free radio movement in radio licensing reform.

Avenues of communication are integral resources for any group of people organizing for some type of social change. Both internal communication, among participants and constituents, and external communication, between the social movement and the general public, are essential ingredients of social change efforts. All else being equal, the more open and accessible are the avenues of communication for a social movement, the higher the probability that they will succeed. While most sociologists evaluate social movement communication by examining how movements are portrayed in the mainstream media, the case study of the free radio movement shows that alternative media outlets and the “media reform movement” can significantly contribute to the probability that a movement’s communications will be successful. Drawing on interviews with participants in the free radio movement, I argue that media reform can open the “discursive opportunity structure” (Ferree, Gamson, Gerhards, and Rucht 2002) to more social movements desiring some form of social change.

Paper presented at the Social Science Research Council's Media Policy Research Pre- Conference, Memphis, TN, January 11, 2007