ABSTRACT
In the first of five thematic investigations of post-Mao-era transformations in Chinese radio, this chapter scrutinizes the genre of news radio, and looks in particular at news on China National Radio’s Channel One. In order to outline the evolution of this genre in China, the chapter begins with radio news production and listening during the Mao era, a period when radio acted as a dominant instrument of mobilization and featured both organized and unorganized group listening. It then moves on to the current day to examine the ‘in-between’ status of radio news, which, while having been largely commercialized for economic purposes, must at the same time negotiate with the tight constraints imposed by the Chinese state.
