The Musical programming of Czech alternative radio stations

This master's thesis studies and compares the methods that Czech alternative radio stations, Radio 1 and Radio Wave, use while creating the music component of their broadcast. Their alternative format defines their specific approach towards music, which is appealing for this type of research. The theoretical part of this thesis provides insight into the issues of the radio station's musical programming, describes the alternative radio format and the studied radio stations, including the musical component. Music directors and DJ's go through decision- making processes in a similar way that news editors write news articles. That is why the second part of this thesis applies the gatekeeping research framework to the musical programming. Based on the interviews with the radio station's music directors and DJ's, this thesis discovers a wide range of aspects that affect alternative radio station's musical broadcasts. The gatekeeping research levels help to compare these influences within the two stations