An Exclusive Signal : Rinse FM and UK Club Music in the Digital Age

This master’s thesis presents a study on the mediated negotiation between radio broadcasting and digital media. During the last decade, digitalisation has become unanimous with changing media structures, and has fundamentally altered the way radio is mediated by broadcasters and perceived by listeners. This study delves deeper into specialist music radio, more specifically, the London-based UK club music station Rinse FM. The study investigates how developments in digital media have influenced the way Rinse FM is reached and utilised by listeners, and how its implementation of digital media has affected its position as a cultural intermediary within the UK club music community. The investigation was carried out though a survey, and subsequent interviews, with members of Dubstepforum; an online forum, host to a substantial quantity of UK club music listeners. The research provides interesting results on listeners’ contemporary experience of Rinse FM, and outlines pivotal functions of specialist music radio in a digital age of free-flowing music content. The results explore participants’ digital listening habits in relation to Rinse FM; as well as the role of Rinse FM as cultural intermediary and community institution, depicted through the mediated experiences of Dubstepforum members. The study concludes with reflections upon specialist music radio’s continued development, and cultural position in the digital media environment