From The Bottom Line: The Commod Of Children's Cultures

From the early days of the radio to today, the media has struggled with the question: How should the media (or specifically, radio broadcasting) be financed? In the beginning of the twentieth century, the radio went from its sole use in the military to a mass medium or broadcasting medium for entertainment and news; beginning (possibly) with the Canadian Marconi Company’s broadcasts of the news and music from 1918-19 (Rowland: 2006: p.182). In the 1920s, the radio was financed not by government funding, but by the sale of radio receivers for audiences to tune into each station on air (Rowland: 2006: p.184-5). Yet, with the increase in programming prices due to performers’ unions “raising copyright issues,” for radio broadcasters airing their music, and “charging for appearances,” radio broadcasters needed to create other ways to finance their operations (Rowland: 2006: p.187).

In response to the question of how radio broadcasting should be financed, David

In children and youth and media scholar at York University Natalie Coulter’s article, “From the Top Drawer to the Bottom Line: The Commodification of Children’s Cultures,” she argues that in the 1980s era of media deregulation, the responsibility of regulation of the media fell on the “marketplace, away from the protective government,” leading to the child being recognized as a consumer (Coulter:2014: p.413). The basis of Coulter’s argument is that the child, as a consumer, becomes susceptible to the commercial free market media, where the objective is to sell products and attract audiences to children. For example, children’s television shows like Strawberry Shortcake (1980-1985) or The Transformers (1984-1987), was created by commercial media corporations, in collaboration with toy companies, as “half-hour advertisements that peddled toys built around the characters of the shows” (Coulter:2014: