Radio as a social media

Is a social/convivial use of radio and new media in the age of proprietary algorithms-driven cultural consumption still possible? In order to try answering these questions, we have made a selection of the contributions presented to the 6th ECREA Radio Research Section Conference, held at the Department of Social, Political and Cognitive Sciences of the University of Siena, Italy, on 19–21 September 2019. The main theme of this conference was, in fact, ‘Radio as a social media’ and this topic gathered together many scholars who were exploring, from different and/or interdisci- plinary perspectives, the complex entanglement between radio, audio, digi- tal media and society. In Siena, for the first time, an ECREA Radio Research conference has been a ‘global’ event, since it received contributions from all five continents. In selecting articles for this special issue, we tried, as much as we could, to take into account this cultural diversity. As editors coming from the Global North, we are aware that it is necessary to do more to make room in academic journals for more contributions coming from the Global South. All the selected articles analyse the role of radio in the platform society and the potential for a convivial use of radio.