The Creation and Functioning of Listener-Funded Radio: An Analysis of the Audience Community of Radio 357

The aim of this dissertation is to explain the phenomenon of the creation and development of Radio 357 – an online radio station supported by voluntary listener contributions in the digital patronage model. The station emerged in the context of the crisis of the Polish Radio Three/Third Programme of the Polish Radio (PR3) in 2015–2020, during a period of dynamic changes in the media sphere and growing interest in alternative forms of media funding. To achieve this aim, three research questions were formulated: how are the processes of building and managing a listener-funded radio station organized, and how does its logic of operation differ from that of public and commercial broadcasters; how was the patron community of Radio 357 formed and how does it function, including the role of listening rituals, radio biographies, and community-building practices; how are relations and power structures shaped between patrons, and the station’s founders and editorial team within a donation-based funding model.The study confirmed that the digital patronage model – based on voluntary, regular contributions – proved to be an effective way to provide stable funding and sustain a professional radio station. This dissertation contributes to knowledge on contemporary forms of community in the conditions of digital and interactive media. It shows that online communities can meet the criteria of “real” communities, especially when their practices also extend into offline life. It documents the transfer of listening rituals between stations and the role of radio practices in building imagined communities united around a specific broadcaster.