"This book is the first one in English about the famous community radio stations operated in Bolivia by the miners’ trade unions. Since about 1950, there has been a network of more than twenty radios all locally funded and operated. This book focuses on the most heroic period of their existence du ... ring the twenty-five years from about 1960 to 1985. This unique experience of local media is described through the voices of Latin American communication researchers and political activists. The chapters are selected and translated by Alan O’Connor who published the first scholarly article in English on the Bolivian miners’ radios. This book also gives readers an introduction to the methods and concerns of Latin American communication researchers. This work includes overview written by Bolivian communication researchers who first brought the miners’ radios to the attention of researchers on participatory media. These pioneering articles struggle to fit the unruly miners’ radios into the concepts of debates about global communications. They stress what is unique about the Bolivian experience and the successes, problems and lack of resources of the radio stations. The book also includes moving testimonies by participants in the radio stations. An historic transcript from a live broadcast shows how the radios connect up during times of political crisis in an attempt to organize resistance to a military coup. With the decline of the Bolivian mining industry since 1985 many of the radio stations no longer exist. The book documents attempts to rescue at least some of the stations and continue their work into the present." (Publisher description) more

"This book presents the history and role of Bolivian miner's radio stations, covering more than forty years. It deals with their historical development, political struggles, and current situation. It also advances some structural proposals for the reinforcement and survival of these radio centers. T ... he investigation relied on the personal as well as collective experiences of communication professionals, miners, farmers, and those who were involved in this matter in some way or other. The work does not pretend to be an exhaustive treatment of this subject; however, it is the first investigative approach to it." (Communication Research Trends, 14:4, 1994, page 41) more