라디오 3만 9천대
This brief statistical report appeared in the Jeju Sinmun (제주신문) on March 19, 1971. Published by the Provincial Culture and Public Information Office (道문화공보실), it offers a snapshot of media penetration on Jeju Island at the opening of the 1970s — a moment when radio was the dominant mass medium and television remained a rarity.
라디오 3萬9千台. 2月末 현재 普及率 … 18家口當 1台꼴. 본도의 라디오 보유대수는 18 가구당1대꼴로 모두 3만9천9백87대에 이르고있다. 道문화공보실이 실시한 지난2월말현재 도내홍보매개체 현황조사에 따르면 라디오가 지난69년말현재 2만5천25대 (3가구당1대)에비해 지난1년사이에 1만4천9백대가 불어났으며 텔레비 수상기는 9백61대로 밝혀졌다.
39,000 Radio Sets. Penetration Rate as of End of February… One Set per Every 1.8 Households. The number of radios owned on the island stands at 39,987 — approximately one set per every 1.8 households. According to a survey of in-province publicity media conducted by the Provincial Culture and Public Information Office as of the end of February, radio ownership has grown by 14,900 units over the past year compared to 25,025 sets (1 in 3 househoulds) recorded at the end of 1969. The number of television receivers has been confirmed at 961.
Commentary
The numbers here are quietly revealing. By February 1971, Jeju had nearly 40,000 radios (one per every 1.8 households) but only 961 television sets for an island population of roughly 360,000. Radio was not merely common; it was the primary window through which most Jeju households encountered the wider world, government broadcasts, and national culture.
The growth rate is equally striking: ownership jumped by nearly 15,000 units in a single year, from one radio per three households in 1969 to one per 1.8 in 1971. This rapid expansion coincided directly with the launch of the Saemaul Undong (새마을운동 / New Village Movement) and the Park Chung-hee government’s intensified use of radio as a tool of rural mobilization and ideological messaging. The body conducting this survey, the Provincial Culture and Public Information Office (道문화공보실), was itself an instrument of that campaign, tasked with tracking the reach of state media across the province.
Television, by contrast, remained almost entirely out of reach for ordinary Jeju families. With 961 sets across the entire island, TV was confined to wealthier urban households, public viewing spaces, and government offices. For most Jeju women and families in 1971, the radio was the screen.
Sources & Further Reading
- 제주신문 (Jeju Sinmun), March 19, 1971
- Sung Chull Kim, “The New Village Movement and the Making of a Developmentalist Countryside in South Korea,” The Journal of Peasant Studies 38, no. 5 (2011): 1037–1057
- Kyung Moon Hwang, A History of Korea (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), ch. 10
- 국사편찬위원회 (National Institute of Korean History), Saemaul Undong collection — db.history.go.kr