Radio was the first mass medium of communication, because of its potential to reach millions of people instantly. Among other mass communication media, radio is still attractive due to its special characteristics. Croatian people mosty listen national commercial radio stations, but when they want to inform about local matters, most of them choose local radio. The first chapter deals with the concept of radio and radio in the context of mass media, clarifying the social, cultural and political aspects of radio. This chapter also describes the history and development of radio in new technologies, as well as the historical development of radio in Croatia. In addition, this chapter presents research data on radio statistics and listenership in Croatia, while last subchapter deals with the comparison of radio, press, TV and the Internet consumation in the Croatia. Second chapter deals with the topic of local commercial radio, and defines local radio as a medium from several different aspects, as well as term community radio. This chapter disucusses the historical development of local and commercial radio in Croatia and their representation today. It describes and discusses the public and market interest in the context of radio. The last part of this chapter deals with radio financing. The third chapter is about challenges of modern society which today˙s radio encounters. This chapter also discusses digitization, online radio, the modified term of journalist, and the adaptation of radio to new technologies. Next chapter is about research methodology and it explains the goal, method and research questions, while last chapter presents the results of the research.