European Journal of Communication 2016, Vol. 31(5) 519–535 © The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0267323116666480 ejc.sagepub.com Unidentified advertising: Separating contents and radio owner responsibility Clara Muela-Molina, Salvador Perelló-Oliver and Jaime Hormigos-Ruiz Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain Abstract This article analyses sound indicators as compulsory elements that separate information content from commercial content in order to preserve the rights of consumers and following the legal regulations and codes of conduct. The study has been carried out using a sample of 372 intersection spaces broadcast by the most popular Spanish commercial generalist radio stations and coded following certain variables such as time slot, commercial content, audio signal input separation and audio signal output separation. The results provide substantial evidence regarding the lack of social responsibility of radio owners towards their audience as well as the passivity with which government and self-regulation bodies protect the rights of listeners to be warned of the commercial nature of these radio broadcasts. Keywords Broadcasters responsibility, codes of conduct, media policy, policy and law (media systems), radio accountability Introduction Advertisers are solely responsible to their target audiences for the content of commercial messages and for the choice of radio station, format and time of broadcast (Perelló- Oliver and Muela-Molina, 2012). In Spain, many of them try to improve the questioned effectiveness of a radio spot broadcast together with 20 or 30 other advertisements in a Corresponding author: Clara Muela-Molina, Department of Communication Sciences and Sociology, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Camino del Molino s/n, Campus de Fuenlabrada, 28943 Madrid, Spain. Email: clara.muela@urjc.es 666480EJC 0 0 10.1177/0267323116666480European Journal of CommunicationMuela-Molina et al. research-article 2016 Article