Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.2009, Page 99

98 ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
only been of presidents, their wives and prime ministers.
Was it possibly a sign of greater class division that the funerals of ordinary people
were no longer broadcast? Unlike its neighbors, Iceland does not have deeply stratified
class divisions or the sheer numbers that would limit the broadcasts, like in other parts
of Scandinavia where only those funerals of the heads of state, royalty and the most
prominent politicians are broadcast. When it was decided to stop broadcasting funerals
in 1967, it was clear that the State Radio Service wanted to make better use of their
broadcasting time. Roads and road communications had improved greatly since 1935
when the radio funerals started, they were not as important as earlier. By taking away
these radio funerals, a difference in social strata was indeed being made, however, it was
also a mark of the changing times and networks. So it is probably not correct to see
this change as an expression of a greater class difference in society, but rather a changing
need in society.
Socially, the radio changed the community forever. Not only did it provide the
community with news, entertainment, art, education, religion and even safety
and security information, but it also united the country by coordinating the clocks,
informing the masses on local, regional and international events and broke the isolation
of those in the countryside.