Community Radio telekomunikasi radiotelekomunikasi radio
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Community Radio
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This chapter focuses on community media, critically reflecting on the changing
understandings of the concept over time, with particular reference to community
radio. Also referred to as citizen’s media by theorists such as Clemencia Rodríguez, or
as radical media by John Downing, its key tenets have been access, participation and
self-management. The term community media is used in this chapter, to refer to
small-scale media initiatives, largely run by community-based organizations or local
groups, which attempt to provide programming which differs from that broadcast by
mainstream commercial media. Definitions of alternative media are not always fixed
or universally accepted (Elghul-Bebawi 2009), precisely because of the wide range of
existing formats and technologies. Community media projects range could range
from print initiatives such as magazines or newspapers, to audio projects such as radio
stations, or initiatives that make use of new media technologies and the Internet.
This chapter focuses on community radio as one form of community media,
and explores how citizens and activists use community radio stations for
development and social change, despite the challenges of financial sustainability.
Other contemporary challenges will also be explored – including the liberalization
of the airwaves, particularly in Africa, which has seen a proliferation of FM radio
stations. First, a brief history of community radio is provided, in an international
context; after which the chapter continues to explore various examples of how
community radio stations have been used for social change. The chapter also
explores how stations have new media technologies, accommodating digital
platforms, engaging with listeners via online social networking sites, and using
cellphone based systems of feedback. Finally, the chapter concludes with some
reflections on the role of radio in creating a space for the formation of publics, and
as a tool of resistance.
The Handbook of Development Communication and Social Change, First Edition.
Edited by Karin Gwinn Wilkins, Thomas Tufte, and Rafael Obregon.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Brief History of Community Radio
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In Latin America, credit for the first ever station is often given to Radio Sutatenza
in Colombia, set up by a Catholic priest in 1947 to reach the rural population with
developmental information (Fraser and Restrepo-Estrada 1988). The Bolivian
miners’ radio stations formed in the 1940s are probably also among the earliest
examples of the use of alternative radio in political struggles (see O’Connor 1990).
The miners’ radio began in 1948 with Radio Sucre in the Radio Nuevos Horizontes
in Bolivia, and, by the 1960s, 23 radio stations were operating at all the mining
centers, becoming a credible source of information and a platform for local debate
(Buckley 2000). Later community stations began to emerge organically in
the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa. In North America, especially
Canada and the United States, community media emerged in the 1970s and shortly
thereafter in Europe. Radio libre or pirate stations were widespread in Italy and
France (Gumucio Dagron 2001). Stations had varying models ranging from those
that emphasized access (in the United States) to those that took the form of open
channels encouraging special programming, as well as community-run channels
in Canada and parts of Europe (Fuller 2007).
Besides Latin America, there was no experience of community radio in
developing countries until the emergence of the Tambuli project in the Philippines
in 1991. In the same year the Malian revolution led to the opening up of the
airwaves, followed in 1992 by community radio in Benin (Buckley 2008). In South
Africa, community radio projects were formed in 1993, but only licenced in 1994
after the country’s first democratic elections. In general, the emergence of
community radio has often been in parallel with moves towards more democratic
political systems in Africa and Asia. Community radio in Mozambique, for
example, emerged after the end of conflict and rise of multiparty democracy; and
similarly, in Nepal, community radio emerged in 1997 following that country’s
first democratic revolution (Buckley 2008).
In Africa the proliferation of independent radio stations generally followed the
liberalization of economies and gradual rise of democratic governance. In Mali for
example, a process of deregulation gave way to the formation of small rural
community radio stations, which have considerable public support (Buckley 2000).
Similarly, in South Africa, it was after the country’s democratic elections in 1994
that the airwaves were opened up and community radio stations could broadcast.
On 30 March 1994 the Independent Broadcast Authority (IBA)1 was formed by the
parliamentary IBA Act of 1993. Anti-apartheid organizations had campaigned
actively for a free press and transparent broadcast environment, and these were
high on the agenda of the multiparty negotiations, which led to the democratic
transition (Mtimde 2000). Community radio was intended to give marginalized
communities access to the media, as well as to demystify media processes. For the
first time, people who had had access only to the state-run media with its biased
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Defining Community Radio
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propaganda now had their own radio stations, broadcasting in their own languages.
Over two years following the IBA act over 80 stations were licensed, representing
a range of diverse interest groups. Today around 100 community radio stations are
licensed and operate in South Africa. These include stations like Radio Zibonele,
which broadcasts a range of educational programs in isiXhosa to the peri-urban
township residents of Khayelitsha in the Western Cape region; to the Christian
religious radio station, Radio Tygerberg, which broadcasts in English and Afrikaans,
and boasts a higher listenership than some local commercial stations.
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In general, community radio advocates critiqued the mainstream mass media for
privileging narratives and agendas irrelevant to the citizens of developing countries,
and drew on scholars like Paulo Freire (1970, 1985[no sources??]) for inspiration
and the creation of participatory communication initiatives, which included
community radio (Rodríguez 2000). The evolution of community radio is usually
traced to the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)
debates of the early 1980s (Fuller 2007). Previous research (see Bosch, 2008b) has
conceptualized community radio through Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) model of
the rhizome, arguing that while the growth of community may not be vertical,
like the tree-like growth of commercial media, it is growth nonetheless. Like the
rhizome, community radio creates linkages within and between communities, and
leads to horizontal growth through its grass-roots engagement with community
organizations and community members.
The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) describes
community radio as “a non-profit station, currently broadcasting, which offers a
service to the community in which it is located, or to which it broadcasts, while
promoting the participation of this community in the radio” (AMARC-Europe
1994: 4). Community stations are generally defined as those run, owned and
controlled by community members or organizations, for their own communities,
and funded by grants, sponsorships, donations, and advertising, with profits
ploughed back into the community (Mtimde 2000). In other contexts such stations
have been referred to as local radio, citizen’s media (see Rodríguez 2010) or radical
media (Downing 2001), but the term community radio is probably most widely
used an globally understood.
Predominantly referred to as community radio in Africa and the Caribbean, the
term alternative radio is used in Latin America and the United States. In Europe it
is more likely to be known as free or association radio, and in Australia it is often
called ethnic or aboriginal radio. Rodríguez (2001) coined the term citizens’ media
in an attempt to overcome binary categories traditionally used to theorize
alternative media. While used widely, the term “alternative” suggests its own
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Community Radio
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lesser relationship to dominant media. British theorist John Downing (2001) prefers
the term radical media to refer to any small-scale media that express views
alternative to hegemonic perspectives. Community radio stations are comparable
with non-profit organizations and are often similarly organized in terms of their
management and financial structures.
The key tenets of community radio are access, participation and selfmanagement (Lewis 1993[??no source]). Access includes feedback, where audience
members interact directly with producers of messages, participate during the
broadcast of programs, and are encouraged to comment and criticize. Participation
implies the widespread involvement of ordinary people at the levels of production,
decision making, management, and planning. Self-management is thus the height
of participation, through which the target audience exercises decision making on
all levels (Lewis 1993[??]; Bosch 2010).
While stations interpret these guidelines in varying ways, in many cases it
often translates into the use of volunteers to produce and present programs. In
most countries, there is no policy documentation to define exactly what is
meant by the terms “access” and “participation,” and the widespread use of
these terms has led to varying interpretations. In its strictest sense, access might
mean that community or audience members have physical access to the
resources available on radio station premises; though in a more abstract sense,
“access” and “participation” might simply mean that community members can
access the airwaves by calling in to the station. Listeners of XK FM, a community
radio station for the !Xû and Khwe ethnic communities in Platfontein, South
Africa, consider participation to be the use of their languages !Xûntali and
Khwedam, on the air (Mhlanga 2009). At Mama FM in Kenya, a station run by a
group of professional women journalists, there are rigorous entry procedures to
the premises and listeners have to call ahead to book an appointment before
they are let in ( Javaru 2012).
Internationally, community radio stations are thus often characterized by high
levels of volunteer participation, as an extension of the listening community
(Dunaway 1998). Most South African radio stations, for example, are volunteerdriven, with usually only a few staff – station manager, administrator, and programming manager – on the payroll and the rest of the team, including all on-air staff,
volunteers. Besides the different management and funding structure, community
radio stations usually differ from their commercial counterparts in that they usually focus on civic or public journalism, or a kind of journalism that emphasizes
service to the community. This is sometimes achieved by identifying important
social issues and highlighting these issues through broadcasts, and by framing
news in a way which facilitates collective efforts to find solutions, not just problems and conflict (Shepard 1994). It may also entail journalists being involved in
attempts to help create and sustain public discussion to ensure that communities
face their problems, with a wide-ranging exploration of conflicting perspectives
and sources of information aired and discussed. This approach encourages
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journalists to put citizens first and to share with them the task of setting the news
agenda (Graber, McQuail, and Norris 1998).
The Role of Community Rradio
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The main role of community radio stations is usually considered in relation to
dominant mainstream mass media. Community stations are considered to provide
a different type of programme, with content targeting local populations in local
languages, and with audience members playing an active role in station
management, programming and production. Community radio stations operate
for social benefit and not for profit (Buckley 2008), and through participatory
practices, provide a range of educational (and entertainment) programming to
facilitate community development.
While community radio practices vary widely around the world, the main
association of community radio has been where it has been used as communication
for development. Community broadcasting is often seen by development experts
as a vital tool to empower socially and economically marginalized communities,
who are often poorly served by private commercial media (Buckley 2008). As a
tool for social change, radio has several advantages over other media, most notably
its cost-efficiency, as well as more widespread geographic coverage; access to rural
or illiterate populations and the ability to broadcast in minority languages. There
are many such examples of the use of radio for education in Latin America, with
a number of informal education projects; radio stations run by peasant
organizations and women’s groups, the church, universities, and trade unions
(Buckley 2000). Radio Chaguarurco in rural Ecuador is one example, as is Radio
Margaritas in Mexico, which provides programming in local languages and
Spanish. Similarly, Radio Izcanal in El Salvador provides programming on health,
human rights, and education (Gumucio Dagron 2001).
Radio is usually considered an ideal medium as a tool for social change as it is
relatively cost-efficient, can be reached by illiterate populations and those who are
geographically remote; and its content can be adapted to local cultures and
broadcast in local languages. Radio has thus been the most appealing tool for
participatory communication and development projects around the world, but
especially in developing countries. In Ghana, for example, Radio Ada, the country’s
first community radio station, has enabled fishers to learn about their livelihood
from each other, provided them with useful information about their work, and
created opportunities for dialogue among themselves (McKay 2009). In Kenya,
several community stations are owned and operated by development and civic
organizations, for example, the women’s organization Mang’elete community
Integrated Programme owns Radio Mange’elete, and Bondo Community
Multi-Media Centre owns Shinyalu FM ( Javaru 2012).
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Community Radio and New Media
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The rise of competing media is often thought to be a threat to more traditional
media such as print and radio. As Rheingold (1993: 11) warned, “CMC [Computer
Mediated Communications] might become the next great escape medium, in the
tradition of radio serials.” But despite the apparent supposed threat of the portable
MP3 player to radio listening, most of these portable music players (and mobile
phones) also feature radio receivers, which are widely used by the owners of these
devices. The iPad and iPhone devices feature an application called Tune Up, which
allows users to tune into local radio stations, set via the device’s GPS function. And
a 2010 study (Bosch 2010) of cell phone use in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya
found that besides the calling and messaging functions, users often used their
phones for secondary functions such as the light, alarm clock, reminder function
and radio. This seems to indicate that the function of the radio remains a primary
function for users, who enjoy tuning in to their favorite radio stations on their MP3
players or cell phones.
Besides these competing new media tools, the Internet has also made it possible
for listeners to tune into local radio stations from anywhere in the world (and also
for local audiences to tune into national or international stations). In addition, the
increasing popularity of social networking sites has made it possible for listeners to
engage with their favorite radio stations not only via the airwaves, but also via the
Internet. Many radio stations have created Facebook groups or profiles and twitter
account, to continue the conversations with listeners off the airwaves. As Mudhai
(2011) has argued, convergence has made it possible for radio to remain a significant
arena of information dissemination and exchange, particularly in rural and other
areas not served by modern cabled ICT infrastructure.
The Kothmale community radio Internet project in Sri Lanka is one of the most
successful examples of the use of ICTs by a community radio project to empower
marginalized rural communities. Their daily “Radio Browsing the Internet” slot
allows the audience to “browse” the Internet as presenters conduct searches on
their behalf and information is explained and contextualized, sometimes with the
help of studio guests ( Jayaweera 2001). Similarly, the Púlsar news agency in Latin
America provides daily reports and news to hundreds of community stations, via
email and the Internet (Gumucio Dagron 2001).
The intersections of radio and the Internet are interesting in that they offer
stations opportunities to close the gaps between producer and consumer in the
networked public sphere; as well as an additional medium through which to reach
listeners (and potential listeners). The growth of social media represents an
opportunity for radio stations to maintain relevance and grow audiences. By
increasing the space in which they attract and interact with listeners from the
airwaves, to Facebook and Twitter, they are presented with the opportunity for
increased listener engagement. Radio has always been considered a ‘blind’ medium
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in that it comprises only noise and silence (Crisell 1994). In the 1950s this was
considered a primary disadvantage in the competition with television. The
introduction of picture and text has reduced the anonymity of the radio host and
started to close the gap between presenter and audience. What is surprising though
is that despite the growing numbers of social media followers, in Africa these
numbers are still very small compared to radio listening numbers, most likely
because it is still easier (and cheaper) to just tune into a radio station’s FM frequency
instead of logging on to the Internet to surf their website or social networking site.
Radio also can also potentially play a role in bridging the digital divide, as the
station’s access to the Internet means it carries information found in cyberspace
back to the listeners, in their local languages and providing a platform for discussion,
while also connecting people into a global dialogue (Buckley 2000; Girard 2003).
Of course, the main challenge in the rising trend of convergence between radio
and the Internet is the low levels of Internet access, particularly in developing
countries; as well as relatively low penetration of smart phones and tablets; and
prohibitively high data costs even when these mobile devices are available. In
Africa, for example, there is only a 15.6% Internet penetration,2 though large
numbers of those with access use social networking sites such as Twitter and
Facebook. Simultaneously though, the continent is experiencing a rapid growth in
mobile telephony, which is accompanied by a rise in access to the mobile Internet.
With more people able to access the Internet using their mobile phones, this
somewhat counteracts challenges of access related to the digital divide.
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Challenges to Community Radio
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Despite the large number of examples from around the world of community radio
stations playing a key role as communication for development, stations are also
struggling to maintain this identity in the face of financial difficulty. Higher
levels of participation from audiences means that community media can offer
representations and promote discourses that differ radically to mainstream media
discourses ( Jankowski 1994). This might involve providing local interpretations of
national or global news events, broadcasting in local or minority languages, and
addressing audience members as citizens versus consumers. However, stations
often model commercial counterparts to compete more effectively for advertising.
The most significant effect of this is a change in their programming formats and
styles. In South Africa, for example, in the early stages of community radio’s
development, talk was an integral part of stations’ programming; but to a large
extent this has dwindled over time.
Discussion and debate has always been considered integral to democracy and
the formation of a public sphere. On air talk and discussion has been seen to
contribute towards the constitution of public opinion and citizens’ subsequent
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participation in democratic structures (Dahlgren 2002[??no source]). One role of
media in developing societies is to inform citizens about public policy so that they
become a more informed electorate (e.g., Sandbrook 1996); and it is generally
agreed that the mass media can promote democratization by making citizens
more aware of their roles in a democracy (see, e.g., Hyden and Okigbo 2002). The
role of community radio stations is of course much broader than this good
governance model might imply, but deliberative talk and debate is still a central
part of programming content. During election time this kind of talk is very
prominent on community radio, but it is more sporadic at other times. Stations are
increasingly managed by a younger generation of broadcasters who focus
more exclusively on music (Bosch 2010). The production of documentaries is
more expensive than hiring one presenter to host a talk show, and documentaries
are rarely heard or frequently rebroadcast. In Denmark, we see a similar trend,
where community stations have been reappraised in terms of format and structure
because of cut-backs in funding from their local governments; similarly, many
US-based stations abandoned the community radio format for more commercial
formats (Dunaway 1998). As a consequence of these financial constraints,
community radio stations are finding new ways to engage the public in democracy.
The rise in music programming, for example, has often been used to engage youth
on a range of social issues. At Bush Radio in Cape Town, South Africa, hip-hop
music is used to generate discussions among youth about health issues such as
HIV/AIDS. Young local musicians are invited to content workshops and then
encouraged to write socially conscious lyrics, which are recorded and broadcast
by the station.
As a result, internationally, community broadcasting has often been criticized as
being a poor imitation of mainstream media as it does not offer critical debate
about current issues of local, national, and global significance. Moreover,
community radio has been defined as playing a role in the celebration of local
culture in response to globalization, while community radio stations, particularly
those in urban areas rarely play much local music (Bosch 2010). Stations have also
been critiqued for the widespread adoption of dominant media broadcast practices,
particularly in news gathering, with stories often sourced from mainstream
newspapers, the Internet, and other commercial radio stations. Stations do not
always practice development journalism or prioritize local news or “good news.”
This has implications for the role these stations might play if one considers local
news or, at the very least, the localization of global news events as one way to
contribute to the formation and maintenance of community identity. In the arena
of global journalism, the norms and values of news are constantly contested,
though journalists in newly democratic societies have often struggled to articulate
their roles in the agenda-setting process (Graber, McQuail, and Norris 1998). The
news media inform, but also identify and consolidate community, orchestrate
public conversation, and play a role in reforming the political system (Schudson
2003[??no source]).
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In general, news bulletins sound very similar to the items on commercial radio,
and stations rarely conduct investigative research into local news items (Bosch
2010). News is often considered as an agent of representative democracy (Allan
2004); as important to everyday life and culture (Hartley 1988[??no source]); and
as a central element of human communication, keeping people connected to
the world around them (Halberstam 1992[??no source]). In developing contexts
one might expect radio news, particularly items on community stations, to move
beyond traditional Western notions of news values toward a news journalism that
directly supports development and democracy.
The constraints on radio news in developing contexts include rapid
technological development, increasing competition for fragmenting news
audiences, and the development of a global news market (Harrison 2006; Van der
Veur 2002[??no source]). Compounding matters are fears about the loss of
journalistic independence and trends toward media “tabloidization.” The
convergence of globalized news flows similarly impact on radio news in
developing contexts. However, the rise of localized forms of news reporting,
including citizen journalism, bring with them new media ecologies intrinsically
tied to development.
Besides the variable quality of news and other broadcasts, the presentation style
on community stations are often radically different to commercial stations as
presenters may be volunteers or untrained. The issue of volunteerism itself
presents some challenges, as many community members either cannot afford to
volunteer their time, or do so in the hope that it may lead to more permanent
employment. Community radio presenters often regard their positions as a path to
employment at commercial radio stations, and in fact many of them are often
“poached” by commercial stations that offer higher salaries. Some stations do pay
volunteers a stipend, but this is not a competitive salary.
Hocheimer (1993) raises other potential problems for community stations such
as: (1) whether a station exercises any form of gatekeeping or whether it should be
a conduit for all who step before the microphone (or perhaps both); (2) what
happens when power or people become entrenched, and when the interest or
agendas of newcomers are at odds with those of the founders; and (3) whether a
station functions to serve its constituent community segments and whether the
community acts as a resource for the station. Firstly, community stations are
forced to exercise a degree of gatekeeping and exclusion since they cannot open
their resources to entire communities. “To be accepted as a legitimate alternative
voice in a wider mainstream public sphere, a process of exclusion ensures that
access to broadcasting is limited to those individuals and groups whose points of
view best represent a station’s purpose and thus preserve its value and purpose”
(Van Vuuren 2003: 380).
While this exclusion is necessary, it raises key issues around the notion of access
and participation, key tenets of community media. The issue of entrenched power
is also of particular relevance in consideration of station management or board
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membership. The most financially stable radio stations are often those who have
strong top-down leadership structures, even though this is less than ideal. And
finally, the relationship between community and station is often conflictual – while
the two may act as resources for each other, community members may choose to
tune in to different commercial stations, and community stations may prioritize
music programming in order to attract advertisers.
Finally, and possibly most importantly, is the issue of financial sustainability.
Internationally, stations are struggling to sustain themselves financially, especially
as they compete with older commercial broadcasters for listeners and advertisers.
In the United States alternative funding schemes were explored, but stations are
funded by one-third from local institutional support, one-third from listeners and
business support, and the rest from federal monies (Dunaway 1998). Small-scale,
independent and horizontally structured organizations that carry non-dominant
discourses and representations are not guaranteed financial and organizational
stability (Carpentier, Lie, and Servaes 2007). Because it is often thought of as a
binary opposition to the professionalism of slick commercial broadcasters,
community radio is still often perceived as “poor radio for poor people” (Mtimde
2000), with lower socioeconomic groups and marginalized minorities as its
primary audience. This affects stations’ ability to secure lucrative advertising and
increase audiences; and that leads to a potentially negative equation of community
radio stations to tabloid print media.
Financial sustainability is often linked to social sustainability, with the latter
understood as a strong sense of ownership and participation in stations by their
target audiences, as a result of their relevant quality programming. The relationship
between station and audience is strengthened by audience involvement and the
broadcast of programming which they find useful, interesting and entertaining.
While it is probably more likely that audiences are “cultural omnivores” (i.e., they
tune in to a range of additional stations including commercial music or talk
stations), community radio can strengthen this audience–station relationship to
boost audience figures and possibly generate more advertising, particularly from
local businesses. In South Africa, religious community radio stations appear to
have had greater success with financial and social sustainability. This may be as a
result of tapping into international funding structures (in the case of Christian
radio), or because there are more listeners who own local businesses (in the case
of Muslim radio) (Bosch 2008a).
Conclusion
Radio remains a widespread medium with its advantages of portability, costeffectiveness, versatility, and orality (Mudhai 2011) contributing to its usefulness
as an alternate form of media. Community media is central to debates about the
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role of the media in the formation of the public sphere, and the continued
existence of small community radios around the world certainly implies the
possibilities for the creation of political mediatized spaces where subordinated
social groups can create and circulate counter discourses. Furthermore,
community radio has the potential to be used by social and economic minorities
as a tool for resistance.
Ideally, community radio should be driven by social agendas and not rely on
advertising for their continued existence. Community decision making and
participation are key aspects of community media, but local policies provide little
guidance on how stations are to implement this. The impact of stations may vary,
but it is critical that they are held to their original mandate of providing spaces for
education and self-expression, as well as playing a role in the development of the
public sphere. In principle, stations may continue to play the role as “voice of the
voiceless” by becoming vehicles for the expression and articulation of alternative
voices in the public sphere. As subaltern counter-publics, community radio
stations have great potential to increase diversity in the media landscape and to
drive social agendas, which are not influenced by government or commercial
imperatives. However, an inadequate funding system means that stations rely on
government funding and/or commercial interests, which may affect programming output. In an attempt to compete for advertising, stations are adopting
programming formats that are more similar to commercial music radio, rather
than maintaining their full-spectrum formats to allow a wider range of debate
and dialogue.
The continued existence of community radio is a key part of the global media
landscape. With the increased centralization of media ownership and the growth
of music radio, community radio remains a key space for alternative voices, for
deliberative talk and dialogue; but also a space for the rise of civic journalism and
a move away from the myth of journalistic neutrality. Community radio stations
demystify media by potentially turning media consumers into media producers,
and training them to produce radio programs. There may not be consensus on the
role the media in the formation of a Habermasian public sphere, but the continued
existence of community radio certainly implies the possibilities for subaltern
counter-publics (Fraser 1990), where subordinated social groups can create and
circulate counter discourses.
Nonetheless, a number of challenges remain for future research. These include
detailed engagement with community radio stations to explore management and
participatory practices. Research is often based on interview material, with no way
to test that stations do indeed utilize the participatory practices they say they do.
This might involve longitudinal ethnographic approaches. Another challenge for
research is to study community radio audiences, both quantitatively and qualitatively. And finally, future research should explore community radio stations’ use of
new media technologies, with particular references to issues of citizenship and
political activism.
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Notes
2
In 2000, the IBA merged with the South African Telecommunications Authority
(SATRA) to form the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
(ICASA), the current regulatory authority.
Figure for 2012 Q2. Available at http://www.Internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm
(accessed September 13, 2013).
FS
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Bosch, T. (2008a). Radio as confession: Religious community radio in South Africa. Journal
of Theology in Southern Africa, 131: 84–99.
Bosch, T. (2008b). Theorizing citizens’ media: A rhizomatic approach. In Kidd, D.,
Rodríguez, C., and Stein, L. (eds) Making Our Media: Global Initiatives Toward a
Democratic Public Sphere. Vol. 1. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press, pp. #–#.
Bosch, T. (2010). Community radio in South Africa 15 years after democracy. In
N. Hyde-Clarke (ed.) The Citizen in Communication. Unisa Press.
Buckley, S. (2000). Community radio – the new tree of speech. Imfundo Background
Paper, http://ncsi-net-ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/cybersoace/societal-issues/235/imfundo.pdf
(retrieved June 12, 2012).
Buckley, S. (2008). Community broadcasting: Good practice in policy, law and regulation.
Paper prepared for UNESCO for World Press Freedom Day 2008.
Carpentier, N., Lie, R., and Servaes, J. (2007). Multitheoretical approaches to community
media: Capturing specificity and diversity. In L.K. Fuller (ed.) Community Media:
International Perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 219–236.
Crisell, A. (1994). Understanding radio. London and New York: Routledge.
Dahlgren (2002). Cited on page 11
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia.
London: Athlone Press.
Downing, J. (2001). Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements. London: Sage.
Dunaway, D. (1998). Community radio at the beginning of the 21st century: Commercialism
vs community power. The Public 5(2): 87–103.
Elghul-Bebawi, S. (2009). The relationship between mainstream and alternative media: A
blurring of the edges? In J. Gordon (ed.) Notions of Community: A Collection of
Community Media Debates and Dilemmas. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp.17–32.
Fraser, C. and Restrepo-Estrada, S. (1998). Communicating for Development: Human Change for
Survival. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.
Fraser, N. (1990) Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually
existing democracy. Social Text, 25(26), 56–80.
Freire, P. (1970). Cited on page 4
Freire, P. (1985). Cited on page 4
Fuller, L. (2007). Introduction. In L.K. Fuller (ed.) Community Media: International
Perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–20.
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Girard, B. (2003). The one to watch: Radio, new ICTs and interactivity, ftp://ftp.fao.org/
sd/…/SDR/SDRE/ruralradio/publications/The%20One%20to%20Watch/pdf/
chapter1.pdf[??no link] (retrieved October 15, 2012).
Graber, D., McQuail, D., and Norris, P. (1998). The Politics of News: The News of Politics.
Washington, DC: CQ Press.
Gumucio Dagron, A. (2001). Making Waves: Stories of Participatory Communication for Social
Change. The Rockefeller Foundation: New York.
Halberstam (1992). Cited on page 13
Hartley (1988). Cited on page 13
Hocheimer, J. (1993). Organizing democratic radio: Issues in praxis. Media, Culture &
Society, 15(3): 473–486.
Hyden, G. and Okigbo, C. (2002). The media and the two waves of democracy. In G.
Hyden, M. Leslie, and F. Ogundimu (eds) Media and Democracy in Africa. New
Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, pp. 29–53.
Jankowski, N. (1994). International perspectives on community radio. In AMARC Europe,
One Europe – Many voices. Democracy and access to communication. Conference
Report. AMARC-Europe Pan-European Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters
Javaru, K. (2012). Community radio in East Africa – For or by the community? In J. Gordon
(ed.) Community Radio in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 283–302.
Jayaweera, W. (2001). Kothmale Community Radio/Internet project: Expanding
the knowledge base, http://unpan1/un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/
apcity/unpan002099.pdf (retrieved June 14, 2012).
Lewis (1993). Cited twice on page 5.
McKay, B. (2009). Using community radio in Ghana to facilitate community participation
in natural resource management. Ecquid Novi African Journalism Studies, 30(1): 73–93.
Mhlanga, B. (2009). The community in community radio: A case study of XK FM,
interrogating issues of community participation, governance and control.Ecquid Novi
African Journalism Studies, 30(1): 58–72.
Mtimde, L. (2000). Radio broadcasting in South Africa: An overview. International Journal of
Cultural Studies, 3(2): 173–179.
Mudhai, O. (2011). Survival of ‘radio culture’ in a converged networked new media
environment. In H. Wasserman (ed.) Popular Media, Democracy and Development in
Africa. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 253–268.
O’Connor, A. (1990). The miners’ radio station in Bolivia: A culture of resistance. Journal
of Communication, 40(1): 102–110.
Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual Community. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Rodríguez, C. (2000). Civil society and citizen’s media: Peace architects for the new
millennium. In Wilkins, K. (ed.) Redeveloping Communication for Social Change: Theory,
Practice and Power. Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. #–#.
Sandbrook, R. (1996) Transitions without consolidation: Democratization in six African
cases. Third World Quarterly, 17(1): 69–87.
Schudson (2003). Cited on page 13
Shepard, A. (1994). The gospel of public journalism. American Journalism Review, 16(7): 28–34.
Van der Veur (2002). Cited on page 13
Van Vuuren, K. 2003. Community broadcasting and the enclosure of the public sphere.
Media, Culture & Society, 28(3): 379–392.
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Community Radio
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This chapter focuses on community media, critically reflecting on the changing
understandings of the concept over time, with particular reference to community
radio. Also referred to as citizen’s media by theorists such as Clemencia Rodríguez, or
as radical media by John Downing, its key tenets have been access, participation and
self-management. The term community media is used in this chapter, to refer to
small-scale media initiatives, largely run by community-based organizations or local
groups, which attempt to provide programming which differs from that broadcast by
mainstream commercial media. Definitions of alternative media are not always fixed
or universally accepted (Elghul-Bebawi 2009), precisely because of the wide range of
existing formats and technologies. Community media projects range could range
from print initiatives such as magazines or newspapers, to audio projects such as radio
stations, or initiatives that make use of new media technologies and the Internet.
This chapter focuses on community radio as one form of community media,
and explores how citizens and activists use community radio stations for
development and social change, despite the challenges of financial sustainability.
Other contemporary challenges will also be explored – including the liberalization
of the airwaves, particularly in Africa, which has seen a proliferation of FM radio
stations. First, a brief history of community radio is provided, in an international
context; after which the chapter continues to explore various examples of how
community radio stations have been used for social change. The chapter also
explores how stations have new media technologies, accommodating digital
platforms, engaging with listeners via online social networking sites, and using
cellphone based systems of feedback. Finally, the chapter concludes with some
reflections on the role of radio in creating a space for the formation of publics, and
as a tool of resistance.
The Handbook of Development Communication and Social Change, First Edition.
Edited by Karin Gwinn Wilkins, Thomas Tufte, and Rafael Obregon.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Brief History of Community Radio
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In Latin America, credit for the first ever station is often given to Radio Sutatenza
in Colombia, set up by a Catholic priest in 1947 to reach the rural population with
developmental information (Fraser and Restrepo-Estrada 1988). The Bolivian
miners’ radio stations formed in the 1940s are probably also among the earliest
examples of the use of alternative radio in political struggles (see O’Connor 1990).
The miners’ radio began in 1948 with Radio Sucre in the Radio Nuevos Horizontes
in Bolivia, and, by the 1960s, 23 radio stations were operating at all the mining
centers, becoming a credible source of information and a platform for local debate
(Buckley 2000). Later community stations began to emerge organically in
the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa. In North America, especially
Canada and the United States, community media emerged in the 1970s and shortly
thereafter in Europe. Radio libre or pirate stations were widespread in Italy and
France (Gumucio Dagron 2001). Stations had varying models ranging from those
that emphasized access (in the United States) to those that took the form of open
channels encouraging special programming, as well as community-run channels
in Canada and parts of Europe (Fuller 2007).
Besides Latin America, there was no experience of community radio in
developing countries until the emergence of the Tambuli project in the Philippines
in 1991. In the same year the Malian revolution led to the opening up of the
airwaves, followed in 1992 by community radio in Benin (Buckley 2008). In South
Africa, community radio projects were formed in 1993, but only licenced in 1994
after the country’s first democratic elections. In general, the emergence of
community radio has often been in parallel with moves towards more democratic
political systems in Africa and Asia. Community radio in Mozambique, for
example, emerged after the end of conflict and rise of multiparty democracy; and
similarly, in Nepal, community radio emerged in 1997 following that country’s
first democratic revolution (Buckley 2008).
In Africa the proliferation of independent radio stations generally followed the
liberalization of economies and gradual rise of democratic governance. In Mali for
example, a process of deregulation gave way to the formation of small rural
community radio stations, which have considerable public support (Buckley 2000).
Similarly, in South Africa, it was after the country’s democratic elections in 1994
that the airwaves were opened up and community radio stations could broadcast.
On 30 March 1994 the Independent Broadcast Authority (IBA)1 was formed by the
parliamentary IBA Act of 1993. Anti-apartheid organizations had campaigned
actively for a free press and transparent broadcast environment, and these were
high on the agenda of the multiparty negotiations, which led to the democratic
transition (Mtimde 2000). Community radio was intended to give marginalized
communities access to the media, as well as to demystify media processes. For the
first time, people who had had access only to the state-run media with its biased
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propaganda now had their own radio stations, broadcasting in their own languages.
Over two years following the IBA act over 80 stations were licensed, representing
a range of diverse interest groups. Today around 100 community radio stations are
licensed and operate in South Africa. These include stations like Radio Zibonele,
which broadcasts a range of educational programs in isiXhosa to the peri-urban
township residents of Khayelitsha in the Western Cape region; to the Christian
religious radio station, Radio Tygerberg, which broadcasts in English and Afrikaans,
and boasts a higher listenership than some local commercial stations.
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In general, community radio advocates critiqued the mainstream mass media for
privileging narratives and agendas irrelevant to the citizens of developing countries,
and drew on scholars like Paulo Freire (1970, 1985[no sources??]) for inspiration
and the creation of participatory communication initiatives, which included
community radio (Rodríguez 2000). The evolution of community radio is usually
traced to the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)
debates of the early 1980s (Fuller 2007). Previous research (see Bosch, 2008b) has
conceptualized community radio through Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) model of
the rhizome, arguing that while the growth of community may not be vertical,
like the tree-like growth of commercial media, it is growth nonetheless. Like the
rhizome, community radio creates linkages within and between communities, and
leads to horizontal growth through its grass-roots engagement with community
organizations and community members.
The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) describes
community radio as “a non-profit station, currently broadcasting, which offers a
service to the community in which it is located, or to which it broadcasts, while
promoting the participation of this community in the radio” (AMARC-Europe
1994: 4). Community stations are generally defined as those run, owned and
controlled by community members or organizations, for their own communities,
and funded by grants, sponsorships, donations, and advertising, with profits
ploughed back into the community (Mtimde 2000). In other contexts such stations
have been referred to as local radio, citizen’s media (see Rodríguez 2010) or radical
media (Downing 2001), but the term community radio is probably most widely
used an globally understood.
Predominantly referred to as community radio in Africa and the Caribbean, the
term alternative radio is used in Latin America and the United States. In Europe it
is more likely to be known as free or association radio, and in Australia it is often
called ethnic or aboriginal radio. Rodríguez (2001) coined the term citizens’ media
in an attempt to overcome binary categories traditionally used to theorize
alternative media. While used widely, the term “alternative” suggests its own
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lesser relationship to dominant media. British theorist John Downing (2001) prefers
the term radical media to refer to any small-scale media that express views
alternative to hegemonic perspectives. Community radio stations are comparable
with non-profit organizations and are often similarly organized in terms of their
management and financial structures.
The key tenets of community radio are access, participation and selfmanagement (Lewis 1993[??no source]). Access includes feedback, where audience
members interact directly with producers of messages, participate during the
broadcast of programs, and are encouraged to comment and criticize. Participation
implies the widespread involvement of ordinary people at the levels of production,
decision making, management, and planning. Self-management is thus the height
of participation, through which the target audience exercises decision making on
all levels (Lewis 1993[??]; Bosch 2010).
While stations interpret these guidelines in varying ways, in many cases it
often translates into the use of volunteers to produce and present programs. In
most countries, there is no policy documentation to define exactly what is
meant by the terms “access” and “participation,” and the widespread use of
these terms has led to varying interpretations. In its strictest sense, access might
mean that community or audience members have physical access to the
resources available on radio station premises; though in a more abstract sense,
“access” and “participation” might simply mean that community members can
access the airwaves by calling in to the station. Listeners of XK FM, a community
radio station for the !Xû and Khwe ethnic communities in Platfontein, South
Africa, consider participation to be the use of their languages !Xûntali and
Khwedam, on the air (Mhlanga 2009). At Mama FM in Kenya, a station run by a
group of professional women journalists, there are rigorous entry procedures to
the premises and listeners have to call ahead to book an appointment before
they are let in ( Javaru 2012).
Internationally, community radio stations are thus often characterized by high
levels of volunteer participation, as an extension of the listening community
(Dunaway 1998). Most South African radio stations, for example, are volunteerdriven, with usually only a few staff – station manager, administrator, and programming manager – on the payroll and the rest of the team, including all on-air staff,
volunteers. Besides the different management and funding structure, community
radio stations usually differ from their commercial counterparts in that they usually focus on civic or public journalism, or a kind of journalism that emphasizes
service to the community. This is sometimes achieved by identifying important
social issues and highlighting these issues through broadcasts, and by framing
news in a way which facilitates collective efforts to find solutions, not just problems and conflict (Shepard 1994). It may also entail journalists being involved in
attempts to help create and sustain public discussion to ensure that communities
face their problems, with a wide-ranging exploration of conflicting perspectives
and sources of information aired and discussed. This approach encourages
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journalists to put citizens first and to share with them the task of setting the news
agenda (Graber, McQuail, and Norris 1998).
The Role of Community Rradio
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The main role of community radio stations is usually considered in relation to
dominant mainstream mass media. Community stations are considered to provide
a different type of programme, with content targeting local populations in local
languages, and with audience members playing an active role in station
management, programming and production. Community radio stations operate
for social benefit and not for profit (Buckley 2008), and through participatory
practices, provide a range of educational (and entertainment) programming to
facilitate community development.
While community radio practices vary widely around the world, the main
association of community radio has been where it has been used as communication
for development. Community broadcasting is often seen by development experts
as a vital tool to empower socially and economically marginalized communities,
who are often poorly served by private commercial media (Buckley 2008). As a
tool for social change, radio has several advantages over other media, most notably
its cost-efficiency, as well as more widespread geographic coverage; access to rural
or illiterate populations and the ability to broadcast in minority languages. There
are many such examples of the use of radio for education in Latin America, with
a number of informal education projects; radio stations run by peasant
organizations and women’s groups, the church, universities, and trade unions
(Buckley 2000). Radio Chaguarurco in rural Ecuador is one example, as is Radio
Margaritas in Mexico, which provides programming in local languages and
Spanish. Similarly, Radio Izcanal in El Salvador provides programming on health,
human rights, and education (Gumucio Dagron 2001).
Radio is usually considered an ideal medium as a tool for social change as it is
relatively cost-efficient, can be reached by illiterate populations and those who are
geographically remote; and its content can be adapted to local cultures and
broadcast in local languages. Radio has thus been the most appealing tool for
participatory communication and development projects around the world, but
especially in developing countries. In Ghana, for example, Radio Ada, the country’s
first community radio station, has enabled fishers to learn about their livelihood
from each other, provided them with useful information about their work, and
created opportunities for dialogue among themselves (McKay 2009). In Kenya,
several community stations are owned and operated by development and civic
organizations, for example, the women’s organization Mang’elete community
Integrated Programme owns Radio Mange’elete, and Bondo Community
Multi-Media Centre owns Shinyalu FM ( Javaru 2012).
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Community Radio and New Media
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The rise of competing media is often thought to be a threat to more traditional
media such as print and radio. As Rheingold (1993: 11) warned, “CMC [Computer
Mediated Communications] might become the next great escape medium, in the
tradition of radio serials.” But despite the apparent supposed threat of the portable
MP3 player to radio listening, most of these portable music players (and mobile
phones) also feature radio receivers, which are widely used by the owners of these
devices. The iPad and iPhone devices feature an application called Tune Up, which
allows users to tune into local radio stations, set via the device’s GPS function. And
a 2010 study (Bosch 2010) of cell phone use in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya
found that besides the calling and messaging functions, users often used their
phones for secondary functions such as the light, alarm clock, reminder function
and radio. This seems to indicate that the function of the radio remains a primary
function for users, who enjoy tuning in to their favorite radio stations on their MP3
players or cell phones.
Besides these competing new media tools, the Internet has also made it possible
for listeners to tune into local radio stations from anywhere in the world (and also
for local audiences to tune into national or international stations). In addition, the
increasing popularity of social networking sites has made it possible for listeners to
engage with their favorite radio stations not only via the airwaves, but also via the
Internet. Many radio stations have created Facebook groups or profiles and twitter
account, to continue the conversations with listeners off the airwaves. As Mudhai
(2011) has argued, convergence has made it possible for radio to remain a significant
arena of information dissemination and exchange, particularly in rural and other
areas not served by modern cabled ICT infrastructure.
The Kothmale community radio Internet project in Sri Lanka is one of the most
successful examples of the use of ICTs by a community radio project to empower
marginalized rural communities. Their daily “Radio Browsing the Internet” slot
allows the audience to “browse” the Internet as presenters conduct searches on
their behalf and information is explained and contextualized, sometimes with the
help of studio guests ( Jayaweera 2001). Similarly, the Púlsar news agency in Latin
America provides daily reports and news to hundreds of community stations, via
email and the Internet (Gumucio Dagron 2001).
The intersections of radio and the Internet are interesting in that they offer
stations opportunities to close the gaps between producer and consumer in the
networked public sphere; as well as an additional medium through which to reach
listeners (and potential listeners). The growth of social media represents an
opportunity for radio stations to maintain relevance and grow audiences. By
increasing the space in which they attract and interact with listeners from the
airwaves, to Facebook and Twitter, they are presented with the opportunity for
increased listener engagement. Radio has always been considered a ‘blind’ medium
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in that it comprises only noise and silence (Crisell 1994). In the 1950s this was
considered a primary disadvantage in the competition with television. The
introduction of picture and text has reduced the anonymity of the radio host and
started to close the gap between presenter and audience. What is surprising though
is that despite the growing numbers of social media followers, in Africa these
numbers are still very small compared to radio listening numbers, most likely
because it is still easier (and cheaper) to just tune into a radio station’s FM frequency
instead of logging on to the Internet to surf their website or social networking site.
Radio also can also potentially play a role in bridging the digital divide, as the
station’s access to the Internet means it carries information found in cyberspace
back to the listeners, in their local languages and providing a platform for discussion,
while also connecting people into a global dialogue (Buckley 2000; Girard 2003).
Of course, the main challenge in the rising trend of convergence between radio
and the Internet is the low levels of Internet access, particularly in developing
countries; as well as relatively low penetration of smart phones and tablets; and
prohibitively high data costs even when these mobile devices are available. In
Africa, for example, there is only a 15.6% Internet penetration,2 though large
numbers of those with access use social networking sites such as Twitter and
Facebook. Simultaneously though, the continent is experiencing a rapid growth in
mobile telephony, which is accompanied by a rise in access to the mobile Internet.
With more people able to access the Internet using their mobile phones, this
somewhat counteracts challenges of access related to the digital divide.
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Challenges to Community Radio
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Despite the large number of examples from around the world of community radio
stations playing a key role as communication for development, stations are also
struggling to maintain this identity in the face of financial difficulty. Higher
levels of participation from audiences means that community media can offer
representations and promote discourses that differ radically to mainstream media
discourses ( Jankowski 1994). This might involve providing local interpretations of
national or global news events, broadcasting in local or minority languages, and
addressing audience members as citizens versus consumers. However, stations
often model commercial counterparts to compete more effectively for advertising.
The most significant effect of this is a change in their programming formats and
styles. In South Africa, for example, in the early stages of community radio’s
development, talk was an integral part of stations’ programming; but to a large
extent this has dwindled over time.
Discussion and debate has always been considered integral to democracy and
the formation of a public sphere. On air talk and discussion has been seen to
contribute towards the constitution of public opinion and citizens’ subsequent
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participation in democratic structures (Dahlgren 2002[??no source]). One role of
media in developing societies is to inform citizens about public policy so that they
become a more informed electorate (e.g., Sandbrook 1996); and it is generally
agreed that the mass media can promote democratization by making citizens
more aware of their roles in a democracy (see, e.g., Hyden and Okigbo 2002). The
role of community radio stations is of course much broader than this good
governance model might imply, but deliberative talk and debate is still a central
part of programming content. During election time this kind of talk is very
prominent on community radio, but it is more sporadic at other times. Stations are
increasingly managed by a younger generation of broadcasters who focus
more exclusively on music (Bosch 2010). The production of documentaries is
more expensive than hiring one presenter to host a talk show, and documentaries
are rarely heard or frequently rebroadcast. In Denmark, we see a similar trend,
where community stations have been reappraised in terms of format and structure
because of cut-backs in funding from their local governments; similarly, many
US-based stations abandoned the community radio format for more commercial
formats (Dunaway 1998). As a consequence of these financial constraints,
community radio stations are finding new ways to engage the public in democracy.
The rise in music programming, for example, has often been used to engage youth
on a range of social issues. At Bush Radio in Cape Town, South Africa, hip-hop
music is used to generate discussions among youth about health issues such as
HIV/AIDS. Young local musicians are invited to content workshops and then
encouraged to write socially conscious lyrics, which are recorded and broadcast
by the station.
As a result, internationally, community broadcasting has often been criticized as
being a poor imitation of mainstream media as it does not offer critical debate
about current issues of local, national, and global significance. Moreover,
community radio has been defined as playing a role in the celebration of local
culture in response to globalization, while community radio stations, particularly
those in urban areas rarely play much local music (Bosch 2010). Stations have also
been critiqued for the widespread adoption of dominant media broadcast practices,
particularly in news gathering, with stories often sourced from mainstream
newspapers, the Internet, and other commercial radio stations. Stations do not
always practice development journalism or prioritize local news or “good news.”
This has implications for the role these stations might play if one considers local
news or, at the very least, the localization of global news events as one way to
contribute to the formation and maintenance of community identity. In the arena
of global journalism, the norms and values of news are constantly contested,
though journalists in newly democratic societies have often struggled to articulate
their roles in the agenda-setting process (Graber, McQuail, and Norris 1998). The
news media inform, but also identify and consolidate community, orchestrate
public conversation, and play a role in reforming the political system (Schudson
2003[??no source]).
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In general, news bulletins sound very similar to the items on commercial radio,
and stations rarely conduct investigative research into local news items (Bosch
2010). News is often considered as an agent of representative democracy (Allan
2004); as important to everyday life and culture (Hartley 1988[??no source]); and
as a central element of human communication, keeping people connected to
the world around them (Halberstam 1992[??no source]). In developing contexts
one might expect radio news, particularly items on community stations, to move
beyond traditional Western notions of news values toward a news journalism that
directly supports development and democracy.
The constraints on radio news in developing contexts include rapid
technological development, increasing competition for fragmenting news
audiences, and the development of a global news market (Harrison 2006; Van der
Veur 2002[??no source]). Compounding matters are fears about the loss of
journalistic independence and trends toward media “tabloidization.” The
convergence of globalized news flows similarly impact on radio news in
developing contexts. However, the rise of localized forms of news reporting,
including citizen journalism, bring with them new media ecologies intrinsically
tied to development.
Besides the variable quality of news and other broadcasts, the presentation style
on community stations are often radically different to commercial stations as
presenters may be volunteers or untrained. The issue of volunteerism itself
presents some challenges, as many community members either cannot afford to
volunteer their time, or do so in the hope that it may lead to more permanent
employment. Community radio presenters often regard their positions as a path to
employment at commercial radio stations, and in fact many of them are often
“poached” by commercial stations that offer higher salaries. Some stations do pay
volunteers a stipend, but this is not a competitive salary.
Hocheimer (1993) raises other potential problems for community stations such
as: (1) whether a station exercises any form of gatekeeping or whether it should be
a conduit for all who step before the microphone (or perhaps both); (2) what
happens when power or people become entrenched, and when the interest or
agendas of newcomers are at odds with those of the founders; and (3) whether a
station functions to serve its constituent community segments and whether the
community acts as a resource for the station. Firstly, community stations are
forced to exercise a degree of gatekeeping and exclusion since they cannot open
their resources to entire communities. “To be accepted as a legitimate alternative
voice in a wider mainstream public sphere, a process of exclusion ensures that
access to broadcasting is limited to those individuals and groups whose points of
view best represent a station’s purpose and thus preserve its value and purpose”
(Van Vuuren 2003: 380).
While this exclusion is necessary, it raises key issues around the notion of access
and participation, key tenets of community media. The issue of entrenched power
is also of particular relevance in consideration of station management or board
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membership. The most financially stable radio stations are often those who have
strong top-down leadership structures, even though this is less than ideal. And
finally, the relationship between community and station is often conflictual – while
the two may act as resources for each other, community members may choose to
tune in to different commercial stations, and community stations may prioritize
music programming in order to attract advertisers.
Finally, and possibly most importantly, is the issue of financial sustainability.
Internationally, stations are struggling to sustain themselves financially, especially
as they compete with older commercial broadcasters for listeners and advertisers.
In the United States alternative funding schemes were explored, but stations are
funded by one-third from local institutional support, one-third from listeners and
business support, and the rest from federal monies (Dunaway 1998). Small-scale,
independent and horizontally structured organizations that carry non-dominant
discourses and representations are not guaranteed financial and organizational
stability (Carpentier, Lie, and Servaes 2007). Because it is often thought of as a
binary opposition to the professionalism of slick commercial broadcasters,
community radio is still often perceived as “poor radio for poor people” (Mtimde
2000), with lower socioeconomic groups and marginalized minorities as its
primary audience. This affects stations’ ability to secure lucrative advertising and
increase audiences; and that leads to a potentially negative equation of community
radio stations to tabloid print media.
Financial sustainability is often linked to social sustainability, with the latter
understood as a strong sense of ownership and participation in stations by their
target audiences, as a result of their relevant quality programming. The relationship
between station and audience is strengthened by audience involvement and the
broadcast of programming which they find useful, interesting and entertaining.
While it is probably more likely that audiences are “cultural omnivores” (i.e., they
tune in to a range of additional stations including commercial music or talk
stations), community radio can strengthen this audience–station relationship to
boost audience figures and possibly generate more advertising, particularly from
local businesses. In South Africa, religious community radio stations appear to
have had greater success with financial and social sustainability. This may be as a
result of tapping into international funding structures (in the case of Christian
radio), or because there are more listeners who own local businesses (in the case
of Muslim radio) (Bosch 2008a).
Conclusion
Radio remains a widespread medium with its advantages of portability, costeffectiveness, versatility, and orality (Mudhai 2011) contributing to its usefulness
as an alternate form of media. Community media is central to debates about the
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role of the media in the formation of the public sphere, and the continued
existence of small community radios around the world certainly implies the
possibilities for the creation of political mediatized spaces where subordinated
social groups can create and circulate counter discourses. Furthermore,
community radio has the potential to be used by social and economic minorities
as a tool for resistance.
Ideally, community radio should be driven by social agendas and not rely on
advertising for their continued existence. Community decision making and
participation are key aspects of community media, but local policies provide little
guidance on how stations are to implement this. The impact of stations may vary,
but it is critical that they are held to their original mandate of providing spaces for
education and self-expression, as well as playing a role in the development of the
public sphere. In principle, stations may continue to play the role as “voice of the
voiceless” by becoming vehicles for the expression and articulation of alternative
voices in the public sphere. As subaltern counter-publics, community radio
stations have great potential to increase diversity in the media landscape and to
drive social agendas, which are not influenced by government or commercial
imperatives. However, an inadequate funding system means that stations rely on
government funding and/or commercial interests, which may affect programming output. In an attempt to compete for advertising, stations are adopting
programming formats that are more similar to commercial music radio, rather
than maintaining their full-spectrum formats to allow a wider range of debate
and dialogue.
The continued existence of community radio is a key part of the global media
landscape. With the increased centralization of media ownership and the growth
of music radio, community radio remains a key space for alternative voices, for
deliberative talk and dialogue; but also a space for the rise of civic journalism and
a move away from the myth of journalistic neutrality. Community radio stations
demystify media by potentially turning media consumers into media producers,
and training them to produce radio programs. There may not be consensus on the
role the media in the formation of a Habermasian public sphere, but the continued
existence of community radio certainly implies the possibilities for subaltern
counter-publics (Fraser 1990), where subordinated social groups can create and
circulate counter discourses.
Nonetheless, a number of challenges remain for future research. These include
detailed engagement with community radio stations to explore management and
participatory practices. Research is often based on interview material, with no way
to test that stations do indeed utilize the participatory practices they say they do.
This might involve longitudinal ethnographic approaches. Another challenge for
research is to study community radio audiences, both quantitatively and qualitatively. And finally, future research should explore community radio stations’ use of
new media technologies, with particular references to issues of citizenship and
political activism.
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Notes
2
In 2000, the IBA merged with the South African Telecommunications Authority
(SATRA) to form the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
(ICASA), the current regulatory authority.
Figure for 2012 Q2. Available at http://www.Internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm
(accessed September 13, 2013).
FS
1
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