Saturday, November 22, 2014

Sharing of Airwaves for Community Radio



The concept of sharing a same frequency/ spectrum can be adopted for the growth of Community Radio sector in developing countries. For example, in India only three frequencies are available for community radio. A considerable number of applications have been rejected in the country because of non-availability of frequency. Sharing of spectrum will not only help in utilizing the natural resources properly, but also in making the stations financially sustainable. Community Broadcasting Law Uruguay and Argentina allow equitable sharing of the airwaves for Community Broadcasting sector.

I have conducted a desktop research among 122 CR stations of India with the help of the Community Radio Compendium*, 2014, which reveals that 68.9% of CR stations utilize 10 hours or less for broadcasting through their respective stations. About 50% of the CR stations utilize only eight hours or less for broadcasting. Only 9% CR stations utilize the spectrum for more than 20 hours. I can understand that how difficult to generate contents for a community radio. But at the same time, we cannot waste the valuable natural resource.

The sharing can be possible in two ways- i) Use of the same infrastructure for two or more community radio stations and ii) In the license it should be mentioned the time sharing for two or more stations having the same frequency in a particular place. 


*To read and download the Community Radio Compendiums of India, please visit-
http://cemca.org.in/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Compendium%202011.pdf

Cite this article as-
APA
Dutta, A. (2014, November 22). Sharing of Airwaves for Community Radio. Community Communications. https://www.comcomm.org/2014/11/sharing-of-airwaves-for-community-radio.html

MLA
Dutta, Ankuran. "Sharing of Airwaves for Community Radio." Community Communications, 22 Nov. 2014, www.comcomm.org/2014/11/sharing-of-airwaves-for-community-radio.html. Accessed ..........

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