Defining Community Radio

Community media is one that is operated in the community,for the community,about the community andby the community. As UNESCO defined, “Community media are characterized by their accountability to the communities they serve. They emerge as a result of popular movements that strive to attain an important space in citizen participation and demand the right to own and operate free from political or commercial interference.”[i]To make the concept of community media more easy and comprehensive, I developed a model called “DOLPHIN” in April 2016 [ii]and I feel very happy that the concept has been discussed and deliberated many places of the globe. With the concept of community media, we can very easily define community radio as a broadcasting tool of community media.  

As Bruce Girard (2007) stated, there are five (5) points to define community radio and they are-

„-Community-based (location, ownership and control); 

-„Independent (not relational but on the influence and transparency); 

-„Not-for-profit (but for sustenance),

-„For the community (social, economic and cultural benefits of the community); and 

-„Participatory (at all levels of programming, operation and finance). 

Based on many literature and practical experiences of running community radio station, we tried to define community radio in 2014[iii]in Indian or broadly South Asian perspective. I personally believe that this definition covers all the important aspects of a community radio. Let us have a look on the definition-

“Community radio is primarily a low power FM broadcasting service owned, controlled, managed and run by a particular community with a non profit motive for providing and sharing information, education and entertainment which may lead to eradicate digital divide, address identity crisis, remove socio-economic hindrance, promote local culture and resolve local issues resulting in overall development of a community” (Ankuran Dutta & Anamika Ray, 2014).

This definition tries to indicate the basic aims, objectives, functions and structure of a community radio. Discussions are appreciated to improve the definition to be the most comprehensive definition on community radio. There are many more definitions on community radio, for more definitions, the readers may go through the webpage of Management Resources of Community Media.[iv]

Cite this article as-

APA
Dutta, A. (2019, January 24). Defining Community Radio. Community Communications. Retrieved ................, from https://www.comcomm.org/2019/01/defining-community-radio.html

MLA
Dutta, Ankuran. "Defining Community Radio." Community Communications, Dr Anamika Ray Memorial Trust, India, 24 Jan. 2019, www.comcomm.org/2019/01/defining-community-radio.html. Accessed ...............

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[i]http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/community-media/

[ii]http://www.comcomm.org/2016/04/dolphin-characteristics-of-community.html

[iii]https://www.slideshare.net/ankurandutta/community-radio-for-disaster-management

[iv]https://man.comunica.org/archives/102

Photo source: https://www.thehindu.com/society/community-radio-as-a-phenomenon-winning-hertz/article22835066.ece