COMMUNITY RADIO HANDBOOKCOMMUNITY RADIO HANDBOOK

Community Radio Handbook

Colin Fraser and Sonia Restrepo Estrada

UNESCO 2001

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the following people and organizations for their generous support and help: Maria Victoria Polanco, Sophie Ly, and Elvira Truglia of the WorldAssociation of Community Broadcasters (AMARC); David Shanks of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC); Martin Allard of Mallard Concepts Ltd.;Lawrie Hallet of the UK Community Media Association; and the authors of the five case studies Louie N. Tabing, Ian Pringle, Alex and Wilna Quarmyne, Zane Ibrahimand Ms. Adams and Bruce Girard. Special thanks are due to Louie Tabing whose pioneering work in the concept and practice of true community radio, and prolific writings on the subject, have been aninspiration for much of the material in the handbook.

Much research interest has been devoted to mass media. In their findings, communicationspecialists have always acknowledged that there are many sectors, communities and minorities whose access to information, and means of self-expression are not always guaranteed by mass channels. They have recognized that more sharply focused, customizedand essentially small and local media are crucial in filling this gap.

During the last two decades UNESCO has commissioned a number of studies andpublished monographs on the theme of community media. The first monograph published byUNESCO on the theme of community media was Access: Some Western Models of CommunityMedia by Frances Berrigan, which appeared in 1977; and in 1981, the enquiry was extendedto the developing countries in a study by the same author entitled CommunityCommunications the Role of Community Media in Development (No. 90 in the series ofReports and Papers on Mass Communication). A few years later, Peter Lewis prepared theUNESCO study Media for People in Cities (1984) which brought together a number of case-studies, and the conclusions of two research meetings, on urban community media.

During the ensuing years, UNESCO began setting up community radio stations in Africa(Homa Bay, 1982) and Asia (Mahaweli, 1986 and Tambuli Community radios, 1982) The growthof the community radio movement was covered in a section of the UNESCO WorldCommunication Report in 1997.

UNESCO sees community radio as a medium that gives voice to the voiceless, thatserves as the mouthpiece of the marginalized and is at the heart of communication anddemocratic processes within societies. With community radio, citizens have the means tomake their views known on decisions that concern them. The notions of transparency andgood governance take on new dimensions and democracy is reinforced. Community radiocatalyzes the development efforts of rural folk and the underprivileged segments of urbansocieties, given its exceptional ability to share timely and relevant information on developmentissues, opportunities, experiences, life skills and public interests. Given the audiences lowliteracy rate and radios ability to involve women and to treat them not only as objects ormerely as a target audience, but as participating agents and as a valuable source, communityradio becomes one of the most promising tools for community development. This hasbeen demonstrated by the special UNESCO project Women Speaking to Women community radiostations for the empowerment of women.

In the age of multimedia and online communication, the potential of community radioto provide for effective outreach to discuss and create demand for the Internet has becomeeven greater. The Kothmale Internet radio experiment in Sri Lanka has proven that radiostations can promote and use the Internet in rural communities, overcoming language barriersand lack of infrastructure. By using radio and browsing the Internet to respond to listenersdirect queries, by sharing information and knowledge derived from the Internet, the wholecommunity is involved and empowered with new opportunities.

Against this background of challenges, I believe that this handbook can contributetowards helping different communication actors, technicians, operators and radio producersin community radio stations to make more efficient use of community media for communitydevelopment by getting people involved in clarifying issues and solving problems and intalking to each other.

The handbook is based on the experience and innovative thinking of communicationexperts and practitioners whose contribution I would like especially to acknowledge: thelate Jake Mills, former Director of Engineering, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, whodesigned the prototype sound mixer; Martin Allard, electronics engineer, designer of theUNESCO prototype transmitter; Alex Quarmyne, former UNESCO RegionalCommunication Advisor in Africa and project manager for Homa Bay in Kenya, the firstcommunity radio in Africa; Carlos Arnaldo, former Chief of Communication Policies andResearch Section at UNESCO as project manager of Mahaweli community radio; GeorgesDupont-Henius, engineer, UNESCO Communication Development Division; WijayanandaJayaweera, UNESCO Regional Communication Advisor for Asia and creator of KothmaleInternet Radio project; Kwame Boafo of UNESCO Communication and InformationSector; Louie Tabing, project manager of Tambuli community radios and creator of " Village on the Air. " For the time they took in producing this book and for their valuablecomments, I should also like to thank Sonia Restrepo Estrada and Colin Fraiser for compilingthese experiences and putting them together for publication.

Claude OndoboDeputy Assistant Director-General

for Communication and Information and Director of Communication Development Division

PREFACE

iii

Preface iii

Introduction 1Any Community Can Start its Own Radio Station 1

Chapter 1: Community Radio in the Broadcasting Scene 3

Community Radio in the Context of the Globalization of Media 5

The Evolution of Community Radio 6

An Important Initiative by UNESCO 8

Box 1: The Miners Radio in Bolivia 12

Box 2: Radio Sutatenza/ACPO in Colombia 13

Chapter 2: Features and Functions of Community Radio 15

Essential Features of Community Radio 15

Functions of Community Radio 18

Box 3: Involvement of Women 23

Chapter 3: Legal Aspects 25

Uneven and Haphazard Legislation 25

Most Progress in Africa 25

Asia and Indias Lengthy Debate on Community Radio 27

Legislation in Some Latin American Countries 28

Some Examples from Western Europe 30

Convergence and Divergence in Legislation 31

Applying for a Licence 32

Chapter 4: Technical Aspects 33

Technical Background 33

Broadcasting Equipment 35

Reliability and Maintenance 39

Studio Premises 40

Spatial Relationship Between the Components of the Radio Station 40

Future Possibilities 41

Specialist Advice 43

Box 4: Basic Equipment for a UNESCO-supported Community Radio Station 44

Chapter 5: Getting Started 45

Legal Context 45

Preparatory Work in the Community 46

Importance of a Mission Statement 48

Role of the Religious Establishment 49

Role of Local Educational Institutions 49

Involvement of Politicians 49

Choosing a Location in the Community 49

Box 5: Involvement of Politicians 50

Choosing a Model 50

Power of the Transmitter 51

Ownership and Management 51

Programming 51

Staff 52

Sustainability 52

Looking for Outside Funding for Start-up Costs 54

Box 6: Main Factors to Consider When Planning a Community Radio 54

Chapter 6: Programme Policies 57

Participatory Programmes 57

Community News 60

Balancing Views 60

Coverage of Religious and Cultural Events 61

Local Election Broadcasts 61

Educational Broadcasts 61

Audience Surveys 63

Chapter 7: The Community Broadcaster 65

Code of Conduct 65

A Prototype Code of Conduct 66

Selection of Community Broadcasters 71

Training of Community Broadcasters 71

Chapter 8: Case Studies 75

Radio Olutanga (Tambuli Project), Philippines 75

Radio Sagarmatha, Nepal 80

Radio Ada, Ghana 85

Bush Radio, South Africa 90

Radio Chaguarurco, Ecuador 95

Table of contents

Communities and Communication

People live in a community by virtue of the thingswhich they have in common; and communication isthe way in which they come to possess things in common. 1

T here are more than 20,000radio stations in the worldand more than 2 billionradio receivers. Any notion thatTV and other sophisticated communication technology willreplace radio is unfounded, forradio is in constant expansion. Itswaves reach almost every cornerof our planet. It is the prime electronic medium of the poorbecause it leaps the barriers of isolation and illiteracy, and it is themost affordable electronic mediumto broadcast and receive in.

The last two decades have seen arapid expansion in the number andpopularity of community radiostations. Among the reasons forthis are: the democratization anddecentralization processes in manyparts of the world; deregulation ofthe media and the relaxing ofbroadcasting monopolies by stateinstitutions; and disaffection withcommercial radio channels.

Furthermore, awareness is growingof the social and economic benefitsthat can result when ordinarypeople have access to appropriateinformation. And it is also evidentthat when people, especially the

poor, can participate incommunica-tion processesand consensusbuilding aboutissues thataffect theirlives, it helpsthem to cast off their traditionalstate of apathy and stimulatesthem to mobilize and organize tohelp themselves.

ANY COMMUNITY CANSTART ITS OWN RADIO STATION

To start a small radio station is notas complicated and expensive asmany people think. There isenough experience in many countries to prove that it is withinthe reach of almost any community.

Community Will is the Key

The primordial condition for acommunity to start its own radiostation is a sense of internal cohe-sion and community consciousness.There must be willingness forcooperative work and to poolresources and enthusiastic consensus

that the people want their own radioin order to advance their community.

As part of the consensus buildingthat leads to the decision to establisha community radio, the communitymust analyze its communicationneeds and determine how radiocould help to resolve them. Thetraditional approach to develop-ment is to provide support to agriculture, health, education, andso on, and a radio station may notnormally be seen as a priority. Buta community that analyzes itsneeds in detail, and thinks aboutthe causes of its problems andmarginalization, will often cometo the conclusion that it needscommunication processes to helppeople share common understan-ding and common goals. This is thefirst step towards a communitytaking action to establish its ownradio station.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion andexpression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receiveand impart information and ideas through any mediaand regardless of frontiers.

Right of information section, Article 19 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights

Community radio is a social process or eventin which members of the community associatetogether to design programmes and produce andair them, thus taking on the primary role of actorsin their own destiny, whether this be for something as common as mending fences in theneighbourhood, or a community-wide campaign on how to use clean water and keep it clean, or agitation for theelection of new leaders. The emphasis is on the ownership of democratic and development efforts by the members of the communitythemselves and the use of media, in this case radio, toachieve it. In every sense, this is participatory communication(not programmes made about them by somebody else!). It is above all a process, not a technology, not merely ameans, because the people are part of that means, and sois the message and the audience.Community radio is most relevant to a group of peoplewho live and act as a community, and this could be severalfamilies, several neighbourhoods, or even several villagesor communities, but the important thing is that theyinteract. That is why I think of community radio as the

community speaking to each other and acting together forcommon goals.

Carlos A. Arnaldo

Introduction

A basic Community Radio Studio in Burkina Faso.

1

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Intr

oduc

tion

Phot

o: U

NES

CO

2

Producing Programmes does notneed Magical Skills

The professional tasks of managing astation and producing programmesare not beyond the reach of typicalcommunities. Unfortunately, expo-sure to commercial and/or stateradio leaves many people with theimpression that such professionalstandards are the norm, and theydo not realize that good and effec-tive radio broadcasting can bemuch less formalized. Nor do theyrealize that the usefulness andimpact of any media productiondepends much more on its relevan-ce to the audience than on its for-mal quality.

This is not to say that quality ofprogrammes in terms of theirstructure and their technical level isunimportant. For example, impro-per use of recording equipmentmay result in programmes of suchpoor sound quality that they aredifficult to understand. However,experience with community radioshows that, when people are moti-vated and enthusiastic, the mini-mum technical levels required forbroadcasting can be masteredduring only a few weeks of training.And as they gain hands-on produc-tion experience, their skills developmarkedly. They quickly reach fullysatisfactory levels of performance.

The Cost and Technologyare not Prohibitive

The equipment requiredfor community radio isrobust and easy to main-tain, and it does not needsupport from broadcastingengineers beyond some ini-tial training. Its cost isconstantly falling. For atypical community radiostation, the normal cost ofthe equipment is little morethan US$20,000. For minimalbroadcasting, there is even asuitcase available, weighing 16 kg,which contains a five-watt trans-mitter, a six-channel audio mixer,two compact disc players, two cas-sette taperecorders/players, and anantenna. The total cost is aboutUS$3,000.

There are also FM radio receiverswith a solar strip that can eitherpower the radio or charge a battery.At night, the radio can be poweredby a dynamo; winding up the radioby hand for two minutes provides30 minutes of listening time.

The tendency among those produ-cing equipment for communityradio has been to focus on simplicityof installation, use, and maintenance.And local people often show extra-ordinary capacity to adapt andbuild for themselves. For example,in Cape Verde, UNESCO helpedlocal technicians to install a single

transmitter on one island.However, the technicians were soeager and enterprising that after-wards they built two more trans-mitters so that they could have oneon each of the three main islands.This was despite the fact that thecomponents originally made avai-lable were scarcely enough for onestation. Furthermore, they also linkedthe three stations over seeminglyimpossible distances to form a net-work that shares programmes in acomplicated schedule every day.5

Media and Development

Developing communities are characterized by isolation from ideas and information as well as services... At the simplest level, before people canconsider a question, they need to be fully aware of allthe facts: the short-term effects and the long-termimplications, ways in which decisions taken in onearea will affect future planning. Communicationmedia could present this information. 2

Phot

o: C

.A. A

rnal

do

The Judges are the Listeners

It is unfortunate that the so-called radio professionals have set certain artistic productionstandards which could intimidate the regular villagepeople. The irony is that the so-called professionalproductions cannot compete with programmes doneby the inexperienced village people. The professionalsforget that the ultimate judge of a radio programmeis the listener. 4

Dont be afraid of radio!

No one should be afraid to use radio. I have been abroadcaster for almost a quarter of a century andI know nothing about the electronics side of radio.

Even today, I cannot explain how my voice in the studio is processed and passed on finally to the family radio maybe hundreds of kilometres away. 5

1 John Dewey, (1916), cited by Elizabeth Blanks Hindman,Community, Democracy, and Neighbourhood News,International Communication Association, (1998).

2 Frances J. Berrigan, Community Communications - the role ofcommunity media in development, Reports and Papers onMass Communication, no. 90, UNESCO, (Paris, 1981).

3 Louie Tabing, Neighbourhood Radio Production,UNESCO/DANIDA Tambuli Project, Philippines.

4 Martin Allard,On the AirThe Development of CommunityRadio, UNESCO Sources, no. 21, (1990).

5 Louie Tabing, Manager of the UNESCO/DANIDA TambuliProject, Philippines.

Mang Vicente of Ibahay on Aklan Island in Southern Philippines plays traditional melodies on a flute made from PVC plumbing pipe!

Chapter 1Community Radio in the Broadcasting Scene

3

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

1

T his chapter describes the place of community radio in the broadcastingscene and explains the essential difference in its approach compared to conventional public service or commercialbroadcasting. A rationale is put forward for itsimportance in the scenario of increasing mediaglobalization.

The evolution of community radio from itsfirst experiences some 50 years ago is tracedand set in the context of broadcast mediaownership patterns, technical developments,and the recent trends towards democratization and decentralization.

The reader will acquire:

An understanding of the special nature ofcommunity radio compared to other types ofradio broadcasting;

An understanding of its place and importan-ce in the trend towards media globalization;

Knowledge about its background, specificfield experiences, and the factors that havedetermined its evolution.

This theoretical framework provides the long-term foundation for practical knowledge andskills to be gained in later chapters.

Broadcasting can be divided into three general categories:

Public-service broadcasting is generally conductedby a statutory entity, which is usually - though notnecessarily a state-supported or a state-ownedcorporation. Its broadcasting policies and programmingare often controlled by a public body, such as a councilor a legally constituted authority. This body ensuresthat broadcasting operates to provide information,education and entertainment to the citizens andsociety in general, and independently of government,party politics or other interests. Much of the fundingfor the operation comes from licence fees that the listeners/viewers pay for the receivers they have intheir homes.

Commercial or private broadcasting providesprogrammes designed primarily for profit fromadvertising revenue and is owned and controlled byprivate individuals, or by commercial enterprises.

Community broadcasting is a non-profit servicethat is owned and managed by a particular community,usually through a trust, foundation, or association. Itsaim is to serve and benefit that community. It is, ineffect, a form of public-service broadcasting, but itserves a community rather than the whole nation, asis the usual form of public broadcasting describedabove. Moreover, it relies and must rely mainly on the resources of the community. A community is considered to be a group of people who share

A Declaration of Principle

Community radio responds to the needs of the community it serves, contributing to its developmentwithin progressive perspectives in favour of socialchange. Community radio strives to democratizecommunication through community participation indifferent forms in accordance with each specificsocial context.

World Association of Community Broadcasters(AMARC), 1988.

4

common characteristics and/orinterests. The commonality ofinterests may be based on:

- The sharing of a single geographicallocation, that is to say those livingin a specific town, village, orneighbourhood;

- The sharing of economic and sociallife through trade, marketing,exchange of goods and services.

Unfortunately, this tidy classificationinto three categories of broadcastingis less than tidy in practice, forthere can be combinations andoverlapping situations. For example,a local commercial radio stationmay also broadcast some communityservice programmes; a station ownedand managed by an NGO, such as areligious institution, may fill most ofits air time with such programmes;and state-owned public-servicebroadcasting has increasingly beendecentralizing to the local level andproviding programming for thecommunities around it.

Not surprisingly, there is still nosingle definition or description ofcommunity radio. And to complicatematters further, there have beenvarious terms applied to small-scaleradio broadcasting such as local,alternative, independent, or freeradio. All of these lack precision. Forexample, the term local radio

could also cover the decentralizedoperation, through a local station,of a state-controlled broadcastingsystem, or even a small commercialstation. Terms such as alternativeand free are also imprecise, even ifin the context of radio, they arenormally taken to mean alternativeto the mainstream mass media andfree from government ownershipand control. Logically, therefore,they include community radio, butthey do not necessarily include it.

The various definitions of communityradio that have been formulatedshare many common elements. Thesimple and catchy phrase, Radio bythe people and for the people isoften used as a good summary. Thisphrase captures well the essentialprinciple that must be in place for abroadcasting service to be consideredtrue community radio. It must firstly,be managed by the community;secondly, be to serve that community.

Strict application of these two principles would mean that a radiostation owned by a non-profitNGO and also managed by thatNGO would not necessarily qualifyas a true community radio, even ifmuch of its programming wereaimed at community development.This is the case for many broadcastingservices run by religious organiza-tions, and in practice the term

community radio is often used tocover this type of operation as well.One example is Radio Maria, whichbeginning from a single parish inNorthern Italy in 1983 now coversall of Italy and also has stations in21 other countries. It is essentiallyan evangelical operation, but it alsodoes a great deal in social servicesand community development,using volunteers and supported byspontaneous contributions fromlisteners.

The somewhat confusing situationregarding what constitutes truecommunity radio can perhaps bestbe understood by considering thefollowing quotation; this sums up aphilosophical approach that makescommunity radio different fromcommercial or public-service radio.

Community radio emphasizes thatit is not commercial and does notshare what it would call the prescriptive and paternalistic attitude of public-service broadcas-ting The key difference is thatwhile the commercial and public-service models both treat listenersas objects, to be captured foradvertisers or to be improved andinformed, community radio aspiresto treat its listeners as subjects andparticipants. 4

One Definition

A community radio station is characterized by itsownership and programming and the community it isauthorized to serve. It is owned and controlled by anon-profit organization whose structure provides formembership, management, operation and programming primarily by members of the community at large. Its programming should bebased on community access and participation andshould reflect the special interests and needs of thelistenership it is licenced to serve. 1

On Radio Work for Ordinary People - a Practitioners View

Radio is simply people talking with people. The Tambuli stations have merely expanded theopportunity for people to talk more to a wideraudience and to listen to a more expansive array ofideas on matters that directly concern them. 2

On Community Ownership and Management

To qualify as a community radio, the ownership and control of the station must rest squarely, and unquestionably, with the community it claimsto serve. 3

Commercial Media Antagonism Towards Community Media

Mainstream commercial media continue to harbournegative feelings about community media and areconvinced that they are adequately able to servecommunity needs. They have not yet come around toaccepting that the special character of communitymedia is complementary rather than antagonisticand mutually exclusive. 5

This placing of both public andcommercial broadcasting into aprescriptive category, treating listeners as objects, is significant,for even when they broadcasttheir so-called community serviceprogrammes, they usually remainin the same prescriptive mode.This is contrary to the participatoryessence of community radio programming.

COMMUNITY RADIO IN THE CONTEXT OF THEGLOBALIZATION OFMEDIA

Recent years have seen a strongtrend towards the globalization ofmedia. Colossal media enterprisesof a commercial nature have beenformed and increasingly span theglobe with their programmes.Certain countries have also becomecentres of highly successful mediaproduction, mainly of an enter-tainment character, and sell theiroutput to TV channels worldwide.Obvious examples are soap operasfrom the USA. However, audienceresearch has shown that peopleprefer to watch programmes withtheir own cultural orientations,rather than those imported fromothers. For this reason, media productions from developing

countries, such as Brazil, China,Egypt, India, and Indonesia, arenow gaining wider distribution inlarge-scale commercial media.

While some people argue that theglobalization of the media disruptslocal cultures, others state thatglobal media intensifies theconsciousness of the world as awhole and is therefore beneficial.They see global media and community media as complemen-tary, each forming important functions that the other cannot.And this is certainly the case.

By definition, global media arecommercial and need to attractlarge audiences for their adverti-sing content. Thus, they broadcastprogrammes that attempt to satisfya common thread of sensitivitiesamong large numbers of people,using well-tried and rather standardif not banal entertainment formats.The lack of variety in programmeorientation is, therefore, generallyattributed to the self-censorshipof the market, which uses entertainment as the sole criterionfor selection. However, it is alsotrue that governments tend to bemore comfortable with privatebroadcasters limiting themselvesto entertainment, rather thanbecoming involved in the moreproblematic area of news and

current affairs. For these reasons,themes reflecting socio-politicalinterests are often insufficientlycovered, or deliberately ignored,by private broadcasters.

Clearly, given their characteristicsand orientation, commercial andglobal media can hardly meetsocio-economic and developmentneeds of the countries they cover.The excessive entertainment provided by commercial televisionhas often provoked a call for areappraisal of the potential ofpublic broadcasting, stressing theneed for quality programmes anddemanding more possibilities ofchoice and access for audiences. A logical step in this direction is toexpand the democratization ofmedia to the community level,especially through communityradio, in which accessibility is thenorm.

Furthermore, community radioworks in the cultural context ofthe community it serves; it dealswith local issues in the local language or languages; it is relevantto local problems and concerns;and its aim is to help the commu-nity to develop socially, culturally,and economically. This is not onlyin contrast with global media operations, it is also in contrastwith centralized, urban-based 5

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

1

Global Communication?

George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four warned us ofa society controlled by Big Brother. Is that what weare encountering today when we see so many peoplein poor communities tuning into western dominatedideals of the rich consumer society? Orwell was veryconcerned about the socialist drives of the industrialage. But perhaps he was also warning about the takeover of society by a democratic political power drivento degradation by these very industrial drives and bythe easy resort to globalization of media. 6

The Power of the Local Approach

An effective strategy for the community radiostation is to present what cannot be offered by any

other radio station; that is, local content with a localflavour... The local radio station must dwell on itsstrongest reason for existence - local events, issues,concerns, and personalities. If a local station can doan exhaustive reportage of what goes on in its community on a regular basis, there is no way aregional or national broadcast outfit could competefor listenership. The element of proximity is the mostpotent quality that the community radio should capitalize on. People will be enthusiastic to know ona daily or even hourly basis about the people andevents unfolding next to their place of abode. 7

6

national media, even of a publicservice nature, for they are oftenremote from the realities of ruralcommunities and their needs.

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY RADIO

The pioneering experiences fromwhich todays community radio hasevolved began some 50 years agoin Latin America. Poverty and socialinjustice were the stimulus forthose first experiences, one beginningin Bolivia in 1947 and known as theMiners radios and another inColombia in the same year, knownas Radio Sutatenza/AccinCulturalPopular. (See boxes 1 and 2 at the end of this Chapter for descriptions).

These experiences in Bolivia andColombia set a trend, even iftodays concept of communityradio has evolved considerably. Forexample, the Miners radios inBolivia were working in thedecades of ideological clash between Marxism and capitalism.Thus, their principal focus was tounite the community of miners tobattle for better and fairer workingconditions. They were generallyconsidered to be trade unionradios, even if the miners providedmuch of the finance for the purchase

of equipment and running costs.

Radio Sutatenza/ACPO in Colombia,although inspired by the aim ofsupporting the community of peasants, was not owned or directlymanaged by them. There was muchfeedback from peasants - some50,000 letters a year and thesecertainly ensured the integration ofthe peasants desires and needsinto the radios programming. Butit was not truly radio by the peoplefor the people, which is todaysaim.

Even so, this first systematic effortby Radio Sutatenza to educate byradio created a movement thatspread and was later consolidatedthrough ALER, the Latin AmericanEducational Radio BroadcastingAssociation. This inter-linkage ofradio and education is basic to theidea of public service and markedthe birth of community media inLatin America. 8

However, even if the groundbreak-ing work was in Latin America, itwas in Europe that communityradio first became a vital phenome-non, an alternative to or a critiqueof mainstream broadcast media.The first challenges to state public-service broadcasting were in the1960s-70s when swashbucklingentrepreneurs boarded the airwavesillegally and seized as much of the

audience as they could carry awayfrom the treasure chest monopolycontrolled by the state. 9 In theWest, these pirate stations proved acatalyst in motivating governmentsand national broadcasting systemsto introduce legitimate local radio.

In Africa, the establishment ofcommunity radio became, in abroad sense, a social movementafter the demise of the apartheidregime in South Africa. This wasfollowed by democratization,decentralization, and to someextent structural adjustment,elsewhere in that continent.10

The pressure groups that have instigated community radio inmany parts of the world (e.g.miners, pirate radio operators, missionaries and democracy movements) have been less presentin Asia. In their place, internationalagencies such as UNESCO andother external donors have oftentaken initiatives to help get community radio off the ground.And in some cases, it has been thenational broadcasting organizationthat has itself started communityradio services.

Vision of Joaqun Salcedo, founder of RadioSutatenza and Accin Cultural Popular

Within weeks of arriving in Sutatenza, Salcedo as ajunior priest had challenged the peasantry from thepulpit to take up arms against the poverty and backwardness that afflicted them and had offered hishand and vision in a partnership. They responded,and so a pact was formed.

Salcedo pioneered a concept known as integralfundamental education ... similar to what today is

often called life education. The core of the conceptis that the educational process must be the development of the individual as a whole person and as a member of society...

It became an ACPO slogan that development is inthe mind of mankind. And providing people witheducation in the broadest sense would enable themto make informed decisions and become proactivein taking control of their lives. 11

The Influence of DifferentBroadcasting Ownership Systems

Latin America adopted the NorthAmerican system of mainly privateand commercial broadcasting,with multiple stations of variedpower and reach. In this context, itwas relatively easy for new stationsto start up. And several thousandhave done so in Latin America,often initially as illegal or piratestations.

In Western European countries,the public-service state broadcastingmonopolies, which had been setup when radio, and later TV, werefirst introduced, usually had management mechanisms throughstatutory public bodies. Thesecontrolling bodies ensured thatbroadcasting policies and programmes were as independentas possible of government, partypolitical, or other influences.

European countries that adoptedthis public-service broadcastingapproach through state networksdid so because, from the very firstdays of radio in the 1920s, and TVsome 30 years later, the electronicmedia were considered by leadingthinkers as marvellous instrumentsfor expanding culture, education,and information, and for improvingsocieties. According to that thinking,the mass media could not be

allowed to function principally ona commercial basis and as a vehicleto be taken over by the advertisingindustry to market products.

Many countries in the developingworld, especially in Africa and Asiawhere European countries hadheld influence as colonizers, adoptedthe European model, at least as faras the state monopoly on broad-casting was concerned. However,they did not always allow broad-casting policy to be controlled by astatutory and independent publicbody, preferring complete controlby government of all aspects oftheir electronic media. Thus, manygovernments, especially those ofcentrally planned economies, usedtheir broadcasting networks tofurther their political aims, and inparticular to consolidate theirpower base.

In such circumstances and fullyrealizing that information ispower, these governments withfully state-controlled broadcastingwere extremely reluctant to allowany electronic media to operateindependently. This made it difficultfor community media initiatives toget started. Only in the early 1980sdid some governments begin torelax their opposition to indepen-dent media, but even today, manygovernments still effectively oppose

the idea of relinquishing theirmonopolistic control of the broad-casting media.

On the other hand, it has becomeclear in the last decade or so thatattempts to control information ina society are doomed to fail. The fax machine on a desk, thecomputer connected to theInternet, electronic mail, andsatellite television are underminingall the efforts of repressiveregimes to control and conditionthe information that their peoplereceive. This situation, coupledwith the spread of democracy andfreedom of expression in mostparts of the world, is opening thedoor to community media initiatives,and particularly to communityradio. And governments in countriesthat have already opened the doorare able to see for themselves thatcommunity radio has great potentialfor promoting and supportingd e ce n t ra l i ze d , e n d o g e n o u sdevelopment.

Technical Evolution

In addition to the political aspectsof decentralizing broadcasting,there are technical factors thathave played, and continue to play,a very important part in the evolu-tion of community radio. 7

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

1

Alternative Media as Antibodies?

Some fifteen years ago I described alternative media as antibodies producedas a protection against the neglect, insensitivity and insanity of the conventional media. 12

8

Two important breakthroughs haveallowed major progress: firstly,cheap transistor receivers; andsecondly low-powered and cheaptransmitters.

Until the invention of the transistorin the mid-1950s, radio receiversused valves and were expensive andcumbersome. Until that time, mostof the worlds radio receivers weremanufactured in North Americaand Europe, but the arrival of thetransistor paved the way to massiveradio ownership in developingco u n t r i e s . Fo r e xa m p l e , i n Sub-Saharan Africa, India andChina the number of radio receiversexpanded from two million in 1956to 90 million in 1975. And the number of radios has continued toexpand dramatically worldwide tothe two billion or more of today.

The availability of cheap receivershas played a key role in the evolu-tion of community radio, with apush-pull effect in the sense that,once a community station starts tobroadcast, there is often a significantrise in radio ownership. This is anindication that radio listening maybe as much a function of peoplesinterest in what is being broadcastas their ability to afford a radioreceiver. For example, in a poorrural area of Mali where a communityradio station began to function,

radio ownership rapidly rose by 140 percent. 13

The second technical breakthroughwas low-power transmitters using abroadcasting system known asFrequency Modulation (FM). Thesebecame increasingly available in the1970s and 1980s. (See also Chapter4). Small companies in severalcountries began to produce equip-ment that was designed specificallyfor community radio operations.Much of it was in kit form and sorobust and simple that it was idealfor use in the often harsh conditionsof developing countries.

AN IMPORTANT INITIATIVE BY UNESCO

Among UNESCOs missions arethe free exchange of ideas andknowledge and promoting freeflow of ideas by word and image.In this context, UNESCO launchedan initiative to support communityradio in 1980.

The initiative began with discussionsin 1980 between UNESCO and theEconomic Commission for Africaon local radio broadcasting. Thesehighlighted the fact that very fewAfrican countries had a commonlanguage that enabled nationalbroadcasting to effectively reachthe rural people who made up as

much as 80 percent of the popula-tion. The best broadcasters coulddo was to select perhaps ten of themain local languages and broadcastdaily programmes in them on atime-sharing basis. Thus, no singlecommunity could listen to a languageit understood for more than a shortperiod each day.

There were also problems of physi-cal and mental distance: the centralbroadcasting facilities were oftentoo far away from their ruralaudiences for their broadcastsignals to be received intelligibly;and the urban-based programmeproducers were too far away mentally to know and understandtheir rural audiences properly.

The discussions in those early days,and for many years afterwards,assumed that the state broadcastingsystems would be decentralized tolocal stations. These would mainlyrelay the signal from the capital but would also originate some programmes locally. This systemwould keep the local radio underthe control of the national broad-casters, and as such it cannot beconsidered as an example of thecommunity broadcasting model oftoday.

On the Potential of Community Broadcasting in Africa

Community-based radio broadcasting could be theleast costly mass medium for development in media-starved rural Africa. It could promote positivecultural identity using local languages, which areineffectively used on national broadcasting stationsand are usually accessible only to urban and eliteaudiences. 14

Big Boxes are More Impressive

Integrated circuits and new componentsenable us to make smaller pieces of equipment, but some manufacturers justlike to use big boxes; open them up andthey are practically empty inside. 15

Equipment Factor: A first needwas for cheap and simple equip-ment quite different from the kindof equipment used by state orcommercial radio stations. SoUNESCO organized a workshop atBrighton Polytechnic in 1980 thatbrought together British, Chinese,Cuban, French and Ghanaian engi-neers. The purpose was to identifypriorities and outline designconcepts. A first requirement wasa 10-watt FM transmitter thatcould run off a 12-volt car batteryor even solar panels; and thesecond, was for a simple and cheapaudio mixer, similarly powered, forbringing together sounds (voices,music and sound effects) into asingle programme for broadcast-ing. The other necessary items,such as tape recorders and recordturntables, could be purchased atreasonable prices in the market.

The transmitter was designed andbuilt by Mallard Concepts inBritain, and the six-channel audiomixer was designed and its pro-duction supervised by Jake Mills, aGhanaian who was for many yearsthe technical director of GhanaBroadcasting Corporation.

Based on integrated circuitry, theMallard transmitter was onlyslightly larger than a home hi-fiamplifier. It could be deliveredeither in kit form or fully assem-bled. The largest component in theequipment was the transformer, the

device for conver-ting power from110- or 220-voltalternating currentto 12-volt directcurrent.

The cost of theMallard equipmentpackage was aroundUS$2,000, comparedto about US$15,000or more for com-mercial transmittersof similar power.

Tests with theMallard transmittershowed that itssignal could beheard on a normalradio at a range ofup to 12-20 km. Itwas so light androbust that it could easily be takenout into the countryside in a car.Powered from the cars battery,and with an antenna hoisted into atree, an outside broadcast stationcould be set up.

UNESCO also worked on solar-powered receivers and onproblems such as the cheapconversion of existing AM receiversso that they could also pick up FMbroadcasts. Despite some promisingdesigns for solar-powered receivers,it proved impossible to find amanufacturer that could mass-produce them on the scale necessaryto make them cheap enough for

Soldering circuits for 20-watt FM transmittersin Brixham, UK.

9

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

1 An early model

of the FM community radiotransmitter designed byMallard ConceptsLtd., UK forUNESCO.

Phot

o: C

.A. A

rnal

do

Phot

o: W

. Jay

awee

ra

10

even the very poor to buy. Bothsolar and wind-up generator radiosets are manufactured today, but atprices still prohibitive to most ruralfolk.

Political Factors: Solving thetechnical problems was often lessdifficult than overcoming the political ones in promoting thespread of community radio.UNESCOs push in the area of community radio was essentiallyradical, based on concepts ofhuman rights and freedom ofexpression. But the world of theearly 1980s was still divided byideological conflict between Leftand Right, and state monopolies onbroadcasting were the norm inmany developing countries.

It is easy to think that governmentssimply wanted to repress all formsof self-expression that could pose athreat to their authority or to theirstable hold on power. However, closer consideration shows thatmany governments, especially incountries with a multiplicity of ethnic groups and languages, feltthat national identity and unitywould be strengthened throughhaving a single broadcasting voicefrom the centre and through promoting a national language.Whatever the reason for govern-ments to defend their broadcasting

monopolies, UNESCO faced anoteworthy challenge in promotingcommunity radio.

The First Community RadioStation in Africa

The government of Kenya was thefirst to open the door to UNESCOsproposal for setting up a communityradio. In May 1982, a Mallard 10-watt transmitter, as well as anaudio mixer designed by Jake Millsand related broadcasting equipment,of a total value of less thanUS$25,000, were supplied to thecommunity of Homa Bay, on LakeVictoria. This is a poor area withmany problems of underdevelop-ment. Local people were givenbasic training in how to use theequipment, and the station beganbroadcasting for two hours a day inLuo, one of Kenyas principle lan-guages, but not that of the dominantethnic and political group.

Homa Bay was successfully on airfor only two-and-a-half years beforethe government closed it down, forit was said to be working contraryto the official policy of makingSwahili and English the nationallanguages. Furthermore, despite itsvery local coverage, it was said tobe increasing tensions between different ethnic groups.

Building on Homa Bay

Despite this political setback, theHoma Bay experience proved that asmall community radio operationcould be effectively set up, withequipment costs of less thanUS$25,000, and that it could function in a low-technology environment without encounteringtechnical problems.

UNESCOs initiative in communityradio coincided with some worldtrends that favoured it. The mostimportant of these was the growingawareness of the limitations of centrally planned economies, leadingultimately to the collapse of theideology that had built them. But innon-Marxist countries too, demo-cratization, decentralization andneo-liberal policies were on themarch, and this was also leading toa greater willingness to decentralizenational broadcasting systems.

In Sri Lanka, the Sri LankaBroadcasting Corporation hadalready regionalized its services, andthe notion of starting communityradio was a natural next step. Thus,in 1983, the second UNESCO community radio initiative wasbegun in the context of a largemulti-purpose irrigation scheme,the Mahaweli DevelopmentProject. About a million peoplewere being resettled on newly

Excerpt from 1988 Evaluation of MahaweliCommunity Radio

It has animated settlers into participation in activities that not only encouraged self-actualizationbut also community identify and development. Intandem with Mahaweli development workers, it hasmotivated the settlers to try innovative practices inagriculture and health. It has likewise motivatedlocal development workers to take the settlers andtheir problems more seriously, ensuring a more palpable degree of service to the people.

Some Achievements of Mahaweli Community Radio

In one area we came across a group of teenagedelinquents who had no land and were desperately insearch of something to do. Through our programmesand discussions, we motivated them to clean up thevillage pond and set up an ornamental fish production enterprise. In another village we arranged a mass wedding to solemnize the marriageof elderly couples who were living together.Their offspring had faced many hardships as theirparents were not legally married. I produced manyprogrammes on gambling and alcoholism which helped the addicts to reflect upon themselves andgive up the vice. 16

Bamako Declaration on Radio Pluralism(President Konar of Mali, 1993)

Radio pluralism is an essential componentin the deepening of the democratic processnow under way: it allows people greateraccess to a diversity of information, andguarantees increased popular participation for sustainable human development...African statesmust speed up the ending of the monopoly over ofthe airwaves and give priority to national proponents of independent radio when allocatingbroadcasting frequencies... 20

irrigated land, and these familiescame from various parts of thecountry. Originally, no media element was included among thevarious rural development inputsfor Mahaweli. However, it waslater realized that a communityradio service could help the sett-lers to integrate and to take initia-tives to improve their living stan-dards. In effect, they needed todevelop a sense of community, aswell as learn more about improvedagricultural practices, health, andso on.

Community radio offered greatpotential for this, so with financialsupport from Danish InternationalDevelopment Assistance (DANIDA)and UNESCO, the MahaweliCommunity Radio was set up. Itsfirst station covered about 20,000settlers in the major developmentregion surrounding the town ofGuirandurokotte, but it was latercomplemented by several othersmall FM stations in the area.

Although the Mahaweli CommunityStations were all under the controlof the Sri Lanka BroadcastingCorporation, they used a truecommunity radio style. This wasquite different from the style usedby the national broadcaster.

One of the main thrusts ofMahaweli Radio, in addition toproviding settlers with information,

was to obtain feedback from themabout development activitiesthrough recordings made in thecommunities, which were laterincluded in programmes, orthrough having settlers come intothe studios to talk on air. Withsuch participation in the radio programming, and dealing as it didwith local problems and issues, theradio became a vital andpersonalized link in the life of thecommunity.

Community Radio Expanding ata Fast Pace

Riding on the flood tide of changethat has been sweeping the worldtowards democratization anddecentralization in the 1980s and1990s, community radio has beenexpanding at a fast pace. UNESCOfollowed its Kenyan and Sri Lankanexperience with support to otherstations in a wide variety of coun-tries, among them Ghana, Tonga,Haiti, Cape Verde, St Lucia,Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam,Jamaica, Guyana, the Philippines,and many others. However, UNESCO is now far from beingalone in promoting communityradio. A wide range of internationaldevelopment agencies and nationaland international NGOs are involvedin many parts of the world.

The rapidity of the spread of community radio is remarkable,and Mali provides an interestingexample. In 1991, after 23 years ofmilitary dictatorship, severe socialdisturbances finally overthrew thegovernment and a multi-partydemocracy was formally established.A transition government came topower pending democratic elections.

Mali is a primarily rural society andthe transitional government orga-nized consultations with represen-tatives of the rural people. It wasfound that, after more than twodecades during which the nationalmedia had been the channel forissuing instructions and exhorta-tions, and with government staffin rural areas equally distant, thepeasantry was disaffected and alienated by the governmentsimposed development programmes.They preferred to ignore them. 17

The transitional government andthe elected one that took its placedecided to install, with the help ofUNDP and the Food and AgriculuralOrganisation (FAO), a policy ofusing communication systemati-cally for Malis development, thefirst country in the world to do so.Mali also took a lead in media libe-ralization in Africa, notablythrough organizing a crucial confe-rence in Bamako in September1993 called Freedom for AfricanRadios. 18 19 11

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

1

12

Mali had itself just liberalized its state TV andradio, which ever since they began had broadcastexclusively in French, a language only understoodby the countrys elite. And with illiteracy levelsof about 70 percent, the majority of the peoplehad had no access to media-based information.

In the five years after Mali liberalized its media,more than 60 independent radio stations beganto operate, providing access in local languagesto people for the first time since the dawn ofradio broadcasting. And many other countriesare becoming similarly involved with communityradio. Much has happened to improve thesituation for community broadcasting since theHoma Bay community transmitter was closeddown by the government of Kenya some 15 yearsago. And as an endnote, Kenya today is also discussing legislation that would recognizecommunity radio as part of the countriesbroadcasting scene.

The Bolivian experiencebegan with a radio servicecalled the Voice of theMiner linked to the Siglo XXmine in the Department of Potos.In subsequent years, 23 stationsin the various mining areas of thecountry were set up and came tobe known collectively as theMiners Radios.

These radio stations were born asa trade union response to theappalling conditions of workersin the mines, most of which wereowned and operated until 1952 bya few rapacious and fabulouslyrich families, the tin barons,such as the Patios, who wereknown world-wide for their extra-vagant lifestyles. Meanwhile, theminers, who were the source oftheir wealth and of the mainnational export, were being inhu-manely exploited. Living in primitive mining camps, often inthe cold of very high altitudes,poorly paid and suffering fromtypical miners afflictions, such assilicosis, they were already oldmen by the age of 40. Their lifeexpectancy was further reducedby the lack of safety precautionsin the mines and frequent accidents. In 1952, the mineswere nationalized, but little chan-ged for the miners becausegovernments lacked socialconscience.

Unfortunately, historical factsabout the Miners Radios remainsomewhat vague, for the mainsource of information is the

memory of the people involved.However, it is certain that theradios were a crucial element inhelping to lead the struggle ende-mic in Bolivia for many years - aconfrontation that saw massacresof miners and their families, civilwar and revolution.

The radios helped to unite theminers in the struggle, and provided them with news andinformation that countered thenegative propaganda against theirinterests that was being put out bymost of the mainstream media.The importance of the MinersRadios is evident from the num-ber of times they were systemati-cally destroyed, or their equip-ment confiscated, by the militarysent in by one or other of the succession of governments thatruled the country.

It was, in fact, the miners that initiated the massive strike in1981 that finally led to the end ofdictatorship in Bolivia. As on allprevious occasions of seriousconfrontation with the authorities,one of the principle demandsmade by the miners was thereturn of the equipment for theirradio stations, or in cases wherethe equipment had been destroyed, the right to start themup again with new equipment.The miners usually contributedmost of the cost, a further illustra-tion of the importance of theseradio stations in their lives.

Although the main role of theMiners Radios was the defence

and promotion of miners rights,they were also central to a widerange of cultural and educationalactivities. They promoted andbroadcast festivals of minerspoetry, discussions about theaesthetic value of popular songsand other art forms, and discus-sions about education issues,even including a discussion ofwhether miners children shouldlearn to play chess.

The miners themselves contributedto the costs of establishing andrunning their radio stations, but inmost cases the management andprogramming policy was in thehands of their unions. And therewas little participation by minersin the kind of radio programmesthat would be promoted by com-munity radio today. However theintegration of the radio stationsinto the mining community wasto a great extent ensured by theirphysical location close to themine they served, and peoplecould generally visit the studioand say their piece if they wanted.

Most Miners Radios were set upin the second half of the 1950s,but their most flourishing yearswere between 1963 and 1983.After that, world tin prices beganto drop and in 1985 a neo-liberalgovernment passed a decree torelocate miners, throwing about20,000 of them out of miningwork forever. This cut the groundfrom under the feet of their radios.Some were passed to peasantgroups, but today, less than tenare still operating.

BOX 1: The Miners Radio in Bolivia

BOX 2: Radio Sutatenza/Accin Cultural Popular in Colombia

This initiative was launchedin 1947 by a priest, JoaqunSalcedo, in an Andean village called Sutatenza. It beganusing a home-made transmitterwith a range of two to three km,but from this, Radio Sutatenzagrew into Colombias mostpowerful broadcasting network.

Salcedo, an atypical priest, wasmore concerned about the socialand economic status of Colombiaspeasants than about conventionalChurch matters. Driven by his mission to bring education to peasants to help them develop, herealized that radio could reacheven into the most isolated parts ofmountainous Colombia. Thus, theidea of the Radio Schools ofSutatenza was born, and from thatAccin Cultural Popular (ACPO).

The educational broadcasts byRadio Sutatenza expanded untilthey covered a wide range oftopics, including literacy, numeracy,health, farm production, housingimprovements, family and personalrelationships, sport and leisure,and - crucially as it turned out - theresponsibilities of parenthood andpractising responsible procreation.

People listened to these programmes in informal RadioSchools - in effect, small groupswho came together each evening.The groups were assisted by moni-tors, people with more knowledge

and experience than the group. Atany one time, there was usually anenrolment of some 200,000 peasants in about 20,000 RadioSchools.

To complement the radio programmes, ACPO produced arange of textbooks and a PeasantsLibrary of 100 books on topics forrural communities. And a weeklymagazine, with an estimated readership of 600,000 people, waspublished. Furthermore, trainingof peasant leaders and technicaltraining courses in communitieswere a part of the activities.

The Roman Catholic Church supported the operation from thebeginning, mainly with funds fromCatholic groups in Europe, butACPO also attracted world-wideattention and many internationalagencies also became involved infinancing it.

Ultimately, Radio Sutatenza wasthe victim of its own success.W h e n i t i n t r o d u c e d i t s programmes on responsible procreation, the Church begansystematically to undermine it.Salcedo declared that the problemwas to convince the masses that itwas not sinful to discuss these matters, and that it was difficult toeducate people for human dignityand for responsible maternity in acountry dominated by religiousrules. ACPO held no position on

chemical or physical methods ofbirth control. Its task was only tocreate the basis on which indivi-duals could take their own, respon-sible decisions.

This position infuriated the Churchhierarchy in Colombia, which heldthat the only purpose of humansexual intercourse was procreationof the species. So it convinced theEuropean Catholic groups to with-draw their support. However,ACPO continued to function withother international funding passedthrough the government.

The operation struggled on, usingmainly borrowed funds, until 1985when its powerful and valuableradio infrastructure was sold to acommercial network. In 1987, after40 years successfully dedicated tohelping peasants develop theirminds, knowledge and life skills, itfinally folded completely. Itsassets, which included a publi-shing house, a plant for pressingmusical records, a 14-storey officeblock in the capital, as well as peasant training centres, were soldto meet its debts.

13

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

1

1 Independent Radio and Television Commission of Ireland,1988.

2 Quote: Louie Tabing, Manager of the UNESCO/DANIDATambuli Project, Philippines.

3 Zane Ibrahim and Ms Adams. Bush Radio 89.5 FM. (See CaseStudy).

4 P. M. Lewis and J. Booth. The Invisible Medium: Public,Commercial, and Community Radio, MacMillan (London, 1989).

5 Jocelyn Josiah. Presentation on Media for Community Buildingin the Caribbean during Roundtable on Communication forDevelopment, Brazil (Bahia, 1998).

6 Carlos A. Arnaldo. Localism and the Displacement of Politics: Placebased Communication. Development (Globalism and the Politicsof Place). Vol 41 No. 2, 1998. Sage Publications and SID (Rome, June 1998).

7 Louie N. Tabing. Programming Tips for a Community Radio Station.UNESCO-DANIDA Tambuli Project (Manila, 1998).

8 Rafael Roncaglio lo, Public Service Broadcasting Cultural andEducational Dimensions. UNESCO (Paris, 1995).

9 T. McCain and F. Lowe. Localism in Western EuropeanBroadcasting, Journal of Communication, Vol. 40-1 (1990).

10 Moncef M. Bouhafa, Child Survival and Broadcasting Opportunities and Challenges, paper presented at internationalconference on Broadcasting for Child Survival, Voice ofAmerica/USAID (Washington, April 1998).

11 Colin Fraser and Sonia Restrepo-Estrada. Communicating forDevelopment - Human Change for Survival. I.B. Tauris (London/New York, 1998).

12 Peter Lewis in Alternative Media: Linking Global and Local.Reports and Papers on Mass Communication No. 107, UNESCO (Paris, 1993).

13 Mary Myers, The Promotion of Democracy at the Grass-roots: The Example of Radio in Mali. Frank Cass Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2 (London, 1998).

14 Jake Mills of Ghana, the designer of the cheap, 6-channelaudio mixer (1990).

15 Martin Allard, designer of a simple and cheap FM transmitter.

16 Interview: Sunil Wijesinghe, broadcaster of MahaweliCommunity Radio (1999).

17 Colin Fraser and Sonia Restrepo-Estrada, op cit.

18 Moncef M. Bouhafa, Grassroots Media and CommunityEmpowerment in West Africa, paper presented to theInternational Conference on Media and Politics, CatholicUniversity of Brussels, Belgium, 1997 (revised 1998).

19 Mary Myers, op. cit.

20 Ibid.

14

In Barbados, after running the experimental UNESCO community radio for the 1995 World Environmental Conference, students took over the radio station and continued programmes ever since from the Barbados Community College as Radio GED.

Phot

o: U

NES

CO

, Kin

gsto

n

Chapter 2Features and Functions of Community Radio

15

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

2

T his chapter describes the special featuresand programming approach of communityradio in terms of public access and partici-pation, ownership, management, funding, editorial independence, and credibility, as wellas its representation of different groups andinterests in the community and its inclusion ofmarginalized and minority groups.

The section on functions covers the role of community radio in reflecting local identity andculture, in providing a diversity of voices, opinions,programmes and content on air, and in promotingdemocratic process, social change, development,civil society and good governance. Its functionas a peoples telephone and its contribution tothe training of human resources for the broad-casting industry are also touched on.

After absorbing the content, the reader will:

Have a clear picture of the many features andfunctions of community radio;

Be able to act as a resource person/leaderduring discussions in a community about the possibility of setting up a radio station,providing the necessary background informa-tion for decisions on ownership, manage-ment, programming policies, and the benefitsthat can be expected from a communityradio.

ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF COMMUNITY RADIO

The Audience asProtagonists

While community radio is a form of public-servicebroadcasting, it has anapproach that is differentfrom conventional broad-casting. Its specific focus isto make its audience themain protagonists, by theirinvolvement in all aspects of its management and programme production,and by providing them withprogramming that will helpthem in the developmentand social advancement oftheir community.

A Special Slant on News, Entertainment and Education

News on a community station, unlike that on the mains-tream media, is not an isolated story or event alone: rather,it aims to be part of an ongoing and future process whichsupports change and development in the community.

Special Sunday treat for Radio Ibahay - actress Chin ChinGutierrez visits the station during the childrens programme

and sings a song in Aklanon.

Phot

o: C

.A. A

rnal

do

16

Entertainment is provided in aform that is a collective culturalexpression, rather than a featuringof refined performers. It is morelike singing Karaoke than listeningto a professional artist.

Education is more the sharing ofexperiences and learning from othersin the community than listening toan expert or teacher talking.

Principles of Public Access andParticipation

Citizens have a democratic right toreliable, accurate, and timely infor-mation. Based on this right, it is apublic interest of broadcasting thatit should incorporate the principlesof access and participation.

Access implies the availability ofbroadcasting services to all citizens;participation implies that the publicis actively involved in planning andmanagement, and also providesproducers and performers.

In concrete terms, for communityradio these concepts mean that:

A community radios broadcastpattern reaches all members ofthe community it aims to serve;

The community participates informulating plans and policies forthe radio service and in definingits objectives, its principles ofmanagement, and its program-ming;

The community participates indecisions concerning programmecontent, duration and schedules.People se lect the types ofprogrammes they want, ratherthan having them prescribed bythe producers;

The community is free to commentand criticize;

There is continuous interactionbetween producers and receiversof messages. The radio itself actsas a principal channel for thisinteraction, but there are alsomechanisms that allow easycontact between the community,the programme producers, and themanagement of the radio station;

There are unrestricted opportu-nities for members of the com-munity, as individuals or groups,to produce programmes, and behelped by the radio station staff,using the technical productionfacilities available;

The community participates inthe establishment, management,administration and financing ofthe radio station.

Ownership

The facilities of community radioare almost invariably owned by thecommunity through a trust, founda-tion, cooperative, or some similarvehicle. However, there could becases where formal ownership wasin the hands of a body external tothe community, but which has passedthe facility to the community for itsindependent and exclusive use.

Management

Irrespective of formal ownership,the stations policies, management,and programming must be the responsibility of the community inorder for it to be considered a truecommunity radio. There will usual-ly be a representative communitycommittee, or Board of Directors, toset overall policies, while day-to-day

Radio quickly and easily becomes he link in society between poor and rich, between rural and urban groups, between agricultural routine and city leisure. At Radyo Ibahay, one of the smallest Tambuli stations, film and TV actress Chin Chin Gutierrez share her ideas on development in an interview for the Sunday programme.

Phot

o: C

.A. A

rnal

do

administrative andoperational decisionsare left to a stationmanager selected by thecommunity.

Funding

A community radio service is set up and run asa non-profit organization. Itrelies on financial supportfrom a diversity of sources,which may include donations,grants , membersh ip fees , sponsorsh ip or advert i s ing . A combination of these is themost desirable in order to ensureindependence. Many communityradios also organize fund-raisingevents among their audience. Theoverall aim is always to reach astate of financial self-sufficiency.

Editorial Independence andCredibility

Community radio is editoriallyindependent of central and localgovernment, of political parties,and of commercial and religiousinstitutions in determining its policies and programming. Overallpolicy is set by the aforementionedrepresentative community-levelcommittee, but with day-to-day

operational decisionsabout programming taken by thestation manager, his/her role as acredible and non-partisan personbecoming crucial.

Representation of DifferentGroups and Interests in theCommunity

Communities are inevitably madeup of different groups and inter-ests. Community radio broadcastsprogrammes that cater to theseand also encourages them toexpress themselves on air. Clearly,however, programme and timeallocation are approximately pro-portional to the size of any parti-cular group or interest in the com-munity, taking into account anyspecial circumstances or needs.

Inclusion ofMinority and MarginalizedGroups

Community radio includes minorityand marginalized groups on equalterms, rather than giving them an

17

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

2

Phot

o: C

.A. A

rnal

do

Even the smallest children haveaccess to the radio on the

Radio Ibahay Sunday childrensprogramme.

Carol Singing for a Tape Recorder

Community radio stations often organize communityevents such as community fairs, cultural evenings,and other fund-raising activities. One Tambuli community radio station in the Philippines organizeddoor-to-door carol singing at Christmas to raisefunds to buy a new tape recorder.

18

occasional voice, as in the case of many public broadcasters. Its programming ensures a wide diversity of voices and views frommarginalized groups, such aswomen and youth, and it promotesand protects the interests, culture,and linguistic diversity of ethnicminorities in the community.

FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNITY RADIO

Community radio aims to fulfil thefollowing functions:

Reflect and Promote LocalIdentity, Character, and Culture

Co m m u n i t y ra d i o p ro v i d e s programming that is particular toits communitys identity and character. Thus it relies principallyon local content. It includes outsidenews and events that have a specialinterest or implications for itsaudience.

It also focuses on local culture.Culture is what a community saysto itself, and what it says to others.It is how the people, the individualmembers of a community, expresstheir dreams and hopes, and howthey talk about their past and theirfuture. It is what they care about.Like life itself, culture is infinitelyvariable and constantly evolving. Itis the result of a process, not of

definitions. And that is why indemocracies, governments areexpected only to establish broadframeworks for cultural expressionby the people. Governments mustnot get involved in content or style. 1

Community culture is also, of course,artistic expression through localmusic, dance, poetry, theatre, storytelling, and so on, and these arefeatured strongly by most commu-nity radios. Local performers areencouraged to go on air, uninhibitedby considerations of the professionalstandards they may have acquiredfrom mainstream media. The valueof content and localness usuallyoutweighs formal quality and professionalism, though thisshould not be used as an excuse forsub-standard technical production.

Culture is also Language: Locallanguages and expressions are theraw material that feeds communityradios. They are the cement of cultural diversity, which is as important for the successful futureof humanity as biological diversity.There are some 6,700 languages inthe world, and 63 percent of theseare in Africa and Asia. Nationalbroadcasting and media globaliza-tion, combined with other factorssuch as urban migration, threatenhalf of the worlds languages with extinction during the nextgeneration. And with them will go

their cultures. Community radio is aprime defence against this gravetrend towards the impoverishmentof cultural diversity. 2

Create a Diversity of Voices andOpinions on the Air

Community radio, through itsopenness to participation to all sectors and people in a community,creates a diversity of voices andopinions on the air.

Some discord is present in all communities; they are not the peaceful, harmonious groupingsthat outsiders may idealisticallyimagine. Discord may be caused bydiffering interests, by differing ethnic, linguistic or religious backgrounds, or even by someancient feud. The acknowledgementof conflict is necessary for democracyand for democratic communities.Through an understanding of whyconflict exists, communities canunderstand themselves better andpave the way to resolve conflicts. A function of community radio is totry objectively to air all sides of a dis-cussion, without itself taking sides.

Main Functions of Community Radio as Formulatedin South Africa

Community radio stations should:

Promote and reflect local culture, character andidentity;

Assist in creating a diversity of voices and opinionsand encourage individual expression;

Increase access to a diversity of voices on air;

Assist in creating a diversity in broadcastingownership;

Be responsive to the needs of their community;

Contribute to human resources development forbroadcasting and where appropriate to job creation;

Encourage members of the relevant community toparticipate in programming and production matters;

Encourage innovation and experimentation in programming. 3

Preserving Linguistic Diversity in IndustrializedCountries too

Community radio stations in New York broadcast inWolof on Sundays for people of the Senegalese community. Two other stations broadcast in Korean,while in France, the Arab population has demandedthe right to set up media channels that meet its specific needs. 4

Provide a Diversity ofProgrammes and Content

Community radio provides a diversity of programmes in a varie-ty of formats and styles. Forexample, roundtable discussions,reportage, interviews, talks, call-inprogrammes, live broadcasts ofmeetings in the community, etc.Audience preferences are takeninto account in deciding what formats are most suitable.

Content also covers a wide rangeof topics, again in accordance withthe expressed desires and needs ofthe audience. Content is mainlydetermined by the lifestyles andlivelihood of the community andby the problems it faces. In ruralareas, themes such as health, farming, fishing, environment,credit, marketing of produce,small-scale enterprises, etc. usuallyfeature prominently, but always setin the context of the communitysactual situation.

News broadcasts may also focuson different types of content.They may cover only local eventsand issues, or they may includenational items that have local relevance, or they may evenbroadcast national and internatio-nal news per se in the case of aremote community with no accessto other media channels.

Encourage Open Dialogue andDemocratic Process

The ancient Greeks, who inventeddemocracy, conducted their politi-cal debate in public. All those whowished could be present at themeetings to listen and voice theirviews. Sheer numbers of peoplemake this impossible today, andfor this reason, democratic processhas become distant from ordinarycitizens. Typically, once politiciansare elected, their contact withtheir electorates is limited, andthey go about their tasks withoutmuch further consultation ordebate with them.

It is a function of community radioto provide an independent platformfor interactive discussion aboutmatters and decisions of importanceto its community. This is in keepingwith the decentralization processesnow being implemented in manycountries, a purpose of which is tobring democratic decision-makingcloser to the people concerned.

However, for social and economicprogress to take place, democraticprocesses cannot start and finish inthe community. They must reachinto the government and privateinstitutions operating in the community, as well as to policymakers and authorities at thelocal, regional, and even nationallevel.

The public debates aired by thecommunity radio will certainlybe heard by locally-basedstaff of government andprivate institutions, and theradios content should berelayed by them to theirsuperiors. This lays the foun-dation for development initia-tives that are responsive to thecommunitys felt needs andpossibilities. In addition,recordings by the communityradio service can be used inmeetings, or even broadcast byother stations, to make betterknown what is happening at thegrassroots level.

In sum, the core of democraticprocess is the ability of people tohear and make themselves heard.Community radio provides theforum for that to happen.

Promote Development andSocial Change

People in poor communities tendto be fatalistic about their situation.They will all have individual perceptions, but developmentcannot take place on the basis ofthese. What is needed is a collectiveperception of the local reality andof the options for improving it.This can only be achieved throughinternal discussions within the

Connections

Local radio stations have the responsibility toconnect people with people, people with peoplesorganizations, and people with officials and govern-ment functionaries. 5

19

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

2

While group listening is not the norm among radio audience, radioachieves a certain level of similarity among people living in rural areas.Problem-solving becomes easier when there is commonness in knowledge, perceptions, aspirations, goals, and processes.

20

community about its situation, thecauses, and possible actions forimprovement.

Community radio provides the perfect platform for these internaldiscussions and for reaching a collective perception of the situation.Specific problems can be analyzed,remedies discussed, and thosemost affected - or who can helpwith the solution - mobilized tocollective action.

Anti-social behaviour by minoritiesin a community can also be modifiedby exerting pressure from themajority through community radioprogrammes.

Promote Civil Society

Civil society is that multiplicity ofsocial institutions that allows asociety to live in harmoniouscoexistence. It creates its own stan-dards and values for individual andgroup behaviour, rather thanhaving them imposed from above.

Especially in countries that haverecently adopted democratic systems after decades of single-party or authoritarian rule, theyounger generations have littleidea about what democracy entailsor about the civil society thatmakes democracies function.

Some community radios focus onexplaining the implications ofdemocracy and civil society, raisingawareness about peoples rights,but also about their obligations.They work to explain how a civicsense is needed if new-found freedoms are to result in harmonyand social progress.

Promote Good Governance

In poor communit ies , loca l authorities and politicians can easily take advantage of citizens,either individually or as a group, inpart because the marginalized andoppressed have no way to complain. Community radio helpspeople to obtain their just rights bygiving them a platform to air theirgrievances. And through playing acommunity watchdog role, it makeslocal authorities and politiciansmore conscious of their public responsibilities.

Broadcasting of discussions, orquestions and answers, betweenmembers of the community andlocal authorities about some issuethat i s exerc i s ing them i s a technique that is often used.Another technique is to broadcastlive the discussions of local government meetings.

This function of community radiois not always easy to fulfil. In veryremote communities, and wherepower has been held by a few familiesfor generations, the people may bereluctant to speak their mindbecause they all have a debt of onesort or another to those families.And, equally, the powerful familiesmay be unwilling to take criticism.

Encourage Participation, Sharingof Information and Innovation

Participation is a key word in development circles, but it is notalways appreciated that participationand communication are two sidesof the same coin, for when peoplecommunicate about their situationand about options for improving it,they are in effect participating. Andthey are also laying the foundationfor collective action in which theywill participate. Community radioencourages participation by providing a platform for debate,analysis, and the exchange of ideasand opinions.

In addition, community radioallows for the sharing of informationand innovation. For example, onefamily or group in a communitymay have solved some problemthat is common to many otherpeople, such as obtaining farm

Some of the Social and Development Benefits ofTambuli Community Radio Stations in thePhilippines:

There is a new vibrancy and will to change in thecommunities;

Men gave up their passionate pastime of gamblingafter a series of discussions over the radio clearlyshowed its negative economic impact on their fami-lies and on the community;

Butchers were prohibited from bringing live ani-mals to the market and slaughtering them there;

A large poultry farm was cleaned up to reduce itssmell and pollution;

Creeks were dredged to reduce risks of flooding;

A footbridge and extra lighting were installed;

A day care centre for children was created by thelocal authorities.

Illegal logging and fishing were stopped as a resultof community pressure. 6

A Statement by the Programme Director of the Independent Radio Bamakan in Mali

There are a lot of aspects of democracy that peopledont know about, and we are obliged to raise awa-reness, to explain that democracy is not anarchy,that democracy involves rights and obligations. Wehave the right to demand, but we also have obliga-tions to the State. 7

credit from a new bank in the

nearest city. A broadcast account

by them explaining how they went

about it and the procedures required

would be the stimulus for other

families to do the same. Another

example might be providing infor-

mation about a farmer in the area

who had multiplied seed of an

improved vegetable variety and

was willing to sell it.

Give Voices to the Voiceless

In many traditional societies,

women and youth and ethnic and

linguistic minorities are virtually

ignored in community affairs. But

no community can change and

develop equitably and satisfactori-

ly without the active and informed

participation of its women, youth,

and minority groups. (See Box 3 at

the end of this Chapter).

Therefore, community radio gives

voice to the voiceless in the

community. This, of course, is in

addition to giving the community

in general a voice after years of

having been inert recipients of

state or commercial broadcasts.

Provide a Social Service asa Replacement for theTelephone

In poor rural areas where

telephones hardly exist,

community radio replaces

them to an important extent

by broadcasting messages.

For example, a family living

in a remote part of the

community can be informed

that a relative living in the

main agglomeration has

been taken ill and would they

please come to visit. Or a

farmer with an animal he

wants to sell can have the

fact announced over the radio,

replacing the series of calls he

would make if telephones were

available. Again, a person looking

for temporary labour to help with

some farm task could alert those

people who were interested to

offer their services through a

broadcast announcement.

The efficiency of government ser-

vices, say in health, is improved by

broadcasting the schedule for field

visits ahead of time so that people

will be waiting for these on arrival.

Contribute to Diversity inBroadcasting Ownership

Community, commercial, andnational or state broadcasting allhave roles in society, though com-munity broadcasting is the onethat has generally lagged behindthe others. Community radio helpsto redress this, and provides thebalance of broadcast informationsources needed by democraticsocieties for their advancement.

In Benin children participate directly in literacy courses on the air.

21

Com

mun

ity

Rad

io H

andb

ook

- UN

ESC

O -

Cha

pter

2

In October 1992, Bhutan Broadcasting Corporation was transformed from a statebroadcaster to a public corporation with a much decreased subsidy. Above, at thenew Punaka market, a broadcast trainee talks with the people about prices, travelalong country roads, quality of the harvest and news of the village. This project was financed by DANIDA.

Phot

o: U

NES

CO

Phot

o: C

.A. A

rnal

do

Difficulties in Achieving Transparency - a Case Studyfrom the Philippines

The more remote the community, the more hesitantpeople are to speak out. People rely on their leadersfor the smallest problems and they all owe a debt tothe few political families. To criticise them wouldseem ungrateful.

The local council told the community radio to acceptcalls from listeners with queries or comments duringlive broadcasts of the weekly council sessions. Butwhen the calls began to come in, the council toldthem to stop accepting them. The council also beganto chose which portions of the sessions could bebroadcast and told the radio team to leave the roomwhen budget discussions were under way. 8

22

Contribute to theDevelopment of HumanResources for theBroadcasting Industry

Community radio arguablydemystifies the broadcastersprofession by taking communitymembers as message producers.It is also a school for fledglingbroadcasters, where they, ofcourse, acquire valuable technicalskills.

But there is another factor that makes people trained in community radio particularlyvaluable. They are broadcasterswho live among their listeners,share many of the same problems,and get constant feedback positive and negative - on the formats of their programmes andon their interest and usefulness.This gives them unique insightsinto the broadcaster /audiencerelationship and into radio as a toolfor change