Introduction to Community Radio Bianca Miglioretto Radio and

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Transfromative Potential of Community Radio
Bianca Miglioretto Radio and Alternative Media
OfficerIsis International-Manila
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Radio as a Medium of Mass Communication
Advantages of radio

• Most households have a radio receiver.

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Radio as a Medium of Mass Communication
Advantages of radio

• For Audiences
• Radio penetrates even the poorest of households,
  and remote communities
• It exercises audience imagination
• It is useful to even those who have no formal
  education, and even the blind
• Listening can be combined with other activities
• It is direct, personal, and warm.
• For Practitioners
• It is fast.
• Easy to learn and produce.
• Relatively cheap.

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Radio as a Medium of Mass Communication
Disadvantages of radio

• People hear the program only once.

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Radio as a Medium of Mass Communication
Disadvantages of radio

• For Audiences
• People hear the program only once.
• Listeners cannot see anything.
• For Practitioners
• Limited in time.
• Limited feedback mechanisms.
• Extra effort on the practitioners to capture
  audience attention
• Limited monitoring. There is no guarantee that
  we are reaching our audience

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Important when broadcasting

• Premises
• Radio is the medium of the imagination
• Our listeners have their own association for
  things that they hear

• Tasks
• Draw sound pictures to trigger the imagination
• Our message must be very clear, leaving no doubts

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Important when broadcasting

• Premises
• People hear newscasts only once, they cannot
  rewind or read again
• The radio goes straight into the listeners
  private sphere

• Tasks
• We need to repeat basic information
• We need to talk as if we were conversing with a
  friend

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Important when broadcasting

• Tasks
• We need to simplify numbers. Example 1,054,358
  pesos is described as over 1 million pesos
• We need to use easy and clear language so that
  they can follow even while doing something else

• Premises
• Graphs and numbers will be difficult to present.
• As listening is combined with other activities,
  we only have half their attention

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The Broadcasting Industry
1. Public Broadcasting A broadcasting service
provided by a statutory body, usually
state-funded but publicly-owned, which means that
it is run independently from the government and
its budget is determined through parliament. 2.
Commercial Broadcasting A private
broadcasting service operated for profit and
controlled privately by independent commercial
groups or individuals.
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The Broadcasting Industry
3. Community Broadcasting A broadcasting
service not for profit, owned and controlled by a
particular community under an association,
cooperative or foundation. In some instances it
can be owned by non-governmental organisations
working in communities.

• Examples
• Religious Radio
• Campus Radio
• Rural Radio
• Barangay Radio
• Ethnic Minority Radio

• Women's radio
• Peace Radio
• Environmental Radio
• Youth Radio
• Migrant Radio

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What is Community Radio?
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As Defined by Experience

• ''The historical philosophy of community radio is
  to use this medium as the voice of the voiceless,
  the mouth-piece of oppressed people (be it on
  radial, gender, or class grounds) and generally
  as a tool for development.
• Community radio is defined as having three
  aspects non-profit making, community ownership
  and control, community participation.
• It should be made clear that community radio is
  not about doing something for the community but
  about the community doing something for itself,
  ie. owning and controlling its own means of
  communication.''
• "What is Community Radio? A resource guide".
• AMARC Africa and Panos Southern Africa. 1998

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As Defined by Experience

• Community and civic radio incorporates new
  languages, new formats, other sounds, types of
  music, voices. It brings other ways of talking,
  new relationships with listeners, ways of asking
  and answering questions, ways of making demands
  and pressuring the authorities.''
• "Gestiòn de la radio comunitaria y ciudadana".
  Claudia Villamayor y Ernesto Lamas.
• AMARC y Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. 1998
• Community Radio is characterised by the active
  participation of the community in the process of
  creating news, information, entertainment and
  culturally relevant material, with an emphasis on
  local issues and concerns.
• Community radio programming is designed by the
  community, to improve social conditions and the
  quality of its cultural life. The community
  itself decides what its priorities and needs are
  in terms of information provision.''
• VOICES. India.

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What is Community Radio?

• A community radio station is one that is operated
  in the community, for the community, about the
  community and by the community. The community
  can be territorial or geographical - a township,
  village, district or island. It can also be a
  group of people with common interests, who are
  not necessarily living in one defined territory.
  Consequently, community radio can be managed or
  controlled by one group, by combined groups, or
  of people such as women, children, farmers,
  fisher, folk, ethnic groups, or senior citizens.
• How to do community Radio by UNESCO. 2002

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Characteristicsof Community Radio
Non-profit The radio can carry commercials, but
all income is for the radio station and no profit
goes to individuals or commercial
groups. Community-owned Collective ownership by
the immediate beneficiaries of the radio station
by an Association, Cooperative, Foundation or NGO
with democratic structures and elected
leadership. Serves one or several
communities Programs are selected according to
the interests and needs of the community. Not
according to commercial, government, politicians
or individual interests. Large part of the
programs are locally produced and discuss local
issues.
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Characteristicsof Community Radio
Participatory Members of the community are
involved in the leadership of the radio, in the
broadcasting and programme production. They have
access to the airwaves.
Alternative to Mainstream Radio Community Radios
usually have very limited resources, so if we try
to be like the commercial or public radio we risk
to be just a cheap copy. Community Radio have
more editorial freedom so it is the challenge to
use this space creatively to make a difference
that people appreciate.
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Principles of Community Radio

• Access
• Participation
• Self-Management
• Community Mandate
• Accountability

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Sustainability of Community Radio

• Community Support
• Fund-raising for its Eestablishment
• Fund-raising for operation and maintenance
• Membership fees (in kind or money)?
• Block timers of LGUs and NGOs
• Small paid messages (greetings, etc.)?
• Fund-raising activities (bazaar, raffles,
  concerts, etc.)?
• Studio rental
• Training
• Merchandising items

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Community Radio within the Philippine Context

• The language issue will be addressed with the
  introduction of community stations, given the
  different local languages and dialects.
• It addresses human and civil rights issues trough
  the right to information and communication.
• It may be able to bridge the digital divide and
  can offer some form of media education, thereby
  creating an information culture.
• It enhances the emancipation and self-worth of
  communities, specially the women.

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Community Radio within the Philippines Context?

• It can provide a venue for exchange of ideas
  through debates, dialogues. This is important
  in processes of reconciliation and peace
  building.

• It preserves cultural identity With the
  globalisation of information, community radio can
  offer communities a cheap but vital way of
  protecting their language and heritage.

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How can Community Radio Promote Women,
Participation, Communication
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Framework Women, Participation and
Communication
Table from the book Gender in the Information
Society by UNDP-APDIP 2006
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Framework Women, Participation and
Communication
Table from the book Gender in the Information
Society by UNDP-APDIP 2006
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Women as Stakeholders of Information and
Communication

• Recognises womens need for struggle and change
  at the same time recognising womens role as
  producers of new meanings
• Provides the venue to introduce different facets
  of womens perspective, participation,
  contribution and involvement (Unearthing Womens
  Untold Stories)?

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Women as Stakeholders of Information and
Communication

• Creates spaces to speak about issues of
  oppression gender, race, class and other
  oppressions, issues of conflict
• Provides the opportunity to sharpen skills in
  media, information, communication and technology
  (Hands-on Training)
• Creates spaces for the production of new and
  alternative meanings (Vocabularies of Equality
  and Peace)?

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Opportunities for Women

• Majority of radio listeners are women Community
  Radio can inform them better on local issues of
  interest to them.

• Women can produce their own programmes In
  mainstream media women's programmes are mostly
  determined by commercial interests targeting
  women

as consumers of cosmetics, fashion and
groceries. If women produce their own programmes
they can discuss any issue from their
perspective.
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Opportunities for Women

• Empowerment of Women
• Information means power. The better informed
  women are, the more they can participate in
  family and community affairs.
• If women talk over the radio and produce their
  own program, they participate actively in civil
  society.
• They receive more recognition by their family and
  the community.

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Opportunities for Women

• Women can change patriarchal values
  and images of women in the media.
• Too often women are being portrayed as helpless
  victims, sex objects, ignorant, etc.
• Women's valuable contribution to society is
  usually ignored.

• Women's work in the family, in the community is
  usually ignored.
• Women's opinion and their contribution at work is
  usually underestimated.
• Community Radio can give women a strong and
  powerful voice.