[cr-india] Community radio - a rare success story, Media Guardian (9 March 2009)

[sajan venniyoor]

The United Kingdom got its CR policy (the Community Radio Order 2004) two
years after India got its first CR policy in 2002. They now have 130 CR
stations, with 50 waiting to launch. This, in a country smaller than Andhra
Pradesh, smaller than Maharashtra, smaller than Madhya Pradesh, smaller than
Rajasthan; on an island where there's scarcely a frequency left on their
crowded FM dial.

Seven years and two CR policies later, we have 41 CR stations, with 170
waiting without much hope for something to happen.

Maybe India isn't ready for 'Gaydio' (!) or Christian hip-hop yet, but our
CR stations should also note that their British counterparts deliver on
average 81 hours of "original and distinctive output" every week, have 74
volunteers per station and are generally meeting their costs.

And to think it's the same perfidious Albion which gave us the Indian
Telegraph Act 1885 and sc**wed us over for 124 years...

Sajan
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[From creative-radio: thanks to Salvatore Scifo for the link]

COMMUNITY RADIO - A Rare Success Story
John Plunkett, Guardian.co.uk (blog), 9 Mar 2009

Community radio was today hailed as a triumph by the media regulator, Ofcom,
but is the new breed of volunteer-run stations filling the void in local
programming that commercial radio has left?

There are now more than 130 community radio stations across the UK, with
another 50 preparing to launch. Although, given current economic conditions,
it remains to be seen how many of those will actually take to the air.

But with commercial radio in the doldrums, any radio success story outside
the BBC is to be celebrated.

The not-for-profit stations are required by Ofcom to deliver "social gain to
one or more communities" in their local area, with stations catering for
urban music fans (New Style in Birmingham), experimental music aficionados (
London's Resonance FM), the armed forces (Garrison FM in Edinburgh) and
religious communities (Cross Rhythms in Stoke on Trent).

Ofcom says the community stations are "generally meeting their costs", with
the average station costing £101,000 to run, with average station income
also at £101,000. Well, they are supposed to be not for profit.

But it is worth noting, as Ofcom does, that the figures for the median
station are somewhat lower, with operating costs of £64,500 and income of
£65,500, suggesting that a small number of stations earn - and cost -
significantly more than the majority.

Community radio relies on a huge band of volunteers - an average of 74 a
station, according to Ofcom - delivering a total of more than 100,000
volunteer hours a month. In return, some of them get training and
qualifications that they would not receive elsewhere in the sector.

But how much can community radio provide the "local factor" that will
inevitably go missing from the big commercial radio stations as they turn
their back on locally produced content and heritage station names in favour
of syndicated programming and national brands?

Announcing Ofcom's first annual report of community radio today, Peter
Davies, Ofcom's director of radio policy, said community radio was a "real
success story".

"It delivers rich and varied content to listeners and provides additional
benefits through community involvement and training.

"In just over three years, 130 stations have sprung up across the length and
breadth of the UK ... We are delighted that interest from those wishing to
run such stations for their own communities remains high."

Each community radio station provides 81 hours of "original and distinctive
output", according to Ofcom, with most of it locally produced.

To protect the revenue of existing commercial stations, community
broadcasters are barred from raising more than 50% of their income from
on-air advertising and sponsorship - it currently stands at 18% - with the
majority of their backing coming from public sources such as local
authorities.

Less than 15% of the UK population - around 6.5 million adults - are able to
receive a community radio station aimed broadly at them, says Ofcom. The
shortage of FM frequency availability hasn't helped this, although the
process of "digital migration" - you probably shouldn't hold your breath -
may one day free up extra spectrum.

My earliest experience of community radio was more than a decade ago, when I
covered the launch of the Rochester-based Medway FM in north Kent. One of
the joys was hearing about local news and events, which were never covered
by BBC Radio Kent, even though it was based just down the road.

But it didn't have the newsgathering resources of the local newspaper - I
admit it, I was working for it - and the amateurish presentation quickly
moved on from endearing to irritating.

Still, Medway FM has moved on since then - its office is now a wine bar and
the newsroom a ladies' loo - and so has community radio, with the current
band first licensed in 2004.

Do you work in community radio? Do you listen to it? Is it in danger of
being left behind by digital radio - or are the current stresses and strains
of the commercial sector community radio's biggest opportunity yet?
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/mar/09/community-radio-ofcom-plunkett-blog
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