[cr-india] Civil Radio in Hungary on its last legs

Sun Feb 23 00:53:40 CST 2014

Dear Vinod/ Ram,
One question which oft bothers me about ' how much is enough' is about the hours of broadcast.
I remember, in one of the sammelan's in a session chaired by Stalin , he said, if you are broadcasting for just two hours then you might as well not run your station. Close it and hand over your license and in turn release the spectrum you are sitting on to someone who can make better use of it. 
But recently there has been a discussion on how many hours you broadcast , and what you broadcast is the community's call and no one has a right to judge you on that or ask you to increase hours of broadcast.
Secondly even if you repeat the same program endlessly you can't be judged on that.
Thirdly even if you operate like an office - from 9:30am to 5:30pm and have no body to man the station, as long as it is running ( looped content) you can still claim to be an effective community radio station - despite the fact that you are not listening.
Would like to hear your views on this.
I know that there is a lot of flexibility in this sector , but I am sure there must be some non negotiables too which people  long associated with this movement must have envisioned.

Best
Archana

Sent from my iPhone

> On 23-Feb-2014, at 10:36 am, Vinod Pavarala <vpavarala at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear Ram:
> 
> Your suggestion for 'scaling down' in order to make CR stations feel more proximate to their communities and run more sustainable operations is very understandable. However, in an environment that is dominated by large NGOs and donor agencies, the desire, if not demand, is for 'scaling up'.  Let me recall that some years ago when we were doing a five-year review of AID's highly successful programme, Chala Ho Gaon Mein, we found out that an operation that started initially with about 14 community reporters covering about 40 villages (about 3 villages per reporter, on the average) had transformed drastically in pursuit of 'scale'. They were now covering nearly 160 villages, with only 5 community reporters (about 30 villages per reporter) and none of them women.  The women had rapidly deserted the programme because the large coverage area for each reporter deterred them from the job, which demanded travel, with difficult roads and challenging transportation infrastructure. A senior official of the NGO expressed his desire to reach 'a million people' through this community radio programme, and not be satisfied by the small audience numbers.
> 
> Some multilateral agencies that have been active in the CR sector are now rethinking their involvement, in part, because of perceived lack of scale in small-scale CR stations, with a small reach.
> The issue with public funding is that unless it is autonomously administered, the government will always be accused of having misplaced priorities or playing favourites.  For instance, this issue of the MIB scheme funding only infrastructure needs, and not content generation or capacity building, could be questioned in terms of the long-term impact of state support.  The MIB's stated concern about being accused of influencing content through funding is understandable from a certain point of view, but if the fund is in the hands of an autonomous body, they can then escape such accusations.
> 
> Of course, my question about 'how much is enough' was, at one level, merely rhetorical because we still have only a measly 160 stations!
> 
> best,
> Vinod
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 1:01 AM, Ram Bhat <ram at maraa.in> wrote:
>> Well I would say that there are at least two ways of looking at the question.
>> 
>> How much is enough for the country?  Secondly, how much is enough for a given population? (in a city, district or village or in other words urban, semi urban and rural areas)
>> 
>> My take on the first question would be to take a universal service obligation route-at least one CR per district, one CR station per major language, one station in each of 50 poorest districts and so on. The final number is not important.
>> 
>> The second question is more difficult to answer. Plato is reported to have said that the ideal size of a city is about 10000 people - so it can be governed ideally and justly.  I'm happy to go along with that in the CR context.
>> 
>> A CR station (or two) serving 10, 000 people would be ideal. Communities would be able to participate and manage without much difficulty.  So we need less radios in rural or areas with low population density and more stations where population density is higher. I'm sure it's not the right way to think about it though.  It needs wider and deeper consultation.
>> 
>> Coming to the question of reliance on public or rather in the case of India, govt funding - I would wager that most of the NGO run stations have the govt as a major and dominant source of revenue. And I'm not taking a moral stance here. Just hazarding a guess on the reality.
>> 
>> I don't want to blame them for this because they're not really able to raise money through ads from the market. They cater to a community who cant or wont pay for products that usually advertise on  FM radio. On the other hand the local Chaiwallah simply can't pay enough to sustain a CR. They don't need to advertise either.
>> 
>> Universities are subsidized by their management and KVKs have annual budgets from the govt to take care of expenses. So, this is a problem unique to NGOs - especially the small NGOs who are not connected and networked to various ministries and donors.
>> 
>> Its really tricky. My only response to this problem is to scale down. Small radios tend to have lesser expenses. The more intimate they are the more they can run on volunteerism. The biggest expense in any case is the salary of the staff.
>> 
>> I don't think consolidating CR stations is the solution.  Its like mergers and acquisitions when the pie is not big enough. If we start asking stations to share frequencies or stop stations that are not 'authentic' in order to utilize funds more efficiently;  then in my opinion we would be missing the wood for the trees.
>> 
>> We have to forge our priorities, not from a fiscal efficiency perspective but from a diversity and pluralism perspective.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Ram
>> 
>>> On 22 Feb 2014 15:47, "Vinod Pavarala" <vpavarala at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> One thing that is interesting is how much is enough. In India, we have been going with the idea that we need many more CR stations for the size of India.
>>> When I met Rui Monteiro of Aarhus Global Media (Denmark) last year, he told me about how in Denmark they were planning to consolidate the number of stations to something more manageable by eliminating non-serious, inauthentic ones or asking those under-using the frequency to merge with others, etc. Also, I remember him saying that this will also ensure that the quantum of public funding per station would be better. 
>>> 
>>> I now see this report that Denmark government has announced a total grant for 2014 of 2.35 million Euro for approximately 175 organizations running non-commercial local (community) radio stations. This is apart from about another 3 million Euro for community television.  Not a bad amount! I wonder if the consolidation has already taken place.
>>> But, of course, this still doesn't address Ram Bhat's concern about over-dependence on public funding.  We are not there yet in India. Are we?
>>> 
>>> best,
>>> Vinod
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 2:24 AM, Ram Bhat <ram at maraa.in> wrote:
>>>> Dear Vinod,  
>>>> Thanks for this. I read Gabriella Velic's account with some interest too, and been meaning to respond.
>>>> 
>>>> While some conditions seem bearable (66% public service content,  6mins/hr of adverts etc) the key issue seems to be a deliberate broadening of eligibility criteria - is this attributed to political or economic motives?
>>>> 
>>>> It allowed others to enter the space of CR and in turn genuine CR stations couldn't compete as well. It seems to me a clear case of how vulnerable community radio is and how prone they are to collapse even if the market distorts slightly.
>>>> 
>>>> And this is done in two ways: same pool of funds but number of applicants increased. Secondly, commercial or public broadcasters have other sources of funds so they have more staying power in the market. Community radio presumably over depended on public funds and thus couldn't compete.
>>>> 
>>>> The interesting question it throws up is - who is a genuine community radio? Or in other words,  what distinguishes local public radio or local commercial radio from CR? After all if they (local commercial) are not paying license fees then they are also bound by some conditions or obligations (limited ads and public service content). Gabriella seems to indicate that the primary distinguishing marker is ownership rather than content. (We in India would do well to remember that perspective)
>>>> 
>>>> Nepal comes to mind in terms of the lack of clarity when distinguishing between commercial and community radio. Of course in Hungary the proxy control of radio by political parties is also worrying.
>>>> 
>>>> It just goes to show that in the absence of rigorous standards for media diversity and pluralism, having codified laws for community radio can become irrelevant,  and even counterproductive. 
>>>> 
>>>> I'd be interested to hear about what CMFE or others are doing to counter these developments.
>>>> 
>>>> Will spread the word on Civil Radio.
>>>> 
>>>> Best, 
>>>> Ram
>>>> 
>>>>> On 21 Feb 2014 21:35, "Vinod Pavarala" <vpavarala at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> This is a follow up to some posts here on the vanishing CR sector in Hungary.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Civil Radio is one of the last Hungarian independent community radio stations. Programmes on Civil Radio are made by nearly 150 volunteers and activists whose work is supported by only a small staff. Over the last 20 years, they have survived by tapping a variety of funding sources. However, political changes in the last few years have had an adverse effect on Hungary’s media and the whole of Hungarian civil society. Most independent CR stations in Hungary have disappeared in the last three years. Now Civil Radio is next on the chopping block.
>>>>> 
>>>>> If you would like to stand by Civil Radio in this time of crisis, please visit:
>>>>> http://sos.civilradio.org/en/
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Vinod Pavarala
>>>>> Professor & UNESCO Chair on Community Media
>>>>> Department of Communication
>>>>> University of Hyderabad
>>>>> Gachibowli, Hyderabad A.P. 500046
>>>>> India
>>>>> 91-40-23135501
>>>>> http://www.commuoh.in/
>>>>> http://www.uccommedia.in/
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Join the Community Radio Forum.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Dr. Vinod Pavarala
>>> Professor of Communication &
>>> UNESCO Chair on Community Media
>>> Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication 
>>> University of Hyderabad
>>> Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046
>>> Phone: +91-40-23135501/23011553
>>> http://www.commuoh.in/
>>> http://www.uccommedia.in/
>>> http://www.communityradioindia.org/
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dr. Vinod Pavarala
> Professor of Communication &
> UNESCO Chair on Community Media
> Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication 
> University of Hyderabad
> Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046
> Phone: +91-40-23135501/23011553
> http://www.commuoh.in/
> http://www.uccommedia.in/
> http://www.communityradioindia.org/
> 
> Join the Community Radio Forum.
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