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Community radio began in Uruguay in the post-dictatorship years of the 1980s. Until December 2007 however, these stations were pirate broadcasters that had been excluded from the country's broadcasting system. Today, not only have these stations gained legal status, they have become active partners in the regulation of Uruguay's broadcasting system. This article documents the development of community broadcasting, the role of civil society in bringing about regulatory change, and innovative approaches to policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to the radio spectrum most often has become tightly controlled by nation-states and military bodies around the world, available to citizens only under stringent licensing and leasing frameworks. This article examines one aspect of the growing global community radio movement which makes an alternative ownership claim on this resource. Taking place at a small-scale grass-roots level, this movement is nevertheless worthy of attention from media scholars. By considering the example of community radio development in Thailand, we can see this movement represents a new communications paradigm in formation, one that fundamentally alters the manner in which the broadcast frequency spectrum is monopolized by state and commercial interests and, consequently, the manner in which people will allow themselves to be governed, as radio becomes a vehicle for marginalized communities to stake a claim in territory heretofore unquestionably ruled by the centre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experimental study tested localism's influence on listener first impressions of radio programs and stations. Subjects heard program excerpts manipulated to test ownership and locality of origination. Dependent variables were affective response and medium credibility. Respondents in a Southeastern U.S. city (n = 331) heard excerpts manipulated to sound either locally originated or national, on stations ranging from low-power FMs to national groups such as Clear Channel Worldwide. Results showed slight preferences for local origination and a marginal preference for local ownership. Combining the independent variables in a 2 × 2 test strengthened differences, but the interaction term was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the revenue structure and possibilities of community radio in India. It discusses the philosophy and three aspects of community radio. It mentions community radio projects in which nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in the grass root levels including the Alternative for India Development (AID) Project in Daltanganj, Voices Project in Budhikote, and the Deccan Development Society (DDS) Project in Pastapur. It relates funding for robust community radio experience, as well as the radio policy guidelines in the country. It describes the important role plays by UNESCO in community radio.

The article presents a study of community radio in Andhra Pradesh, India. It discusses the important role plays by community radio in social change. It explores the genesis and background of community radio. It discusses the status of community radio in India as of January 2009. Furthermore, it relates the status of campus and community radio stations in Andhra Pradesh, particularly Mana Radio and Sangham Radio. It explores the community radio policy and explains why Campus Radio Stations are more in number than community radio.

The article presents a review of community radio (CR) policy in Bangladesh. It recounts the formulation of the policy and its approval in May 2008. It states that the policy contains eight articles along with a brief introduction which puts places emphasis on the needs and importance of radio, as well as its potential in the age of proliferation of diversified global media. It describes fundamental principles and required criteria under the policy. It also discusses challenges for the CR policy including tax policy, political interference and ownership.

The participation of grassroots in the political process entails the proactive role of media. The mainstream mass media with its market-driven content and diverse audience is inadequate for grassroots empowerment. The participatory community media allows the grassroots to be involved in the management and in the content production process. The Community Radio policy of India has been designed to increase grassroots involvement in the economic and social development process. But intentionally political empowerment of the grassroots has been excluded from its influence. This paper explores the potential of community radio as a participatory media in the panchayat areas of West Bengal and its effectiveness in attaining political empowerment for the panchayat members. The West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1977 made provision for grassroots participation in the formation of local governments and involvement in its decisions. But political empowerment has eluded the grassroots because of the influence of external factors. The presence of a community media channel like the community radio would have mobilized grassroots participation in the political process. This paper investigates the role and prospect of community radio from the perspective of political empowerment of the communities. The mass media's linear approach, rare interaction and insignificant feedback were not ideal for grassroots empowerment. There was a need for an alternative participatory media. The community radio is the appropriate answer to the requirement. This paper explores the efficacy of the community radio to fulfill the requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars tend to agree that the weak implementation of affirmative localism in US media is primarily due to either the failure of regulators to enforce the principle, or the unworkability of the concept of localism itself. By ‘affirmative localism’ I refer to efforts to foster geographically based local identities and local public spheres through a licensee's program service. This study revisits the history of localism to demonstrate that early regulators were not primarily concerned with fostering affirmative localism, but instead used discourses and structures of localism as part of a class-based project of cultural and economic modernisation of local communities through radio. In this view, regulatory concepts such as local program service and local trusteeship were used to reduce local distinctiveness, limit program diversity, and retain content control with nationally minded regulators in Washington. These regulators' corporate and cosmopolitan vision of modernity is problematic in many ways, but their relative success in using localism to advance that vision calls into question the Federal Radio Commission's reputation for weakness and incompetence. It also suggests that affirmative localism, since it was actively suppressed by regulators in the formative years of US radio, cannot be considered a failed or unworkable concept for broadcasting policy in itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on community radio licensing and policy. An examination of community radio legislation worldwide finds a sector dominated by a dearth of policy. There are countries with well-established community radio sectors, such as Australia and Ireland, and those where community radio is still unrecognized, such as Japan and Malaysia. Often, there exists landscapes of unlicensed micro-radio stations in places without a licensed community radio.