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This article, within the context of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Community Media Association (CMA) in 2023, and its role within the context of British radio history, will draw on grey literature from the CMA digital archives, including policy statements, policy briefings and background material for the lobbying actions during the period 1997–2007. First-hand material to be discussed will draw on interviews with key actors involved in policy-making until the introduction of Community Radio into legislation, as well as on press releases, statements and policy documents of the regulators Radio Authority and the Office of Communications, policy statements and documents published by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, statements from the BBC and commercial radio representatives and parliamentary records of the debates on community radio legislation. The analysis and discussion of this material will help to establish the role of the main players in policy-making and regulation and how events unfolded between the outcome of 2 May 1997 general election, when the Labour Party took power, and 20 July 2004, when the Community Radio Order (CRO) was approved. It will also trace the development of the lobbying action of the CMA, the discussions and the tensions preceding the government's approval to go ahead with a new sector. It will argue that, despite having the merit of introducing a new sector in licensed radio broadcasting, after three decades of community media activists campaigning, the Labour Party fell short on its promises of funding the sector in its initial phase, denying it a solid and sustainable start. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'community' of community media has long been a contentious question in the field. Given the wide range of interpretations of community and the ongoing fragmentation of media audiences, it has never been more important for community media to define and delineate their audiences. One approach to this is developing and maintaining a sense of mediatized community identity through content production. Community identity represents an under-researched area in community media studies. While community media audiences and broadcasters have themselves been the subject of research, how a sense of community identity is created through content production is less understood. This article details a critical discourse analysis of programming from ten different community radio stations within the same geographic location. The findings of this research reveal the very different approaches that stations take to developing a mediatized community identity. Several stations approach identity expression by engaging in overt performances of 'localness', while the growing influence of commercialization was also observed among many stations. What this research highlights is that the performance of community identity on community radio is integral in shaping the listening communities, as well as delineating community radio from its commercial and state-run counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to reflect on community radio and television in this post-conflict times. To do so, an approximation is made to sustainability as a central category resulting from the balance between economic, political and, particularly, sociocultural aspects. Secondl, two experiences are reviewed: This is how radios sound for the peace in Colombia and the Community Media Conversation. They serve as a pretext to know its reality, its scope and limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Global Media Journal: Turkish Edition is the property of Global Media Journal, Turkish Edition and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article shows in a concise way the proposal of a model for reception studies of community radios. This is result of a collaborative research process with five community radio stations in Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Boyacá and Santander. Under the assumption that it is an open model and that it does not claim universality, the authors leaves some guiding theoretical and methodological assumptions and presents a route so that other community radio experiences can adapt it to their own history and contexts of conformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first community radios began to emerge in Brazil in the 1980s as a part of the illegal radio broadcasts that occur from the 1970s under the inspiration of the so-called European pirate radios. You are already included in the legislation for broadcasting services; in addition, there are many radios in activity illegally in the country. The work verifies the current panorama of the radio in Brazil evidencing its clandestine appearance and its specificities through the case study of a radio with characteristics of emission that operated clandestinely for almost two decades in the interior of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the role that community media play in the translocal negotiation of local culture in Latin America. Translocal is a concept that captures the way that local cultural producers engage with national and transnational forces in shaping everyday cultural practices. This study focuses on community radio station Ecos de Manantlán in Zapotitlán de Vadillo, Mexico (Radio Zapotitlán), during the years 2006–2012. Radio Zapotitlán is officially categorized as a campesino or agricultural laborer/peasant station and presents its campesino identity through radio and Internet content. Analyses of that content, along with interviews with station associates and listeners, reveal the complex cultural mediations between local media producers, national regulators, and transnational donors. This study investigates the local production of a transnationally funded radionovela, or radio soap opera, as a window onto the station’s role as a cultural mediator. This article argues that station participants used the radionovela to express local values and meanings and to marginalize the educational goals of the transnational agency funding the project. Radio Zapotitlán offers a concrete case of cultural negotiation in which local interests engage with – and transform – donor-funded content aimed at the local community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IC: Revista Científica de Información y Comunicación is the property of Universidad de Sevilla, Departamento de Periodismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Question (1669-6581) is the property of Universidad Nacional de La Plata and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Argentinian Law 26.522 on Audiovisual Communication Services (currently under reform) aimed at democratizing the media arena by recognizing multiple actors such as community broadcasters, school and indigenous media, among others. According to the legal classification, community broadcasters were regulated as private non-profit media, despite having specific objectives, programming, organizational logic and economic conditions. Conversely, school and indigenous media merged into the public sector, even if they may act as community media. The article compares results arising from two research projects carried out in Northern Argentina through in-depth interviews with key informants from two indigenous radio stations and two school radio stations. The theoretical framework mainly draws on literature about community, alternative and popular communication. Results show that communities participate in such media foundation or management and that media content deals with cultural and political issues related to their interests or needs. Indeed, emerging features allow considering such broadcasters as community media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature about community radio in Kenya has focused on sustainability challenges, but not much on existent production practices and audience evaluations of the station. Koch FM is a community radio station located in Korogocho, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya. The station aims to provide alternative information, education and entertainment content. Producers at the station and community members who make up the station's audience have different perceptions of Koch FM's role. While the producers envision Koch FM as the provider of information and a space for community voice, the community evaluates the station's performance based on parameters drawn from commercial broadcasters. Consequently, the station acts as a space where sometimes-contradictory ideals play out. In exploring these contrasting viewpoints, this article highlights contextual production practices and the shifting audience expectations facing community radio in Kenya's vibrant radio broadcast environment. The data are the outcome of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2014 and 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vision Australia Radio (VAR) is part of the Australian Radio for the Print Handicapped (RPH) community radio network providing a radio reading service to listeners with a vision impairment. Like mainstream media, it faces the challenge of ensuring the service is fit for purpose in the digital age. There is little preexisting research on the behaviour and interests of the vision-impaired as a discrete audience demographic. This paper reports on a survey of listeners to VAR in Perth, Western Australia, which gives an insight into their current listening habits and identifies some of the challenges in meeting their future needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FUTURES on Air was a public engagement project delivered as part of FUTURES2020, a European Researchers' Night event, which consisted of a series of co-produced radio conversations between community programme makers and researchers, which was broadcast across stations in the southwest of England, November 2020. FUTURES on Air explored the role of community media, specifically community radio, in relation to alternative forms of public engagement with researchers, and as impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community radio in India operates within a clear framework of development. This calls into question the fundamental purpose of community radio: communication rights, activism, voice, community participation or development? Drawing on ethnographic research conducted at two rural stations in South India, this research explores the influence of a pervasive development discourse on the grassroots activities and functions of community radio. The starkest example of this was observed through the far-reaching influence of the Government of India's highly publicised sanitation programme, the Swachh Bharat Mission. This programme represents a pervasive example of the modernisation paradigm in development communication, yet it was found to proliferate throughout community radio, a medium more often associated with participatory communication. This development discourse was found to profoundly impact the way both broadcasters and audience members engage with and experience community radio. The findings highlight a disconnect between the theoretical and ideological frameworks of community radio and the ways in which a development discourse operates through the stations at the grassroots level. As such, this article argues that community radio in India represents a liminal space where multiple development communication paradigms interact and compete with the theoretical underpinnings of the movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community radio in Australia is now well established and considered an important part of the radio sector, however, in today's economically driven world it is at the bottom of the media money pile. In order to argue for its continuing existence, funding and development in an ever-changing media landscape, some means of capturing its value is essential. This article describes the development of a theoretical framework of value for community radio. The content of the framework was achieved by, first, examining, community media/radio literature through five relevant lenses of analysis. Secondly, a subsequent meta-analysis was applied to consolidate the framework. In order to test the utility of the draft theoretical framework of value, three case studies were conducted with different types of community radio stations in Perth, Western Australia. Two primary research methods were used: interviews with staff and audience focus groups. The testing exercise provided a multimodal insight into the values of community radio as reflected in real life practice. The analysis revealed how value was perceived by participants across three stations as personal motivations, and second, that value at individual stations was contingent upon the characteristics of the individual community radio stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community multimedia centers (CMCs) are considered by initiating agencies as instruments able to inform, entertain and educate the population, as well as to offer them a voice into knowledge society and to public initiatives. This article presents a quali-quantitative content analysis of 230 interviews held with staff members, users of the venues, people of the community who listen to their radio component but do not use their telecenters, and community members not using CMCs. The sample includes 10 CMCs around Mozambique. The purpose of the study is to investigate the perception of local communities of inbound, outbound, and shared information and communication flows connected to CMCs. Results highlight how CMCs are perceived as inbound information enablers, mostly by means of their community radio component, and as means to share information and communication within the communities' boundaries. Yet, CMCs still do not appear to be widely recognized as participation means to a reality that transcends the communities' physical borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining extractive companies have extended their operations to other realms, such as the management of media. Thus, from a space of physical intervention, they start to conquer a space of symbolic representation, creating a gap between local communities' perceptions of the mining process and the perception that is spread through media outlets about the operations in the territories. In Chile, this perception is complicated by the participation of the mining industry in media ownership and the overall concentration of media. Through critical ethnographic fieldwork, analysis of national and local community media examples, this article explores an ongoing socio-environmental conflict in the Choapa Valley where the copper mine Los Pelambres operates. It does it by first discussing how the mining industry pursues narratives of extractivism in the Chilean media and then discussing how local communities defy this narrative by creating their description of the territory through local media outlets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most Americans, public service media (PSM) are synonymous with National Public Radio for radio and audio and Public Broadcasting Service for television and video. However, these national services do not fully circumscribe the PSM sphere in the United States. US community media are non-commercial, locally controlled outlets that produce content intended for local audiences, most often focused on local concerns associated with housing, education, government and the arts. This study provides an overview of the present state of community media in the United States. It draws on a variety of sources, including data from the industry, and from the professional press, as well as a series of extensive informational interviews with community media leaders around the United States. The subjects include representatives from community radio and community television outlets that serve urban, suburban and rural markets. After compiling and analysing the quantitative and qualitative data, several key indicators emerge that help to describe the current state of community media in the United States and point towards challenges and opportunities ahead for the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connectivity made possible by the diffusion of digital technologies has offered new possibilities for the public to interact with media, including radio. However, interactions are often framed by globally managed platforms, owned by companies with values based on maximizing profit, rather than prioritising Illich's forms of conviviality. In this article, we draw on experiences from the Grassroot Wavelengths project that introduces an innovative peer-to-peer platform to support the creation and management of community radio stations. We offer insight into the practices of participation in community media, where the users influence decisions concerning the technology, the content, the actors and the organization policy of the radio station, through a participatory design approach. These collaborations between researchers and users, together with a focus on the development of relational assets in local contexts, are fundamental in an attempt to design a platform that fosters conviviality and offers an alternative way to consider participation in community media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, referring to the notion of island communicative ecology, explores the role of local Okinawan initiatives for language revitalisation through community radio and island cultural agents, especially focusing on the activities of an individual, Minoru Ikehara, his private information and communications technology company, Crest Co. Ltd and their innovative use of vending machines. In Okinawa, the movement for re-introducing shimakutuba (community languages) officially started in 2006 when Okinawa Prefecture's legislated Shimakutuba no hi ('Community Languages Day'). Since then, local governing bodies have increased their language revitalisation efforts especially at school level. However, there have been difficulties with allocating time for shimakutuba education under the control of Japanese government curriculum guidelines. The choice of which language to work with, among various shimakutuba nurtured in each island community, has also raised endless discussions. As a top-down approach is not sufficient, the local media and grassroots efforts have played an important role for in the language revitalisation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Attabad lake disaster took place on 4th January, 2010 in Northern Areas of Pakistan near China border when a massive landslide slid the Attabad village into the river Hunza. The debris blocked the water flow in the river and created a large barrier lake. The level of the water in the lake continued to increase at an alarming speed thus causing a great threat to the people of areas. There was a great need to establish communication links with the people of the area for rescue activities. To cope with the situation, Radio Pakistan set-up FM-93 Baltit Fort Hunza radio station on emergency basis. The study was carried out to evaluate the role of the community radio station that it played during the crisis situation. Survey method was used to collect the data. The population consisted of all the sixty-five thousand people affected by the crisis while sample size was two hundred subjects. The results showed that 85% subjects agreed with the supportive role of the radio station while 15% did not agree. Therefore, it was concluded that the community radio FM-93 Hunza played an effective role in addressing the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melbourne is Australia's second most populated city, and in many ways a microcosm of broader Australian society. As a city, Melbourne is the proverbial 'melting pot' of cultures. This diversity is evident in the breadth of community radio stations that service the Melbourne community. From 'generalist' stations serving a plethora of marginalized audiences to ethnic stations, youth stations, stations for seniors and Indigenous stations, Melbourne community radio is a vibrant and active mix of much that represents Australia - and the contemporary global condition. This article draws on data collected during two national studies of Australia's community media sector (Forde, Meadows and Foxwell 2002; Meadows et al. 2007) that focused on stations and subsequently their audiences. The research used a mixed methodology of surveys, focus groups and interviews to build a picture of the role these stations perform for individual participants, local community groups, businesses and other organizations and audience members. The article engages with Melbourne fieldwork from these national studies, offering an analysis of community radio in an Australian metropolitan centre. While not without their problems, Melbourne's community radio stations and their audiences have created and developed a space and place for diverse groups to connect in ways that foster the sense of belonging so central to the well-being of individuals and their communities. In this way, these stations perform a particular role in metropolitan Melbourne by combating the sense of isolation and anonymity that so often characterizes the urban experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the constructive roles of community and faith-based radio in building resilience and trust in Kenya after post-election violence. Since the 2007/08 post-election violence, Kenya has had two hotly contested elections (2013 and 2017), which have contributed to the lack of trust in electoral institutions and government and the ongoing mistrust between and among different communities. Both mainstream and community media have been criticized for playing destructive roles during post-election violence in Kenya with little focus on any of their constructive roles in the post-conflict period. A key point in this article is that community radio can be used to facilitate peaceful social dialogue and build trust and resilience between and among different communities in Kenya. This is based on the fact that they actually show promising potentials to promote dialogue and better understanding among conflicting communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promulgation of the Broadcasting Service Act (BSA), which contains a three-tier model of the broadcasting system, was supposed to revolutionise the broadcasting media sphere in Zimbabwe. It was supposed to change the dynamics of radio broadcasting in Zimbabwe by increasing the opportunity for public, commercial and community broadcasting sectors. However, the three-tier model of broadcasting has remained on the paper, creating a strong debate on community radio licensing among media activists, practitioners, academics, the government and other media policy stakeholders on the government's reluctance in issuing community radio licences. While some studies have focused on the strategies used by community broadcasting activists to communicate with their target audiences in Zimbabwe, this research seeks to contribute to the growing body of literature on community broadcasting policy and the contestations which have resulted in the impasse of the licensing of community radios in Zimbabwe. Based on the Four Theoretical Approach to Community Media, in-depth interviews with Zimbabwean media policy stakeholders as well as documentary analysis, this study explores the contestation of ideas that characterised community broadcasting reform processes in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth in interest and research in community radio worldwide over the last few decades is a welcome development. While, as noted by Jankowski (2003), a first generation of research has been largely empirical in nature, describing and analysing the organisation and operation of stations in different contexts, more recently a second generation of work has begun to emerge which aims at grounding empirical studies within broader theoretical frameworks, most notably those relating to democracy and the public sphere. The specific components of the public sphere remain somewhat underdeveloped in these studies however. This article aims to contribute to this literature through an examination of community radio in Ireland within a framework drawn from evolving work of Habermas and associated deliberative, social and media theorists. The article, drawing on a detailed study of four community stations in Ireland, identifies elements of community radio which contribute towards a "defeudalisation" of the public sphere as well as highlighting challenges in this regard. Although situated within a specific context, with Irish community radio operating within a comparable regulatory environment to both that in Australia and the United Kingdom, the article draws lessons of specific interest to researchers and activists in these domains, as well as offering a framework of use to community radio researchers interested in examining the sector's contribution to the re-animation of the public sphere more globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the legacy of struggle by community radio in the West is analysed from a comparative perspective. More specifically, the focus of this article is on Western media policies towards community radio. It is argued that while many community radio discourses, theories and policies are oriented towards developing countries and emerging democracies, community radio stations in the West are often forced to operate in the margins. Case studies on the US, the UK and Belgium are presented. Some influence of distinct regulatory paradigms can be observed, but overall in each of these countries community radio stations have a legacy of struggle for their existence and survival. This exposes the need to account for the distinct nature of community radio in (Western) regulatory regimes. A common thread in the cases being presented is the difficulty involved in (local) community radio legitimating its existence on the FM-band alongside commercial and public broadcasters. Unlike these, community radio movements have little lobbying power and are usually positioned as rogue and unprofessional actors within the broadcasting community. From a democratic perspective emphasizing the importance of participation and civic culture, Western media policies urgently need to create an enabling environment for participatory community radio initiatives. [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]

Impact assessment is one of a variety of monitoring tools available to ensure that a community radio effectively works towards set objectives and aspirations. In Mozambique a 'bare-foot' impact assessment methodology has been designed, tested, revised and implemented with eight community-owned stations between 2000 and 2005. The present article 1 explores the three separate areas of attention focused upon in this methodology: (1) an internal assessment of the radio's way of functioning as an organism; (2) an assessment of the capacity of the community producers through their programmes to meet the needs and desires of the community; and (3) the overall objective of it all: assessing the extent to which impact can be registered vis-à-vis a positive development change within the community, empowerment, mending of the social tissue, etc. resulting from the work of the community radio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Analisi: Quaderns de Comunicacio i Cultura is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The quest for competitiveness and popularity of a campus radio station needs to be balanced with the epistemological frames of community radio, which include participation, community ownership, and opposition to hegemonic discourse in the mainstream media as well as independence from political and market influences. I contribute to these reflections by highlighting how within this frame ATL FM is facing dilemmas and challenges that have not occupied community media theorists so far. Through content analysis and in-depth interviews, I investigate whether a community radio can serve and encourage the participation of the local community when professional rather than community members exclusively manage it. I propose a conscious incorporation of stakeholders in the community radio business model as a possible solution to this dilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the qualitative results of an investigation carried out on community radios in Ecuador, based on two questions: what has happened to the local stations that, in 2014, took advantage of the opportunity opened by the Organic Communication Law to become community? Have they achieved economic, institutional and social sustainability? Fieldwork has focused on the analysis of four case studies. The results, obtained through in-depth interviews and participant observation, put on the table a discussion: the distance between the expectations that we find in the stations as a result of the approval of the LOC and the reality shown when, five years later, begins the reform of the lawt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the role of community media in promoting social cohesion and in-tercultural dialogue passed on 11 February 2009 by the Council of Europe, stations run by religious institutions were explicitly excluded from the community media definition, as being too dependent on the Church. But the reality seems to be far from this definition. In practice, in many countries the religious radio stations officially belong to--or even dominate--this sector. In 2011 a new period began for community broadcasting in Hungary. While most of the former community media broadcasters could not find resources with which to operate, the community media landscape was dramatically overwhelmed by religious broadcasters both on regional and local levels. The legally-recognised third tier of broadcasting in Poland called 'social broadcasting' is actively and exclusively used by religious radio--seven stations broadcast locally and one is a powerful nationwide radio station called Radio Maryja. The authors gathered information and points of views from radio experts, organizations and activists living and working in different EU and non-EU states about the place of religious broadcasting in the community media sector. Two case-studies (Hungary and Poland) may be of interest for countries considering the introduction or reorganisation of regulations regarding community broadcasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community radio is one of the resources that can give ordinary or disenfranchised people a voice. This opportunity can be increased through the combination of community radio and mobile phones. Using focus group discussions, face-to-face interviews and observations, this article examines how this combination can improve ordinary people's participation in media production and in public life in Malawi. It also examines the extent to which marginalized people are using mobile phones to voice their concerns through community radio in Malawi. I argue that the proliferation of mobile phones can accord community radio stations increased ability to give people a voice through use of text messaging and phone-in programmes. It can also expand the resources with which ordinary people have a voice. When people are accorded the right to voice their concerns and be heard, they can remove a major communication barrier that prevents them from enjoying the life they value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the prospects of community radio (CR) in the context of Bangladesh in preventing human trafficking and unsafe migration. Specifically, this study assesses the prospects of Radio Mahananda 98.8 FM in this connection. This study reveals that Radio Mahananda 98.8 FM can be termed as the pioneer of the community radio stations in Bangladesh for fighting against trafficking and unsafe migration. As a part of fighting against trafficking and unsafe migration, Radio Mahananda 98.8 FM regularly broadcasts Public Service Announcements (PSA) and a monthly magazine program titled Swapner Thikhana (Address of Dream). It has been evident that the PSAs and the magazine program related to TIP and unsafe migration regularly appeared on Radio Mahananda 98.8 FM has gained attention of most of the listeners. The listeners also opined that those PSAs and the magazine program can benefit people to make them alert regarding TIP and unsafe migration. As the magazine Swapner Thikhana and the PSAs are considered as useful and effective, the respondents are also feeling the urge for continuation of the programs. They think because of the programs of RM regarding this issue, people can become aware on the TIP and unsafe migration and they can also get available information in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how community radio operates transnationally through a media ethnography of the Latin American Association of Radio Education (ALER) executive secretariat in Quito, Ecuador. Findings show that ALER staff members share a common vision of their work based around 4 themes: collective self-representations, unity, inclusion, and transformation. Having a shared collective conviction in the transformative function of radio shapes how ALER staff conceptualize its journalistic production. This research advances knowledge of how community radio scales-up to the transnational level and the shared values underlying this journalistic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Community radio has become an important alternative to mainstream media in many countries. Since 2001 more than 7,000 stations have begun broadcasting in Thailand, making it the global leader in this type of broadcasting. This study surveyed Thai radio listeners and found community stations enormously popular; nearly two-thirds of respondents listened daily, mainly for music and local information programs. However, many listeners did not have a good understanding of community radio, and this likely hampered stations' ability to recruit volunteer workers needed for day-to-day operations. Stations therefore need to educate listeners about this medium in order to build community support. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent years have seen numerous attempts by community broadcasters around the world to reinvent their practices in an effort to remain relevant and financially sustainable in the digital age. One proposed initiative is to have community programming distributed via satellite, either in the form of a single channel or as a subscription service for local stations to find programming. Combining two case studies and multiple research methods, this article investigates the potential impact of satellite distribution on community broadcasting in Canada and East Africa. We observe that it is often not the community media organizations themselves that are pushing for satellite delivery, but, rather, outside actors such as media corporations and non-governmental organizations. As a result, we argue that a more spirited discussion within the community media sector is warranted to better understand the implications of this technological shift in delivery mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While the community media sector may be reported as established and well developed in Western Europe, it has grown considerably more slowly in almost all countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The literature on community media in Europe is also Western oriented -- most of the publications about this sector centre on countries which were located on "the better side" of the Iron Curtain and have been written by Western authors. This paper is the first attempt to look at the problem of community media in Central and Eastern Europe in general and present the specific problems of community media development in this region from an Eastern perspective. According to the Mapping Project of Community Media completed by the Community Media Forum Europe in 2012, the community media sector is legally recognized in only four countries from this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Parliament has already stated the need to adopt support measures in order to guarantee a greater plurality of the media environment and greater participation of citizens in the media. With this premise and the -UNESCO's reommendation on the importance of indicators to measure the correct behavior of audiovisual media, this study evaluates community radios with the Social Profitability -Index in Communication (IRSCOM). A tool whose operation, applied to the means of proximity, has proven its usefulness having influenced the recently approved Audiovisual Law of -Andalucía. IRSCOM values the good practices of these media, as well as exposing the shortcomings they present in order to propose improvements for greater democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has neglected to address the question of whether practitioners and the community groups served by community radio see it as a conduit of community empowerment and social change. This article explores this question through in-depth analysis of four community radio stations in Ireland. The central finding is that, while community stations subscribe to most of the ideals of community radio, practitioners do not generally see the stations as sites of social and political empowerment. Moreover, this outcome is not recognized as a benefit by the communities served by the stations. This is the case because of the policy framework, cultural traditions and training programmes central to community radio in Ireland, the weakness of linkages between stations and community groups and the failure of the latter to understand the unique remit of community radio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of community radio in Ghana's media sphere has changed the political economy of communications in Ghana. The participatory platform of the medium has led to citizens' empowerment and facilitated the political, economic and social development of this new democracy. Marginalized communities are now able to question policies. The views expressed during these participatory programmes like live phone-in have helped to promote accountability and transparency within government circles and the corporate world. However, concerns have been raised over the serious allegations and mischievous remarks made on community radio stations and how they can be regulated. This article shall argue that the complex and intricate nature of the regulatory mechanism and the conceptualization of community radio have made it difficult for the regulatory body, National Media Commission (NMC) to regulate the community radio. Seeing that Ghana is a multi-ethnic state, her democracy may be endangered if the content from community radio stations which could heat up the polity is not regulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role that communication technologies play in the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean region, including in community and economic development, mobilising human potential, empowerment and in facilitating communication of grassroots movements. An overview of the role that Caribbean community media, including community radio, plays in promoting agricultural practices, advocating for rural sustainable development and broadcasting informational content on health, education and HIV/AIDS, is provided.

It's no secret that the representation of migrant groups in the media has been particularly problematic, as has been their access to mainstream media, and both issues have attracted a great deal of research. Far less attention has been paid by researchers to how these groups respond when they experience such difficulties, and the various forms of media they use to engage with a variety of issues pertinent to them and their settlement experiences. This article uses data from two projects: Australia's first, and to date only, national study of community radio audiences; and a more recent case study of a community radio station undertaken in the course of research into talkback radio audiences. It reveals that community radio stations and programs provide migrant communities with a space in which they can discuss and negotiate their civic and social rights and responsibilities. Drawing on the reflections of audience members who listen to and call specific radio programs, this article explores the under-examined but vital role performed by these stations and programs in the social and civic lives of immigrants. It reveals that ethnic community radio programs are helping some audience members to formulate notions of good citizenship, and thus engage with democratic processes, which is vital to feeling socially included. The research reveals immigrants are using community radio proactively to reach out to and connect with the broader Australian community, while also reminding themselves of their homeland, culture and language. However, this article warns that researchers have largely focused on the 'good news story' of community broadcasting and suggests that a more critical approach to future research is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, many take for granted the explosion of newer communications technologies, such as Twitter and Facebook, which help people stay connected. However, "old fashioned" communications technology such as community radio continues to serve communities throughout the world (especially among poorer populations) and remains essential. Although radio predates the recent flood of trendier social media by nearly a century, it continues to connect people to one another and to their communities. This article examines how radio in Mexico serves community needs through educational and public service programming. In addition, my research looks at how Mexicans living in the US have used Mexican radio stations to stay connected with friends and family in Mexico, and the cultural phenomenon that allows for personal messages to be broadcast to an entire community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kothmale Community Radio (KCR) is one of five community radio stations operated by the government-funded public service broadcaster Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). Community radio was originally introduced to Sri Lanka under an UNESCO-DANIDA1 funded project called Mahaveli Community Radio (MCR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a content analysis method, this study examined the way in which 111 radio stations in the U.S. are using the social network system, Twitter. Results of the study revealed that there was only a weak correlation between stations' average quarter hour share and the number of followers of stations' Twitter sites. Also, music stations had more promotional tweets, while news stations provided more news items for their audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]