Access to Broadcasting: Community Radio and Radio Communities.

Community radio is both a participatory form of communication - broadcasting that represents some kind of ideological understanding about community organizing and participatory media, and in many countries, a formal sector of licensing. The difficulty for researchers interested in community radio is this distinction is not always made clear. Practical concerns regarding the legislative process, policy-making, technical considerations of frequency allocation, power restrictions and antenna height are very different - although related - to issues of community organizing and social gain. In taking the example of Britain, and examining community radio in practice among the three London stations, we can see where these regulatory issues in practice converge with more theoretical issues around community media as a form of alternative media, and practical issues around community broadcasting as a participatory media, and broader social and political issues around the right to communicate and 'citizen's' access to the airwaves. This paper presents a framework for thinking about community media in a practical and regulatory context and thought a focused examination of community radio in London, unpacks the tensions around practice and theory. The study draws heavily on field research and first person interviews. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]