N.A.Shah Ansari(Community Media Practitioner)

Chairperson, Radio Namaskar

Vice President, Community Radio Association, India

Convener, National Alliance of Community Media

Community Radio in India

What is Community Radio?

Community Radio has a short range and caters

to the information needs of communities living

in the surrounding areas , owned, run and

maintained by a community.

"It is called popular or educational radio in Latin America, rural or local

radio in Africa, public radio in Australia and free or associative radio in

Europe. All these describe the same phenomenon - gaining voices and

democratizing communication on a community.

Why Community Radio?

Magazines - limited reach, expensive, literacy needed

Government run Radio – broad focus, limited time and centralized

Television – commercial approach, electricity, centralized

News Papers – literacy, different focus, restricted reach

But………

Community Radio….

• Is very inexpensive and it is owned by the community

(it may cost from 5 to 25 Lakh Rupees to set up a station)

•The signal is broadcast in FM mode and it generally reaches up

to 15-20 Km depending on the topography of the area.

•A user can reach the services with a very inexpensive

radio costing Rs. 50 to 100 Rs. any where in the coverage area.

•Any type of service can be broadcast like, weather, agriculture

information, visits of the higher officials, person of interest ,

workshops, Camps, Marriages, Call for the doctor ,Fire Station

and emergency services, Mandi prices and availability and

workload, local music, interviews with local officers/citizens. (even

missing cattle information)

Important difference…

Does not cost any thing to the Government

Can be run and managed by Agri Universities, NGOs,

Community Based Organizations, Edu Institutes.

Government can use it for disaster management,

statewide broadcast and several other applications.

Benefits of Community Radio

• Builds local identity, character and culture through a

diversity of programmes and content.

• Promotes community access to local community

content

• Focuses on specific community issues concerns and

events

• Highlights various interest groups and community

personalities

• Shares local information by giving voice to the

voiceless

• Includes minority and marginalized community

members

…..Benefits of Community Radio

• Facilitates mastery of radio equipment and basic

broadcasting techniques

• Promotes democratic process, social change,

development, civil society and good governance

• Acts as a form of public-service broadcasting

independent of government and party politics

• Relies on the community resources it serves rather than

the whole nation

Challenges

•Challenges of sustainability are common

•Developing content

•Difficulty developing local proposals at local level

•Frequent disruptions in electricity, email, fax and

telephone connections delay implementation

•Absence of technical expertise to service and maintain

equipment

Successes

•Community Involvement promotes citizen based

governance.

•Interest has been mounting from national governments,

regional and international stakeholders in the region

•Community residents take much pride in their work and

culture

•Stake holders are nurtured in their independent efforts at

improving themselves rather than relying solely on

development funding

•Collaboration among different stake holders develop

Community Radio in India…

February 1995; Supreme Court of India ruled in its judgmentthat "airwaves are public property". This came as an inspirationto groups across the country, but to begin with, onlyeducational (campus) radio stations were allowed.

2000; FM broadcasting was opened up to the private sector forthe first time, by charging prohibitively expensive broadcastingfees.

3 July 2001; India's very first privately owned broadcastingstation Radio City went on air in Bangalore.

December’02; Government of India announced a policy for thegrant of Community Radio Licenses to educational institutionsand organizations

Community Radio in India…..

1 February 2004 ; Anna FM is India's first campus 'community'

radio, launched on, which is run by Education and Multimedia

Research Centre (EM²RC),

16 November 2006 ; Government of India notified new

Community Radio Guidelines which permit NGOs and other civil

society organizations to own and operate community radio

stations.

30 November 2008; There were 38 operational community

radio stations in the country. Of these, two are run by NGOs and

the rest by educational institutions.

15 October 2008; 'Sangham Radio' in Pastapur village, Medak

district, Andhra Pradesh state, was switched on at 11.00am.

Sangham Radio, which broadcasts on 90.4 MHz, is licensed to

Deccan Development Society (DDS),

12 February 2010; Radio Namaskar, the only community radio

of Odisha state started its broadcasting from Konark, by Young

India which broadcasts on FM 90.4 MHz.

namaskar!