Comments on: Making a Place with Community Radio

By: Graham Jeffery

Graham Jeffery — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:35:25 +0000

You might be interested in a report that I did some work on about the arts and community radio sector in the UK. It was commissioned by Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. One of the most telling quotes from one of the station managers (Ed Baxter of Resonance FM in London) was that the station was about ‘bringing a community into being’ rather than reflecting a static, pre-existing community. That’s exciting. And it’s getting cheaper and cheaper to produce and distribute radio (but perhaps harder and harder for people to get paid or earn a living doing it). Anyway, the report is here – at http://www.artslearningconsortium.org.uk/documents/CommunityRadio.pdf

By: Emmaline

Emmaline — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:09:24 +0000

Hi Kwende – I’m a community dj myself, and for quite a different operation that the one you volunteer for. My station – the incorporated, organization part – seems to reject a lot of the role that you describe above. We play alternative music, provide a forum for the different arts and cultural groups, and take on a few public interest stories, mainly picked up in syndication. No current events, and certainly no strongly voiced political views are permitted from any of the hosts or staff.

While I still feel that my station fulfills a very valuable purpose, I wonder whether we can really claim to be a community voice with such restrictive policies. Certainly we don’t have the following that other community stations in Canada do.

That said, I agree with you about the difference between a link to myspace versus a spin at CKCU or the like. I feel it myself, when I play a tune I haven’t heard anywhere else, and then my colleagues at the station follow suit. It feels great, like you’ve unveiled something really important.

By: Michael Wells

Michael Wells — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:05:39 +0000

Kwende,

I’m working on some of those questions on a project with KBOO, Portland’s community radio station. As the broadcast media has gotten better in the past couple of decades (Portland now has a full time jazz station, a full time classical station and an NPR flagship — all noncommercial)there is serious competition. And as you mention, the Internet, iPods and satellite radio for additional competition.

KBOO has been the alternative lifestyle, left-liberal voice in the city, but the definitions and format were set 20 or more years ago. During that time not only the media but the community have changed — the influx of the creative class, more minorities and immigrants, and a one time overgrown lumber town becoming a thriving urban center.

So how does a station, or an institution, adapt? The local aspect is a large part of what we’re looking at. How can radio build community, how do we serve the aforementioned audiences, how can we go beyond listeners to involved citizens? What’s missing and what hasn’t been thought of yet?

By: Elizabeth M

Elizabeth M — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:44:51 +0000

As a telecommuter, my interaction with radio these days is limited because I only listen to it in my car. When I do tune in, I act like someone I never thought I’d be, mumbling, “Who is letting this awful music on the radio?” And, around the D.C. area, the most community oriented that radio seems to get is by announcing traffic snarls at rush hour. I’m not the most well-informed when it comes to this medium, but it seems to me that the point of digital media is making their programming available to the masses… and they’re popular because that’s what people want.