Community Radio is a term, which often confuses people. Most of us are used to radio stations playing government programmes as a public broadcast or commercial music as private broadcasts. Community radio is a relatively new phenomenon in most parts of the world.

Local communities, amidst which the radio station is located, usually manage community Radio. A high level of participation in production, management and ownership characterizes them. They play programmes, which are of local relevance and more often than not focus on developmental programmes. They are also known to prioritize minority sections of their community, give prominence to local languages and dialects, and keep the heritage and culture of their communities alive through daily usage.

In most parts of the world, community radio operates on a free to air basis, through analogue terrestrial platforms – usually on the FM band, since it is the band most suited to localized line-of-sight broadcasting. In India, for example, there are about 150 operational community radio stations across the country, operating on the FM band, transmitting at 100 watts, usually for a radius of 15 kilometres.

Today, community radio stations stand out in our hyper digital media environment where mobile phones have become ubiquitous and Internet penetration is rapidly increasing. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have begun to become popular even in rural areas, especially amongst the youth. What then is the role of community radio in the new media environment today? How can community radio operate in harmony with digital media like mobile telephony and broadband Internet?

These were some of the questions which became the underlying basis for some of the research work found on this website. The website places spotlight on two components of research. One section is the global comparative research where community radio regulation has been compared from 14 countries around the world. The second aspect of research looks specifically at four community radio stations – Gurgaon Ki Awaaz, Radio Bundelkhand, Lalit Lok Vani and Kumaon Vani. These stations are characteristic of how rural poor in Central India, the poor in remote and hilly regions of India, as well as how urban poor engage with community radio, mobile telephony and broadband Internet for their information needs.

Content regulation and monitoring

All community radio stations (CRS) must adhere to the Programming and Advertising Code Prescribed for All India Radio. Under the code Community Radio stations must ensure that there is nothing their programmes which:

Offends against good taste or decency;
Contains criticism of friendly countries;
Contains attack on religions or communities or visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups or which either promote or result in promoting communal discontent or disharmony;
Contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendoes and half truths;

Is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote-anti-national attitudes;

Contains anything amounting to contempt of court or anything affecting the integrity of the Nation;

Contains aspersions against the dignity of the President/Vice President and the Judiciary;
Criticises, maligns or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of the country;
Encourages superstition or blind belief;
Denigrates women;
Denigrates children.
May present/depict/suggest as desirable the use of drugs including alcohol, narcotics and tobacco or may stereotype, incite, vilify or perpetuate hatred against or attempt to demean any person or group on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual preference, religion, age or physical or mental disability.

In addition to the programme and advertising code, Community Radio Stations must follow the content guidelines as laid out in the Policy Guidelines for Community Radio.

Under the CR Policy guidelines Community Radio Stations:

Broadcast content should have an immediate relevance to the community.
At least 50% of programming should be generated with the participation of the community.
Broadcast content should be in the local language.
CRS cannot broadcast any programmes which relate to news, current affairs or are political in nature.
All programmes broadcasted must be preserved for three months (from the date of broadcast) by the CRS.
CRS should ensure that its programmes don’t offend the religious views and beliefs of people from any religion and they don’t exploit religious susceptibilities of the listeners.

If any of these regulations are violated Community Radio Stations can face the following penalties:

In the case of the first violation: Temporary suspension of permission for operating the CRS for a period up to 1 month.

In the case of second violation: Temporary suspension of permission for operating the CRS for a period up to 3 months.

In the case of any subsequent violation: Permission to broadcast will be revokes and Permission Holder and its principal members will be liable for all actions under IPC, CrPC and other laws.

Content regulation and monitoring

Offends against good taste or decency;
Contains criticism of friendly countries;
Contains attack on religions or communities or visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups or which either promote or result in promoting communal discontent or disharmony;
Contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendoes and half truths;

Is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote-anti-national attitudes;

Contains anything amounting to contempt of court or anything affecting the integrity of the Nation;

Contains aspersions against the dignity of the President/Vice President and the Judiciary;
Criticises, maligns or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of the country;
Encourages superstition or blind belief;
Denigrates women;
Denigrates children.
May present/depict/suggest as desirable the use of drugs including alcohol, narcotics and tobacco or may stereotype, incite, vilify or perpetuate hatred against or attempt to demean any person or group on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual preference, religion, age or physical or mental disability.

In addition to the programme and advertising code, Community Radio Stations must follow the content guidelines as laid out in the Policy Guidelines for Community Radio.

Under the CR Policy guidelines Community Radio Stations:

Broadcast content should have an immediate relevance to the community.
At least 50% of programming should be generated with the participation of the community.
Broadcast content should be in the local language.
CRS cannot broadcast any programmes which relate to news, current affairs or are political in nature.
All programmes broadcasted must be preserved for three months (from the date of broadcast) by the CRS.
CRS should ensure that its programmes don’t offend the religious views and beliefs of people from any religion and they don’t exploit religious susceptibilities of the listeners.

If any of these regulations are violated Community Radio Stations can face the following penalties:

In the case of the first violation: Temporary suspension of permission for operating the CRS for a period up to 1 month.

In the case of second violation: Temporary suspension of permission for operating the CRS for a period up to 3 months.

In the case of any subsequent violation: Permission to broadcast will be revokes and Permission Holder and its principal members will be liable for all actions under IPC, CrPC and other laws.

About Us

Maraa, is a media and arts collective based in Bangalore. We registered as a Charitable Trust in Bangalore, and have a board of Trustees, all of whom come from a background of media or arts and have tremendous experience in these areas. Our media program is mostly focused on promoting community media – both in terms of facilitating content development and infrastructure development. We promote content and infrastructure through research and capacity building activities across the country.

So far we have done over 30 training programmes and trained over 500 community based community media reporters in a variety of skills. We have been closely involved in setting up some of the first community radio stations in India, with support from UNESCO. Members of Maraa are also involved in the Community Radio Forum, a national representative body through which we have been engaging with the government in shaping the community radio policy.

In 2011, Maraa received a grant from Ford Foundation to look at the increasing convergence of community radio with mobile telephony and wireless broadband Internet. This website is a result of the work we have done under the Ford grant.

We continue to be supported by organizations such as Commonwealth of Learning and Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, UNESCO and UNICEF for our content development work. More information on our website – http://maraa.in

This website would not have been possible without valuable support, inputs, guidance and contributions from a whole range of individuals, activists, civil society organizations and community radio practitioners. See below for a list of partners and people we'd like to acknowledge for their support.

Partners

The website was developed with inputs and support by Janastu and Servelots – both Bangalore based organizations. Janastu, a non-profit organisation, has been providing Free Open source Software Solutions and support (FOSS) to small non-profits (NPOs/NGOs) since 2002. This includes one-on-one consulting regarding their information management needs, building their online and offline knowledge bases, providing support to their projects by designing web-sites, configuring news-filters, helping them migrate to open source solutions, help deal with localization and Indian language issues, geographic information collection and necessary R&D. Servelots is a web service provider for Small to Medium Enterprises. Servelots was founded in 1999 by a group of Computer Scientists who wanted to provide a highly cost effective but user friendly software for SME's with a special focus on the organizations working in the social development sectors. Servelots develops and distributes its software named Pantoto. Pantoto is a Free and Open Source toolset that enables the organizations to manage their information and communication without software development dependency. Over the last few years, Pantoto has been successfully deployed in various organizations through training a small group on the concepts of Information and Community Management. More information available on http://www.servelots.com

One component of the research was done through tracking mobile and internet use at four community radio stations over a period of three months. The code for tracking mobile and internet use was specifically developed for this project by GramVaani Community Media Pvt Ltd. They are a social technology company based in IIT-Delhi. They started in 2009 with the intent of reversing the flow of information, that is, to make it bottom-up instead of top-down. Using simple technologies and social context to design tools, they have been able to impact more than two million users in over 15 states of India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Namibia and South Africa. Their impact has been as diverse as it has been powerful. Thirty rural community radio stations able to manage and share content over mobiles and the web, corrupt officials arrested in Jharkhand based on citizen complaints, women Pradhans (local government leaders) sharing learnings and opinions, and citizen led waste management in Delhi. They have been supported by Knight Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, Power of Ideas, Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. More information available on http://www.gramvaani.org/

We have done field research at four community radio stations in India. These are:

Gurgaon Ki Awaaz is one of the first civil society led community radio station in the National Capital Region (NCR) and services exclusively the poor and marginalized communities in the Gurgaon region. Broadcasting at 107.8 MHz, the radio station is mostly run by women broadcasters, with a strong focus on local issues and local music. The radio station was selected because it is one of the few stations, which engages with the urban poor. The research from this radio station yields fascinating insights into how the urban poor use community radio as well as digital media like mobile and Internet. More information available here

Radio Bundelkhand is one of the first community radio stations to become operational in India under the 2006 policy guidelines. They operate in Orchha region of Madhya Pradesh, located squarely in what is popularly known as the Bundelkhand region. The region, located in Central India covers parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, is home to some of the most marginalized communities living in rural India. It has a population of about 21 million people of which 82% live in rural areas and more than one-thirds of these are considered to be Below the Poverty Line (BPL). Large-scale migration and frequent droughts also render this region vulnerable. This radio station was selected because of the profile of communities it engages with and the research gives an opportunity to understand how the rural poor in Central India – one of the media dark regions of the country, engage or have the potential to engage with community radio as well as mobile telephony and Internet in India. More information available here

Lalit Lok Vani is a community radio station operating in Lalitpur area of Uttar Pradesh. The radio station was supported by UNICEF and is licensed to Sai Jyoti – a local non-profit organization. The radio station engages with the rural poor in the central Indian region – characterized by low connectivity of mobile telephony as well as Internet connectivity. The region also has huge infrastructural challenges like lack of consistent power, roads, industry, troubled agricultural sector and so on. The research gives us an understanding, like Radio Bundelkhand, an opportunity to better understand how the rural poor in Central India – a media dark region, engage or have the potential to engage with community radio as well as mobile telephony or Internet in India. More information available here.

Kumaon Vani is a community radio station operating in Mukteshwar District of Uttarakhand state in India. It is one of the few community radio stations operating in a remote and hilly area of the country. The radio station primarily reaches farmers living in the region. Agriculture is the primary occupation and the region has a rich history of local music and culture. The radio station was one of the first to be operational in India, and is licensed to The Energy Resource Institute (TERI). Due to the hilly terrain, media infrastructure was and remains a challenge – for community radios, for telecom service providers and internet service providers. The research gives us an opportunity to understand how rural poor in hilly and remote areas have the potential to engage with community radio, mobile telephony and Internet in the country. More information available here.

Acknowledgements

This website was made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation. We would like to thank Ford Foundation, and in particular, the Media Program Officer, Ravina Aggarwal for her continued inputs, support and guidance.

Website was developed with able support and inputs from Janastu and Servelots. Thanks to Dinesh, Anon, Arvind and Pradeep for their valuable suggestions in not only technical aspects of this website, but also ideating on how to better present the ideas we had.

Research on tracking mobile and web use at community radio was done with support from GramVaani Community Media Ltd. Thanks to Zahir Koradia and Kapil Dadheech for their help in writing code to help us track the required information.

Field research was done with support and inputs from Ms. Devi Leena Bose, Monica James and Trupti Kanade from Maraa

Photographs of Lalit Lok Vani were provided by Ideosync Media Combine, an organization based in Faridabad, Haryana. Thanks to Venu Arora and N Ramakrishnan for use of these images.

We would like to thank Open Society Foundation's Mapping Digital Media country reports which provided useful overview data on several countries

We would like to thank AMARC Asia-Pacific for providing useful contacts and reading material on community radio. Thanks to Suman Basnet for his valuable support.

We would like to thank Akhil Mathur from Bell Labs for sharing a prototype of his exciting work in partnership with Radio Active (a community radio in Bangalore city) - an experiment which uses low-end mobiles for on-demand listening of community radio programmes.

We would like to thank Arjun Venkataraman from Mojo Labs for sharing his exciting work with CG-Net Swara and other experiments of using mobile telephony for community media

We would like to thank Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang, Danish Sheikh and Siddharth Narrain from the Alternative Law Forum for sharing information on legal issues for community radio stations in the digital environment, especially the Copyright Act, the IT Act and Creative Commons License

We would like to thank Phuntsok Dorjee and Dhondup Namgyal from Tibetan Children's Village and Airjaldi, for sharing possibilities on how de-licensed wi-fi frequencies could be useful for linking up community radio studios to their transmitters

Contact

Canada

The Community Radio Fund of Canada/Fonds canadien de la radio communautaire (CRFC) is an independent not-for-profit funding organization. It was founded in November 2007 as the result of a three-year partnership among Canada's largest community radio associations:the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC),theAlliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC du Canada) and the Association desradiodiffuseurscommunautaires du Québec (ARCQ).

The CRFC is a recipient of both voluntary and mandatory Canadian Content Development (CCD) Contributions.

The distributes funds under four priority areas.

1. Local Community News and Access Production of local news and community affairs programs.
Training for community news production staff. Support for official language minority and third-language news programming.

2. Community Music and Expression
Support to stations for outreach, acquisition, and archiving of local music, particularly in under-represented genres.Assistance to record, digitize, and distribute recordings from local artists.

3. Emerging Distribution Technologies
Training staff and volunteers in the practical use of new communications technology.
Research of digital distribution techniques appropriate for community radio content.
Support for station computer technology and connectivity.

4. Sustainability and Capacity-Building
Assistance to stations in core competency areas like governance, management, programming, volunteer support, community relations, and development.Assistance to national community radio associations to provide key support services and resources to local stations.Support for stations in communities underserved by other media, including rural areas.

The CRFC is available to all non-commercial, community and community-based broadcasters in Canada.
Each program has its own eligibility criteria, primarily based on types of projects, activities, and/or expenses.

United Kingdom

The fund is administered by Ofcom . Under section 359 of the Communications Act 2003, 'Ofcom may make such grants as they consider appropriate to the provider of any (community radio service)".

The Community Radio Fund (CRF) is supported by the Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is managed by Ofcom.

The Fund has been established to help fund the core costs of running a community radio station.

The Community Radio Fund has been set up to provide help for activities that comprise of the core work that is involved in running a radio station .These core functions might include, for example:

• fundraising to support the station (e.g. grants, commercial funding)
• management
• administration
• financial management & reporting
• community outreach
• volunteer organisation and support

Grants can only be made to community radio licensees (“Licensee”) which are broadcasting under a community radio licence.Joint applications may be submitted by two or more Licensees, for example to co-fund a shared post.

Australia

The Community Broadcasting Foundation is an independent non-profit funding agency that solicits and distributes funds for the maintenance and development of community broadcasting in Australia including specialist services for Ethnic, Indigenous and Radio for the Print Handicapped audiences.

CBF grant programs provide funding for community radio content production, distribution and exchange; station infrastructure and operational support; training; national infrastructure and service development projects; sector coordination, promotion and research.

Broadly speaking, there are four categories of CBF funding: operations, infrastructure, programming and project funding.

Most CBF funding is available to community radio stations broadcasting under a long term community radio licence or a temporary community broadcast licence (TCBL).Individual grant categories have specific eligibility criteria.
Community Broadcasting Foundation more info

South Africa

The Media Development and Diversity Agency is a development agency set up as a partnership between South African government and major print and broadcasting companies to assist in developing community and small commercial media in South Africa.

MDDA is funded through:Money appropriated by the parliament Money received in terms of agreement with any organization for furtherance of the objectives of the MDDA act Domestic and foreign grants Interest derived from any investments.

Contributions from Broadcasting Service Licensees not exceeding 1% of their annual turnover in terms of the Electronics Communications Act of 2005 (Section 89), or Money lawfully accruing from any source.

For Community media(non profit) the MDDA provides support for:
Core running costs for a limited period
Support for training
Seed funding for new projects
Support for once off projects ( Including audience research, training / mentoring,feasibility studies, development of business plans, purchase of equipment ect).

In order to access funding from the MDDA, you need to ensure that you are a legal entity under Section 21, Cooperative, NPO, NGO or CBO.

The Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) http://www.mdda.org.za/theMdda.htm

United States of America

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a private, not-for-profit corporation created by Congress in 1967. It is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting.

The CPB is funded by federal appropriation and the interest on those funds.

CPB distributes the majority of its funds for public broadcasting directly to Radio and Television stations through the Radio Community Service Grant Program.
The CSG grant has two portions i.e. discretionary portion and restricted portion.

Under Discretionary Portion the grant funds received may be used by the recipient for purposes related to the production or acquisition of programming.
Expenditures from the discretionary, or unrestricted, portion of the CSG
must fall into one of the following seven categories:
(1) Programming, Production and Services
a) Educational Programs
b) Educational Outreach Activities:
(2) Broadcasting, Transmission and Distribution
(3) Program Information and Promotion
(4) Fundraising and Membership Development
(5) Underwriting and Grant Solicitation
(6) Management and General
(7) Purchase, Rehabilitation or Improvement of Capital Assets
For all grant levels, the restricted portion of the CSG must be spent on national program production and acquisition. To qualify as a national program for funding from CSG funds, a program
must be placed in the national marketplace of public radio programming.

Expenditures from the restricted portion of the CSG must fall into one of the following four categories:

(1) Production
(2) Program and Content Acquisition
(3) Distribution
(4) Promotion

Existing grantees of the Radio CSG grant as well as any other licensee of a full-power non-commercial educational radio station operating under a valid renewable license are eligible to apply if they fulfill the conditions as set out in the Community Service Grant General Service Provisions and Eligibility Criteria.

India

Community Radio Support Fund of India (CRSFI)
With a view to promote Community Radio Stations in India, the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting would like to set up a “Community Radio Support Fund of India (CRSFI)” under the 12th
Five Year Plan. The fund will be used to channelize financial support to non-profit organizations that
will enable them to set up Community Radio Stations. To begin with , a corpus grant of Rs.150 crore is
proposed under 12th Plan for the CRSFI, through the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

Canada- The Community Radio Fund of Canada/Fonds canadien de la radio communautaire (CRFC) is an independent not-for-profit funding organization. It was founded in November 2007 as the result of a three-year partnership among Canada's largest community radio associations:the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC),theAlliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC du Canada) and the Association desradiodiffuseurscommunautaires du Québec (ARCQ).

Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world and the second largest in the Latin American continent. With a population of above 40 million people, the country has the potential of being a role model in shaping access to media for the rest of the continent.

Argentina has quite a complicated history of media regulations, especially in the area of broadcasting. It has faced political instability from post WWII period up to the late 80s. Juan Peron started nationalizing key industries in the mid-40s and since then on, it has been a constant struggle between the so-called Peronists and the conservative interests backed by the military junta. It was only in the late 80s that Peronism mixed strategically with doses of neo-liberal strategies has brought about some political stability to the country. Nestor Kirchner who followed this mixed strategy ruled Argentina from 2003 to 2007, and his wife, Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner is the current President of Argentina. Media regulation must been seen in the context of political struggle from the mid-40s till the late 80s. Often there are traces of regulation left over from the period of military dictatorship. Local and national business interests who have more or less monopolized the media industry in the country have further complicated the media regulations landscape through lobbying efforts.

Carlos Menem, a predecessor of Mr. Kirchner, originated the liberalization of key industries in Argentina – including the media/broadcasting industry. Some of the key changes under his regime were permitting cross-media ownership, privatization and foreign investment. He also allowed the same licensee to hold up to a maximum of 24 licenses. The previous allowed number of licenses was four.

The administration of the subsequent president Mr. Fernando De La Rua did not do much to change the situation, except the creation of the Radio y Television Argentina Sociedad del Estado, translated literally as the Radio and Television Argentina Society of the State – a kind of body for controlling public broadcasting. During Kerchner’s rule, licensing terms were further renewed, mergers between private entities were allowed and positively – through Law 26.053, non-profit organizations were allowed to become licensees.

The current debates around media regulation in Argentina focus around the key piece of legislation passed in 1980 during the de-facto government imposed by the military dictatorship, i.e. Decree –Law 22.285/80. According to the current text of this Decree-Law of Radio Broadcasting, implementing authority COMFER or the Federal Radio Broadcasting Committee grants the licenses. Article 45 of this decree regulates the eligibility criteria as to who can hold a license.

In 2003, the non-profit body Asociacion Mutual Carlos Mujica (Carlos Mujica Benefit Society) challenged Article 45 of the Radio Broadcasting Law, in particular its exclusion of civil associations and non-commercial legal entities. The court ruled that this particular paragraph in Article 45 was indeed unconstitutional, with the net result of allowing the Carlos Mujica to allow broadcasting on its community radio station in the city of Cordoba. However, for the ruling to have wider implications and for broadcasting to become inclusive, the Parliament needed to be pro-active in its legislation. It may be noted that while the legislation does not explicitly hamper the access of spectrum to non-profit bodies, neither does it ensure or guarantee equitable access to spectrum.

In August 2005, the Senate approved Law 26.053, which took the Supreme Court decision to its logical conclusion. From that point onwards, non-profit organizations were eligible to apply for licenses to broadcast on television and radio. However, cooperatives that provided public services were rendered ineligible – a clause that many suspect was the result of lobbying from private media giants like Grupo Clarin and Telefonica.

On May 5^th 2006, COMFER passed Resolution 753/06, which acknowledged the existence of 126 community radio stations and invited them to legitimize themselves (within 90 days of passing the 753/06). A census of the operating stations had been completed by December 2005.

Although the Argentinian government has taken a step in the desired direction, it is evident that a lot of reform is still needed in terms of execution and administration of the rules and laws. For example, there is no instruction on how assets should be declared or technical specifications have to be certified by a particular authority which has no presence in smaller towns and villages, and so on.

Each application for community radio is evaluated ‘culturally’ out of a maximum of 100 points. While evaluation may be an administrative necessity in doling out valuable spectrum, the administration has not published guidelines, which clarify how radio stations are judged. Reasons for particular evaluations are not given to the applicants either. For example, the title “Adjustment to the socio-cultural universe” is awarded a maximum of 5 points from 100. In one instance, two stations provided almost identical information for this section. One radio station was given 1 out of 5 while the other radio station was given 3 out of 5.

In October 2009, the government under the rule of Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner passed Law No. 26.522 on Audiovisual Communication Services. The law established a new regulatory authority for broadcasting called the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services (AFSCA), which replaced COMFER. The key provisions, amongst others, included dividing the radio spectrum for broadcasting into: one-third for government services, one-third for commercial purposes and one-third for non-governmental (community) services; and limiting the number of services a single entity can hold and limiting foreign ownership to 30 per cent. AFSCA will allocate radio licenses except in cities where the population exceeds 500,000 people. In the case of the latter, the Argentinian Executive Power, PEN (Poder Ejecutivo Nacional) will allocate licenses. Conditions on transmitter strength, license area/circle size, channel spacing, antenna height and gain were not entirely clear from publicly available documents. (This technical data will be updated soon)

Decree 1225/2010 regulated the law in August 2010 although critics of the law have objected to the law as being unconstitutional. One of the largest media monopolies in the country, Grupo Clarin has taken the government to court, citing Article 45 and 61 as unconstitutional and designed to choke opposition’s voices. The matter is being heard in court, and a decision is expected in late 2013.

+ Political will to regularize formerly pirate/illegal broadcasters instead of punitive action

+ A balance between centralized control of sector and involvement of local government agencies to involve grassroots communities

During Kerchner’s rule, licensing terms were further renewed, mergers between private entities were allowed and positively – through Law 26.053, non-profit organizations were allowed to become licensees.

+ Political will to regularize formerly pirate/illegal broadcasters instead of punitive action

+ A balance between centralized control of sector and involvement of local government agencies to involve grassroots communities

- Clear guidelines yet to be evolved on how one-third spectrum for community broadcasting will be implemented in practice

Australia would find mention in any comparative work on community radio. It was one of the earliest countries to recognize, legitimize and support community radio in the world. Moreover, community radio has subsequently been extensively and enthusiastically adopted by all sorts of communities in Australia (both geographic and common interest) to express their local issues, preserve their languages and dialects, and to further their struggle for social justice and development. From community radio stations that are exclusively for those below 26 years of age, to stations are that meant only for gay and lesbian communities, the culture of community radio is thriving in Australia. Incidentally Australia also happens to be one of the few countries where community radio has gone partly digital – and from the looks of it, mostly to the disadvantage of community radio. With a rich history in community radio, it deserves a close look and could both inspire and help others avoid its mistakes.

Australia began its tryst with broadcasting in the early 1920s. By 1927, it was clear that private broadcasters would not enter the rural and remote areas, since there was simply no business case for doing so. By 1932, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) was established and funded by license fees. For about 30 years, ‘public broadcasting’ under ABC and private broadcasting co-existed, and in the mid 60s, it became clear that there are regions in Australia, which even the ABC stations couldn’t cater to very efficiently. The ABC stations were, regardless of their high quality and good intentions, still national level broadcasters. The need for a third tier of broadcasting, i.e. community broadcasting, became apparent, and was vociferously demanded from four major groups of people – classical music aficionados, educators (universities), ethnic and aboriginal communities and lastly, the radicals who were fed up with corporate mainstream media. As is evident, the need for community radio is felt in terms of the need for alternative content (classical music), the need to educate and inform (universities), the need to express oneself (ethnic and aboriginal communities) and the need for independent and alternative media (radicals).

In 1974, the McLean Inquiry recommended the establishment of a community radio sector and the establishment of FM network in ABC as well. In 1975, 12 community radio licenses are awarded as an interim move by the government. By the mid 1980s, the government started the Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme (BRACS). By 1992, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) was established and continued to allot licenses to community radio stations till 2005, when it was merged with the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) to form the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

As of 2010, Australia was home to 361 fully licensed and 50 temporarily licensed community radio stations. It had 7 ethnic and educational radio stations each. It had 15 Radio for the Print Handicapped (RPH) stations, 32 indigenous statios, 35 religious stations, 8 youth stations, 8 senior/mature stations and 4 fine music stations.

By 1932, Australia had started on the path towards a dual broadcasting system (the older private broadcasting and the then recently established government/ABC broadcasting), which was subsequently ratified by legislation through the Australian Broadcasting Act 1942. Radio till then was operational only on the AM band. The status quo continued for about twenty years, when pressure started to come on the then Coalition government, requesting increase in broadcasting services – i.e. specialisation in urban areas (classical music etc) and increase in services in the rural areas. The response of the government, in turn influenced by the Postmaster General’s office and the private incumbent lobby, was that no more AM Frequencies were available. By 1967, there was an inquiry into whether FM broadcasting was possible.

In 1972, the ABCB filed a report with the government recommending the introduction of FM broadcasting, a national regional network of FM stations, a FM Station in each capital city and licensing of commercial FM stations in capital and provincial areas. However, most importantly, it also recommended that a new type of service, which was to be called Public Service Broadcasting, was to be conducted on a non-profit basis, to cater to the needs of the educational, religious, professional, musical and other like interests, and available to the general public. It was the first time that official recognition was given to the possibility of a third tier in broadcasting for Australia. By 1974, experimental ‘public radio’ (read as community radio) licenses were given to classical music groups in Sydney and University of Adelaide. The licenses were allocated under the Wireless Telegraphy Act.

Under the new coalition government, Public Broadcasting Guidelines were announced in 1978, and subsequently 26 licenses were issued. By the early 1982, more licenses were invited from rural areas and urban areas such as Sydney, and Australia saw the firm establishment of a third sector, namely the community radio sector.

Within the public radio license category, there were three sub-categories created, i.e. community, educational and special interest. Community stations had a special charter to provide a community service, designed to serve a local geographical area and provide the participation of a variety of local community groups. Educational licenses were associated with educational content and were awarded to universities while special interest licenses were given to music, sporting, ethnic or religious groups. Eventually, these formal categories were abandoned but continued in practice.

By 1992, Australia saw the introduction of the Broadcasting Services Act, wherein the Australian Broadcasting Authority regulated the radio sector, and public radio was renamed as community radio. Since 1992, the ABA has been undertaking planning processes to allocate frequencies efficiently. The ABA has been prioritising geographical areas, which are least served by existing services and accordingly allotting licenses in those areas. As per the 1992 Radiocommunications Act, there are six options to broadcast:

Community radio stations come under the third option, whereas in the current regime, they can get a license for analogue terrestrial FM (87MHz to 108 MHz) or a digital broadcasting license. Community radio stations are expected to check with Australian Communications Management Authority (ACMA) about the License Area Plans for the geographical area in which they are interested in setting up a CR station. As part of the Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines 2007, the community radio station must comply with minimum and maximum radiated power, maximum permitted field strength, interference to other existing services, radiated signal characteristics etc.

The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) has established a detailed community broadcasting codes of practice which cover upto eight areas of broadcasting. These include responsibilities, programming guidelines, handling complaints etc.

A Temporary Community Broadcasting License (TBCL) is also possible for applicants wishing to provide the service on an experimental service for up to one year. This license is not renewable but applicants can then apply under the regular community broadcasting license. The frequency planning process is public in Australia, and the priority in Australia is to serve first the underserved regions and the policy allows for communities to be defined by either geography or common-interest.

In 2007, The Australian Parliament passed legislation for the introduction of digital radio by 1^st January 2009. Community broadcasters commenced digital broadcasting by 2010. Digital radio would commence in those areas with the most commercial potential, and meanwhile analogue broadcasting services would continue broadcasting simultaneously in other areas. The standard of digital broadcasting would be DAB+, and the spectrum allocated for digital radio in Australia would be from VHF III (i.e. 174-230 MHz). Previously, VHF III band was being used for analogue and digital television channels 6-12.

It was reported that in June 2013, the Australian government committed to six million dollars to avert switch off for digital community radio stations. Community radio was already assigned 15.5 million dollars for 2013-14 of which around two million dollars was set aside for digital community radio.

+ Government willing to pitch in with public funding for digital community radio through Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF)

+ Spectrum planning considers demographics, social and economic characteristics in the proposed license area

+ Broadcasters can seek to extend their license area based on demand from local communities

+ Strong emphasis on diversity, especially with respect to ethnic and aboriginal communities

- CBF budgets have not increased in spite of growth in number of communty radio stations

With a rich history in community radio, it deserves a close look and could both inspire and help others avoid its mistakes.

By the mid 1980s, the government started the Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme (BRACS). By 1992, the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) was established and continued to allot licenses to community radio stations till 2005, when it was merged with the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) to form the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

The status quo continued for about twenty years, when pressure started to come on the then Coalition government, requesting increase in broadcasting services – i.e. specialisation in urban areas (classical music etc) and increase in services in the rural areas. The response of the government, in turn influenced by the Postmaster General’s office and the private incumbent lobby, was that no more AM Frequencies were available. By 1967, there was an inquiry into whether FM broadcasting was possible.

It was the first time that official recognition was given to the possibility of a third tier in broadcasting for Australia.

By 1974, experimental ‘public radio’ (read as community radio) licenses were given to classical music groups in Sydney and University of Adelaide. The licenses were allocated under the Wireless Telegraphy Act.

Under the new coalition government, Public Broadcasting Guidelines were announced in 1978, and subsequently 26 licenses were issued.

By the early 1982, more licenses were invited from rural areas and urban areas such as Sydney, and Australia saw the firm establishment of a third sector, namely the community radio sector.

Community radio stations usually come under the first option, whereas in the current regime, they can get a license for analogue terrestrial FM (87MHz to 108 MHz) or a digital broadcasting license.

Community radio stations are expected to check with Australian Communications Management Authority (ACMA) about the License Area Plans for the geographical area in which they are interested in setting up a CR station.

As part of the Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines 2007, the community radio station must comply with minimum and maximum radiated power, maximum permitted field strength, interference to other existing services, radiated signal characteristics etc.

The standard of digital broadcasting would be DAB+, and the spectrum allocated for digital radio in Australia would be from VHF III (i.e. 174-230 MHz). Previously, VHF III band was being used for analogue and digital television channels 6-12.

As the largest country in both South American and Latin American region, Brazil deserves a serious look in terms of community radio policy. Further, Brazil is also an emerging economy, seventh largest in the world and is considered a middle power in international affairs. The country has the potential to be a leader and show the way for other countries in its region, as well as other countries in the emerging economy sector – countries like South Africa and India.

Analogue terrestrial broadcasting continues to remain the most wide-reaching and popular medium in Brazil as compared to other media such as mobile telephony, print media or broadband internet. According to census data, about 88% of the Brazilian population accesses terrestrial radio on a daily basis.

Articles 220 to 224 of the Brazilian Constitution reinforces the freedom of speech with respect to media and communication. The 220^th article states that the “manifestation of thought, education, expression and information, under any way, action or form are not to suffer any restriction”. The first paragraph of the same article also states that “no law shall possess any means to make an obstacle to the full freedom of journalistic information in any way of mass communication”

The 8^th Constitutional Amendment allowed the Brazilian government to change its laws in order to reflect the growing changes in the media landscape induced by the telecommunications industry. This Amendment led to the formation of LGT or the Lei Geral de Telecomunicacoes Bill of 1997. This Bill overshadowed the CBT or the Codigo Brasileiro de Telecomunicacoes which was in effect until then.

The airwaves or spectrum belongs to the Union or the Federal government of Brazil and its administration is exercised by the Federal Executive Branch. This Branch, as mentioned in the 21^st Article of the constitution, can exploit directly, or through authorization, grant permission for, the services of telecommunications and broadcasting. The LGT, declared airwaves to be public property and gave the responsibility of overseeing its administration and for publishing the Frequency Allocation Plan, or the Planos Basicos de Distribuicao de Canais as it is called in Brazil, to the newly created Anatel – the National Telecommunications Bureau, or the Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes.

More specific to radio broadcasting, the primary regulation for broadcasting is the 4.117 law also known as the CBT, Brazilian Telecommunication Code, passed in 1962. Originally CBT viewed broadcasting as part of the telecommunications service boquet, but after privatization and reforms, along with the creation of LGT, CBT focused exclusively on broadcasting.

Radio broadcasting is offered in Medium Wave (MW), Short Wave (SW), Frequency Modulation (FM) and High Frequency (HF). The educational and community radio stations are mostly present in the MW and FM bands.

There are three type of licensing regimes for the radio broadcasting sector – concessions, permits and authorizations. High power stations which have national coverage are subject to concessions while low power stations for local areas are subject to permits. Community radio stations are subject to authorizations. These authorizations when used for re-transmissions or repeater stations, do not need the approval of Congress. However, authorizations for community radio stations do need approval from Congress.

Brazilian community radio is subject to 9.612/98 law by the Community Broadcasting Regulation (2.615/98 decree) and by the complementary regulation 01/2004. As per the 7^th and 8^th articles of the 9.612/98 law, access to frequencies in community broadcasting can be sought by legally registered non-profit organizations and charities for service in the areas that they are established. The organizations are obligated to remain established in the communities they seek to serve through broadcasting. The 10^th subsection of the law states that one entity will be granted with only one authorization for community radio – created to avoid media monopolization.

The associations interested in community broadcasting need to send a petition or a request to the Department of Communications, which evaluates the technical feasibility of setting up of community broadcasting in that geographical area. Therefore the feasibility is explored for the entire area, not just the area proposed by an individual applicant. A public notice is published for all entities operating in that particular region – intimating them of the feasibility of community radio in that region.

After the authorization is granted and documents are found to be in order, the Department is bound to promote ‘understanding and cooperation’ if there is more than one interested applicant from the same area. If the state mediated intervention is not possible, the Department has to choose the most appropriate candidate based on presentations made by the said candidates.

The government of Brazil does not charge any fee for the setting up of community broadcasting in terms of application fees. Only the correct documentation pertaining to registration of the said applicant is required. Direct political ownership of community radio is prohibited as per law, but in practice this law is defeated as relatives of politicians are often successful in obtaining licenses for community radio. Religious proselytization is prohibited as well, but religious organizations per se are allowed to apply for community radio.

Further, one applicant is permitted only one authorization and through other directives, cannot be bestowed with more than one grant of the same type in the same locality. The 236/67 decree also imposes limits to the grants that one entity or its partners can possess in the entire country (four stations in MW and six stations in FM).

Community radio stations are placed on par with other types of radio broadcasting in terms of cost of obtaining frequencies. Community radio stations are to pay 120 USD as a one time tax at the time of obtaining the frequency and then pay 60 USD every year onwards as frequency fee.

In terms of technical limitations on community radio, the maximum effective radiated power is 25 Watts, antenna height restricted to 30 meters and range of broadcasts is restricted to 1 kilometer. The law also states a minimum of 4 kilometres distance between two community radio stations.

Unfortunately, there is no public funding for community radio in Brazil. To exacerbate the situation, advertisements on community radio are also prohibited. These restrictions force community radio stations to ally with political and other powerful forces within the community to support them and in the process compromise their editorial independence. Of the 2,118 community radio stations authorized between 1999 and 2004, about half of them were under some kind of political control.

In terms of spectrum management in community broadcasting, the odds are stacked against community radio. While community radios are not protected against interference from commercial (or for that matter educational) stations, they in turn must guarantee avoiding interference with any other telecommunication or broadcasting system. If they do, they are penalized with the suspension of their license.

This climate of stringent legislation has caused many of the Brazilian community radio stations to continue their operations without registration – which in effect makes them illegal broadcasters. However, their preference for illegal or pirate broadcasting, in spite of an explicit policy is a telling comment on the state of regulation for the community broadcasting sector in Brazil.

+ Specific constitutional provision on journalistic freedom through communication

+ Explicit policy, laws, process and identified parameters for licensing of community radio

+ Laws which attempt to prevent monopolization across spectrum bands and across geographical areas

+ Application from any area opens up possibilities for community broadcasting in the entire region through involvement of local government agency

+ Procedures in place for deciding allocation to appropriate applicants, in the case of two or more competing applications for same region

+ Emphasis on low-power community broadcasting, thereby allowing more number of stations to operate in the same region

+ About 4000 operational CR stations, with concrete efforts to regularize so-called illegal broadcasters, and expedite bureaucratic delays in licensing process

- Compulsory and blanket rule of 1 Watt transmission does not allow for community broadcasting to cater to communities of interest

- Lack of protection against interference for CR stations, excessive penalizations for interference by CR stations

- Lack of public funding and prohibtions of advertising on community radio makes sustainability a major challenge