Is Community Radio the New ILR?

A Little Local Difficulty

Is community radio the new ILR?

Volunteer-led community radio has quietly gone from strength to strength, with over 130 stations now on-air and increasing recognition amongst both opinion formers and listeners. Meanwhile, local commercial radio is reacting to tough market conditions by broadcasting more networked programming and abandoning sometimes long-established local identities (and presenters) in favour of consistent, national brands. Cut-backs and redundancies are all too common.

We asked whether this heralds the beginning of a new order in the world of local radio.

Chair: Paul Brown CBE (Former Chairman, RadioCentre)

Panellists: Ross Macfadyen (Head of Radio, RNIB), Jennifer Ogole (Chief Executive, Bang Edutainment/Bang FM), Sutish Sharma (Managing Director, Hayes FM), Kevin Stewart (Managing Director, The Coast 106 FM)

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