Community Radio
Community Radio stations are small, micro-local stations who offer training and opportunities for those looking to get involved with radio locally.
Community Radio provides an opportunity for people of all ages to get involed with broadcasting and give something back to their local community.
Licensing
Ofcom invites applications for community radio licenses on a region-by-region basis.
To obtain a community radio licence, applicants must demonstrate that the proposed station will meet the needs of a specified target community, together with required "social gain" objectives set out in the application. These usually take the form of a commitment to train local people in broadcasting skills or provide a certain amount of programming aimed at an underserved section of the population.
Community radio stations are usually limited to broadcast areas within a 5 kilometre radius of their transmitter. The normal allocated power for a new community station in an urban area is 25 watts vertically polarised, although most allocations permit the addition of a further 25 watts horizontally polarised. For some rural stations these limits are increased to 50 watts vertical plus 50 watts horizontal.
Funding
Community stations are not permitted to raise more than 50% of their operating costs from a single source, including on-air sponsorship and advertising. The remainder of operating costs must be met through other sources.
However, where a community radio station lies totally within the transmission area of a commercial station with a population coverage of under 150,000, no sponsorship or advertising may be sought and all funding must come from alternative sources. In a small number of areas where a commercial station covers a population of under 150,000, a community station may not be licensed at all. This protects the financial interests of smaller commercial stations.
- To find a community station near you click here
- If you are involved in community radio and would like to learn more, please visit the Community Radio Toolkit ,
- Ofcom community radio licensing information
- Community radio on Wikipedia
The Community Media Association
The Community Media Association is the UK representative body for the Community Media sector and is committed to promoting access to the media for people and communities. It aims to enable people to establish and develop community based communications media for empowerment, cultural expression, information and entertainment. Background
Founded in 1983, the CMA is a non-profit making organisation, supporting Community Radio and Television and community-based Internet projects. It represents Community Media to Government, industry and regulatory bodies.
Membership currently exceeds 600, bringing together established organisations, aspirant groups and individuals within the sector. The CMA provides a range of advice, information and consultancy, offering support to anyone with an interest in the sector.
Working for the Community Media Sector
An All Party Group of MPs and Lords supports the principles of Community Media and assists in raising the profile of the organisation and its aims to political decision-makers.
Much of the CMA’s work has a strategic emphasis and in 2004 the organisation was heavily involved in liaison with Government regarding recent actual and proposed legislation on Community Radio, Public Service Broadcasting, BBC Charter Review, Local and Community Television, the Broadcasting Code, Media Literacy, Digital Switchover, the Community Media Fund and Spectrum allocation.
Future work
At the end of February 2008 we published our draft three year work plan which addresses the following key themes:
- Broadcasting, regulatory and funding policy, and environment: we are in consultation with DCMS and Ofcom to ensure the future of community media on the new digital platforms.
- Regional working: we will continue to develop regional fora for community media practitioners to address the increasingly regional issues affecting our sector.
- Media literacy: we are working with Government and educational institutions to embed community media training and practice as a means of encouraging life-long learning.
The Community Media Association podcast is available here.
