In November 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the implementation of the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, which marks the largest expansion of community radio stations in U.S. history. The act responds to the decade-long community radio movement in which many civilian groups advocated that community radio—an “old-fashioned” yet affordable public medium—still plays a significant role in fostering the expression of diverse voices and citizen participation in this digital era. Despite the successful advocacy effort in the policy-making arena, the real impact of community radio remains a question. Who listens to and participates in community radio? Does the connection between community radio and community exist? This dissertation investigates audience interaction and participation in the U.S. community radio sector, seeking to empirically and theoretically advance audience research in community radio and alternative media in general. Methodologically, this dissertation is based on case studies from two community radio stations KOOP and KPFT in Texas through multiple methods including 5-year ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews with 70 individuals including staff, programmers and listeners, a web-based listener survey with 131 respondents, and a textual analysis of producer-audience communication platforms such as blogs and social networking sites. The results demonstrate the limitations of audience interaction and participation caused by resource constraints and community radio programmers’ tendency to speak with themselves. Therefore, I recommend that community radio broadcasters should consider developing systemic approaches to evaluate and facilitate audience participation, which requires an understanding that the value of community engagement lies beyond audience size or the amount of listener donations. This dissertation concludes that community radio remains relevant in this digital era. This affordable and accessible form of alternative media to some extent bridges a digital divide. The medium also facilitates the development of a genuine relationship between radio programmers and listeners, thus the formation of virtual and real communities. These are the very elements that make meaningful dialogues possible in any communication environment. / text

This collection of published scholarly work concerns the growth and development of community radio and mobile telephony during the period 2000-2009, with reference to specific examples and case studies. The associated report examines the extent that the public are using these media to the benefit of individuals and communities and also suggests that the public have regained use of the electromagnetic spectrum through the use of community radio and mobile phones. The over arching hypothesis is that both community radio and mobile telephony are: • providing benefits to society, rangmg from improving daily life and avoiding inconveniences, to ameliorating critical or life-threatening situations and resisting oppression, • re-establishing rights of usage in the electromagnetic spectrum for ordinary members of the public which were surrendered to governmental authorities in the early years of spectrum experimentation, • using the electromagnetic spectrum as a tool for activism, political discussion, social engagement and exchange of information about matters of common interest, • worthy of research and examination to investigate how these two forms of communications media are impacting on the lives of individuals and society as a whole.

This study is based on an assessment of XK FM as a community radio station for the !XQ and Khwe ethnic communities. Various political under-currents and factors are examined: the refusal to accept the two groups as separate ethnic communities, the anomalous creation of XK FM as a community radio station under the auspices of SABC. This anomaly has created an ambiguity of what a community is within a community radio station, what are the historical and present complexities encompassed in considering the !XO and the Khwe as a single 'minority ethnic media community' and awarding them a radio licence, what is the nature and governance of community radio in general? The study followed a qualitative research paradigm whose epistemology IS phenomenological, using case study method, theories of the public sphere and ethnicity. According to this frame of reference XK FM radio station is seen as a case study of ethnic minority media. Community radio is therefore described as the expression of a small population, and a third voice between the state and private commercial radio. It also has the ability to correct the distortions inherent in the majority-controlled media by acting as the alternative media. The alternative element is associated with its potential to challenge the establishment, and in giving people an independent voice which is often perceived as alternative and free speech. Us major characteristics are; independence, equality, community participation, and representation. XK FM as a community radio is likely to consolidate the sustenance of beliefs in collective will, participatory approach to communication and citizen input. This enhances language as both a means of communication and expression of cultural identity for the local communities. This study concludes that the lXQ and Khwe are two different ethnic communities, with varied worldviews and aspirations. This assertions surmises that the issuing of the licence by ICASA merely focused on their cultural distinctiveness, and allowed for a localised form of public broadcasting, thereby entrenching ethnic cleavages most probably with the aim of manipulating the two communities. By implication, XK FM is not a community radio station in the strict sense, but an extension of SABC in a decentralised version. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

The Bachelor thesis ”Oh, it’s only student radio” is a qualitative study of the Swedish student radio and its members. The study aims to investigate the professionalisation of the radio hosts through Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of field and habitus as well as theories of profession. In order to do so, it’s also necessary to establish the radiostations’ perceived role in today’s media landscape by analysing their ambition in relation to other media organisations. The latter has been determined in part by the same theories as the former, in part also by theories of media convergence and a comparison to its international counterpart Community Radio. The investigation has been conducted through semi-structured research interviews with active members. The material has furthermore been operationalised through a theme-based qualitative data analysis, to compare and contrast the participants views and perceptions from the standpoints of the theoretical framework and earlier research. The thesis concludes that the journalism students have higher ambition and are likely to use the student radio as a stepping stone for their future career. They are also more likely to take on several different projects, whereas the other members tended to stay within the same genre of radio show. All the participants said to achieve a personal growth through their memberships, whether as mastering the tool of a future career or more of a personal gain through a hobby. It was also established that members of the older and larger radio stations where more likely to aspire as competators of Sveriges Radio (Swedish Public Service Broadcaster) whereas hosts from the younger stations where more likely to compare themselves to those within the podcasting community, due to the esteem of the stations leading figures.

Abstract Denna uppsats handlar om hur community radiostationerna Mega FM och Radio Wa i norra Uganda arbetar med fredsjournalistik. Syftet med uppsatsen är att öka förståelsen för relationen mellan community radio och fredsjournalistik. Det är inte bara relevant för journalistikvetenskapen, utan även för alla som är intresserade av utveckling och freds- och säkerhetsfrågor i konfliktområden.    Hur ser det fredsjournalistiska arbetet ut i praktiken på community radiostationerna Mega FM och Radio Wa?   Vilka förutsättningar är nödvändiga, enligt Mega FM och Radio Wa, för att skapa ett generellt freds- och försoningsrelaterat radioprogram?   Vilka svårigheter finns för att lyckas genomföra ett fredsjournalistiskt arbete, enligt Mega FM och Radio Wa?   Frågeställningarna har besvarats genom kvalitativa informantintervjuer med radiojournalister i Gulu och Lira, och observationer. Det teoretiska ramverket inkluderar fredsforskning, utvecklingskommunikation, deltagande kommunikation, teorier om community radio och fredsjournalistik. Tyngdpunkt ligger på de senare. Teorin har operationaliserats genom att dela in de fredsjournalistiska kriterierna på en minimi- till maximiskala.   Uppsatsen visar att Mega FM och Radio Wa är community radiostationer som arbetar fredsjournalistiskt, men inte på en maximinivå eftersom de inte fullt ut adresserar alla konflikter, eller tar en proaktiv roll som medlare utan använder sig av en tredje part. Framför allt utgör avsaknaden av pressfrihet och tidsbrist de främsta hindren för ett proaktiv fredsjournalistiskt arbete, samt att informanterna betonar att en allt för aktiv roll strider mot objektivitetsidealet, något även kritiker mot fredsjournalistiken har lyft fram.

This is an investigation of the diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly the Internet, by community broadcasting organisations. In order to understand ICT diffusion processes in community radio stations, this study focuses on a particular project which saw a large scale diffusion of Internet technologies across Australian community radio stations at the beginning of 1998. The Community Access Network (CAN) project was an initiative of the Australian government, and saw funding for the provision of an Internet ready computer to every licensed community radio station in Australia. In approaching this subject, this research employed social constructivist assumptions, expecting that ICT use, and in particular the CAN workstations, would vary from station to station, reflecting the cultural and organisational conditions in each environment. As such the study aimed to understand the ways in which ICT technologies have been used and understood by community ralo station management and their participants. Since community radio stations are organisations, this study employed Everett Rogers' framework for understanding diffusion of innovation processes within organisations, acknowledging that organisational variables act on innovation behaviour in a manner over and above that of the aggregate of individual members of the organisation. This approach provided scope for the investigation and comparison of organisational factors, as well as meaning making on the part of individual participants. The research was based on data collected from two case studies, chosen on the basis of their divergent social, cultural and organisational environments; 4EB in Brisbane, a metropolitan, ethnic community radio station; and 2NCR-FM in Lismore, a regional, generalist community radio station. Ethnographic methods of observation and interviews were employed to collect qualitative data, providing insider accounts of community broadcaster's use, experience, and understanding of the new technologies in their day-to-day broadcast practices. By looking at two different community radio stations, this research acknowledges points of similarity and difference across these organisational situations, identifying factors that contribute to variation in technology take-up in particular station programming emphasis, perception of need, organisational resources, role of innovation champions, training, ICT policy and broadcaster variables. Evidence drawn from these case studies, and the specific ICT investigated, contributes to a general understanding of factors in the diffusion of ICT technologies across the community broadcast sector, providing a frame of reference for anticipating subsequent innovation diffusion. In particular, there are implications for future diffusion projects which plan to deploy new technologies across the community radio sector. It also contextualises community broadcasting and ICT use within the field of new technology uptake by broadcast sectors in general.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 26, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-78).

Community radio stations play an important role in the development of their communities. Forte FM is a community radio station located at University of Fort Hare Alice campus and was established to facilitate development in communities within the Amathole district municipality. Alice, a small rural town under Raymond Mhlaba Municipality, is one of the communities under the coverage of Forte FM. This study assessed the role that Forte FM plays in facilitating the development of Alice community. The study adopted a mixed method design in which questionnaires and interviews were used to collect primary data. The study findings show that although Forte FM is faced with serious financial challenges, it contributes to the development of Alice in various ways which includes providing the community with agricultural information, health information, promoting local culture, equipping the community with skills, promote local artists and sports personnel and educational programmes. The findings also revealed that the community is involved in the management of some aspects of the station’s operations through a board which is elected annually by the community itself. The results indicate that the radio station involve some community members in programming as experts on some topics or as people who have experienced an ordeal so they could share their experiences and advice other people how to manage similar situations. However, there is need to involve the community in the whole production process. The respondents’ attributed poor levels of community participation in programming to insufficient funds. The study recommends that Forte FM should lobby members of the community to fund the production of programmes since the station belongs to the community. This will enhance the sense of community ownership towards the radio station.

As Rádios Comunitárias exercem um papel importante nas comunidades em que estão inseridas. Além de ser um canal de expressão aberto à população local, permitem ao cidadão e à cidadã da periferia, excluídos digitalmente, culturalmente e socialmente utilizar as ondas hertzianas para se expressarem. O surgimento de milhares de rádios comunitárias em todo o país proporciona o início de um processo histórico de ruptura do monopólio dos meios de comunicação de massa. No âmbito da educação informal, as rádios comunitárias contribuem no processo da conquista da cidadania a partir da reflexão e da conscientização dos problemas e dos interesses coletivos. / Community radio stations have an important role in the communities in which they belong to. And aside from being an open channel expression for the local population, community radio stations allow periphery citizens, which are technological, cultural and socially excluded, to make use of Hertz vibration to express themselves. The thousands of community radio stations uprising all over the country provides the beginning of a historical process of breaking the media monopoly. In relation to informal education, community radio stations help in the process of citizenship conquest through reflection and the awareness of the problems and of the public concern.

This is a qualitative study whose purpose was to investigate the community radio education practices and the museum outreach education activities with a view to understanding how a museum-radio partnership may be used to engage the Livingstone community in environment and sustainability learning. Environment and sustainability issues require a community approach in order to bring about sustained responses to environmental challenges. As such, the study worked with social learning ideas of engaging the community in environment and sustainability learning. The data was generated mainly from face-to-face semi-structured interviews involving three community radio stations, Radio Listener Clubs and museum experts. The data generated was then presented to a strategy workshop involving the Livingstone Museum and Radio Musi-otunya staff. Arising from this workshop, recommendations were made about the possibility of the museum working in partnership with the radio to engage the community in environmental education. The study has shown that much of the museum environmental education activities have been confined to exhibitions and lectures within the museum building, which has affected the number of people being serviced by the museum. These education activities are arranged such that museum expert-led knowledge is presented to the audience with minimal community engagement on the environmental learning content. The study has also shown that community radio programming provides opportunities for community-led social learning which the Livingstone Museum could make use of to engage the community in environmental learning. Community radio programming allows community participation through Radio Listener Clubs, in identification and presentation of local environmental issues. This makes it a suitable tool to address locally relevant environmental issues, by the local community. Environmental issues are different from one place to another. Therefore environmental education approaches that bring issues into the museum may fail to address the different environmental education issues in different community context. The study concludes by recommending that Livingstone Museum should explore the use of community radio so that their expert knowledge and that of the radio producers could be used to shape environmental education programmes to go beyond awareness-raising.