Source: Communityradio.in & the better India website
What is Community Radio?
Community radio is a radio station owned, run and maintained by a community.
In other words, Community Radio is a voluntary activity, supported by the community it serves. Civil society can assist in setting up and supporting stations over a short duration as they move towards self-sufficiency.
Significance
- Community Radio is about people. It is a two- way process that empowers people to identify problems and create solutions.
- Community Radio enables the most vulnerable to participate in decisions for positive change in their lives
- Community radio, although taking on diverse forms depending on its surroundings, remains a type of radio made to serve people; radio that encourages expression and participation and that values local culture.
- Its purpose is to give a voice to those without voices, to marginalized groups and to communities far from large urban centers, where the population is too small to attract commercial or large-scale State radio.
- Community radio stations help empower people at the grass-root level.
- It’s a participative tool that gives voice to the voiceless and marginalized and helps keep alive the language, dialect, oral and folk traditions of the community paving the way for a more inclusive and equitable society.
Examples of Community radios in India
- Radio FTII 90.4 FM, Maharashtra: Radio FTII, aired on FM 90.4, travels from one community to another explaining the marvels of this platform and how, individuals, as well as community groups, can use it to communicate their issues, without any burden or a trail of cumbersome formalities.
- Radio Udaan, Punjab: An online community radio station, the primary objective was to bring together people from all over the world to form an inclusive and empowering community that is free from all stereotypes.
- Apno Radio, 90.4 MHz, Rajasthan: Operating at the frequency of 90.4 MHz, under Banasthali Vidyapith, Apno Radio is Rajasthan’s first community radio station. Launched in 2005, with an objective to promote self-reliance and women empowerment, it focuses on several social issues ailing the rural communities of the state.
- Vasundhara Vahini, 90.4 MHz, Maharashtra: An agro-based radio, located in Baramati it also reaches out to nearby rural areas, and its tagline is—‘a tool of social transformation.’
- Vidyavani, 107.4 FM, Maharashtra: Based out of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), Vidyavani is a prominent community radio broadcasting in Marathi, English, and Hindi, since 2005.
