management resources for community media

This handbook sets out audience research methodology, including quantitative audience measurement; measurement of audience opinions and reactions; qualitative research; data analysis; and more. Community radio is not specifically considered, but the methodologies are nevertheless useful.

Written by Graham Mytton, head of audience research for the BBC World Service and published by UNESCO and UNICEF

Download the Handbook on Radio and Television Audience Research (PDF)

Below is a selection of fourteen statements about community radio. Each of them puts a different emphasis on the characteristics described in the previous post What is community media?, and many introduce other characteristics.
Read the rest of this entry »

Bruce Girard

There is no single definition of community media and there are almost as many models as there are stations. Each community radio station is a hybrid, a unique communication process shaped by a few over-arching characteristics and by the distinct culture, history, and reality of the community it serves. Nevertheless, there are some characteristics that all community radio stations have in common. Among these are that they are community-based, independent, not-for-profit, pro-community, and participatory.
Read the rest of this entry »

Community broadcasting is distinct from public broadcasting in that the latter is a window through which people can look and learn about their surroundings while the former is a mirror that reflects a community’s own knowledge and experience back at it and invites the community to know itself, to dialogue, to find solutions to its problems, and to develop agendas for action.