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Output is everything
Community radio has a public service remit, so what should listeners expect from your station?
Community radio is a publicly owned asset. Even if it is not funded by public sources, the fact it has been granted privileged access to finite broadcast spectrum ahead of a commercial operation means the payoff is that it must act as a public-service operation. Community radio is not about being given some spectrum and simply being expected to fill it with whatever you want.
As well as goals in participation and skills-building of the volunteers who work at the station, your station must have a remit to enhance the community through the output, over and above a commercial operation.
For example, I would suggest that at election time your station should have a mandate to improve voter turn-out. That’s not to suggest that you should waive from the impartiality you are required to adhere to, but a community station should be about more than just acknowledging that there is an election. It should be empowering its listeners to go out and make an informed decision about voting.
Equally, community radio shouldn’t get scared about covering local politics the rest of the time. Talking to local councillors is often not the most exhilarating content, but unless our political system radically changes, it is the way our democracy works and getting people to engage with it is what a community station should be about. The challenge is coming up with original and different ways of tackling the subjects without appearing worthy-but-dull.
Community radio should be talking up the various initiatives and using campaign days and weeks as a vehicle to promote discuss and highlight information. A good community station would ensure that there is enough forward-planning so that training initiatives are working on content that can be broadcast to coincide with national campaigns (such as World Aids Day or Breast Cancer Awareness Month). But more than necessarily duplicating information given out by national broadcasters, it is important that there is unique content that connects with the community in a way that other broadcasters can’t.
It is also really important that Community Radio doesn’t alienate its audience by becoming too right-on and overly politically-correct. Whilst I would never advocate allowing racist or bigoted opinion to be aired without a challenge; airtime must not be restricted to purely to allowing the view of “right thinking society” to be expressed. Stations which target a specific community of interest must allow access to those who want counter arguments put forward. For example, a station targeting an older audience must ensure that it does not perpetuate the belief that all young people are hooligans without allowing representatives of young people to counter that argument. Ofcom have yet to really explain how they would ensure that a licence-holder can not simply restrict airtime of those who hold differing views.