What is Community Radio?

Community radio is a type of radio service that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting (e.g. NPR). Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular and relevant to a local/specific audience but which may often be overlooked by commercial or mass-media broadcasters.

Community radio stations are operated, owned, and driven by the communities they serve. Community radio is not-for profit and provides a mechanism for facilitating individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own diverse stories, to share experiences, and in a media rich world to become active creators and contributors of media.

In many parts of the world, community radio acts as a vehicle for the community and voluntary sector, civil society, agencies, non-governmental organizations, and citizens to work in partnership to further community development as well as broadcasting aims.

There has been significant legal definition of community radio as a distinct broadcasting sector in many countries such as France, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, and Ireland. Much of the legislation has included phrases such as social benefit, social objectives, social gain as part of the definition.

Community radio has historically developed differently in different countries and thus the term has somewhat different meanings in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

In the U.S., community radio stations are non-profit, community-based operations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission for broadcasting in the non-commercial, public portion of the FM band (87.5-91.9). These stations differ from other public radio outlets in the U.S. by allowing community volunteers to actively participate as broadcasters.

Many community stations stream over the Internet. Give a listen to some of them to get a sampling of what community radio sounds like. For example, check out these streaming California stations: KVMR, KDRT, KFOK, KRCB, KWMR, KZYX, or KMUD.