Professionalism of the Community Voice
By: Erin Snell
Tags: Radio, Community Radio, Training, Community Organizing, Local Media

Professionalism of the Community Voice

Community radio stations are built to give the whole community a platform, but trying to get the public to create a cohesive likeable product isn’t simple. Erin Snell Follow Dec 14, 2020 · 6 min read

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Community media is meant to be created for and by the local community. Community radio stations range widely in size and focus (you can find stations for specific regions, music genres, age groups, ethnic communities, ect). One thing they all have in common is that are designed to be forums for their communities, not just speak to them.

The most pervasive way that community station represent the local voice is the integration of volunteers into the production of content and running of the station. According to Ofcom the average community radio station in the UK is run by a handful of “professional” paid staff and about 80 volunteers. About 2 million volunteer hours go into creating content for community stations in the UK every year.

Benefits Of Community Created Content

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Unlike commercial stations, the voices you hear on community radio are unlikely to belong to professional journalists and media experts. Though some may have media experience, mostly volunteers are retirees, builders, plumers, students, business owners, unemployed, entertainers, social workers… basically anyone who has the motivation and can find the time. Additionally, those unlikely to be given the opportunity to be given the opportunity to participate in traditional media are often activly encouraged to join community stations. This includes people with mixed abilities, young people, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, even prisoners (see the prison radio project).

With all that diversity of lived experience, combined with greater freedom for presenters to pursue their own interests, you are likley hear a greater diversity of content on community.

The diversity of local volunteers also alows for greater discussion of local issues. Starting with the fact that the stations are completely locally based and focused (not a regional part of a larger company) means that features can focus on what’s happening in the small area the station covers. A community station based in Bournemouth is particularly interested in the problems faced in Bournemouth, they don’t also have to cover London travel updates. Also, have a greater diversity volunteer presenters means they can bring discussions from their other communities. Full time media professionals are likely to spend most of their day talking to other people in the media. However, someone who runs a business most of the day will have a different perspective of the concerns of the local business communities.

Community based stations are also designed to bring benefits to the volunteers who contribute to them. All community station provide their volunteers media training, a public platform, and simply a safe environment to spend a couple of days a week. The Community Radio Toolkit argues that community radio stations function as community centers.

“A community radio station will attract volunteers and visitors like bees to honey. Very quickly your premises will turn into some kind of cross between a radio station, a day care centre, a school common room, karaoke competition, a café and a sitcom.”

Community stations can provide a place for the most vunerable members of the community to come, be safe and connect with a network of other knowledgable locals. Station staff are encouraged engage with their volunteers, talk about issues they may be having and direct them to experienced help whenever possible.

Finally, community radio provides an open opportunity for training and increases employability prospects. Media trainig opurtunities are expensive and competitive (I can personally attest to this!). Volunteering at a radio station can allow people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to the industry to learn skills that they can carry on to other jobs. Many training programs also include general employability skills allowing volunteers to increase the likelihood of decent employment and therefore general improvement of their quality of life.

Challenges With Community Run Media

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There are also challenges that come along with trying to build a radio station with non-professional content. The first of which is the same as any media outlet: how to get people to listen. More specifically, how to get enough people to tune in regularly to stay financially viable.

While community radio stations are non-for-profit, they still need to generate enough income to maintain expensive technical equipment, pay licensing fees pay rent, and pay the few staff they do have. While some grants are available to assist stations, most community radio revenue still comes from either advertising or fundraising. Advertising requires the station to have enough listeners for businesses to consider their investments worthwhile. Fundraising requires enough donors to believe that the station is a valuable resource for the community. In either case the output must be found to have valuable to enough people in the local area. In other words, the station has to actually be considered interesting for it to continue to survive.

But that shouldn’t be a problem right? Diverse presenters + local content = fascinating local insights. Well, according Ann Alquist on Radio Survivor, not anyone on the street can rock up, push a button, and magically create a popular radio station. Things can, and do, go wrong. One problem specific to community radio is consistency. Diversity of content is great, unless you’re a listener trying to figure out if the station fits your tastes. Popular commercial stations usually focus on one style of music and have a very particular sound that fans know to expect. However, on a community station a listener might tune at 5pm to get smooth jazz and 8pm for dance music. In the age where you can go to Spotify and listen to exactly what you’re in the mood for, inconsistency can kill listener numbers.

Different stations address this problem differntly. Not all community stations cater to the entire population in the area they cover. For example, some stations cater for specific genres of music (like Celtic Music Radio), while others reach out to a specific section of the community (like Asian Star ot Trans Radio UK). Other stations have a consistant sound for certain times of the day. For example they might have daytime shows with a shared playlist to appeal picky listeners. Then have a wide variety of shows in the evenings that loyal listeners can look up to find which presenters they enjoy every week.

Another challenge with community run media is getting volunteers from all walks of life to focus on the goal of creating a great radio station. Often volunteers are primarily involved with one show. With volunteers only coming in part time, to work on the show that they’re invested in, sometimes it can be hard for them to see the bigger picture of the station. If each volunteer is fighting for the best time slot and promotion for their show it can breed conflict between volunteers and put pressure on staff to appease them, whether or not it’s best for the station.

The Community Radio Toolkit suggests the best way to engage volunteers with the station, and avoid conflict, is to involve all volunteers with the running of the station. If volunteers are involved in decision making they can understand the pressures that station is facing. At least some volunteers should be involved in office work beyond presenting their shows. The more the entire community can take ownership of the station, the more invested they’ll be in it’s running, and the more truly community-based it’ll be.

A final concern for community created media is managing commitments to volunteers. After singing the praises of the use of community radio stations as community centers, The Community Radio Toolkit immediately went on to advise against getting carried away. Staff need to be able to recognize volunteers as individuals with other lives, potentially dealing with difficulties. However, the station still needs to keep running at a consistent level if it’s going to survive. Rouge volunteers can spell disasters for a radio station.

At the end of the day, if the station goes under, it won’t be able to provide any of its services to volunteers. So if there are members whose personal problems begin to affect the station, staff are encourage to provide the help they can, and then get them to take time away.