tranquileye free media papers

In May 2006 the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC) completed a study of community radio support mechanisms in several industrialized countries. This work was not exhaustive, as some countries identified as having community radio funding programs (including Denmark and Belgium) were not included because of lack of primary sources during the research period. The study was restricted to state-mandated support for community radio at the federal level. The NCRA/ANREC has identified seven industrialized countries – Ireland, the United States, Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom – with national government-mandated community radio support programs. Support typically takes one of three forms: a direct station operational subsidy; targeted support for specific station operations (typically programming production and distribution, staff training and capacity building, and transmission and production equipment); or a combination of the two.

By Dr. Jo Tacchi, CIRAC, Queensland University of Technology, and Eryl Price-Davies, Radio Broadcasting, Thames Valley University. Radio, Television And The New Media: Australian Broadcasting Authority Conference, May 3 & 4 2001.

From introduction: This paper emerges from what began as a tightly focussed project commissioned by the UK’s Community Media Association (CMA). The CMA began life in 1983 as the Community Radio Association. In 1997 it changed its name to allow for community TV, and to reflect the changing media environment and incorporation of new media technologies that might be used for community building purposes. Since its inception it has been fighting for the right to broadcast community radio. Finally, in the UK, after years of lobbying, the opportunity to change the broadcasting legislation and allow for a ‘third tier’ of radio broadcasting has arrived... Rather than spending time thinking about why it has taken so long, this paper hopes to make explicit the current concerns about the processes involved in legislating for, regulating and putting into practice such an ambition.

By Kerrie Foxwell, School of Film Media and Cultural Studies Griffith University. Australian Community Broadcasting Series ISSN 1445-971X Vol. 1, No. 5. September 2001.

Exerpt: Elevation of the notion of ‘cultural citizenship’ in government and sector circles is a potentially useful concept for Australia’s community radio sector. Australian governments and others have frequently applauded our nation as a place where a diversity of cultural groups manage to live in relative harmony and enjoy tolerance and acceptance of diverse beliefs, values and practices. Community radio provides grassroots access to media which re/produces, maintains, nurtures and cultivates the acceptance and representation of Australia’s diverse and multicultural society.

By Kitty Van Vuuren, Queensland University Of Technology. Australian Community Broadcasting Series ISSN 1445-971X Vol. 1, No. 4. November 2001.

Abstract: In this paper I explore the community development function of community broadcasting. I do so with a case study of three non-metropolitan community radio stations, conducted in 1998 and 1999. I apply aspects of the concept of social capital to analyse the results of research conducted at the participating stations. The findings indicate that social capital is related to the age composition of volunteers at community radio.

By Dr Susan Forde, Dr Michael Meadows, Ms Kerrie Foxwell, Griffith University, Brisbane. Presented at Australian Broadcasting Authority Conference, ‘Radio, Television and the New Media’, Canberra, Australia, May 3-4, 2001.

Abstract: Towards the end of 1999, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia, the Community Broadcasting Foundation and the Federal Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts helped fund a major project examining the current state and role of Australia's community broadcasting industry. Co-ordinated by researchers from Griffith University's Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, the project is the first comprehensive attempt to collate research on different aspects of the industry including training, use of new technologies, news services and of course, connections to communities served and/or participating in community broadcasting. The first component of the study, a survey of all community radio stations in Australia has been completed. This paper will focus on the data collected during this initial survey of 149 Community Radio Station Managers in Australia.

Australia's unique community broadcasting sector is the fastest-growing in the country. With more than 200 licensed local radio stations and a further 150 which offer specialist programming to Australia's Indigenous and ethnic communities, the mediascape promises extraordinary diversity. However, recent studies of the sector reveal that this promise, in many communities, has yet to be realised. This paper looks at the successes, stumbling blocks and failures of a communication system which has the potential to extend public sphere debates beyond the narrow confines of the mainstream media and their corporate overlords. It features the compelling and passionate approaches by some communities in using local radio to enhance the meaning of community; in others, broadcasting represents a powerful cultural resource which has the potential, at least, to contribute to public sphere activity. The paper presents a sample of views drawn from the estimated 20,000 volunteers who contribute to the sector across the country.