"El texto propone un marco teórico sobre comunicación y participación, sintetiza los aspectos fundamentales de las emisoras comunitarias para detenerse en los principios y criterios que deben ser tenidos en cuenta para una gestión adecuada y para el logro de su sustentabilidad como empresas soci
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ales que garanticen a las comunidades el derecho a la comunicación. El segundo capítulo se introduce en la Gestión integral de las emisoras comunitarias. En la tercera parte se ofrece una metodología para implementar en las emisoras comunitarias el modelo de gestión integral reconocido y recomendado por diferentes sectores empresariales. El manual propone una perspectiva sobre la gestión de las radios comunitarias, herramientas concretas de organización, de diagnóstico y evaluación, propuestas prácticas, consejos y recomendaciones de organizaciones que han implementado procesos de gestión para que las radios comunitarias sean empresas sociales sustentables." (commbox)
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"Like other publications on "commmunity media sustainability", this guide looks not only at financial, but also institutional sustainability, and social sustainability, i.e. it's rootedness in the community to which it belongs. The first section highlights the centrality of mission for sustainabilit
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y and tackles topics such as models for sustainable funding, business models, "barefoot" audience research, relationship to donors, writing successful funding proposals and using alternative energy to power radio stations. The second section provides sustainability experiences from quite different contexts, countries and kinds of media, including radios in Haiti, Nepal, Rwanda, Sierra Leone or South Africa, as well as a community television NGO in the United Kingdom, online community media in the USA or community media networks like the satellite news service of the Latin American Association for Radio Education (ALER) or the Peruvian National Community Radio Coordination CNR. The final section is a list of resources, providing practitioners and researchers with a broad range of further online materials." (CAMECO Update 3-2009)
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"This is a qualitative comparative study on sustainability challenges facing the community radio sector in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study explores and determines community radio’s social acceptance to target communities, identifies its fundraising and marketing strategies, and evaluates
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its governance and management policies. The research draws from theories of community development and mass communication, namely: development theory and participant media theory. Detailed literature review, focus group discussion, in-depth interviews, and analyses of archival records and institutional documents were used as research methods. The case study purports that the quality of a community radio service is often a product of its resources. Furthermore, it appreciates the open access approach to broadcasting as fulfilling the original and moral imperative of community radio. However, it views sustainability issues, more specifically financial resources, as having far reaching effects on the sector’s independence and the ability to fulfill its functions. Often in community radio, the concept of sustainability tends to be narrowly used to refer to financial sustainability alone. The conclusions drawn from the comparative study of three community radio stations, namely: Botlokwa, Mohodi and Radio Turf reveal that a comprehensive approach to sustainability should recognise the role of social, organisational and financial aspects of the medium. Despite marked progress with respect to social acceptance, more innovative marketing and fundraising strategies, appropriate organisational and management policies in the sector are essential. In their absence, community radio continues to lack access to a fair share of resources and can barely raise funds to meet its obligations. Consequently, poor performance in community radio is largely attributable to sustainability challenges, particularly in rural communities where resources are often scarce as compared to urban centres." (Abstract)
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"We examine the sustainability of Community radio (CR) as a tool towards achieving the overall development in the South Asian region. A cross-country comparison of CR in areas including people’s participation, regulatory scenarios, human resource development, technology usage trends, financial pra
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ctices etc. shows a wide variety of CR applications and challenges. An indepth analysis of financial data and practices of several Nepalese CR stations (rural, urban, and semi-urban) alongside regulatory and anecdotal references from India and Bangladesh shows potential viability through advertising and other mechanisms. Even with an advertisement cap of 5 minutes per hour, every station shows the potential of achieving financial sustainability by selling a fraction of the allotted ad time (7%-46%). Our model shows that the monthly operating expenditure of types of stations turns out to be more significant than the annualized capital expenditure. In our analysis (and borne out in the real world), of the three considered stations, the semi-urban station has the highest cost per listener. Stochastic cost modeling of real world CR data show the trend of increased cost for content development is a trade-off for expanding the listener base and transmission time. We conclude with a proposed set of policy and operating recommendations to enable CR to play a significant role in overall South Asian development." (Abstract)
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"The authors present six local and independent radio stations from Africa - community radio stations, and commercial and NGO run radio stations with strong community participation - showcasing good practices for sustainability, defined as "ability of a radio station to maintain a good quality develo
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pmental broadcasting service over a period of time." Asking the question, what is it that needs to be sustained? they offer a holistic view on sustainability by examining how a radio station is embedded in its geographic, economic, infrastructural, social, linguistic and cultural context. Furthermore, the case studies consider the broadcasting environment, programme schedules, management structures and sources of income of the radio stations. Particular attention is paid to the community engagement of the radio stations and to the causes for active community involvement." (commbox)
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"The community radio sector is experiencing a time of rapid growth in Australia. While community broadcasting participants generally welcome the sector’s growth, they have expressed concern over the lack of proportionate funding increase from the Federal government. The key issue is the need to fi
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nd ways to enhance community radio’s sources of funding without imperilling its status as a not-for-profit sector, and as one main option, the deregulation of sponsorship time presently limited to five minutes per hour may enhance income generation for community radio. This paper argues that there is no inherent conflict between entrepreneurial principles and not-for-profit principles." (Abstract)
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"The manual gives a brief overview - not extensive instructions - of the different aspects of marketing in community radio stations, such as market research, promotions and local sponsorships. Unlike other publications, it does not focus much on fundraising and sponsorships, but includes methods, ex
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amples, ideas and concrete guidelines for achieving financial sustainability of community radio stations. "Marketing Community Radio" is not a guideline for developing countries, but it places strong emphasis on local marketing opportunities in general, like sales of airtime to local businesses, cooperation with local enterprises for mutual promotional actions, fundraising through individuals or local and national institutions, or even through "radiothons". Moreover, the publications contains a few lists of the "Do's" and "Don'ts" that should be considered in the process of selling radio airtime, as well as appendices with a marketing audit containing questions to evaluate your marketing plans and efforts. Additionally, the manual gives examples of the advantages that community radio stations can offer, eg, an attentive audience, an attractive timeframe for advertising without much competition, lower costs than TV and/or newspaper advertising, greater targetability, etc." (commbox)
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"This model is based on a research of six Namibian Community Radio Stations. It argues that a newly established - or even an existing - community radio station can achieve financial sustainability by implementing seven elements: 1. Environmental Scanning, 2. Strategic Planning, 3. Partnership Establ
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ishment, 4. Human Resource Planning, 5. Financial Planning, 6. Project Implementation, 7. Monitoring and Evaluation. Underlining that partnerships are needed for financial sustainability, a graphical partnership model shows what kind of partnerships are possible and contributing to sustainability. This publication is a short and theoretical presentation of a business model. It gives neither concrete examples from community radio stations, nor any checklists or tools for its implementation, but it is of value due to its view on community radio stations as businesses." (commbox)
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"This report was commissioned by the Community Media Association (CMA) to suggest criteria for the establishment of a community radio sector in the United Kingdom. The report compares the legal and regulatory frameworks for community radio in Australia, Canada, France, Holland, Ireland and South Afr
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ica. It contains recommendations as to the optimal legislative and regulatory model for the development of community radio - including licensing and economic models – for the UK. The report includes a comparison across the six countries of the following factors: definitions of community radio in law and regulation; licensing systems for community radio services; frequency allocations and associated technical constraints; economic bases of the community radio sector and rules on funding sources; the sector in the context of the wider media landscape; social characteristics – programming, audiences, staff and supporters." (Introduction)
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