"Since the 1990s community radio has mushroomed throughout the developing world. In fact it has grown faster than either state or commercial radio. Across Africa, community radio grew, on average, by a significant 1,386 percent between 2000 and 2006. Asia and Latin America have also seen remarkable community radio booms. This has been due mainly to the widespread liberalization of the airwaves, the falling costs of the necessary technology, and a thirst for alternatives to government-controlled and commercial media. International aid agencies are showing ever greater interest in community media’s ability to inform and empower. More governments are acknowledging the contribution of community media to education, public health, and economic development and are creating policy and legal frameworks to enable its expansion. Nevertheless, community radio still faces repression in many countries.
This report explores the reasons for this expansion and the constraints and challenges community radio still faces. It also looks at community radio’s record in terms of development and examines its real achievements against its ideals. For purposes of this report, community radio is defined as radio by and for the community, be it a physical community or a community of interest, with an emphasis on community ownership and management on a not-for-profit basis. Wider and more hybrid definitions are acknowledged and explored, and community radio’s differences from vernacular, fundamentalist, and hate radio are clarified. The report also points out where community radio is most prevalent in the developing world and the reasons for this, looking especially at the kind of pro-freedom policies that allow it to thrive and what positive change is possible where community radio works well. A short case study takes a more detailed look at India, where community radio was only recently allowed. The major challenge for community radio continues to be economic survival and sustainability beyond donor and NGO support. Various models are explored, including some new initiatives that emphasize a more business-oriented approach than has been the case in the past. Another big challenge is the right of community radio to exist at all. The record of the support given by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC, in the French acronym) is examined in light of these continuing struggles, as well as the work of national-level platforms also engaged in advocacy." (Executive summary, page 5)