COMMUNITY RADIO BROADCASTING
W.D.Mathur*
With the advent of
community broadcasting, a whole new exciting world awaits listeners
in far-flung areas where radio listening revolves around community
centres. The proposed community radio serves to bring small groups
together through their own participation to reflect their day-to-day
concerns. The community will participate by creating contents
of the programmes for its own people. This narrow broad casting
does not require big transmitters.
Community radio of
the future will strive to bring people together through interaction.
Like teleconferencing, the listeners will be able to talk to each
other through the radio network using small wireless sets. This
will help in business activities of the particular district or
a village where the artisan will know his prospective buyer for
his wares.
At present, however,
programmes will be created for the listeners in the community
and reflect what is relevant for their needs and aspirations.
The community in
these areas is well-knit. There is always a collective response
to all radio programmes as the listeners generally assemble at
one place where they listen to radio programmes, discuss and react.
This turns into public service broadcast because it is here that
the aspirations of the people can be fulfilled. To achieve this,
the programmes have to be drawn up with a foresight keeping in
mind the priorities of varied areas so that people can easily
identify themselves with the programmes.
Out of the existing
network of All India Radio, the Frequency Modulation, commonly
known as the FM, technique of the radio wave has a distinct advantage.
The Medium Wave and Short Wave suffer from the disadvantage of
deteriorating sound quality with the increase in distance. The
FM provides stereo quality and is ideal for short-range broadcasts.
In the far-flung rural areas where the availability of power supply
is unreliable, the FM is ideally suited for community broadcast
for dissemination of information, education and entertainment.
The Working Group on the 10th Plan has recommended future expansion
of radio, primarily in the FM mode.
To supplement the
broadcasting by All India Radio, the Government, in July 1999,
approved private participation in FM broadcasting.
After offering licences
to private FM broadcasting in 40 cities through 110 channels for
commercial broadcasting, the Government has decided to offer private
licences to the established educational institutions and organizations
having their own campus and residential schools.
At present, AIR has
133 FM transmitters covering more than 21 per cent of area and
about 31 per cent population of the country. Private licences
for FM broadcasting have been offered in 40 cities for 110 channels
for setting up 10 KW radio transmitters, except in four metro
cities where the capacity could be between 10 to 20 KW. These
private channels are already operating in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Chennai, Bangalore, Indore, Ahemedabad, Pune and Lucknow. Next
in the line are Patna, Bhuvaneswar, Cuttack, Jabalpur, Coimbatore,
Tirunelveli and Vishakhapatnam. The number of channels will provide
plurality of choice to the listeners leading to improvement in
the quality of programmes.
To start with, programmes
on the comunity radio service will focus on issues relating to
education, health, environment, agriculture and rural and community
development. The Government expects these programmes to be popular
if done innovatively done to sustain the listeners’ interest.
This service is expected
to provide a platform for students and teachers to give expression
to their creative talent in producing programmes and in socio-cultural
cohesion of the masses at the local level. The licencees will
not be allowed to broadcast any news, current affairs programmes,
election and political broadcasts. They will also not be allowed
to air any advertisement of sponsored programmes.
The Government is
aware of the need to safeguard the radio stations from being misused
for undesirable propaganda against national interest and safety
and security of the country. Therefore, in the first phase, the
Government has given licenses to only the selected and established
educational institutions in the country for community broadcasts.
For the sake of credibility,
the licensees will ensure that nothing is included in the programme
that goes against good taste and decency. I The code of conduct
rules out anything obscene, defamatory and innuendos. The licencees
will also ensure that there is nothing that amounts to contempt
of court or by casting aspersions on the integrity of the President
or the judiciary.
The programme code
will almost be the same as for All India Radio. It would strive
to promote national integration, religious harmony, scientific
temper and Indian culture.
The applicant will
be permitted only one licence valid for three years and the licencee
will provide service on free-to-air basis. No channel will be
permitted for commercial purposes. The Government will have the
right to inspect broadcast facilities and reserve the right to
take over the entire services or network or revoke or suspend
the licence in the interest of national security.
The licensee will
ensure that all foreign personnel likely to be appointed as employees
or consultants obtain security clearance from the Government.
The licensee will
be expected to furnish a bank guarantee to ensure timely performance
of the licensee agreement and failure to start the services within
the stipulated period can result in cancellation of licence and
forfeiture of the bank guarantee.
The people are likely
to immensely benefit from community radio because of its inter-active
nature and low costs of broadcasting. (PIB Features)
*Freelance
Writer
