Stepping into WMNF 88.5 in East Tampa is an experience that will make you proud. This source of pride for the community is driven by its mission and its work. Listening to Bhojpuri or Tamil from villages that don't even appear on Google maps is such an interesting platform that even the ministry mentions it in its press release about future plans to create a community radio. Broadcasters such as South Beach Radio, in Blyth, are testing their formats with Internet broadcasts in preparation for the launch of the DAB when licenses become available.
As an expert in the field of community radio, I have seen the regulations and requirements for these stations vary greatly from country to country. The CRTC classifies community radio stations into two types, with slightly different regulatory requirements. Most stations are classified as type B; however, a community radio station that functions as the only local media service that serves its community, such as an English-speaking community radio station in Quebec, a First Nations radio station, or a community radio station in a small town with no other local radio station, is classified as type A. This classification gives it a more flexible set of regulatory and licensing requirements to suit the widest range of interests of community programming that the radio station must attend to.
The CRA (Community Radio Association) is a member-based organization, all of its members having run community radio stations in diverse regions and dialects. Together they bring a mine of resources and experience. In the United Kingdom, the idea of community-based services dates back at least to the original concept of BBC local radio in the early 1960s. Permit agreements had been signed with 161 applicants and 126 community radio stations were broadcasting.
Promoting the right to communication, accelerating the process of informing the community, contributing to the free flow of information and acting as a catalyst for change are the main tasks that community radio can carry out. The full list of operating community radio stations in India is published on the website of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Bangladesh NGO Network for Radio and Communication represents the community media sector to Bangladesh's government, industry, regulatory bodies, media, and development partners. Community radio stations are generally non-profit and provide a mechanism for individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own stories, share experiences, and become media creators and collaborators in a media-rich world.
In Ireland, community radio stations encompass those that provide services to a geographical community or a community of interests (such as university stations, Christian stations, and those that speak Irish). In a given licensing area, the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of the MoCIT reserves only three frequencies for community radio. UNESCO strongly supports community radio and works to increase its viability around the world. The current reality is that slavery between people in the community and local radio stations is getting stronger day by day.
Radio Sagarmatha's main organizing vehicle (both for obtaining a license and establishing a radio station) has been the Nepal Environmental Journalists Forum - a non-governmental organization and association of journalists. Community radio stations often avoid commercial media content such as top 40 personalities in music, sports and car travel. As mining declined in Bolivia during the 1980s, unions weakened and some of these radio stations disappeared along with their mining districts.
