What Is Community Radio?
In general, they are non-profit and provide a mechanism to encourage people, organizations, and communities to tell their own narratives, share experiences, and become media creators and contributors in a media-rich world.
In addition to commercial and public broadcasting, Community radio is a radio service providing a third model of radio broadcasting. Geographical areas and neighbourhoods of concern are served by neighbourhood stations. They broadcast common and important content that is specific to the local audience, but that is often ignored by commercial or mass media broadcasters.
The Bombay Presidency Radio Club (also known as Radio Club) is a sports club located in Colaba, Mumbai. The first programmed radio broadcast in India was made from here. Until 1927, it was the only operating radio station in Bombay. In 1930, the government took over broadcasting services and it was renamed the Indian Broadcasting Service.
The Indian Telegraph Act 1885 was challenged by the Supreme Court of India more than a century later, in 1995, which gave a landmark judgement in February 1995, claiming that airwaves constitute public property and must be used to advance the public good.
Community Radios In India: Voice to the Voiceless:
- Radio FTII 90.4 FM, Maharashtra
Radio FTII, broadcast on FM 90.4, moves from one culture to another describing the wonders of this platform and how, without any pressure or a trail of tedious formalities, people, as well as community groups, can use it to express their problems. Radio FTII, launched in 2006 at the Indian Film and Television Institute in Pune, soon emerged as one of the state's most influential community radio stations, highlighting many health-related problems that affected communities.
- Radio Udaan, Punjab
Radio Udaan started its flight in February 2014, born out of the desire to meet people with visual disability. Today, after five years of continuous hard work, Radio Udaan reaches over 20,000 listeners per month from more than 100 countries. The primary goal of the online community radio station was to bring people from all over the world together to form an inclusive and inspiring community free of all prejudices.
- Apno Radio, 90.4 MHz, Rajasthan
Operating under Banasthali Vidyapith at a frequency of 90.4 MHz, Apno Radio is the first community radio station in Rajasthan. Launched in 2005 with the goal of fostering self-reliance and women's empowerment, it focuses on many social problems impacting the state's rural communities.
- Vidyavani, 107.4 FM, Maharashtra
Since 2005, Vidyavani, based at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), has been a popular community radio broadcaster in Marathi, English and Hindi. It has been reaching out to communities in and around the city as Pune's first community radio, airing programmes related to civic issues, education, health, etc. As a campus radio station, it also caters to university-affiliated students from 650 schools. All our shows focus on being insightful and are often student-centered.
- Vasundhara Vahini, 90.4 MHz, Maharashtra
An agro-based radio, located in Baramati, also reaches out to nearby rural areas, and its tagline is a 'social transformation tool.' With its core audience of farmers and villagers, Vasundhara Vahini focuses on various farming-related topics, such as sustainable farming techniques, organic farming, new seed varieties, product market updates, weather forecasts etc.