Community Media/MARAA/Community Radio/Conceptual Clarity

Introduction
Community Radio is medium which is owned by a specific community, located within the community, using the language of the community, broadcasts programs and is managed by, members of that community. In short, it is a radio of, by and for the people. Participate media reduces the risk of people being represented by other forms/individuals. It also ensured a pluralistic media environment reflecting the diversity of information being produced in today's age. The most beneficial aspect, of course, is that it actually turns communities, historically receivers, into producers, thus fundamentally changing power structures that other media forms tend to produce.

This module attempts to give a broad overview of most aspects of setting up and running a radio station. While this module does not look at too much of production skills, it does tend to go a bit theoretical, because the module is after all conceptual clarity. At the end of this module, participants should have a fair idea about the concept, how and where it can be used, and what are the main components involved in setting up. Further, they should also leave with a sense of knowing what exactly to do in order to quickly operationalize the radio in their local areas/contexts.

Capacity building
Once you have a studio set up, then you should start identifying willing community members who are interested in engaging with the radio station; as producers, voice artistes, singers, etc. These community members need to be trained in production skills, rules and regulations as per policy, do's and dont's of the radio station etc. Further, we would advise not to put too much emphasis on what kind of programs they should be making. Let the community decide what is relevant and what is not. Only if there is a fragrant violation of the code of conduct, should you intervene. However, you should facilitate a training program where formats of radio are introduced where they are given some frameworks to work with. However, they could be told or even encouraged to frequently break the rules and produce some innovative and original formats.

Maraa has devised a two day training module on conceptual clarity for Community Radio for participants, who comprise mainly of management, production team and some volunteers.

Workshop Aim
To help participants arrive at a localized definition and conception of community radio in their geography, culture and specific context, however, satisfying policy condition as stipulated by Government of India.

Organizational Strategy
The organizational strategy to which this workshop will contribute to is '''community radio being used as a strategic tool to deepen engagement with communities with which the NGO is working presently, and to bring about greater participation from people in the "development" process.

To contribute to this strategy, the aim of this workshop is to make/create/update a localized definition and conception of community radio which is specific to culture, geography and context in order to start the process of setting up a truly participatory and community based radio station in the interests of the local people, where each NGO is working.

Workshop Objectives

 * Review of existing definitions used by actual community radio stations


 * Review of some examples of community radio stations, and how they have arrived at their definitions


 * Producing new definitions


 * Assessment and next steps

Selection of Participants
You must carefully select people from the community who will attend the training since this will set the foundation for grasping the concept of community radio. One one hand, the participant must be familiar enough with the nuts and bolts of his/her NGO to be able to define community radio in its context, geography and culture. On the other hand, the person must also be familiar with the people of his/her community, so he or she can be a legitimate representative of the community, and be able to facilitate the link between the community and the radio station. We recommend that mid-level staff, who straddle both responsibilities, internal and field work, particularly, those who will be working closely with the community radio station are encouraged to attend this workshop. The invitation to this workshop would be sent to NGOs who are keen to apply for community radio, but may not be clear about the components of community radio, its benefits, the process to be undertaken to run and manage a radio station. In short, after the training they could be motivated to apply for a license for community radio. However, since this is only the first step, it is advisable to do a series of similar workshops with the same participants, to ensure continuity and follow up.

How Long
This particular workshop will be of one full day in duration, with a variety of presentations, exercises and discussions. It could be shortened or lengthened depending on circumstances, but given a choice, one day would be ideal.

Introduction of participants

 * Session Chair: Main Facilitator (s)
 * Duration: 30 minutes
 * Purpose: To get participants to know each other beyond names, to break formalities and tensions, and to get participants to participate immediately in the workshop

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Radio through photographs

 * Session Chair: Main facilitator (s)
 * Duration: 30 minutes
 * Purpose: To get participants started on thinking about the sheer diversity of radio, and start to locate community radio on the map of media and its structures. To give participants, a sense of history to what they are going to begin in the next few months.

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Community Radio Policy

 * Session Chair: Program Facilitator
 * Duration: max 45 minutes
 * Purpose: To arrive at a clear and common understanding of the legal modalities expressed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, with regards to the Community Radio Policy

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Define your radio

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 60 minutes
 * Purpose: To extract initial thoughts on community radio from participants, without words, so as to obtain detailed thoughts, broken down to the finer details.

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Role play of Community Radio



 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 60 minutes
 * Purpose: To illustrate complexities of running a community radio station on a daily basis, and also to get participants to start thinking about concrete sites where community radio will come into play, as opposed to the earlier session where they are thinking in abstract terms.

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Radio Formats

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 60 minutes
 * Purpose: To get participants to start thinking about concrete ways in which to imagine their community radio station, how the radio can actually be used in various situations and be used for various ideas.

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Re-Search in radio

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 90 minutes
 * Purpose: To illustrate the centrality of research (including feedback) in community radio, to warn NGO staff from adopting an agenda setting type of programming or a top-down kind of assumption based programming, and to introduce participants to the complexities of running a radio station, and to develop authentic content, which communities will listen and participate in. This module was built and implemented as a part of the Flagship Project for Setting up Community Radio in Tribal Regions of India, as a part of the International Program for Development of Communication (IPDC), a major UN Forum set up by member countries to promote pluralism and democratization of media in third world countries.

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Components of a Radio Station

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 30 minutes
 * Purpose: To practically illustrate the various hardware and software components of a live community radio station

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Set up Process

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 30 minutes
 * Purpose: To arrive at a detailed step by step plan for physically setting up a radio station

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General Programming Tips

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 45 minutes
 * Purpose: To arrive at an understanding of some basic broad principles of programming

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Management

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 60 minutes
 * Purpose: To outline the broad areas of management for a community radio station

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Management Council

 * Session Chair: Participant
 * Duration: max 60 minutes
 * Purpose: To arrive at some practical steps on how to form a management council for a community radio station

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