What makes community radiosuccessful

Robert A. White

Coordinator of the PhD Programme, University ofNairobi

Member of the “Think Tank” group, Media Councilof Tanzania

For Scribes

November 24 - 2011

One of the biggest communication problems in Africa is

the lack of information reaching rural communities and the

poor urban neighbourhoods. Newspapers and magazines are

expensive and reach mainly urban elites. Even radio, which

is mostly music and advertising, provides little news and

useful information on health and agriculture that can be

used by rural people or poor urban people.

Community radio(CR) is often said to be the way to get

relevant information to rural communities because it

operates with a small paid staff and produces programmes

with leaders in community organizations, development workers

in the community or volunteers from the community. Radio

Ada in Ghana, with just three or four full-time paid staff,

is often cited as a successful community radio that enabled

the local people to solve many of the local economic, health

and development problems at relatively low cost. Radio Ada

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also brought a cultural revival of music, drama and other

local talent. News programmes circulate the current issues

of the community with many call-ins, but also adapts the

national and international news to the level of

understanding and concerns of the local people. Local

community organizations have been revitalized and strong

community leadership has been developed. Radio Ada has

enabled local leadership to prevent outside economic

interests coming in to take over local economic resources.

With all of this activity. Radio Ada has proved financially

viable. The fundamental reason for success is that Radio

Ada follows faithfully the principles of good community

radio with full participation and involvement of the people

of the community.

Community radio (CR) in East Africa, including

Tanzania, has been much less successful, and the reasons

given in various studies is that CR here does not follow the

principles of good CR. A comparative study of local

commercial radio and CR in Uganda found that the commercial

radio actually had more community participation than the CR

stations. Studies show that CR in Kenya also involve the

people of the community relatively little. The tendency of

CR in East Africa is to hire a relatively large staff, often

with little training in programme production for rural or

lower-status urban communities, to write what they know

about health or other community problems and read these into

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the microphone to the presumed audience. There are no

courses in CR in degree programmes in East Africa, and

studies have shown that most CRs are started with people who

are trained for commercial radio

The present article is based on personal visits to

successful CRs in Africa and data from some fifteen or

twenty studies of community radio in Tanzania, East Africa

and other parts of Africa over the last ten years or so.

The key question here is: what makes successful community

radio.

The staff of community radio

The key to the success of CR is the competence of the

managing staff which understands thoroughly the principles

of CR. The small programme producing staff of CR is

typically not made up of people trained in communication

schools to write programmes and read them over the

microphone, but people skilled in community development,

training community leadership and forming community-based

organizations. They are particularly skilled in leading

discussion groups which get all participants to contribute

ideas, listen to others in the group, build on the ideas of

others and gradually lead a discussion to consensus and

group action.

CR staff are especially skilled in the classic

Freireian consciousness-raising methods. That is, they are

specialists in getting relatively dependent, passive,

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poorer people at the bottom of the community who almost

never speak out, to discover deep in their consciousness

their own ideas and bring these ideas out in discussion and

planning. They lead people to listen to each other,

building on other’s ideas and engaging in real dialogue.

The most important competence is the ability to stimulate

the creativity of the community in problem solving, music,

entertainment, better farming, better health, story telling

and every other facet of community life.

Building on community-based organizations

Community radio typically is organized around sectors

of the community: women’s organizations, youth groups,

farmers groups, mothers of the community, the school

teachers and school children, health committees, religious

organizations, groups of HIV/AIDS positive people, and a

host of other organizations each with its subgroups and

constituencies. When a community radio is forming, one of

the first steps is to get all of these groups and

organizations involved. CR founders promote the organization

of every interest sector to assume part of the production of

programmes and promotion of listenership.

Community radio programming, like most radio, will

feature news, music, announcements, telephone call-ins, and

adverts. The small permanent staff will often be the key

programme producers, but much of the programming will be

produced by leaders in the community, by elected officers of

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local organizations, young people interested in getting

media experience, and by government or NGO workers in the

community. The leadership in these groups will be doing much

of the mobilization and motivating of the volunteer groups

and individuals.

By involving virtually every member of every village

and every neighbourhood in some programming group—even the

school children, virtually every person in the community

will at some time be speaking into the CR microphone and

will be heard in the community. The attractive entertaining

quality and building of loyal audiences will depend on the

ability to draw in virtually all the members of the

community as participants in the radio. Every youth music

group, every little women’s income producing group can hear

some of its members and their interests at some time.

Everybody will be sharing their best ideas with others.

Thus, the permanent staff must be skilled in finding,

encouraging and training leadership from all sectors in the

community to become involved in programme production. There

will be, of course, a few full-time radio technicians, but

often much of the broadcasting control staff will be

volunteers from the community.

Problem-solving discussion and debate

One of the basic principles of CR is that the people of

the community must define the problems of each sector—

farmer’s groups, health groups, marketing ladies, unemployed

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youth—and that the people must discover the solutions to

their problems. Each sector of the community—for example,

young mothers—will have its time slot set at a convenient

time for that audience and with the mobilization of all the

listening groups of that sector. The moderator of the

programme will lead the participants toward voicing problems

and articulating key obstacles. Each programme session will

end with a clearer definition of the causes of the problem

with the understanding that solutions begin to emerge when

the causes are clearly defined. Sharing of ideas about

solutions may come from the studio discussion group, but

also from the listening audience calling in.

Community workers in the area of health, agriculture,

marketing of community products—or outside specialists in

these areas such as medical doctors—will be invited to

contribute ideas for the solution of the problem. The

success stories of community development will be celebrated.

Bringing national news down to the questions of the local

community

Radio is a news medium, but most news on local

commercial radio stations are flashes that often means

little to people of low educational levels and with little

acquaintance with national or international affairs. Also

those selecting news for commercial radio have little

knowledge of the questions of local people and little

training in national political and economic issues.

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National news on CR is carefully selected for its relevance

for the issues of that community and those responsible for

news programmes try to explain how national news will affect

the people of the community. News is usually selected by

volunteers who are trained and guided by the permanent

staff, people who have education in social, political and

economic development. Since programme planning is done with

participation of representatives of community leaders in

community organizations, the important questions of the

community are always before those responsible for news and

other information programmes. CR gives far more time to

news, debates and discussion of items which are of interest

and relevance to the local people

More than just report news items, the station calls in

those working in health, agriculture, employment or other

community services to comment on the significance of current

government decisions and debates. Some CRs have regular

weekly sessions with the member of parliament from the area,

answering questions of leaders in community organizations.

Often people from the community who are working in

government agencies can be a type of correspondent regarding

issues of importance to the people. Some national

associations of CR have special news services of interest to

local CR.

CR has regular programming slots for interest groups in

the community—farmers, health organizations, small

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businesses, teachers and school administrators—and invites

leaders in the community debate problems with these service

organizations. Those planning these programme slots usually

are familiar both with the “hot questions” people are asking

about services and arrange programmes on issues people want

to bring up. At the same time, community radio offers time

to health, agriculture, to small loan agencies explain new

services or will provide time for educational programmes.

Of special interest are news commentaries with call-ins

from the audience. Often local leaders with more

experience in regional or national affairs are invited to

comment on these calls. The full-time staff with their

training in development and political affairs often host a

daily lively discussion programme with call-ins and with

people invited for interviews on hot issues that gets a

lively, community-wide debate on going over a period of

weeks or months. A given issue may be brought back every

other day to provide new ideas and progress in the

discussion.

Local community news

Every community and ward in the broadcast area will

have one or two local correspondents reporting news from

these communities, not just reports to be read but live

interviews with voices from the grassroots. The aim is to

hear from every ward at least once a week or more often so

that news of every sector of the audience will be heard very

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frequently, at least briefly. Priority is given to progress

reports on community development projects or problems that

should be addressed by government or other service agencies.

Government services are often praised for their good work

or, more often, pressure is put on local government services

or NGOs. Most CRs have brought remarkable improvements in

services to the communities and provide an opportunity for

horizontal dialogue and exchange of good ideas among wards

and villages in the area. Debate about government services

is also sparked by call-ins from the audience.

Community festivals are highlighted or festivals in

churches, schools and community organizations. The

educational, employment, special honours or other

achievements of sons and daughters of the community are

lauded.

Problems in the communities such as a blight on crops,

epidemics, attacks of thieves, food shortages, floods are

reported in part to put other communities on the alert but

also tell how the communities are coping and where to get

help to meet crises.

Putting pressure on local government

Most African countries are making efforts to de-

centralize government decision making, so that government

will be more responsive to local needs. But this usually

has not improved services because there are so few

communication linkages between district or ward councils and

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community discussion. There needs to be systematic

reporting of what village-level meetings or leadership

discussion are voicing as their needs. CR can pointedly

direct village decisions to local government decision making

councils. There should be systematic reporting to community

leaders about what local government is discussing, what

positions it is taking and what local village organizations

and leadership think about this. Village-level leadership

evaluations of the action of local government needs to

brought into public discussion and debate. Such discussions

can be very sharp and personal, but the small permanent

staff of CR can moderate such on-going discussion so that a

variety of balanced and respected perspectives can be heard.

The outcome is thus likely to be constructive and supportive

rather than simply negative criticism.

Political leaders in Africa, whether at national or

local levels, have little experience with free, open debate

and generally want themselves respected as “elders” rather

than questioned by the people. Leaders tend to get very

angry at any sort of questioning of their actions. CR can

help to moderate the discussion so that it is more

responsible and, in the African context, respectful, but

also educate all parties regarding the benefits of open,

free, truthful and constructive public debate. CR can make

local government truly participatory—bringing the people of

the villages into the debate, but also much more effective

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in solving local problems. By bringing in all perspectives,

it is possible to create a much more positive and peaceful

resolution of issues.

Developing the local music talent

Radio is above all a music medium and most radio

programming is music. CR gives priority to locally produced

music and promotes the best of local talent. In every

community of Tanzania as in other African countries there

are often dozens of local music groups. All churches,

schools and community organizations have their choirs and

soloists, many of them of excellent quality. Much of this

music is composed by local people about local events. Every

community event, from graduations to weddings and funerals

are family and community celebrations with music and

dancing. In every village young people have their own music

groups playing everything from taarabu to bongo flava.

Not all locally produced music is of the highest

quality. The selection is often done through contests with

outside judges. A community radio station in southern

Zambia has an annual festival in which hundreds of music

groups come from all over the country to compete. The

festival always attracts some of the top talent in the

country which are, of course, prize winning. This contest

furnishes some of the best music played on that CR station

for a good part of the year.

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In some communities there are persons of unusual

musical talent that are willing to perform even regularly

for the community. CR is also a chance for young people to

try out their talents as a means starting, hopefully, their

own careers. CR is able to discover an amazing range of

local talents. I will never forget discovering in a visit

to one CR that that a local person had a hobby of collecting

jazz records and regularly putting on a weekly program

playing and explaining the music of famous jazz stars!

Drama programming

Drama programmes are another standard type radio

programme that attracts rather large audiences. One may not

think that lower-status groups have much capacity for

producing radio drama. In fact, there are many amateur

drama groups and comedy groups in rural and urban

communities in Africa. I recall, in a visit to Radio Ada in

Ghana, that in one studio a young Ada-speaking student of

drama in the University of Ghana was training a group of

volunteers from the community to produce a radio drama that

the group itself had produced.

CR as peace-building institution in the community

East African communities are experiencing an increasing

amount of violence and insecurity which grows out of

struggle for land and other resources. CRs are proving to

be one of the major instruments for peace because of the

method of inviting people of different points of view to

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find consensus on how to solve common problems. Radio

Peace, a CR station in Ghana that began in a region of

tribal conflict, violent gangs, struggle over land and a

host of other disputes is only one CR that has brought peace

and cooperation1. Radio Peace began by bringing together

the chiefs of the area to make a pledge of peace, and they

return to make progress reports. The station has an early

warning system to report any illegal activity or violence so

that this can be settled. The station promotes work with

unemployed youth that are prone to violence. A community

festival every year with all the different clans and ethnic

groups celebrates their unity in diversity. The station

finds ways of helping the poor and often desperate

marginalized and has become a focal point for the socio-

economic development of the region.

Africa is a continent of deeply religious people and

most CR stations will involve virtually all the different

religious groups of the community in producing their

programming. CR, however, puts great emphasis on dialogue

between religious groups, especially groups that tend to

have a tradition of antagonism with other traditions.

Educating...from the indigenous knowledge of the community

CR is also an educational radio, but not the old form

of education from “experts” to supposed knowledge-less

illiterate peasants. Rather, it is assumed that rural and

urban lower status people have a wealth of knowledge and

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problem-solving ideas that they can share among themselves.

A five hectare farm plot of a so-called “peasant farmer” is,

in fact, a tremendously complicated farming system. When

one begins to talk to rural people, one finds that the

farmer with a plot of maize, a few chickens and cattle is

constantly trying out new ways to improve his production—

very conservatively, of course, because, if he makes one

mistake, he starves. The lady selling vegetables in the

market is constantly trying out new methods of sales

improvement. Every carpenter and bicycle repairman is trying

our new ideas. CR puts all these people into dialogue

bringing out their little success stories and best ideas.

This is another way to get everybody in the community heard

and their best talents made known.

Professionals are invited into programs--agricultural

extension agents, community nurses and doctors, small

industry guides—but are presented as sharing ideas and

solutions with farmers, pregnant mothers, and market ladies.

Particularly attractive are field demonstrations out in

rural communities or urban neighbourhoods. This gives a

farmer and the people of a village the chanceto show off

what they have accomplished and can share with others in the

radius of the radio station.

Schools and youth clubs

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One of the most valuable services of CR is the support

of every aspect of education. This can range from field

reports of what parent-teacher organizations are doing to

improve school buildings and the facilities of the school

such as desks, textbooks and small libraries to improving

teacher housing. A favorite of many CRs is to feature

school choirs, school sports, student academic achievements,

student talent shows, and a host of other school activities—

all in the form of contests among schools. Again, this is a

way to get every school in every village or ward heard on

air at some time. CR also is open to complaints about the

poor educational services in schools, but the permanent CR

staff tries bring local village leaders to contribute to

school improvement...not just complain.

In some cases CR has lent its airtime for special

instructional classes, for example, retired teachers

offering to coach students in preparation of exams. At

times it may be a special support in maths which is a weak

area in most of the schools of Tanzania. Or a fluent

English speaker in the community may volunteer for special

English lessons

There has always been a strong “youth club movement” in

Tanzania and other countries of East Africa. Most youth

groups are fortunate enough to have good adult sponsors or

to be attached to youth centres that guide them in a variety

of group projects. Youth groups are attracted to volunteer

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for many activities in CR from the music programs to the

news selections and drama groups. Activities in a radio

station have a certain glamorous attraction for young people

whose lives are often media-centred. Young people often

dream of a career in the media. In fact CR can be a kind of

training ground for young people who later do get involved

with livelihoods connected with the media. Almost all of

these youth clubs have a range of projects—drama groups,

music groups, sports clubs, hobby groups and especially

income-generating projects which help to pay for school

fees. Youth clubs are especially good for the experience of

democratic leadership and learning other civic capacities.

Often CR becomes a major support of all these activities.

And, again, this is a way of getting a wide range of young

people from virtually all the villages, wards and

neighbourhoods heard on the local CR.

Support of local government

Many CR stations cooperate with local district

commissioners or other officers of local systematically

support, in a non-partisan way, all the priority

improvements districts are trying to introduce. The CR may

give the microphone to the district commissioner as long as

this is not a form of politicking or the CR may support

projects by the campaign method, providing regular reports

on the progress and successes of the project. CR gives

interviews with villages and wards that are particularly

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successful in the projects, or provide instructions on how

to carry out the projects. At least one district

commissioner was heard to say, “I owe my last promotion to

the support of the local CR station”.

As was noted above local CR gives the microphone to

the people to voice their own complaints, and these

complaints not infrequently are directed against a broad

range of local public officers, from the police, to the

schools, to the lack of health facilities, bad roads, or

even the unsanitary conditions of the local markets.

District commissioners or other public offers often are not

accustomed to the people speaking out, and often become very

defensive. More than one district commissioner has come

storming over to the CR with threats for allowing such free

speech. To gain some dialogue with local government, one of

the committees that provides policy guidance for CR can be

made up of public officials. This is an opportunity to

explain to local government leaders that they should be

ready to allow the public to voice complaints because this

may reveal the real feelings of some people and may be a

source of many good ideas for improving their own

governance. It is better to know the complaints of the

people and be able to deal with them calmly and positively

than to build up a hostile relationship with citizens and be

rejected at the polls. In short, a CR station may be a good

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context for educating public officials in the principles of

freedom of speech in a democratic society.

The thorny problem of financing CR

CR stations have a problem in financing all over the

world, but the problem in greater in Africa because of the

general poverty of the continent. Yet, CR stations in

Africa that provide good services to communities and defend

the interests of the community will find that the

communities also find ways to support the local CR. If all

participate and people truly feel that is “our radio

station”, then the people will not let the CR go out of

existence.

Yet there are a number of sound principles of

financial management that are essential.

(1) The initial start up costs of a building, broadcasting

equipment and antenna can be far beyond the resources

of a community in Africa. Regardless of the poverty of

the community, however, a major effort must be made to

raise money in the community from the people. This

ranges from traditional fund-raising activities such as

raffles, festivals, contests or any other way that

everybody can give something however small and feel that

they are “owners” of this radio. Nearly all CRs have

been able to obtain funding for start-up costs or for

major equipment renewal from foundations or sometimes

from a consortium of sponsors such as the churches who

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have overseas sources, local branches of civic

organizations or from wealthy businessmen who proud to be

recognized for their generosity. But these agencies are

rightfully hesitant to contribute if the local people are

not involved and not contributing.

(2) Keep the number of personnel down to no more than four

to five really competent, dedicated people who know radio

well but are experienced in community development. The

station then depends on a carefully selected and guided

group of organizations, supervising committees and

volunteers. Volunteers should be accepted with caution

because they often begin by volunteering but then asking

for

help in covering incidental expenses and end up taking

the CR to court for non-payment of salaries. Some CR

stations will not take a person as a volunteer unless

they have employment or other source of support.

The major financial mistake that most CR stations

make is that they think of CR as similar to a traditional

broadcasting station and take on many personnel to

produce programmes. The studies of CR done in East

Africa show that many founders of CR have relatively

little training or experience in authentic CR. Often

these employees are not skilled in community development,

know little about the community and not really skilled in

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programme production so that they think they need a week

to prepare a half hour programme.

(3) Most CRs seek advertising support, but give priority to

advertising that is more socially beneficial and

informative for the community. One part of “social

advertising” will be announcements that community

organizations, government offices, and community leaders

bring to the radio. This should be paid for even if at

a more nominal amount. If a CR station builds up a large

and loyal audience, advertisers will know this and will

seek out space on the station. To gain a large audience

a CR radio will have to be lively, fast moving,

entertaining and in the thick of community debate and

discussion. Almost no communication schools teach what

is “lively, fast moving” radio. This is learned from

practitioners in radio.

(4) When a CR builds up a large audience and has a good

record of community action and community education, many

organizations involved in rural or urban lower status

communities will come to fund educational programming in

the area of health, agriculture or just about any other

area of popular education. The danger is that these

agencies will come with heavy, dull didactic programming

that they have produced. CR must maintain the right to

follow its participatory, community-oriented and debate-

oriented programming style.

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(5) The CR stations that gain a reputation for

effectiveness in community development will attract

funding from local and international funding agencies.

This can be accepted with caution as long as the central

budget of the station does not come to depend on these

“one-time” windfall sources. Once this funding is

finished, it probably will not be repeated. This funding

should be treated as a special project which can be added

to the programme and without disturbing the normal

community development activities and normal budget.

Maintaining community control

In many parts of the world community groups that have

started a community radio have lost control of the station

to political or commercial interests. Legislation often

sets down the guidelines that the ownership and control must

be vested in community organizations. It can be relatively

easy for political or commercial interests to move into a

public community meeting with their people and vote in

managers and personnel that represent their interests.

Precautions against this kind of “take over” must be

instituted in the basic charter of the station.

In almost all African countries successful CR has

formed a national association to defend interests, get

favourable support from government regulatory agencies,

provide training courses for staff, get the help of

foundations and UNESCO , and other support. Good CR cannot

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exist without national associations. Tanzania is

particularly fortunate to have a good national association.

We expect much from CR in Tanzania!

Useful reading about community radio in Africa

Community radio for development: The World and Africa, by P. Alumuku

(Nairobi,

Paulines, 2006) is still one of the best general

surveys, although it now needs some

updating. It is available from the Paulines

bookstore in Dar es Salaam.

Information about Radio Ada, Radio Peace, and other CRs can

be

downloaded from the Internet or from their websites.

The report edited by M, Bonin and A. Opoku-Mensah,What is

Community Radio: A

Resource Guide, 1998 can be downloaded from the Internet.

Fraser, C. and Restrepo, 2001, Community Radio Handbook,

Paris: UNESCO may be

obtained through UNESCO. The UNESCO office in

Tanzania has much material.

Meyer has a chapter, Community Radio and Development, in the

book, African

Broadcast Cultures: Radio in Transition, by R. Fardon and G.

Furness, James

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Currey, Oxford, 2000.

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