The Community Radio Project is a PCNA/CAPYI inititive to cover most aspects of community radio, using information submitted by interns working at CAP sites that run community radio stations.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to contact danny@pcna.ca and we can forward your questions to our youth working in community radio.

Community radio sites:

Powell River Community radio - http://blog.cjmp.ca/

The Arrow 107.1 Nakusp - http://thearrow107.com/

What is community radio?

Community radio is a community owned, operated and managed not for profit organization, which cannot be bought, or purchased by a for profit organization. It differs in both “substance and style” from commercial and public radio, which means it sounds different-airing different music, interviews, news, etc. and the programming more directly reflects the community that runs it. Community radio offers significant volunteer opportunities in programming and other parts of station management. For full description of CRTC (Canadian radio-television telecommunications commissions) policies please visit http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-499.htm
community radio accomplishes its mandate by broadcasting local and regional news and other programming relevant to the community, broadcasting Canadian content (can-con) and programming, content that reflects local social, economic and important community issues. Also promoting local talent and artists.

There are approximately 202 community radio stations in Canada, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_radio_stations_in_Canada, with approximately 19 in British Columbia.

There has been significant legal definition of community radio as a distinct broadcasting sector in many countries such as France, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and Ireland. Much of the legislation has included phrases such as social benefit, social objectives, social gain as part of the definition. Community radio has historically developed differently in different countries and thus the term has somewhat different meanings in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia. For example, in Ireland, community radio has been active since the late 1970’s. however, it took until 1994 for the independent radio and television commission to establish an 18 month community radio pilot project to explore and evaluate the potential offered by community broadcasting in an Irish context. This project went operational in 1995 when licenses were issued to eleven community and community of interest groups across the country. Community radio in Ireland encompasses both process (the participation by communities in the creation of programming) and product (the service provided to the community through the programming supplied) the mix of the process and product is determined by the needs of the community and implemented through a management structure controlled by the community. Stations in Ireland are both geographically and community of interest based. Please visit http://www.bai.ie/ for more information on radio in Ireland.