Community Radio
Community radio stations broadcast to a small area, normally within a 3 mile (5 km) radius, and are mostly not-for-profit organisations, owned by local people, on which the broadcasters are volunteers. They are recognised under the Communications Act 2003 as a distinct third tier of radio in the United Kingdom. The community radio movement in the United Kingdom was founded in the mid-1970s, broadcasting through Restricted Service Licences, the internet and cable.
An Access Radio pilot scheme gave fifteen stations, including Resonance FM and ALL FM, full-time licences, and this has blossomed into a lively sector, directed by the Community Media Association.
The broadcasters are predominantly based around an easily defined racial community such as Asian Star FM in Slough, or a geographically defined community such as Speysound Radio & The Bay Radio. They can also be based around religious groups, such as Christian radio station Branch FM in Yorkshire. As well as this, they can also be linked with Universities and Student unions who run the stations under a community license, for example Demon FM in Leicester and Scratch Radio in Birmingham.
Read more about this topic: Radio In Northern Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words community and/or radio:
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“from above, thin squeaks of radio static,
The captured fume of space foams in our ears—”
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