Financial sustainability is possible, but the most important ingredient for this to happen is that the development of community radio stations (CRS) has to be organic, arising from the community radio stations themselves

Introduction

Sustainability is high on the agenda for community radio stations. With an international decline in donor funding, community radio stations are constantly searching for other ways of sustaining themselves. Some community stations are cooperatives and have raised funds through shares. Radio Lumbini in Nepal is a cooperative of 95 members who all bought one share of USD 40. Many stations also sell memberships, with members being offered the right to receive transcripts of popular programmes. Membership fees are collected by religious community radio stations of South Africa, which serve specific audiences (Christian or Muslim), and appeal to a sense of cultural identity. Audiences feel a sense of vested ownership, local advertising is easily obtainable, and the stations are thriving financially. Local churches raise money for the station, and local businesses owned by members of the religious community purchase advertising. This is a model that could be transferred to other geographically based stations as well.

The role of projects and partnerships

Projects can be effective in generating income and Bush Radio in Cape Town provides a good example. They run a daycare centre, a children's radio programme, school outreach programmes on AIDS and drug awareness, and an alternative education programme for youth. All these are funded by local corporate entities. Many other stations have started such activities that subsidise their non-profit operations. Kothmale community radio plans to put unused land to work by building a greenhouse and growing saplings for sale to the community. Bush Radio also participated in several voter education programmes sponsored by the Netherlands Institute for South Africa (NIZA), and encouraged voter registration and political tolerance. Community radio can draw interest from community based organisations and NGOs, and partnerships could be developed whereby stations may then use the resources of these organisations to support their developmental programming.

Advertising

Although commercial advertising often runs contradictory to the norms of community  media, it is often a valuable source of funds. In South Africa, community radio only attracted approximately R7 million (USD 1m) out of a total gross radio ad spend of about R795m (USD 113.5m). This certainly may have something to do with the 'small' audiences attracted by community stations. But it may also have to do with a perception that community radio is poor radio for poor people. Classified ads can be purchased by individuals, small groups, or businesses. Bush Radio runs an online Job Shop, where employment agencies pay a small fee to advertise. Memorials and similar messages could also be sent, as Nepal radio entertains condolences or other personal messages.

Social marketing

Many stations in South Africa focus exclusively on obtaining advertising, and so compromise their role as small media. These stations often emulate their commercial counterparts in order to compete for advertising with slick music driven programming. One alternative might be to explore revenue-generating opportunities based on the concept of social marketing. Social organisations, NGOs, and the government pay for production and/or airtime to create and run short social messages. When cigarette advertising was banned on electronic media in Nepal, the health ministry offered funds to stations to run health warnings about the dangers of smoking. Radio Sagarmatha and other stations in Kathmandu also ran short, creatively produced messages that were underwritten by a public health company, to create public awareness about HIV. In Chimoio, Mozambique, the day after a community radio station broadcast an interview with a person living with HIV, 32 people went to the voluntary testing and counselling centre - double the daily average.

Airtime sales and trade exchanges

Another strategy that has worked well for South African stations is airtime sales, where blocks of airtime were sold to another organisation. The local university law programme ran an on-air legal aid clinic; and the Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa (Idasa) slotted a programme on democracy and local governance. In these cases the presenters and producers would become members of the station, and receive technical training before going on- air. However, the station should make sure that the content does not come into conflict with the station's principles. In cases where there is potential mutual benefit, media and business can barter or trade their services without any cash changing hands. Bush Radio runs trade exchanges with local newspapers– advertising them on air, while the papers print programme schedules.

In-house infrastructure and potential

Community radio stations can use the in-house infrastructure in various ways. Bush Radio has successfully run training courses on 'How to use the media effectively' for various organisations. Stations could also consider equipment rental, studio and premises rental, and consultancies to business and social organisations. The other innovative income generating projects are as follows:

• Community events and remote broadcasts: Funds can be raised by bringing together members of a community for specific events e.g. Community Radio Madanpokhara sponsored a folksong festival in which competing groups paid a fee to perform. Bush Radio offers exclusive advertising to local companies who fund outside or remote broadcasts in specific areas. For example, during the summer, cell phone companies sponsor broadcasts on the beach to promote safety (high alcohol consumption often results in drowning).

• Promotional items: Items such as T-shirts, caps, and bags may not generate huge amounts, but can generate publicity. During the war on Iraq, Bush Radio printed a T-shirt, which carried the slogan 'Bush Against War' (pun intended). The T-shirt was so popular that several new batches had to be ordered. Bush Radio also sells a wire radio to international supporters, produced by a local women's cooperative and dubbed 'The Bush Radio'.

• Internships: With a growing scholarly interest in community broadcasting, Bush Radio 'sells' internships to foreign (predominantly European and North American) journalism students, who have to conduct a mandatory internship as part of their studies. Similarly, Kothmale CR is the site of regular internships from university journalism departments in Columbo, and the station receives payment for internships.

Donor funding and the role of governments

Given that the shortage of funding is often used to justify the centralised broadcasting paradigm, participatory broadcasting should leave room for third- party and non-governmental assistance with funding. The operative condition should, however, build enough tolerance into the budgetary assistance process to allow the recipient community radio stations to eventually appropriate the financial management of the outlets.

Remarkably, South Africa's fledgling community radio sector has attracted the interest of a consortium of local and international donors, whose funds have sponsored start-up budgets, training, and the purchase of broadcast equipment. The Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA) is credited with having given the utmost support to the sector. Between 1995 and 2000, OSF-SA gave a grant support of about R 15 million (USD 2.1) to community radio stations. A large part of the grants went towards equipment purchase, planning and development, programme production and training.

Though the OSF-SA uses a hands-on approach that includes ongoing and non-financial support, its modus operandi includes stepping back at a point when self-sustenance is realistically expected.Further, many activists argue that governments should share responsibility the same way they fund libraries or the National Orchestra.

Some thoughts on social sustainability

While the issue of financial sustainability is paramount, it is also necessary for stations to sustain themselves in other ways – a station that has enough funding, but not sufficient well produced local quality programming, or one which is well resourced but cannot hold listeners, will not be able to sustain itself for long.

• Programme production: Audiences globally no longer accept programmes, which are not 'professionally' produced. The challenge for community radio is to professionalise progra-mming without losing the values of access, participation, and empowerment. What is key here is to research the airwaves, and be able to provide a unique and locally relevant service. Some stations have also begun to depend on programmes produced internationally or by independent production houses. The key is to localise such programmes, which are produced for a more generalised audience.

• Audience research and development: There is also a strong link between programme development and audience research and development. Stations cannot be sustainable if their audiences do not feel a sense of ownership in the station. Stations need to conduct community mapping and low cost participatory audience research projects in order to produce appropriate programming.

• Volunteerism and community participation:  The need for community participation at all stages of a development initiative has been widely recognised since the late 1970s. Sustainability of a radio station depends on a core of staff members, who are usually volunteers. In South Africa, volunteers tend to be unemployed or unskilled, and after receiving training at community stations are then often poached by other organisations or radio stations, where they actually receive a salary.  A study of Radio 2TEN in Australia demonstrates that a station's financial success is not necessarily related to the size of the host population, but instead, to the volunteer structure, in which age, and the gender balance, appear to be the primary factors. Here, drawing on older female volunteers with more time to donate, proved to be successful.

Community radio succeeds when it grows out of the community's sense of internal cohesion and consciousness. A community that analyses its needs and thinks about the causes of its problems and marginalisation will often come to the conclusion that it requires communication to help people formulate a common understanding and common goals. Some urban-based South African stations are now raising funds to pay 'volunteers' small stipends towards transportation.

Panel discussion on 'Energy, finance, and rural entrepreneurship' for rural ICT centres

As a part of its rural ICT (information and communication technology) initiative, a panel discussion was organised by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), on 23 January 2007 in New Delhi, India to deliberate on the issues of 'energy, finance, and entrepreneurship for rural ICT centres'.

 The objective of the event was to go beyond highlighting the case studies or pilot experiments by effective exchange of thoughts amongst the panellists and participants.

TERI outlined  the strategy of striking the right balance of pull-and-push approach by integrating core TERI services like energy, water, agriculture, and health and partner services like finance, education, and entertainment through ICT centres for a systemic change in the rural environment. Participants and panelists shared their experiences and deliberated over future scenarios of solutions for rural ICT centres.

An eminent panel consisting of representatives from  TERI; Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India; IDRC; Drishtee; SDC; IL&FS; and Tulip IT along with over 45 participants representing the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India; multilateral and bilateral organisations; the financial services sector; and the IT sector got together for the discussion. The panellists and participants deliberated over possible mechanisms for energy solutions and offered a  few significant policy and action recommendations. The discussants also drew out linkages between entrepreneur-ship and various finance options available, and suggested ways to ensure viable and effective ICT centres in rural areas.  

Arvindd Narayanan, arvindd@teri.res.in
Gaurav Chakraverty, gauravc@teri.res.in

Conclusions

Despite challenges around sustainability, community radio stations are flourishing as concrete manifestations of an alternative public sphere. With the increasing conglomeration of the ownership of mass media, the role of community radio becomes important. For more than fifty years radio has been the most appealing tool for participatory communication and development. Radio is the most potentially participatory medium and has its roots in the community, which guarantees that communication processes take the regional reality as a starting point.

Since community radio was first set up in 1994, there are now 95 radio stations on the air in South Africa. Whereas in 1998, 53 percent of Bush Radio's income came from grants, in 2006, according to managing director Zane Ibrahim, the station now generates 80 percent of its income through advertising and other projects. This is encouraging news for community radio worldwide: financial sustainability is possible, but most important ingredient for this to happen is that the development of community radio stations has to be organic, arising from the community radio stations themselves. If one look at the perspectives of sustainability from a point of view that is not restricted to income generation, it would be found that community involvement and the development of a sense of ownership over the project, will also be the best guarantee to keep the equipment safe and in running condition. Ultimately, history shows that community radio stations cannot depend on outside or donor funding for their survival – they need to foster self-reliance, ownership and the investment of local communities in order to promote institutional, social and ultimately financial sustainability.