Growth of Community radio on the upswing

The growth of Community Radio in the country is on the upswing and number of functional Community Radio Stations has grown from 27 last year to 41 today, with 38 of them located in educational institutions, a top official of the IB ministry said.

The growth of Community Radio in the country is on the upswing and number of functional Community Radio Stations (CRS) has grown from 27 last year to 41 today, with 38 of them located in educational institutions, a top official of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said.

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‘The Ministry has issued letters of intent to about 129 institutions for setting up CRS. This includes 70 educational institutions, 31 NGOs and nine state agricultural universities among others,“ Esther Kar,Additional Director General, Press Information Bureau (PIB), said in her inaugural address at the Second Capacity Building Workshop on Community Radio here today.

Out of these, 21 institutions have received their Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocation (SACFA) clearance and eight have signed the Grant of Permission Agreement, she said.

As a word of wisdom for those running CRS, she said frequency was a national and “currently somewhat limited resource” and urged them to use it “optimally.”

Terming broadcast as a “hungry monster” which called for “constant, rich, relevant and meaningful feed,” she said operators can tie-up with like-minded organaisations in the same area if they could not generate the content by themselves.