Community Radio: Does It Provide Public Access or Community Service?
KKFI 90.1 FM has been on-air now for 25 years. And while founders and long-time on-air programmers and DJs marvel at the station's longevity and distant turmoil, the station continues to measure itself against the wonderful promise of community radio. As a board member for KKFI since 2010 I was interested in exploring what defines community radio.
During a lunch recognizing Rick Groom for his volunteer photography work for KKFI, he shared his history in media work. As a long-time phone repairman he wanted to switch careers, bridging his photography studies at the Art Institute of Atlanta. He started his media career in television and video by volunteering to work at a community access TV studio for American Cablevision (now Time Warner) in the early 1990s. Now as a video replay operator for major sports events, he’s active in producing high quality video, but still connects with community and public media.
His first impression of KKFI as community radio was that it operated in the mold of public access cable TV outlets. Many cities required cable television operators to provide a studio and air-time to community organizations and individuals. American Cablevision in Kansas City (the precursor to Time Warner Cable) operated a full, television production studio, available for such productions as talk shows or recorded musical performances. The studio also included video-editing stations for remote and documentary productions.
When a community organization entered the cable TV's studio they were not concerned about meeting the financial bill to pay for the studio building maintenance, lighting, utilities; they only were concerned about maintaining their weekly show and timeslot. In brief, the community organizations' main concern was the production of their weekly program, not the operation of the TV studio.
It's different for people at community radio stations. They not only program for a community they operate and fundraise for the station; they own it.
Many community radio stations distinguish themselves through democratic control of the station operations and broadcast programming. They differentiate themselves from public and college radio stations because of their lack of private corporate financing or university funding.
Review of Community Radio Stations
To help discover the direction of area community stations in the Midwest and throughout the U.S. I reviewed the schedules of a few community radio stations. The review included KFAI in Minneapolis and KDHX in St. Louis both serve a similarly-sized urban area as KKFI in Kansas City, KOPN in Columbia, Missouri and WORT in Madison, Wisconsin both operate in cities with the state’s flagship university.
Community radio stations provide listeners with a commercial-free space. Advocates promote community radio as a beacon by providing access to local groups to produce a show on a topic that fits the schedule. Stations also conduct “community outreach” by inviting guests from local community and arts organizations to represent their constituencies. They invite local elected officials and grassroots leaders on air to speak about their concerns. And, importantly, stations provide access to non-English speaking programmers and immigrant groups.
Some stations like sister station KFAI in Minneapolis breaks many of its timeslots into two-hour music segments and 30 or 60-minute public affairs. KFAI has 104 music and public affairs shows, including several programs on women’s issues, gay/lesbian, Native American, and immigrant groups - Somalia, Hmong, Latino, Khmer, Vietnamese, Eritrean, among others. This programming model represents a "patchwork" schedule.
KDHX produces 70 local music shows with only a small collection of public affairs playing Monday evening. KOPN maintains a similar schedule with 15 talk/public affairs shows and 60 music shows, most locally-produced.
WORT has 85 shows, mainly music shows, and concentrating their news and public affairs shows during the noon hour and evening drive time.
KKFI airs 105 unique shows during the week, evenly divided between music and public affairs/cultural/arts shows, but the schedule sways towards music because the length of talk shows is shorter. KKFI maintains a mix of music genres, including Blues, Jazz, rock, Latino, women’s, Folk, oldies, Rockabilly, international, Reggae and a relatively new addition, “Chamber Music”. The station prides itself in airing both national and local talk and news shows on a range of topics, including the environment, economy, labor, social justice, women’s, gay/lesbian, faith, literature, international, Native American, experimental and performing arts -- something for everyone.
While KKFI devotes 10 hours per week to Spanish-language programming by and for the large KC Latino community, the station does not receive a significant amount of listener-supported donations or business underwriting from that community. Does that mean KKFI should elect not to devote programming to that audience? No, but it means that the station could improve this connection by developing stronger partnerships with area Latino civic organizations and businesses, or seek grants from private foundations or public sources to continue this crucial local programming.
Some community and public media is so unique and vital to a local area or culture that it warrants consideration for government funding. Seeing these programs disappear from media outlets could mean these voices will not be heard.
What defines community radio -- public access or community service?
This question of how to define community radio has been discussed throughout community radio’s history. A Wiki article on community radio states “‘Community’ may be replaced by terms such as ‘alternative,’ ‘radical’ or ‘citizen’ radio. In sociology, a ‘community’ has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. Community radio is built around the concepts of access and participation, and the term ‘community’ encompasses geographical communities based around the reach of the radio's signal (the people who can receive the message) and their potential to participate in the creation of the message.”
The Wiki article defines "community" in a radio context by suggesting two philosophical approaches. “One emphasizes service and community-mindedness, focusing on what the station can do for the community. The other stresses involvement and participation by the listener” in producing radio shows.
Community Engagement - Is this a new term for "community service"?
The mission of many community radio stations like KKFI from their inception has been focused on providing an outlet for underserved or unserved communities, essentially providing training and air-time for these groups to tell their story, to "be the media" for their own cause. But KKFI and other community radio stations have a particular vision of the world that tilts towards poverty relief, racial justice, worker rights, which is reflected in its news and public affairs programming.
Community radio stations that maintain a community access model are vital to a community's character and voice, but new efforts by community and public media outlets point to programming and service work that can transform a community.
I discovered that several media outlets are focusing on a new model in community media -- community engagement. These projects focus on more than programming, picking up community partnerships. The National Black Programming Consortium launched Public Media Corps, a public media and community engagement program. Chicago Public Media developed a community engagement model. KCPT-TV in Kansas City developed a strategy around five content areas: The Arts, Children and Education, Sustainability, Health, and Entrepreneurship. KDHX engages the community around music and received big support for its effort to build a new station and perrformance space. Illinois Public Media focuses on obesity through public engagement. And Wisconsin Public TV developed a Vietnam Veterans "welcome home" event in 2010, which engaged thousands of local veterans.
Some of these projects produced tangible results like the news about the reduction in childhood obesity. I hope to highlight successful community engagement models by community and public media in future articles.
During a lunch recognizing Rick Groom for his volunteer photography work for KKFI, he shared his history in media work. As a long-time phone repairman he wanted to switch careers, bridging his photography studies at the Art Institute of Atlanta. He started his media career in television and video by volunteering to work at a community access TV studio for American Cablevision (now Time Warner) in the early 1990s. Now as a video replay operator for major sports events, he’s active in producing high quality video, but still connects with community and public media.
His first impression of KKFI as community radio was that it operated in the mold of public access cable TV outlets. Many cities required cable television operators to provide a studio and air-time to community organizations and individuals. American Cablevision in Kansas City (the precursor to Time Warner Cable) operated a full, television production studio, available for such productions as talk shows or recorded musical performances. The studio also included video-editing stations for remote and documentary productions.
When a community organization entered the cable TV's studio they were not concerned about meeting the financial bill to pay for the studio building maintenance, lighting, utilities; they only were concerned about maintaining their weekly show and timeslot. In brief, the community organizations' main concern was the production of their weekly program, not the operation of the TV studio.
It's different for people at community radio stations. They not only program for a community they operate and fundraise for the station; they own it.
Many community radio stations distinguish themselves through democratic control of the station operations and broadcast programming. They differentiate themselves from public and college radio stations because of their lack of private corporate financing or university funding.
Review of Community Radio Stations
To help discover the direction of area community stations in the Midwest and throughout the U.S. I reviewed the schedules of a few community radio stations. The review included KFAI in Minneapolis and KDHX in St. Louis both serve a similarly-sized urban area as KKFI in Kansas City, KOPN in Columbia, Missouri and WORT in Madison, Wisconsin both operate in cities with the state’s flagship university.
Community radio stations provide listeners with a commercial-free space. Advocates promote community radio as a beacon by providing access to local groups to produce a show on a topic that fits the schedule. Stations also conduct “community outreach” by inviting guests from local community and arts organizations to represent their constituencies. They invite local elected officials and grassroots leaders on air to speak about their concerns. And, importantly, stations provide access to non-English speaking programmers and immigrant groups.
Some stations like sister station KFAI in Minneapolis breaks many of its timeslots into two-hour music segments and 30 or 60-minute public affairs. KFAI has 104 music and public affairs shows, including several programs on women’s issues, gay/lesbian, Native American, and immigrant groups - Somalia, Hmong, Latino, Khmer, Vietnamese, Eritrean, among others. This programming model represents a "patchwork" schedule.
KDHX produces 70 local music shows with only a small collection of public affairs playing Monday evening. KOPN maintains a similar schedule with 15 talk/public affairs shows and 60 music shows, most locally-produced.
WORT has 85 shows, mainly music shows, and concentrating their news and public affairs shows during the noon hour and evening drive time.
KKFI airs 105 unique shows during the week, evenly divided between music and public affairs/cultural/arts shows, but the schedule sways towards music because the length of talk shows is shorter. KKFI maintains a mix of music genres, including Blues, Jazz, rock, Latino, women’s, Folk, oldies, Rockabilly, international, Reggae and a relatively new addition, “Chamber Music”. The station prides itself in airing both national and local talk and news shows on a range of topics, including the environment, economy, labor, social justice, women’s, gay/lesbian, faith, literature, international, Native American, experimental and performing arts -- something for everyone.
While KKFI devotes 10 hours per week to Spanish-language programming by and for the large KC Latino community, the station does not receive a significant amount of listener-supported donations or business underwriting from that community. Does that mean KKFI should elect not to devote programming to that audience? No, but it means that the station could improve this connection by developing stronger partnerships with area Latino civic organizations and businesses, or seek grants from private foundations or public sources to continue this crucial local programming.
Some community and public media is so unique and vital to a local area or culture that it warrants consideration for government funding. Seeing these programs disappear from media outlets could mean these voices will not be heard.
What defines community radio -- public access or community service?
This question of how to define community radio has been discussed throughout community radio’s history. A Wiki article on community radio states “‘Community’ may be replaced by terms such as ‘alternative,’ ‘radical’ or ‘citizen’ radio. In sociology, a ‘community’ has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. Community radio is built around the concepts of access and participation, and the term ‘community’ encompasses geographical communities based around the reach of the radio's signal (the people who can receive the message) and their potential to participate in the creation of the message.”
The Wiki article defines "community" in a radio context by suggesting two philosophical approaches. “One emphasizes service and community-mindedness, focusing on what the station can do for the community. The other stresses involvement and participation by the listener” in producing radio shows.
Community Engagement - Is this a new term for "community service"?
The mission of many community radio stations like KKFI from their inception has been focused on providing an outlet for underserved or unserved communities, essentially providing training and air-time for these groups to tell their story, to "be the media" for their own cause. But KKFI and other community radio stations have a particular vision of the world that tilts towards poverty relief, racial justice, worker rights, which is reflected in its news and public affairs programming.
Community radio stations that maintain a community access model are vital to a community's character and voice, but new efforts by community and public media outlets point to programming and service work that can transform a community.
I discovered that several media outlets are focusing on a new model in community media -- community engagement. These projects focus on more than programming, picking up community partnerships. The National Black Programming Consortium launched Public Media Corps, a public media and community engagement program. Chicago Public Media developed a community engagement model. KCPT-TV in Kansas City developed a strategy around five content areas: The Arts, Children and Education, Sustainability, Health, and Entrepreneurship. KDHX engages the community around music and received big support for its effort to build a new station and perrformance space. Illinois Public Media focuses on obesity through public engagement. And Wisconsin Public TV developed a Vietnam Veterans "welcome home" event in 2010, which engaged thousands of local veterans.
Some of these projects produced tangible results like the news about the reduction in childhood obesity. I hope to highlight successful community engagement models by community and public media in future articles.
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