3. concepts in community radio and tv broadcasting

• Broadcasting


  The sending of radio and television programs through the airwaves
• Broadcasting


  Transmission of music, speech, pictures in forms that the public can understand, on a regular and announced schedule, on a frequency band for which the public has receivers, by a station licensed by the government
• Types of technology in broadcasting

  • Production technology
  • Distribution technology
  • Reception technology
• Production technology


  • Includes all equipment and facilities used in the production of radio and TV programs
  • Generally, television production equipment is more expensive than radio production equipment
• Distribution technology


  • Technology used in distributing radio and TV programs
  • Originally, it's the work of the transmitter. However, because of technological advancement, we can now distribute radio and TV programs via the internet
• Reception technology


  • Radio and television receivers (radio and TV sets)
  • Laptop and mobile phones are also part of this technology
• Narrowcasting


  Transmission is for a limited or specific audience who are interested in the subject or program, and not for the mass/public
• Narrowcasting


  • Cassette tape recorder in disseminating information in agriculture, health, nutrition, to a limited audience
• Types of radio ownership

  • Public broadcasting
  • Private broadcasting
• Public broadcasting


  • Aims to empower individuals and social groups
  • Aims to touch, move, or change people
  • More concerned with number of people who tune in over a period of time
  • Publicly owned by the state or government or a public corporation
• Private broadcasting


  • Owned by private individuals, groups, or corporations
  • Profit-oriented or commercially driven
  • Interested in large audiences, audience share or number of people watching or listening at any point in time
  • Aims to put people in the mood to consume even more of what it has to offer
• Public service broadcasting


  • Broadcasting that offers public service to the audience
  • More concerned with programming than ownership
  • Airs cultural, educational, and informational programs which serve the interests of the public
• Needed characteristics of public service broadcasting

  • Universal accessibility
  • Universal appeal
  • Particular attention to minorities
  • Contribution to sense of national identity and community
  • Distance from vested interests
  • Direct funding and universality of payment
  • Competition in good programming rather than for numbers
  • Guidelines that liberate rather than restrict program makers
• Open broadcasting


  • Audience - unorganized, no assurance of listenership and benefits derived from listening
  • Message - simple, informative, and motivational; does not teach complicated concepts or behaviors
  • Approach - shot in the dark
• Problems of open broadcasting

  • No interaction between producers and listeners/viewers before planning, production and broadcast
  • Very little or no consultation with development agencies on programs
  • No guidance on how people will use the message
• Closed-circuit broadcasting


  • Audience - organized, closed or restricted
  • Message - what the audience needs
  • Approach - controlled reception and use
• Educational broadcasting


  Planned, organized, and systematic use of the broadcast media—radio and TV—to achieve specific learning/educational objectives
• Dominant traits of educational broadcasting

  • Programs are arranged in series to assist cumulative learning
  • Explicitly planned with external educational advisers
  • Accompanied by other learning materials
  • Evaluation of broadcast use
• Major groups in educational broadcasting

  • Formal education or broadcasting for school education/instructional broadcasting
  • Nonformal education or broadcasting for out-of-school education
• Nonformal education


  Providing educational opportunities beyond the formal school and college system, through part-time, off-campus education for those outside the normal age range or geographical reach of the basic school and college system
• Development broadcasting


  • Coined in early 70s, the then Department of Agricultural Communication of UPLB started conceptualizing DevCom
  • People's participation in broadcasting in order to achieve the goals of development
  • People to have access to the media, participate directly and actively in the process of presenting information
• Role of broadcasting in development

  • Basic purpose is to meet overall needs of the nation
  • Broadcasting should be part of the country's infrastructure
  • Broadcasting is a public responsibility
• Purposes of development broadcasting

  • Inform
  • Motivate
  • Teach
• Not necessarily to change behavior
• Functions of development broadcasting

  • Provide perspective for change
  • Identify reference groups as relay points of information and models of behavior
  • Allow audience participation through media access, decision-making in programming and execution, and forum where people can dialogue
  • Stimulate people to take action using the broadcast media to help people diagnose problems, clarify objectives, overcome obstacles, and stimulate them to action
• Community broadcasting


  Community radio responds to the needs of the community it serves, contributing to their development within progressive perspectives in favor of social change; community radio strives to democratize communication through community participation
• Community vs Development broadcasting

  • No difference, particularly in their purpose to promote development
  • Difference in terms of coverage - Development broadcasting is for the development of big geographical area, even the whole country, while community broadcasting serves the needs of a small geographical area, the community
• Community broadcasting


  Systematic use of radio for the purpose of facilitating consciously the development of people with a geophysical area with clearly defined psycho-physical boundaries
• Community media


  • Shift from big to small media for people to have better access to information, education, and entertainment and opportunities for participation
  • Owned and controlled by people in the community
  • Usually smaller and low-cost
  • Provides interactive two-way communication
  • Non-profit and autonomous; therefore non-commercial
• Community media


  • Limited coverage or reach
  • Uses appropriate indigenous materials and resources
  • Reflect community needs and interests
  • Programs or content support community development
• Characteristics of community broadcasting

  • Purposive - to entertain, inform, motivate, educate
  • Audience-oriented - characteristics, needs, interests, problems, or concerns
  • Systematic and organized - focused and with direction
  • Research-based - intended audiences and program impact are based on research
  • Field-generated/field-based - program content comes from the community; program production is field-based
  • Service-oriented - programs provide information meant to solve problems of intended audience
  • Audience involvement or participation - not only in actual production but in decision making
  • Built-in monitoring and feedback system - assess performance of radio station and the community broadcasters
  • Well-defined goals and objectives - clearly defined and laid out
  • Integrated element in the teaching-learning process - not only dispense information but aims to educate people
  • Coordination and cooperation with government and nongovernment agencies and institutions - these agencies provide the face to face interaction which is very influential in getting people to act