Community Radio Manual PUBLISHED BY: THE OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTH AFRICA Colinton House Norwich Oval 1 Oakdale Road Newlands 7700 FIRST EDITION: December 1999 Writing chapters & sections Margaret Ashwin Jean Fairbairn Derrick Fine Edric Gorfinkel William Lane Libby Lloyd Patrick Mphale Radio Bushbuckridge Noma Rangana Esca Scheepers Bill Siemering Gabriel Urgoiti Sue Valentine Vuleka Productions Co-ordination Jean Fairbairn Editing & plain language revision Derrick Fine Design & DTP Magenta Media Printing & Reproduction Mega Print Open Society Foundation for South Africa 1999 For more information, or permission to reproduce any of the materials in this manual, please contact: Director: Media Programmes OSF-SA Community Radio Support Progamme Phone: (021) 6833489 Fax: (021) 6833550 E-mail: admin@ct.osf.org.za
COMMUNITY RADIO MANUAL Mission Statement of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa The Open Society Foundation for South Africa is committed to promoting the values, institutions and practices of an open, civil and democratic society. It will work for a vigorous and autonomous civil society, not dominated by the state, in which minorities and divergent opinions are respected. Acknowledgements This manual was funded by the The Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA). The Foundation is part of the Soros Foundations Network, created by the philanthropist, George Soros. We acknowledge all the contributors, and all the people and institutions who assisted us with advice, information and materials: Staff and volunteers of the many community radio stations who helped by sharing their experiences and insights. The OSF-SA Board, for their continuing commitment to supporting the community radio sector. Members of the OSF-SA Radio Advisory Committee. The administrative staff of the OSF-SA for their support. The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) for their willingness to answer queries and provide information. The National Community Radio Forum (NCRF). Various training providers in particular the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism s Community Radio Training Programme in Johannesburg and the Media Training Centre in Cape Town. Broadcast equipment suppliers Globecom and Sound Fusion for information and photographs. We acknowledge materials used in individual chapters in the introduction to each chapter. 2
About the contributors Margaret Ashwin is an independent media strategist specialising in advertising- and marketing-related media issues. Currently working at Media Max CC, she has been a consultant to many community radio stations. She has also been involved with South Africa s major advertising agencies. Jean Fairbairn is the Director: Media Programmes of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa. The OSF-SA Community Radio Support Programme has supported over 30 community radio stations and initiatives. Derrick Fine is a Training, Plain Language and Research Consultant. His work experience includes the development of education and training materials, and facilitating workshop and training programmes, on human rights, constitutional, election and communication issues and skills. Edric Gorfinkel started broadcasting in Zimbabwe in 1981. The challenges of transforming a national radio station led him, with others, to start Bush Radio, South Africa s first community radio project. Edric now works as an independent radio producer and training facilitator. William Lane was a member of the first Council of the Independent Broadcasting Authority. During his career as an attorney, he was actively involved in media law and was co-author of the 4th and 5th editions of Kelsey Stuart s Newspaperman s Guide to the Law. With Patrick Mphale, he co-authored Getting on the Air. Libby Lloyd is a Councillor with the Independent Broadcasting Authority. Her involvement with community media began in the late- 1980s when she joined Speak Media Project. She later became head of radio training at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism. Patrick Mphale is a founder member of Radio Bushbuckridge and served at the station as Chairman of the Management Committee. He has worked for a number of years in rural development, for Wits Rural Facility and the Media and Training Centre of the National Progressive Primary Health Care Network (NPPHCN). Patrick co-authored Getting on the Air with William Lane. Radio Bushbuckridge is a rural community radio station located in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga. Broadcasting on 88.4fm, the station aims to improve rural community initiatives and act as a forum for community members to exchange development ideas and debate local, regional and national issues. Noma Rangana is Media Projects Officer of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa. With a background in Informatics, she joined OSF-SA in 1997. Her special focus is community radio. Esca Scheepers is a Research Methodologist with a special interest in Participatory Research. She joined the NPPHCN Media and Training Centre in 1995 as Research Manager. Since then Esca has facilitated a number of Audience Research projects, especially in partnership with Radio Zibonele. 3
COMMUNITY RADIO MANUAL Bill Siemering is Special Adviser to the Open Society Network Media Programme. Bill was the first director of programming for National Public Radio in the United States of America, and later served on its Board of Directors. He has worked extensively in Southern Africa, Mongolia and Eastern Europe to assist in the development of community and independent radio stations. Gabriel Urgoiti is a medical doctor working in the areas of health promotion and communication. He has worked broadly in the community radio sector in Latin America and South Africa. He was one of the founder members of Radio Zibonele in Khayelitsha. Gabriel sits on the Radio Advisory Committee of the OSF-SA. Sue Valentine is the Executive Producer of AM Live and One O Clock Live, two of the current affairs programs on Safm. Her involvement in community radio in South Africa began in 1990, when the debate for freedom of the airwaves took on new meaning following the unbanning of the liberation movements. Sue sits on the Radio Advisory Committee of the OSF-SA. Vuleka Productions is an independent radio production agency specialising in drama and spot production, as well as training. Based in Durban, its directors are Julie Frederikse and Madoda Ncayiyana. Vuleka Productions produces in all 11 national languages for public, private and community radio in South Africa, as well as for international broadcasting. 4
Contents Introduction: The aim of this manual... 1 How to use this manual... 2 Giving us feedback... 3 Chapters 1. Community radio: a new challenge for South Africa... 5 A new sector... 7 What is community radio?... 8 The aims of community radio... 10 Why is radio so popular?... 11 2. Community participation: the backbone of a successful community radio station...13 Ideas on community participation... 15 Guidelines on community participation... 17 Ongoing evaluation... 19 Conclusion... 20 3. Struggle for the airwaves: a history of community radio in South Africa... 21 Developments from 1985 onwards... 23 Making policy for community radio... 25 The first community radio licences... 26 The support sector... 27 4. Out in the world: examples of community radio around the world 29 South America... 31 Central America and the Caribbean... 32 North America... 33 Africa... 34 5
COMMUNITY RADIO MANUAL 5. Mission statements... 35 Developing your mission... 37 Examples of South African community radio mission statements... 39 6. Structuring and managing your station... 41 Introduction... 43 Voluntary associations... 44 Section 21 Companies... 46 Trusts... 48 Deciding on your structure... 50 Setting up an effective Board... 51 Membership of the station... 55 7. The Independent Broadcasting Authority and broadcasting law... 57 The IBA Act and the Independent Broadcasting Authority... 59 The Telecommunications Act... 62 The White Paper on Broadcast Policy... 63 The Broadcasting Act... 64 The IBA monitoring and complaints structures... 66 The IBA Code of Conduct for Broadcasting Services... 68 Proposed new IBA Code of Conduct... 70 Other independent bodies recognised by the IBA... 73 New IBA Regulations on advertising, infomercials and programme sponsorship... 75 8. Getting on air: community participation and applying for a licence 79 Introduction... 81 Is a radio station what the community really needs?... 82 Handling the IBA application... 86 Preparing for and appearing at the hearing... 89 9. Programming... 91 Programme formats... 93 Protecting programming integrity... 95 The IBA and local content programming... 97 Examples of South African community radio programme schedules 99 6
10. And here is the news... 101 What the law says... 103 Developing your own news... 104 Workshopping news policy... 106 Structuring the newsroom... 108 Developing your own style of delivering the news... 111 Newsroom equipment... 113 Collecting your news... 115 The sound of news... 118 Using a news booth... 122 11. Equipment... 123 Broadcast studio... 125 Production studio... 128 Some technical radio studio words... 129 OSF-SA guidelines for getting quotations and contracting broadcast equipment suppliers... 130 12. Research... 133 Why is research important... 135 How do you do research?... 138 Key research rules... 141 Five research steps... 145 Different ways of doing research... 148 Taking forward community radio research... 150 Audience research before going on air... 152 Audience research while on air... 154 Planning audience research... 157 Using existing research resources... 160 13. Marketing your station... 163 The importance of marketing... 165 The Sales Team and its tasks... 167 Public relations and promotions... 172 Other ways of assisting marketing... 174 7
COMMUNITY RADIO MANUAL 14. Fundraising... 177 Clear communication... 179 Funding proposals... 181 Project proposals... 184 Procedure for sending in funding and project proposals... 186 15. Radio drama... 187 Roles in drama production... 189 Pre-production (before production)... 191 Production... 194 Post-production (after production)... 198 Some radio drama words... 199 16. Spot production (commercial and non-commercial)... 201 Introduction... 203 Consulting and liaising with your client... 205 Drafting the budget... 206 Pre-production (before production)... 208 Production... 210 Post-production (after production)... 211 List of abbreviations... 213 Contact list... 215 Resource list... 221 8