Oct 2004
Inishowen Community Radio welcome European counterparts to peninsula
Representatives from Community Radio Stations in Germany, Austria
and Hungary travelled to Inishowen last week to share information
and expertise as well as forge greater links with Inishowen Community
Radio.
As part of the initiative, on Friday Jim Doherty, the Carndonagh
based station's director met with the group at the Harbour Inn in
Buncrana to discuss how community radio operates in the different
European nations and how they might learn from each other's experience.
The ethos underpinning community radio is the same across Europe
the group agree and it can be summed up in one line, according to
Jim. "The process is just as important as the product."
He believes that, to people involved in this type of broadcasting
the experience those who put together shows on community radio have,
are as important as the numbers of listeners tuning in.
Herbert Depner, who is involved in community radio programming
in Vienna thinks such radio station can perform a vital role in
preserving local culture and can thrive by providing a platform
for the types of events commercial stations avoid.
"For state broadcasters and the commercial stations it's all
about listener figures. We look at things differently. We have a
Kurdish show on Radio Orange that reaches 90% of the 50,000 Kurds
living in the city. It's a phenomenal achievement but you would
never get a commercial station running such a a programme. The strength
of commercial radio stations lies in their flexibility according
to Herbert who nevertheless does not dismiss listener figures completely
'that would be foolish, with higher figures comes more money and
more resources for our station.' Anyone can come to our station
with an idea for a show. If it has a strong local angle and is good
enough then we will put it on the air."
Inishowen Community Radio may only broadcast over a small area,
but the community radio stations in Hungary, where Adam Magyar is
from have broadcast ranges of only one or two kilometres. What they
lack in size, they more than make up in numbers with many small
towns having their own dedicated station. Community radio is great
for giving ordinary members of the public a chance of getting media
experience.
Those attending Friday's get together are keen to see the EU get
involved and put more money into community stations because of the
invaluable service they provide to their specific regions.
Guest of Honour at the meeting John Hume said 'Broadcasting groups
are coming together across Europe and I am glad to see this is happening
at community station level.'
Back
|
