1. Community RadioCommunity Radio
stations in Indiastations in India
Priyadarshini Kiran
Ph D student
Apeejay Stya university,
Sohna, Gurgaon
Guided by DR R Sreedher,
Community media Pracitioner and
1

2. CR Policy in India
 India’s Community Radio Policy emerged
from a grassroots movement
 Supreme Court Judgment 1995 – Airways
are public property to be used for public
good
 First CR Guidelines in 2002
– Only educational institutions were eligible
 Policy revised and broad based –New
Policy 2006
2Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

3. CR Policy in India
 India’s Community Radio Policy emerged
from a grassroots movement
 Supreme Court Judgment 1995 – Airways
are public property to be used for public
good
 First CR Guidelines in 2002
– Only educational institutions were eligible
 Policy revised and broad based –New
Policy 2006
3Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

4. 4
The CR policy (2006)
 ‘Non-profit’ organizations, educational
Agricultural institutions registered for 3 years
 Serving a specific well-defined local
community
 CRS ownership and management structure
reflective of the community it will serve.
 Programmes for broadcast must be relevant to
the educational, developmental,
social and cultural needs of the community
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

5. 5
CR Policy 2006 Contd.
Who are eligible !
– Registered Societies and
Autonomous Bodies
– Public Trusts registered under
Societies Act or any other such act.
– Educational institutions
– Agricutlure institutions including
KVKs
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

6. 6
CR Policy 2006 Contd.
 Who are not eligible
– Individuals;
– Political Parties and their affiliate
organisations; [including students,
women’s, trade unions and such other
wings]
– Organisations operating with a motive
to earn profit;
– Organisations expressly banned by the
Union and State Governments.
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

7. 7
Technical guidelines
 A CRS expected to cover a range of 10 - 12 km
 Maximum transmitter strength of 100W ERP
 Max. antenna height above ground = 30 meters
 Min. antenna height above ground =15 meters
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

8. 8
Cost of setting up CRS
 Cost of setting up a CRS- 6 -10 Lakhs
 Fixed Cost
– Infrastructure for the studio excluding land cost
-Rs 5 Lakhs
– Computers, Furniture etc.- 1 Lakh
– Transmitter/Antenna – 2-5 Lakhs
 Recurring Expenditure varies
• Salaries
• Content Generation
• Maintenance
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

9. 9
Funding & Sustenance
 Government of India has comeout with
Community Radio Sustencance scheme
for funding CRS- upto 50% capital cost
reimbursed
 Agriculture Ministry funds KVKs
 UNICEF/UNESCO have funded some
CRS
 Running expenditure and partial capital
cost to be borne by the CRS operators
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

10. Funding and Sustenance
 Main source of revenue for CRS –
Advertisements, Project sanctioned by
Aid agencies and government
 Advertising permitted for only 5
minutes per hour of broadcast.
 Rate for advt.- Minimum of Rs 4 per
second of Broadcast Rs 1200 per hour
 Sponsored Programmes only by Central
& State Governments
 Revenue generated to be ploughed back
into primary objectives of the
organisation /NGO 10Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

11. 11
1. CRS Application
3. Presentation to
Screening
Committee and
Inter Ministerial
Committee
2. Clearance from
ministries i.e
Defence, Home,
HRD, Agriculture,
Communication and
IT
4. Issue of Letter
of Intent (LoI)
5. Application for
& Frequency
Allocation , issue
of LOI and
payment of
License fee to
WPC
6. Issue of SACFA
clearance by WPC
7. Application for
Grant of
Permission
Agreement
(GoPA)
9. Application for
Wireless
Operating
License (WoL)
10. Issue of WoL
11. Commencement of CRS broadcast
(Within 3 months of signing of GoPA)
8. Issue of
GoPA
The CR application/Licensing process
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

12. 12
Fees & Levies
 Processing Fee = Rs 2,500/-
 Bank Guarantee = Rs 25,000/-
 Spectrum Fee = Rs 19,500/- per
annum
 No permission fee required
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

13. 13
Challenges
 Building a sustainable business model
 Involvement of women & marginalized
 Channel mangment.
 Creating a relevant training & capacity building
process
 Building local support structures/networks
 Building local maintenance support
Ensuring community ownership
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert

14. Consultancy
 Not advisable to get private consultancy
 Community Radio Facilitation centre at the
Ground Floor of the Ministry offeres free
consultancy till the issue of final license
and also in getting empanelled with
DAVP. It is funded by Ford Foundation
and operated by One World Foundation
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert
14

15. 15
Thank You
Guided by DR R Sreedher, Community media
Pracitioner and Media expert