Digital Innovations and the Production of Local Content in Community Radio

Josephine F. Coleman is Lecturer in Media and Public Relations at Brunel University London. Her first degree was in Geography from Cambridge. She has an MA in the History of Film and Visual Media and a PhD on community radio production practices from Birkbeck, University of London. She worked as promotions and PR Executive for an independent local radio network before joining Jazz FM in London. She later became a BBC local radio news journalist and presenter, having trained in community media both in the UK and in the USA. Josephine is also communications officer and former chair of the UK MeCCSA Radio Studies Network.

Table of Contents

1 Radio – a social technology

Introduction

Understanding radio as a social medium

Digital technologies and the meaning of radio

Community radio and its audiences

Conclusion

2 Framing community radio research

Introduction

Community radio in context – the global scene

The evolution of non-mainstream radio in the UK

Researching local community radio stations

Conclusion

3. Sites and sounds of community radio

Introduction

Home-produced local content for a hubless virtual radio station

Producing content and building community at local stations

Conclusion

4. Practitioners and content production

Introduction

The radio station as a place for community

The online spaces of community radio

Digital technologies and producing radio content

Diversity in community radio

The impact of COVID-19 on the production of local content

Conclusion

5. Keeping radio local in the digital age

Introduction

Reflections on ‘progress’ and change

The enduring value of local radio

The business of community radio

Recommendations for future research and practice

Appendix: Table of community radio stations researched for this study