Getting Involved in Community Broadcasting

Author: CBOnline | Source: CBOnline | Date: 28-10-04

With over 300 stations around the country, there are no hard and fast rules about how to get involved in community broadcasting.

The best way to start is to identify the stations in your area, decide which one is most likely to suit you and contact it find out how best to proceed. For information about how to locate stations see 'Finding A Station' below.

Volunteer policies

    Some stations may be quite informal about recruiting volunteers, whereas others will have an application process that you will have to go through. Most stations have policies relating to volunteers that you may be able to find on their website (for those that have them). As a general rule, you will have to become a station subscriber or member before you can volunteer. There is no set fee, but it’s unlikely to be more than $60 a year for a full subscription or around half that for full-time students.

What ‘jobs’ are on offer?

    There is always plenty of work to be done at community stations and not all of it’s to do with broadcasting. As a volunteer you could be involved in anything from administration, to maintaining a website, to technical work, to producing and on-air presenting. Even if you do want to be in front of the microphone, you should be prepared to help out with other tasks.

    If you are interested in presenting or producing, you may be able to join an existing program or could even get the opportunity to start your own show. This will depend very much on the individual station you approach, whether it needs presenters at the time and your skills level.

    Generally, you don’t need to any previous experience to become a community broadcasting volunteer, but stations always welcome skilled people.

Why get involved?

  • Training opportunitiesYou can get valuable training, which may lead to paid work in media-related areas - community stations are widely recognised as the unofficial training ground for both commercial and public broadcasters. Many broadcasters have very good training schemes in place, some of which are nationally recognised (or accredited). Others are less formal in their approach, but you are still likely to learn a lot. Even if you aren’t interested in a career in media, being involved in community broadcasting is great for increasing confidence and enhancing communications skills – something that never goes astray. And, of course, volunteering always looks good on your resumeé.
  • Be part of an important cultural institution
    • In Australia, we have one of the largest and most long-running community media sectors in the world and volunteers are integral to its success. It provides a valuable alternative to the mainstream media and is important for fostering alternative ideas, providing a voice to people not often heard, and for fostering local music and culture. In rural and regional areas, stations are very often the hubs of their communities.
  • Expanding your horizons
    • Community stations are great places to meet new and interesting people, both behind and in front of the mic. There’s a good chance that you’ll be exposed to new music and culture, and who knows, you might get the opportunity to interview some of your favourite artists.

What kind of stations are there?

    There is a variety of programming on offer at most stations, but some tend to have more of a talks (ie. news, current affairs and information) focus, while others may put an emphasis on music. Some stations have very specialised programming and a specific on-air style. For instance, RPH stations provide a service to people with print disabilities by getting volunteers to read newspapers and magazines to air.

    If you live in a state or territory capital city, you are likely to have several stations to chose from, including those with metropolitan-wide licences and those with limited broadcast areas (ie. suburban stations). Some stations will cater for a particular community of interest (eg. Ethnic language, Indigenous, Religious, young people, people over 50, arts or particular cultural communities, people who have print disabilities or those interested in specialist music such as jazz or classical). Others have a more ‘generalist’ format and have a variety of programs aimed at different groups of listeners.

    If you live in a rural or regional area, you may only have access to one community station. In most cases, this will be a generalist broadcaster, which will try to cater for the whole community with a wide variety of programming. This could range from an old-time music program, to one that features hip hop, to broadcasts of local council meetings, to an anarchist program which is networked from a capital city. Diversity is a key part of community broadcasting!

Finding a station