Community radio in the United Kingdom: Lessons from a demographic survey in Cornwall | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture
  4. Volume 12, Issue 1
  5. Article
British and Irish Radio: Radio and Audio in the Twenty-First Century in the United Kingdom and Ireland
  • ISSN: 1757-2681
  • E-ISSN: 1757-269X

Abstract

Since the establishment of community radio in the United Kingdom in 2004, it has become an integral part of the mediascape, founded on the basis of providing ‘social gain’ to the communities it serves. Little research has been done, however, into the number of people listening to the almost 300 stations now active in the United Kingdom. This article presents the data from three demographic surveys carried out in March 2020 and reports the radio listening habits of three towns served by community radio stations. A quantitative survey of radio listening habits was undertaken in the broadcast area of three community radio stations in Cornwall, United Kingdom: Source FM in Falmouth, RSAB in Saint Austell and CHBN in Truro. Data were gathered using a mixture of street interviews and online surveys. These data are presented, highlighting listening numbers and audience demographics in the three stations surveyed. It presents an analysis of potential lessons for the community radio sector in small rural towns such as those in the survey and for the rest of the United Kingdom. It advocates for the adoption of a rhizomatic, ‘agonistic’ approach to community radio to increase listenership and civil interaction and thereby social gain.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Wages for field researchers have been paid by Falmouth University
© 2021 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/iscc_00041_1
2021-04-01
2023-11-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Carpentier, Nico. ( 2016;), ‘ Community media as rhizome. ’, Journal of Alternative & Community Media, 1:1, pp. 4–6.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Clarkson, Stuart. ( 2019;), ‘ UK commercial radio presenter numbers could drop by more than 250. ’, Radio Today, 26 February, https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/02/opinion-uk-commercial-radio-presenter-numbers-could-drop-by-more-than-250/. Accessed 13 May 2019.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Cornwall Council ( 2015;), ‘ Cornwall: A brief description…. ’, 30 June, https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/20392018/cornwall-statistics-infographic-a3_proof3.pdf. Accessed 13 May 2019.
  4. Deleuze, Gilles, and Guattari, Felix. ( 2004), A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, London:: Continuum;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Gordon, Janey. ( 2006;), ‘ Is anybody out there? Audience research for community stations. ’, Airflash, Summer, pp. 20–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Gordon, Janey. ( 2007;), ‘ Community radio, funding and ethics. ’, International Journal of Regional and Local Studies, 3:2, pp. 23–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Hallett, Lawrie. ( 2011;), ‘ Measuring community radio audiences. ’, in M. Oliveira,, P. Portela, and L. A. Santos. (eds), Radio Evolution: Conference Proceedings, 14–16 September, Braga:: Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho;, pp. 377–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Lloyd, David. ( 2018;), ‘ Small-scale radio in the UK: How local, commercial and community radio can co-exist. ’, Radio Centre, 6 November, https://www.radiocentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SMALL-SCALE-RADIO-IN-THE-UK-ONLINE.pdf. Accessed 8 May 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Ofcom ( 2018), The Communications Market Report 2015, London:: Ofcom;, https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/20668/cmr_uk_2015.pdf. Accessed 17 October 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. RAJAR ( 2020a), ‘Quarterly report’, 31 March, https://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php. Accessed 29 September 2021.
  11. RAJAR ( 2020b;), ‘ RAJAR ratecard. ’, https://www.rajar.co.uk/docs/how_to_subscribe/2020_Full_Station_Ratecard.pdf. Accessed 1 June 2020.
  12. Ryan, Frances. ( 2020;), ‘ Local broadcasting is dying out with a whimper: We’ll miss it when it’s gone. ’, The Guardian, 10 June, https://theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/10/local-broadcasting-regional-radio-tv-shows-local-communities. Accessed 29 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Santana, Maaika, and Carpentier, Nico. ( 2010;), ‘ Mapping the rhizome: Organizational and informational networks of two Brussels alternative radio stations. ’, Telematics and Informatics, 27:2, pp. 162–76.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Shember-Critchley, Eleanor. ( 2012), Prove It: An Audience Research Tool for Community Radio Stations, Manchester:: Radio Regen;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Shember-Critchley, Eleanor. ( 2014;), ‘ “Prove it”: A community radio research methodology. ’, 5th ECREA European Communication Conference, Lisbon, 12–15 November.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Steers, Martin. ( 2020;), ‘ Community Radio Awards. ’, https://communityradioawards.org.uk/. Accessed 4 June 2020.
  17. UK Parliament ( 2004;), ‘ Community Radio Order 2004. ’, 19 July, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/1944/body/made?view=plain. Accessed 29 September 2021.
  18. Padfield, Jerry. ( 2021;), ‘ Community radio in the United Kingdom: Lessons from a demographic survey in Cornwall. ’, Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 12:1, pp. 123–33, https://doi.org/10.1386/iscc_00041_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/iscc_00041_1
Loading
Community radio in the United Kingdom: Lessons from a demographic survey in Cornwall
Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture 12, 123 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1386/iscc_00041_1
/content/journals/10.1386/iscc_00041_1
/content/journals/10.1386/iscc_00041_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): community media; community radio; Cornwall; demographics; radio listening; rhizome

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error