Is community radio about the listeners or the people on air? #CBAAConf

A range of panelists from different stations took on the topic of whether community radio is about the listeners or the people on air.

Some of the points from both sides of the argument are:

“There are 21,000 staff/volunteers, but 5 million listeners, so it must be more about the listeners.”

“Each station has its own personality… some of them have multiple personalities.”

“I came into this thinking that it was all about the audience but I didn’t appreciate how important the on air presenters are. In these days of juke box services to build community we need the personalities of the people on air.”

“Our presenters are there for a reason, sometimes that reason is ego, sometimes it is for passion, someties they are there for the audience. Sometimes it’s all of these reasons.”

“It’s like having lots of chefs trying to cook in teh same kitchen, you may get a lot of food but it’s not very good. In our industry we have to get the best talent not just lots of talent. We need on air presenters whith lots of personality that stand out so that people will listen.”

“Community radio fosters the development of people who contribute to our society… It develops the skills of people who can then contribute to our community… we have a responsibility to continually grow new broadcasters because they enrich our communities.”

“You are licenced to serve your community of interest. It’s not just about presenters or the listeners, it is about serving and connecting with the community.”

“We are asking the listeners to listen, but if we are not listening to them it won’t happen. We need to be aware and engage our community.”

“We are moving from push media to pull media, the listeners are more and more choosing what they want to listen to, we are no longer choosing that for them.”

View the live stream below, or on facebook


 

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