Hello! And Welcome to NEARfm 90.3

NEAR stands for North-East Access Radio.

‘North –East’ indicates our geographical position within Dublin City
‘Access’ emphasises our aspiration to afford equal access for every person and organization in our Community.

As a volunteer with this community development project we hope you will find your involvement enjoyable. We will do everything we can to keep you informed of, and involved with, developments.

In becoming a ‘community radio volunteer’ you have joined a global movement which is emerging on every continent.
People are coming together to make the airwaves a real public place.
Community Radio goes by many names.
In Latin America it is called popular or educational radio;
In Africa, rural or local radio;
In Australia, public or community radios;
In Europe, free associative or community radio.
All names describe the same phenomenon that of gaining a voice and democratic communication on a local community scale.

Around the world two types of Community Radio have emerged:

* Special interest: catering for jazz, classical or country music, educational, language or minority interests.

*Geographic community stations: which offer a mix of special interest music, local participation and community development programming. NEAR fm is in this category.

Our programming mix should aim for an increasing range of meaningful talk programmes and specialist music of a type not currently broadcast on existing radio in the Dublin area.
As a community radio volunteer, you are not primarily a presenter of a programme but, rather, a facilitator. We are attempting to democratise the communications media. Accordingly, part of your task will be to teach people in our community how to become broadcasters and help them to use the station for real communication.

This third sector in broadcasting is an alternative to both commercial and state radio. Its most distinguishing feature is the participatory nature of the relationship between the station and its community. Both public service and commercial media participate in some way in the lives of their listeners, announcing their events and playing their music. Most of these stations also offer their listeners a chance to participate by requesting a particular song of by expressing an opinion on a topic selected by the station.

Community Radio on the other hand, aims not only to participate in the life of the community, but also to allow the community to participate in the life of the station. Only Community Radio is based, unequivocally, on this reason for being. This is why it should always be distinguished from commercial and state radio – neither of which is seeks public participation, except when it suits them to do so. Other stations offer ready-made programmes; community radio offers democratic access to the activity of programme making itself. Rather than being communicated at, people are offered the opportunity to communicate themselves.

Community Radio has a completely different approach to almost all aspects of broadcasting, even music. Commercial stations can specialise in music, but only as a ‘niche marketing tool’. In NEAR fm special interest music is broadcast by lovers of these genres. We display more passion for our music, we have more informed comment and we are more committed to listener participation.

Community Radio also has a different approach to news and current affairs. Commercial media see news as a commodity: information is bought and sold. In community radio, we can experiment with ways to make news better serve our information needs. A restructuring of how information is assembled and presented will offer us, both inside the station and outside, the power to control our own definitions of ourselves, of what counts as news and what is enjoyable and significant about our culture.

Both you as a volunteer and the people using our local community radio station should be comfortable with our role. We have not been banished to the outer fringes of the media landscape, we choose to be here. We do not strive for the highest possible ratings but to create a medium of communication for local citizens.

We are not a failed, large commercial radio, but a successful, small community medium. We are right where we should be to do our work effectively. We are not public service media in a new guise, we are a small accessible social and cultural tool to be used by our community for personal and communal empowerment.

Knowing who we are and who we are not will keep us focused on the tasks ahead. Our community station has more in common with community development organisations than with the media sector. We will be more effective when we think of ourselves less as radio broadcasters and more as community activists. This won’t stop you from developing your radio skills, but it may help your other capacities.

Fundamentally, what we want to say to you is that community radio is as flexible and spontaneous as the human mind. The only limit is your imagination. We hope you continue to enjoy working with us to develop community radio for the citizens of North-East Dublin.

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