Community Radio By Marginalized Communities: A Study Of Socio-Economic Profile Of Community Radio Volunteers

Abstract

The community media deals with the issues that concern a particular community or locality, as it is not possible for the mainstream media to reach out to the every nook and corner of the country. Community radio is for the community, of the community and by the community. The literature and previous research studies suggests a radio is the community radio in true sense if it is run and managed by the local community members i.e. community radio volunteers. The present research paper primarily focuses on two aspects. First, to identify whether the CRS are being run the way they should or not, i.e., if community members are actually participating in it, if they are active enough, if they are getting equal opportunities and so on. Since the whole purpose of a CRS is to represent the community members and to work for their welfare, it should be ensured that they are getting involved in it. Secondly, the study also highlights the socio-economic profiles of the people who are working as volunteers for these radio stations. Four well known and community radio stations located in the rural areas of Rajasthan state of India have been chosen using purposive sampling method. The research is mainly a quantitative one and uses primary data as the main source of information. For the collection of primary data, the interviews were conducted with 100 volunteers using a question schedule. A thorough analysis of all the data has been done using SPSS to come to a conclusion.