"Adding 20 New Community Radios in 17 Years for 'Our Neighborhood Radio We Create'"

by Cho Seulkina

Published 21 Jul.2021 14:00(KST)

"Adding 20 New Community Radios in 17 Years for 'Our Neighborhood Radio We Create'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] Community radios, where local residents vividly share events happening in their neighborhoods, are newly opening across the country. This is the first time in 17 years since their initial introduction as a pilot project in 2004.

On the 21st, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) held the 30th plenary meeting and deliberated and approved the selection of 20 new community radio broadcasting licensees.

Community radio is a low-power (10W or less) radio broadcast targeting small cities, counties, and districts. It allows vulnerable groups such as youth, elderly, disabled, and immigrants, as well as any local residents, to participate and share their own stories and stories of their neighborhoods. It is an optimized broadcast that realizes active broadcasting access rights by enabling citizens to directly participate in production.

As a result of the screening committee’s evaluation, 21 out of 22 applicants scored above the license approval threshold of 650 points. However, for the Sejong City area where two applicants were tied, the KCC decided to select the higher scorer and approved a total of 20 applicants as new licensees. After issuing broadcasting licenses at the end of July, a white paper on community radio broadcasting licenses will be published in September. These broadcasters must air at least 6 hours daily, and programming related to news reporting as stipulated in Article 50, Paragraph 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Broadcasting Act is prohibited.

Prior to this selection, the Ministry of Science and ICT conducted a technical review for about one month (May 7 to June 17, 2021). Through the operation of a technical review team and advisory panel composed of about 20 members from the National Radio Research Agency and the Central Radio Management Office, active technical support was provided to applicants, including frequency availability discovery and antenna installation site selection.

The KCC also conducted listener opinion hearings and on-site inspections for fair and strict evaluation. An eight-member screening committee (Chairman: Hyunghwan Ahn, KCC Standing Commissioner) composed of experts from various fields conducted a five-day review, including hearing opinions from representatives and programming managers of all applicant corporations during the evaluation period.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the KCC expect that the newly established community radio stations nationwide will enable more listeners to participate in broadcasting production more closely and easily. Additionally, community radios are expected to contribute to overcoming regional isolation and disasters by quickly delivering information specialized for each region. The Ministry of Science and ICT and the KCC stated, “Through this new licensee selection, we hope community radio broadcasting will establish itself as a medium that strengthens communication and bonds within local communities and act as a catalyst for community recovery and regional development.” They added, “We plan to maintain a close support system to ensure the early launch and stable operation of the new community radio broadcasters.”