Community FM Stations Turn Fifteen
March 2007
At every disaster, community FM stations, small radio stations for local residents, have been appreciated for providing scrupulous information that major mass media cannot cover. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the community FM radio system, and now approximately 200 stations are striving for making programs which can take advantage of the “characteristics of the community” not only at the time of disaster but also on a daily basis.
In early days, along with the changing roles of cable television, there were great expectations for community FM stations that had emerged as a new form of local media to the extent that some called for “equipping every municipality with the media,” because only small capital investment was needed and program making was relatively easy for such radio stations. However, the reality is, most stations have been struggling to achieve a goal called “regional development,” coping with financial instability.
From November to December 2006, NHK Radio Center and the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute conducted a survey targeting community FM stations nationwide to study their current situation. Colorful profiles of founders and unique programs of the stations indicate that Japan’s local communities have not only various problems but also great potentials.
The number of newly-opened stations is still increasing even 15 years after the establishment of the system. There seems to be no end to municipalities that expect community FM stations as the driving force to tackle with loosening bonds of society or as a daily space to gauge local residents’ response. It is becoming more difficult to understand what local society really means, and that is why it may be no exaggeration to say the effort to operate a small local radio station within the community holds the key to future revitalization of the Japanese society.
The authors report approaches taken by each community from various angles based on the nationwide survey and interviews at more than 20 stations.