Mobile Tech in Community Radio - Still Ad Hoc and One-Off: A State-of-Mobile Report

This report, a follow-up of a 2008 report on the integration of mobile technology in community radio, "summarises existing projects and success stories, highlighting the most popular uses of mobile technology. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges that community radio stations face in adopting SMS [short message service - text messaging] and mobile technology.”

Mobile technology integration in community radio stations is described here as an "ad-hoc" enterprise, used in different ways in community versus commercial radio. Community radio is described as: more participatory; non-profit, non-partisan, and non-sectarian; reflecting the special interests and needs of the community whilst promoting accessible information; and managed by the community. Four ways listed here that mobile phones can help community radio stations include the following:

• Mobile phones being used to record audio material for broadcast - a form of citizen journalism allowing for "audio capture" which can be disseminated to community radio stations. An example from Guatemala is HablaCentro, a collection of news hubs for local citizens as a gateway to HablaRadio - "the operating premise of HablaRadio is that a mobile phone is the only thing you need to record, send, and listen to audio, as long as you have an Internet connection." It is dependent on specific application available only on certain kinds of mobile phones, so far not commonly available in communities. In India, a service called CGNet Swara uses mobile phones to get around a radio news ban limiting the FM bandwidth to government-only-generated news. It provides a way for a large illiterate population to receive and record independent news using integrated voice response (IVR). "Local residents can dial a number from their handset and are prompted to either listen to the news or record news in any language and dialect. The information is then verified, translated, and disseminated via SMS messages and the CGNet website."
  
• Mobile phones being used to listen to the radio (without a radio) - via the inclusion of FM radio receivers in mobile handsets (not currently available in all handsets). "Some private sector companies have produced integrated circuit devices that combine WiFi, Bluetooth, and FM receiver technologies all on a single chip, making it easier to integrate the FM functionality. Call-in listening services, where individuals listen to the news by dialing a local number on their handsets, are also being used for those without FM receivers...." For example, SW Radio Africa in the United Kingdom was founded to broadcast information to Zimbabwe on shortwave, a signal sometimes reported to be jammed by those wishing to block this independent news source. However, radio podcasts are made available via a website and headlines from the programming are being sent to mobiles in Zimbabwe via SMS. The voluntary addition of people via email and through a Zimbabwe-based phone number has boosted subscribers from 2,000 in 2008 to 30,000 in 2010.
  
• Mobile phones being used to generate income - Premium SMS is a service that can generate income through collection by a phone/internet connection of pay-for-service dedications and messages. In Tanzania, to help disseminate information to local farmers, the community radio station answers farmer questions, many sent through their Premium SMS to a computer via a web-based platform, where they can be collected for response over the radio.
  
• Mobile phones and SMS messaging being used to foster participation and reach specific listeners - The Voices of Youth website and Saathi Sanga Man Ka Kura (SSMK), a youth radio programme, collect Nepali youth conversation on broadcast topics via a free text message service and an online discussion forum. In Haiti, Internews produces a 15-minute news program called “News You Can Use” that provides, among other things, emergency relief information, some of it informed by participation of mobile callers.

Radio developers can now provide "plug-and-play" radio kits or servers to help community radio stations "get off the ground." A next step may be SMS integration features to allow for more efficient processing of text messages to stations. The challenge of staff time for integrating texted information is a barrier, as is staff training on software, particularly that which relates to mobiles - for example, software for sending bulk text messages. Financial support to develop, launch, and maintain mobile processes related to radio is another barrier. According to this article, solutions may lie in external funding and/or communication between community radio stations for idea and resource sharing and development.