LEGISLATION, development, empowerment of women, or simply the rights of a citizen in a democracy - these are a few of the reasons why community radio is important, and demands the attention of not just media professionals or development organizations but the citizen at large. Community radio is not just about making program and airing them. The ends of community radio are much broader, and involve issues such as initiating development from the grassroots and bringing in the voices of the excluded to the centre. Underlying all these, of course, is the citizens’ right to disseminate knowledge; the citizens’ right to know.

More than 850 million people in developing countries are excluded from a wide range of information and knowledge, with the rural poor in particular remaining isolated from both traditional media and new information and communication technologies which would improve their livelihoods.

In this paper we will discuss the basic design issues and engineering of a Frequency Modulated Community Radio base station for rural community and describe the various issues related to design a low power campus-community radio development program at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

As a medium for non-formal education, local and community radio is:

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Paper No 46A; Copyright © 2006 by the IETE.

Attractive

Most people enjoy listening to radio, particularly if it is well produced and presented. It’s generally regarded as a personal, friendly and reliable medium throughout the world. where they are not available, it is relatively easy and not prohibitively expensive to set them up.

Accessible

Most people, even in the poorest rural areas, have access to radio receivers and a source of power. Since educational radio relies mainly on the spoken word, it can speak to people directly and in their own language– even to those without the benefit of literacy.

Affordable

Educational radio programs are relatively cheap to produce and to transmit. The costs are dramatically less than those for television or video, and usually lower than print or formal teaching and learning method.

ON AIR STUDIO

The basic requirement of a Community Radio Station would be for a common ‘On-Air’ and ‘Program Production Studio’, which will be acoustically treated. The equipment complement will meet the requirements of recording, editing and storage in the analog and digital domains, besides meeting the requirements of an ‘On-Air Studio.