Mapping the Radio KC Community

Abstract

South African community radio was established as one means of addressing the need for local participation in the public sphere. The model of community radio outlined in legislation does not, however, offer enough guidance for how such participation will be achieved on a day-to-day basis, and many geographically-based stations face serious problems in addressing their communities as cohesive entities. They need assistance in developing strategies that allow them to facilitate community participation through programme design, production techniques, and management style. The paper deals with one such area: the steps that staff need to take to better understand the communities they serve, in order to identify programming content that includes a wide range of stories and voices from within the community. The paper focuses on the introduction of a set of specific community research tools, to programming staff at Radio KC in Paarl in the Western Cape.



Methodology: Civic Mapping

The author describes a series of workshops carried out at a community radio station in Paarl, South Africa. These workshops are organised around the "civic mapping" technique in which "journalists and producers conduct research in their own communities and consolidate this research into a 'civic map'." In this case, the project involved first participation of radio personnel who drew preliminary community maps from their own mental images. Next, these participants drew on field excursions and community focus groups for additional input and information. Finally, the information collected was compiled into a community or 'civic' map.