Radio

Seventy percent of respondents said they listen to the radio on a daily and around 84 percent said they do so at least weekly. Unlike the television broadcast market the radio market is dominated solely by a couple of media production houses. Four out of the top five stations are owned by two key national media groups, notably Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN) and LA FM are owned by the Ardila Lule group, which operates 26 radio stations and has nationwide reach through satellite. Caracol Radio and W Radio FM are owned by the Prisa group. There are also three national state-run broadcasters with strong audiences that are generally considered to be trustworthy.

The urban survey pointed to only one notable peak listening period between 07:00 and 10:00, with four in 10 Colombians tuning in at some point during this three-hour span.

Chart 1

Government liberalization efforts and promotion of community radio stations have fueled growth in radio's reach. Colombia has adopted policies that attempt to prevent excessive domination of broadcasting by a single company or network. Instead of limiting the conglomeration of national level media Colombia’s broadcast policy puts a strong emphasis on promoting and supporting locally owned and controlled community radio stations as a way of ensuring local content and permitting citizen participation in public debates.

As of the end of 2008, the country had 1543 registered AM stations along with 2216 FM stations. FM is by far the most popular waveband in Colombia, with 61 percent of survey respondents saying they tuned in daily. However the MW is also regularly used, with 40 percent reporting weekly use and 29 percent daily. Bolstering the use of the MW wavelength is the use of the MW waveband by the popular RCN radio network.

Chart 2

In addition to official promotion of community radio, the government has given a mandate to public broadcasters to provide educational and cultural programming and to promote civic values. Many of the hundreds of community radio stations belong to a network of public broadcasters which share programming that fulfills this mandate. Others are operated by municipalities, public universities and other organizations. These community broadcasters as non-profit organizations also have a public interest mandate where programming is primarily local and public participation is promoted.[1]

An interesting result of the community radio drive has been the creation of so-called “Radio Indigenas”, where indigenous ethnic groups are able to broadcast programming tailored to the interests of their community and in their own language. The sector has also spawned programming aimed at helping Colombia’s large population of internally displaced people (IDP). Such programming goes beyond simply informing Colombians about IDP or indigenous issues and tries to encourage listeners to engage within their communities in matters of public interest.

Community radio and specialized programming are produced through the cooperation of a range of state agencies and local or international non-governmental organizations. One example: the long running Radios Ciudadanas project (Citizens Radio), implemented by the Ministry of Culture, which has been supported by a number of international NGOs including the International Organization for Migration and its Vulnerable Groups Assistance Programme, and the Pan-American Development Foundation.[2]

Another project of interest is the Sistema de Comunicacion para la Paz (Communication for Peace, SIPAZ), a group of social organizations and community radio stations. With the help of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), SIPAZ tries to encourage community stations in conflict areas to produce and exchange news that will foster a culture of peace, tolerance, and respect for nature. SIPAZ also produces a news program from 10 hubs linking 42 community radio stations and two local television stations. All network stations contribute news and other materials to the news program. SIPAZ transfers the news program via the internet to its participating stations throughout the country, a more cost effective and streamlined means of sharing.[3]

One SIPAZ success story is the community radio station located in Belen de los Andaquies. The radio station helped to reinforce Belen identity and its commitment to the planting of food crops rather than cocaine, which many rural communities have become dependent upon. The radio station continued its programming in the face of guerilla attacks, and its children’s radio school was awarded UNICEF’s prize for children’s programming in Latin America.[4]

[1] “ICT Regulation Tool Kit: Colombia’s universal access to community radio.” International Telecommunication Union. 16 October 2009. Geneva, Switzerland. Accessed October 2009. http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/PracticeNote.3152.html.

[2] “Radios Ciudadanas.” Direccion de Comunicaciones. 28 October 2009. Bogota, Colombia. Accessed October 2009. http://www.mincultura.gov.co/index.php?idcategoria=1746. “Using Community Radio to Bring Communities Together.” International Organization for Migration. 19 January 2007. Geneva, Switzerland. Accessed October 2009. http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/media/press-briefing-notes/pbnAM/cache/offonce?entryId=12767.

[3] “SIPAZ: Peace Journalism in Rural Colombia.” The International Development Research Centre. 16 November 2001. Ottawa, Canada. Accessed October 2009. www.sipaz.net. And http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-5482-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html  https://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/bitstream/123456789/16882/1/116938.pdf.

[4] Ibid.