Editing Community radio (section)

===Australia===
[[File:Young 2YYY and The Young Witness.jpg|thumb|Community radio station & newspaper office side by side in regional [[Young, New South Wales|(Young), New South Wales]]]] 
Community broadcasting is Australia's third media sector, formally represented by the [[Community Broadcasting Association of Australia]] (CBAA). In January 2012, there were 359 licensed community radio stations (including remote indigenous services).<ref>{{cite web|title=Broadcasters by Region and State|url=http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib100052/lic50_broadcasters_by_region-state-jan2012.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228031901/http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib100052/lic50_broadcasters_by_region-state-jan2012.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 February 2012|work=acma.gov.au|publisher=Australian Communications and Media Authority|access-date=3 April 2013}}</ref>
A 2002 report found that 20,000 Australians (or 0.1 percent of the population) were involved as volunteers in the community radio sector on a regular basis, and volunteers account for more than $145 million in unpaid work each year.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Susan |last1=Forde |first2=Michael |last2=Meadows |first3=Kerrie |last3=Foxwell |work=CB Online |publisher=Community Broadcasting Association of Australia |title=Culture, Commitment, Community: the Australian Community Radio Sector |url=http://www.cbonline.org.au/resources/resources/835_465.pdf |access-date=3 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012004250/http://www.cbonline.org.au/resources/resources/835_465.pdf |archive-date=12 October 2006 }}</ref> Nationally, more than 7 million Australians (or 45 percent of people over 15) listen to community radio each month.<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://eprints.qut.edu.au/6614/ | last1 = Spurgeon | first1 = Christina L | last2 = McCarthy | first2 = Joanna |date=February 2005 | title= Mobilising the Community Radio Audience | journal = Journal of Community, Citizen's and Third Sector Media and Communication | volume = 1 | issue = 1  | pages = 1–13  |issn = 1832-6161| publisher = Christina L. Spurgeon }}</ref>

The role of community broadcasting in Australia, according to CBAA, is to provide a diverse range of services meeting community needs in ways unmet by other sectors. Community broadcasting is sustained by the principles of access and participation, volunteerism, diversity, independence and locality.<ref name=CBAA>{{
cite web | title = CBAA Strategic Plan 2008/11 | access-date = 5 May 2012
 | url = http://www.cbaa.org.au/Who_We_Are/Strategic-Plan | publisher = Community Broadcasting Association of Australia| date = 2014-12-19
 }}</ref>

Community radio stations may be specialized music stations, represent local music and arts or broadcast talks and current-affairs programs representing alternative, indigenous Australian, environmental, feminist or gay and lesbian interests (filling perceived gaps in commercial or government radio content). 53 percent of community radio stations serve an array of communities of interest, including indigenous and ethnic groups, people with a [[print disability]], young people, older people, the arts/fine music, religious, and the gay and lesbian communities. The remaining stations provide a service which may be described as [[Generalist media|generalist]]: addressing the interests of communities in particular areas, but also addressing a range of specialized interests.<ref name=CBAA/>

Community broadcasting, more than any other form of media in Australia, shapes and reflects the national character in all its diversity. The sector is unique in its capacity to provide fresh programming by and for indigenous, ethnic and RPH communities. Community broadcasting stations have a strong commitment to local news and information, the promotion of local and national music, arts and culture and providing training in media skills.<ref>[http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311074 ACMA—Community broadcasting] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509134658/http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc%3DPC_311074 |date=2013-05-09 }}</ref>

When a not-for-profit community group applies to the regulating body (the [[Australian Communications and Media Authority]]) for a community broadcasting licence, it specifies the community interest it intends to serve. Licensees are selected by the regulator on the basis of suitability and on the merits of the licence application and the capacity to serve identified community interests. Upon grant of a five-year renewable licence each station is required to continue to serve the community interest for which the licence was granted. The Broadcast Services Act establishes the requirement to continue to represent the licensed community of interest and the requirement to encourage participation from the licensed community of interest in the provision and selection of programs as key conditions of the licence. Provisions for Temporary Community Radio Licences in the Act allow, where spectrum is available, for aspirant community groups to develop their facilities and financial and programming models before the regulator considers making a permanent licence available.<ref>[http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311058 ACMA—Licence allocations, renewals and transfers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413160857/http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc%3DPC_311058 |date=2013-04-13 }}</ref>