Radio that is owned by a private, nonprofit organization and publicly funded, usually by donations from citizens or a local community. Community radio differs from public radio, which is government-supported; college radio, which is university-supported; and commercial radio, which is privately owned. As noted by Howley, community radio should not be conflated with alternative media, which strives to overturn or alter prevailing media systems. Rather, community radio is participatory in nature, drawing involvement from the station’s stakeholders and listeners but maintaining the structures and practices common to public and commercial stations. It is assumed that there is a high degree of accountability to listeners, who predominantly run and fund the station. The often limited amount of advertising time allotted to community stations dictates the need for external fundraising through pledge drives, grants, and donations. Community radio can serve a specific geographical region or a particular demographic or special-interest group. Programming includes music that is not mainstream (for example, independent artists or more obscure genres) and local-interest news and shows. It purports to represent marginalized or social and ethnic groups that are underrepresented in commercially oriented media. In its programming, the aim of community radio is to provide analysis of current events and culture that is otherwise absent from the public and corporate arms of broadcasting....
