'The world is our community': rethinking community radio in the digital age

New media technologies - Internet and mobile phones - have transformed the face of radio broadcasting. Research in this area has shown that these technologies are reconfiguring both radio's institutional structures and its practices. Radio, now accessed on multiple digital platforms, is allowing diverse forms of utilization and engagement. In this article, the researcher analyses the changing nature and meaning of 'community' in community radio in the digital age using insights from literature on imagined communities, trans- locality and liminality. The researcher argues that new media technologies are opening up new spaces for community radio that go beyond the geographical and community of interest to embrace trans-local and diasporic communities. There is thus need to interrogate the meaning of community radio in terms of audiences and programming in such new configurations.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Human Science Research Council SA
Published
2026-05-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.14749/32386197
Primary Topic
Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

'The world is our community': rethinking community radio in the digital age

Human Sciences Research Council
Human Science Research Council SA
Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media
article

'The world is our community': rethinking community radio in the digital age

Human Sciences Research Council
article en

Abstract

New media technologies - Internet and mobile phones - have transformed the face of radio broadcasting. Research in this area has shown that these technologies are reconfiguring both radio's institutional structures and its practices. Radio, now accessed on multiple digital platforms, is allowing diverse forms of utilization and engagement. In this article, the researcher analyses the changing nature and meaning of 'community' in community radio in the digital age using insights from literature on imagined communities, trans- locality and liminality. The researcher argues that new media technologies are opening up new spaces for community radio that go beyond the geographical and community of interest to embrace trans-local and diasporic communities. There is thus need to interrogate the meaning of community radio in terms of audiences and programming in such new configurations.

Human Science Research Council SA
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media
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