Community and commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom have much in common. Amongst these similarities is the need to survive and prosper by selling advertising. Despite this fact UK community media operators should resist being covetous of the commercial advertising paradigm and remember the main difference in their mission - one is here to serve, the other to profit. This difference may in fact be their greatest advantage.

In the United Kingdom, community radios are encouraged by the regulator OFCOM to compete with commercial media for advertising revenue. However, community radios with their commitment to diversity and volunteerism, as ill-equipped to compete with their powerful commercial cousins. Compared to commercial high power FM transmitters low power community radios don’t have such large coverage areas, don’t attract so many people and do not subscribe to common audience measurement and reporting services. For these reasons and others, they are not considered as a viable option when national and even large local advertising buyers spend their money. Their competency in local as well as regional and national markets is also limited by the lack of resources to deploy an effective advertising sales operation.

Advertisers and sponsors believe that supporting community radio is an investment in their community, which will improve the quality of life for their customers and employees, thereby improving the opportunities for business success in the long term.

That doesn’t mean that advertisers, sponsors or donators are not interested in them at all, but they see them in a different light. They believe that supporting community radio is an investment in their community, which will improve the quality of life for their customers and employees, thereby improving the opportunities for business success in the long term. Community media should be aware of this fact and embrace it. They should also emphasize this difference when they are trying to attract possible advertisers.

Furthermore, there is no advantage for community radios to take part in audience surveys. It puts them in line with commercial competitors and reduces their unique status as a community organization. Anyhow community radios have often poor results in such surveys. They are not designed for mass appeal and their advantage is hyperlocal and qualitative impact; there are better ways for community radios to create demand.  Among a great number of potential business supporters of community radio, audience size is not the top priority.

In the big picture, current economic conditions are driving commercial radios to cut down costs of regional and local content reducing their local commitment. This creates free space for community radios allowing them to reinforce its position as an important link to local communities. The ability of commercial radios to remain truly local is reduced by their migration to multiplexes, due to the large and identical coverage footprint mandated by the multiplex. At the same time community radios remain on the FM band, clearly targeting and serving a specific community. Common practise of community radio stations is accepting user generated content, which brings the radio closer to its listeners and links it to the community. Non-professional content and closeness to people can be converted into value for business advertisers.

Building strong relationships with local businesses allows community radios to achieve its ideal of being an effective social enterprise with a responsibility for sustainability of community.

Community radio broadcasters in United Kingdom would be well-served celebrate the differences which make them often better and more valuable for advertisers. This requires long-term vision and strategy combined with a commitment to organizational development. Building strong relationships with local businesses means developing reliable advertising revenue streams which allows community radios to achieve its ideal of being an effective social enterprise with a responsibility for sustainability of community.

This article is a summary based on article written by RadioExpert.org director Henry Loeser, EU community radio consultant and lecturer with twenty years of commercial advertising experience. The original text can be found on Community Radio Toolkit website.