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CHILE: Breath of Fresh Air for Community Radio Stations?

Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Oct 26 2007 (IPS) - After a seven year wait, community radio stations in Chile are celebrating a draft law that would regulate and promote their activities, which the government of President Michelle Bachelet has sent to Congress. But they remain aware of the hurdles that still lie ahead.

The draft law "was what we were longing for," Alberto Cancino, the head of the National Association of Community Radio Stations (ANARCICH), made up of 200 such broadcasters, told IPS.

Under the current law, the government may grant broadcasting concessions to two kinds of radio stations: commercial ones and "minimum coverage" or community stations.

At present, close to 400 community radio permits have been granted to cultural, sporting and neighbourhood centres, churches, universities, educational institutions, municipal governments and companies.

They are hampered by three problems: they have a maximum power of one watt, which limits their range to a two-block radius; the concessions are only for three years; and they are not allowed to broadcast advertising of any kind.

In 2000, ANARCICH approached the government of then President Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006), who belongs to the same centre-left Coalition for Democracy as Bachelet, to raise the issue of reforming the telecommunications law of 1982, in order to provide "a friendlier, more fair and non-discriminatory" framework for community radio, Cancino said.

At the time the authorities did not respond to their proposal. Seven years later, the Bachelet administration called on ANARCICH and the Association of Radio Broadcasters of Chile (ARCHI) to draw up the draft law in conjunction with the ministries concerned.

The draft law creating community and citizen radio broadcasting services was presented publicly by Bachelet on Oct. 12, and submitted to Congress five days later.

"Up to now, the law only distinguished between commercial radio stations and minimum coverage stations, which doesn’t reflect the social and community values needed to develop radio broadcasting at the community and local levels," said government spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber.

The draft law would allow community radio stations a maximum power of 25 watts, with antennas up to 18 metres tall, which depending on location would allow coverage ranging from an entire municipality to a whole region. In exceptional cases, such as border zones or remote areas, up to 40 watts may be permitted.

According to the draft law, concessions would be awarded for 15 years, through public tender, to civil society and community organisations – in other words, not-for-profit private legal entities. That would exclude municipalities and limited companies. On expiry of the concession, the operator would have a preferential right of renewal.

Finally, the draft law states that community radio stations would be able to mention local companies or services within their broadcasting area in order to cover their costs, and may also enter into agreements for cultural, community, sporting and public interest broadcasting. Cancino summarises the three main features of the draft law as: granting concessions only to civil society organisations, expanding the broadcasting range of the radio stations, and allowing them to become self-financing by permitting commercials.

However, not everybody in the community radio sector is completely satisfied with the proposal.

The Chilean delegate to the World Association of Community Radio Stations (AMARC), Oscar Aguilera, said it was a positive step because "it’s the first time a draft law proposes a different communications model, and legally recognises the specific nature of community radio stations."

However, he disagrees with some aspects. "We are concerned that the concept of community media should be identified with spatial limits, because there are communities that transcend the boundaries of a municipality, neighbourhood or population," he told IPS.

He also criticised the fact that the draft law has made no provision for "the revolution that, in a couple of years, digital radio will bring. This draft was thought out for analogic technology," which may limit the future potential of these media outlets, he said.

But no doubt the most controversial provision, which has met with opposition from the private sector, is the permission for radio stations owned by civil society organisations to finance themselves by advertising, albeit in a restricted form.

More than 1,000 private broadcasters are affiliated to ARCHI, which approves of the draft law except for this provision, which it sees as unfair competition, Cancino said.

Two rightwing opposition members of Congress have expressed fears that the radio stations might become political tools, since the government is in charge of granting the concessions of the airwaves.

Cancino dismissed such fears as groundless, and defended the role of community radio stations as social communicators. "We have achieved participation by sectors of civil society – mainly young people – who feel discriminated against by the mass media," he said.

He said that advertisers on community radio stations would mainly be small local businesses, although he made it clear that, ultimately, "everyone has the right to compete."

Although the draft law enjoys considerable across-the-board approbation, ANARCICH is planning a practical strategy to bring everyone on board. "We must make it clear that community radio stations don’t want to go commercial, and that the possibility of financing ourselves will not distract us from our goals," he said.

If the advertising mentions are not approved in Congress, community radio broadcasters are open to the provision of a state fund, for instance, so that they can operate.