Community expanded

So this week we expanded on the subject of community and how we define in terms of local and smaller communities.

After our initial discussion we came to the conclusion that smaller communities our being erased by advancements in communication as we move closer to the idea of a ‘Global village’. Aside from the positives of a better linked world from here to America we found many negatives. So examples included the idea that some people could go days without social communication and could easily disappear without anyone noticing for a while like an elderly person dying in their home and not being found for a few days.

Another theory presented was that smaller knit communities could encourage more socially acceptable behaviour since everybody knows everyone. This also relates to the ethical conduct of journalists, with smaller communities a journalist would have to be much more respectful to the community if they wanted to maintain a healthy amount of stories.

Something quite vital I learnt about the industry this week was the tier system, a set of categories which separated the types of media:

Tier 1: Public services, so for this country the BBC is the main example and possibly council based publications. In America the example would be PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).

Tier 2: Commercial radio- Examples of this would be Capital and Smooth FM. Media outlets which generate revenue from advertising.

Tier 3: Access/community radios- Smaller radio stations which are designed to be hyper local and serve a small specific area. Like Siren FM which broadcasts to the area of Lincoln.

Vital websites which are crucial to community or Tier 3 radio stations producing online content and general communication:

www.commedia.org.uk- Original called Community radio this website serves as a Google/Wikia site for community radio stations providing information about community radio stations in the UK.

www.podbean.com and www.podcast.com – These are podcast hosting websites which can used by practically anyone to create short podcasts on subjects like Sesame Street and Middlesbrough united. An interesting note on this would be that uploading podcasts should always be done in the mp3 format as wav. Files are to big from uploading. These website also include vodcasts (Video casts, essentially pod casts with moving images).

www.spreaker.com – Essentially Youtube but for sound, here you can create your own radio station online for free and broadcast online.

On another note I was surprised to find that they’re was another community radio station with links to Siren FM called Radio Hartlepool. It came into debate that this station was not technically a community radio station, despite Ofcom licensing it as one. What bought it’s classification in disrepute was the fact it’s broadcasted adverts and also didn’t feature any content related to it’s community area.

In my opinion this station could be seen as hybrid, as it features a hyper local target audience but attempts to behave in a more professional national serving manner but using Tier 2 conventions like themed hours, an example would be Numbers one at one.

Also I had a first eye account at a Tier 3 radio station which was Siren FM. Like most community radio stations it was small but busy with middle aged presenters to school children, an example of a community coming together.