Managing Quality in UK Community Radio (a contribution to the Democracy and Quality thematic stream)

Using examples, this presentation with argue that the delivery of high quality Community Radio services requires more than a simple focus on the provision of outputs relevant to target communities. In order to ensure such relevance, it is first essential to provide appropriate inputs and processes to underpin them. The structures designed to ensure the delivery of high quality Community Radio outputs are required both within individual stations and as part of the wider legislative and regulatory frameworks which help define the nature of the sector as a whole. The majority of Community Radio services will delivery high quality outputs primarily as a result of their own internal structures and processes.

Predicated on the understanding that the legal framework is perceived by the Community Radio sector as being in-line with its generally recognised core objectives, the bulk of regulatory attempts to ensure the delivery of high quality Community Radio services will focus on those stations which either by accident (for example through lacking sufficient expertise) or design (deliberately operating outside the norms of the sector) fail to deliver the objectives recognised as being intrinsic prerequisites for the delivery of high quality outputs. The practicality of ensuring appropriate oversight and the question of its future viability will also be examined.