Community radio and identity construction post-1994

Abstract

The South African social transition was accompanied by widespread media reform. Community
radio stations were for the first time, set up to empower communities previously without access to
the media. More than a hundred radio stations were licensed, and further provision was made for
community television, even if it was nearly a decade later before there was any discernible movement
in the area of community television. The paper addresses concerns about media, politics and identity
struggles, viewed through the lens of community radio. While there is a wealth of literature analysing
the development of various aspects of the South African media over the last decade, few, if any,
studies specifically consider the role of community media. Set up after elections in 1994, expressly
to create spaces for the articulation of marginal or “disadvantaged” groups, the community radio
sector in South Africa has mushroomed, with nearly a hundred stations currently licensed.
This paper will explore the ways in which community radio has facilitated the construction of new
identities. Adopting a case-study approach, the paper considers community radio station Bush
Radio, discussing how the station interpellates diverse identities through its programming. In the
Pink, for example, creates a space for the articulation of various gay identities, while the Children’s
Radio Education Workshop becomes a mediated space for youth in the new political dispensation
to form a generational consciousness. The intersection of class, culture and language at Bush
Radio, and on its airwaves, often results in the constant (re)negotiation of identities.
Furthermore, the paper also reflects on the religious or community-of-interest community radio
stations, and argues that these stations further serve the purpose of identity building. The resultant
listener loyalty results in increased sustainability; they serve the purpose of therapy or confession,
giving listeners an outlet for frustrations; and finally, religious community radio stations become
a virtual church, transcending physical boundaries and resulting in instantaneous religious
community building.