Co-Operation and Community Radio: a Handbook for Combining the Two
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Co-operation and Community Radio: A Handbook for Combining the Two 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................................3 Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3 Chapter One The Co-operative......................................................................................................................................5 Chapter Two Starting Your Own Co-op Campus Or Community Radio Station...........................................................19 Chapter Three Shared Values: A Natural Fit.....................................................................................................................36 Chapter Four Community Radio Co-ops in Canada......................................................................................................38 Chapter Five Working With, and Reporting on, Other Co-ops in Your Community.......................................................44 Chapter Six Innovative Co-ops Around The World.....................................................................................................47 Appendix A.............................................................................................................................................55 Budgets..................................................................................................................................................55 Resources...............................................................................................................................................57 2 Acknowledgments his handbook has been compiled and written by Zoë Creighton at Kootenay Co-op Radio CJLY-FM in TNelson, British Columbia. All work from other sources is much appreciated and has been attributed. Any mistakes are unintentional and the author’s own. The work was guided by an editorial committee, including Daniel Aucoin of CKJM-FM in Cheticamp, NS; Jay Mowat of CHES-FM in Erin, ON; Robin Puga of CFRO-FM in Vancouver, BC; and Shelley Robinson of the NCRA. Many thanks to the people who contributed to this handbook, or allowed their publications to be referenced, including the NCRA’s Shelley Robinson and Freya Zaltz for original material and editing; Carol Murray of the BC Co-operative Association for permission to base Chapter One on BCCA’s Cultivating Co-ops Guide; the good folks at the Prometheus Radio Project; Barry Rueger and Victoria Fenner for their work at community-media.com; Prudence Breton and Lyne Chartier for their good-humoured work in translating and assembling Chapter Four; Morgane Croissant for her excellent translation of the French edition; Tara Cunningham for her diligent copyediting; Paddy Duddy at Big Cranium Design for his creative and thoughtful design work; community radio staff and volunteers across the country for providing perspectives from the field; and the creators of all the other websites and materials referenced. 3 Introduction oth co-operation and communication have been around, in one form or another, since the beginning Bof humanity. This handbook and resource guide provides readers with an overview of how these two concepts have been, and can be, combined in the form of co-operatively-governed community radio stations. Many maintain we are at a time in history similar to the social and economic upheaval of the nineteenth century’s Industrial Revolution, when co-operatives, in their present-day form, originated. As such, we can continue to look to co-operation as a way of organizing generally. More specifically, when it comes to organizing community media, co-operation encourages a democratic and inclusive process that ensures representation by groups and individuals historically under-represented in corporate media, and it builds dialogue and understanding in the communities in which we live. This handbook is dedicated to the tens of thousands of volunteers across Canada and around the world who have learned how to introduce the historical values and principles of co-operation into their efforts at building community radio enterprises to tell local stories and play music not heard anywhere else. The handbook has itself been created co-operatively, through a collaboration between the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA), based in Ottawa, Ontario, and Kootenay Co-op Radio, CJLY-FM, in Nelson, British Columbia. Financial support came from the Innovative Co-operative Projects program jointly offered by the Canadian Co-operative Association and the Co-operative Development Initiative of the Government of Canada. The project’s website is at soundscooperative.coop. 4 CHAPTER ONE: THE CO-OPERATIVE 5 uch of the content of this chapter is based on the Cultivating Co-ops Guide, created by the British MColumbia Co-operative Association. The full publication is available here.The co-operative movement unites over one billion members around the world. The United Nations estimated that in the 1990s, the livelihood of nearly three billion people, or half of the world’s population, was made secure by co-operative enterprise. These enterprises continue to play significant economic and social roles in their communities. What Is a Co-op? Co-operatives are founded on the idea that people, no matter what economic class or educational level, know what’s best for themselves, and that people can work together to meet their own needs. The International Co-operative Alliance, a non-governmental co-operative union representing the co-operative movement worldwide, defines a co-operative as “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.” In simpler terms, it is a business or organization owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services and by the people who work there. This means co-ops and credit unions (a common type of financial services co-op) are democratically controlled: each member has one vote, regardless of how much investment is made in the co-op or credit union. Co-op members are not responsible to outside owners or to government, but are responsible to each other. Together, members decide how the co-op or credit union will be run, elect the board of directors, and, in the case of for-profit co-ops, decide what should be done with any profits generated. They may be large or small, simple or complex. Some co-ops serve the whole community; some serve particular groups within a community. In non-profit co-operatives, the members own the co-op, not only for their own benefit, but for the overall benefit of the community. These are called community service co-ops. Members set the strategic direction for the co-op and have a responsibility to manage it, but they do not have a financial stake in its operations, nor is there the possibility of any financial return to them. 6 In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the federal agency that regulates broadcasting, requires that campus and community radio stations be controlled by non-profit entities, which can include community-service co-ops. What kinds of services and products do co-ops offer? Co-operatives have been formed in almost every business or social sector you can imagine. Co-ops are bakeries and health-care facilities, forest stewardship organizations and furniture factories, dairies and fisheries, housing complexes and media outlets. Chapter Six provides some good examples of the diversity of co-ops around the world. What types of co-ops exist? In addition to the different services or products that co-ops offer, there are also various types of co-operatives operating in Canada. Although some co-ops might fit into more than one type, these are the most common: Community-service co-ops have similar legal status as non-profit societies or corporations and are therefore models for the campus and community radio sector. Community-service co-ops are sometimes eligible for charitable status, but under the current framework, it’s nearly impossible for any campus or community radio station to become a registered charity. Community-service co-ops also include health co-ops and social- service co-ops. Consumer or user co-ops help members use their combined purchasing power to buy goods and services they need. Examples include farm supplies, food retailing and wholesaling, elderly care, health care, housing, and funeral and burial services. Financial co-ops provide financial services, such as insurance, loans, and savings plans to their members. Financial co-ops include credit unions and caisses populaires in Quebec. Multi-stakeholder co-ops are where a variety of member groups share control. For example, different levels of workers, suppliers or consumers may be represented on the board of directors. Some examples of multi- stakeholder co-ops are local food co-ops in which control may be shared by both producers and consumers, and in health co-ops, patients and health-care providers are the member groups. Producer co-ops have members who pool their resources to produce or market products, such as grain, dairy products, processed foods, handicrafts or video and film works. Worker co-ops combine worker ownership and democratic control. Members provide themselves with employment while making goods and/or services