From May 16 to 18, 2013, community radios from all Europe are meeting to share their experiences, pursue their development and assure their values.

The main theme of the meeting is « Transradio ». At the heart of the debates, the transversal and inclusive role of community radios, their transnational development all over the continent and the south shore of the Mediterranean, their ability to evolve in line with the societal and technological actual changes, their ability to break the stereotypes to create new radio formats and meet the social demand.

Last week we received a mail from the Council of Europe that Karol Jakubowicz passed away on Sunday 28 April 2013. We remember Karol as a political scientist, a journalist, a mediaexpert, but also as a great friend of Community Media. As Chairman of UNESCO's ‘Intergovernmental Information for All Programme (IFAP)’ and of committees on media issues at the Council of Europe, he supported our sector to gain acknowledgement by and access to this important international bodies.
He was present at different international community media meetings, among others as keynote speaker Amarc Europe Conferences in Ljubjana (1994) and Bucharest (2008).                                                                                                         ( Photo: Stefan Tenner, 12 December 2008)

MYCYradio, a new multilingual web radio station was officially launched the 24/4/2013 in the presence of George Markopouliotis, Head of the European Commission Representation in Cyprus, at a press conference held at the EU House in Nicosia.

MYCYradio is a community radio station open to individuals, organisations and communities in Cyprus who are looking for the opportunity to have their voice heard and who want to broadcast their own programmes online on http://mycyradio.eu/.

Radio Beca said it was aiming to be as inclusive as possible when it begins broadcasting this summer. A Welsh language radio station launching this summer has won Welsh government funding to broadcast in languages such as Polish.

Read the full BBC story

...but still a lot of global wasteland

CMFE 2013 estimate puts the number of community radio stations in the world to 16.740 operating in 85 countries. Most stations are located in Latin America 6.600 (40 %). In Europe there are 2.230 stations in 30 countries.

Regions typically lacking community radio are Russia and other former Soviet Union states, China, North Africa and the Middle East. This clearly reflects non-democratic rule and restricted freedom of speech in those countries.