Berzsenyi Radio, Hungary - Following the red sludge tragedy in Western Hungary, temporary community radios started to broadcast news in the affected areas of Kolontar and Devecser.  Soon after the tragedy, which ruined the lives of thousands, some Hungarian free radio leaders along with volunteers decided to establish local emergency radio stations to broadcast news in the affected area and provide the residents and aid workers with information, interviews, and music. At the moment, more than 10 Hungarian community radios are working together, some people are at the site, while others are helping them from a distance in different parts of the country.

One of the studios is operating in the nearby city of Ajka. The Best Radio's team-members are under 18 secondary shcool volunteers, but volunteers from different Hungarian community radios are also there to help their heroic work. The programme can be received in the area exposed to the red sludge and at the web site of Best Radio Ajka.

The other studio is temporary and is situated in the affected area of Devecser, where they were given a room in the parish building and built a studio. Their team consists of volunteers from different Hungarian free radios. Besides their daily "home- job- family" routines, they all come to the studio and spend their spare time doing this voluntary work.

These free radio broadcasting setvices are called KHH (Közös Hullámhossz Hírszolgálat) and can be received everywhere in the affected area as well as on the Internet.

Both studios are expecting a permanent status from the authorities.

Report by Gabriella Velics, Berzsenyi Radio, Hungary. The author is a member of the CMFE Board.

Big step forward for CM in Austria – politics confirms public value of third broadcasting sector

Vienna - The Austrian media regulator, RTR, will continue to support all 14 Community Radio and 2 Community Television stations with relevant funds taken from the Fund for non-commercial lbroadcasting that was put in place in 2009.

The Secretary of State for the Media, Mr. Josef Ostermayer has stressed the importance of the third broadcasting sector in the Austrian media context. On 31 May 2010 RTR published the funding decisions for the non-commercial broadcasting sector (the community media sector is called this way in Austria) and 1.560.000 Euro were granted, meaning, for example, that community media outlets will receive an average of € 90.000 per station per year for their programmes production.

“These grants are a recognition of the enormous program diversity produced by our non commercial stations" - the Director of RTR, Mr. Alfred Grinschgl, stated - "We speak about public access to the airwaves and programs which aims at a wide spread public respecting different ages and migrants with all their languages!”

In Austria no other media offer a similar programming diversity as community media, wiith more than 25 languages spoken on air and involving more than 3000 volunteers in programme making. Community media are contributing to media literacy education and in many cases they are the only local media available in their area.

“Changing societies and commercialization of the media landscape led in many countries to a situation where traditional public service broadcasters are moving out of their former role. For a wide range of social groups Community Media fulfills the role of public service from below" - Helmut Peissl, chairman of the Austrian Community Radio federation and Vice-President of CMFE stated - "Community Radio stations create opportunities for social engagement and participation in the sense of active citizenship. The actual decisions in Austria underlines the important role of Community Media in delivering public value and its formal recognition.”

More information in German are available on the website of the Austrian Community Radio Federation or by writing in e-mail (in German or English) to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

> Read the original statement of the Austrian chancellery

CMFE has responded to the Draft Report 141 published by the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) within the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), named Future possibilities for the digitalisation of band II (87.5 - 108 mhz).

'Concerning CMFE, its users, the audience and the radio stations should handle digitalisation of the FM-band very carefully since the FM-technology is a very mature system that is highly appreciated - Pieter de Wit, President of CMFE stated - It is a simple and flexible system and very cost effective. FM-receivers are cheap, compact and widespread: every household has several receivers.

CMFE recognises also that the amount of frequencies, available within the existing FM-band, is not enough to fulfil the need of all aspirant radio organizations. Community radios often lack proper access to FM. On the one hand because all frequencies are already used by (and technically planned for) public and/or commercial radios, but on the other hand also often by the lack of proper legal recognition and the lack of urgency to provide adequate frequencies and to use proper planning mechanism to meet the needs of (often small scale) FM-frequencies for community radios.

Digital sound broadcasting can contribute to solve this kind of problems. It is necessary then, that this new systems build on the advantages of existing FM technique and that a smooth transition is provided. The existing analogue FM cannot be switched off before the new digital system is fully accepted by audiences. This process therefore needs a transition period in where both analogue and digital broadcasting of existing radios is possible.

We think that out of the described candidates for digitalisation of the FM and, DRM+, HD Radio, FMeXtra and T-DAB, DRM+ most closely meets the demands of our sector. Successful trails were held in Hannover (2007) and Paris (2009). DRM+ seems to provide for a smooth transition period (in-band capacity for digital sound) a spectrum frequency advantages. Next to that the technique seems to also be relatively simple and cheap to implement and allows stations to keep their own transmitter sites and frequencies.

HD-Radio seems to require complete replanning of European FM band because of guard-band requirements. FMeXtra has, until now, little international support and, in field test, multi-path problems. T-DAB requires complex multiplex structures that are not only relatively costly, but also makes community radios dependent on the multiplex owners. We want to conclude with the notion that new technologies are meant to make more possible.

This also applies to the digitalization of the FM-band - CMFE's President Pieter de Wit concluded - both audiences and radio organizations should profit from this. Also new technology should serve media policy and provide social gain instead of dictating media policy and only providing commercial gain.

> Download CMFE's full response

> Visit the page listing Public Consultation on ECC Decisions, Recommendations and Reports

Representatives of the non profit media sector voiced their views about a draft decree on the audiovisual sector on a public hearing hosted by the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the media regulator, the Audiovisual Council of Catalunya (Consell Audiovisual de Catalunya), at a meeting held in Barcelona on 10 December 2009. CMFE's Board member Núria Reguero (first speaker on the left in the picture, with the Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya’s adviser, D. Comas and the Catalan Assembly for Social Communication’s representative, L. Bergés, source: El Triangle) was invited to comment on the decree’s contents, together with speakers from the Catalan Association of Social Communication, during a round table devoted to the third sector’s view. Other round tables were organised representing the Government, the academy and the commercial sector points of view.