Community radio

A licence from the Swedish Radio and TV Authority is required for the broadcasting of community radio.  Community radio is the radio of local non-profit associations and is intended as a channel of communication for these.

Community radio trials began in April 1979. For the first three years community radio was transmitted at sixteen places in Sweden. The activity became permanent on 1 January 1986 and the number of licence holders increased continuously until 1988. The number of licensees, however, is declining, and in April 2010 amounted to fewer than 900.

Licence holders for community radio
The following legal entities may be granted licences to broadcast community radio:

• non-profit associations with connection to the broadcast area.
• congregations and church associations in the Swedish Church 
• compulsory associations of students in higher education 
• associations of licence holders in one broadcast area for shared community radio purposes, i.e. community radio associations.

Broadcast areas
The broadcast area for a community radio licence may not cover more than one town. If there are exceptional reasons the Swedish  Radio and TV Authority may decide on a broadcast area larger than one town. An example of ”exceptional reasons” might be where a town has so few organisations that it cannot broadcast more than a few hours of programmes a week.

Financing
The largest source of finance is membership subscriptions. Some associations receive local authority grants. Advertising may also be broadcast on community radio.

A short guide to broadcasting
community radio (pdf)