Citizens' radio in North Rhine-Westphalia

The community radio in North Rhine-Westphalia is a non-commercial radio offer in the program of private NRW local radio stations .

With the start of Radio Duisburg on April 1, 1990, not only the framework program provider Radio NRW started, but also community radio. This has resulted in a model that is unique in Germany, which on the one hand secures their monopoly position for commercial local radio stations without further private competition, and on the other hand offers community radio a very high technical range.

In order to advance the further development of the community radio, the community radio initiated the quality management community radio, developed a definition for "successful community radio" and adopted the cornerstones for this definition.

In the district of Olpe there is still no local radio, hence no community radio. In the Heinsberg district, Welle West ceased operations in May 2007. Here, too, there is no longer a public radio.

General

In North Rhine-Westphalia, before the implementation of the new state media law in 2007, private commercial radio broadcasters were legally obliged to make up to 15 percent of their broadcasting time available for contributions produced by citizens. It was an attempt to combine the idea of the advertising-free open channel with an economically active local radio. This model had serious consequences in the actual implementation of the production of radio productions: Live broadcasts were not possible because the citizens' radio operators had to submit the broadcast for inspection by the broadcaster three working days before the broadcast date. “B-15 producers” did not have the same autonomy as users of “real” open channels. The local radio thereby retained at least a certain “control” over its format and legal security both with regard to the requirements of press law and other media law or criminal law provisions. Rejected programs were to be submitted by the local broadcasters at the request of the responsible community radio group to the State Agency for Media North Rhine-Westphalia (LfM) to review the decision .

The integration of the citizens' programs into a commercial program environment was accompanied by regularly recurring frictions about broadcast slots, broadcast times, promised or denied support services and format discussions. To this day, the question of whether community radio should not get a place in the public broadcasting program of the WDR is still being discussed.

An important component of the NRW community radio concept has always been the technical qualification of volunteer program participants. It has not only been challenged again and again by the LfM, but has also been actively supported - with notable successes. This is documented in a current organizational and program evaluation commissioned by the LfM and the results of which were presented in spring 2005. Nevertheless, the CDU and FDP, which took over government responsibility in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2005, stated in their coalition agreement that “the citizens' radio in its current form has largely not proven itself”. All the more importance was therefore attached to the current two-year LfM project on quality management community radio (QMB). After that, the radio workshops - as the organizational bodies responsible for the NRW Citizens' Radio for advising, supporting and qualifying producers - should be certified. The aim was to improve the quality of work in the facilities in order to prepare them for integration into comprehensive media competence networks. The interest groups of the NRW citizen broadcasters actively accompanied the project, among other things as part of an advisory board for the project.

The production infrastructure was determined by 160 recognized radio workshops, that is to say supported by the responsible media authority, and the number of citizens active nationwide was estimated at 18,000. They were organized in around 2,700 community radio groups. They produced almost 50 hours of programming every day. Due to the new legal situation, around 20 radio workshops have ceased operations.

Around 16,000 signatures from community radio listeners and radio producers who oppose the deterioration in community radio that the CDU and FDP were planning in the new state media law were handed over to Edgar Moron, the first vice-president of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament, on April 30, 2007. However , with the amendment of the State Media Act in May 2007, the NRW state government appointed by the CDU and FDP opted for the “de facto abolition” of civic radio - as it was previously known in NRW. The broadcasting time of the North Rhine-Westphalian Citizens' Radio is reduced from Monday to Saturday to a nationwide uniform late evening "net hour" (in the "television shadow" after 9:00 p.m.), Sunday from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and a strict "local reference" to the broadcast area Citizen radio formats have been prescribed. The focus of future radio workshop work must therefore be on project work and training and further education, because otherwise no more money will flow from the LfM.

Requirements of the new state media law

On June 29, 2007 the law amending the State Media Act of North Rhine-Westphalia, 12th Broadcasting Amendment Act (LMG-NW) was published in the Law and Ordinance Gazette of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. When it was published, the law came into force de jure on June 30, 2007, but not in all points. In some specific points - in which the law still had to be implemented - the law only came into force in the course of time. For example B. the public broadcasting time according to the old program scheme until a new program scheme has been decided by the organizing community and its legality has been confirmed by the LfM (decision of the media commission) - at the latest at the turn of the year 2007/08.

With the switch from minute funding to pure project funding, with the funding of

exclusive measures and projects,
Priority measures and projects that strengthen media skills through school projects in cooperation with a community of organizers.

From 2008 onwards, half of the public radio was reserved for schoolchildren. The production of public radio broadcasts is no longer subsidized.

When the State Media Act came into force on June 30, 2007:

Citizens' radio broadcasts are only to be sent in German.
Citizens' radio contributions must have a local reference to the area of broadcast.
Citizen radio operators must live in the respective distribution area.
The organizer associations are not obliged to provide production assistance.
The continuation of the minute funding ended on December 31, 2007.

Only after the change of the program scheme in the distribution area was decided by the organizing community and confirmed by the LfM did the following apply at the latest at the turn of the year 2007/08:

The broadcast scope is a maximum of 1 radio hour per day.
The programs are broadcast on weekdays from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sundays and public holidays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Citizens' radio programs that are canceled or postponed should be broadcast on Sundays and public holidays from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Only with the turn of the year 2007/08 or later did the following apply:

Introduction of the "driving license principle" (proof of suitable qualification), required from January 1st, 2008, in justified exceptional cases, however, by June 30th, 2008 at the latest (transition period);
Funding was changed from minute to project funding on January 1, 2008 (qualification projects and school projects).

advancement

Since 1990, the LfM has been promoting the production and broadcasting of citizens' radio (minute funding). On January 1st, 2008 the project funding was switched to. In the approved public media budget of around 980,000 euros, 50% of the funds will then go to school projects.

School projects

Citizens' radio broadcasts resulting from school projects can in fact be broadcast on local radio at any time. The community radio group or radio workshop of each distribution area negotiates its own regulations with the respective organizing community. Requirements for a broadcast are the stamp of the school and the organizing community, but not the radio pass.

Radio pass / radio driving license NRW

At the beginning of 2008, the LfM introduced a uniform “Radiopass Bürgerfunk NRW”. From July 1, 2008 (end of the transition period on June 30, 2008), only groups of citizens who have at least three responsible persons may broadcast. At least one member of the group must have previously undergone a three-module "quality control" by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and acquired the radio pass. Module 1 consists of teaching the basics in radio, module 2 of production and module 3 of quality control ("Aircheck").