Assessing Assumptions: Surveying Diversity within Nonprofit Radio Stations in Canada

ABSTRACT

The nonprofit radio sector in Canada includes over 180 community and Indigenous stations. Studies of nonprofit radio programming note the diversity of on-air content from news to music, which is in line with the sector’s mandate. However, does the assortment of content translate into a diversity of individuals behind the microphone? And who is making decisions in station management and governance?. To better understand the equity practices found within nonprofit radio, this article highlights the results of an online survey to quantify the diversity found among the board members, volunteers, and employees who operate these stations.

Acknowledgments

This article draws on research conducted at the University of Ottawa as part of a larger study entitled “Evaluating the impact of technology and funding on community radio in Canada” and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Declaration of Interest Statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1. The government of Canada previously used the outdated terms Aboriginal or Native to refer to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people, whereas more recent CRTC practice uses the term Indigenous. In this paper, the authors use both First Nations, Métis, and Inuit as well as Indigenous.

2. While Szwarc (2018) found a rate of over 65% noncompliance among Indigenous stations concerning CRTC requirements, the percentage for community radio stations seeking license renewal in “apparent non-compliance” was 39% in 2019 and 42% in 2018, according to the CRTC’s records for Closed Part 1 License Renewal Applications.

3. The use of ‘n’ refers to the number of stations. Thus, in this sentence n20 means twenty stations responded that they have seven to ten elected or appointed directors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gretchen King

Gretchen King is an Assistant Professor of Multimedia Journalism and Communication at Lebanese American University and serves as the Director of Pedagogy and Curriculum Design at LAU’s Institute of Media Research and Training. Email: [email protected]/[email protected]/Phone: [phone] Ext: 1374

Geneviève Bonin-Labelle

Geneviève Bonin-Labelle is an Associate Academic Dean at CÉGEP Heritage College, in Gatineau, Quebec. She is the editor of Women in Radio: Unfiltered Voices from Canada (University of Ottawa Press, 2020) and co-author of “Funding nonprofit radio technology initiatives in Canada” published in the Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research. Email: [email protected]/Phone: [phone] ext. 1081.