CRAOL, also called the Community Radio Forum of Ireland,[1] or Community Radio Ireland,[2] is the representative, co-ordinating, lobbying, training and support group for Irish Community Radio.[1] Every week, across Ireland, 2000 community radio volunteers broadcasts to 170,000 people in 20 fully licensed stations and 42 aspirant stations.[citation needed] The organisation runs a helpline to assist in the development of community radio. CRAOL is a registered provider of FETAC Accredited training.[1]
CRAOL receives funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland[1] and the support organization The Wheel.
History
editIn 1994 the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) established an 18-month community radio pilot project to explore and evaluate the potential offered by community broadcasting in Ireland. Licenses were issued in 1995 to eleven community and community of interest groups across the country. The IRTC implemented, during the pilot project period, the Community Radio Forum, now called now CRAOL.
The Community Radio Forum was set up to provide inter-station communication and information exchange. CRAOL produced a report in 1997 on the outcomes of the pilot project, called "A Community Radio Model for Ireland", which was a key information sources for the IRTC's final evaluation report.[1] The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, now the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), has supported expansion of the sector and a deepening and broadening of CRAOL's activities.[citation needed] CRAOL was formally incorporated as a Registered Society (co-operative) with a constitution and standing orders and rules in 2004.
CRAOL is a co-operative whose shareholders are the fully licensed community radio stations. Those stations which do not yet have full licences can join as "associate members". Each full member station nominates a CRAOL representative and these representatives meet twice a year in "forum". From these twenty representatives, nine form the organisation's governing body, the co-ordinating committee, which takes place at the Annual General Meeting. One third of the co-ordinating committee rotate every year.[citation needed]
In July 2010, CRAOL hosted a community radio conference in Croke Park, Dublin with the opening address given by Steve Buckley, president of World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.[citation needed]
Stations represented by CRAOL
edit- Athlone Community Radio - Athlone, County Westmeath.
- Claremorris Community Radio - Claremorris, County Mayo.
- Connemara Community Radio - Letterfrack, County Galway
- Cork Campus Radio - based at University College Cork and licensed for the general student population of Cork City
- CRC FM - Community Radio Castlebar - Castlebar, County Mayo
- CRY 104.0FM - Community Radio Youghal - Youghal, East Cork
- Dublin South FM - South Dublin
- Dundalk FM 100 - Dundalk, County Louth
- Flirt FM - Galway (community of interest, students)
- ICR FM Inishowen Community Radio - Carndonagh, County Donegal
- Life FM - County Cork
- Liffey Sound FM - Lucan, Dublin
- Near FM - North East Access Radio - North Dublin
- Phoenix FM - Blanchardstown, Dublin
- Raidió Corca Baiscinn - Kilkee, Kilrush and rural south west Clare, County Clare
- Raidió na Life - Dublin (in the Irish language)
- Raidió Fáilte - Belfast (in the Irish language)
- RosFm - County Roscommon
- Tallaght FM - Tallaght, Dublin
- Tipperary Mid-West Community Radio - County Tipperary
- West Dublin Access Radio - West Dublin
- West Limerick 102 - County Limerick
- Wired FM - Limerick City
Awards
editCRAOL runs an annual awards ceremony for achievements in the sector.[3][4][5][2][6][7] Categories have included:
- Commissioned Programme[8]
- Community and Volunteer Participation[8]
- Social Benefit[9][better source needed]
- Music Programming[10][better source needed]
- Resilience and Innovation[11][better source needed]
- Volunteer Team[12][better source needed]
- Technical Production values[13][better source needed]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e Day, Rosemary (ed.) (2007). Bicycle Highway: Celebrating 10 Years of Licensed Community Radio in Ireland., Liffey Press, Dublin. ISBN 978-1-905785-37-7.
- ^ a b "Award Winners". CCR946.ie. Claremorris Community Radio. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ "Gold for Community Radio Kilkenny City". KilkennyPeople.ie. 4 January 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ "Chatroom wins award for CRC FM". Advertiser.ie. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ "Erris fm programme on dr tom kelly wins national radio award". Connacht Telegraph. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Eric (30 November 2020). "Wired FM winning on the double at National Community Radio Awards". LimerickPost.ie. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ "Listen to our award-winning shows". CCR946.ie. Claremorris Community Radio. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ a b "Double Gold for Wired FM at National Community Radio Awards". Mary Immaculate College. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ^ @darkenthememory (25 October 2019). "So I've been doing the #AlleyCatRadioShow stuff for a year next week. It got put forward for a @CRAOL award and I'm…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @conorbrannelly (9 December 2014). "This year been has been a good one for the show @CRAOL award @GlennBrann #hiphopstop" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @925PhoenixFM (13 November 2020). "We won 2 Gold Awards at the 2020 @CRAOL awards in Kilkenny tonight. 1. Tomi Reichental (Documentary)2. National C…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @rcbsport (19 October 2019). "Congratulations to all the @rcbsport team who won the top rated gold award at the @CRAOL feile Community Radio Irel…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @clarevirtually (25 November 2020). "A Gold award for Technical Values in Radio Drama for Mr McGuffin in the @CRAOL @BAItweets National Radio Awards. R…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
