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GENEVA — While many people in the radio industry may perceive and hope that radio has an impact on listeners and society, evidence of this impact is often lacking.
By radio’s impact, I mean the tangible and measurable change — positive or negative — that radio broadcasts cause in their listeners and the communities they serve. Does radio help people to follow the local cultural scene or public debates? Does radio keep them connected to their community? Does radio help them make decisions in their lives?
The closer a radio station is to its community, the more tangible this impact becomes. However, the impact conundrum often arises at this point: The closer a radio station is to its community, the smaller it tends to be, and thus the less capable it is of tracking its actual impact.
Fortunately, some well-documented cases are emerging that can help radio professionals and stakeholders understand the impact of local and community radio.
Supporting individuals
In the United Kingdom, research funded by the regulator Ofcom and conducted by the University of Northampton showed that most people who listen to local radio feel connected to their local community, thereby promoting social cohesion. More practically, local radio is valued for providing advice on navigating local issues, including those related to work and health.
Also in the U.K., Radiocentre’s “Generation Audio” report identified lifting listeners’ moods and keeping them company as the two key needs that commercial radio helps audiences to fulfill.
Supporting development
YenKasa Africa is a pan-African initiative backed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters and various African farmers’ associations. Through local radio stations broadcasting in languages such as Swahili, Twi and Malagasy, YenKasa Africa has collaborated with communities across Africa. These broadcasts disseminate essential agricultural knowledge while encouraging farmers’ involvement. In countries with low literacy rates, rural radios play a fundamental role as the primary source of information and communication. They are of great help as they compensate for deficiencies in education and provide vital, up-to-date information on agriculture, health, weather forecasts and community events.
This is exemplified by the work of stations such as Somalia’s Radio Ergo. It provides educational broadcasts that teach local farmers how to make better use of their land and care for their livestock.
In doing so, it supports local communities, making them more resilient to the effects of climate change, as documented by International Media Support, the Danish agency for media development, in its most recent annual report.
In the U.S., academic research has demonstrated the importance of local radio in fostering community engagement, aiding grassroots initiatives, identifying community issues and enhancing community relations.
Supporting communities
In March 2025, a massive earthquake hit Myanmar. With telecoms infrastructure badly damaged, shortwave broadcasts from Mizzima News provided vital information on safety, hygiene, accessing emergency relief and aid distribution to many people in rural areas in the aftermath of the event.
In Australia, a country heavily affected by natural disasters, the local community radio station Braidwood FM provided 14 days of continuous emergency coverage during bushfires that engulfed the New South Wales Southern Tablelands in 2019.
The station broadcast hourly updates from the Rural Fire Service, and listeners called in to share warnings, effectively becoming the eyes of the community through the airwaves. This case was highlighted in a 2024 report commissioned by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia to advocate on behalf of its members.
More recently, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction emphasized the critical role played by radio during the significant power outage that affected Spain and Portugal in April 2025. Various surveys have well documented this case.
Understanding your impact
Measuring and documenting your impact serves two purposes: communication and transformation.
On the one hand, positive stories about radio as a medium or a particular radio station can be used to make a case to stakeholders, such as the government and regulators, to advocate for a license renewal or to attract committed advertisers. You could even consider adding a premium to your rate card for your most impactful programs.
On the other hand, understanding the individual and social impact of your broadcasts should inform internal debates at the corporate and team levels regarding content and distribution changes. This additional insight will transform the way you view your content and the decisions you make.
The author is a co-founder and research director at South 180.
This story originally appeared in the September/October 2025 edition of RedTech Magazine.
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