Community Radio is a third tier of radio, distinct from Public and Commercial Radio. Community Radio stations are locally owned and accountable to their audience. They operate on public service principles for community benefit and are non-profit distributing. Legislation for Community Radio in the United Kingdom came into force with the Community Radio Order 2004. This enabled the UK Communications Regulator Ofcom, to open the licensing process for Community Radio. To date Ofcom has awarded full five year licences to 115 Community Radio stations in different parts of the UK.

Click here for a list of Community Radio stations with full five year licences.

Community Radio stations are run by local people, mostly volunteers and they enable communities throughout the UK to use the medium of radio to create new opportunities for regeneration, employment, learning, social cohesion and inclusion as well as cultural and creative expression. For more than 20 years the CMA and its members have campaigned for Community Radio licences, achieving this in 2004, when the Community Radio Order was passed.

The Community Radio Pilots
Fifteen Community Radio stations were licensed as part of a Community Radio experiment in 2002. The experiment was set up to provide evidence to support the development of the legal framework that now governs Community Radio. Details about the Access Radio stations can be found on the Ofcom website:

Two reports were published about the experiment and pdf versions are available on the CMA website:

New Voices - an Evaluation of 15 Access Radio Projects by Anthony Everitt

New Voices - An Update
October 2003

Restricted Service Licences
Many Community Radio Groups begin broadcasting with a Restricted Service Licence. Restricted Services include low-powered radio licences for a particular establishment or other defined location or for a particular event. These embrace long-term hospital and student services; and short-term 'trials' i.e. ahead of possible permanent licences to test and/or demonstrate demand, and 'special event' stations. Restricted Service Licences (RSLs) are issued at Ofcom's discretion, subject to frequency availability and adherence to various specified basic rules and technical criteria.
See the Ofcom website for the current list of RSL licence holders.

Current list