A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio

Final Report

Submitted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

February 4, 2011

Introduction

CONNECTUS Consulting Inc. (CONNECTUS) is pleased to present the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC, the Commission) with its Final Report, A Snapshot of Volunteers in Canadian Community and Campus Radio (the Report).

The objective of this Report was to provide a better understanding and analysis of Commission-collected data for the purpose of informing a future process on the involvement of volunteers in the campus and community radio sector. The Report thus provides a snapshot of:

• Levels of volunteerism
• The ways in which volunteers are used in stations
• Volunteer contributions to programming
• The proportion of programming produced by volunteers as a function of overall station programming

On July 30, 2010 the CRTC issued a brief survey to community and campus radio stations across Canada; 81 replies were received (a very strong rate of response). The following six questions were asked:

• How many volunteers do you currently employ in the operations of your station?
• How many programming hours are currently produced by volunteers?
• Apart from programming, in what other ways do volunteers participate in the operations of the station?
• How many hours of programming do you broadcast per broadcast week?
• How many hours of programming broadcast by your station are local programming (i.e. programming produced by or exclusively for the station) per broadcast week?
• How many of your volunteers are directly implicated in producing the station's programming?

The initial survey was comprised of the first three questions, sent directly to all community and campus stations across Canada; the second three questions were sent in August 2010 to those stations that responded to the initial survey.

Our Report is presented in two parts.

Part I of the Report presents a series of tabulations derived from the raw data provided by the Commission. The tabulations presented are as follows:

Average number of:

• Volunteers per station
• Volunteer programming hours
• Hours of programming per broadcast week
• Local programming hours per broadcast week
• Volunteers that are directly implicated in producing the station's programming

These averages are presented by:

• All stations in the sample
• Type of station (campus or community)
• Language (English-language, French-language or Official Language Minority Community (OLMC))
• Province or territory
• Station revenue:
  • <$100K
  • $101k - $250k
  • $251k - 500k
  • $501k - $750k
  • >$750K
• By market size, for markets with populations of:
  • Under 100,000
  • 100,000 to 999,999
  • 1,000,000 or larger

Revenue data was provided by the CRTC, based on filed annual returns. The data was provided on a confidential basis and presented in aggregate fashion to protect confidentiality. CONNECTUS identified the market size for each station, using 2006 census data from Statistics Canada.

An 'at a glance' summary of the role of volunteers in campus and community radio is presented at the end of Part II.

Part II of our Report presents a qualitative analysis of the data, based on responses to the following questions that were asked of the stations by the Commission.

What factors affect the number and use of volunteers?

• Does market size have an effect?
• Is there a difference in language? What about for stations operating in Official Language Minority Community (OLMC) situations versus majority linguistic situations?
• Are there differences between campus and community stations?
• Does revenue have an effect?
• Is this effect independent of the category (campus or community) of the licence?
• What do volunteers do in a station beyond programming?

Our Report concludes with four appendices:

• Appendix A presents a brief summary of key highlights;
• Appendix B cites resources used;
• Appendix C list those stations participating in the Report
• Appendix D presents a brief biography of the Report's author.

It should be noted that all market data used in the Report is based on Statistics Canada Census 2006 Community Profiles; the use of the term "market" thus refers to stations locations. Revenue data was provided on a confidential basis by the CRTC through a special data run for the Report.

Part I - Tabulations

A - Volunteers per Station

Tables 1 to 5 report the average number of volunteers per stations, by type of station, language, province/territory, revenue and market size. All figures are rounded.

Table 1 - Average Number of Volunteers per Station
By Type of Station

Table 2 - Average Number of Volunteers per Station
By Language

Table 3 - Average Number of Volunteers per Station
By Province & Territory ^{Footnote 1}

Table 3a - Official Language Minority Stations (OLMC)
By Province and Territory

Table 4 - Average Number of Volunteers per Station
By Station Revenue ^{Footnote 2}

Table 5 - Average Number of Volunteers per Station
By Market Size

B - Average Hours of Programming and Number of Volunteers

Tables 6 to 10 report average hours of programming and number of volunteers, by type of station, language, province/territory, revenue and market size. All figures are rounded.

Table 6 - Average Hours of Programming & Number of Volunteers
By Type of Station ^{Footnote 3}

Table 7 - Average Hours of Programming & Volunteers
By Language

Table 8 - Average Hours of Programming & Volunteers
By Province & Territory

Table 9 - Average Hours of Programming & Volunteers
By Station Revenue ^{Footnote 4}

Table 10 - Average Hours of Programming & Volunteers
By Market Size

C - Role of Volunteers "At a Glance"

Tables 11 to 15b summarize the role of volunteers in campus and community radio, by type of station, language, province/territory, revenue and market size. All figures are rounded.

Table 11 - Role of Volunteers
By Type of Station

Table 12 - Role of Volunteers
By Language

Table 12a - Role of Volunteers by Type of Station and Language
Community Stations ^{Footnote 5}

Table 13 - Role of Volunteers
By Province & Territory

Table 14 - Role of Volunteers
By Station Revenue ^{Footnote 6}

Table 14a - Average Number of Volunteers per Station
By Station Revenue - Campus Stations ^{Footnote 7}

Table 14b - Average Number of Volunteers per Station
By Station Revenue - Community Stations

Table 15 - Role of Volunteers
By Market Size

Table 15a - Role of Volunteers by Type of Station and Market Size
Campus Stations

Table 15b - Role of Volunteers by Type of Station and Market Size
Community Stations

Part II - Data Analysis - Key Findings

The data collected by the CRTC on volunteerism in the Canadian campus and community radio demonstrates that volunteers play a significant role in this sector of the radio industry. Stations responding to the survey average 73 volunteers per station; of these, an average of 51 volunteers are directly involved in the production of an overall average of 52 hours of programming per week - a virtual 1:1 ratio.

Are there differences between campus and community stations?

Per the data presented in Table 1, campus stations average 125 volunteers per station, while community stations average 61. It is important to note, however, that in terms of total volunteers per station, eight of the top 13 stations that responded to the survey are campus stations; those eight stations alone represent an average of 175 volunteers per station. The comparatively high number of volunteers per campus station may be partly attributable to large pool of volunteers available at university and college campuses, and illustrative of the key role that campus radio may play in student life.

It is of further importance to note that while the average number of volunteers is much higher for campus radio than it is for community radio, both campus and community stations average a 1:1 ratio in terms of total stations volunteers versus volunteers directly involved in programming.

However, campus radio volunteers appear to participate in the production of more programming than community radio volunteers. Assuming that volunteers participate in the production of local programming, campus radio volunteers are involved in 93 percent of local programming production, while community radio volunteers are involved in 45 percent of local programming production (see Table 6).

Does revenue have an effect?

As shown in Table 4, the lowest revenue category (<$100K) also represents the lowest average number of volunteers per station, at 56. The average number of volunteers per station jumps to about 89 for all stations with annual revenues over $100K; in other words, revenue appears to have little effect on the number of volunteers per station, except in the lowest revenue category.

This may be due to the fact that smaller revenue stations tend to produce less programming hours overall, and less local programming hours - where volunteers are most likely to be involved in production.

In addition, stations with revenues of less than $100K tend to be located in smaller markets, where the pool of potential volunteers may be smaller.

Based on the data presented in Table 9, volunteers are also much more likely to produce programming in lower revenue stations than higher revenue stations: some 65 percent of volunteers produce local programming hours in the <$100K and $101K to $250K categories, falling to 39 percent in the $251K to $500K category, 45 percent in the $501K to $750K category - and just 9 percent in the highest revenue category of >$750K (all of which are community stations).

However, volunteers are much more likely to be present in higher revenue campus stations than in higher revenue community stations. For example, in the $251K to $500K revenue category (the highest reported for campus stations), campus stations average 39 more volunteers per station than community stations, and volunteers are involved in nearly double the hours of production compared to community stations.

Is this effect independent of the category (campus or community) of the licence?

In fact, a major reason for the increase in the average number of volunteers per station for those with revenues over $100K is the large number of campus stations in the $101K to $250K (seven of 22 stations that reported revenues in 2009).

However, if campus stations are removed from the mix in the $101K to $250K revenue category, the average number of volunteers per stations drops slightly from 88 per station to 82 per station.

The average number of volunteers per station in the <$100K revenue category holds steady at 56 per station when campus stations are removed from the data.

Does market size have an effect?

Yes. Based on the data presented in Table 5, stations located in the largest markets average five times the number of volunteers per station that those located in the smallest markets. Stations located in medium markets average three times the number of volunteers than those in the smaller markets. Again, this may be due to the fact that larger markets likely offer a sizeable pool of volunteer interest in radio.

This analysis also applies with respect to type of station: campus stations located in the largest markets have approximately 2.5 times the number of volunteers in comparison to stations located in smaller markets. Community stations located in larger markets have almost six times the number of volunteers than those stations located in smaller markets. (See Tables 15a and 15b.)

However, based on the data presented in Table 10, market size appears to have an inverse effect with respect to the production of programming by station volunteers. In those stations located in the smallest markets, just 37 percent of volunteers are producing local programming, compared with 82 percent in mid-sized markets and 73 percent in the largest markets.

Is there a difference in language? What about for stations operating in OLMC situations versus majority linguistic situations?

Based on the data presented in Table 2, the average number of volunteers per English-language station (at 118 per station) is about 1.5 times higher than that for French-language stations (at 75 per station) and about four times higher than that for Official Language Minority Community (OLMC) stations (at 30 per station).

Even when controlling for the large number of volunteers present in English-language campus radio (about 55 percent of total English-language volunteers), the average number of volunteers remains considerably higher at 114 per station.

With respect to OLMC stations, the lower numbers of volunteers per station may be attributable to the linguistic minority nature of the population, resulting in a smaller pool of volunteers available to participate in local campus or community radio.

Based on the data presented in Table 12a, English-language campus and community radio volunteers also have much higher level of participation in programming production than their French-language and OLMC counterparts. Based on the data presented in Table 7, English-language station volunteers are involved in 89 percent of local programming production, compared to 27 percent of French-language station volunteers and 34 percent of OLMC station volunteers.

What do volunteers do in a station beyond programming?

In short, everything.

A review of responses provided by campus and community stations surveyed by the CRTC suggests that volunteers perform an astonishing array of functions for their stations, from programming and computer maintenance to fundraising and sweeping floors. These volunteer services are summarized in the categories set out below.

Governance - 100 percent of respondents

• Sit on the Board of Directors; participate in station committees, such as the Programming Committee or Fundraising Committee; strategic planning. Virtually all stations responding to the survey suggested that volunteers play some role in station governance.

Fundraising - 94 percent of respondents

• Virtually all community radio stations are engaged in fundraising and rely on volunteers to carry out duties such as soliciting memberships, organizing fundraising events, applying for/reviewing/seeking grant money from various organizations, calling bingo, and organizing/hosting radiothons; chasing down and securing sponsorships for shows.

Training - 75 percent of respondents

• Many stations indicated that they rely on volunteers to handle the bulk of training, which can include training new volunteers in the technical, on-air and policy/management elements of a station.

Outreach and Community Presence - 84 percent of respondents

• Volunteer outreach activities include: representing a station at or hosting local events such as concerts, festivals and parades; delivering station information to businesses and residents, maintaining a presence on the web through podcasts, blogs and a website.

Station Administration - 100 percent of respondents

• Volunteers handle a wide array of administrative duties, including station management or assistant management; reception; program and music administration; data entry; translation; regulatory and policy research; bookkeeping and financial administration.

Programming Support/Music Department - 90 percent of respondents

• Cataloguing and processing CDs; reviewing music; maintaining a current music library; archiving, including transfer of formats; editing; behind-the-scenes field recording/ research/ production; handling prerecorded station ID's and stings; upkeep of all databases; contacting local promoters for arts listings and events; helping to arrange interviews for on-air staff; arranging artists appearances on-air; arranging sponsorships for programming; graphic design; producing ads; creating promotions for station events and local events; critiquing host and show content.
• Gathering information on news, sports and community events.
• Keeping the station current on social media accounts such as Facebook and twitter was mentioned by a number of stations, particularly campus stations.

Station Maintenance - 70 percent of respondents

• This category can include everything from equipment maintenance and repair (noted by many stations as a necessity on the part of volunteers) to building repairs or renovations, to janitorial services such as cleaning and shovelling snow.

PSAs - 68 percent of respondents

• Although generally associated with programming, a large number of stations indicated that volunteers are actively engaged in the development and production of Public Service Announcements - which can form an important bond with the local community.

Other Station-based Activities - 56 percent of respondents

• Best summarized in a comment from one station: "Volunteers also organize many of our parties and retreats, which are key to maintaining a good atmosphere and happy working environment…"

Conclusion

The survey conducted by the CRTC in the summer of 2010 had an excellent rate of response, providing an important set of data - very likely a first - on the presence and participation of volunteers in Canada's campus and community radio sector. The findings of this survey point to several key conclusions.

First, volunteers are ubiquitous in the campus and community radio sector. While the presence of volunteers is more pronounced in campus radio (likely resulting from large pools of interested students), volunteers are present in some capacity in every station surveyed.

Second, factors such as a station's location and the linguistic profile of those locations influence the availability of volunteers. In short, larger English-language markets are likely to have the largest numbers of station volunteers, while smaller Official Language Minority Communities are likely to have the smallest number of volunteers.

Appendix A

Key Highlights

• A total of 81 stations responded to the survey: 65 community based stations (16 English-language, 19 French-language and 30 Official Language Minority Community or OLMC) and 16 campus stations (14 English-language, 1 French-language and 1 OLMC).
• A total of 30 English-language, 20 French-language and 31 OLMC stations replied to the survey. Quebec-based stations provided 25 responses; 15 came from Ontario and 11 each from B.C. and New Brunswick.
• While all stations surveyed average 73 volunteers per station - a significant number - campus stations average 125 volunteers while community stations average 61. This may be linked to the larger pool of potential volunteers found on Canadian campuses.
• Volunteers are also more prevalent in English-language locations at 118 per station compared with 75 for French-language stations and 30 for OLMC stations. The lower numbers of volunteers for OLMC stations may be linked to smaller populations of potential volunteers that may possibly be present in OLMC locations.
• Not surprisingly, the larger the location of a station in terms of its population, the larger the number of volunteers. Larger market stations with populations greater than 1M reported over 200 volunteers per station - well above the average station - while the smallest market stations with populations of less than 100K reported 38 volunteers per station.
• Interestingly, station revenue had less impact on volunteer numbers. Although smaller revenue stations (under $100K in revenues) reported the smallest numbers of volunteers at an average of 56, the largest revenue stations (over $750K in revenues) were next lowest with 72. Mid-range stations averaged between 88 and 98 volunteers per station. However, volunteering is much more prevalent in higher revenue campus stations than higher revenue community stations.
• On a national level, stations reported 126 hours of programming per broadcast week, 98 hours of local programming, 52 hours of programming with volunteer involvement and 51 volunteers involved in programming per station.
• Campus stations reported slightly lower hours of local programming at 91, but much higher volunteer involvement in programming (98 hours) and higher number of volunteers involved in programming per station (87). This compares with 44 hours of programming with volunteer involvement and an average of 43 volunteers involved in programming in community stations.
• Volunteers perform a wide range of tasks including major roles in station governance and administration, programming, fundraising, community outreach, maintenance and other tasks.

Appendix B

Resources

CRTC Financial Database System - Financial Summaries Special data run prepared for CONNECTUS by the CRTC.

Statistics Canada, 2006 Census - Community Profiles

Appendix C

Stations Participating in the Survey

Canoe FM Haliburton Community Radio Association

CFAD-FM Salmo FM Radio Society

CFAI-FM La coopérative des montagnes limité - radio communautaire

CFBO-FM Radio Beauséjour inc.

CFBS-FM Radio Blanc-Sablon inc.

CFBX-FM Kamloops Campus/Community Radio Society

CFEP-FM Seaside Broadcasting Organization

CFIM-FM Diffusion communautaire des Îles inc.

CFIS-FM Prince George Community Radio Society

CFJU-FM La radio communautaire des Hauts-Plateaux inc.

CFLX-FM Radio Communautaire de l'Estrie

CFMF-FM Radio Communautaire de Fermont inc.

CFNJ-FM Radio Nord-Joli inc.

CFRC-FM Radio Queen's University

CFRG-FM Association communautaire fransaskoise de Gravelbourg

CFRH-FM La Clé d'la Baie Huronie - association culturelle

CFRO-FM Vancouver Cooperative Radio

CFRT-FM Association des francophones de Nunavut

CFRU-FM University of Guelph Radio - Radio Gryphon

CFUT-FM La radio campus communautaire francophone de Shawinigan

CFUV-FM University of Victoria Student Radio Society

CHAA-FM Radio communautaire de la Rive-Sud inc.

CHAI-FM Radio communautaire de Châteauguay

CHGA-FM Radio communautaire de la Haute-Gatineau inc.

CHIP-FM Radio communautaire de Pontiac

CHLI-FM Rossland Radio Cooperative

CHMA-FM Attic Broadcasting Co. Ltd.

CHMR-FM Memorial University of Newfoundland Radio Society

CHOD-FM Radio communautaire de Cornwall-Alexandria

CHOQ-FM La coopérative radiophonique de Toronto inc.

CHOW-FM Radio Boréale

CHQC-FM La coopérative radiophonique - la Brise de la Baie

CHRW-FM Radio Western Inc.

CHRY-FM CHRY Community Radio Incorporated

CIAU-FM Radio communautaire de Radisson

CIBL-FM Radio communautaire francophone de Montréal inc.

CICK-FM Smithers Community Radio Society

CIDI-FM Radio communautaire Missisquoi

CIEU-FM Diffusion communautaire Baie-des-Chaleurs inc.

CIFA-FM Radio CLARE Association

CIHO-FM Radio MF Charlevoix inc.

CILS-FM Société radio communautaire Victoria

CILU-FM LU Campus Radio

CIMS-FM Coopérative Radio Restigouche ltée

CINN-FM Radio de l'Épinette Noire inc.

CINQ-FM Radio Centre-ville St. Louis, Montréal

CITR-FM Student Radio of the University of British Columbia

CITU-FM La coopérative radio Richmond limitée

CIVR-FM L'Association franco-culturelle de Yellowknife

CIXX-FM Radio Fanshawe Incorporated

CJAM-FM Student Media, University of Windsor

CJAS-FM La radio communautaire de Rivière St-Augustin inc.

CJHR-FM Valley Heritage Radio

CJMQ-FM Radio Bishop's Inc.

CJPN-FM Radio Frédéricton inc.

CJRG-FM Radio Gaspésie inc.

CJRM-FM Radio communautaire de Labrador inc.

CJSE-FM Radio Beauséjour inc.

CJSF-FM Simon Fraser Campus Radio Society

CJSW-FM The University of Calgary Student Radio Society

CJTB-FM Radio communautaire Tête-à-la-Baleine

CJTR-FM Radius Communications Inc.

CKAJ-FM Radio communautaire du Saguenay inc.

CKDU-FM CKDU-FM Society

CKGN-FM Radio communautaire Kapnord inc.

CKHC-FM Humber Communications Community Corporation

CKIA-FM Radio Basse Ville

CKJM-FM La coopérative radio Chéticamp limitée

CKMA-FM Radio MirAcadie inc.

CKMN-FM La radio communautaire du comté inc.

CKNA-FM La radio communautaire CKNA inc.

CKQA-FM Coastal Community Radio Co-operative Inc.

CKRH-FM Coopérative Radio-Halifax-Métro limitée

CKRO-FM Radio Péninsule inc.

CKRP-FM L'Association canadienne française de l'Alberta

CKUM-FM Les médias acadiens universitaire inc.

CKUW-FM Winnipeg Campus Community Radio Society Inc.

CKXL-FM Radio communautaire du Manitoba inc.

CKXU-FM CKXU Radio Society

Appendix D

About the Author

This Report was researched and authored by Richard Cavanagh, Partner, CONNECTUS Consulting Inc. Mr. Cavanagh has over 20 years of experience in researching and analyzing Canada's cultural industries with specialization in radio broadcasting; he has extensive knowledge of radio policy and regulation, including community and campus radio in the Canadian broadcasting system. He has researched and authored a number of studies on the Canadian and international community radio sector, including International Approaches to Funding Community Radio in 2009, and Community Radio in Official Language Minority Communities and Community Radio and Technology in 2008. Mr. Cavanagh is a former Vice-president, Radio with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

Mr. Cavanagh holds a PhD in Social Sciences from Carleton University and an M.A. in Sociology from Queen's University.

CONNECTUS Consulting Inc.
251 Loretta Avenue South
Ottawa, Ontario
K1s 4p6

(613) 729-8892
Richard@connectusinc.ca

Date modified:

2011-03-11