Community radio statistics at a glance
Community radio is often discussed as a niche media channel, but the numbers show a sector with serious reach, heavy volunteer involvement, and a broad public service footprint. The clearest pattern in the dataset is that community broadcasting scales through people first and infrastructure second.
Fast facts
- 93 hours of original and distinctive output per week is the typical level Ofcom cites for community stations, with most of it locally produced (Ofcom community radio page).
- 87 volunteers on average support a community station, and they contribute around 209 hours of time a week (Ofcom community radio page).
- Ofcom says there are 309 analogue community radio stations broadcasting on AM or FM in the UK (Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24).
- The same report says 96 C-DSP stations are now broadcasting, while 38 awarded licences are still pending launch (Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24).
- CBAA says community radio reaches 5.2 million Australian listeners every week, equal to 24% of all Australians (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
- CBAA’s listener survey uses a 16,000-person nationwide sample of Australians aged 15 and over (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24; CBAA Data & Insights).
Big number: CBAA says weekly listening grew from 4.7 million in 2023 to 5.2 million in 2024 (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
Table of contents
- What the community radio numbers say
- Program output, volunteers, and station workload
- Licensing and station counts
- Audience reach and listening behavior
- Station access, membership, and data products
- Funding, advocacy, and sector priorities
- How to read the data
What the community radio numbers say
The dataset points to a sector that does more than broadcast music and talk. It produces locally rooted programming, depends heavily on volunteer labor, and maintains enough scale to show up in national listener surveys and policy discussions.
A useful way to read the figures is to separate them into four layers:
- Programming intensity: how much original and local content stations deliver.
- Volunteer capacity: how many people keep that output running.
- Audience scale: how many people listen and why they tune in.
- Institutional support: how the sector is funded, organized, and measured.
Those layers connect. If a station is producing 93 hours of original and distinctive output a week while working with 87 volunteers on average and 209 volunteer hours weekly (Ofcom community radio page), it is not operating like a hobby project. It is operating like a small civic institution.
Why it matters
Community radio often wins attention because of its local identity, but the statistics show that its operational model is just as important. The sector’s identity is built on localness; its survival depends on volunteer systems, licence structures, and audience trust.
Program output, volunteers, and station workload
Ofcom’s figures make the workload easier to see. A station that averages 93 hours of original and distinctive output each week is filling a large share of the broadcast calendar with material that is not simply repeated filler (Ofcom community radio page). Because the same source says most of that output is locally produced, the programming load is tied directly to community-level editorial work.
At a glance
| Measure | Figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Original and distinctive output per week | 93 hours | Ofcom community radio page |
| Average volunteers per station | 87 | Ofcom community radio page |
| Volunteer time per week | 209 hours | Ofcom community radio page |
| Avg. programming per broadcast week | 119 hours | CRTC A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio |
| Avg. local programming per week | 85 hours | CRTC A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio |
| Avg. volunteer-produced programming | 52 hours | CRTC A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio |
| Avg. volunteers involved in production | 51 | CRTC A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio |
This table shows two related but different pictures of the sector. Ofcom’s community radio model emphasizes local service and volunteer effort in the UK, while the CRTC snapshot shows a similarly volunteer-driven model in Canadian campus and community radio. Both datasets point to the same structural reality: community radio is labor-intensive.
Volunteer intensity is the hidden metric
The average of 87 volunteers and 209 volunteer hours a week per station (Ofcom community radio page) is especially important because it shows the sector’s dependence on distributed labor rather than a narrow salaried team.
The CRTC snapshot reinforces that pattern:
- 119 hours of programming per broadcast week across all stations.
- 85 hours of local programming per broadcast week.
- 52 hours of volunteer-produced programming per broadcast week.
- 51 volunteers involved in production per station.
Taken together, these figures suggest a model where community radio is built from recurring contributions rather than one-off production bursts (CRTC A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio).
Station size and volunteer counts
The CRTC dataset also shows that volunteer counts vary sharply by station type and market size.
- Campus stations averaged 125 volunteers per station.
- Community stations averaged 61 volunteers per station.
- Stations serving populations of 1,000,000 or higher averaged 205 volunteers per station.
- Stations serving populations under 100,000 averaged 38 volunteers per station.
That spread suggests that station capacity and market size can shape volunteer depth as much as mission does (CRTC A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio).
Revenue bands and volunteer patterns
The revenue tables in the CRTC report show another useful comparison.
- Stations with less than $100K in revenue averaged 56 volunteers per station.
- Stations with $101K to $250K in revenue averaged 88 volunteers.
- Stations with $251K to $500K in revenue averaged 98 volunteers.
- Stations with $501K to $750K in revenue averaged 98 volunteers.
- Stations with more than $750K in revenue averaged 72 volunteers.
For community stations specifically, the averages were:
- 57 volunteers for stations under $100K.
- 47 volunteers for stations with $101K to $250K.
- 100 volunteers for stations with $251K to $500K.
- 79 volunteers for stations with $501K to $750K.
- 72 volunteers for stations over $750K.
The pattern is not perfectly linear, which is the point. Volunteer systems do not simply expand in a straight line as revenue rises (CRTC A Snapshot of Volunteerism in Canadian Campus & Community Radio). They reflect a mix of station mission, local community depth, and operational design.
Licensing and station counts
Station counts are the other side of the sector’s labor model. If volunteer effort tells you how community radio functions, licence counts tell you how widely that model is distributed.
Ofcom says there are 309 analogue community radio stations broadcasting on AM or FM in the UK (Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24). The same report says there have been 163 applications for Community Digital Sound Programme licences, 134 licences awarded, 96 stations broadcasting, and 38 awarded licences pending launch (Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24).
Licence pipeline snapshot
| Licence or station status | Count | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Analogue community radio stations on AM/FM | 309 | Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24 |
| C-DSP applications received | 163 | Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24 |
| C-DSP licences awarded | 134 | Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24 |
| C-DSP stations broadcasting | 96 | Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24 |
| C-DSP licences pending launch | 38 | Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24 |
| Direct simulcasts of existing analogue services | 69 | Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24 |
| New services to the market | 65 | Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24 |
The licence data suggests a sector that is still expanding in digital formats, but not without friction. If 38 awarded licences are pending launch and 96 stations are already broadcasting, the bottleneck is not simply demand. It is implementation (Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24).
What the split implies
The awarded C-DSP licences break into two almost balanced groups:
- 69 direct simulcasts of existing analogue services.
- 65 new services to the market.
That near-even split matters because it implies community radio’s digital growth is both extension and innovation. Some services are moving onto digital platforms with an existing audience; others are entering the market as new voices (Ofcom Community Radio Fund end-of-year report 2023-24).
Audience reach and listening behavior
The Australian figures from CBAA show how broad community radio can become when measured at a national level. The organization says community radio reaches 5.2 million Australian listeners every week and 24% of all Australians (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
That is not a narrow niche audience. It is a mass audience with community-specific behavior.
Listener scale and survey base
CBAA says its listener survey covers 16,000 Australians aged 15 and over and is updated twice a year through its Data & Insights offering (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24; CBAA Data & Insights). It also says detailed data pricing starts from $292 + GST per month (CBAA Data & Insights).
Those details matter because they show the audience claims are not casual estimates. They come from a recurring national sample with a formal update cycle.
What people listen for
The CBAA data shows that listeners tune in for several reasons, but news and information remain the biggest single driver:
- 62% of weekly listeners name news and information as their main reason for listening (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
- In regional areas, that share rises to more than 62% (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
- 10% of listeners say they tune in to hear music not available on other radio stations in one summary figure from the review, while another figure in the same review states 24% listen for that reason (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
The dataset contains both music figures, so the safe reading is that music discovery remains a meaningful motivation, even if the precise framing varies within the review. The more stable signal is that news and information are the primary attraction.
Audience changes over time
CBAA says listening grew from 4.7 million in 2023 to 5.2 million in 2024, which it describes as a gain of more than 10% (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24). It also says:
- Listening among Australians with a disability rose from 25% to 27%.
- Listening among First Nations Australians rose from 31% to 35%.
- Average weekly listening time was 14.8 hours.
This is one of the clearest signs in the dataset that community radio’s audience is not only large but also diverse and sticky (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
Reach by listener group
| Audience measure | Figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly listeners | 5.2 million | CBAA Annual Review 2023-24 |
| Share of Australians reached | 24% | CBAA Annual Review 2023-24 |
| Listener survey sample | 16,000 | CBAA Annual Review 2023-24 |
| Average weekly listening time | 14.8 hours | CBAA Annual Review 2023-24 |
| Disability listening share | 27% in 2024 | CBAA Annual Review 2023-24 |
| First Nations listening share | 35% in 2024 | CBAA Annual Review 2023-24 |
Station access, membership, and data products
The dataset also contains evidence that community radio is increasingly networked through industry organizations and public discovery tools.
CBAA’s Find a Station page says there are over 500 broadcasting services, managed by 300+ community broadcasters, with over 60 stations available via DAB+ (CBAA Find a Station). That suggests the sector’s reach is not limited to the stations people know by name. The listening ecosystem includes a much larger service layer.
Membership and sector consolidation are visible too:
- CBAA says it has over 90% of permanent community radio and television licensees as members (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
- Member retention reached 99% (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
- The organization reports a Net Promoter Score of 30 (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
Those figures point to a sector with unusually strong institutional cohesion. In media industries, retention and membership density often matter as much as raw audience figures because they determine how well the sector can coordinate advocacy, research, and infrastructure.
Funding, advocacy, and sector priorities
Community radio statistics are not only about broadcasting; they are also about policy and resourcing. CBAA’s advocacy figures make that clear.
CBAA’s Our Impact page says community broadcasting funding is currently $43 million per year and that the organization is advocating for a rise to $80 million per year (CBAA Our Impact). The requested increase includes $36.6 million of new funding, split into $18.1 million for the Community Broadcasting Program and $18.5 million for the Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Program (CBAA Our Impact).
The annual review adds more context:
- 22 submissions were made in 2023/24.
- 61 MP engagements were recorded.
- More than 400 letters to MPs and senators were sent.
- The Federal Budget submission proposed a three-fold increase in Community Broadcasting Program funds.
- It also proposed doubling funding to the Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Program.
These numbers show a sector trying to convert audience reach into policy leverage (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
Sector roadmap and governance
The annual review also says:
- CBAA was founded in 1974.
- The organization marked its 50th anniversary in 2024.
- Roadmap 2033 is a ten-year plan for the sector.
- The Roadmap was launched on 21 October 2023.
- The Roadmap sets out four priorities for the sector.
- The Sector Roundtable includes seven named sector bodies plus CMTO as an invited attendee, for eight entities in the group.
This matters because community radio is not just a loose collection of stations. It is a sector with a planning framework, a policy agenda, and a structured representative body (CBAA Annual Review 2023-24).
How to read the data
The most important thing about community radio statistics is that they resist a simple one-line summary. The data spans multiple countries, measurement systems, and definitions of “community radio,” but the direction of travel is consistent.
What the numbers show is:
- Community radio is staffed by volunteers at scale.
- Community radio produces large amounts of local output.
- Community radio has meaningful audience reach, not just symbolic reach.
- Community radio’s digital future is visible in licence pipelines and station counts.
- Community radio depends on advocacy and funding policy to maintain service depth.
The sector’s most striking quality is not that it survives on limited resources. It is that it turns limited resources into recurring local output, audience trust, and civic relevance. The figures in this dataset show that pattern from the UK to Canada to Australia, with each source highlighting a different part of the same operating model.