About UK Community Radio Network

The UK Community Radio Network exists to support the over 300 OFCOM Licenses Community Radio stations in the United Kingdom.

The UK Community Radio Network is a registered CIC, Company number: 13700623

We are an organisation dedicated to representing, supporting and developing Ofcom Licensed Community Radio Stations across the United Kingdom.

What we do, and how we do it is driven by our members and the Station Mangers and Management Reps that we meet with and speak to on a regular basis.

Set-up at the start of the pandemic as an opportunity for OFCOM managers to come together, socialise and support each other through a difficult period, the group has now been registered as a Community Interest Company to further develop, represent, and promote the sector.

In 2023 so far we have:

• Attended regular meetings with Ofcom and the DCMS to represent and raise issues of the sector, including licence renewal, SSDAB progress and its implementation, and to lobby for the increase of the Community Radio Fund
• Fed forward our thoughts to Ofcom with regard to their annual plan
• Continued our campaign for an increase in the volunteer value rates for the Ofcom annual report (a campaign that we won!)
• Started conversations with the Secretary of State, Minister, and Shadow Cabinet to raise the issues of Community Radio ahead of the next general election
• Partnered with the Advertising Standards Authority to run a “Trust in advertising” Campaign
• Submitted written evidence to the Commons Culture Media & Sport Select Committee on the Media Bill, and were subsequently then invited to give evidence in person in parliament
• Represented Community Radio at the Public Interest News Foundation's Public Interest News Forum
• Received funding and partnered with the University of Northampton and a dozen stations to conduct a Community Radio on-air Impact Measurement research (report due soon)
• Continued our bi-monthly zoom meetings open to anyone involved in managing Community Radio
• Continued to support numerous stations with everything from funding bids, Key Commitment change requests, and Ofcom compliance investigations

Historically we have have:

• Partnered with Coventry City of Culture to host the 2021 Community Radio Conference, taking place prior to the Community Radio Awards
• Launched  regular meetings for station managers and principal decision makers to engage with the sector and provide peer support
• Under lockdown sent an open letter that was signed by half of all Community Radio stations demanding payment for playing government messages and PSAs which led to ongoing meetings with the government and supported the campaign for additional funding via Ofcom for the Community Radio
• Got #SupportCommunityRadio trending in the top 10 on Twitter (above Joe Wicks) when stations all came together to play “All you need is love” as the UK CRN launched its own music video, featuring volunteers singing along from across the sector
• Held regular meetings with Ofcom and DCMS to discuss the sector, as well as participating in and responding to consultations, engaging directly with the sector on their behalf
• Received funding via its founding member stations NLive Radio from the Ofcom Community Radio Fund to hold face to face events and conferences over the next year for the sector
• Aided 13 stations to apply for improvement or expansion to their FM coverage.