Community Radios, Another Socially Profitable Communication. The Case of Four Bogotá Stations

Abstract

The objective of this article is to establish what communication the community radio stations of Bogotá practice from determining their social profitability by applying an adapted version of the Social Profitability Index of Communication (Irscom) created by the research group "Communication and Culture Laboratory" from the University of Malaga. These radios work for a communication that allows listening to people and groups that, having their own voice, are not taken into account. If we talk about the communicative exercise of these radios, we do it with a participatory, dialogic and horizontal communication; of a space of freedom in which the right to communication is recognized and the word is democratized. The task of community radio is a social work that seeks the metamorphosis of a reality that is often hidden. Its purpose is not profit, but listening and open dialogue to the community so that it counts (narrates) and is taken into account, that they become visible to society from the communication they practice and the role they play in the construction of social fabric. The results of the research carried out with four Bogota community broadcasters are presented, establishing their profitability with a method that shows an overview of their potential, as well as their shortcomings, when contributing to the construction of critical and participatory citizenships from the communication they perform.