Passion, purpose and pathways

A typology of volunteer motivations in community radio

Bibliographic Data

ID22023468
AuthorsBridget Backhaus (0000-0002-8244-2237, Griffith University), Nat Kassel (0000-0003-1872-5950, Griffith University)
Year2025
Volume10
Issue1
Pages51-71
Publication date2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Alternative & Community Media (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2206-5857 • E-ISSN: 2634-4726
PublisherIntellect (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1386/jacm_00145_1
OpenAlexW7127566351
LanguageEN
References cited21

Community radio stations depend on the labour of volunteers to fulfil their crucial social, cultural and democratic functions. Yet volunteering is treated as purely mechanistic in much community radio literature and practice: a means to an end, a resourcing challenge or reflective of the participatory environment. Volunteers invest countless hours in supporting community radio stations; time that could be spent in paid employment, informal labour or pursuing leisure activities. So, what is it that drives community radio volunteers, and how does this fit in with broader understandings of volunteer motivations? Drawing on interviews with Australian community radio volunteers, this article proposes four categories for understanding volunteering motivations in community radio: leisure, instrumental, relational and ideological. Interrogating the nature of volunteering in community radio offers practical insights for stations seeking to attract and retain volunteers while also providing theoretical insights into how community engagement and civic participation develop through community media

Citizen journalism · Community building · Community engagement · Community organization · Community organizing · Community radio · Ethnography · Typology · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Radio, Podcasts, and Digital Media

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