“Community Can Be Uncomfortable Sometimes”: Listening as Path-Building in Community Radio Policy and Practice

Community radio is ideologically committed to democratizing access to media production and representation, and providing a platform for views and voices that are ignored and silenced in mainstream media narratives. While local approaches vary, encouraging broad community participation is a constant across stations, sectors, and the global movement. In contrast with the technical unidirectionality of radio as a medium, community radio’s commitment to participation blurs boundaries between producers and audiences, making it a rich site for examining complex and intertwined practices of listening. Despite growing scholarly interest in listening within media studies, much research on community radio remains focused on voice and expression. This article addresses that gap by applying political listening theorist Susan Bickford’s concept of “path-building” to analyze how listening practices are developed and sustained within community radio. Drawing on thematic analysis of recent Australian community broadcasting policies and legislation, alongside interviews with practitioners and sector representatives, the study examines how cultures of listening emerge within structural, regulatory, and resource constraints. In doing so, it demonstrates how everyday practices of community media shape and extend theoretical understandings of listening and participatory citizenship.