The 'Belgium community media histories'-project aims to record the histories of some of the most important Community Radio Stations (hereafter called CRS), and of the Belgian Community Movement (hereafter called CRM)

We consider both these media histories (as such) and the community media still making these histories to be of major importance. To use Peter Lewis' words (quoted in the Unesco 1993 paper 'alternative media: linking global and local', p. 15): these media are the 'antibodies produced as a protection against the neglect, insensitivity and insanity of the conventional media'. They play a vital role as part of - and catalysator in ­ civil society, propagating audience access and participation in horizontally structured organisations. They act as carriers of non-dominant (possibly counter-hegemonic) discourses and representations, stressing the importance of self-representation and strengthening self-identity formation.

Due to the lack and/or inaccessibility of written sources the history of these radio stations threatens to be lost. Moreover the Belgian community media find themselves in a rather problematic position, sandwiched between market and state, and heavily neglected by the different policy makers responsible for media. This project was draft in order to safeguard and highlight (part of) this history. In doing so it does subscribe to the call Nick Jankowski made at Amarc-Europe's 1994 conference:

Other projects and publications also inspired us to develop this project, and two of them cannot go unmentioned. First the little book on the early history of the public broadcasting company (NIR ­ BRT ­ BRTN ­ VRT), written by Wilfried Bertels and published in 1974: 'Die dingen behoren allemaal tot het verleden' Geschiedenis van de omroep in België'. This book contains a series of interviews with the people who played a vital role in developing the public service policy, and it should be considered as one of the rare publications documenting people making Belgian broadcasting history. The second source of inspiration is the e-stories project ('e-verhalen') of the Antwerp Centre for Women's studies, as in this project a web-interface was developed to publish a series of (his/her)stories, told and documented by women living in the city. This website can be found at: http://women.uia.ac.be/e-verhalen

The 'Belgium community media histories'-project differs from these sources of inspiration in one important fashion: key persons of the CRM will be asked to tell (and write) their (and other's) stories themselves. In stead of using the more traditional interview-format for collecting oral histories, participants will be asked to write a text (being guided by a minimal set of key words) on the history of the CRM, 'their' community radio station and their role in both the CRM and 'their' community radio station. These stories - in combination with video and audio fragments selected by the participants - will first be published on the web, after which the most relevant stories - co-selected by the participants - will be published in a book.

In order to achieve these aims, four phases will have to be successfully completed:

	Mapping the key persons of the Belgian CRM, using a questionnaire and snowball sampling as methodology. A first group of 40 persons will be asked to name the people they consider to have played a vital role in the CRM. This will result in a first database of key persons.
	Gathering information on the activities of the selected key persons. All key persons will be asked to write a 1/2 page report on their CRS/M-activities. This second database will be published on the website (of course only if the participants grant their permission), facilitating the selection of the group of people eventually having their stories published in a book.
	These key persons will be invited to write the history of the CRM and their CRS, and at the same time collect about 10 pictures and 5 30seconds - audio fragments. These documents will then be published on the project's website.
	A selection of the stories of the key persons - made in collaboration with the participants will be published, together with an introduction and conclusion by the project managers.