Delhi University (DU) is preparing a module that could offer guidelines to start and successfully run a community radio station in India, reports The Economic Times.

The module is being developed by Professor Saleem Mir with six DU students and is likely to be presented to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting by March next year.

The team is visiting various community radio stations and studying how they involve listeners, generate funds and develop content.

So far, they have visited CMS Radio in Lucknow, Deccan Radio in Hyderabad, Jamia Radio and Apna Radio in Delhi and Gurgaon Ki Awaaz in Gurgaon.

According to Mir, although the country has more than 170 community radio stations, not enough research has been done in this area and there are no models for these stations to follow.

The team also plans to conduct surveys in the areas where community radio stations operate in order to come up with a programme schedule which can be adopted by all of them, but leave room for customisation.

The module will be tested at DU’s community radio station and the proposal will also include a training module for station staff, which would be mandatory to getting a broadcasting licence.