Julia Thomas visited over a dozen community radio stations over the course of a year. Stations in Nepal, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ecuador “Often times by talking to community media makers,” Julia Thomas told Radio Survivor, “you’re meeting some of the most passionate, involved community members who have seen so much, who are so […]
Alas, I made it a day late for the inaugural launch-party broadcasts. But I have signed myself up for boxout.fm’s impending new online community radio service. India Today has an interview with the founders. “Initially,” says one of the progenitors: ” . . . we will start off with 4-6 hours of daily live shows hosted by […]
India’s broadcast regulator, which keeps close tabs on its community radio stations, has given permission to 115 of them to continue operating. They received notice of a list of Grant of Permission Agreements (GOPAs) on August 29. These allow the mentioned organizations to continue running through their license period or up to December 31 or this year, whichever date […]
India’s bipolar relationship with community radio resurfaced this week with the inauguration of a new radio station for fishing folk and a potentially liberalized policy for government monitoring of content. First, the fishing story. The Times of India reports that an NGO will soon launch a local station for families who make their living catching fish in […]
Police in the Indian state of Jharkand plan to launch at least a dozen community radio stations in order to combat the influence of Maoist rebels in the southeastern wing of the country. “Maoists have exploited the resentment among locals in the countryside over the lack of basic services,” The Times of India quotes an […]
Good news (or at least sort of) on the India community radio front. That country’s Rajya Sabha (Council of States) recently received some kind of report-back from India’s Minster of State for Information and Broadcasting. According to India’s Business Standard, the Minister said that “so far” his office has received no formal complaints about the […]
The Hindu has the details and backstory on India’s security regimen for its 180 or so operational community radio stations. Bottom line: send the government everything you broadcast in digital form. “You are requested to provide recordings of all programmes broadcast on daily basis from the date of receipt of this letter along with the […]
I am reading an interesting document produced by scholars at the University of Hyderabad titled the “Community Radio Continuous Improvement Toolkit.” Sponsored by UNESCO, it focuses on best practices for community radio stations around the world. The survey is quite long, but I direct your attention to the section called “Content Generation and Programming,” which […]
The Hindu newspaper wants to know why community radio isn’t being more widely deployed in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. “. . . the state continues to overlook and under-utilise the radio in countering Maoist influence,” an opinion piece notes. “Oddly enough, this so in a region populated by numerous tribal languages that possess rich oral […]
The Indian media/commerce newsblog exchange4media is optimistic about community radio in that huge country. It has an interview with marketing expert Ashish Pherwani, who says that the expansion of FM in India will make the radio landscape there more diverse. Get ready to see “very small, regional players who are going to run one or two […]
