Re : Dear Members,
I found this interesting article while surfing on http://iGovernment.inregarding Community Radio on http://igovernment.in/site/Community-radio-A-democratic-tool-idling-away/ Community radio: A democratic tool idling away If India wants to boost community radio, experts say that the country needs to revised and revitalise its community radio policy Published on 10/13/2008 12:21:05 PM New Delhi: In almost every city—big or small—the soft informative croon of radio has been replaced by the non-stop banter of television. A trend that experts here condemned, calling for a revised execution of the community radio policy. A conference on 'Community Radio: Practices and Possibilities' at Indira Gandhi National Open University recently discussed a plethora of issues beleaguering the grassroots and lamented the current state of Indian Community Radio (CR) movement started way back in 1951 during India's initial Plan years, a statement issued by the open university said. Former Information Commissioner OP Kejariwal stressed, "Though our generation speaks of globalisation, we rather need more focus on glocalisation. So along with broadcasting, we need narrowcasting." "If we adapt modern broadcast technologies for local broadcasts, we have community radio, where we have communities participating not only as broadcasters but as listeners too," Kejariwal added. The community radio movement since inception focused on how to create awareness among umpteen communities about their rights, opportunities, vocational expertise, knowledge and the need to avail themselves of these. The government policy for Community Radio, 2002 promised to set up over 4,000 CRs, but till date India has set only set up 45, that too mostly in public sector. On comparing this with its 35-year-old neighbour Bangladesh, it was found that it has already charted 140 CRs. The Bangladesh government officially adopted a CR policy only in 2008, in response to the World Bank vision for a world free of poverty, the statement said. World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (also known as AMARC) South-Asia Regional Director Suman Basnet said, "India is the first country in South Asia to have an independent CR policy. Miracles of community radio broadcasting are just waiting to happen." A conglomerate of over 4,000 community radios in 115 countries, AMARC is only eager to hand-hold genuine Indian efforts to solidify the CR movement in South Asia, reports IANS quoting Basnet. Regards, Pritam Sinha 2008/10/13 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Send cr-india mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of cr-india digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Ramana Voices FM 90.4, a community radio station with a > difference, launches in Bangalore (Vickram Crishna) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:50:46 +0000 (GMT) > From: Vickram Crishna <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [cr-india] Ramana Voices FM 90.4, a community radio > station with a difference, launches in Bangalore > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > This is the second post about the 'confusion' between FM and commercial > radio. I don't think the terms are confused like this anywhere else in the > world, and I wonder if this confusion only exists in the minds of the ivory > tower masters, who are now (subtly, and I hope without the exchange of any > 'persuasion') helping to perpetuate it in the field. > > Vickram > http://communicall.wordpress.com > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Ram Bhat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, 10 October, 2008 13:51:16 > Subject: Re: [cr-india] Ramana Voices FM 90.4, a community radio station > with a difference, launches in Bangalore > > > Dear All, > > Just a small note here.. > Radio Active, the first community radio station in Bangalore, also manned > by an educational institution, Mahaveer Jain, is also operating now at 90.4 > MHz. > It was initially launched at 107.8, but due to technical problems, they got > it changed to 90.4, > so its interesting that in the same city, a few kilometers away, two radio > stations have license at the same frequency! > So those who have been turned away for lack of spectrum in their area/city, > should use this example. > Of course, they don't use the word FM anywhere, in their advertising, or > jingles or anything, since they have recieved a letter from Zohra Chatterjee > saying they should use 90.4 Community Radio and not FM since it tends to get > confused for commercial radio :) > > best > Ram > > > > On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 1:27 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Send cr-india mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of cr-india digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Ramana Voices FM 90.4, a community radio station with a > difference, launches in Bangalore (Alokesh Gupta) > 2. Justice Sawant's contacts? (Vinod Pavarala) > 3. Re: CR station Ramana Voices for physically challenged > launches in Bangalore - (chhavi sachdev) > 4. community radio for tribals in Kerala (sajan venniyoor) > 5. The State of Radio episode 6 (chhavi sachdev) > 6. NIGERIA: Community Radio in Country's Democracy! (George Lessard) > 7. Community Radio Workshop at Manthan Award 2008 - 18th > October, 2008 (osama manzar (gmail)) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2008 08:49:37 +0530 > From: "Alokesh Gupta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [cr-india] Ramana Voices FM 90.4, a community radio station > with a difference, launches in Bangalore > To: "CR INDIA LATEST" <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; > reply-type=original > > Ramana Voices FM 90.4, a community radio station with a difference, > launches > in Bangalore > > Indiantelevision.com Team > (6 October 2008 5:00 pm) > BANGALORE: Bangalore-based Shree Ramana Mahrishi Academy of the Blind > launched a first-of-its-kind community radio station in Asia yesterday. > Ramana Voices FM 90.4 is the station that will be available initially over > a > neighbourhood of 6 to 7 km of the academy. The range is to be increased > later. > The shows will begin broadcasting everyday at 8 am and aired in a loop. The > academy is in the process of empanelling RJs and around 50 per cent of > these > will be visually impaired people according to the Commonwealth Educational > Media Centre for Asia director Dr R Sreedhar while speaking with > Indiantelevision.com. "We already have a couple of visually challenged > students who have volunteered to play RJs," informed Dr Sreedhar. The > launch > honours were done by Dr Sreedhar on Sunday. > The station will not limit its activities to the physically challenged > alone, but will serve the community and the neighbourhood as a whole, > revealed Dr. Sredhar. > As reported earlier, > (http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k7/june/june344.php), > Bangalore > already has a community radio station that was launched by the Jain Group > of > Institutions (JGI) at Radio Active 107.8. Another community radio station > by > Narayana Hrudayalaya (a cardiac hospital) is likely to be launched soon in > the city according to industry sources. > Meanwhile, Dr Shreedhar informs that Dehradun's National Institute for the > Visually Handicapped has been granted a licence to start a community radio > station in that city, but has yet to do so. > > http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k8/oct/oct44.php > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2008 15:29:24 +0530 > From: "Vinod Pavarala" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [cr-india] Justice Sawant's contacts? > To: cr-india <[email protected]> > Cc: Anjali Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > I would appreciate it very much if anyone can help me with contact > information for Justice P.B. Sawant. I think he may be based in Mumbai. > thanks a lot in advance. > > best, > vinod > > -- > Prof. Vinod Pavarala > Head, Department of Communication & Dean > Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts & Communication > University of Hyderabad > Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046 > Phone: +91-40-23135500/23011553 (off); 94407-24914 (m) > > http://172.16.1.100/academic/school_study/sarojini_naidu_school/program_communication.html > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20081007/d22813e8/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:42:03 +0530 > From: chhavi sachdev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [cr-india] CR station Ramana Voices for physically > challenged launches in Bangalore - > To: CRF <[email protected]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed > > Is anyone on this list involved with this? I'd love some first-hand > information for my The State of Radio podcast but I'm sure everyone on > the list is interested, too! > Pinky? > Chhavi > > > --- > BANGALORE: Bangalore based Shree Ramana Mahrishi Academy of the Blind > has launched a first of its kind community radio station in Asia > yesterday. The Ramana-Voices FM 90.4 is the station that will be > available initially over a radius of six to seven kilometers of the > academy. > > > http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/cr-station-ramana-voices-physically-challenged-launches-bangalore > > > > ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ > SONOLOGUE > sound ideas, sound content > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > +91.98.33.646.717 > http://sonologue.com > ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2008 18:12:34 +0530 > From: "sajan venniyoor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [cr-india] community radio for tribals in Kerala > To: "CR India" <[email protected]> > Message-ID: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > [Thanks to Ram for this link] > > A community radio for tribal people in Kerala > > Mananthavady (Kerala), Oct 7 (IANS) A community radio, which will cater to > a > large number of tribal people and small farmers in Mananthavady in the > Wayanad district of Kerala, will start service from here in December. > > The radio is an initiative of Wayanad Social Service Society (WSSS), a > non-government organisation (NGO) formed by the Catholic Diocese of > Mananthavady. Wayanad is a hilly district in north Kerala with sizeable > tribal population. > > According to John Choorappuzhayil, a priest and secretary of WSSS, the > community radio is the first of its kind in Kerala. 'The radio will be of > help to the society to take its activities to the people.' > > The WSSS works in the field of farming, education and micro-finance. > > 'In the farming area, we are focused on spreading organic farming > practices. > We provide support in the field of education and agriculture for tribal > people here,' said John. > > The community radio will be an FM service designed to cover an area within > 10 km radius from Mananthavady. > > The WSSS functions in about 50 tribal colonies spread across seven village > panchayats. It has 2,600 farmers as members in organic farm clubs and many > thrift societies, known as self-reliance groups, which function as people's > bank. > > 'Our members are marginal farmers. They find it difficult to attend the > society's training programmes as they have to skip farming activities. With > the commissioning of the radio, they can listen to the programme from their > home,' John added. > > The radio station is being set up at cost of around Rs.3 million. > > > http://nationalnewsofindia.blogspot.com/2008/10/community-radio-for-tribal-people-in.html > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20081007/af0e018f/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:45:35 +0530 > From: chhavi sachdev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [cr-india] The State of Radio episode 6 > To: CRF <[email protected]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED], > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"; format=flowed > > new podcast on THE STATE OF RADIO @sonologue's site: http://lin.cr/1oa > > In this episode, The State of Radio looks at royalty fees for Internet > radio stations in the U.S., academic programs for community radio in > India, a conference on the state of community radio, as well as — could > it be? — news being allowed on radio! > http://lin.cr/1oa > > All feedback is appreciated. Do post your comments directly on the site. > Cheers, > Chhavi > > -- > ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ > SONOLOGUE > sound ideas, sound content > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > +91.98.33.646.717 > http://sonologue.com > ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 23:48:25 -0400 (EDT) > From: "George Lessard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [cr-india] NIGERIA: Community Radio in Country's Democracy! > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Community Radio in Country's Democracy! > > http://allafrica.com/stories/200810080292.html > > Daily Trust (Abuja) > > OPINION > 8 October 2008 > Posted to the web 8 October 2008 > > Charles Akolo Katsibi > > [...] > > The proliferation of media houses (print and broadcast) with diversity to > ownership-private, group and or government is a clear definition of what > is known as media pluralism. However, a closer look at this development > indicates that all of these media are concentrated in the urban centres of > the society. Except, of course, for the wider coverage and accessibility > of radio, village dwellers do not have the presence of a media outfit. > > The beginning of private broadcasting in Nigeria in 1994 redefined the > all-encompassing role of the media to national integration and > development. However, 14 years after, the much-needed development at the > grassroots level is still not felt or at least not felt much. Arguably, > community radio is all about accessibility and participation. Yet, the > intended beneficiaries are still isolated and the question is: is it that > the government does not understand the impact of community radio to the > Nigerian society? > > [...] > > The community radio allows for a particular community to communicate > effectively. This suggests that values, beliefs, norms and orientation are > shared among community members. Similarly, members get to promote their > ideology(ies), discuss issues confronting them - land ownership, > communicable diseases, intra and inter marriages, farming and settling > conflicts, expressing their views concerning governments' policies and > actions, especially as they affect them. > > In fact, some higher institutions in the country having understood the > impact set up community radio stations to serve the needs of their > immediate university community and its environs. Some of these > institutions include University of Lagos and Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, > etc. The importance of this cannot be overemphasised. More so that > students as well as lecturers can communicate with one another, discuss > about moral decadence, examination malpractices, indecent dressing, etc. > > Another vital issue that should be considered here is its non-commercial > purposes as compared to the conventional radio stations obtained in urban > centres. Its sole purpose (s) is to meet the needs of its immediate > audience (community), though it can carry announcements. The community > radio is not expensive to run or sustain. Perhaps, the equipment needed > could be transmitters, sound systems (tapes, microphones), personnel to > man the equipment and most importantly, licence to go on air. > > [...] > > Community radio can mobilise the community to participate in governance > and it can sensitise them on their civic responsibility. It can also > galvanise support for an action-advocacy and can engender social change. > In short, community radio can initiate and execute what the government > might deem difficult in executing. Through community radio, the government > can get to know the problems of the rural dwellers - the poor road > networks, water borne diseases, electrification and other issues. > > If government must succeed in its democratic policies, there must be a > paradigm shift. As Modibbo Kawu noted in his article of 18th September, > 2008 (Daily Trust), "Moving on the community radio track," "Nigeria must > also move on the track of community broadcasting to assist in the > deepening of the content of democracy as well as climbing down from the > elitist pedestal upon which radio broadcasting policy has been placed for > too long in this country." It is not untrue when some western as well as > African, Asian and Caribbean countries attribute the deepening of their > democratic principles partly to advancing the cause of community radio. > When people are informed about issues, they appreciate them and take > action where appropriate. > > The broadcast media is the fastest medium to reaching the remotest of > areas anywhere, especially radio. It plays an important role in national > communication policy. It is the tool to achieving national integration and > leads the mantle in development. The power of the radio is so amazing. > > Community broadcasting is not intended to incite the people to rise > against a constituted authority; rather, it's to help them understand, > appreciate and participate in governance. Most importantly, it will help > in fashioning and designing a mutual line of communication and acceptance > between the government and the governed. Communities in the country are > eager to express their opinions about the style of leadership of Mr > President, talk about their representatives in the National Assembly and > their performances so far. > > While Nigerians await the move by the government to either groom the idea > or discard it, stakeholders in the broadcast industry should channel a > cause, organise workshops/seminars for other broadcasters and by extension > educate Nigerians on community radio initiative. Equally, an informed man > is a liberal man. Therefore, the government should promote the idea as it > will help to address at least the issue of illiteracy and poverty and > other vital goals in the MDGs. Bureaucracy is a known factor, but it can > be removed. Nigerians on the other hand should be ready to face the > challenge of managing such a project if implemented. Nigeria is ours to > tender and not to divide. Ideas must be supported and promoted. Human and > material resources must also be properly managed. > > Katsibi wrote from Apata Jenta, Jos, Plateau State > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 7 > Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:13:00 +0530 > From: "osama manzar \(gmail\)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [cr-india] Community Radio Workshop at Manthan Award 2008 - > 18th October, 2008 > To: "'Devendra Singh Bhadauria'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected], "'Syed > S. Kazi'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Workshop on > > 'Voices from the Ground @ Community Radio' > > NCUI Campus, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi > > [October 18, 2008] > > Dear All, > > > > Among 13 tracks and workshops happening at Manthan Award South Asia 2008 > during October 16-18, 2008, Digital empowerment Foundation is organising > half a day workshop on Community Radio where the focus is: > > - To listen and understand the realities of grassroots issues > through the practitioners > > - To discuss case studies > > - To exchange notes with communities and service providers > > - To discuss licensing and community radio content issues through > experts > > - To chart out agenda for action for the rest of the year where we > could jointly take onus > > - To showcase content, technology, and aspects related to > recording, editing, producing programs, equipments, and low cost studio > > - Live demo > > > > The other focus areas would be: > > 1. Scaling up information and communication capacities at Grassroots > through community broadcasting; > > 2. Capacity building and skill up-gradation ; > > 3. Improve living conditions through relevant content in local > languages; > > 4. Providing a pubic interface > > 5. Broadening the media choices of listeners and media consumers > > 6. Independent nature of CR and responsibility to serve the community > > 7. Socio-cultural-economic impact in poverty reduction, in addressing > development objectives and in democracy building > > 8. A medium to facilitate oral communication traditions with > development issues > > And so on… > > The full agenda is available at: > http://manthanaward.org/live_communities.asp > > Date of workshop: October 18th: 9.30 am to 01.30 pm > > Please register yourself here: http://manthanaward.org/Delegates.asp > > Please ensure your presence… > > Warmest regards > > Osama Manzar > > 9810042862 > > 011-26532786 > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20081010/7ffb2494/attachment.html > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > cr-india mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > End of cr-india Digest, Vol 59, Issue 3 > *************************************** > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20081013/defc32e7/attachment.html > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > cr-india mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > End of cr-india Digest, Vol 59, Issue 7 > *************************************** > -- Pritam Sinha Content Co-ordinator DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION New Delhi, INDIA +91 11 26532786/87 http://www.defindia.net http://www.manthanaward.org
YOU CAN SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY RADIO FORUM (India) BY JOINING AND TAKING AN ACTIVE PART IN ONE OF THESE NETWORKS http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-awareness (Awareness building) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-helpdesk (Offering help) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-policy-advocacy (Policy advocacy) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-techoptions (Technical options) _______________________________________________ cr-india mailing list [email protected] https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india
