[Thanks to Rajen Varada for this link] Printed from <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/> Konark site for first CRS in state
Rajaram Satapathy, TNN 5 August 2009, 10:48pm IST BHUBANESWAR: Work is apace near the sun temple at Konark for Orissa's first community radio station (CRS), Radio Namaskar, to go on the air soon. There will be neither pop songs nor popular film songs to comfort the beatings of young hearts. The radio station will be something different from what one hears from the AIR and three private FMs now in circulation. "The contents would be by the villagers and for the villagers, who shun most of what existing radio stations are giving," said N A Ansari, promoter of the radio station. The Union information and broadcasting ministry recently signed the "grant of permission agreement" with Ansari's NGO Young India for "establishing, maintaining and operating" the CRS at Konark. The organization was first issued the "letter of intent" following recommendation by the intern ministerial committee and other ministries. "Radio Namaskar will be operational within three months, most likely in the first week of October," Ansari, who is quite excited about the venture, pointed out. With this, the number of CRS in the country would increase to 52, he added. According to Ansari, Radio Namaskar would cover the population in an area of nearly 30 km. "We conducted a survey of the coverage area to get a feel of the kind of programmes people want. To our surprise majority of villagers said the present programmes are just imposed on them against their will. They described them monotonous, unconnected to their life and without much educational and information value. We have decided to give people what in tangible term would be beneficial to them. There will be music, but not of anti-culture variety. The music would be what is sung in villages and in their own voice. The anchor persons would also not be professionals, but villagers themselves, whom many thing not articulate," Ansari said. "We want to make Radio Namaskar just theirs," he added. He said the CRS content would primarily target farmers, women, fishermen and education of children. "Much of our coverage area falls in the sea as Konark is just close to the Bay of Bengal. That in a way is a blessing in disguise for us, because we will get a captive audience of nearly 7,000 traditional fishermen, who regularly go to the sea and stay in deep water sometimes for more than four days. They sell their catch to other trawlers in the high sea as well. In the high sea mobile phones do not work, but radio does. We will regularly feed the fish rate and weather information to them. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/bhubaneswar/Konark-site-for-first-CRS-in-state/articleshow/4860981.cms
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