http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080068959&ch=10/16/2008%2011:48:00%20AM
Dalit women begin community radio in AP Uma Sudhir Thursday, October 16, 2008, (Hyderabad) History was created in a small village of Andhra Pradesh with the country's first rural community radio, completely owned and managed by marginalised dalit women, formally beginning transmissions. The license came nearly 10 years after the facility and now there is hope that this could usher in a whole new revolution of community broadcasting. 'Licence to tell', that's the good news Narsamma is sharing with her listeners on India's first rural community radio. The 25-year-old, nicknamed General, is Chief Producer of Sangham Radio. Narsamma has never been to a formal school. From a farm labour she turned broadcaster, recording and playing programmes to women like herself in 75 villages of Medak district in Andhra Pradesh for nearly 10 years. Now the radio has earned the right to transmit airwaves into 100 villages in a radius of 30 kilometers. "What 10 people discuss, their knowledge and experiences, now thousands of people can hear through us. It is now possible because of the radio. That makes me happy,'' said Anusuyamma, reporter, Sangham Radio. It seemed only appropriate that Justice P B Sawant came in to switch on the 100-watt transmitter. He had delivered the historic Supreme Court judgment in 1995 that airwaves are public property. For the first time, there is a real chance for participatory mass media communication so the 'other' voices can be heard. "Prove to people that you can make an autonomous radio station that can hold its head high among the broadcast fraternity and establish itself as a means of communication, means of empowerment that others will choose to emulate," said Dr Bhaskar Ghose, former I&B Secretary. Sangham Radio carries the challenge not just of its own success but the responsibility of inspiring others so that a thousand community radios can resonate in the air.
