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1CRA NewsletteR I ApRIl-JuNe I 2019

Newsletter BACHPAN EXPRESS LAUNCHED : End Child marriage & Promote Continuing education

In this issue

Bachpan Express Launched

International/EditorialCommunity Radio Awareness Workshops -Natonal, Regional

What’s News

My Radio

My RadioRJ Speak, Techonology

Publications, Celebrity In Radio

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Indore: Sixty Community Radios (CR) came together to play a symphony to end child marriage & promote continuing education in the picturesque Chokhi Dhani, Indore. The biggest ever non government assembly of radio professionals from across the length & breadth of the country prepared a roadmap in a two day workshop organised by Community

Issue-1 | Volume-1 For Private Circulation only April-June, 2019

Radio Association in collaboration with UNICEF from 7th to 8th February 2019. Highlighting the problem, Ms. Alka Malhotra from UNICEF shared that nearly 1.5 million girls get married before they turn 18. She felt early child marriage being a social evil, Community Radio Stations can play a pivotal role in sensitizing the issue, emphasise on social protection and

work hand in hand towards eradicating the same. The other mentor Ms. Arupa Shulka discussed the deprivation amongst girls & other barriers to continuing education. She called upon participants to build bridges with open school, vocational training centres and like minded institutions to end dropouts in schools.

Speaking to this scribe Mr N.A. Shah Ansari, President of CRA said that the year long campaign across India will have far reaching influence on the way community looked at the issues & hoped CRs will not only make the change but will let community feel the change. The CRs will produce radio programmes on different formats & will also narrow cast them in their project area, he added. (for detailed report, see www.craindia.in)

National Community Radio Conclave :Odisha push to have CR in all 314 blocks

The two day conclave by Community Radio Association of Odisha in collaboration with Young India, IIEC, IGSSS, UNICEF was inaugurated by Dr. Saurav Garg, Principal Secretary, Agriculture & farmer’s welfare department, government of Odisha in IMAGE conference hall on 13th February. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Garg said his department has been encouraging community radios in the state & would soon have a resource centre in IMAGE premises to bring synergy between research & field.

With more than 100 Community Radio broadcasters from different parts of the country, the conclave set an ambitious target of working on urban issues &

children. UNICEF, a major partner in community radio movement in Odisha was representated by Mr Saurav Bhatacharrya who stressed need for bringing issues of children to the forefront. Ms. Sharmila Patnaik of IIEC gave an overview of Radio Surabhi’s engagement on urban issues & how it can be scaled up in different radios.

The 2nd day saw sharing of good practices by ten radios. Wide ranging discussions were (cont.. in page -2)

Community Radio Association’s

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2 CRA NewsletteR I ApRIl-JuNe I 2019

Community Radios in India have been on a roller coaster drive so far. While the government has been pushing for more community radio stations across the country, the policy has not been favourable, to say the least. While Facebook, twitter & their ilk have strengthened the social media in India, it still doesn’t reach the majority living in far flung unreachable areas. Mainstream medias are now being run by corporates & they have little space for the community except for sensational stories. Business houses have shied away from running commercial FM stations in tier II & III cities as they considered that they won’t be able to generate the revenue to pay the high licensing fees . Mainstream medias, be it print or electronic, have been urban centric whereas the country still lives in its villages. Community members, especially those in the lower rungs of the society have no voice to assert their rights. Mainstream medias have little space for rural issues . With plethora of government schemes , there is an increased need for grievance redressal which the administration is not able to cope.

The community now have a baton to wield as experiences of various CRs in the country has proved. Despite working in low resource settings, community radios play an important role in advancing the unheard voices of the community. Instances of mainstream media picking up such issues have reinforced the genesis of CR. At these critical times, community radio has to hold fort & strengthen the community voice leading to their development. Jai Hind!

INTERNATIONAL

Yogyakarta : The Conference of Community Radios held from November 16-19, 2018 at Yogyakarta, BALI was inaugurated by Mr. Rudiantara, Minister of Information and Communication of the Government of Nepal saw 235 participants from 14 countries. Participants included community broadcasters, freedom of expression activists, community mobilisers, members of academia and representatives of donor organizations and government agencies.

Considering the general political and social atmosphere of rising radicalism and extremism in the region, the conference considered a wider definition of resilience by linking it to the role of community radios in support of the struggle by the common people against political and social onslaught that threaten freedom of expression, right to information & communication and aids growing inequalities in our societies.

4th AMARC Asia-Pacific Regional Conference: Community radios for building resilient societies

Through interactive panel discussions and workshops, participants discussed issues ranging from migration to gender based violence, from climate change & disaster risk reduction to widening social and economic inequalities.

Mr. N. A. Shah Ansari, President and Mr. Man Mohan Singh, General Secretary of the Community Radio Association, India participated in the conference along with 235 participants from 14 countries..

The conference served multitude of objectives including advocating for community broadcasting, sharing of good practices, and strengthening network of community radios in the region. Outcomes of the conference will guide the collective action plan and strategy of the community radio sector of the Asia-Pacific region for advancing freedom of expression and community development through community radios.

EDITORIAL

Community needs a voice..

Biswajit Padhi

Chief Editor

CRA Website LaunchedNational Community (cont.. from page - 1)

The much awaited website of Community Radio Association has been launched. The site will give information about all the CRs of the country & their activities, informed the Secretary General Man Mohan Singh. Members are now able to upload programmes and audio files in the website www.craindia.in

made regarding incorporating urban issues & issues around children in the programme content which was facilitated by Dr Sishir Das. Radios from Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh & Maharastra participated in the conclave.World Radio Day was also celebrated on the 13th of February during this conclave.


against children, child marriage, sanitation, immunization, adolescent health, complementary feeding and education. Community radio is for and by the people and the young

people from local communities are the youth reporters/volunteers. UNICEF aims to not only build the capacity of the staff of the radio stations, but focus on the engagement of these youth volunteers as agents of change said Ms. Alka Gupta , communication officer,

UNICEF, Bhubaneswar. As most of the youth reporters/ volunteers are drawn from the local community, they will be more aware and responsive to the needs of the community and bringing about positive change in their own lives, families and society, she added.

Community Radio Awareness Workshops in Dharmashala & HyderabadNew Delhi: As a part of its mandate to promote community radios across the country, CRA organized two Community Radio Awareness workshops with the support of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The basic objective of promoting more community radios in the country received a shot in the arm with the workshops. These workshops will not only promote more radios but will reach the last mile to provide infotainment to the community in hilly & under developed areas said Ms. Anju Nigam, Joint Secretary of MoIB. As a part of its commitment to expand the network, CRA has also planned some interactions with interested organizations in Jharkhand.

Dharmashala, Himachal Pradesh: The three day workshop from 24 to 26 October was inaugurated by the Joint Secretary, Information & Broadcasting Ms. Anju Nigam. Forty participants from Haryana, Himachal , Jammu & Kashmir & Uttarakhand participated in the workshop.

Hyderabad, Telengana: The three day workshop from 27 to 29 December was inaugurated by the Professor Dr. Vinod Pavarala. Thirtynine participants from Andhra Pradesh , Telengana & Tamilnadu participated in the workshop.

Bhubaneswar: UNICEF & Young India collaborated to unveil a plan of action for building the capacities of the RJs & volunteers of community radios of Odisha. A five day capacity building workshop was organized between 23 to 27 March 2019 at IMAGE conference hall to train the RJs.

The participants were educated about reproductive health & issues of adolescents by experts & UNICEF officials. Participants were educated about the broadcasting code of conduct of radio under the able guidance of Shri Suhas Mohanty, Station Director, AIR , Kolkatta. Shri Dipak Samatarai, Former head NABM revisited script writing in radio format with the young participants. Each of the stations are

Empowering Adolescents and Youth through Community Radios in Odisha

REGIONAL

expected not only to produce episodes on the subjects but also narrow cast it in their area to energise the community informed Andaz Aaron, the coordinator of Young India.

Odisha has a sizeable presence of community radios especially in the resource poor areas. UNICEF is partnering with them to reach the more vulnerable communities with key messaging on issues related to violence


WHAT’S NEWS

UJJAIN : When RJ Sunita swirled the tagline “Sunega Ujjain, badega Ujjain” , people of the holy city of Ujjain knew someone has come to give a ‘Dastak” on their mind & heart. Sixty year old Shri Krishna Shikshan Lok Parmarth Samitihas, a pioneer of girl’s education in the region took one step forward to establish Radio Dastak 90.8FM to reach its broader community of religious people, service class, business people, labour, women, farmers, different castes & tribes, and youth of both urban & rural areas.

Ujjain is an ancient & pilgrimage city having the world famous Jytotirling “Mahakaleshwar”. Though the city has grown over the years, the people are very friendly & helpful. Education and awareness is the key to empowering community, which helps in bringing social equality. Since the Samiti has been working on people-centric model of development in areas of girl’s education, public health, women empowerment, community development and social welfare, it felt the need to start a community radio station at Ujjain to create awareness amongst the community .

The main vision of ‘Dastak’ is to serve the community in the area of Malvi

UJJAIN GETS A DASTAK

culture & its language, heritage, environmental conservation, farming, animal husbandry, health, social development & skill development. Radio Dastak will not only help in developing Ujjain but also provide entertainment to its listeners by roping in folk artists & traditional entertainers, it was learnt . It will also offer listeners an opportunity to participate and generate awareness.

Not content with Radio alone, the Samittee with the help of Bhartiya Institute of Professional Studies, Ujjain is conducting a world class educational

programme for promoting radio professionals. The samittee woke up to the need of having radio professionals to run the station & designed the curriculum. This programmes will provides an opportunity to learn many things about community radio & it’s workings like radio programming, scripting, audio editing, mixing, management, recording, software & equipment. It’s an idea to carve out creative minds to develop the community & we hope to act as a catalyst of development of the vast community beamed Radio Dastak’s station director Sundeep Kulshreshtha.

Community radios across India are in a shock due to arbitrary & unreasonable hike in spectrum fees that too with retrospective effect. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India vide its letter no L 14024/07/2004-WF/1563 dated 11.12.2018 has raised the spectrum fees to Rs 23500 per annum with effect from 01.04.2012. Each radios will be forced to shell out more than fifteen thousand Rupees extra while renewing their licenses from current financial year.

The ministry’s ambitious plan to take the number to 4000 will receive a setback if

CRA protests enhanced spectrum fees: Survival of CR at Stakesuch arbitrary hikes are effected that too with retrospective effect. We continue to promote people’s voices which the mainstream media seldom does & have been working in rural pockets where

commercial radios fear to tread, yet the government has not been kind to us said N A Shah Ansari, president of

Community Radio Association of India, the apex body of functional radios in India. Many countries like Nepal realizing the contribution of community radios have totally waived off the spectrum charges, he added. Though the government has hiked the rate of advertisement of commercial radios, it has not done so for community radios but has tried to further tax the radios to suppress the community voice said Vivek of Radio Viswas, Nashik, Maharastra. The association has appealed to the government to waive off the hike immediately to support the community media.


Radio Salesian holds World Radio DayDarjeeling: Radio Salesian at Salesian College, Sonada celebrated 8th World Radio Day (WRD) on 13 February 2019. Seven Radio Journalists and an RJ intern participated in the program hoisted for the student community.

RJ Bryan anchored the hour long program by Radio journalists of Radio Salesian 90.8 FM - The Voice of the Hills. The prgramme consisted of informative talks, video presentation on community radio, feedback from listeners in Mirik, Sukhiapokri, Pokriabong, and Sonada, as well as a cultural fusion dance and panel discussion on the community radio programs and how each RJ packages it. RJ Samir coordinated the program

Radio Salesian Director and Vice Principal Fr. C.M. Paul reminded all saying, “Radio informs, transforms and unites us. Fr Paul was presented a plaque of appreciation.

Radio Salesian, is the first college campus / community radio in Bengal and entire northeast India which has daily 12 hour broadcast since December 2016, and 24 x 7 web radio presence from March 2018 on ‘Listen2MyRadio’ web application.

Radio Sarang celebrates decennial yearManguluru: Radio Sarang being broadcast from St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangalore started on September 21, 2009 is celebrating its decennial year & there will be year long celebrations informed Dr Melwyn Pinto. Over the years the radio has been catering to the needs of community who belong to Hindu , Muslim & Christian religion. Most importantly, the Radio broadcasts in four languages i.e. Kannada, Tulu, Konkani and Beary. They broadcast programmes on health, awareness, information & local issues.

Speaking during the inauguration of the decennial celebrations, Swami Ekagamyananda said Radio is not just a medium only for the ears but also the heart & is a bridge between people & society. He lauded the effort of the community radio Sarang for bringing quality content for people who depend on the radio for information. As a part of the celebrations, giant umbreallas were distributed to street vendors.

Aap ki Awaz empowers shoe makersAgra: The Aap ki Awaz team has been broadcasting a programme titled Ladies Club which discusses women’s issues like their health, beauty, household challenges etc. The programme is aired everyday for two hours.

Besides the Tajmahal, Agra is famous for its shoe manufacturing units. Most of the ladies are engaged in stitching the upper half of the shoes. Women used to get the job through contractors who used to corner more than 40% of the wages. The Radio organized such women through their programme ladies club which spoke of their empowerment, jobs, rights etc. These empowered ladies then were introduced to the manufacturers who started giving order to the group leader of such women. Now the group leader keeps one rupee for transport & passes the rest amount to the ladies. I now get around 8 to 10 rupees per shoe which used to be Rs 3 to 5 says Sarala. Earlier women used to make Rs 3000 to 5000 per month depending on their workload but now make around eight thousand to ten thousand said Mr. S.K. Lawania, the director of Aap ki Awaz. Most importantly now we have female contractors which earlier used to be male only, he added.

MY RADIO

UPCOMING EVENTS

Decennial Celebration of Radio Mattoli, Waynard, Kerala – 1st June 2019.

State Level Training for Communty Radio Youth Volunteers in Odisha by Young India- 15th to19th June 2019


MY RADIO

Community Radios create voter’s awareness

New Delhi/ Hyderabad : One hundred fifty Community Radios have been roped in by the Election Commission of India to spread awareness amongst voters. SMART, Noida & Hyderabad University played a key role in facilitating the process. Deputy election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar urged participants to exhort people to celebrate the festival of democracy. He expressed satisfaction that for the first time community radios are being used to do a voters awareness campaign. It’s a honour to be a part of the festival of democracy & work like a squirrel to create awareness amongst voters said Pabitra Pradhan , a participant.

Alfaz-e- Women Empowerment

Alfaz-e-Mewat , an initiative of S M Sehgal Foundation collaborated with fellow radio stations across India for promoting the theme of women empowerment and sanitation as showcased in the television serial, Main KuchBhiKar Sakti Hoon (MKBKSH), aired on DD National.

MKBKSH is a production of Population Foundation of India and Bombay Local Pictures. The MKBKSH journey in the first two seasons has had the contribution of community radio where select stations aired the radio version of the episodes and ran campaigns asking for community feedback through Gram Vaani. In season three, Alfaz-e-Mewat played a key role in preparing the research base for the third season of the television serial by helping the production and research team identify positive deviance stories and the community radio model as such to be featured in the serial.

The NGO also organized community outreach events to engage with rural communities in Siwan, Bihar; Kanpur Dehat and Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh all states; and Alwar, Rajasthan. These events not only shared messages on the themes of gender equality and sanitation but also gave a platform to the local artists to showcase their talent. These rural events reached out to about 20,000 people across these four locations. Even though, the on-ground promotion through Gram Vaani with select stations, including Alfaz-e-Mewat continues, twentyone radio stations have now joined the initiative to broadcast informative jingles based on the theme.

Waqt Ki Awaaz brightens women’s lifeKanpur : Women in Kanpur dehat area are exposed to direct arsenic smoke on a daily basis as they use either wood or cow dung to cook. It was found during sample surveys that many women have opthamological & respiratory problems. Many of these women couldn’t afford use of electricity, bio-gas or liquefied petroleum gas. In such a scenario, Waqt Ki Awaaz 91.2 FM came up with the programme-Chaukanni Chaar Diwari. This programme spread awareness about the pros and cons of different resources to be used as fuel for cooking. It also spread awareness about the Ujjwala Yojana. There were total fourteen episodes and it highlighted the environmental problems due to the use cowdung or wood as a medium of cooking. It has covered the hazardous consequences of using fire as lanterns (Dibiya). Suman, from Bairi Dariyao of Kanpur Dehat says, “Chimney that we built during the program, Chaukanni Chaar Diwari is problem solver. There is no more tears and coughing anymore after we started using them.”

This program has spread awareness about prevention of various diseases & has improved the quality of life of women. Radha Shukla, the programme director revealed that as per the phone-in records many women admitted reduction in number of accidents due to fire in kitchen. The reception to Ujjwala Yojana of government also received a shot in the arm due to the programme.

Please Email writeups, success stories, news relating to your radio to [email protected]. Please attach high resolution photographs associated with the event. Queries & clarifications, if any, can be addressed to us.

Editorial Team


RJ SPEAK

A child picked up from the streets & was groomed. Now RJ Abhishek hosts the popular show ‘Chak De Chottu’ in Radio

Salaam Namaste. Barsha Chabaria spoke to Abhishek. Barsha: Well, Chottu aka RJ Abhishek, how does it feel to be in the hot seat ?

ABHISHEK: Great! I had never thought... that one day I would go to school, learn, study and gain belief in myself & I can earn a name and make my parents proud.

Barsha: How old are you & how it all started ?ABHISHEK: I am 14 . Six years back a Community radio van came to our village Nithari in Noida. A Didi was asking kids to sing songs or recite poetry which would be aired in their Radio Salam Namaste (SN) for a programme called “Chakh De Chotu”, a show where kids like me can voice out their needs, educate themselves and make merry.

Technology

Coimbatore: In today’s world, there are tons of materials available on multiple platforms for consumption of general public. Radio is accessible to almost the entire national population, irrespective of whether they have internet access or not. It is no doubt the most freely available media for entertainment & education. Even a daily newspaper requires you to subscribe and pay them & it doesn’t reach on time to far flung places. A community radio, in particular is even more personal to every region, since it brings about a feeling of oneness and belonging to the listener. This being the strength, Community Radio (CR) looses out on extent of reach. The other major challenge for radio listener is time of broadcast.

It’s here that CR stations need to adopt multiple freely available platforms to enhance their reach. Though internet radio is an option, but it has a cost.

Expanding listeners : Use multiple platformsRadio garden is one where you are visible to the global audience. But the on demand element is missing from most of these solutions as many a times, listeners request for a repeat of what they have missed. Rathinavani solved this issue by using two main content distribution platforms - anchor. fm and YouTube.

YouTube has brought various media to every person’s Smartphone . The audio clips are merged with some photographs and animations to give it a visual appeal and are shared in YouTube. This has the potential of re-sharing even by the listeners to their near

& dear ones. But when there is paucity of time, Ratnavani team uploads the programme to Anchor.fm, a free audio and podcast platform. Compared to other audio hosting platforms, namely SoundCloud being the well known name in the area, Anchor offers the flexibility of reaching a wider range of platforms by way of pushing the audio feeds to a number of podcast players available on the Google Play Store or iOS App Store. Rathinavani has intelligently used the platform to clear the listener’s questions. The answers are posted in anchor.fm & the link to it is shared with the listener in Whatsapp. Every CR needs to widely use these platform to increase their listeners base.

Mukesh Mohankumar, Radio Head at Rathinavani Community Radio, Coimbatore can be reached at [email protected]

The added advantage was I could join the evening study classes in the Radio. I was then working as a helper in Tea stall but had hoped to go to school like any other kid in the locality. Enthralled, I turned up at the station.

Barsha: Tell us about your family ?My father is a driver & my mother works as a house maid. I have three siblings younger to me & hence had to work to supplement the income of the family to feed them. I had got used to people calling me Chotu , when this opportunity came.

Barsha: From a tea stall Chhottu to an RJ, how did it come about ?One day, we were invited with our parents by SN for performing a play on child labour. Following this play I joined Creative Chotus , a workshop where kids of my age were learning to make “best-out-of-waste” products. Thereafter I became a part of Chak De Chotu core team. With the help of SN & SADRAG NGO, I got admission in Noida Public School. I quit my job of

tea stall helper & now looking forward to study more & make my future bright.

Barsha: What was the happiest moment in this journey ?It was when my father was invited to the Radio Station and I could share my joy with him. I said Baba.. this is the place I come to & I love it, I speak on the mike & everyone calls me Abhishek & not Chottu & he literally cried. Then I realized life will change for me.

Barsha: What programmes do a make ?I make the programme Chak De Chotu & the other RJs of this programme are kids like me.

Barsha: So what’s next ?SN has brought a huge change in me enhancing my confidence greatly. The radio station means family to me, the mike has been my dearest friend and the Radio Program Chakh De Chotu has become a ray of hope for me. I wish I would become an artist & help deprieved kids like me to get into school.

Mukesh Mohankumar


PUBLICATIONSA compilation of community radio’s engagement with different community from all parts of the country is a compulsive read for all radio practitioners, policy makers & government servants. A first of its kind effort to document the good practices of community radios & credit must go to the team at Actionaid who have supported the effort & Young India for taking the responsibility of compiling it.

The community radios have used various methods, some even out of the box solutions to the complex issues of the community & interestingly the radio has been so effectively

Community Radio in India Community Radio in India, a book by renowned community media expert Dr R. Sreedhar & Pooja Murada was released by Mr K.G. Suresh, Director, IIMC & Mr Al-Amin Yusuph, Communication Advisor, South Asia, UNESCO on March 28, 2019 in Delhi. Community Radio

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FOR CHANGE

COMMUNITY RADIO

used for public good is the takeaway from the book.

The book is available with Young India who can be contacted in their mail [email protected]. A soft copy of the book can be downloaded from www.craindia.in

practitioners present on the occasion felt that the book was long over due. While Dr Sreedhar was able to bring in his expertise & experience as an academician, Ms Pooja was able to bring the practitioner’s prospective into the book which is why it is a must read for all those in love with community media. The authors have done well to collate all the forms available in different websites. The book published by Aakar Publishers & supported by UNESCO.

CRA MEMBERSHIP Community Radio Association is the apex & only body of community radio

stations in the country. Besides promoting community radio, it has been

helping in creating awareness about CR & providing guidance to aspiring

organizations wanting to start CR. Networking & capacity building of CR

staff is one of the primary responsibilities of CRA.

Membership is open to all CR stations of the country. For any query, get in

touch with the Secretary General, CRA . Email: [email protected]

Renowned Bolywood singer Abhijeet admitted that he learnt singing by listening to songs in Radio. In those days, he used to listen to Vividh Bharati & Radio Ceylone, he confided.Bollywood singer Abhijeet speaking to Radio Swayamshakti, Khariar, Odisha.

is published quarterly by Community Radio Association.

Community Radio Association is a platform of functional and upcoming community radio stations in India. Our membership is open to CR activists, professionals, community members as well as students who subscribe to the aims and objectives of the association.

Visit us at:

A-359 First Floor, Sector 19, Noida, UP

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.craindia.in

Editorial Team:

Biswajit Padhi,Chief Editor

Fr Bijo Thomas

Barsha Chabaria

Layout: www.studioedit.in

Printed and Published by:

Manmohan Singh, Secretary General, CRA

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