From vpavarala at gmail.com Sat Jan 5 06:03:25 2008 From: vpavarala at gmail.com (Vinod Pavarala) Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 06:03:25 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] "Sangam Radio" in Frontline Message-ID: *Frontline: Volume 25 - Issue 01 :: Jan. 05-18, 2008* *Voice of the people * by J.B.S.UMANADH, *in Sangareddy* MEDAK district, in the backward Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh, will soon have its own FM radio station that will be managed by Dalits, mostly women. The Community Media Trust of Pastapur will run the station from The Green School, or Pachasaale, of the Deccan Development Society (DDS), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of which the trust is a part. The DDS established the community radio station in 1998 but did not get the nod from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to go on air. It crossed the hurdle recently with the Ministry issuing the letter of intent for the station. The delay was mainly on account of the lack of a policy on the issue of licences for running FM stations. The Government of India initially approved the grant of licences to educational institutions and subsequently extended the policy to NGOs. Until the approval came, Sangham Radio, the name of the Medak station, played recorded news capsules on a tape-recorder in the nearby villages on specific days. This "narrowcasting" had its effect on the local people, who soon became eager consumers of information on issues such as biodiversity and seed sovereignty. The station is managed by Algole Narsamma and 'General' Narsamma, Dalit women who are alumni of The Green School. With the training they received as student reporters, they record programmes on topics relating to women's empowerment, local problems relating to health and indigenous knowledge and traditions. Each programme is produced in a one-and-a-half-hour magazine format by mixing interviews and discussions with folk songs and drama. They ensure that each capsule has a fair dose of storytelling to keep the listener interested until the end of the programme. Down the years, the team has gathered enough material that could see it through 600 hours of broadcasting. The narrowcast was limited to one and a half hours. The terms of the licence also allow them to broadcast for the same length of time. 'General' Narsamma, who is excited about the possibility of a broadcast, said the local people initially called the radio "Bichapolla Radio" (Radio of Beggars). She added that the region was sparsely covered by All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan. P.V. Sateesh, Director, DDS, said the idea of a community radio struck him in 1995 when he was working on a project, Learning Without Frontiers (LWF), with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. UNESCO's concept of LWF was that people who had not "learnt" in their early years should not see it as a barrier to learning. They could start at any point of time and become literate. Taking a slightly different point of view, the DDS, a two-decade-old organisation that has been working with women's sanghams (voluntary village-level associations), concluded that non-literates had much to offer to the outside world and that it was time to recognise them as teachers and not as learners. "It is in pursuit of this concept that we decided along with the community of sanghams that we should explore the possibility of equipping the non-literate women with the skills of video and radio," Sateesh said. In 2001, the DDS set up the Community Media Trust, and soon illiterate women started handling cameras and microphones and collecting information just as any radio or video journalist would. Now, the station is abuzz with a flurry of activity as Sangham FM plans to start broadcasting its programmes within a few months. Algole Narsamma and 'General' Narsamma are working on digitising the programmes that they have already produced. "Akka Chellelara Koodi Podame, Mana Sangham lo Matalada" (Sisters let us come together and talk at our Sangham) will be the signature song of the station, Algole Narsamma said. The DDS has 5,000 women members, mostly Dalits, who represent the poorest of the poor in their village communities. The anchors have selected 10 girls from The Green School to gather information from member-villages in neighbouring mandals such as Zaheerabad, Jherasangham, Kohir, Nyalkal, Munipalli and Raikode. Sangham FM's 100 watt Effective Radiated Power (ERP) transmitter can cover a radius of around 10 kilometres. The government can permit the use of even 250 watt ERP transmitters in special cases. In the event of the Sangham FM getting the more powerful transmitter, the region's flat terrain will allow many more villages to receive its broadcast. *Social concerns* During the formulation of the policy guidelines, fear was expressed about the possibility of community radios falling into the hands of extremist elements, particularly the Maoists, in regions such as Telangana. Vinod Pavarala, Professor and Dean, Sarojini Naidu School of Communication, University of Hyderabad, said sufficient checks and balances had been built into the policy guidelines to avoid such problems. Community radios have to retain recordings of their programmes for a period of six months in order to enable the authorities to verify violations, if there are any. The content regulation and monitoring section of the guidelines cautions the permission holder not to offend other communities, castes or religions. The permission holder is told not to criticise friendly countries and not to broadcast news. Pavarala hopes that the condition that the licence should be renewed every five years would act as a deterrent to such activity if any. Experts point out that the available spectrum can accommodate 100 to 200 community FM stations in the next five to six years. Community radios are eligible to seek funding from multilateral aid agencies, but applicants seeking foreign funds will have to obtain clearance under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976. *In the air* Sangham FM is not the only community radio in the country that has been striving to cater to the needs of the unreached millions in their local dialect. Ujjas Radio, established by the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghatan (KMVS), has been active in the Kutch region of Gujarat since 1989. The KMVS has 10,000 active members. The need for a community radio was felt as the AIR station at Bhuj transmits programmes only in Gujarati and not in the local Kutchi dialect. The KMVS has been broadcasting programmes since December 1999 by purchasing commercial slots on Radio Bhuj. The "Chala Ho Gaon Mein" (Come, let's go to the village) community radio of rural Palamau in Jharkhand is also broadcasting through the AIR-FM station at Daltangunj. The programme was initiated by Alternative for India Development (AID), an NGO, which provides it financial and technical support. The 30-minute capsule of Chala Ho Gaon Mein is the only radio programme linked with gender equality and justice available in the local dialect. Today, it broadcasts twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays, from 7.15 p.m. to 7.45 p.m. Voices, a Bangalore-based media NGO, and the Mysore Resettlement and Development agency (MYRADA) launched "Namma Dhwani", a community radio, in 2001 at Budhikote village in the Kolar region of Karnataka. Namma Dhwani produces programmes in a dialect that is a mix of Telugu and Kannada. The NGO has been cablecasting programmes on television since 2003. -- Dr. Vinod Pavarala Professor of Communication & Dean Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts & Communication University of Hyderabad Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046 Phone: +91-40-23135500/5501 (off); 94407-24914 (m) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080105/2b0e3ba4/attachment.html From ramnarayan.k at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 23:29:14 2008 From: ramnarayan.k at gmail.com (ramnarayan.k at gmail.com) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:29:14 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Technical Queries - recording outdoors and related Message-ID: <477E73F2.7080603@gmail.com> Hi Am putting down a host of queries regarding recordings and equipment. Would be grateful to hear from people who have already done this. 1. What is the best way to record outdoors - specifically drumming events - traditional folk musicians. Groups of 3 -4 drummers. *** 2.1 What would be a good mike , amplifier, speaker system to use for a meeting scenario. What kind of power inputs would be required. 2.2. Are there mike, amplifier systems in which one output could be directed to a digital recording device, if yes please suggest and also please recommend a suitable recording device as well. What would be the critical considerations to ensure good recordings. Would appreciate your inputs thanks K. Ramnarayan Himal Prakriti Munsiari Uttarakhand From ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in Fri Jan 4 11:36:22 2008 From: ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in (sakthi vel) Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 06:06:22 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] India: Community Radio - waiting to take off Message-ID: <113051.46164.qm@web8506.mail.in.yahoo.com> Community Radio - waiting to take off - Mumbai University FM community radio head Pankaj Athawale Community radio is the latest addition the FM radio bandwagon in the country. With the great radio story just beginning to happen this year, it's not surprising to find these avenues opening up. But community radio is a non profit, non commercial version of the FM radio sector. With government policies becoming open and procedures getting simplified, Community Radio (CR) is getting pretty popular; not in terms of the number of radio stations opened, but in terms of the interest it has generated among people. The more interested parties of course, are the universities and educational institutes as they have been getting licenses at short notice. Anna University's FM venture, Anna FM in chennai was the first of its kind of CRS to start, but not many have been able to replicate its success story. 2007, however, was a very eventful year in terms of the licenses granted. The likes of Mumbai univeristy, Delhi univeristy and others have been the leading institutions to procure these CRS licenses. Delhi university CRS has already gone on air in 2007 and Mumbai university's own radio station should go live in early 2008. But the basic objective of CRS should be understood. With the advent of private FM radio channels, entertainment and radio have become synonymous with films and youth. But CRS can be a very interesting change or option in terms of FM broadcasting. If private radio is all about fun and entertainment, CRs can offer some infotainment via fun programmes tackling various acadmeic and social topics. Sounds vague, but if the CRS can be a professional radio run by amateurs, then the basic target is achieved. That's precisely what the CRS holders need to do in 2008. Technology too is becoming cheaper and easily available. So, someone can easily start a CRS for as low as Rs 10 lakh. This can include some very good equipment which will help the operators to package the CRS programming in a very FM and private radio-like fashion. This is the need of the hour and can be surely achieved. Also, it becomes a very healthy and attractive sector for service providers as you need many players, if the number of CRS in country has to reach 500 in the coming years. A very good volume business oppurtunity indeed. Even the UN has made plans to assist the building of various CRs across the country as a part of its Millenium Development goals. As for CR, like every coin, it has two sides to the story. On the flip side, people have not yet understood the basic idea of starting a CRS. It does not imply just running a station for the sake of it, neither does it mean being revolutionary with your own radio. It's also not about being a drag, serious type of radio. A CRS can be a very important link for youngsters and amateurs alike. If the hobbyist can provide good topics, amateurs can train themselves for a good radio career while working at a CRS. You need to have infotainment programmes to attract people. With the government allowing a 100W transmitter, you can easily cover an area of about 40 odd km, a pretty big area to operate in. Also, with the government allowing five minutes per hour as commercial time, the main headache of sustaining a CRS disappears. If your CRS can be innovative and intelligent, a private radio player in your area might also be interested in helping you generate revenue on a sharing basis. I see no harm in this. Another problem is, some people think of CRS as a completely non profit idea which should not earn money. But, I guess you need money to at least survive and there is nothing as a free dinner in life any more. If we are reading this article, it's to get something in return, right ! We should all look at the CRS as a great oppurtunity to learn new tricks in radio, train yourself to be a future radio broadcaster and make FM radio a useful medium for all in all ways. 2007 was really a mind opener for the CRS sector, and I sincerely hope that 2008 will soon set up decent examples of innovative and infotainment led CRS in the country. /////////////////// http://www.indiantelevision.com/ye2007/pankaj_story.php /////////////////////// For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 /////////////////////// Messenger blocked? Want to chat? Go to http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php From ramnarayan.k at gmail.com Thu Jan 3 21:37:42 2008 From: ramnarayan.k at gmail.com (ramnarayan.k at gmail.com) Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:37:42 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Kumaon farmers to now get entertained while at work Message-ID: <477D084E.6090701@gmail.com> AIR getting on to the rural FM bandwagon in Uttarakhand. *** Kumaon farmers to now get entertained while at work December 14, 2007 at 12:28 pm · Filed under General, People By HT 14 Dec 2007 There is good news for farmers in Kumaon. They will now be able to entertain themselves even while at work side by side getting updated on all the latest on the agriculture-related information. Well, the poor hill farmers will get the taste of both just by switching on their tiny radio sets. A number of Frequency Modulated (FM) radio stations, through which programmes relating to info-cum-entertainment would be relayed, would soon be installed in remote areas of Kumaon, officials revealed. “These programmes will be packaged in a manner that all our listeners including farmers would find them both educative and entertaining”, said P. C. Rajput, an Assistant Station Engineer (ASE) at the AIR’s broadcasting station in Almora. “These programmes”, he added, “will also time to time keep the people inhabiting this side of the Indo-Nepal border touching Uttarakhand informed about the Maoists’ activities in Nepal and India.” Speaking to the Hindustan Times from Pithoragarh on Wednesday he said the first FM radio station of Kumaon is currently being installed at the district headquarters’ town of Bageshwar. “The radio station will be made operational through a five kilowatt-capacity transmitter”, said the ASE. “Besides, the radio station will also have attached to it an emergency studio, where different kinds of programmes will be prepared for our listeners,” he added. Rajput told HT that one more FM radio station was also likely to be installed at Dharchula very shortly. It is a remote town, which is situated on this side of the porous Indo-Nepal border. “Through this FM station we will also be broadcasting programmes which will educate the people living in the border areas about the activities of the leftist ultras active both in Nepal and India”, he pointed out. Stating that similar FM radio stations would also be set up elsewhere in the remote areas of Kumaon the ASE said work on them (FM radio stations) would get underway as and when the required land would be available for the purpose. Besides, plans were also underway to upgrade the capacity of the existing radio stations in the region. “Take, for instance, our 1-kilowatt capacity radio station at Almora”, said the ASE. “A 50-kilowatt capacity transmitter will replace it, which would enhance the capacity of the existing radio station by as many times,” he told HT. News Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com | http://news.yahoo.com From ramnarayan.k at gmail.com Fri Jan 4 23:49:12 2008 From: ramnarayan.k at gmail.com (ramnarayan.k at gmail.com) Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:49:12 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Definition of Local Content Message-ID: <477E78A0.4070305@gmail.com> Hi Final few queries What is the definition of *Local Content* - as required by the CR rules. *** What are the rules, laws and conventions that govern use of Copy right material. Further what rules etc govern the readings from books, journals, blogs, etc and material translated from other languages and will such productions be considered local content if the artists are from the community and the production is done by community members. Similarly can appropriately licensed Creative Commons material be used and modified (where applicable) and treated as local content. *** What laws govern the use of Cover (remix ) versions. of music. *** What if the programmes made are relevant to the community and are made specifically for the community but are created elsewhere. Will this also be considered local content. Would an interview done in another language (specifically for the community) but locally translated into the local language be considered local content. Are there any language restrictions on local content. *** Again would appreciate your thoughts, inputs and suggestions. and *Best Wishes for an Radioful And creative new year 2008* regards K. Ramnarayan Himal Prakriti Munsiari Uttarakhand From media at web.net Sat Jan 5 12:14:48 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 01:44:48 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] INFORMO(T)RAC Programme - Joint Review Mission Report Message-ID: <47909.199.247.51.60.1199515488.squirrel@flymail.web.net> INFORMO(T)RAC Programme - Joint Review Mission Report by Roy Kessler and Martin Faye This evaluation report explores the role community radio stations (CRS) can play in poverty alleviation by sparking dialogue about social issues. The authors of this piece find that in 3 West African countries - Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone - CRS has contributed to civil society development and, thus, indirectly, to economic development, especially in societies that have been impacted by conflict. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/71180 From drkanchan07 at gmail.com Sun Jan 6 12:00:10 2008 From: drkanchan07 at gmail.com (Kanchan Dr.) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 12:00:10 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Extract from "Other Voices" @ The Hoot Message-ID: <21d68a140801052230h6e51e68djda4e8ff0332acb3c@mail.gmail.com> Check the link(s) below for an extract from VINOD PAVARALA and KANCHAN K MALIK's book on community radio: http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=2875&mod=1&pg=1§ionId=3&valid=true or http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/index.php -- Dr. Kanchan K. Malik Communication Discipline S N School, University of Hyderabad Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046 Phone: +91-40-23135501(O) +91-990-858-2613(M) -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-16 Size: 1624 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080106/35488cb5/attachment.bin From fred at bytesforall.org Mon Jan 7 02:21:12 2008 From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=) Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 02:21:12 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Rodriguez on Fones-Wolf, _Waves of Oppression: Labor and the Struggle for Democratic Radio_ In-Reply-To: <005801c8506f$fd71e170$0308a8c0@padma> References: <005801c8506f$fd71e170$0308a8c0@padma> Message-ID: <8ea78e010801061251xae844acp70d8bb8c4d5ace7a@mail.gmail.com> http://www.esocialsciences.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "H-Net Reviews" To: Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 11:53 PM Subject: Rodriguez on Fones-Wolf, _Waves of Oppression: Labor and the Struggle for Democratic Radio_ H-NET BOOK REVIEW Published by Jhistory at h-net.msu.edu (September, 2007) Elizabeth Fones-Wolf. _Waves of Opposition: Labor and the Struggle for Democratic Radio_. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. viii + 307 pp. Index. $60.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-252-03119-9; $25.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-252-07364-9. Reviewed for Jhistory by Joseph A. Rodriguez, Department of History, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee Elizabeth Fones-Wolf has written an intriguing volume on the history of the U.S. labor movement's radio broadcasting efforts. The book traces the battle between labor and business leaders to exploit radio. Always better funded and more politically connected, U.S. business leaders used radio to promote unrestricted free enterprise and to denounce unions, particularly during strikes. Labor responded to these attacks by fighting for greater access to radio, creating its own radio stations (both AM and FM) and protesting unfair business commentary and restrictions on labor broadcasts. Yet by the 1960s, labor's radio presence was slight. The author concludes that labor's ultimate failure resulted from a combination of factors: internal debate about the effectiveness of radio; lack of resources; censorship and repression by the commercial radio industry; the tendency of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to side with business; and the growth of television. Fones-Wolf mined numerous archival collections including a variety of union collections, records from the American Civil Liberties Union, broadcasting archives, and journals like _Variety_ and _Billboard_. She begins in the 1920s by describing the power of radio and the recognition on the part of labor unions of the medium's potential to promote labor's interests and bypass other mass media (like the mainstream press) considered antiunion. Like the working-class-oriented films analyzed by historians Steven J. Ross in _Working Class-Hollywood_ (1998) and John Bodnar in _Blue-Collar Hollywood_(2003), radio seemed to offer the chance to promote unionism. Fones-Wolf traces that development in detail. In the 1920s, due to the union's craft orientation, William Green, leader of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), failed to use radio to benefit labor. Other labor activists, though, used radio to challenge antiunionism among U.S. corporations. Such efforts led in 1926 to the Chicago Federation of Labor's founding of WCFL, which operated until the mid-1970s as a listener-supported, nonprofit station. WCFL promoted labor organizations, supported workers during strikers, and attacked scabs. Its aggressive pro-labor programming drew the ire of business owners who sought to limit labor's use of radio. To counter growing criticism of business, in the 1930s companies like DuPont used the radio to denounce the New Deal and promote an unregulated free enterprise system. Beginning in 1935, DuPont, sponsored "Cavalcade of America," an historical drama that celebrated corporate values. Similarly, Ford sponsored a music series with intermission talks that promoted business, criticized the New Deal and highlighted Ford's positive employee relations. Under a contract paid for by the radio producer Philco, commentator Boake Carter recited the news and denounced labor and the New Deal in a daily broadcast. But while business invested millions in self-promotion over the radio and reached more Americans than pro-labor programming did, Fones-Wolf suggests the impact was unclear. What was clear, Fones-Wolf notes, is that business programming provoked labor to make a concerted effort to gain access to radio. To curb anti-labor propaganda, labor first appealed to the FCC. Led by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), labor also made a much more aggressive effort to use radio to counter business claims and to promote unions. Responding to Carter, labor organized a boycott of Philco and the company dropped the commentator in 1937. Yet labor still had problems obtaining airtime. CBS and NBC refused to sell air time to unions, and others stations censored labor programs for promotion of "controversial issues" that might offend advertisers. And while the FCC mandated public programming, local network affiliates gave some airtime to unions but often edited commentaries to avoid controversies. In the 1930s unions across the country applied for radio licenses, including the powerful International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Morris S. Novik, chief media advisor for the CIO, also played a major role in promoting labor's use of radio. The United Auto Workers (UAW) formed its own radio department and produced programming that featured talks promoting organizing, supporting strikers, and denouncing unfair employee practices. Other programming included labor news, humor, and amateur hours. CIO leaders saw radio as a way to recruit workers who felt intimidated speaking to union representatives at the work place, and union programs helped with exchange of news and information during strikes. In one case, workers in their houses listened to union leaders reporting on the possible arrival of scabs and on whether workers should rush to the picket line. Labor also used radio to encourage women and children to support the union. Labor's expanded use of radio in the 1930s led to a renewed effort on the part of business in the 1940s. Businesses mounted a campaign to get labor off the air, or severely restrict what it could say. Arguing that labor programming was propaganda, business sought government intervention to limit labor's access to radio. In response to such efforts--and in the hopes it could derail potential government regulation--the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) adopted a voluntary code of ethics that severely restricted the discussion of controversial issues in radio broadcasts. Some commercial stations interpreted that code as prohibiting any labor broadcasters from discussing strikes, criticizing employers, or organizing workers. Still other stations denied unions access but allowed business leaders to criticize unions, particularly during strikes. Unions, in turn, fought back to gain more access--calling, writing, petitioning stations and the FCC, complaining about denial of airtime and censorship. In other words, stations ignored the code when pro-business commentators bashed unions, but enforced it against unions seeking access to the radio. World War II saw a concerted effort by unions to undermine the NAB code and put labor in a strong position to demand greater access to radio. For example, conservative radio commentators like NBC's H. V. Kaltenborn railed against Franklin Delano Roosevelt's war policies and criticized the labor movement in a program broadcast five times a week during evening prime time. Labor protested Kaltenborn's show and boycotted his sponsor, Pure Oil. Labor did find some outlets that ignored the code and provided airtime on independent stations, and it received some free airtime as a "public service" from the networks during the war. NBC, for example, allowed the AFL and CIO to produce "Labor for Victory," a fifteen-minute weekly show beginning in 1942. AFL shows were straightforward pronouncements on labor's efforts to win the war. CIO got more creative with dramas including one about a black worker facing discrimination in a nonunion war plant. However, NBC censored the CIO's shows, finally killing the series in 1944. (The NAB abolished the code in 1945.) Ultimately, in the 1940s, labor gained the right to buy air time and did so to combat anti-labor legislation like Taft-Hartley as well as respond to anti-labor attacks by business interests. The CIO organized educational classes to get locals up to speed on using radio effectively for organizing and protesting business attacks. Most active was the UAW, which provided training for locals and scripts to help locals put on their own broadcasts. These efforts bore fruit: in the early 1950s, Michigan had sixteen weekly local CIO radio programs. Most involved talks by labor leaders, but some included entertainment (music, drama, comedy) that served union interests and others included the voices of workers. Sponsorship of sports added to public attraction, including sponsoring high school and college basketball and football games. The Teamsters sponsored local radio broadcast of Notre Dame football in Chicago and Philadelphia. Morris Novik was instrumental in pushing unions aggressively into FM radio. Union stations offered diverse programming in Yiddish, Polish, Italian, Greek, and Ukrainian. Unions broadcast discussions on race issues and hired black disk jockeys. In the 1950s, NBC and CBS gave labor air time, but controlled the formats of the public service programming while ABC gave labor total freedom. Frank Edwards--a liberal commentator who served as the AFL's national commentator from 1950-54--was so hard hitting and critical of business and the Republicans that the AFL fired him. Guy Nunn's "Eye Opener" morning show, which began in 1954, was popular in Detroit providing labor news, commentary, sports, jokes, comedy, and consumer tips. Business tried to stifle labor's radio by appealing to the FCC, charging that labor played politics over the radio. A grand jury indicated the UAW for using radio politically during the 1954 campaign under Taft-Hartley's Federal Corrupt Practices, but the jury found the UAW not guilty. In 1968, the UAW ended "Eye Opener" and shut down its radio and television department. The author sees this as resulting from the UAW's growing conservatism and narrow political focus, but Nunn's support for civil rights also created controversy within the UAW. By the 1970s labor was rarely heard on the radio. Today, however, there has been a slight resurgence. In Wisconsin, for example, the teachers and construction unions advertise on commercial radio, possibly stimulated by antiunion advertisements that are also heard. Fones-Wolf notes there are more than sixty labor programs on radio and television throughout the United States. But labor, she concludes, needs a renewed effort to oppose corporate control of the media. This book is thoroughly researched, gracefully written, and uncovers a little-known aspect of labor history. However, this reviewer had some slight reservations. Fones-Wolf persistently draws sharp distinctions between noble labor broadcasts and evil business interests, and only slightly touches on the internal divisions of either group. The book's organizing principle, which pits labor against business in a battle for access to radio, leaves out other developments such as the changing economic landscape within which the radio industry as a whole operated; changing listener preferences and consumerism; and the rise of the transistor and car radio. Finally, there is some question regarding the impact of radio on unions. Fones-Wolf implies that while limited, labor's successes in accessing radio had some positive effect on the labor movement, but the evidence is scant. Indeed, the book is as much about business's successful antilabor programming as it is about labor's response. Nevertheless, the book will interest labor and media historians, and American historians more generally. Copyright 2007 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at hbooks at mail.h-net.msu.edu. -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ From ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in Mon Jan 7 11:51:40 2008 From: ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in (sakthi vel) Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 06:21:40 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] India: 1,000 FM radios for visually challenged Message-ID: <359615.10125.qm@web8513.mail.in.yahoo.com> 1,000 FM radios for visually challenged BANGALORE: Helping the visually impaired to reach out to the world was the motto of the day for The National Association for the Blind (NAB) who, along with Rotary Club of Bangalore, distributed around 1,000 FM radios to visually challenged persons at the NAB Rehabilitation Complex here on Saturday. It is part of Rotary Club’s ‘Support the Challenged’ initiative, which in turn was supported by Mitra Jyothi and Matru. Madhu Singhal, managing trustee of Mitra Jyothi, who is visually impaired, said: "When I was a small girl, I used to listen to the radio all day because that was my source of entertainment. I especially liked listening to cricket commentary. Listening to it on television is not as exciting because they don’t explain in detail." Jayanthi Mahesh, an administrative officer at NAB, agreed that the gesture would definitely make a difference to a visually impaired person. I. Krupakaran and Karthick M., second year students of the organisation’s Technical Training Institute (TTI), said they were grateful for the support given by NAB. Krupakaran said: "They have provided me with food, clothing, a place to stay and education. I can’t possibly ask for more." Krupakaran, who lost his eyesight at a very young age, hails from Thiruvarur near Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. He said: "There are so many people from small villages suffering from blindness who don’t know about organisations like NAB. My greatest desire is to spread awareness in these villages as I can empathise with such people." Karthick added: "We want people to see us for what we are or what we have done with our lives, and not for our disability." Mahesh Joshi, director of Doordarshan Kendra in Bangalore, was the chief guest. He distributed the radios along with S. Nagendra, Rotary District Governor nominee. //////////////////// http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/07/stories/2008010761740600.htm /////////////////////// For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 /////////////////////// 5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html From venniyoor at gmail.com Sun Jan 6 12:30:27 2008 From: venniyoor at gmail.com (sajan venniyoor) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 12:30:27 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Definition of Local Content In-Reply-To: <477E78A0.4070305@gmail.com> References: <477E78A0.4070305@gmail.com> Message-ID: <5479ae440801052300r2c772c9fo95693235c3a7333b@mail.gmail.com> Dear Ram, These are all relevant questions that we need to address urgently. All that the CR policy states is that "at least 50% of content shall be generated with the participation of the local community" and that programmes "should preferably be in the local language and dialect(s)". As far as ads are concerned, it allows "limited advertising and announcements relating to local events, local businesses and services and employment opportunities." Most of the issues you have raised - like copyright, royalties, remixes and cover versions, creative commons etc - cannot be answered from within the confines of the CR policy. Let us bring up these issues for discussion at the next CR Forum meeting, which is likely to be held a month from now. regards, Sajan On Jan 4, 2008 11:49 PM, ramnarayan.k at gmail.com wrote: > Hi > > Final few queries > > What is the definition of *Local Content* - as required by the CR rules. > > *** > What are the rules, laws and conventions that govern use of Copy right > material. > > Further what rules etc govern the readings from books, journals, blogs, > etc > and material translated from other languages > > and > > will such productions be considered local content if the artists are > from the community and the production is done by community members. > > Similarly can appropriately licensed Creative Commons material be used > and modified (where applicable) and treated as local content. > > *** > What laws govern the use of Cover (remix ) versions. of music. > > > *** > What if the programmes made are relevant to the community and are made > specifically for the community but are created elsewhere. Will this also > be considered local content. > > Would an interview done in another language (specifically for the > community) but locally translated into the local language be considered > local content. > > Are there any language restrictions on local content. > > *** > > Again would appreciate your thoughts, inputs and suggestions. > > and *Best Wishes for an Radioful And creative new year 2008* > regards > > > K. Ramnarayan > Himal Prakriti > Munsiari > Uttarakhand > > > > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080106/c2748998/attachment-0001.html From seemanair78 at yahoo.com Mon Jan 7 11:51:54 2008 From: seemanair78 at yahoo.com (seema nair) Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 22:21:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [cr-india] =?utf-8?b?4oCcQ29tbXVuaXR5IFJhZGlvOiBBIHVzZXLigJlzIGd1?= =?utf-8?q?ide_to_the_technology=E2=80=9D?= Message-ID: <966599.52180.qm@web31810.mail.mud.yahoo.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080106/47710edf/attachment-0001.html From nram at ideosyncmedia.org Mon Jan 7 16:25:25 2008 From: nram at ideosyncmedia.org (N.Ramakrishnan) Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:25:25 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] CR Forum meeting? In-Reply-To: <5479ae440801052300r2c772c9fo95693235c3a7333b@mail.gmail.com> References: <477E78A0.4070305@gmail.com> <5479ae440801052300r2c772c9fo95693235c3a7333b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4782051D.7070807@ideosyncmedia.org> People, I do hope CR Forum meetings can be publicized well in advance and not just in passing or through the grapevine! :-) These are the opportunities we get to meet an compare notes on what's happening where and how - and it behooves us to publicize these meetings sufficiently in advance to enable all those who are interested and can attend to make it. Are there any details, Sajan, on the when and where? (Ideo) Ram P.S. Perhaps. Ramnarayan, you can be Himal-Ram? LOL) N.Ramakrishnan Director of Projects Ideosync Media Combine 177, Ashoka Enclave III Sector 35, Faridabad - 121003 Haryana - India Tel: +91-0129-4131883/6510156/2254395/2254396 (Prefix 95129- from Delhi) Telfax: +91-0129-2254395 (Prefix 95129- from Delhi) Mobile: +91-9810273883 Email: nram at ideosyncmedia.org sajan venniyoor wrote: > Dear Ram, > > These are all relevant questions that we need to address urgently. All > that the CR policy states is that "at least 50% of content shall be > generated with the participation of the local community" and that > programmes "should preferably be in the local language and > dialect(s)". As far as ads are concerned, it allows "limited > advertising and announcements relating to local events, local > businesses and services and employment opportunities." > > Most of the issues you have raised - like copyright, royalties, > remixes and cover versions, creative commons etc - cannot be answered > from within the confines of the CR policy. Let us bring up these > issues for discussion at the next CR Forum meeting, which is likely to > be held a month from now. > > regards, > Sajan > > > On Jan 4, 2008 11:49 PM, ramnarayan.k at gmail.com > > wrote: > > Hi > > Final few queries > > What is the definition of *Local Content* - as required by the CR > rules. > > *** > What are the rules, laws and conventions that govern use of Copy right > material. > > Further what rules etc govern the readings from books, journals, > blogs, > etc > and material translated from other languages > > and > > will such productions be considered local content if the artists are > from the community and the production is done by community members. > > Similarly can appropriately licensed Creative Commons material be > used > and modified (where applicable) and treated as local content. > > *** > What laws govern the use of Cover (remix ) versions. of music. > > > *** > What if the programmes made are relevant to the community and are > made > specifically for the community but are created elsewhere. Will > this also > be considered local content. > > Would an interview done in another language (specifically for the > community) but locally translated into the local language be > considered > local content. > > Are there any language restrictions on local content. > > *** > > Again would appreciate your thoughts, inputs and suggestions. > > and *Best Wishes for an Radioful And creative new year 2008* > regards > > > K. Ramnarayan > Himal Prakriti > Munsiari > Uttarakhand > > > > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1212 - Release Date: 06/01/2008 22:55 > From ram at voicesindia.org Tue Jan 8 17:18:59 2008 From: ram at voicesindia.org (Ram Bhat) Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:18:59 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Invitation for Technology workshop and CRF meeting Message-ID: <772ee0830801080348v7b8fea6fkac3d9a404b50b90@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, It has been a little more than a year since the Community Radio policy has been released by the Government of India. Almost a year has passed since the Community Radio forum was declared to take forward the Community Radio movement in India. Since then, not even a single community/ NGO is *on air* with its community radio. Today, there are a mere 100 plus applications with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. There are several reasons for this. First, we do need to strengthen the awareness factor regarding community radio across the country. Secondly, even if NGOs are aware of the policy, most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor. Today, current patterns of thought appear to indicate that a community radio station will cost at least Rs 7-8 lakhs. This would eliminate most grassroots NGOs who would not know where to get this kind of support. But the larger question is: should they even be spending this much money? If community radio provides a voice to the voiceless, then whose voices are we talking about? Which communities are we talking about? It is an urgent need today to identify and isolate the main deterrents for people desirous of becoming CR practitioners. One of the main deterrents is the high cost of technology, which is fast proving to be an impediment to the community radio movement and therefore giving a voice to the poor. VOICES, a media advocacy group based in Bangalore, is happy to announce the "Technology for Radio" workshop to be held in Bangalore in the first week of February. The workshop will be preceded by a Public Meeting organized by the Community Radio Forum that will focus on key issues that confront Community Radio in the country on February 2nd, 2008. The CRF meeting will be followed by the Bangalore release of *"Other VOICES,"* edited by Kanchan Kumar and Vinod Pavrala of the Sarojini Naidu School of Communication, Hyderabad. The Technology Workshop will take place between February 3rd and 4th. It will focus on both hardware and software aspects of community radio, which will be demonstrated and discussed in detail. The opening session of the consultation will have discussions on key implications pertinent to technology and community radio. It will be followed by a release of the Technology Manual written by Ramkrishna from Ideosync and produced by UNESCO. Subsequent sessions will include a guided tour of community radio technology. These will feature demonstrations and discussions for all the different hardware components of community radio- from production to broadcast. This will include microphones, cables, studio set up, mixing consoles, computer configurations, field recorders etc. The final day of the workshop will be dedicated to showcasing and discussing softwares and mixed media models. These will include demonstrations of Free and Open Source Softwares like Audacity, Campcaster, and Ubuntu Studio etc. We will also be demonstrating mixed media models, which have been implemented on the field, which are working in sync and enhance existing community radio systems. Those of you who are interested in participating in this workshop can contact us on voices4all at gmail.com . A detailed agenda will follow shortly. Best Wishes Ashish/Ram VOICES -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080108/747f3473/attachment.html From venniyoor at gmail.com Thu Jan 10 10:31:41 2008 From: venniyoor at gmail.com (sajan venniyoor) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:31:41 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] TRAI Consultation Paper on 3rd Phase of FM broadcasting Message-ID: <5479ae440801092101k49c7c75r4ec04c9be6cbf127@mail.gmail.com> On a request from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued a Consultation Paper on the next phase of private FM licensing. About 700 new FM channels - in addition to the 238 channels identified in Phase II - are proposed in 237 cities in Phase III of FM licensing. Most of these are smaller cities not covered by FM radio at present. Many of the issues raised in the Consultation Paper, like increasing the number of FM channels per city; broadcast of news & current affairs programmes; extending FM operations from cities to districts; relaxation of fee structure in the North East and J&K etc are of considerable importance to Community Radio broadcasters. The Consultation Paper is available on the TRAI website: http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/528/cpaper8jan08.pdf. All stakeholders are requested to send their responses to TRAI by 18 Jan 2008. Sajan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Information note to the Press (Press Release No. 6 /2008) TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA For Immediate release. *TRAI issues Consultation Paper on "3rd Phase of Private FM Radio Broadcasting" * New Delhi, 8th January, 2008. Today Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a consultation paper on "Issues relating to 3rd Phase of Private FM Radio Broadcasting". Due to the huge growth of FM Radio Industry and demand for further expansion of FM Radio coverage, Government is considering expansion of FM Radio to other cities through private agencies under Phase-III. In view of this the Government has sought the recommendations of TRAI under Section 11(1) (a) of TRAI Act, 1997 on the modifications to be incorporated in the policy for FM radio broadcasting Phase-III. FM Radio broadcasting due to its versatility is considered as main medium to provide entertainment, information and education. FM Radio broadcasting was first launched in the country in 1999 and subsequently 21 private channels became operational. Based on the popularity of FM Radio among the masses, Government offered 337 new channels for bidding by private agencies covering additional cities and towns in the Phase –II in July, 2005. As an outcome of this, Letters of Intent (LOI) for 245 channels were issued and 136 channels have become operational. The 97 vacant slots of this phase were put on re-bid recently. It is expected that FM Broadcasting coverage will soon be extended to cover a total of 92 cities. A consultation paper on "Issues relating to 3rd Phase of Private FM Radio Broadcasting" has been prepared to initiate consultation process. This paper analyses various issues related to FM Radio broadcasting such as expansion of FM Radio to smaller cities including migrate from city permission concept to district permission concept, number of channels to be made available in a city, FDI cap, networking guidelines, allowing news & current affairs program on FM radio, level playing field between FM broadcasters vis-à-vis Satellite Radio broadcasters, change in ownership permission and automatic renewal of permission etc. Apart from this a number of technical issues relating to co-channel spacing and collocation of FM broadcast transmitters have been raised for deliberation. The International experiences have been compiled to get better understanding of present scenario in other countries. The full version of the consultation paper is available on TRAI web site www.trai.gov.in. All the stake holders are requested to send their response to TRAI by 18.1.2008. ___________________________________________________________ Contact details in case of any clarification: Shri S.K. Gupta, Advisor (CN), TRAI Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, New Delhi-110 002. Tel. No : 011-23217914 Fax.No : 011-23211998 E-mail: skgupta at trai.gov.in or guptask61 at gmail.com Website:www.trai.gov.in -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080110/a4f50ea8/attachment.html From media at web.net Mon Jan 7 20:09:26 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 09:39:26 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] Radio Duniya 2008 Conference Message-ID: <37114.199.247.51.60.1199716766.squirrel@flymail.web.net> ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Register Now!! - Radio Duniya 2008 Conference From: "Bharti Malhotra" Date: Mon, January 7, 2008 05:18 To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Friend, Greetings from radio duniya!! Radio is a popular medium of entertainment in India. Till recently, the state broadcaster, All India Radio, dominated the radio industry. Today, the radio industry is growing rapidly, with gradual liberalization of the governmental policies and the smooth flow of investment. The prospects of radio industry in India are colossal, with exponential opportunities in both the commercial and developmental sectors. As India witnesses the radio revolution, the need of the hour is to develop a knowledge-sharing platform that will allow an interface between the industry players, governmental agencies and the audiences. It is with this vision that Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd has launched Radio Duniya, India's first radio monthly. It is a magazine that presents all the relevant information from the radio industry and facilitates a dialogue between all the stake holders of the radio industry. Our portal www.radioduniya.in provides an insight into the happenings of the radio industry, the policies affecting the radio scenario, and all the recent developments relating to the community radio movement. There is an urgent need to bring all the decision makers on one platform to take forward the momentum and to address the issues that remain hitherto unresolved. It with this aim that 'Radio Duniya 2008' conferece is being organized. The conference is here to enliven the radio revolution by providing a platform, which connects the key players of the radio industry, which include - a.. CEO/ COO/ Bussiness Heads/ Promoters of Radio Stations b.. Policymakers and Planners c.. Media Professionals, Consultants & Specialists d.. Professionals from advertising agencies, and PR agencies e.. Engineers and Broadcasting specialists f.. Technicians and Technologists g.. Content Producers h.. Academicians and Researchers i.. Civil Society Organisations j.. International Development Agencies The conference will address the following issues: a.. Vision for the Future b.. Creative Marketing for Brand Building c.. Role of Radio programming d.. The issue of audience measurement e.. What advertisers seek from Radio f.. Growth of Community Radio g.. Policy initiatives for growth of radio industry in India. We would also be hosting the 'Radio Duniya 2008 Awards' at Radio Duniya 2008 conference, which will recognize the finest from the radio industry. Come and be a part of radio duniya 2008 which is being held from 11-12 February 2008 at Intercontinental - The Grand, Barakhamba Lane, New Delhi. See the event details at http://radioduniya.in/radioduniya2008/ Register online at http://radioduniya.in/radioduniya2008/registration.asp With warm regards, Bharti Malhotra, Sr. Manager - Marketing, Radio Duniya (http://www.radioduniya.in) Mb: 09818300368 G-4, Sector-39, Noida. Ph: +91-120-2502180 to 85, Fax: +91-120-2500060 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080107/2e373662/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RD-Logo.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 11637 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080107/2e373662/attachment-0001.jpg From media at web.net Wed Jan 9 21:16:50 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 10:46:50 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] Skype for interviews -- yes!] Message-ID: <32859.199.247.51.60.1199893610.squirrel@flymail.web.net> ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: [ncra] Skype for interviews -- yes! From: "Victoria Fenner" Date: Wed, January 9, 2008 09:41 To: ncra at ncra.ca -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I found this little on-line presentation done by professional broadcasters who have been telling people NOT to use Skype. They've changed their minds. Check this out: Skype for Interviews -- Yes! _________________________________________________________________ After years of discouraging the use of Skype for interviews here at The Conversations Network, we're now saying a resounding Yes! Paul Figgiani and I have prepared this audiovisual presentation that covers all you need to know in order to get true broadcast-quality Skype recordings. Skype for Interviews Video: http://ipost.com/rd/9z1zdbdlftmefm3i8i7boe6ki6esliukv6qe3f52dno Thanks to: Victoria Fenner artist/journalist at large http://magneticspirits.blogspot.com http://www.magneticspirits.com -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080109/ae15f239/attachment.html From stalink123 at gmail.com Thu Jan 10 15:27:43 2008 From: stalink123 at gmail.com (Stalin K) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:27:43 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] CR Forum, 2nd Annual Conference, 2nd Feb, Bangalore Message-ID: Dear all, > > The Community Radio Forum is pleased to invite you to its 2nd Annual > Conference in Bangalore on the 2nd February 2008. > at United Theological College, 63 Millers Rd, Bangalore 560046 (Behind > Cantonment Station.) 10AM to 6pm > > The Forum is all set to be registered as an Association under the Societies > Act and we intend to discuss various matters that confront potential community > radio broadcasters in the country. Many people on this list have been > consulting members of CRF on issues like application procedures, technology > options, training and capacity building etc. We have been responding these > queries through our Task Forces. The Annual Conference in Bangalore on 2nd Feb > will be a great opportunity, for those who can make it, to know more about the > Forum ­ community participation & ownership, membership criteria, application > procedures, policy issues, screening committee etc. We hope you will be able > to join us. > > The CRF Conference will be followed by a two-day workshop on "Technology for > Radio" organized by VOICES, a media advocacy group based in Bangalore. This > two day workshop will be very useful for all CR enthusiasts working to set up > their radio stations. The workshop will be on the 3rd and 4th February 2008. > > Wish you all a great year ahead!! > > Warm regards, > Stalin K. > Convener, CRF-India > > -- > C/o > DRISHTI Media, Arts & Human Rights > 103, Anand Hari Tower, Sandesh Press Road > Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380 054 > Gujarat. INDIA > Tel: +91-79-2685 1235 and 6661 4235 > Www.drishtimedia.org > Www.videovolunteers.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080110/0b7c327b/attachment.html From alokeshgupta at gmail.com Sat Jan 12 08:18:20 2008 From: alokeshgupta at gmail.com (Alokesh) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:18:20 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] A radio that lends voice to women Message-ID: <0b8001c854c5$99e150f0$2033ec7b@alokeshb286456> A radio that lends voice to women L Subramani Revi Sterling, a research scholar at University of Colorado's Atlas Institute, has designed the Alternative through Interactive Radio (AIR), a device that allows women to interact through community radio. When it comes to gender equality, India has a mixed record. While a number of women work their way up in sunrise industries, women in rural areas struggle to lead a dignified life. In places like Africa, the struggle is even more uphill as women have to tackle poverty and economic inequality. "There, women can't do the simplest of things like owning a mobile phone," said Revi Sterling, a research scholar at University of Colorado's Atlas Institute. Ms Sterling's doctoral research, however, brought freedom to women in Kenya and she expects her solution would help Indian women as well. If men don't like women brandishing mobile phones, or if women can't afford to pay for them, the best way is to look for an alternative. And Ms Sterling has done precisely that: she designed Alternative through Interactive Radio (AIR), a device that allows women to interact through community radio. "This is a simple-to-use device," Ms Sterling explained at a conference on ICTD (Information and Communication Technology for Development), organised jointly by Microsoft Research and IIIT in Bangalore. "As (the women) talk, it records their voice, much like a digital recorder, and through an Ad hoc network, allows the recorded information to reach the nearest device and also the radio station. This saves them the time and effort of going to the radio station and recording their opinions." WiFi technology Since the device is distributed for free and works on WiFi technology, which has no cost implications such as installing mobile phone base stations and buying spectrum allocated for transporting signals, women using them don't incur any expense in the process of voicing themselves. For the local radio station, where the recordings are received as voice mails in the in box of the PC, the fresh and unique perspectives women offer on policy issues to rural life becomes a good broadcast material that can be aired with little post-production work. In fact, one of the local radio stations in Kenya with which Ms Sterling works has a network of women correspondents who regularly send their dispatches. The topics on which they speak range from poverty alleviation, to health and sanitation and micro credit schemes that as changed conditions for women in several developing countries. Rather than being a mere mouth piece of these women, the radio station also plays a role in conducting awareness programmes. "Someone asking for instance, 'hey, an election is coming up, how do we vote?' or asking how to make micro credit schemes work? And the station would help them with information.". With the growing popularity of community radios in India, Ms Sterling has extended her focus to the sub-continent, where she has held talks with Bangalore-based 'Voices' to implement AIR in rural areas. "They tell me that AIR will be the right solution for the Self Help Groups," Ms Sterling said. In fact, she points to the idea of distributing AIR devices to women collectives (groups), rather than individuals, as one of the main reasons for its success in Kenya. "This made sure that the husbands of the women didn't have the chance to snatch away the device and stop them from participating." When she distributed a few AIR devices to women in SHGs, Ms Sterling also noticed how their responses defied general notions. While she expected younger women to take more interest in airing their opinions, she actually found older women showing no hesitation in talking, despite not having had a chance to record their voices before. Ms Sterling has kept the production cost to the bare minimum. She took the help of a few engineering students in her university and hand-made each of the AIR devices. She is expecting to visit India by March to fully implement the 'AIR' based community radio along with 'Voices' in some of the rural areas. Like in Kenya, she things the device would give life to thoughts that never had an expression. http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jan122008/she2008011146062.asp From venniyoor at gmail.com Sat Jan 12 13:30:46 2008 From: venniyoor at gmail.com (sajan venniyoor) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:30:46 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Nagpur Corporation to have radio station? Message-ID: <5479ae440801120000s5f819f1dtb2fa11db36f47ab0@mail.gmail.com> First, it was the Thane Municipal Corporation that just had to have a 'community radio station' ( http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2006/newsfullstory.php?id=1140612158). Now, it is the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, and by an odd coincidence, the municipal commissioner in question - both in Thane and Nagpur - appears to be the same gentleman, one Sanjay Sethi. Well, regardless of what the story below says, Mr. Sethi didn't get a CR license for the Thane Corporation and he is not likely to get one for Nagpur either. Nor does the Pune Corporation have a CR license, as the Times journo could have discovered if he/she had checked the records. The only CR licenses in Pune belong to FTII, the Univ. of Pune and VIIT Baramati - and none of them, as far as I know, is run by the PMC. And what's this about the I&B Ministry "giving three hours transmission period for the educational institutes"? Anna FM, VIIT and a couple of the others do 8 hours of broadcasting a day and they could probably run a 24-hour channel if they had the resources. Most of the campus radio stations run for three hours a day or less because they are clueless about broadcasting, not because of some mythical government rule. Sajan NMC plans to have radio station 11 Jan 2008, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/NMC_plans_to_have_radio_station/rssarticleshow/2691385.cms#write NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation has decided to cash in on the rising popularity of FM radio to spread awareness about education amongst school children and other civic activities amongst citizens. The civic body is planning to start its own 'Community radio station' or FM channel for educational purpose, said municipal commissioner Sanjay Sethi. He said, "Ministry of information and broadcasting has recently decided to give permission to educational institutes to start its community radio stations." Pune and Thane municipal corporations have already started such services in their respective cities for spreading educational awareness and on the similar lines NMC will implement the project, he added. "The aim of the project is to provide a level playing field to students studying in regional language of NMC schools by equipping them with spoken English and mathematics techniques," Sethi said. The NMC will soon apply for the permission of starting its own community radio station. However the process will require at least next six months to complete. The total project will require Rs 10 to 15 lakh for setting up well-equipped radio station and installation of broadcasting equipments, Sethi added. Civic administration has plans to go for tie-ups with private educational institutes for preparing English language and mathematics skill programmes for the students of NMC schools, he said and added that most of the private schools have given green signal for their participation in the radio programmes. Most of the students of NMC schools come from families where generally there is no communication in English. Hence, radio was chosen as a medium of instruction as it is the cheapest, most widely available and reliable distance education tool that can function even on batteries, given the erratic power supply in city. The I&B ministry will be giving three hours transmission period for the educational institutes. However, the project of community radio station will not have any plans to compete with other private radio stations, but it will work as a useful tool for spreading awareness about NMC activities. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080112/10867c04/attachment.html From chhavi at chhavisachdev.com Thu Jan 10 19:10:02 2008 From: chhavi at chhavisachdev.com (Chhavi Sachdev) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:10:02 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] cr-india Digest, Vol 50, Issue 3 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <47862032.9010303@chhavisachdev.com> Greetings all, There's no way I can afford the 10,000 rupees fee to attend the radio duniya conference. Is anyone on this list attending? And taking good notes that can be shared? :D Also, if the forum meeting is happening at the end of this month, I'd love to know when/where. I echo N.Ramakrishnan's sentiments -- forewarned is able then to rearrange schedules and travel accordingly. I've yet to make to a meeting and I would dearly love to have answered all those questions Sajan said would be best addressed at the next meeting :) Cheers, Chhavi -- *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* C H H A V I S A C H D E V radio::web::print www.chhavisachdev.com http://blog.chhavisachdev.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* From ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in Mon Jan 7 12:17:26 2008 From: ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in (sakthi vel) Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 06:47:26 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] An easy to build 6 watts SSB transceiver for 14MHz Message-ID: <723584.21697.qm@web8514.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dear Friends, This is for your info. ////////////////////// BITX is an easily assembled transceiver for the beginner with very clean performance. Using ordinary electronic components and improvising where specific components like toroids are not available, It has a minimum number of coils to be wound. All alignment is non-critical and easily achieved even without sophisticated equipment. The entire instructions to assemble the rig are given here along with relevant theory. The Indian hams have often been handicapped by a lack of low cost equipment to get them on air. A mono-band, bidirectional design using ordinary NPN transistors was developed to cater to this demand. The design can be adapted to any particular ham band by changing the RF section coils and capacitors and the VFO frequency. BITX evolved over one year from the excellent S7C receiver described in the new ARRL book ?Experimental Methods in RF Design? (an ARRLpublication) into a bi-directional transceiver. Several hams across the globe contributed to its design. A series of emails were exchanged with OM Wes Hayward (W7ZOI) during the evolution of this design. His contributions have been invaluable. He urged me to strive for higher performance from the simple design. The resultant rig has sensitive receiver capable of strong signal handling, a stable and clean transmitter capable of enough power to make contacts across the World. All the parts used in BITX are ordinary electronic spares components. Instead of expensive and hard-to-get toroids, we have used ordinary tap washers. Broad-band transformers have used TV balun cores. The entire transceiver can be assembled in India for less than Rs.300. I have designed a single side PCB with large tracks that can be easily etched at home or by any PCB shop. They are also available from OM Paddy, (VU2PEP, pepindia at yahoo.com). For those who don't read long articles ... There are a couple of things you should know before you start assembling the circuit: The same amplifier block is used throughout. But the emiiter resistors vary in some of the places. Double check the values. If you swap values, the circuit won?t stop working. It will work terribly. That might be a little difficult to diagnose in the end. Check the emitter values and the resistors that go between the base and collector. The receiving IF amplifier between the filter and the product detector is coupled to the product detector using a 100pf (not 0.1uf). The crystal filter worked for me, I used crystals from the local market marked as KDS. These are the cheapest and they work with the capacitor values given in the filter. Your crystals might require a different set of capacitors. Try the values given here, if you find the bandwidth too narrow, decrease the capacitances, if you find it too open then increase the capacitances. The microphone is directly coupled to the amplifier as my headset microphone needs 5V bias. If your microphone works without bias, then insert a 1uf in series with the microphone. The pictures show my prototype on two boards. Don?t do that, split up the VFO into a separate box. The pre-driver is built onto the main board. The driver and the PA are on a separate board. Keep the same layout to keep the PA stable. There is a 50uf on the power line soldered near the BFO, don't forget it. It cleans up the audio noise which would otherwise get into the receiver. On the PCB, there are jumpers between T lines and R lines across the ladder filter. There is a jumper from the BFO supply to the VFO supply. For more details http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/bitx.html /////////////////////// For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 /////////////////////// Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/ From info at videovolunteers.org Thu Jan 10 12:33:41 2008 From: info at videovolunteers.org (Video Volunteers) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:03:41 -0600 Subject: [cr-india] Introducing Channel 19, the 'online channel' for Community Video Units Message-ID: <97527b2e4841f668f9497c865ab95607.11375@e2ma.net> To view this email online, paste this link into your browser: http://e2ma.net/map/view=CampaignPublic/id=11375.885463918/rid=97527b2e4841f668f9497c865ab95607 ___________________________________ INTRODUCING CHANNEL 19 Happy New Year, and welcome to the first Channel 19 Newsletter that keeps you connected to the impact the Community Video Units (CVU's) are making in India. We are a Social Media Network of 13 NGO's and 75 Community Video Producers. In the last 16 months we've produced 45 video magazines reaching 130,000 people living in 200 slums and villages. Our goal is to accelerate social change by empowering local people to take action through an impact-oriented model of community video developed by Drishti and Video Volunteers. To start the New Year we're launching Channel 19, the first online channel dedicated entirely to community-produced content. This month Video Volunteers is featured on the website of America's best-selling magazine, PARADE Magazine, and is competing in America's Giving Challenge. Participation is by invitation only, so we have a good chance of winning. The four organizations that get the largest number of unique donations from their friends and supporters each win $50,000. Please help us win by DONATING TODAY! DONATE HERE: http://givingchallenge.globalgiving.com/dy/registry/ag.html?cmd=prevfund®id=835&uauserid=36160&synchronizerToken=null It's not about the amount that you give, but the fact that you contributed to the cause - each unique contribution gets us one step closer! The challenge closes January 31st at 3PM so please donate today. Funds raised through Parade Magazine's Giving Challenge will go directly to paying the Producers' salaries who are out in the field everyday providing critical information to poor communities! IMPACT OF COMMUNITY VIDEO Spotlight on Manyam Praja Video: A Community Video Unit creates impact in four main ways: it encourages local people to take action, it encourages government to take action, it expands the scale and reach of social programs, and it develops leadership. Community video is visibly empowering local people to take action at Manyam Praja Video, the CVU of Network partner Laya, which works in a very remote Tribal area with intermittent electricity and roads that keep people apart for weeks at a time. As news spreads of the screenings, people walk great distances to view and discuss them. Says Community Producer Vishwama, who only studied to fifth standard and used to work as an agricultural laborer, "The people here don't even know how to read the newspaper. Even those who can read don't have access to newspapers. Through the CVU they have their own issues addressed & solutions discussed." Watch one of Vishwama's videos. The Community Video Unit provides these tribal villagers critical information with which they take action to improve life in their community. Some examples of recent accomplishments at Laya include: * CORRUPTION: Through one film, villagers discovered the official running the ration shop was over-charging them. The government suspended the official at the villagers' demand. He now charges the correct prices. Villagers also refused to pay a local moneylender the rates he was demanding after they learned in a film what the correct interest rates should be * HEALTH: After watching a film on malaria, villagers questioned the local doctors about how they were misdiagnosing people. They report that the doctor has been much more responsible since then * WATER AND ELECTRICITY: A village received a greater supply of drinking water after they learned in a film the appropriate depth for water wells and demanded the government dig them to that depth. In a nearby village, the government also repaired the electricity supply at villagers' demand The films empower local people to take actions that result in concrete improvements. They create a new mindset where villagers know that they themselves can create change. PRODUCER SPOTLIGHT Jayasheela Chauhan, Mumbai: One of Yuva's Community Producers, from the slums of Mumbai, has been selected by the international youth media organization Listen Up! to produce a video on her community media work that will be broadcast on U.S. television in late 2008. The Listen Up! project will be the first international co-production for any Community Video Unit. The video follows Jayasheela as she learns to be an activist tackling the major international issue of water. We watch the CVU and Network partner Yuva, the NGO Jayasheela works with, rallying thousands of slum dwellers to fight for their right to clean and reliable water. Jayasheela and her fellow Producers captured footage of a near riot situation that broke out at a massive community meeting when the government and private corporations told the slum dwellers of their plans to privatize water. On a personal note, through her income working at the CVU, Jayasheela (who has no father and whose mother works as a housemaid), has been able to buy her family a new home. Watch Yuva's video on the water campaign. 2007 HIGHLIGHTS FROM VIDEO VOLUNTEERS AND DRISHTI In 2007 we took our first steps into the world of mainstream distribution, when we launched a new website, Channel 19. Why the name Channel 19? It's in reference to the 19th Article of the Declaration of Human Rights, the right to free expression. Channel 19 features shortened versions of the CVUs' Video Magazines along with impact stories. It also has 'video profiles' of the Producers where they speak of their personal transformations. In future, it will have an online store to purchase the videos and info on hiring the CVUs' production services. In 2007, we also launched "Videoshala," a new program of "Education Community Video Units" with our partner Udaan. Community Producers are producing educational films with themes of Citizenship, Diversity, and Democracy for 200 village and slum schools that were affected by the Gujarat riots of 2002. In launching Videoshala, we welcome four new NGOs into the Network--Medghdanush, Sahyog, Hindh Swaraj Mandal, and Udaan--and 24 more Producers. Drishti's Director was made Convenor of India's Community Radio Forum, a network of over 40 NGOs, academics and individuals who spent ten years fighting for the rights of community members and NGOs to run their own radio stations. The Forum recently won this legislative victory, when the government finally made 'Community Radio Stations' legal. Read about Drishti's Community Radio work on the BBC World Service website. Video Volunteers' Director was made a Fellow of Echoing Green, an organization supporting social entrepreneurs that takes 2% of applicants. We received requests to partner with more than 250 NGOs in India who are interested to start Community Media Units, a real recognition of the value of our Model. We secured mainstream media coverage for the Network on Nickelodeon and on the front page of the Times of India. Video Volunteers won NYU Stern Business School's Business Plan Competition, receiving $60,000 as well as year-long mentoring and services from business executives in developing the organization. In 2007 we also conducted research and initiated plans for international expansion in Brazil where we connected with 40 NGOs. 2008 AND THE YEAR AHEAD 2008 promises to be an even better year, in which we grow the Network of Community Video Producers and NGOs, distribute the content regionally and globally, pursue sustainability of the CVUs through earned income, and take the Producers' skills to new levels of intellectual development. Our work is an investment in the ability of the disadvantaged to articulate their issues--to give them a voice. Without the ability to communicate, inspire and structure an argument, poor communities cannot tackle their huge challenges. The journalism skills the Producers have acquired--skills in public speaking, research, debate, and talking to government officials--create the critical leadership poor communities require to solve their own problems. Please support the Community Producers and their efforts to democratize the global media from the ground up. Donate to the Fellowship Fund for Community Producers by Jan 31. All monies raised via Parade Magazine's Giving Challenge will go directly to paying Producers' salaries, and could enable us win $50,000. Also watch Channel 19, our first step in international distribution of Community Media. We are one of the larger production companies in India now--yet one that is Muslim, 'Untouchable,' Tribal, and 60% women, and therefore represents the silenced and voiceless. Thanks for watching and reading, stay tuned for our next Newsletter in the springtime. This newsletter is written and produced by Video Volunteers on behalf of the Social Media Network Get Networked! Theres a number of ways for you to keep in touch with this dynamic movement. Forward to a friend Sign up for Newsletter Support Start a CVU Watch Channel 19 Meet the Producers Ch19 on Flickr Awards Press NETWORK PARTNERS Video Volunteers Drishti Akshara Hind Swaraj Mandal Laya Navsarjan Saath Sahyog Udaan Yuva Yuvshakti Newsletter produced by Video Volunteers C/O Temin and Co., 750 Lex Ave., 26th Fl. New York, NY 10022 info at videovolunteers.org ___________________________________ forward this email to a friend http://e2ma.net/map/view=Forward/ID=11375.885463918/rid=97527b2e4841f668f9497c865ab95607/send_to_friend This email was sent to cr-india at mail.sarai.net. To ensure that you continue receiving our emails, please add us to your address book or safe list. manage your preferences ( http://e2ma.net/map/view=Manage/signupId=19225/id=11375.885463918/rid=97527b2e4841f668f9497c865ab95607 ) opt out ( http://e2ma.net/map/view=OptOut/signupId=19225/ID=11375.885463918/rid=97527b2e4841f668f9497c865ab95607 ) using TrueRemove(r). Got this as a forward? Sign up ( http://e2ma.net/map/view=Join/signupId=19225/mailingId=770497 ) to receive our future emails. email powered by Emma(R) http://www.myemma.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080110/be78684e/attachment-0001.html From fred at bytesforall.org Sun Jan 13 02:48:47 2008 From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=) Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:48:47 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Message-ID: <8ea78e010801121318x1c07dc00rf23e4b5621a166d0@mail.gmail.com> http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Express News Service Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur radio operators. Related Stories Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single party diktat Ad Links Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been arrested, are all in their twenties. A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ From ramnarayan.k at gmail.com Sat Jan 12 15:31:34 2008 From: ramnarayan.k at gmail.com (Ramnarayan.K) Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:31:34 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Technical Queries - recording outdoors and related In-Reply-To: <393519.34173.qm@web57411.mail.re1.yahoo.com> References: <477E73F2.7080603@gmail.com> <393519.34173.qm@web57411.mail.re1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <6c9588d40801120201p199d168bu8048b65094cb81a8@mail.gmail.com> Dear Mahesh, Thanks for the advise. Just two clarifications 1. Any specific suggestions for a good mike / amplifier system and the Second to do with the suggestion of recording directly through the amplifier. Am pasting your advise and my query below that > Mahesh Writes: YES YOU CAN. AND I KNOW WHAT U R THINKING AND THAT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. > AFTER RECORDING, SAY U R MUSIC OR MEETING. CONNECT THE OUTPUT OF RECORDER > (HEAD-PHONE JACK) TO INPUT/MIC (GREEN JACK) ON THE COMPUTER. OF COURSE U > WILL HAVE TO BUY CABLE WHICH HAS STEREO-PIN AT BOTH END. I BOUGHT IF TO 35\- > LAST TIME. START RECORDING THE ENTIRE PROGRAM IN SAY IN SOUNDSCAPE. AFTER > THIS YOU CAN DO THE EDITING. > If your suggestion what kind of recorder where you thinking of - digital , analogue Can i record directly onto the recording device while a public broadcast is on simultaneolusly - something like one mike out put to the mike system and another to the digital recorder. If its digital any specific ones and again if its digital once its on the device i should not need to re record onto another medium it should be ready to edit on any software of choice (mine being audacity) thanks for your advise regards ram -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080112/690798d0/attachment.html From v1clist at yahoo.co.uk Tue Jan 15 17:15:19 2008 From: v1clist at yahoo.co.uk (Vickram Crishna) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:45:19 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] Technical Queries - recording outdoors and related Message-ID: <688020.29068.qm@web26613.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Frankly, this kind of exchange belongs in the Tech group - that's why it was created. But to try and answer your 'clarifications': Any decent quality amplifier and mic combo will do for routine recording. When you want to do something that is technically difficult - say recording birdcalls from several meters away - then you need very specific equipment. Depending on what you want to achieve, the costs can range from less than a hundred bucks to many thousands. For public speeches, you have two choices: 1. Place an additional mic on the podium and record the speaker directly 2. Ask the PA guy for a spare output socket in his amplifier, and plug in your recorder there If the public meeting has several microphones present, for q&a or whatever, then the second route is the best way to get everything spoken at the meeting (into the mics, that is). Otherwise the first way is the least obtrusive and avoids inconveniencing anyone. It does draw some attention to the fact that you are recording, however. Also, if you are using tape or some such specific length medium, you have no way of going up and changing tapes. Good idea to make sure your recorder has first class batteries, so that it doesn't die halfway through. Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Ramnarayan.K To: cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Saturday, 12 January, 2008 3:31:34 PM Subject: Re: [cr-india] Technical Queries - recording outdoors and related Dear Mahesh, Thanks for the advise. Just two clarifications 1. Any specific suggestions for a good mike / amplifier system and the Second to do with the suggestion of recording directly through the amplifier. Am pasting your advise and my query below that > Mahesh Writes: YES YOU CAN. AND I KNOW WHAT U R THINKING AND THAT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. > AFTER RECORDING, SAY U R MUSIC OR MEETING. CONNECT THE OUTPUT OF RECORDER > (HEAD-PHONE JACK) TO INPUT/MIC (GREEN JACK) ON THE COMPUTER. OF COURSE U > WILL HAVE TO BUY CABLE WHICH HAS STEREO-PIN AT BOTH END. I BOUGHT IF TO 35\- > LAST TIME. START RECORDING THE ENTIRE PROGRAM IN SAY IN SOUNDSCAPE. AFTER > THIS YOU CAN DO THE EDITING. > If your suggestion what kind of recorder where you thinking of - digital , analogue Can i record directly onto the recording device while a public broadcast is on simultaneolusly - something like one mike out put to the mike system and another to the digital recorder. If its digital any specific ones and again if its digital once its on the device i should not need to re record onto another medium it should be ready to edit on any software of choice (mine being audacity) thanks for your advise regards ram -----Inline Attachment Follows----- 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/bf444571/attachment.html From v1clist at yahoo.co.uk Tue Jan 15 17:26:31 2008 From: v1clist at yahoo.co.uk (Vickram Crishna) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:56:31 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Message-ID: <995464.3086.qm@web26614.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Brrrravo! Another bunch of 'Raghav's bites the dust, but this time without the international publicity and Manthan awards.. For what crime? Illegal music, probably, although it doesn't seem like the music industry has got into the act yet. Use of spectrum without paying fees? Tsk tsk. No, perhaps it is for unauthorised use of spectrum that the government has not yet got around to renting (on our behalf, of course, we are talking about our government servants, who go to so much trouble in our service). The police/government/amateur radio enthusiasts/sneaks seemed to find it really tough to locate these guys, something the local merchants may not have had so much difficulty with, if one believes the fact that advertising money as flowing (was it enough to pay taxes? Sic the IT deptt on them!). It took a full year, again if one believes the reports, to locate, not one, but six radio stations, in a single area alone! At this rate, if more such entrepreneurs (silly fellows! Why don't they have the surname Tata, or Ambani or Mittal, or something like that, to avoid harassment, and maybe collect awards from all and sundry) exist, it may take the babus decades to rid the country of these dangerous pests. Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद To: cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Sunday, 13 January, 2008 2:48:47 AM Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Express News Service Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur radio operators. Related Stories Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single party diktat Ad Links Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been arrested, are all in their twenties. A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/1ff280b5/attachment.html From parminder at itforchange.net Tue Jan 15 14:09:54 2008 From: parminder at itforchange.net (Parminder) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:09:54 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] CRs as shared infrastructure In-Reply-To: <772ee0830801080348v7b8fea6fkac3d9a404b50b90@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20080115084021.D7CF82B29A2C@mail.sarai.net> Hi Ram and Ashish >Since then, not even a single community/ NGO is on air with its community radio. Today, there are a mere 100 plus applications with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. >There are several reasons for this. First, we do need to strengthen the awareness factor regarding community radio across the country. >Secondly, even if NGOs are aware of the policy, most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor. >Today, current patterns of thought appear to indicate that a community radio station will cost at least Rs 7-8 lakhs. This would eliminate most grassroots NGOs who would not know where to get this kind of support. But the larger question is: should they even be spending this much money? >If community radio provides a voice to the voiceless, then whose voices are we talking about? Which communities are we talking about? ...... >It is an urgent need today to identify and isolate the main deterrents for people desirous of becoming CR practitioners. One of the main deterrents is the high cost of technology, which is fast proving to be an >impediment to the community radio movement and therefore giving a voice to the poor I think the 'utility factor' is as, if not more, important than the cost factor. And if we are speaking about the costs, for most grassroots NGOs cost in terms of HR and other opportunity costs is as great as that of technology. It is not only the technology decisions that are tough - and it is my opinion that the CR discourse in India is still mostly centred on these issues - organizational resources and focus issues may be more important and far tougher. How does CR activity impact other activities that an NGO may be doing? Can it not potentially cause a major 'mission creep' that may (or may not be) problematic vis a vis core objectives of the NGO? Does it then work best through a process of specialization where some existing or new NGOs become relatively specialized as CR NGOs? But what does it do to local power relationships - between the media NGO and other client NGOs (if they do become its clients) and the between the media/ CR NGO and the community itself. We should remember that control over media processes is a very important lever of power, and in absence of sufficient checks is almost always abused. This situation is worsened by the fact that there are considerable barriers to entry in the CR field in any local community - license related barriers, technology skills barriers, cost and operation-to-scale barriers, organizational focus related barriers etc. When we consider plurality in media so important at all other levels, it is as important at the local community level. If one just looks at how some vernacular newspapers work it is easy to see how such danger can even be worse at local levels. To avoid miscommunication, at this point I must assert that I am as excited about CR possibilities and am here only pointing to the issues that should attract our attention if we are to realize its real potential. Once an NGO gets a radio license and puts up the necessary technology infrastructure it sits over a tremendous amount of 'local resources' (14-18 hours a day is a lot of broadcast time). We need to ensure a fair allocation and use of these resources, and I am not so sure that we can take it for granted because it is really grassroots NGOs that we are talking about. One thing that comes to my mind is to explore the concept of shared infrastructure in the CR area. This way we can separate the technical - that can be common and shared - from the social - that remains plural with a greater breadth of participation and ownership etc. A local CR can be managed with a thin ownership structure that represents elements of the community, including its organized groups, with full representation of marginalized sections. The CR management structure should be encouraged/obliged through license conditions and/ or otherwise (through soft self-regulation, for instance, by forums like this one) to share the 'common infrastructure' of a CR - its transmission facilities, as well as, if possible, some other levels of technology support (studio, field equipment etc) with local community based groups. This will enable a lot of local groups to use the CR infrastructure directly for their activities and - if we still have to use mainstream radio language - making their own programs, rather than responding to the reporters and editors of the CR owning organization. We know what influence these mediators can exercise on the content. This alone will truly democratize the radio technology - when all community based groups and sub-groups are able to directly use audio technology to both to represent themselves and to support their organizational activities, without the mediation of the 'local media organization'. Seeking a complete realization of this situation may be a bit idealistic, but it is important to know that this is what we need to tend towards so that the realized situation is closer to this than of a new local monopoly. Coming back to the issue of cost and utility, which really triggered this email, such sharing of CR infrastructure also greatly increases its output and utility, and makes the cost-benefit equation much more favorable. A common or shared infrastructure approach to community radio therefore appears a sensible thing both from the viewpoint of local plurality and of a viable cost-benefit equation. Such approaches, including the ones that go by the name of 'open access' approaches, are increasingly common in all ICTs, especially when the implicated infrastructure has huge barriers to entry. The dilemma that NGOs are facing today, which is described in your email, Ram, as 'most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor' (along with 'awareness factor') in my view may have both a much larger than technology/ cost context, and, accordingly, probably a different direction of seeking the right solutions. (I do notice that you too have described technology issue only as one of the deterrent.) I am not saying all CRs should compulsorily be shared. We can experiment with and promote both sole ownership and shared CRs. But the latter I think have much greater potential. In earlier times use of radio technology did need a lot of specialization and some amount of heavy, expensive and centralized equipment, which meant that the program making itself had to be centralized. Digital technologies today have democratized radio/ audio technologies, and radio programs (to use the traditional term, I would much prefer to just say contextual use of radio technology) can be made in the field by people with little amount of skill building. They need not depend on a specialized radio unit, which has the effect of centralizing the radio media, if only at a local level (in the same way as 'professional writers' in earlier times monopolized the 'written word' based media). This possibility should be used the transform the very nature of the CR format, as a common neutral technology infrastructure enabling a wide range of diversely owned/ directed activity of using radio technologies for local community and sub-community imperatives. We need to investigate and discuss issues of participation, ownership and organizational/ partnership forms in CR as much as issues of technology for moving towards a full realization of the CR opportunity. Apologies for the long posting, which was not my intention when I started to write. Parminder PS: And yes, we, as in my organization, IT for Change, will like to participate in the open forum as well as the workshop. . _____ From: cr-india-bounces at sarai.net [mailto:cr-india-bounces at sarai.net] On Behalf Of Ram Bhat Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 5:19 PM To: cr-india at sarai.net Cc: Ashish Sen Subject: [cr-india] Invitation for Technology workshop and CRF meeting Dear all, It has been a little more than a year since the Community Radio policy has been released by the Government of India. Almost a year has passed since the Community Radio forum was declared to take forward the Community Radio movement in India. Since then, not even a single community/ NGO is on air with its community radio. Today, there are a mere 100 plus applications with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. There are several reasons for this. First, we do need to strengthen the awareness factor regarding community radio across the country. Secondly, even if NGOs are aware of the policy, most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor. Today, current patterns of thought appear to indicate that a community radio station will cost at least Rs 7-8 lakhs. This would eliminate most grassroots NGOs who would not know where to get this kind of support. But the larger question is: should they even be spending this much money? If community radio provides a voice to the voiceless, then whose voices are we talking about? Which communities are we talking about? It is an urgent need today to identify and isolate the main deterrents for people desirous of becoming CR practitioners. One of the main deterrents is the high cost of technology, which is fast proving to be an impediment to the community radio movement and therefore giving a voice to the poor. VOICES, a media advocacy group based in Bangalore, is happy to announce the "Technology for Radio" workshop to be held in Bangalore in the first week of February. The workshop will be preceded by a Public Meeting organized by the Community Radio Forum that will focus on key issues that confront Community Radio in the country on February 2nd, 2008. The CRF meeting will be followed by the Bangalore release of "Other VOICES," edited by Kanchan Kumar and Vinod Pavrala of the Sarojini Naidu School of Communication, Hyderabad. The Technology Workshop will take place between February 3rd and 4th. It will focus on both hardware and software aspects of community radio, which will be demonstrated and discussed in detail. The opening session of the consultation will have discussions on key implications pertinent to technology and community radio. It will be followed by a release of the Technology Manual written by Ramkrishna from Ideosync and produced by UNESCO. Subsequent sessions will include a guided tour of community radio technology. These will feature demonstrations and discussions for all the different hardware components of community radio- from production to broadcast. This will include microphones, cables, studio set up, mixing consoles, computer configurations, field recorders etc. The final day of the workshop will be dedicated to showcasing and discussing softwares and mixed media models. These will include demonstrations of Free and Open Source Softwares like Audacity, Campcaster, and Ubuntu Studio etc. We will also be demonstrating mixed media models, which have been implemented on the field, which are working in sync and enhance existing community radio systems. Those of you who are interested in participating in this workshop can contact us on voices4all at gmail.com . A detailed agenda will follow shortly. Best Wishes Ashish/Ram VOICES -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/e6498b87/attachment-0001.html From fred at bytesforall.org Tue Jan 15 21:45:15 2008 From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:45:15 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal In-Reply-To: <995464.3086.qm@web26614.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> References: <995464.3086.qm@web26614.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <8ea78e010801150815x59291219pbe281854166be747@mail.gmail.com> Hi all, Somone told me, "Don't write about these stories. Don't circulate the news. They will simply end up getting blocked from the airwaves." I see things differently. Each time the "news" gets out, it inspires a few others ... at the end of the day, the law cannot fight what technology makes possible. FN On 15/01/2008, Vickram Crishna wrote: > > Brrrravo! Another bunch of 'Raghav's bites the dust, but this time without > the international publicity and Manthan awards.. > > > For what crime? Illegal music, probably, although it doesn't seem like the > music industry has got into the act yet. Use of spectrum without paying > fees? Tsk tsk. No, perhaps it is for unauthorised use of spectrum that the > government has not yet got around to renting (on our behalf, of course, we > are talking about our government servants, who go to so much trouble in our > service). > > The police/government/amateur radio enthusiasts/sneaks seemed to find it > really tough to locate these guys, something the local merchants may not > have had so much difficulty with, if one believes the fact that advertising > money as flowing (was it enough to pay taxes? Sic the IT deptt on them!). It > took a full year, again if one believes the reports, to locate, not one, but > six radio stations, in a single area alone! > > At this rate, if more such entrepreneurs (silly fellows! Why don't they > have the surname Tata, or Ambani or Mittal, or something like that, to avoid > harassment, and maybe collect awards from all and sundry) exist, it may take > the babus decades to rid the country of these dangerous pests. > > Vickram > http://communicall.wordpress.com > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद > To: cr-india at sarai.net > Sent: Sunday, 13 January, 2008 2:48:47 AM > Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html > > 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > Express News Service > Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email > > KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised > private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in > various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur > radio operators. > > Related Stories > > Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, > CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer > top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single > party diktat > Ad Links > > Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations > > "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths > who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) > Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj > Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large > number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio > transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan > Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been > arrested, are all in their twenties. > > A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring > station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio > stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the > Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, > GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, > it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift > stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in > Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio > broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters > are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. > -- > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 > Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > ------------------------------ > Sent from Yahoo!- a smarter inbox. > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ Campaign for real beauty : watch this film. Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does :: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/777b699e/attachment.html From v1clist at yahoo.co.uk Tue Jan 15 22:59:47 2008 From: v1clist at yahoo.co.uk (Vickram Crishna) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:29:47 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] CRs as shared infrastructure Message-ID: <484178.37723.qm@web26615.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> As usual, Parminder, you hit the nail on the head. But there are some issues with your Solomon-like solution. I don't think it was anyone's intention, starting this long journey against the worst possible odds (expecting common sense from a bureaucracy), that 'community radio' was about 'licenses' to be handed over to 'registered' NGOs. But that is exactly what the government has done, meeting every opportunity for honest development with the creation of perverse rules, designed to engender failure. The technology specifications are another thoroughly perverse decision, but for those of us with an interest in technology, this only continues decades of foolish meddling with technology by people least qualified to deal with it, much less dictate terms to the country's downtrodden citizenry. Now, it would be very marvellous, if indeed, grassroots organisations could share infrastructure of the kind the government has envisaged, in the way you outline. Indeed, it is hard to see how otherwise a public good would not turn into an albatross firmly tied around the hapless NGO's neck. However, given the present structure, sharing could turn into a very serious liability. The 'owner' NGO would be entirely responsible for the content created by the partner NGO/grassroots organisation. Instead of being involved in direct content management, it would now be forced to act as policeman. What this ridiculous unnecessary make-work job would do to the hearts and minds of the local volunteers, being nurtured into 'development' through this intervention, makes the mind boggle. Quite different, I feel, will be the alternate scenario: thousands of 'independent' stations, either independently micro-broadcasting, or time-sharing of common infrastructure, licensed as such and not 'owned' by anybody in particular, other than a service provider. For this purpose, each content producer ('licensed radio station') could self-certify compliance with a properly spelled out 'code of conduct' (not some vaguely worded feel-good words on paper. If the 'code' cannot be laid out in language that can be defended in an essay, never mind a court of law, no-one has a right to set it out as a minimum standard), and no NGO will be left holding the baby when the lights go down, because each producer will be independently responsible for each unit of content. Whether to choose the former or latter course, in terms of technology, must be a decision made at the very tiniest local level, because that is where the trees lie, the mountain stands and the electricity fails to flow. One cannot divorce technology from the manner in which it is used, any more than one can divorce form from content. Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Parminder To: cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Tuesday, 15 January, 2008 2:09:54 PM Subject: [cr-india] CRs as shared infrastructure Hi Ram and Ashish >Since then, not even a single community/ NGO is on air with its community radio. Today, there are a mere 100 plus applications with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. >There are several reasons for this. First, we do need to strengthen the awareness factor regarding community radio across the country. >Secondly, even if NGOs are aware of the policy, most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor. >Today, current patterns of thought appear to indicate that a community radio station will cost at least Rs 7-8 lakhs. This would eliminate most grassroots NGOs who would not know where to get this kind of support. But the larger question is: should they even be spending this much money? >If community radio provides a voice to the voiceless, then whose voices are we talking about? Which communities are we talking about? ……………… >It is an urgent need today to identify and isolate the main deterrents for people desirous of becoming CR practitioners. One of the main deterrents is the high cost of technology, which is fast proving to be an >impediment to the community radio movement and therefore giving a voice to the poor I think the ‘utility factor’ is as, if not more, important than the cost factor. And if we are speaking about the costs, for most grassroots NGOs cost in terms of HR and other opportunity costs is as great as that of technology. It is not only the technology decisions that are tough – and it is my opinion that the CR discourse in India is still mostly centred on these issues – organizational resources and focus issues may be more important and far tougher. How does CR activity impact other activities that an NGO may be doing? Can it not potentially cause a major ‘mission creep’ that may (or may not be) problematic vis a vis core objectives of the NGO? Does it then work best through a process of specialization where some existing or new NGOs become relatively specialized as CR NGOs? But what does it do to local power relationships – between the media NGO and other client NGOs (if they do become its clients) and the between the media/ CR NGO and the community itself. We should remember that control over media processes is a very important lever of power, and in absence of sufficient checks is almost always abused. This situation is worsened by the fact that there are considerable barriers to entry in the CR field in any local community – license related barriers, technology skills barriers, cost and operation-to-scale barriers, organizational focus related barriers etc. When we consider plurality in media so important at all other levels, it is as important at the local community level. If one just looks at how some vernacular newspapers work it is easy to see how such danger can even be worse at local levels. To avoid miscommunication, at this point I must assert that I am as excited about CR possibilities and am here only pointing to the issues that should attract our attention if we are to realize its real potential. Once an NGO gets a radio license and puts up the necessary technology infrastructure it sits over a tremendous amount of ‘local resources’ (14-18 hours a day is a lot of broadcast time). We need to ensure a fair allocation and use of these resources, and I am not so sure that we can take it for granted because it is really grassroots NGOs that we are talking about. One thing that comes to my mind is to explore the concept of shared infrastructure in the CR area. This way we can separate the technical – that can be common and shared – from the social - that remains plural with a greater breadth of participation and ownership etc. A local CR can be managed with a thin ownership structure that represents elements of the community, including its organized groups, with full representation of marginalized sections. The CR management structure should be encouraged/obliged through license conditions and/ or otherwise (through soft self-regulation, for instance, by forums like this one) to share the ‘common infrastructure’ of a CR – its transmission facilities, as well as, if possible, some other levels of technology support (studio, field equipment etc) with local community based groups. This will enable a lot of local groups to use the CR infrastructure directly for their activities and – if we still have to use mainstream radio language – making their own programs, rather than responding to the reporters and editors of the CR owning organization. We know what influence these mediators can exercise on the content. This alone will truly democratize the radio technology – when all community based groups and sub-groups are able to directly use audio technology to both to represent themselves and to support their organizational activities, without the mediation of the ‘local media organization’. Seeking a complete realization of this situation may be a bit idealistic, but it is important to know that this is what we need to tend towards so that the realized situation is closer to this than of a new local monopoly. Coming back to the issue of cost and utility, which really triggered this email, such sharing of CR infrastructure also greatly increases its output and utility, and makes the cost-benefit equation much more favorable. A common or shared infrastructure approach to community radio therefore appears a sensible thing both from the viewpoint of local plurality and of a viable cost-benefit equation. Such approaches, including the ones that go by the name of ‘open access’ approaches, are increasingly common in all ICTs, especially when the implicated infrastructure has huge barriers to entry. The dilemma that NGOs are facing today, which is described in your email, Ram, as ‘most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor’ (along with ‘awareness factor’) in my view may have both a much larger than technology/ cost context, and, accordingly, probably a different direction of seeking the right solutions. (I do notice that you too have described technology issue only as one of the deterrent.) I am not saying all CRs should compulsorily be shared. We can experiment with and promote both sole ownership and shared CRs. But the latter I think have much greater potential. In earlier times use of radio technology did need a lot of specialization and some amount of heavy, expensive and centralized equipment, which meant that the program making itself had to be centralized. Digital technologies today have democratized radio/ audio technologies, and radio programs (to use the traditional term, I would much prefer to just say contextual use of radio technology) can be made in the field by people with little amount of skill building. They need not depend on a specialized radio unit, which has the effect of centralizing the radio media, if only at a local level (in the same way as ‘professional writers’ in earlier times monopolized the ‘written word’ based media). This possibility should be used the transform the very nature of the CR format, as a common neutral technology infrastructure enabling a wide range of diversely owned/ directed activity of using radio technologies for local community and sub-community imperatives. We need to investigate and discuss issues of participation, ownership and organizational/ partnership forms in CR as much as issues of technology for moving towards a full realization of the CR opportunity. Apologies for the long posting, which was not my intention when I started to write. Parminder PS: And yes, we, as in my organization, IT for Change, will like to participate in the open forum as well as the workshop. . From: cr-india-bounces at sarai.net [mailto:cr-india-bounces at sarai.net] On Behalf Of Ram Bhat Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 5:19 PM To: cr-india at sarai.net Cc: Ashish Sen Subject: [cr-india] Invitation for Technology workshop and CRF meeting Dear all, It has been a little more than a year since the Community Radio policy has been released by the Government of India. Almost a year has passed since the Community Radio forum was declared to take forward the Community Radio movement in India . Since then, not even a single community/ NGO is on air with its community radio. Today, there are a mere 100 plus applications with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. There are several reasons for this. First, we do need to strengthen the awareness factor regarding community radio across the country. Secondly, even if NGOs are aware of the policy, most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor. Today, current patterns of thought appear to indicate that a community radio station will cost at least Rs 7-8 lakhs. This would eliminate most grassroots NGOs who would not know where to get this kind of support. But the larger question is: should they even be spending this much money? If community radio provides a voice to the voiceless, then whose voices are we talking about? Which communities are we talking about? It is an urgent need today to identify and isolate the main deterrents for people desirous of becoming CR practitioners. One of the main deterrents is the high cost of technology, which is fast proving to be an impediment to the community radio movement and therefore giving a voice to the poor. VOICES, a media advocacy group based in Bangalore , is happy to announce the "Technology for Radio" workshop to be held in Bangalore in the first week of February. The workshop will be preceded by a Public Meeting organized by the Community Radio Forum that will focus on key issues that confront Community Radio in the country on February 2nd, 2008. The CRF meeting will be followed by the Bangalore release of "Other VOICES," edited by Kanchan Kumar and Vinod Pavrala of the Sarojini Naidu School of Communication, Hyderabad . The Technology Workshop will take place between February 3rd and 4th. It will focus on both hardware and software aspects of community radio, which will be demonstrated and discussed in detail. The opening session of the consultation will have discussions on key implications pertinent to technology and community radio. It will be followed by a release of the Technology Manual written by Ramkrishna from Ideosync and produced by UNESCO. Subsequent sessions will include a guided tour of community radio technology. These will feature demonstrations and discussions for all the different hardware components of community radio- from production to broadcast. This will include microphones, cables, studio set up, mixing consoles, computer configurations, field recorders etc. The final day of the workshop will be dedicated to showcasing and discussing softwares and mixed media models. These will include demonstrations of Free and Open Source Softwares like Audacity, Campcaster, and Ubuntu Studio etc. We will also be demonstrating mixed media models, which have been implemented on the field, which are working in sync and enhance existing community radio systems. Those of you who are interested in participating in this workshop can contact us on voices4all at gmail.com . A detailed agenda will follow shortly. Best Wishes Ashish/Ram VOICES -----Inline Attachment Follows----- 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/4c209ade/attachment-0001.html From v1clist at yahoo.co.uk Tue Jan 15 23:27:58 2008 From: v1clist at yahoo.co.uk (Vickram Crishna) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:57:58 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Message-ID: <239413.40443.qm@web26602.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Someone told you? Maybe I told you. I am sure others will have too. If the only means of communicating dissent to our citizens is through the international media, the country is definitely in a very sorry state. Which it isn't. All we need do is be sensible, and help bring about a situation where, if the government won't act right because it is common sense, then it will do so because it is fait accompli. Which (the latter) won't happen if genuine community stations ae not allowed to flourish. We all know the history of Italy, where for a stunning 30 years, radio stations were allowed to run without silly controls or meaningless licenses. A country much like ours, except that they do not have the additional divides of incomprehensibly different languages north, south, east and west. What did they get out of it? The finest technology and lowest prices in transmission equipment - despite the fact they are not a low cost economy. An atmosphere of independence so strong that shopkeepers today are beginning to adopt public solidarity in order to battle the dreaded Cosa Nostra, something no amount of government action could do in a hundred years (before which it wasn't the criminal organisation it has become). Is there a lesson here our rulers, sorry, I mean of course government servants, can learn? Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद To: Vickram Crishna ; cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Tuesday, 15 January, 2008 9:45:15 PM Subject: Re: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Hi all, Somone told me, "Don't write about these stories. Don't circulate the news. They will simply end up getting blocked from the airwaves." I see things differently. Each time the "news" gets out, it inspires a few others ... at the end of the day, the law cannot fight what technology makes possible. FN On 15/01/2008, Vickram Crishna wrote: Brrrravo! Another bunch of 'Raghav's bites the dust, but this time without the international publicity and Manthan awards.. For what crime? Illegal music, probably, although it doesn't seem like the music industry has got into the act yet. Use of spectrum without paying fees? Tsk tsk. No, perhaps it is for unauthorised use of spectrum that the government has not yet got around to renting (on our behalf, of course, we are talking about our government servants, who go to so much trouble in our service). The police/government/amateur radio enthusiasts/sneaks seemed to find it really tough to locate these guys, something the local merchants may not have had so much difficulty with, if one believes the fact that advertising money as flowing (was it enough to pay taxes? Sic the IT deptt on them!). It took a full year, again if one believes the reports, to locate, not one, but six radio stations, in a single area alone! At this rate, if more such entrepreneurs (silly fellows! Why don't they have the surname Tata, or Ambani or Mittal, or something like that, to avoid harassment, and maybe collect awards from all and sundry) exist, it may take the babus decades to rid the country of these dangerous pests. Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद < fred at bytesforall.org> To: cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Sunday, 13 January, 2008 2:48:47 AM Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Express News Service Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur radio operators. Related Stories Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single party diktat Ad Links Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been arrested, are all in their twenties. A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox. 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ Campaign for real beauty : watch this film. Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does :: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/84793032/attachment.html From venniyoor at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 11:18:38 2008 From: venniyoor at gmail.com (sajan venniyoor) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:18:38 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal In-Reply-To: <239413.40443.qm@web26602.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> References: <239413.40443.qm@web26602.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <5479ae440801152148k3978fdbmb2ca3f3fa78f9b@mail.gmail.com> The news story mentioned that the pirate stations (is there a more polite word for it? free radio?) were interfering with All India Radio's channels. (Incidentally, this is pretty good strategy for a 'pirate', for in a limited area - the story mentions 5 to 7 kilometres radius - an unlicensed channel could well drown out another broadcaster's attenuated signal and effectively hijack it). I'm sorry, Vickram, but isn't that a good argument for controls and licenses, to ensure that frequencies are used fairly, sensibly and equitably? I know you have issues with that 'equitable' part, but surely you agree about the need to prevent interference. I am also not convinced that it is OK for someone to broadcast commercial music - and earn revenue through advertisements - without paying for the privilege, but that's a separate issue. With the possible exception of the original Raghav Mahto - and the jury is still out on that one - every other pirate radio story that we have come across has involved someone using unlicensed radio for religious propaganda (like Mullah Radio in Swat) or for making a quick buck at someone else's expense. I am not sure that Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra is what we had in mind when we lobbied for community radio, but I completely agree with Vickram's point that such dubious Betar Kendras are less likely to come up if genuine community radio is allowed to flourish. Sajan On 1/15/08, Vickram Crishna wrote: > > Someone told you? Maybe I told you. I am sure others will have too. If > the only means of communicating dissent to our citizens is through the > international media, the country is definitely in a very sorry state. Which > it isn't. > > All we need do is be sensible, and help bring about a situation where, if > the government won't act right because it is common sense, then it will do > so because it is fait accompli. Which (the latter) won't happen if genuine > community stations ae not allowed to flourish. > > We all know the history of Italy, where for a stunning 30 years, radio > stations were allowed to run without silly controls or meaningless licenses. > A country much like ours, except that they do not have the additional > divides of incomprehensibly different languages north, south, east and west. > What did they get out of it? > > The finest technology and lowest prices in transmission equipment - > despite the fact they are not a low cost economy. An atmosphere of > independence so strong that shopkeepers today are beginning to adopt public > solidarity in order to battle the dreaded Cosa Nostra, something no amount > of government action could do in a hundred years (before which it wasn't the > criminal organisation it has become). Is there a lesson here our rulers, > sorry, I mean of course government servants, can learn? > > > Vickram > http://communicall.wordpress.com > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद > To: Vickram Crishna ; cr-india at sarai.net > Sent: Tuesday, 15 January, 2008 9:45:15 PM > Subject: Re: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > Hi all, Somone told me, "Don't write about these stories. Don't circulate > the news. They will simply end up getting blocked from the airwaves." > > I see things differently. Each time the "news" gets out, it inspires a few > others ... at the end of the day, the law cannot fight what technology makes > possible. FN > > On 15/01/2008, Vickram Crishna wrote: > > > > Brrrravo! Another bunch of 'Raghav's bites the dust, but this time > > without the international publicity and Manthan awards.. > > > > > > For what crime? Illegal music, probably, although it doesn't seem like > > the music industry has got into the act yet. Use of spectrum without paying > > fees? Tsk tsk. No, perhaps it is for unauthorised use of spectrum that the > > government has not yet got around to renting (on our behalf, of course, we > > are talking about our government servants, who go to so much trouble in our > > service). > > > > The police/government/amateur radio enthusiasts/sneaks seemed to find it > > really tough to locate these guys, something the local merchants may not > > have had so much difficulty with, if one believes the fact that advertising > > money as flowing (was it enough to pay taxes? Sic the IT deptt on them!). It > > took a full year, again if one believes the reports, to locate, not one, but > > six radio stations, in a single area alone! > > > > At this rate, if more such entrepreneurs (silly fellows! Why don't they > > have the surname Tata, or Ambani or Mittal, or something like that, to avoid > > harassment, and maybe collect awards from all and sundry) exist, it may take > > the babus decades to rid the country of these dangerous pests. > > > > Vickram > > http://communicall.wordpress.com > > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > > From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद < fred at bytesforall.org> > > To: cr-india at sarai.net > > Sent: Sunday, 13 January, 2008 2:48:47 AM > > Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > > > http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html > > > > 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > Express News Service > > Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email > > > > KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised > > private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in > > various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur > > radio operators. > > > > Related Stories > > > > Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, > > CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer > > top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single > > party diktat > > Ad Links > > > > Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations > > > > "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths > > who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) > > Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj > > Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large > > number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio > > transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan > > Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been > > arrested, are all in their twenties. > > > > A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring > > station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio > > stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the > > Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, > > GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, > > it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift > > stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in > > Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio > > broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters > > are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. > > -- > > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 > > Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ > > > > 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 > > cr-india at sarai.net > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Sent from Yahoo!- a smarter inbox. > > > > > > > > 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 > > cr-india at sarai.net > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > > > > -- > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 > Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ > > Campaign for real beauty : watch this film. Talk to your daughter before > the beauty industry does :: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp > > > > ------------------------------ > Support the World Aids Awareness campaign this month with Yahoo! for Good > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-2 Size: 15887 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080116/e97e8741/attachment-0001.bin From geeta.malhotra16 at gmail.com Wed Jan 16 15:43:33 2008 From: geeta.malhotra16 at gmail.com (Geeta Malhotra) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:43:33 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Community Radio Workshop at Tilonia-Rajasthan Message-ID: <814bfe740801160213v42f70414v6760bbe64778c37c@mail.gmail.com> Dear friends I am taking this opportunity to share with you all that I have joined Digital Empowerment Foundation. Digital Empowerment Foundation, in association with Barefoot College (Social Work and Research Centre), Tilonia, Media Lab Asia and SEWA, Ahmedabad, is organsing a Workshop on "Community Radio in the hands of Communities : Operations and Collaborations " during 2-4 February 2008, at Tilonia, District Ajmer, Rajasthan. The three days Workshop will dovetail around : Linkages between Community Radio and Community Development Importance of Community Radio for Information and Knowledge-based empowerment process Community Radio practices followed by licensing or vice-versa Content from Communities for Community Radio Importance of training, capacity building and handholding for Community Radio success Financial viability Various technology options The participants would be Grassroots Communications experts from Tilonia; women from SEWA; representatives of NGOs. The Workshop would be based on the participatory approach and learning from each other. The Resource Persons would be sharing the policy guidelines; how to prepare for applying the license and various technology options apart from Content from the Communities and for Community Needs. A copy of the tentative Agenda is enclosed. We plan to have six Regional Workhops during this year in Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and, if possible, North East. Interested organisations are welcome to write to us if they would like to attend this Workshop, specially from Rajasthan. Best regards Geeta Malhotra Director-Projects and Strategic Alliance Digital Empowerment Foundation 12/17, Sarvapriya Vihar New Delhi-110017 (0) 91-11-26532786-87 www.defindia.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080116/8e752351/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Tentative_Agenda_on_CR_workshop_at_Tilonia.doc Type: application/msword Size: 107008 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080116/8e752351/attachment-0001.doc From ram at voicesindia.org Wed Jan 16 15:50:31 2008 From: ram at voicesindia.org (Ram Bhat) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:50:31 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Details for technology workshop and CRF meeting. Message-ID: <772ee0830801160220w2aba11f5r3c9f2de7b24f8feb@mail.gmail.com> Dear All, Following our last email on cr-india about the consultation, we've received a lot of emails from many people expressing interest. Thank you for your response. Please see attached the agenda and concept note for the workshop. The venue of the workshop is: *United Theological College, 63 Miller's Road, Benson Town, Bangalore-46 *The dates of the workshop are: *3rd and 4th February, 2008* Please note that VOICES can facilitate accommodation bookings. However, participants will need to pay for their own travel and accommodation. Please do revert at the earliest so that we can appropriate arrangements. We would be grateful if you let us know accomodation requirements by January 21st. *Costs of the Rooms range from Rs 500/ to Rs 700 /- per person per day.* *Please note that the 2nd Annual Community Radio Forum (CRF) meeting is also being held at the same venue on 2nd of February 2008.* Those interested can let us know and we can reserve rooms at the venue or at a nearby hotel. Please contact voices4all at gmail.com for more details about the workshop or if you need more information. -- Best Wishes, VOICES team. p.s- those of you who are from Bangalore, can directly attend the workshop. There is no registration fees. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080116/a811cbb5/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Concept Note_Technology Consultation_VOICES.doc Type: application/msword Size: 24576 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080116/a811cbb5/attachment-0002.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: VOICES_technology for radio consultation.doc Type: application/msword Size: 29696 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080116/a811cbb5/attachment-0003.doc From phuntsok at tcv.org.in Wed Jan 16 20:17:46 2008 From: phuntsok at tcv.org.in (Phuntsok Dorjee) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:17:46 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] a nice portable transmitter for an office Message-ID: <478E1912.3070808@tcv.org.in> Hi all, I got an email from a friend who works in an NGO which organizes frequent workshops in the tibetan communities in India. They want to buy 2 small transmitters to use during the workshops. I would appreciate if someone could recommend one which is "Made in India". By the way, Tibetan Children's Village got the call letter for the Presentation before the Screening Committee on 18th of this month. Cheers! Phuntsok Dorjee From v1clist at yahoo.co.uk Wed Jan 16 23:35:07 2008 From: v1clist at yahoo.co.uk (Vickram Crishna) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:05:07 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal Message-ID: <545378.52531.qm@web26607.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> (Incidentally, this is pretty good strategy for a 'pirate', for in a limited area - the story mentions 5 to 7 kilometres radius - an unlicensed channel could well drown out another broadcaster's attenuated signal and effectively hijack it). I'm sorry, Vickram, but isn't that a good argument for controls and licenses, to ensure that frequencies are used fairly, sensibly and equitably? No, I don't think it is good strategy. A sensible pirate will use an available frequency, not draw attention to pointlessly mischievous activity and invite trouble. That is what an agitator would do, to sabotage a smooth citizen-driven media environment. It is a very good argument -- for local controls and license implementation, if not mere endorsement; endorsement of a locally recommended frequency, for instance. Exactly the capability the Centre has already announced that it is incompetent to deal with - regulation and monitoring. Even give some much needed money locally, for collecting the fee. In all discussions on e-Governance, commentators say repeatedly that a perfect e-system is when the government becomes invisible, when routine matters are treated efficiently. Licensing RF is one of the most obvious. every other pirate radio story that we have come across has involved someone using unlicensed radio for religious propaganda (like Mullah Radio in Swat) or for making a quick buck at someone else's expense. I am not sure that Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra is what we had in mind when we lobbied for community radio, but I completely agree with Vickram's point that such dubious Betar Kendras are less likely to come up if genuine community radio is allowed to flourish. That is simply not the complete answer. We have many examples publicised here over the years of varieties of pirate community radio flourishing in parts of South America. Our Italian friends who have been so helpful in supporting the growth of this movement have told us about 20-30 years - years! - of unlicensed radio there. And who are we to dictate what kind of radio service and content will prove to be a. sustainable and b. needed, when we have only one model tried, tested, and found sadly wanting over the decades? I agree the name you mentioned is possible to snigger about, but that it is no better or worse, probably, than the tasteless rubbish masquerading as epic 'faith-based' history being purveyed on television. The less said about 'family dramas', the better. Such wholesome social development-centric material! As for the issues of copyrighted materials being broadcast without permission, I am afraid that situation will continue as long as the government supports only one kind of pirate - the sort of people that music composer AR Rehman has just refused to work with, on the grounds that they do not protect his copyright. Not good, for ethical reasons, but still it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. And in this case being backed by the government, against the interests of the content creators. Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: sajan venniyoor To: cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Wednesday, 16 January, 2008 11:18:38 AM Subject: Re: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal The news story mentioned that the pirate stations (is there a more polite word for it? free radio?) were interfering with All India Radio's channels. (Incidentally, this is pretty good strategy for a 'pirate', for in a limited area - the story mentions 5 to 7 kilometres radius - an unlicensed channel could well drown out another broadcaster's attenuated signal and effectively hijack it). I'm sorry, Vickram, but isn't that a good argument for controls and licenses, to ensure that frequencies are used fairly, sensibly and equitably? I know you have issues with that 'equitable' part, but surely you agree about the need to prevent interference. I am also not convinced that it is OK for someone to broadcast commercial music - and earn revenue through advertisements - without paying for the privilege, but that's a separate issue. With the possible exception of the original Raghav Mahto - and the jury is still out on that one - every other pirate radio story that we have come across has involved someone using unlicensed radio for religious propaganda (like Mullah Radio in Swat) or for making a quick buck at someone else's expense. I am not sure that Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra is what we had in mind when we lobbied for community radio, but I completely agree with Vickram's point that such dubious Betar Kendras are less likely to come up if genuine community radio is allowed to flourish. Sajan On 1/15/08, Vickram Crishna wrote: > > Someone told you? Maybe I told you. I am sure others will have too. If > the only means of communicating dissent to our citizens is through the > international media, the country is definitely in a very sorry state. Which > it isn't. > > All we need do is be sensible, and help bring about a situation where, if > the government won't act right because it is common sense, then it will do > so because it is fait accompli. Which (the latter) won't happen if genuine > community stations ae not allowed to flourish. > > We all know the history of Italy, where for a stunning 30 years, radio > stations were allowed to run without silly controls or meaningless licenses. > A country much like ours, except that they do not have the additional > divides of incomprehensibly different languages north, south, east and west. > What did they get out of it? > > The finest technology and lowest prices in transmission equipment - > despite the fact they are not a low cost economy. An atmosphere of > independence so strong that shopkeepers today are beginning to adopt public > solidarity in order to battle the dreaded Cosa Nostra, something no amount > of government action could do in a hundred years (before which it wasn't the > criminal organisation it has become). Is there a lesson here our rulers, > sorry, I mean of course government servants, can learn? > > > Vickram > http://communicall.wordpress.com > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद > To: Vickram Crishna ; cr-india at sarai.net > Sent: Tuesday, 15 January, 2008 9:45:15 PM > Subject: Re: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > Hi all, Somone told me, "Don't write about these stories. Don't circulate > the news. They will simply end up getting blocked from the airwaves." > > I see things differently. Each time the "news" gets out, it inspires a few > others ... at the end of the day, the law cannot fight what technology makes > possible. FN > > On 15/01/2008, Vickram Crishna wrote: > > > > Brrrravo! Another bunch of 'Raghav's bites the dust, but this time > > without the international publicity and Manthan awards.. > > > > > > For what crime? Illegal music, probably, although it doesn't seem like > > the music industry has got into the act yet. Use of spectrum without paying > > fees? Tsk tsk. No, perhaps it is for unauthorised use of spectrum that the > > government has not yet got around to renting (on our behalf, of course, we > > are talking about our government servants, who go to so much trouble in our > > service). > > > > The police/government/amateur radio enthusiasts/sneaks seemed to find it > > really tough to locate these guys, something the local merchants may not > > have had so much difficulty with, if one believes the fact that advertising > > money as flowing (was it enough to pay taxes? Sic the IT deptt on them!). It > > took a full year, again if one believes the reports, to locate, not one, but > > six radio stations, in a single area alone! > > > > At this rate, if more such entrepreneurs (silly fellows! Why don't they > > have the surname Tata, or Ambani or Mittal, or something like that, to avoid > > harassment, and maybe collect awards from all and sundry) exist, it may take > > the babus decades to rid the country of these dangerous pests. > > > > Vickram > > http://communicall.wordpress.com > > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > > From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद < fred at bytesforall.org> > > To: cr-india at sarai.net > > Sent: Sunday, 13 January, 2008 2:48:47 AM > > Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > > > http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html > > > > 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > Express News Service > > Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email > > > > KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised > > private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in > > various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur > > radio operators. > > > > Related Stories > > > > Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, > > CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer > > top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single > > party diktat > > Ad Links > > > > Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations > > > > "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths > > who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) > > Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj > > Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large > > number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio > > transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan > > Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been > > arrested, are all in their twenties. > > > > A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring > > station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio > > stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the > > Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, > > GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, > > it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift > > stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in > > Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio > > broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters > > are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. > > -- > > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 > > Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ > > > > 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 > > cr-india at sarai.net > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Sent from Yahoo!- a smarter inbox. > > > > > > > > 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 > > cr-india at sarai.net > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > > > > -- > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 > Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ > > Campaign for real beauty : watch this film. Talk to your daughter before > the beauty industry does :: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp > > > > ------------------------------ > Support the World Aids Awareness campaign this month with Yahoo! for Good > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080116/f291c3a8/attachment.html From v1clist at yahoo.co.uk Thu Jan 17 09:52:50 2008 From: v1clist at yahoo.co.uk (Vickram Crishna) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:22:50 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] a nice portable transmitter for an office Message-ID: <377738.7782.qm@web26604.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Our Radiophony website is a bit in need of upgrading (I'm getting around to it), but the information on how to assemble a perfectly good, tried, and tested micropower transmitter for less than Rs200 is plain and clear. It can be done by anyone with rudimentary soldering skills and access to an electronic components shop. Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Phuntsok Dorjee To: community radio Sent: Wednesday, 16 January, 2008 8:17:46 PM Subject: [cr-india] a nice portable transmitter for an office Hi all, I got an email from a friend who works in an NGO which organizes frequent workshops in the tibetan communities in India. They want to buy 2 small transmitters to use during the workshops. I would appreciate if someone could recommend one which is "Made in India". By the way, Tibetan Children's Village got the call letter for the Presentation before the Screening Committee on 18th of this month. Cheers! Phuntsok Dorjee 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080117/de75649e/attachment-0001.html From nram at ideosyncmedia.org Thu Jan 17 10:48:32 2008 From: nram at ideosyncmedia.org (N.Ramakrishnan) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:48:32 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] a nice portable transmitter for an office In-Reply-To: <478E1912.3070808@tcv.org.in> References: <478E1912.3070808@tcv.org.in> Message-ID: <478EE528.5000502@ideosyncmedia.org> Dear Phuntsok: Excellent news about the screening commitee call - look us up when you're in Delhi! Hevalvani from Uttarakhand is presenting today! Warmest, Ram N.Ramakrishnan Director of Projects Ideosync Media Combine 177, Ashoka Enclave III Sector 35, Faridabad - 121003 Haryana - India Tel: +91-0129-4131883/6510156/2254395/2254396 (Prefix 95129- from Delhi) Telfax: +91-0129-2254395 (Prefix 95129- from Delhi) Mobile: +91-9810273883 Email: nram at ideosyncmedia.org Phuntsok Dorjee wrote: > Hi all, > > I got an email from a friend who works in an NGO which organizes > frequent workshops in the tibetan communities in India. They want to buy > 2 small transmitters to use during the workshops. I would appreciate if > someone could recommend one which is "Made in India". > > By the way, Tibetan Children's Village got the call letter for the > Presentation before the Screening Committee on 18th of this month. > > Cheers! > > Phuntsok Dorjee > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.5/1228 - Release Date: 16/01/2008 09:01 > From fred at bytesforall.org Wed Jan 16 22:45:56 2008 From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:45:56 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal In-Reply-To: <5479ae440801152148k3978fdbmb2ca3f3fa78f9b@mail.gmail.com> References: <239413.40443.qm@web26602.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> <5479ae440801152148k3978fdbmb2ca3f3fa78f9b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <8ea78e010801160915l1dee68b0x25c633ac1e11a091@mail.gmail.com> On 16/01/2008, sajan venniyoor wrote: > With the possible exception of the original Raghav Mahto - and the jury is > still out on that one - every other pirate radio story that we have come > across has involved someone using unlicensed radio for religious propaganda > (like Mullah Radio in Swat) or for making a quick buck at someone else's > expense. I suspect these are likely to show up even in the 'licensed' CR radio stations. Time will tell whether the community has been active enough to self-regulate itself effectively on this score. FN -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ Campaign for real beauty : watch this film. Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does :: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp From media at web.net Wed Jan 16 20:32:03 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:02:03 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] JOB: Radio La Benevolencija - Project Manager/Editor - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Message-ID: <43020.199.247.51.62.1200495723.squirrel@flymail.web.net> Radio La Benevolencija Project Manager/Editor - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) The successful candidate will be an experienced media professional able to manage a mixed media project for promoting reconciliation, trauma healing, and peace building in the DRC. S/he must have at least five years of experience developing, managing, and supervising educational radio drama. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/266668 Contact info at labenevolencija.org From media at web.net Mon Jan 21 20:45:38 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:15:38 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] Panos South Asia (PSA) Online Radio Broadcasting Training Workshop Message-ID: <43161.199.247.51.62.1200928538.squirrel@flymail.web.net> Opportunity to Participate in New Media Technology Training Workshop Online Radio Broadcasting Training Workshop PSA will respond ONLY to selected applicants by 22 February 2008. Panos South Asia (PSA) is a part of a family of Panos Institute worldwide that encourages and facilitates public discourse on a wide range of issues, particularly those that have a direct impact on the least privileged and most marginalized sections of society. Panos works through media to bring neglected subjects to the fore in developmental debate, so as to give a platform for voices and perspectives, which are often rendered voiceless in the public sphere. In this endeavour, besides other activities, Panos facilitates the capacity building of media and other communication practitioners to use new media technologies to raise marginalized voices and perspectives in development. The Internet as a 'new media' has become a major arena for traditional broadcast media. Internet based radio is proving an attractive field for traditional electronic broadcasters. Despite bandwidth limitations in South Asia, the Internet already enables radio stations and other communication practitioners to distribute their radio programmes in broadcast quality beyond their immediate geographic confines. Panos South Asia (www.panossouthasia.org) is organising a 5-day South Asian regional 'Online Radio Broadcasting Training Workshop' for media and other communication practitioners in South Asia, from 17-21 March 2008 at its Media Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal. The workshop aims to provide know-how on the potential the Internet offers to radio and point them to ways of incorporating it in their respective media outlets' strategy. Based on hands-on training in digital technologies, the workshop curriculum will cover the issues of distributing material online and the techniques of streaming content to global audiences. Trainees will become acquainted with the latest real-time on-line broadcasting technologies, as well as with the fundamentals of digitisation of multimedia input, encoding, compression standards and online audio streaming. Broadcasters, radio producers/reporters, editors, web masters, web editors, bloggers, pod-casters and other communication practitioners, especially, but not necessarily associated with radio media from South Asian countries wishing to attend this training workshop may apply by 15 February 2008 by e-mail to prsa at panosradiosouthasia.org. PSA will cover all related costs of participation, including travel, for selected participants from the region. Your application should contain a brief resume and less than 300 word write-up stating your experience on 'new media'. Alos, how by participating in this workshop it will enable you or your organization to enhance your work to give a platform for voices and perspectives which are often rendered voiceless in the public sphere. PSA will respond ONLY to selected applicants by 22 February 2008. Telephone and other solicitations shall not be entertained. From ram at voicesindia.org Thu Jan 17 22:24:05 2008 From: ram at voicesindia.org (Ramnath Bhat) Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:24:05 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Shared Infrastructure for CR In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1200588854.7281.24.camel@ram-laptop> Dear Parminder, apologies for the delay in responding to the email. This is surely a topic which we all will have to concern ourselves with in the near future. In fact, I've heard that it's already becoming an issue. Especially in the cities, there seems to be a special scarcity of frequencies for community radio. Given this 'shortage', it is only a matter of time before NGOs are asked to share infrastructure and frequency with existing community radio stations. Reading your email set me thinking a little deeper on the sharing issue. As you have succinctly pointed out, the sharing is infrastructural and also social. On one hand, I agree with you a shared model may well help avoid monopoly at the local level, but as Vickram says, it does not help the vision of thousands of radio stations sprouting across the country. I think I would rather take a middle ground and have a scenario wherein two community radio stations share perhaps a tower, and not other infrastructure. The two radio stations come together socially to share content,linkages and perhaps even reporters. I think its a myth that technology for radio is a barrier for aspiring NGOs. It needn't and shouldn't be that way. I sincerely hope that this workshop will help break some of those perceptions. Addressing some of the issues you have raised about things like preserving the plurality of media, I think its important to preserve this through community ownership, management. Further, I think this is where a body like CRF comes into play, wherein one of its key recommendations to its members could be to share content and form linkages with other media organizations in the vicinity. To provide an ethical framework for programming and content creation, which is inclusive and localized, is representative of all sections and so on. One might say that these frameworks can be provided but it is not realistic to expect these radio stations to follow them. But on the other hand, we need to follow the example of others who have walked this way before, and adopt some innovative examples of self regulation, for example, the social audit of the community radio station every year (for Bush Radio in RSA). Ultimately, it is these kind of mechanisms which will hep prevent misuse of local media than any sharing mechanisms or even rigid laws from our governments. To have institutions share infrastructure would be in my view, impinging on the community ownership point. It would be quite similar to the 'renting time out on AIR model'. If one NGO owns the infrastructure, then surely there is another kind of power structure emerging there. I feel we should explore the idea more fully in the consultation as I have a nagging feeling that sooner or later, this question of sharing space, virtual or physical, will come up, especially in urban areas. Thanks for raising this pertinent issue, Parminder, and hope to see you at the workshop. best ram On Tue, 2008-01-15 at 22:01 +0530, cr-india-request at sarai.net wrote: > Send cr-india mailing list submissions to > cr-india at sarai.net > > 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 > cr-india-request at sarai.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > cr-india-owner at sarai.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of cr-india digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > ( Frederick Noronha [फ़रेदरिक नोरोनया] ) > 2. Re: Technical Queries - recording outdoors and related > (Ramnarayan.K) > 3. Re: Technical Queries - recording outdoors and related > (Vickram Crishna) > 4. Re: 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > (Vickram Crishna) > 5. CRs as shared infrastructure (Parminder) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:48:47 +0530 > From: " Frederick Noronha [फ़रेदरिक > नोरोनया] " > Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > To: cr-india at sarai.net > Message-ID: > <8ea78e010801121318x1c07dc00rf23e4b5621a166d0 at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html > > 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > Express News Service > Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email > > KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised > private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in > various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur > radio operators. > > Related Stories > > Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, > CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer > top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single > party diktat > Ad Links > > Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations > > "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths > who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) > Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj > Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large > number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio > transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan > Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been > arrested, are all in their twenties. > > A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring > station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio > stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the > Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, > GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, > it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift > stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in > Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio > broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters > are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. > -- > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 > Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:31:34 +0530 > From: Ramnarayan.K > Subject: Re: [cr-india] Technical Queries - recording outdoors and > related > To: cr-india at sarai.net > Message-ID: > <6c9588d40801120201p199d168bu8048b65094cb81a8 at mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Dear Mahesh, > > Thanks for the advise. > > Just two clarifications > > 1. Any specific suggestions for a good mike / amplifier system > > and the Second to do with the suggestion of recording directly through the > amplifier. > > Am pasting your advise and my query below that > > > Mahesh Writes: YES YOU CAN. AND I KNOW WHAT U R THINKING AND THAT IS WHAT > YOU SHOULD DO. > > AFTER RECORDING, SAY U R MUSIC OR MEETING. CONNECT THE OUTPUT OF RECORDER > > (HEAD-PHONE JACK) TO INPUT/MIC (GREEN JACK) ON THE COMPUTER. OF COURSE U > > WILL HAVE TO BUY CABLE WHICH HAS STEREO-PIN AT BOTH END. I BOUGHT IF TO > 35\- > > LAST TIME. START RECORDING THE ENTIRE PROGRAM IN SAY IN SOUNDSCAPE. AFTER > > THIS YOU CAN DO THE EDITING. > > > > > If your suggestion what kind of recorder where you thinking of - digital , > analogue > > Can i record directly onto the recording device while a public broadcast is > on simultaneolusly - something like one mike out put to the mike system and > another to the digital recorder. > > If its digital any specific ones and again if its digital once its on the > device i should not need to re record onto another medium it should be ready > to edit on any software of choice (mine being audacity) > > thanks for your advise > > regards > ram > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080112/690798d0/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:45:19 +0000 (GMT) > From: Vickram Crishna > Subject: Re: [cr-india] Technical Queries - recording outdoors and > related > To: cr-india at sarai.net > Message-ID: <688020.29068.qm at web26613.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Frankly, this kind of exchange belongs in the Tech group - that's why it was created. > > But to try and answer your 'clarifications': > > Any decent quality amplifier and mic combo will do for routine recording. When you want to do something that is technically difficult - say recording birdcalls from several meters away - then you need very specific equipment. Depending on what you want to achieve, the costs can range from less than a hundred bucks to many thousands. > > For public speeches, you have two choices: > > 1. Place an additional mic on the podium and record the speaker directly > 2. Ask the PA guy for a spare output socket in his amplifier, and plug in your recorder there > > If the public meeting has several microphones present, for q&a or whatever, then the second route is the best way to get everything spoken at the meeting (into the mics, that is). > > Otherwise the first way is the least obtrusive and avoids inconveniencing anyone. It does draw some attention to the fact that you are recording, however. Also, if you are using tape or some such specific length medium, you have no way of going up and changing tapes. Good idea to make sure your recorder has first class batteries, so that it doesn't die halfway through. > > > Vickram > http://communicall.wordpress.com > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Ramnarayan.K > To: cr-india at sarai.net > Sent: Saturday, 12 January, 2008 3:31:34 PM > Subject: Re: [cr-india] Technical Queries - recording outdoors and related > > Dear Mahesh, > > Thanks for the advise. > > Just two clarifications > > 1. Any specific suggestions for a good mike / amplifier system > > and the Second to do with the suggestion of recording directly through the amplifier. > > > Am pasting your advise and my query below that > > > Mahesh Writes: YES YOU CAN. AND I KNOW WHAT U R THINKING AND THAT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO. > > AFTER RECORDING, SAY U R MUSIC OR MEETING. CONNECT THE OUTPUT OF RECORDER > > > (HEAD-PHONE JACK) TO INPUT/MIC (GREEN JACK) ON THE COMPUTER. OF COURSE U > > WILL HAVE TO BUY CABLE WHICH HAS STEREO-PIN AT BOTH END. I BOUGHT IF TO 35\- > > LAST TIME. START RECORDING THE ENTIRE PROGRAM IN SAY IN SOUNDSCAPE. AFTER > > > THIS YOU CAN DO THE EDITING. > > > > > If your suggestion what kind of recorder where you thinking of - digital , analogue > > Can i record directly onto the recording device while a public broadcast is on simultaneolusly - something like one mike out put to the mike system and another to the digital recorder. > > > If its digital any specific ones and again if its digital once its on the device i should not need to re record onto another medium it should be ready to edit on any software of choice (mine being audacity) > > > thanks for your advise > > regards > ram > > > > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/bf444571/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:56:31 +0000 (GMT) > From: Vickram Crishna > Subject: Re: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > To: CR India > Message-ID: <995464.3086.qm at web26614.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Brrrravo! Another bunch of 'Raghav's bites the dust, but this time without the international publicity and Manthan awards.. > > For what crime? Illegal music, probably, although it doesn't seem like the music industry has got into the act yet. Use of spectrum without paying fees? Tsk tsk. No, perhaps it is for unauthorised use of spectrum that the government has not yet got around to renting (on our behalf, of course, we are talking about our government servants, who go to so much trouble in our service). > > The police/government/amateur radio enthusiasts/sneaks seemed to find it really tough to locate these guys, something the local merchants may not have had so much difficulty with, if one believes the fact that advertising money as flowing (was it enough to pay taxes? Sic the IT deptt on them!). It took a full year, again if one believes the reports, to locate, not one, but six radio stations, in a single area alone! > > At this rate, if more such entrepreneurs (silly fellows! Why don't they have the surname Tata, or Ambani or Mittal, or something like that, to avoid harassment, and maybe collect awards from all and sundry) exist, it may take the babus decades to rid the country of these dangerous pests. > > > Vickram > http://communicall.wordpress.com > http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Frederick Noronha [फ़रेद > To: cr-india at sarai.net > Sent: Sunday, 13 January, 2008 2:48:47 AM > Subject: [cr-india] 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > > http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260507.html > > 6 illegal radio stations shut down in Bengal > Express News Service > Posted online: Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 0004 hrs Print Email > > KOLKATA,:: The West Bengal Police on Friday raided six unauthorised > private radio stations operating on Prasar Bharati frequencies in > various pockets of South 24 Parganas, following a tip-off from amateur > radio operators. > > Related Stories > > Govt, Todi want CBI report, HC asks them to file affidavits firstBloc, > CPM hold meetingNo books by Taslima at fair, says Muslim bodyFormer > top cop gets clean chit in CBI reportLeft allies warn CPM on single > party diktat > Ad Links > > Indian Express West Bengal Radio Stations > > "We raided and dismantled six radio stations and arrested four youths > who had been running them for some time," said SP (South 24 Parganas) > Praveen Kumar. The stations had been operating under names like Nagraj > Betar Kendra, Ma Bishalakkhi and Ma Kali Asthayi Betar Kendra. A large > number of music CDs, DVDs and microphones as well as six radio > transmitters were seized from these offices. Anukul Shaw, Shanatan > Jana, Srikanta Pramanik and Gaur Chandra Maity, who have been > arrested, are all in their twenties. > > A year back, amateur HAM radio operators had warned the monitoring > station at Gopalpur in South 24 Parganas about the unauthorised radio > stations. The monitoring station is under the jurisdiction of the > Wireless Planning and Co-ordination of Department of Communications, > GoI. Though a formal complaint was lodged with the police last year, > it had been difficult to locate the base stations. The makeshift > stations were operating on local made transmitters. The operators in > Sagar were making money by airing local ads. The unauthorised radio > broadcasts often suppress Prasar Bharati signals as the transmitters > are quite powerful within a radius of five to seven km. > -- > Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 > Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/1ff280b5/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:09:54 +0530 > From: "Parminder" > Subject: [cr-india] CRs as shared infrastructure > To: > Message-ID: <20080115084021.D7CF82B29A2C at mail.sarai.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hi Ram and Ashish > > > > >Since then, not even a single community/ NGO is on air with its > community radio. Today, there are a mere 100 plus applications with the > Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. > > >There are several reasons for this. First, we do need to strengthen the > awareness factor regarding community radio across the country. > > >Secondly, even if NGOs are aware of the policy, most organizations are > apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor. > > >Today, current patterns of thought appear to indicate that a community > radio station will cost at least Rs 7-8 lakhs. This would eliminate most > grassroots NGOs who would not know where to get this kind of support. But > the larger question is: should they even be spending this much money? > > >If community radio provides a voice to the voiceless, then whose voices are > we talking about? Which communities are we talking about? ...... > > >It is an urgent need today to identify and isolate the main deterrents for > people desirous of becoming CR practitioners. One of the main deterrents is > the high cost of technology, which is fast proving to be an >impediment to > the community radio movement and therefore giving a voice to the poor > > > > I think the 'utility factor' is as, if not more, important than the cost > factor. And if we are speaking about the costs, for most grassroots NGOs > cost in terms of HR and other opportunity costs is as great as that of > technology. It is not only the technology decisions that are tough - and it > is my opinion that the CR discourse in India is still mostly centred on > these issues - organizational resources and focus issues may be more > important and far tougher. How does CR activity impact other activities that > an NGO may be doing? Can it not potentially cause a major 'mission creep' > that may (or may not be) problematic vis a vis core objectives of the NGO? > Does it then work best through a process of specialization where some > existing or new NGOs become relatively specialized as CR NGOs? But what does > it do to local power relationships - between the media NGO and other client > NGOs (if they do become its clients) and the between the media/ CR NGO and > the community itself. We should remember that control over media processes > is a very important lever of power, and in absence of sufficient checks is > almost always abused. This situation is worsened by the fact that there are > considerable barriers to entry in the CR field in any local community - > license related barriers, technology skills barriers, cost and > operation-to-scale barriers, organizational focus related barriers etc. > > > > When we consider plurality in media so important at all other levels, it is > as important at the local community level. If one just looks at how some > vernacular newspapers work it is easy to see how such danger can even be > worse at local levels. To avoid miscommunication, at this point I must > assert that I am as excited about CR possibilities and am here only pointing > to the issues that should attract our attention if we are to realize its > real potential. > > > > Once an NGO gets a radio license and puts up the necessary technology > infrastructure it sits over a tremendous amount of 'local resources' (14-18 > hours a day is a lot of broadcast time). We need to ensure a fair > allocation and use of these resources, and I am not so sure that we can take > it for granted because it is really grassroots NGOs that we are talking > about. > > > > One thing that comes to my mind is to explore the concept of shared > infrastructure in the CR area. This way we can separate the technical - that > can be common and shared - from the social - that remains plural with a > greater breadth of participation and ownership etc. A local CR can be > managed with a thin ownership structure that represents elements of the > community, including its organized groups, with full representation of > marginalized sections. The CR management structure should be > encouraged/obliged through license conditions and/ or otherwise (through > soft self-regulation, for instance, by forums like this one) to share the > 'common infrastructure' of a CR - its transmission facilities, as well as, > if possible, some other levels of technology support (studio, field > equipment etc) with local community based groups. This will enable a lot of > local groups to use the CR infrastructure directly for their activities and > - if we still have to use mainstream radio language - making their own > programs, rather than responding to the reporters and editors of the CR > owning organization. We know what influence these mediators can exercise on > the content. This alone will truly democratize the radio technology - when > all community based groups and sub-groups are able to directly use audio > technology to both to represent themselves and to support their > organizational activities, without the mediation of the 'local media > organization'. Seeking a complete realization of this situation may be a bit > idealistic, but it is important to know that this is what we need to tend > towards so that the realized situation is closer to this than of a new local > monopoly. > > > > Coming back to the issue of cost and utility, which really triggered this > email, such sharing of CR infrastructure also greatly increases its output > and utility, and makes the cost-benefit equation much more favorable. > > > > A common or shared infrastructure approach to community radio therefore > appears a sensible thing both from the viewpoint of local plurality and of a > viable cost-benefit equation. Such approaches, including the ones that go by > the name of 'open access' approaches, are increasingly common in all ICTs, > especially when the implicated infrastructure has huge barriers to entry. > The dilemma that NGOs are facing today, which is described in your email, > Ram, as 'most organizations are apprehensive to take it forward because of > the cost factor' (along with 'awareness factor') in my view may have both a > much larger than technology/ cost context, and, accordingly, probably a > different direction of seeking the right solutions. (I do notice that you > too have described technology issue only as one of the deterrent.) > > > > I am not saying all CRs should compulsorily be shared. We can experiment > with and promote both sole ownership and shared CRs. But the latter I think > have much greater potential. In earlier times use of radio technology did > need a lot of specialization and some amount of heavy, expensive and > centralized equipment, which meant that the program making itself had to be > centralized. Digital technologies today have democratized radio/ audio > technologies, and radio programs (to use the traditional term, I would much > prefer to just say contextual use of radio technology) can be made in the > field by people with little amount of skill building. They need not depend > on a specialized radio unit, which has the effect of centralizing the radio > media, if only at a local level (in the same way as 'professional writers' > in earlier times monopolized the 'written word' based media). This > possibility should be used the transform the very nature of the CR format, > as a common neutral technology infrastructure enabling a wide range of > diversely owned/ directed activity of using radio technologies for local > community and sub-community imperatives. > > > > We need to investigate and discuss issues of participation, ownership and > organizational/ partnership forms in CR as much as issues of technology for > moving towards a full realization of the CR opportunity. > > > > Apologies for the long posting, which was not my intention when I started to > write. > > > > Parminder > > > > PS: And yes, we, as in my organization, IT for Change, will like to > participate in the open forum as well as the workshop. > > > > > > > > . > > > > > > _____ > > From: cr-india-bounces at sarai.net [mailto:cr-india-bounces at sarai.net] On > Behalf Of Ram Bhat > Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 5:19 PM > To: cr-india at sarai.net > Cc: Ashish Sen > Subject: [cr-india] Invitation for Technology workshop and CRF meeting > > > > Dear all, > > > It has been a little more than a year since the Community Radio policy has > been released by the Government of India. Almost a year has passed since > the Community Radio forum was declared to take forward the Community Radio > movement in India. > > Since then, not even a single community/ NGO is on air with its community > radio. Today, there are a mere 100 plus applications with the Ministry of > Information and Broadcasting. > > There are several reasons for this. First, we do need to strengthen the > awareness factor regarding community radio across the country. > > Secondly, even if NGOs are aware of the policy, most organizations are > apprehensive to take it forward because of the cost factor. > > Today, current patterns of thought appear to indicate that a community radio > station will cost at least Rs 7-8 lakhs. This would eliminate most > grassroots NGOs who would not know where to get this kind of support. But > the larger question is: should they even be spending this much money? > > If community radio provides a voice to the voiceless, then whose voices are > we talking about? Which communities are we talking about? > > It is an urgent need today to identify and isolate the main deterrents for > people desirous of becoming CR practitioners. One of the main deterrents is > the high cost of technology, which is fast proving to be an impediment to > the community radio movement and therefore giving a voice to the poor. > > VOICES, a media advocacy group based in Bangalore, is happy to announce the > "Technology for Radio" workshop to be held in Bangalore in the first week of > February. > > The workshop will be preceded by a Public Meeting organized by the Community > Radio Forum that will focus on key issues that confront Community Radio in > the country on February 2nd, 2008. > > The CRF meeting will be followed by the Bangalore release of "Other > VOICES," edited by Kanchan Kumar and Vinod Pavrala of the Sarojini Naidu > School of Communication, Hyderabad. > > The Technology Workshop will take place between February 3rd and 4th. It > will focus on both hardware and software aspects of community radio, which > will be demonstrated and discussed in detail. > > The opening session of the consultation will have discussions on key > implications pertinent to technology and community radio. It will be > followed by a release of the Technology Manual written by Ramkrishna from > Ideosync and produced by UNESCO. Subsequent sessions will include a guided > tour of community radio technology. These will feature demonstrations and > discussions for all the different hardware components of community radio- > from production to broadcast. This will include microphones, cables, studio > set up, mixing consoles, computer configurations, field recorders etc. > > The final day of the workshop will be dedicated to showcasing and discussing > softwares and mixed media models. These will include demonstrations of Free > and Open Source Softwares like Audacity, Campcaster, and Ubuntu Studio etc. > We will also be demonstrating mixed media models, which have been > implemented on the field, which are working in sync and enhance existing > community radio systems. > > Those of you who are interested in participating in this workshop can > contact us on voices4all at gmail.com . > > A detailed agenda will follow shortly. > > > Best Wishes > > Ashish/Ram > VOICES > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080115/e6498b87/attachment.html > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > cr-india mailing list > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > End of cr-india Digest, Vol 50, Issue 5 > *************************************** From venniyoor at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 10:08:37 2008 From: venniyoor at gmail.com (sajan venniyoor) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:08:37 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] why radio sucks Message-ID: <5479ae440801212038m3fbec307r954b4aa845a7bda8@mail.gmail.com> Many of the things that suck on American radio, like the ones Koerner writes about here, are already visible on Indian FM: commercial channels that are "a desert of robo-DJs and pop pabulum"; the limited number of FM licenses; the enormous legal cost of getting on the air; watered-down programming; commercial FM's tendency "to squelch competition from low-powered FM stations" - you name it, we have it. Well, it took them 60 years to screw up; it's taken us just 5. *Suck de, * India. Sajan *Why Things Suck: Radio* By Brendan I. Koerner, 18 Jan 2008, Wired.com http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-02/su_radio *Unless you enjoy* hearing the same insipid Fergie song a dozen times a day, chances are you loathe mainstream radio. And for good reason: The FM band between 92.1 and 107.9, where commercial stations reign, is mostly a desert of robo-DJs and pop pabulum. The sad decline of conventional radio is an Econ 101 lesson in the consequences of artificial scarcity — and a B-school case study on the limits of scientific management. The scarcity is the fault of the Federal Communications Commission, which decided in the mid-1940s to confine FM broadcasting to its current frequency range, roughly between 88 and 108 MHz. The FCC's spectrum-allocation rules, designed to prevent station signals from interfering with one another, further limited the number of broadcasting licenses it granted in any one market. By the '70s, thanks to a fecund period in popular music, a generation of audacious DJs, and cheap radios, FM had become wildly popular. That made stations valuable properties — so valuable, in fact, that only large companies could afford to buy and manage them. "The legal cost alone of getting on the air is enormous," says Jesse Walker, author of the radio history Rebels on the Air. The government could have eased this situation by allocating more spectrum for radio use and increasing the number of licenses, Walker argues. Instead, Congress chose to relax the rules regarding the number of stations any one entity could own. That's where the scientific management comes in. The biggest barriers to building a radio audience are the polarizing power of music and the plethora of choices on the dial. So, when corporations like Clear Channel started buying up stations in the late '90s, they set about building a lowest-common-denominator product that would be attractive to the most listeners. "There's this idea of the perfect playlist," Walker says. "Find it with research and attract the perfect audience." But it turns out that the most lucrative audience is really just "people who will not change the channel during the ads." The result: watered-down programming designed primarily not to offend. So bored consumers are just tuning out. Listenership among 18- to 24-year-olds is down 20 percent over the past decade. Stations have responded not with bold programming but by cutting costs. They've also expended considerable resources to squelch competition from low-powered FM stations and Internet radio. Not that it has helped — 85 percent of teenagers now discover new music through sources beyond the FM dial. Even the biggest radio fans envision a grim future for the medium. One bright spot: The inevitable shift to digital radio could create more room for more types of content. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080122/17a86de8/attachment.html From ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in Tue Jan 22 11:20:13 2008 From: ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in (sakthi vel) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:50:13 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] 'Sarvadesa Vaanoli' Message-ID: <605382.58402.qm@web8508.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dear Sir, Here with i attach recent three 'Sarvadesa Vaanoli' magazines.We are running this 'Sarvadesa Vaanoli' Tamil radio magazine for past eight years. This is the only magazine gives the radio information in Tamil. Kindly read it and send your comments. Also visit our blog for up-to-date info. Kindly send your comments after read it. With Regards, Jaisakthivel.T Editor and Publisher. 59, Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam, Chennai-600106, India /////////////////////// For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 /////////////////////// DELETE button is history. Unlimited mail storage is just a click away. Go to https://edit.india.yahoo.com/config/eval_register -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Dec 2k7 F.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1027709 bytes Desc: 988531975-Dec 2k7 F.pdf Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080122/d71eae8a/attachment-0003.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Oct 2k7 F.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1275042 bytes Desc: 174731224-Oct 2k7 F.pdf Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080122/d71eae8a/attachment-0004.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Nov 2k7 F.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 2446326 bytes Desc: 1015801280-Nov 2k7 F.pdf Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080122/d71eae8a/attachment-0005.pdf From forekta at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 02:10:47 2008 From: forekta at gmail.com (ekta) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:40:47 -0800 Subject: [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it Message-ID: <634494cd0801221240i64c359d6vf3eb91275ffa90d2@mail.gmail.com> To all members of the CR community, I have been following all the posts on CR India and the developments of CR across India, working closely with one potential CRS and after endless conversations and deliberations – I am compelled to share my thoughts as I sense a huge disconnect between theory and practice. I write this with as much concern as cynicism. *Who is the community?* After the policy was made public in Nov 2006, NGOs, philanthropists, academicians and others represented communities because of the past initiatives and the limitations of the policy. But now it's 2008, who represents this 'community'? Somewhere along the way I think we have forgotten what 'community' means. Do we end up deciding on behalf of the 'community' by using representation as an excuse? Defeats the purpose of CR, doesn't it? Will we ever see new faces and hear different voices? *Community participation or exclusion..* Does this so called "community" participate? Have they been given a chance to represent CR? Where is the opportunity? Sure, there have been state level regional workshops that have helped a great deal. But what about the follow up? The national level events are in English and intellectual debate is often assumed to float around within these closed circles. There are very few books, publications, other material available in regional languages as compared to the ones in English. To top it all, the policy still hasn't been translated in different languages! Even if there are initiatives who have done so, how does one access it? Developments on CR are also distributed and discussed in English. I recognise that this is a slow process but it's about time to involve the 'community' Do we collect feedback from the people who are on the field about developments, issues to be raised, needs concerns, practical problems, on publications etc.? If anyone has access to it, please share it on this list. Can't we make an effort to strengthen networks, organise regular meetings, setting up a local wing of the CRF, translate the policy in as many languages, make it available to NGOs and other stakeholders across the country, simplify common jargons used - at least there will be a trickle down of some sort. Workshops in big cities, it's convenient alright but for whom? It's time for us to take a back seat and let the people who are really working closely with CR to lead this movement. CR is not rocket science. We can encourage production staff, volunteers existing radio stations to participate and take the lead in organising the seminars, the consultations and the workshops. How can it be sustained, community managed or owned, if we are encouraging dependency on information, apart from other things? Somewhere, I feel there is a dangerous disconnect on every level - the CRF, the govt, members of the community, NGOs and their project teams, CR enthusiasts and well wishers – all with good intentions but working on different levels and fighting different battles in isolation? *Screening committee:* I am aware that there have been some noises made about the speed at which the government is taking this licensing procedure. However, that is only one part of the story. Who devised the screening committee? It has not been mentioned in the policy. Who decided the members of the committee and on what basis? What is the criterion for eligibility of a CR license? Has this information been shared with all stakeholders? Some of the questions asked by this committee seem to be out of context and far fetched. Many applications have been put on hold by the screening committee, how come there is no advocacy on this issue? Is the CRF represented in this committee? Is there any information distributed on this on CR India? If not, why? Is it a non issue? *Frequency allocation and spectrum*: There has been enough dialogue if campus community radio stations should be a part of the CRF, or whether, they should form a separate body etc. How come nobody has correlated this issue to the spectrum filling up? Has anyone looked at the urban scenario? If there is an application from Bangalore or Delhi, there is no spectrum available? Don't urban areas need CR? Or do we also believe like the MIB, that CR is only for rural areas, and that urban areas don't have any need for CR? Also, can we get some details of what this spectrum filling up is all about? How can the spectrum be filled up in some places so fast, and yet at the same time the Govt expects 5000 radio stations in a year? How about advocacy on this? Suddenly there is talk about sharing infrastructure? Is that a solution for non availability of frequency? It's questions the foundation that CR rests on, th fundamentals are getting mixed up. It's not even CR anymore? *Technology: *I think this area has been addressed and the web is growing. Efforts to make low cost transmitters, training by NOMAD for CR was the first step. On this mail list there has been active dialogue on technology. Again, just like technology cannot be divorced from the CR, community cannot be divorced from technology. Effective mechanisms to share information on technology by testing it on the field, feedback collection, etc. should be devised. One just needs to know how to use it, and there are sufficient people on the field who are interested. They probably don't have access. *On community Ownership of the CRS* - obviously the legal license holder is responsible for CR, but how he/she deals transfer ownership eventually. Ifeach NGO/applicant holder forms a community based management committee which should be registered separately, and at the earliest- so that when the time for renewal of license comes, this entity can apply for the license, thereby taking it one step closer to the community ownership and protect it from becoming "NGO radio." * * *The CRF:* Finally there is talk about getting it registered! Great news! But I wish there could be more participation. It's the same people talking, the same people responding. Either no one else is interested or there is hesitation to participate – why? Are people feeling excluded? Sure! Some attention could be spared towards making the CRF more inclusive? Perhaps more women? Some suggestions: The CRF can have a close network of people working with mainstream newspapers/TV channel to cover public meetings and publish developments on a consistent basis. Introduce CR in education; work with young adults interested in radio and studying in media institutions. The existing stereotypical career options for a media student today are PR, advertising, News channels and the like (not barring that these are successful career options) but a lot of them don't even think of development as an option for various reasons and one of it is lack of information. That's where we can come in. We are not going to be here forever. Let's spread the word and campaign for CR to increase awareness. Soon after the first public meeting of the CRF, in Jan 2007, Tripta Chandola had sent an email which was forgotten among 'bigger' things, events and conferences. But it's worthwhile to go back and look at the points she raised. She raised some important questions for which we never got answers for. The question is do we even have the answers, or is it easier to ignore? Probably one of the reasons she never wrote back. Finally, after all the critiquing and complaining, I must admit that all the work that has been done has been commendable, it's where it goes from here, that concerns me. I wish to see this movement as being more real than superficial. If words be put into action - the movement will be real. Working towards it collectively would be help a great deal. And I'm am all set to be a part of this collective. It is also commendable that considerable work has been done in documenting work done by several initiatives and the passion for CR. Apologies for the long email, hope that subsequent ones will be shorter. It's been a long overdue from my side. just another concerned member of the 'community' ekta P.S., Below is an email that still hasn't got answer? and "Justice"? If there have been responses to this email, then it would be worthwhile to share it on the CR-India list. If not, then it only makes my point clearer.It is a critical concern. Original Message ----- *From:* PARD *To:* crforum-helpdesk at yahoogroups.com *Sent:* Monday, December 31, 2007 1:29 PM *Subject:* Some Doubts Dear friends in Community Radio Forum, Warm Seasonal Greetings from PARD. Within a few hours we are going to enter into the new year 2008 with lots of hope and beliefs that the New Year will bring us all the happiness that we expect.In this cheerful time, we could not understand a few things happened in the year 2007. You could have seen already in this forum, our two email messages within the lost two months of the year 2007 in which we have raised a few problems faced by our organisation in getting the LOI for establishing the Community Radio Station for the benefit of the people with whom we are working for. We are sure that the problem tht we face is just beaurocratic nature of this nation. The problem is still on the same status. While we heared about the information about the formation of a Network for Community Radio practicioners, we were very happy to welcome and attended the meeting held in New Delhi during the month of February 2007 with a hope to get the support of the network. We have personal introduction with eminent members of the Community Radio Forum like Dr.Sridhar, Mr.Sajan, Dr.Vinod Pavarala, Mr.Stalin and I am aware that these people are well experienced, educated, talented and what not. I donot have any doubt on the efficiency of these great leaders. I am sorry if I have missed some of the names. Sometime back there was a hot dicussion in this email group regarding the ownership of the CSR and many eminent persons of the group was emphasising that the ownership of CSR should be with the Community alone. While I accept the views in the right sense, I could not understand if the community is kept with the situation that we face now, how it could survive with the management of the CSR. We are still not denied of providing of LOI but delayed.We would like to see this problem in the context of Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. Many of our well wishers advised us to raise this issue under RTI or approach suitable court of law to get our LOI. We may also make our attempt and may be or may not get the LOI and finishing other formalities. but still we could not understand what sort of the role that the CRF plays in supporting grossrootlevel NGOs like PARD in getting down things in a rightfull way. With warm regards, James Rajasekaran.E Project Director, PARD. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080122/a60bd002/attachment.html From cr_4_agriculture at yahoo.com Wed Jan 23 10:43:59 2008 From: cr_4_agriculture at yahoo.com (MAHESH ACHARYA) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:13:59 -0800 (PST) Subject: [cr-india] Fwd: Re: Shared Infrastructure for CR Message-ID: <438560.15775.qm@web57409.mail.re1.yahoo.com> Note: forwarded message attached. --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080122/701c4ac5/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: MAHESH ACHARYA Subject: Re: [cr-india] Shared Infrastructure for CR Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:09:36 -0800 (PST) Size: 46835 Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080122/701c4ac5/attachment-0001.mht From satheeshperiyapatna at yahoo.com Wed Jan 23 17:26:44 2008 From: satheeshperiyapatna at yahoo.com (periyapatna satheesh) Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:56:44 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] why radio sucks In-Reply-To: <5479ae440801212038m3fbec307r954b4aa845a7bda8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <333876.56606.qm@web94709.mail.in2.yahoo.com> Dear Sajan You must have tonnes of energy to come up with a creative mail a minute! I admire it. Well everything you say about the radio is absolutely right. But we must match it with some of the arguments we aremaking in the CRF. If CRs share the content, will we not be monoculturing the content? CRs were to celebrate diversity of languages,cultures, socio economic issues that are very locale specific. How can we make contents exchanged? In what language can we do it? Similarly the question of the number of hours. Please remember that when Doordarshan began, it went on telecast for one hour a day thrice a week. This was realistic. Now to expect CRs to broadcast 12 hours is to destroy them. How can you expect communities to have the capacity, resources and energy to produce more than a couple of hours of content per day? It is a sure way of choking them to death. And finally some arguments about copyrighted content. If filmsongs make way into CRs, how will it be differnt than FM biggies? This could be a cultural genocide of communities through film music. Let us think seriously. satheeth sajan venniyoor wrote: Many of the things that suck on American radio, like the ones Koerner writes about here, are already visible on Indian FM: commercial channels that are "a desert of robo-DJs and pop pabulum"; the limited number of FM licenses; the enormous legal cost of getting on the air; watered-down programming; commercial FM's tendency "to squelch competition from low-powered FM stations" - you name it, we have it. Well, it took them 60 years to screw up; it's taken us just 5. Suck de, India. Sajan Why Things Suck: Radio By Brendan I. Koerner, 18 Jan 2008, Wired.com http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-02/su_radio Unless you enjoy hearing the same insipid Fergie song a dozen times a day, chances are you loathe mainstream radio. And for good reason: The FM band between 92.1 and 107.9, where commercial stations reign, is mostly a desert of robo-DJs and pop pabulum. The sad decline of conventional radio is an Econ 101 lesson in the consequences of artificial scarcity — and a B-school case study on the limits of scientific management. The scarcity is the fault of the Federal Communications Commission, which decided in the mid-1940s to confine FM broadcasting to its current frequency range, roughly between 88 and 108 MHz. The FCC's spectrum-allocation rules, designed to prevent station signals from interfering with one another, further limited the number of broadcasting licenses it granted in any one market. By the '70s, thanks to a fecund period in popular music, a generation of audacious DJs, and cheap radios, FM had become wildly popular. That made stations valuable properties — so valuable, in fact, that only large companies could afford to buy and manage them. "The legal cost alone of getting on the air is enormous," says Jesse Walker, author of the radio history Rebels on the Air. The government could have eased this situation by allocating more spectrum for radio use and increasing the number of licenses, Walker argues. Instead, Congress chose to relax the rules regarding the number of stations any one entity could own. That's where the scientific management comes in. The biggest barriers to building a radio audience are the polarizing power of music and the plethora of choices on the dial. So, when corporations like Clear Channel started buying up stations in the late '90s, they set about building a lowest-common-denominator product that would be attractive to the most listeners. "There's this idea of the perfect playlist," Walker says. "Find it with research and attract the perfect audience." But it turns out that the most lucrative audience is really just "people who will not change the channel during the ads." The result: watered-down programming designed primarily not to offend. So bored consumers are just tuning out. Listenership among 18- to 24-year-olds is down 20 percent over the past decade. Stations have responded not with bold programming but by cutting costs. They've also expended considerable resources to squelch competition from low-powered FM stations and Internet radio. Not that it has helped — 85 percent of teenagers now discover new music through sources beyond the FM dial. Even the biggest radio fans envision a grim future for the medium. One bright spot: The inevitable shift to digital radio could create more room for more types of content. 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india --------------------------------- Bring your gang together - do your thing. Start your group. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080123/6bfb28fe/attachment.html From pardmadurai at eth.net Thu Jan 24 11:14:09 2008 From: pardmadurai at eth.net (PARD) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:14:09 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it References: <634494cd0801221240i64c359d6vf3eb91275ffa90d2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <002d01c85e4c$47a15520$0501a8c0@stare4676faf9e> Dear friends, Greetings from PARD. Our position regarding the application of establishing Community Radio Station is in the same position as it was before two months. Non of our emails to this group, raising the basic questions were responded by any of the members of the CRF. Might be we are considered as the group belonging to the lowest strata of the community or considered as "need not be responded". But we would like to raise tha matter still by which we donot want to attain our personal benefits but we would like to have a strong network which really have thepower and concern to protect the rights of each and every member of the network. Basically this is the network for the broadcasters who are expected to have the basic journalistic quality. Journalists are expected to function as the watch dogs of the society by which they have their own responsibilties to protect the rights of the individuals of the society on the whole. If we cannot protect our own rights, I donot understand whom else rights will be protected by us, as a network. We are very happy to note that our emails were atleast watched by several eminent personalities of this network who really want to help the Community to take off the activities of management of Community Radio by the active role of the community on its own. I hope to find answers for these questions in the Annual Meeting of CRF in bangalore. With warm regards, James. ----- Original Message ----- From: ekta To: cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:10 AM Subject: [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it To all members of the CR community, I have been following all the posts on CR India and the developments of CR across India, working closely with one potential CRS and after endless conversations and deliberations – I am compelled to share my thoughts as I sense a huge disconnect between theory and practice. I write this with as much concern as cynicism. Who is the community? After the policy was made public in Nov 2006, NGOs, philanthropists, academicians and others represented communities because of the past initiatives and the limitations of the policy. But now it's 2008, who represents this 'community'? Somewhere along the way I think we have forgotten what 'community' means. Do we end up deciding on behalf of the 'community' by using representation as an excuse? Defeats the purpose of CR, doesn't it? Will we ever see new faces and hear different voices? Community participation or exclusion.. Does this so called "community" participate? Have they been given a chance to represent CR? Where is the opportunity? Sure, there have been state level regional workshops that have helped a great deal. But what about the follow up? The national level events are in English and intellectual debate is often assumed to float around within these closed circles. There are very few books, publications, other material available in regional languages as compared to the ones in English. To top it all, the policy still hasn't been translated in different languages! Even if there are initiatives who have done so, how does one access it? Developments on CR are also distributed and discussed in English. I recognise that this is a slow process but it's about time to involve the 'community' Do we collect feedback from the people who are on the field about developments, issues to be raised, needs concerns, practical problems, on publications etc.? If anyone has access to it, please share it on this list. Can't we make an effort to strengthen networks, organise regular meetings, setting up a local wing of the CRF, translate the policy in as many languages, make it available to NGOs and other stakeholders across the country, simplify common jargons used - at least there will be a trickle down of some sort. Workshops in big cities, it's convenient alright but for whom? It's time for us to take a back seat and let the people who are really working closely with CR to lead this movement. CR is not rocket science. We can encourage production staff, volunteers existing radio stations to participate and take the lead in organising the seminars, the consultations and the workshops. How can it be sustained, community managed or owned, if we are encouraging dependency on information, apart from other things? Somewhere, I feel there is a dangerous disconnect on every level - the CRF, the govt, members of the community, NGOs and their project teams, CR enthusiasts and well wishers – all with good intentions but working on different levels and fighting different battles in isolation? Screening committee: I am aware that there have been some noises made about the speed at which the government is taking this licensing procedure. However, that is only one part of the story. Who devised the screening committee? It has not been mentioned in the policy. Who decided the members of the committee and on what basis? What is the criterion for eligibility of a CR license? Has this information been shared with all stakeholders? Some of the questions asked by this committee seem to be out of context and far fetched. Many applications have been put on hold by the screening committee, how come there is no advocacy on this issue? Is the CRF represented in this committee? Is there any information distributed on this on CR India? If not, why? Is it a non issue? Frequency allocation and spectrum: There has been enough dialogue if campus community radio stations should be a part of the CRF, or whether, they should form a separate body etc. How come nobody has correlated this issue to the spectrum filling up? Has anyone looked at the urban scenario? If there is an application from Bangalore or Delhi, there is no spectrum available? Don't urban areas need CR? Or do we also believe like the MIB, that CR is only for rural areas, and that urban areas don't have any need for CR? Also, can we get some details of what this spectrum filling up is all about? How can the spectrum be filled up in some places so fast, and yet at the same time the Govt expects 5000 radio stations in a year? How about advocacy on this? Suddenly there is talk about sharing infrastructure? Is that a solution for non availability of frequency? It's questions the foundation that CR rests on, th fundamentals are getting mixed up. It's not even CR anymore? Technology: I think this area has been addressed and the web is growing. Efforts to make low cost transmitters, training by NOMAD for CR was the first step. On this mail list there has been active dialogue on technology. Again, just like technology cannot be divorced from the CR, community cannot be divorced from technology. Effective mechanisms to share information on technology by testing it on the field, feedback collection, etc. should be devised. One just needs to know how to use it, and there are sufficient people on the field who are interested. They probably don't have access. On community Ownership of the CRS - obviously the legal license holder is responsible for CR, but how he/she deals transfer ownership eventually. If each NGO/applicant holder forms a community based management committee which should be registered separately, and at the earliest- so that when the time for renewal of license comes, this entity can apply for the license, thereby taking it one step closer to the community ownership and protect it from becoming "NGO radio." The CRF: Finally there is talk about getting it registered! Great news! But I wish there could be more participation. It's the same people talking, the same people responding. Either no one else is interested or there is hesitation to participate – why? Are people feeling excluded? Sure! Some attention could be spared towards making the CRF more inclusive? Perhaps more women? Some suggestions: The CRF can have a close network of people working with mainstream newspapers/TV channel to cover public meetings and publish developments on a consistent basis. Introduce CR in education; work with young adults interested in radio and studying in media institutions. The existing stereotypical career options for a media student today are PR, advertising, News channels and the like (not barring that these are successful career options) but a lot of them don't even think of development as an option for various reasons and one of it is lack of information. That's where we can come in. We are not going to be here forever. Let's spread the word and campaign for CR to increase awareness. Soon after the first public meeting of the CRF, in Jan 2007, Tripta Chandola had sent an email which was forgotten among 'bigger' things, events and conferences. But it's worthwhile to go back and look at the points she raised. She raised some important questions for which we never got answers for. The question is do we even have the answers, or is it easier to ignore? Probably one of the reasons she never wrote back. Finally, after all the critiquing and complaining, I must admit that all the work that has been done has been commendable, it's where it goes from here, that concerns me. I wish to see this movement as being more real than superficial. If words be put into action - the movement will be real. Working towards it collectively would be help a great deal. And I'm am all set to be a part of this collective. It is also commendable that considerable work has been done in documenting work done by several initiatives and the passion for CR. Apologies for the long email, hope that subsequent ones will be shorter. It's been a long overdue from my side. just another concerned member of the 'community' ekta P.S., Below is an email that still hasn't got answer? and "Justice"? If there have been responses to this email, then it would be worthwhile to share it on the CR-India list. If not, then it only makes my point clearer.It is a critical concern. Original Message ----- From: PARD To: crforum-helpdesk at yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 1:29 PM Subject: Some Doubts Dear friends in Community Radio Forum, Warm Seasonal Greetings from PARD. Within a few hours we are going to enter into the new year 2008 with lots of hope and beliefs that the New Year will bring us all the happiness that we expect.In this cheerful time, we could not understand a few things happened in the year 2007. You could have seen already in this forum, our two email messages within the lost two months of the year 2007 in which we have raised a few problems faced by our organisation in getting the LOI for establishing the Community Radio Station for the benefit of the people with whom we are working for. We are sure that the problem tht we face is just beaurocratic nature of this nation. The problem is still on the same status. While we heared about the information about the formation of a Network for Community Radio practicioners, we were very happy to welcome and attended the meeting held in New Delhi during the month of February 2007 with a hope to get the support of the network. We have personal introduction with eminent members of the Community Radio Forum like Dr.Sridhar, Mr.Sajan, Dr.Vinod Pavarala, Mr.Stalin and I am aware that these people are well experienced, educated, talented and what not. I donot have any doubt on the efficiency of these great leaders. I am sorry if I have missed some of the names. Sometime back there was a hot dicussion in this email group regarding the ownership of the CSR and many eminent persons of the group was emphasising that the ownership of CSR should be with the Community alone. While I accept the views in the right sense, I could not understand if the community is kept with the situation that we face now, how it could survive with the management of the CSR. We are still not denied of providing of LOI but delayed.We would like to see this problem in the context of Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. Many of our well wishers advised us to raise this issue under RTI or approach suitable court of law to get our LOI. We may also make our attempt and may be or may not get the LOI and finishing other formalities. but still we could not understand what sort of the role that the CRF plays in supporting grossrootlevel NGOs like PARD in getting down things in a rightfull way. With warm regards, James Rajasekaran.E Project Director, PARD. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080124/6e594d1a/attachment-0001.html From vpavarala at gmail.com Thu Jan 24 13:46:01 2008 From: vpavarala at gmail.com (Vinod Pavarala) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:46:01 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it In-Reply-To: <002d01c85e4c$47a15520$0501a8c0@stare4676faf9e> References: <634494cd0801221240i64c359d6vf3eb91275ffa90d2@mail.gmail.com> <002d01c85e4c$47a15520$0501a8c0@stare4676faf9e> Message-ID: dear mr.james: I can fully understand your anguish about the status of your application. All of us in the CRF are fully aware of your problem. In fact, it has led to quite a bit of animated discussion among many of us regarding the screening committee and its functioning, the rights of applicants to know the reasons for delay or rejection of their applications, etc. If you feel (perhaps rightly so) that the CRF hasn't been able to do anything concrete about it, it is only because all of us are individually swamped with our respective professional commitments and are trying to devote time to the promotion of the cause of CR. CRF, as you may know, is not yet a registered body (although we are in the process of completing the procedures for it) and does not have a secretariat or office staff. We are notionally functioning from the office of Drishti in Ahmedabad out of their generosity. In spite of this, we were, with the support of many participating NGOs and Unesco, able to organize in the last four to five months regional-level workshops for community-based organizations in different parts of the country. All criticisms of CRF and its more visible/vocal members are most welcome as we do like to imbibe a self-critical spirit. But, please do have patience with us. Join us to strengthen the collective so that we can not only engage in macro-level advocacy work, but also address individual grievances with the government. If you or any other representative of a CBO/NGO who is reading this is interested in sharing some of your concerns with the CR community, please do come to the CRF meeting in Bangalore in February. best, vinod On Jan 24, 2008 11:14 AM, PARD wrote: > Dear friends, > > > > Greetings from PARD. > > > > Our position regarding the application of establishing Community Radio > Station is in the same position as it was before two months. > > > > Non of our emails to this group, raising the basic questions were > responded by any of the members of the CRF. Might be we are considered as > the group belonging to the lowest strata of the community or considered as > "need not be responded". But we would like to raise tha matter still by > which we donot want to attain our personal benefits but we would like to > have a strong network which really have thepower and concern to protect the > rights of each and every member of the network. > > > > Basically this is the network for the broadcasters who are expected > to have the basic journalistic quality. Journalists are expected to > function as the watch dogs of the society by which they have their own > responsibilties to protect the rights of the individuals of the society on > the whole. If we cannot protect our own rights, I donot understand whom else > rights will be protected by us, as a network. > > > > We are very happy to note that our emails were atleast watched by several > eminent personalities of this network who really want to help the Community > to take off the activities of management of Community Radio by the active > role of the community on its own. > > > > I hope to find answers for these questions in the Annual Meeting of CRF > in bangalore. > > > > With warm regards, > > > > James. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > *From:* ekta > > *To:* cr-india at sarai.net > > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:10 AM > > *Subject:* [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it > > > To all members of the CR community, > > I have been following all the posts on CR India and the developments of CR > across India, working closely with one potential CRS and after endless > conversations and deliberations – I am compelled to share my thoughts as I > sense a huge disconnect between theory and practice. I write this with as > much concern as cynicism. > > *Who is the community?* > > After the policy was made public in Nov 2006, NGOs, philanthropists, > academicians and others represented communities because of the past > initiatives and the limitations of the policy. But now it's 2008, who > represents this 'community'? Somewhere along the way I think we have > forgotten what 'community' means. Do we end up deciding on behalf of the > 'community' by using representation as an excuse? Defeats the purpose of CR, > doesn't it? Will we ever see new faces and hear different voices? > > *Community participation or exclusion..* > > Does this so called "community" participate? Have they been given a chance > to represent CR? Where is the opportunity? Sure, there have been state > level regional workshops that have helped a great deal. But what about the > follow up? The national level events are in English and intellectual debate > is often assumed to float around within these closed circles. > > There are very few books, publications, other material available in > regional languages as compared to the ones in English. To top it all, the > policy still hasn't been translated in different languages! Even if there > are initiatives who have done so, how does one access it? Developments on CR > are also distributed and discussed in English. I recognise that this is a > slow process but it's about time to involve the 'community' > > Do we collect feedback from the people who are on the field about > developments, issues to be raised, needs concerns, practical problems, on > publications etc.? If anyone has access to it, please share it on this list. > > Can't we make an effort to strengthen networks, organise regular meetings, > setting up a local wing of the CRF, translate the policy in as many > languages, make it available to NGOs and other stakeholders across the > country, simplify common jargons used - at least there will be a trickle > down of some sort. > > Workshops in big cities, it's convenient alright but for whom? > > It's time for us to take a back seat and let the people who are really > working closely with CR to lead this movement. CR is not rocket science. We > can encourage production staff, volunteers existing radio stations to > participate and take the lead in organising the seminars, the consultations > and the workshops. How can it be sustained, community managed or owned, if > we are encouraging dependency on information, apart from other things? > > Somewhere, I feel there is a dangerous disconnect on every level - the > CRF, the govt, members of the community, NGOs and their project teams, CR > enthusiasts and well wishers – all with good intentions but working on > different levels and fighting different battles in isolation? > > *Screening committee:* I am aware that there have been some noises made > about the speed at which the government is taking this licensing procedure. > However, that is only one part of the story. Who devised the screening > committee? It has not been mentioned in the policy. Who decided the members > of the committee and on what basis? What is the criterion for eligibility of > a CR license? Has this information been shared with all stakeholders? Some > of the questions asked by this committee seem to be out of context and far > fetched. Many applications have been put on hold by the screening committee, > how come there is no advocacy on this issue? Is the CRF represented in this > committee? Is there any information distributed on this on CR India? If not, > why? Is it a non issue? > > *Frequency allocation and spectrum*: There has been enough dialogue if > campus community radio stations should be a part of the CRF, or whether, > they should form a separate body etc. How come nobody has correlated this > issue to the spectrum filling up? Has anyone looked at the urban scenario? > If there is an application from Bangalore or Delhi, there is no spectrum > available? Don't urban areas need CR? Or do we also believe like the MIB, > that CR is only for rural areas, and that urban areas don't have any need > for CR? > > Also, can we get some details of what this spectrum filling up is all > about? How can the spectrum be filled up in some places so fast, and yet at > the same time the Govt expects 5000 radio stations in a year? How about > advocacy on this? Suddenly there is talk about sharing infrastructure? Is > that a solution for non availability of frequency? It's questions the > foundation that CR rests on, th fundamentals are getting mixed up. It's not > even CR anymore? > > *Technology: *I think this area has been addressed and the web is growing. > Efforts to make low cost transmitters, training by NOMAD for CR was the > first step. On this mail list there has been active dialogue on technology. > Again, just like technology cannot be divorced from the CR, community cannot > be divorced from technology. Effective mechanisms to share information on > technology by testing it on the field, feedback collection, etc. should be > devised. One just needs to know how to use it, and there are sufficient > people on the field who are interested. They probably don't have access. > > > *On community Ownership of the CRS* - obviously the legal license holder > is responsible for CR, but how he/she deals transfer ownership eventually. > If each NGO/applicant holder forms a community based management committee > which should be registered separately, and at the earliest- so that when the > time for renewal of license comes, this entity can apply for the license, > thereby taking it one step closer to the community ownership and protect it > from becoming "NGO radio." > > * > * > > *The CRF:* Finally there is talk about getting it registered! Great news! > But I wish there could be more participation. It's the same people talking, > the same people responding. Either no one else is interested or there is > hesitation to participate – why? Are people feeling excluded? Sure! Some > attention could be spared towards making the CRF more inclusive? Perhaps > more women? > > Some suggestions: The CRF can have a close network of people working with > mainstream newspapers/TV channel to cover public meetings and publish > developments on a consistent basis. Introduce CR in education; work with > young adults interested in radio and studying in media institutions. The > existing stereotypical career options for a media student today are PR, > advertising, News channels and the like (not barring that these are > successful career options) but a lot of them don't even think of development > as an option for various reasons and one of it is lack of information. > That's where we can come in. We are not going to be here forever. Let's > spread the word and campaign for CR to increase awareness. > > Soon after the first public meeting of the CRF, in Jan 2007, Tripta > Chandola had sent an email which was forgotten among 'bigger' things, events > and conferences. But it's worthwhile to go back and look at the points she > raised. She raised some important questions for which we never got answers > for. The question is do we even have the answers, or is it easier to ignore? > Probably one of the reasons she never wrote back. > > > Finally, after all the critiquing and complaining, I must admit that all > the work that has been done has been commendable, it's where it goes from > here, that concerns me. I wish to see this movement as being more real than > superficial. If words be put into action - the movement will be real. > Working towards it collectively would be help a great deal. And I'm am all > set to be a part of this collective. It is also commendable that > considerable work has been done in documenting work done by several > initiatives and the passion for CR. > > Apologies for the long email, hope that subsequent ones will be shorter. > It's been a long overdue from my side. > > just another concerned member of the 'community' > ekta > > > P.S., Below is an email that still hasn't got answer? and "Justice"? If > there have been responses to this email, then it would be worthwhile to > share it on the CR-India list. If not, then it only makes my point > clearer.It is a critical concern. > > > Original Message ----- > > *From:* PARD > > *To:* crforum-helpdesk at yahoogroups.com > > *Sent:* Monday, December 31, 2007 1:29 PM > > *Subject:* Some Doubts > > > Dear friends in Community Radio Forum, > > Warm Seasonal Greetings from PARD. > > Within a few hours we are going to enter into the new year 2008 with lots > of hope and beliefs that the New Year will bring us all the happiness that > we expect.In this cheerful time, we could not understand a few things > happened in the year 2007. > > You could have seen already in this forum, our two email messages within > the lost two months of the year 2007 in which we have raised a few problems > faced by our organisation in getting the LOI for establishing the Community > Radio Station for the benefit of the people with whom we are working for. We > are sure that the problem tht we face is just beaurocratic nature of this > nation. The problem is still on the same status. > > While we heared about the information about the formation of a Network for > Community Radio practicioners, we were very happy to welcome and attended > the meeting held in New Delhi during the month of February 2007 with a hope > to get the support of the network. > > We have personal introduction with eminent members of the Community Radio > Forum like Dr.Sridhar, Mr.Sajan, Dr.Vinod Pavarala, Mr.Stalin and I am > aware that these people are well experienced, educated, talented and what > not. I donot have any doubt on the efficiency of these great leaders. I am > sorry if I have missed some of the names. > > Sometime back there was a hot dicussion in this email group regarding the > ownership of the CSR and many eminent persons of the group was emphasising > that the ownership of CSR should be with the Community alone. While I > accept the views in the right sense, I could not understand if the community > is kept with the situation that we face now, how it could survive with the > management of the CSR. > > We are still not denied of providing of LOI but delayed.We would like to > see this problem in the context of Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. > > Many of our well wishers advised us to raise this issue under RTI or > approach suitable court of law to get our LOI. We may also make our attempt > and may be or may not get the LOI and finishing other formalities. but > still we could not understand what sort of the role that the CRF plays in > supporting grossrootlevel NGOs like PARD in getting down things in a > rightfull way. > > With warm regards, > > James Rajasekaran.E > > Project Director, > > PARD. > > > > ------------------------------ > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > > > 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 > cr-india at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india > > -- 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) -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-1 Size: 21073 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080124/906535c4/attachment.bin From pardmadurai at eth.net Thu Jan 24 14:02:59 2008 From: pardmadurai at eth.net (PARD) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:02:59 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it References: <634494cd0801221240i64c359d6vf3eb91275ffa90d2@mail.gmail.com> <"00 2d01c85e4c$47a15520$0501a8c0"@stare4676faf9e> Message-ID: <001f01c85e63$ba9b43d0$0501a8c0@stare4676faf9e> Dear Dr.Vinod Pavarala, Thank you for your quick response. I am sorry if I hurt the feelings of the members of the CRF. But I regularly wrote all these emails with a concern to strengthen our unity to make the movement. Kindly bear with my words if it echos in other direction. With warm regards, James. . ----- Original Message ----- From: Vinod Pavarala To: PARD Cc: cr-india Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 1:46 PM Subject: Re: [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it dear mr.james: I can fully understand your anguish about the status of your application. All of us in the CRF are fully aware of your problem. In fact, it has led to quite a bit of animated discussion among many of us regarding the screening committee and its functioning, the rights of applicants to know the reasons for delay or rejection of their applications, etc. If you feel (perhaps rightly so) that the CRF hasn't been able to do anything concrete about it, it is only because all of us are individually swamped with our respective professional commitments and are trying to devote time to the promotion of the cause of CR. CRF, as you may know, is not yet a registered body (although we are in the process of completing the procedures for it) and does not have a secretariat or office staff. We are notionally functioning from the office of Drishti in Ahmedabad out of their generosity. In spite of this, we were, with the support of many participating NGOs and Unesco, able to organize in the last four to five months regional-level workshops for community-based organizations in different parts of the country. All criticisms of CRF and its more visible/vocal members are most welcome as we do like to imbibe a self-critical spirit. But, please do have patience with us. Join us to strengthen the collective so that we can not only engage in macro-level advocacy work, but also address individual grievances with the government. If you or any other representative of a CBO/NGO who is reading this is interested in sharing some of your concerns with the CR community, please do come to the CRF meeting in Bangalore in February. best, vinod On Jan 24, 2008 11:14 AM, PARD wrote: Dear friends, Greetings from PARD. Our position regarding the application of establishing Community Radio Station is in the same position as it was before two months. Non of our emails to this group, raising the basic questions were responded by any of the members of the CRF. Might be we are considered as the group belonging to the lowest strata of the community or considered as "need not be responded". But we would like to raise tha matter still by which we donot want to attain our personal benefits but we would like to have a strong network which really have thepower and concern to protect the rights of each and every member of the network. Basically this is the network for the broadcasters who are expected to have the basic journalistic quality. Journalists are expected to function as the watch dogs of the society by which they have their own responsibilties to protect the rights of the individuals of the society on the whole. If we cannot protect our own rights, I donot understand whom else rights will be protected by us, as a network. We are very happy to note that our emails were atleast watched by several eminent personalities of this network who really want to help the Community to take off the activities of management of Community Radio by the active role of the community on its own. I hope to find answers for these questions in the Annual Meeting of CRF in bangalore. With warm regards, James. ----- Original Message ----- From: ekta To: cr-india at sarai.net Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:10 AM Subject: [cr-india] On CR and the community part of it To all members of the CR community, I have been following all the posts on CR India and the developments of CR across India, working closely with one potential CRS and after endless conversations and deliberations – I am compelled to share my thoughts as I sense a huge disconnect between theory and practice. I write this with as much concern as cynicism. Who is the community? After the policy was made public in Nov 2006, NGOs, philanthropists, academicians and others represented communities because of the past initiatives and the limitations of the policy. But now it's 2008, who represents this 'community'? Somewhere along the way I think we have forgotten what 'community' means. Do we end up deciding on behalf of the 'community' by using representation as an excuse? Defeats the purpose of CR, doesn't it? Will we ever see new faces and hear different voices? Community participation or exclusion.. Does this so called "community" participate? Have they been given a chance to represent CR? Where is the opportunity? Sure, there have been state level regional workshops that have helped a great deal. But what about the follow up? The national level events are in English and intellectual debate is often assumed to float around within these closed circles. There are very few books, publications, other material available in regional languages as compared to the ones in English. To top it all, the policy still hasn't been translated in different languages! Even if there are initiatives who have done so, how does one access it? Developments on CR are also distributed and discussed in English. I recognise that this is a slow process but it's about time to involve the 'community' Do we collect feedback from the people who are on the field about developments, issues to be raised, needs concerns, practical problems, on publications etc.? If anyone has access to it, please share it on this list. Can't we make an effort to strengthen networks, organise regular meetings, setting up a local wing of the CRF, translate the policy in as many languages, make it available to NGOs and other stakeholders across the country, simplify common jargons used - at least there will be a trickle down of some sort. Workshops in big cities, it's convenient alright but for whom? It's time for us to take a back seat and let the people who are really working closely with CR to lead this movement. CR is not rocket science. We can encourage production staff, volunteers existing radio stations to participate and take the lead in organising the seminars, the consultations and the workshops. How can it be sustained, community managed or owned, if we are encouraging dependency on information, apart from other things? Somewhere, I feel there is a dangerous disconnect on every level - the CRF, the govt, members of the community, NGOs and their project teams, CR enthusiasts and well wishers – all with good intentions but working on different levels and fighting different battles in isolation? Screening committee: I am aware that there have been some noises made about the speed at which the government is taking this licensing procedure. However, that is only one part of the story. Who devised the screening committee? It has not been mentioned in the policy. Who decided the members of the committee and on what basis? What is the criterion for eligibility of a CR license? Has this information been shared with all stakeholders? Some of the questions asked by this committee seem to be out of context and far fetched. Many applications have been put on hold by the screening committee, how come there is no advocacy on this issue? Is the CRF represented in this committee? Is there any information distributed on this on CR India? If not, why? Is it a non issue? Frequency allocation and spectrum: There has been enough dialogue if campus community radio stations should be a part of the CRF, or whether, they should form a separate body etc. How come nobody has correlated this issue to the spectrum filling up? Has anyone looked at the urban scenario? If there is an application from Bangalore or Delhi, there is no spectrum available? Don't urban areas need CR? Or do we also believe like the MIB, that CR is only for rural areas, and that urban areas don't have any need for CR? Also, can we get some details of what this spectrum filling up is all about? How can the spectrum be filled up in some places so fast, and yet at the same time the Govt expects 5000 radio stations in a year? How about advocacy on this? Suddenly there is talk about sharing infrastructure? Is that a solution for non availability of frequency? It's questions the foundation that CR rests on, th fundamentals are getting mixed up. It's not even CR anymore? Technology: I think this area has been addressed and the web is growing. Efforts to make low cost transmitters, training by NOMAD for CR was the first step. On this mail list there has been active dialogue on technology. Again, just like technology cannot be divorced from the CR, community cannot be divorced from technology. Effective mechanisms to share information on technology by testing it on the field, feedback collection, etc. should be devised. One just needs to know how to use it, and there are sufficient people on the field who are interested. They probably don't have access. On community Ownership of the CRS - obviously the legal license holder is responsible for CR, but how he/she deals transfer ownership eventually. If each NGO/applicant holder forms a community based management committee which should be registered separately, and at the earliest- so that when the time for renewal of license comes, this entity can apply for the license, thereby taking it one step closer to the community ownership and protect it from becoming "NGO radio." The CRF: Finally there is talk about getting it registered! Great news! But I wish there could be more participation. It's the same people talking, the same people responding. Either no one else is interested or there is hesitation to participate – why? Are people feeling excluded? Sure! Some attention could be spared towards making the CRF more inclusive? Perhaps more women? Some suggestions: The CRF can have a close network of people working with mainstream newspapers/TV channel to cover public meetings and publish developments on a consistent basis. Introduce CR in education; work with young adults interested in radio and studying in media institutions. The existing stereotypical career options for a media student today are PR, advertising, News channels and the like (not barring that these are successful career options) but a lot of them don't even think of development as an option for various reasons and one of it is lack of information. That's where we can come in. We are not going to be here forever. Let's spread the word and campaign for CR to increase awareness. Soon after the first public meeting of the CRF, in Jan 2007, Tripta Chandola had sent an email which was forgotten among 'bigger' things, events and conferences. But it's worthwhile to go back and look at the points she raised. She raised some important questions for which we never got answers for. The question is do we even have the answers, or is it easier to ignore? Probably one of the reasons she never wrote back. Finally, after all the critiquing and complaining, I must admit that all the work that has been done has been commendable, it's where it goes from here, that concerns me. I wish to see this movement as being more real than superficial. If words be put into action - the movement will be real. Working towards it collectively would be help a great deal. And I'm am all set to be a part of this collective. It is also commendable that considerable work has been done in documenting work done by several initiatives and the passion for CR. Apologies for the long email, hope that subsequent ones will be shorter. It's been a long overdue from my side. just another concerned member of the 'community' ekta P.S., Below is an email that still hasn't got answer? and "Justice"? If there have been responses to this email, then it would be worthwhile to share it on the CR-India list. If not, then it only makes my point clearer.It is a critical concern. Original Message ----- From: PARD To: crforum-helpdesk at yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 1:29 PM Subject: Some Doubts Dear friends in Community Radio Forum, Warm Seasonal Greetings from PARD. Within a few hours we are going to enter into the new year 2008 with lots of hope and beliefs that the New Year will bring us all the happiness that we expect.In this cheerful time, we could not understand a few things happened in the year 2007. You could have seen already in this forum, our two email messages within the lost two months of the year 2007 in which we have raised a few problems faced by our organisation in getting the LOI for establishing the Community Radio Station for the benefit of the people with whom we are working for. We are sure that the problem tht we face is just beaurocratic nature of this nation. The problem is still on the same status. While we heared about the information about the formation of a Network for Community Radio practicioners, we were very happy to welcome and attended the meeting held in New Delhi during the month of February 2007 with a hope to get the support of the network. We have personal introduction with eminent members of the Community Radio Forum like Dr.Sridhar, Mr.Sajan, Dr.Vinod Pavarala, Mr.Stalin and I am aware that these people are well experienced, educated, talented and what not. I donot have any doubt on the efficiency of these great leaders. I am sorry if I have missed some of the names. Sometime back there was a hot dicussion in this email group regarding the ownership of the CSR and many eminent persons of the group was emphasising that the ownership of CSR should be with the Community alone. While I accept the views in the right sense, I could not understand if the community is kept with the situation that we face now, how it could survive with the management of the CSR. We are still not denied of providing of LOI but delayed.We would like to see this problem in the context of Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. Many of our well wishers advised us to raise this issue under RTI or approach suitable court of law to get our LOI. We may also make our attempt and may be or may not get the LOI and finishing other formalities. but still we could not understand what sort of the role that the CRF plays in supporting grossrootlevel NGOs like PARD in getting down things in a rightfull way. With warm regards, James Rajasekaran.E Project Director, PARD. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india -- 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) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080124/75bc6c82/attachment-0001.html From newsletter at radioduniya.in Thu Jan 24 21:05:17 2008 From: newsletter at radioduniya.in (Radio Duniya Awards 2008) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:35:17 +0500 Subject: [cr-india] Nomination Submission Date Extended for Radio Duniya Awards 2008 Message-ID: <20080124145845.391C02B29AA2@mail.sarai.net> Radio Duniya Td{ font-size:12pt; } A:link { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:visited { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:active { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:hover { TEXT-DECORATION: none } Submission Date Extended Till 31st January 2008 radio duniya awards are to acclaim and honour the professionals from the radio industry for their innovative contribution.The awards are an attempt to boost the morale of the new comers, who are here to carry the legacy of radio further ahead for the generations to come. The awards will be presented at the Gala Radio Nite on 11 February, 2008 at InterContinental - The Grand, Barakhamba Lane, New Delhi. The Awards are based on the classification guidelines of cities, as per Governement of India. (viz. A+, A, B, C, D) For Cities Classification Click Here Nominations Invited In The Following Categories: AIR STATION To accolade the AIR station, which has exhibited innovation and zeal in achieving the AIR objective of covering varied subjects - from G to G (grassroots to global), appealing to all levels of audience. Nominations are invited from the Station Heads. The station should be functional for a minimum of three months as on 25th January 2008. FM STATION To recognize the FM station which creatively stands out, striking a chord with the Indian population through its programs, music, interviews, games, community contribution and more. Nominations are invited from the Station Heads. The station should be functional for a minimum of three months as on 25th January 2008. COMMUNITY/ CAMPUS RADIO STATION To acknowledge the community/campus radio which epitomizes the spirit of community radio by airing programmes that have mesmerized the community/students at large. Nominations are invited from the Station Heads. The station should be functional for a minimum of three months as on 25th January 2008. RADIO HOST Pleasant voice, perky ?n? warm, connecting, spontaneously creative, community conscious, passion for music - are words which describe a Radio Host! However, the judicious mix of all these qualities will decide the Best Radio Host 2008. Nominations are invited from the Programming Heads and endorsed by the Station Directors. Radio hosts who are freelancing can submit their nominations directly. The radio host should be presently, on air for a minimum of six months to be eligible. RADIO ADVERTISEMENT To award the most innovative & creative advertisement with unique impact on the audience. Nominations are invited from the Advertising Agencies or Marketing Heads of the Companies/Radio Stations. The advertisement should have been on air during the period of 1st January 2007 to 25th January 2008. RADIO SHOW The award for the best radio show/programme is a tribute to the most comprehensive and engaging radio show. Nominations are invited from the Programme Head, further endorsed by the Station Head. Only programme/show aired between 1st February 2007 to 25th January 2008 are eligible. RADIO WEBSITE The award is to acknowledge the most interactive, innovative, user-friendly and popular radio website. Nominations are invited from the Head of the Company. The website should be functional for a minimum of three months as on 25th January 2008 SIGNATURE TUNE To award the signature tune which fulfilled its purpose of giving a mass appeal to the brand Nominations are invited from the National Programming/Marketing/Branding Heads and further endorsed by the Head of the Company. The signature tune used between 1st February 2007 to 25th January 2008 should be nominated. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVE To acknowledge the most responsible social initiative programme by a radio station, which, has educated people about water resources, pollution, conservation, social and management issues. Nominations are invited from the Programming/Branding Heads, further endorsed by the Head of the Company. The social responsibility initiative should have been organized between 1st January 2007 to 25th January 2008 in order to be eligible. MARKETING CAMPAIGN To give credence to the most motivational marketing campaign of a radio brand, which justified its marketing/sales strategies. Nominations are invited from the Marketing/Branding Head and further endorsed by the Head of the Organization. (CEO/COO/Business Head). The Marketing Campaign should have been running during the period of 1st January 2007 to 25th January 2008. RADIO DUNIYA ? PERSON OF THE YEAR 2007 (Last date for nominations: 26th January 2008) To recognize outstanding achievements of the individual who has made the most significant contribution to the radio industry. Nominations are invited from Public A distinguished jury comprising of personage from the media industry will contribute in an unbiased manner to the decision making process for the awards. The Jury will review the content, credibility, realistic approach, creativity, accuracy, technicality, educational value and motivational element of the nominations. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080124/73b427f3/attachment.html From fred at bytesforall.org Sun Jan 27 03:04:22 2008 From: fred at bytesforall.org (=?UTF-8?Q?Frederick_Noronha?= =?UTF-8?Q?_[=E0=A5=9E=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=87=E0=A4=A6=E0=A4=B0=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=95?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=A8=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=B0?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8B=E0=A4=A8=E0=A4=AF=E0=A4=BE]?=) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 03:04:22 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] OFFTOPIC: From Asia, examples of how sharing music, film and more makes sense... Message-ID: <8ea78e010801261334j2fdb0aabnb3b5a7ef401b0801@mail.gmail.com> FROM ASIA, EXAMPLES OF HOW SHARING MUSIC, FILM AND MORE MAKES SENSE Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall.org Goa, INDIA: They come from diverse backgrounds. They come from different parts of Asia and the Pacific. But they all share a belief in going beyond copyright and seeing how sharing their work can make sense. Remix artists, performers, open-source software programmers, filmmakers, collecting institutions and publishing houses focused on democracy and change, are among those building the 'commons' in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a new booklet focussing on the subject. They have a "diverse set of motivations to engage with the shared ideals of openness and community collaboration" while producing work of their own in various fields, says The Asia and the Commons case study project. This series of case studies was recently released in the form of a booklet. This booklet was produced in the lead up to ACIA: Asia and the Commons in the Information Age international workshop which was held in Taiwan on 19-20 January, 2008. The booklet showcases individuals and organisations working in the commons in the Asia-Pacific region. It looks at work being done across nine countries, broader regions like the Arab nations, and creative ways of participating in the commons. Unlike copyright, which blocks the free sharing of knowledge and creative work, the commons approach follows a different goal. 'Commons' licenses enable copyright holders to grant some or all of their rights to the public while retaining others. This is done through a variety of licensing and contract schemes including dedication to the public domain or open content licensing terms. The intention is to avoid the problems current copyright laws create for the sharing of information. "The Asia and the Commons case study project represents an effort to uncover exemplary individuals and organisations engaged in the commons in the Asia-Pacific region," said a note put out by Rachel Cobcroft, Research Officer, Creative Commons Clinic at the Queensland University of Technology (email: rachel at creativecommons.org.au) Take a look at what's happening here -- a few cases have been listed, but their work is both interesting and impressive. 'Following Alexis West' is a documentary film which examines the effect of New Zealand's switch to a proportional representation system has had on its politics and culture since 1996. See [http://www.followingalexiswest.com] This film mirrors the journey taken by French political theorist and lawyer Alexis de Tocqueville to America to examine the workings of democracy in the early nineteenth century. This trip had culminated in the writing of De la démocratie en Amériq (Democracy in Americ. Now, e film's roducer Brian Boyko travels to New Zealand from the United States to document the country's political and cultural achievements. The documentary examines the way in which New Zealand's reconfigured voting structure may serve to prevent gerrymandering, negative campaigning, civic disengagement, and undue influence of powerful lobbies. Some 28 hours of footage have been shot in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, and are in the process of being digitised and uploaded. Secondary shooting in Austin, Texas, is to follow, with post-production to be complete by March 2008. This will allow the documentary to be submitted to North American and European film festivals from April 2008, according to this booklet. 'Following Alexis West' is being produced independently, and will seek distributors for the film's commercial release, in three separate formats -- from a 90-minute feature (for US and European film festivals), a 56-minute New Zealand-only edit; and over 20 hours of raw footage. According to its filmmakers, the digitised raw footage will most likely be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 licence. It will be offered to the New Zealand film archive, the South Seas Film School, and the University of Texas School of Communication Radio-Television-Film program for educational purposes. It will also be released online for further historical and other non-commercial projects. "Commons is great for indies like me because we can still make what money off of our work there is to be made -- while not denying other people the ability to spread it around and make use of it for non-profit purposes, without requiring meetings with lawyers," the film's producer Brian Boyko was quoted as saying. Boyko says that he accepts Creative Commons as a normal, ordinary part of the day-to-day functioning of the web. Inspired by the release of Canadian blogger, journalist and science fiction author Cory Doctorow's writing under Creative Commons, and the Flickr licence integration, Boyko said in the booklet that he believes his work should be open to anyone who is willing to use it fairly. Others use similar easy-to-share licenses. Strange Symphonies is the blog of of Aizat Faiz, a Malaysian free culture advocate working with FLOSS, free content, and open standards at http://blog.aizatto.com Aizat is an undergraduate student, and chronicles the effects which free culture and FLOSS has had on his education and employment. Says he: "As can be seen, the freedom to let me just take code online, read it, study it, remix it, hack it, has been extremely beneficial to me in terms of my education." Yueh-hsin Chu is an independent musician and producer in Taiwan, and leads the band Jesus Rocks! The band released an album of the same name in October 2004 under a Creative Commons Licence. Chu is quoted saying in this booklet: "I see CC licences as a way for one to express goodwill in exchange for goodwill from others. It is like: Here are my works and I am CC-licensing them so you can use them. But please return your goodwill by respecting my rights." He notes: "Before CC licences, my works were either protected by record labels to a ridiculous extent, or I was doing it all for free, as a charity. CC is a smart charity in interesting ways. Creative Commons means a lot to creators. I know of many indie film makers (some of whom are just Mom-and-Pop organisations). They are so glad that they can now use music from opsound.org for background music in their works. Before that, it would cost them a lot to get those kinds of music usage rights." "The paperwork alone would kill you," he says. The Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, supports Creative Commons Taiwan. Since May 2006, Creative Commons Taiwan has published a monthly e-mail newsletter [http://groups.google.com/group/CC-Taiwan-newsletter]. It provides regular updates on the usage of Creative Commons Licences in Taiwan and around the world. See http://creativecommons.org.tw International IDEA is an intergovernmental organisation seeking to strengthen democratic processes and institutions worldwide. It too uses a Creative Commons license for over 100 titles, while supporting what it terms "sustainable democracy". Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with offices in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. See it online at http://http://www.idea.int/publications 60Sox is a multimedia portfolio and networking site providing a central focal point for emergent creativity in Australia and New Zealand. http://www.60sox.org.au Says the booklet: "By providing a home to showcase their digital wares, 60Sox gives creators the opportunity to generate exposure, make industry contacts, and receive feedback and critical appraisal from peers and industry experts." This site brings together emerging creative practitioners and creative professionals by providing members with their own online portfolio space. There are eight creative categories here: animation, design, film and video, interactive media, music and audio, photography, visual art and writing. Arab Commons [http://www.arabcommons.org], meanwhile, is an "to educate Arab artists, intellectuals and creative workers about the advantages of releasing their works under Creative Commons licences." It's argued that these licenses offer flexibility, and cater to the different requirements of rights holders. It has a potential to unleash "a rich and vibrant digital commons for Arabic speakers". Arab Commons sees as its goals to: * Raise awareness for the importance of Arabic-language content which is published and distributed under copyright licences that grant the user more freedom in the utilisation of this content * Encourage the production and distribution of Arabic-language content under Creative Commons licences * Enrich the common Arabic body of knowledge by supporting open Arabic content creation and development projects. As of December 2007, the initiative contained 11 full text books; 7 poetry books; 46 art works; 1 magazine; 1 podcast; and 11 artciles. As this booklet points out, Arabic is the native language of more than 200 million people. Yet, it concedes, the Arabic Digital Commons still lags behind other languages both quantitatively and qualitatively. But things are happening. Dr. Rayan El Helou [http://www.rayanhelou.com], for example, published all his five volumes of poetry under a Creative Commons licence, to make his works available to the widest possible audience with minimal cost. His site drew about 300 hits and visitors a month. Hanadi Traifeh [http://www.hanaditraifeh.com], a young artist from Syria, decided to release the vast majority of her artworks and graphic designs under the a Creative Commons license, for a different reason, explains this booklet. She sees Arabic and Oriental arts as under-represented in the digital sphere, probably leading to very few people from outside the Arab world being able to appreciate the beauty of Oriental art. Hanadi decided to deliver her share by exposing Arabic art to global cyber audiences. She has released more than 40 graphic designs, original art works and photographs under Arab Commons. There are other examples too, from other parts of Asia. Global Voices Online from the Harvard Law School aims to redress the inequities in media attention by leveraging the power of "citizens' media". It aggregates online materials, such as wikis, weblogs, podcasts, tags, and online chats, to draw attention to the conversations by global voices that have so far gone unheard. It gets translated. Materials are translated into Bangla, Spanish, Farsi, French, Portuguese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), and will soon be available in German, Hindi, Japanese, Arabic, and Malagasy. This venture says it "believes that sharing our content in this way is most consistent with our main goal: making the voices of bloggers around the world heard by as many people as possible." See See http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/ Working out of Thailand, The Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives promotes peer-to-peer alternatives in diverse fields of human activity. See [http://p2pfoundation.net] Its wiki contains 6,360 total pages in the database of which there are 4,360 pages that are probably legitimate content pages. These have generated 2,478,744 page views. Individuals are also trying out the culture of sharing. MoShang is the Chinese moniker of Jean Marais, who relocated from South Africa to Taichung, Taiwan, in 2003. MoShang calls himself a sound jeweller. Says this booklet: "He collects rough audio diamonds from the streets of Taiwan (be they overheard conversations, street-ads blared from the ubiquitous blue-trucks, street processions or funeral chants) and fuses them with traditional Chinese instruments and laid-back beats to create a unique blend of downtempo electronica he likes to call Chinese Chill." Meanwhile, Sony eyeVio is an Internet and mobile service in Japan that offers high quality videos for friends and families to upload and share. See [http://eyevio.jp/] Sharing works in the field of photography too, as some examples from Down Under show. Click and Flick is a National Library of Australia initiative to open PictureAustralia to photographic contributions from the general public. See [http://www.pictureaustralia.org] Click and Flick enables individuals to contribute their own images to two dedicated Flickr image pools: PictureAustralia: Ourtown [http://www.flickr.com/groups/pa_ourtown] and PictureAustralia: People, Places and Events [http://www.flickr.com/groups/PictureAustralia_ppe] Says the venture: "The vision is to invite all Australians to place their own image collections there too, so we all play a part in telling the full story." openDemocracy (oD) offers an independent voice on global news and current affairs via a leading online magazine. Promoting "free thinking for the world," the site exists to "publish clarifying debates to help stimulate your mind, challenge your perceptions and then invite and encourage you to take part" in a range of prominent issues surrounding human rights and democracy. See [http://www.opendemocracy.net] In Australia, the Creative Commons Clinic at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane is the primary centre for research into Creative Commons in Australia. See the book of essays titled Open Content Licensing: Cultivating the Creative Commons [http://creativecommons.org.au/ocl] From Australia, EngageMedia is a Web 2.0 video-sharing site focused on social justice and environmental issues in South East Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. Says the booklet, "Emphasising open access and collaborative frameworks, the site supports the collection and dissemination of independent perspectives to challenge the enduring corporate dominance of traditional media." See [http://engagemedia.org/] This booklet can be downloaded for free from: http://creativecommons.org.au/asiaandthecommons -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 The Goa books blog: http://goabooks.wordpress.com Goa1556 (alt.publishing.goa): http://goa1556.goa-india.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080127/f8c7e0ed/attachment-0001.html From media at web.net Thu Jan 24 20:13:41 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:43:41 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] =?iso-8859-1?q?New_guide_on_=91citizen_media=92_availa?= =?iso-8859-1?q?ble?= Message-ID: <48524.199.247.51.62.1201185821.squirrel@flymail.web.net> New guide on ‘citizen media’ available Region :Worldwide Country :None Topic :Internet, Publications via http://www.ijnet.org/Director.aspx?P=Article&ID=307146&LID=1 22/01/2008 The Rising Voices Web site has released the first in a series of guides on interactive media. An Introduction to Citizen Media offers case studies on how people are using tools such as blogs, podcasts, online video and digital photography to engage in global conversations. Rising Voices, an initiative that promotes citizen media, said that the goal of the guide is to show that anyone with Internet access can take part in the “emerging global conversation.” The guide’s first edition is available in English, Spanish and Bengali. Future editions will be available in Swahili, Malagasy and Aymara, the organizers said in a news release. The guide in English (PDF format): http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/library/Introduction-to-Citizen-Media-EN.pdf. For more information: http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/news/. To participate in an IJNet Discussion on interactive media, click here http://ijnet.org/Director.aspx?P=DiscussionArticle&ID=307144&LID=1 . From alokeshgupta at gmail.com Sun Jan 27 12:36:38 2008 From: alokeshgupta at gmail.com (Alokesh) Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:36:38 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Radio waves to hit college campus Message-ID: <04c401c860b3$2b6d6060$2033ec7b@alokeshb286456> Radio waves to hit college campus - Tune in for news & fun LALMOHAN PATNAIK Cuttack, Jan. 24: Ravenshaw University here is coming up with Orissa's first campus-based FM radio station to provide students an interactive platform to reach out to each other, discuss issues of common interest and develop talent. "Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited has undertaken the turnkey execution of the project. While work on the studio facility is already underway, the entire process of setting up the community radio station is targeted to be completed within the next five months," said Satyakam Mishra, the university registrar. "If all goes well, the FM transmission - 96.0 Ravenshaw Radio - will hit airwaves by June before the start of the next academic session," he said today. To be run by students, the radio station's programming mix would include education and entertainment-based programmes. The service will initially cover a 7km area. "The FM transmission initiative is aimed at enabling the university to provide radio coverage within the campus and to serve the cause of the students by involving students. "The radio station is expected to make them more involved in what happens within the campus in the areas of education, health, sports, entertainment, university debates, seminars, workshops and cultural events," said Mishra. "Besides, students of the institution will gain hands-on experience of running a radio station," he added. Official sources said the university plans to have a radio station of middle module with a separate production studio with recording, editing and storage devices in addition to the on-air studio and programme production studio at a cost of Rs 20 lakh. "The production studio can also serve the purpose of income generation by renting out on demand," he said. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080125/jsp/nation/story_8822346.jsp From ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in Tue Jan 8 11:09:42 2008 From: ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in (sakthi vel) Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:39:42 -0000 Subject: [cr-india] India: Infrastructure proves to be major hurdle for setting up radio stations in smaller towns Message-ID: <357508.51787.qm@web8512.mail.in.yahoo.com> Infrastructure proves to be major hurdle for setting up radio stations in smaller towns With the radio industry spreading to smaller cities and towns of India with the phase II of FM radio licensing, it has brought to light some of the common problems faced by broadcasters while setting up radio stations in these places. While infrastructure and quality manpower seems to be a major issue, revenues and growth prospects also play a big role in the process. Broadcasters affirm the issue of infrastructural difficulties like availability of electricity and other basic resources. Soumen Choudhury, Chief Technical Officer, Big FM, pointed out some of the roadblocks faced. “Smaller cities and especially ‘virgin territories’ which are experiencing radio entertainment for the very first time come with roadblocks, ranging from setting up offices and studios, to getting electricity connection of requisite power in given time frame,” he explained. Meanwhile, Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City, noting that the station had presence only in select metros and mini-metros, explained, “For us, the process went very smoothly with great support and cooperation from regulatory authorities. However, possibly for players who have entered small markets, the challenges of setting up FM stations would largely arise from the perspective of sourcing talent.” Agreeing with them, Nisha Narayanan, Business Head, S FM, also stressed the need to resolve power issues in some of the towns where S FM operated in. Considering some of the other issues faced by broadcasters in smaller towns, Narayanan was of the opinion that talent was not a problem in these places, but professionalism was. “There is a lot of quality talent in the small towns of India, but understanding of the medium and the required professionalism is not present. Another major issue plaguing almost all radio players is the availability of local music content. As the local music companies are not part of any industry body, there is a great difficulty in getting the content,” she added. Another major subject of concern for broadcasters is the revenues and growth prospective for players in these towns. “The revenue potential of such cities vis-à-vis the investment tends to be rather limited,” added Purohit. Meanwhile, Narayanan is assured that the future of FM radio lies in smaller towns, although revenues were not high in smaller towns at present. “But, it will continue to grow in the coming years,” she expressed. Choudhury also stressed that the biggest challenges involved profitable economies for FM radio station operations and getting quality skilled manpower available locally. Suggesting ways to overcome some of these issues, Narayanan expressed the need to have some industry body for local music companies, and scout for employing part-timers in such markets. Elaborating on ways to overcome such problems, Big FM’s Choudhury said, “Each problem is workable and we are working towards seeking full advertising potential of the stations, in addition to seeking talent from the local populace. We are also in talks with government bodies and officials to get several other issues sorted for the industry.” Source: exchange4media.com 2008 /////////////////////// For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 /////////////////////// Why delete messages? Unlimited storage is just a click away. Go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html From media at web.net Tue Jan 8 12:34:45 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 07:04:45 -0000 Subject: [cr-india] =?iso-8859-1?q?Three_part_radio/podcast_series_called_?= =?iso-8859-1?q?=93Southern_Perspectives=94=2C?= Message-ID: <35557.199.247.51.60.1199775873.squirrel@flymail.web.net> The North South Institute, a research institute in Ottawa, Canada, has produced a three part radio/podcast series called “Southern Perspectives”, available on line as a podcast series, and to broadcasters to air on radio. During the past few years, The North South Institute has been engaged in a project called “Southern Perspectives on Reforming the International Development Architecture”. Typically, decisions about international aid and development are made by northern donors. Too often, southern voices are not a significant part of the dialogue. This project turns that model upside down, and asks researchers in the South what needs to be changed. Each of the three episodes is 13-16 minutes long and features Alejandro Bendana – Centre for International Studies, Managua; Adeomol Oyejida – Trade Policy Research and Training Program, University of Ibadan, Nigeria; Norman Girvan – Univesity of the West Indies; Kwesi Anning – Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Accra, Ghana and Nguyen Thi Thu Hang of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. To listen on-line, go to the North South Institute’s website at http://www.nsi-ins.ca. Requests for broadcast should be sent to Lois Ross, Director of Communications, North South Institute at lross at nsi-ins.ca Victoria Fenner artist/journalist at large http://magneticspirits.blogspot.com http://www.magneticspirits.com From newsletter at radioduniya.in Fri Jan 25 13:08:33 2008 From: newsletter at radioduniya.in (Radio Duniya Awards 2008) Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:38:33 +0500 Subject: [cr-india] Person of the Year 2007 - Nominate NOW!! Message-ID: <20080125070126.0A8252B29A8F@mail.sarai.net> Radio Duniya Td{ font-size:12pt; } A:link { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:visited { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:active { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:hover { TEXT-DECORATION: none } Just Takes a Minute RADIO DUNIYA ? PERSON OF THE YEAR 2007 (Last date for nominations: 26th January 2008) To recognize outstanding achievements of the individual who has made the most significant contribution to the radio industry. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080125/58b2aa17/attachment.html From v1clist at yahoo.co.uk Mon Jan 28 08:27:56 2008 From: v1clist at yahoo.co.uk (Vickram Crishna) Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:57:56 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] India: Infrastructure proves to be major hurdle for setting up radio stations in smaller towns Message-ID: <951432.23396.qm@web26603.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Oh no! Electricity is a problem in 2nd tier cities? What was the I&B ministry thinking? Smaller cities and especially virgin territories which are experiencing radio entertainment for the very first time come with roadblocks, ranging from setting up offices and studios, to getting electricity connection of requisite power in given time frame, he explained. Radio entertainment. Am glad this is clarified. There is a lot of quality talent in the small towns of India, but understanding of the medium and the required professionalism is not present. An opportunity for AIR, before it's too late and their staffers retire. If it can't find a way to address this issue, then perhaps the CRF should look for way to organise regular training workshops for this sector. It doesn't need registration or any other form of kowtowing to establishment thinking - just networking, which so far we have not been bad at. As the local music companies are not part of any industry body, there is a great difficulty in getting the content, she added. And is this the fate of musical middle India - dependent on 'established' local music companies? Actually, perhaps I am being unfair - this report only focuses on the problems mentioned by the interviewees, and few of their suggestions and solutions, exept in the last para, where one player mentions the need for a second tier music industry association. A tip - AIR played the role of promoting local talent quite staunchly in the early years - I wonder if Ameen Sayani cribbed about the lack of a music industry association, though? Vickram http://communicall.wordpress.com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ----- Original Message ---- From: sakthi vel To: Monitering Times Sent: Tuesday, 8 January, 2008 11:09:27 AM Subject: [cr-india] India: Infrastructure proves to be major hurdle for setting up radio stations in smaller towns Infrastructure proves to be major hurdle for setting up radio stations in smaller towns With the radio industry spreading to smaller cities and towns of India with the phase II of FM radio licensing, it has brought to light some of the common problems faced by broadcasters while setting up radio stations in these places. While infrastructure and quality manpower seems to be a major issue, revenues and growth prospects also play a big role in the process. Broadcasters affirm the issue of infrastructural difficulties like availability of electricity and other basic resources. Soumen Choudhury, Chief Technical Officer, Big FM, pointed out some of the roadblocks faced. Smaller cities and especially virgin territories which are experiencing radio entertainment for the very first time come with roadblocks, ranging from setting up offices and studios, to getting electricity connection of requisite power in given time frame, he explained. Meanwhile, Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City, noting that the station had presence only in select metros and mini-metros, explained, For us, the process went very smoothly with great support and cooperation from regulatory authorities. However, possibly for players who have entered small markets, the challenges of setting up FM stations would largely arise from the perspective of sourcing talent. Agreeing with them, Nisha Narayanan, Business Head, S FM, also stressed the need to resolve power issues in some of the towns where S FM operated in. Considering some of the other issues faced by broadcasters in smaller towns, Narayanan was of the opinion that talent was not a problem in these places, but professionalism was. There is a lot of quality talent in the small towns of India, but understanding of the medium and the required professionalism is not present. Another major issue plaguing almost all radio players is the availability of local music content. As the local music companies are not part of any industry body, there is a great difficulty in getting the content, she added. Another major subject of concern for broadcasters is the revenues and growth prospective for players in these towns. The revenue potential of such cities vis-à-vis the investment tends to be rather limited, added Purohit. Meanwhile, Narayanan is assured that the future of FM radio lies in smaller towns, although revenues were not high in smaller towns at present. But, it will continue to grow in the coming years, she expressed. Choudhury also stressed that the biggest challenges involved profitable economies for FM radio station operations and getting quality skilled manpower available locally. Suggesting ways to overcome some of these issues, Narayanan expressed the need to have some industry body for local music companies, and scout for employing part-timers in such markets. Elaborating on ways to overcome such problems, Big FMs Choudhury said, Each problem is workable and we are working towards seeking full advertising potential of the stations, in addition to seeking talent from the local populace. We are also in talks with government bodies and officials to get several other issues sorted for the industry. Source: exchange4media.com 2008 /////////////////////// For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 /////////////////////// Why delete messages? Unlimited storage is just a click away. Go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html 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 cr-india at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail - a smarter inbox http://uk.mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080128/a766ff7e/attachment.html From ram at voicesindia.org Tue Jan 29 14:28:33 2008 From: ram at voicesindia.org (Ramnath Bhat) Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:28:33 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Final Agenda and Invite for Technology Workshop, CRF meet Message-ID: <1201597113.5784.59.camel@ram-laptop.mshome.net> Dear All, This is to remind you once again that the Technology Consultation for Community Radio will take place on February 3rd and 4th at the United Theological College, 63 Millers Rd, Bangalore. The consultation is organised by VOICES and supported by UNDP, (Chennai), UNESCO and AMARC. The agenda for the technology consultation is attached with this email. The Community Radio Forum Public Meeting will take place on February 2nd at the same venue. The meeting commences at 10 a.m. For more information/details please get in touch with Divya Wesley (divya.wesley at gmail.com) Ramnath Bhat ( ramnathbhat.13 at gmail.com) Ashish Sen (voices at vsnl.com) Best Regards VOICES Team -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Agenda_tech workshop.doc Type: application/msword Size: 103936 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080129/6d31f784/attachment-0001.doc From ramnathbhat.13 at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 17:48:47 2008 From: ramnathbhat.13 at gmail.com (Ramnath Bhat) Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:48:47 +0530 Subject: [cr-india] Invitations closed for Technology Consultation Message-ID: <1201695528.6053.76.camel@ram-laptop.mshome.net> Dear All, We want to thank everybody for their tremendous support, enthusiasm and participation in making this workshop a reality. We're overwhelmed with the response we've got for the consultation on Technology for Community Radio. Ever since we've sent out the invitation, the confirmations have been steadily coming in. Please note that all room bookings and registrations for the conference are closed as of now. We hope that there will be more workshops in the future, and hopefully we will meet the ones who could not make it for this one. Best wishes, Ashish/Ram VOICES From media at web.net Thu Jan 31 20:00:43 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:30:43 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] PHILIPPINES: A second radio journalist jailed for defamation (Eg+Fr) Message-ID: <37564.199.247.51.62.1201789843.squirrel@flymail.web.net> ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: [rsfasie] PHILIPPINES: A second radio journalist jailed for defamation (Eg+Fr) From: "RSF ASIA" Date: Thu, January 31, 2008 05:22 To: asie at rsf.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reporters Without Borders/Reporters sans frontières Press release 31 January 2008 PHILIPPINES A second radio journalist jailed for defamation Reporters Without Borders condemns the detention of radio show host Julito Ucab, who has been held in Butuan City, on the southern island of Mindanao, since 22 January for failing to attend a court hearing on a defamation case dating back to 2004. "After the jailing of Alex Adonis in Davao City, this is the second radio presenter to be detained in the Philippines as a result of a very questionable judicial procedure," the press freedom organisation said. "It is shocking that laws criminalizing defamation are still being applied. The United Nations have said very clearly that imprisoning a journalist for any length of time is disproportionate to the injury done to the plaintiff." Ucab is being held in connection with a lawsuit brought against him in 2004 by an employee of the Butuan City architects office, Amado Jovellano, because a woman had accused Jovellano of rape on a programme hosted by Ucab on Butuan City's radio DXBC. Also known as "Lito," Ucab now lives and works in Cagayan de Oro City, also on Mindanao island, and has been unable to attend hearings in Butuan since 2006. Back then, the court granted him provisional liberty after he paid bail of 330 euros. But it finally issued an arrest warrant of the kind that does not admit the possibility of release on bail. Cagayan de Oro press club president Jerry Orcullo said: "Journalists playing their role of society's watchdogs do not deserve to be treated as common criminals." Ucab's arrest is "clear proof of the brutal nature of the defamation law," he added. On 25 January, the supreme court urged judges to sentence persons found guilty of defamation to fines rather than prison sentences. Journalists continue to be exposed to abusive defamation actions in the Philippines. Adonis, a young journalist working for Bombo Radyo in Davao, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on 31 January 2007 for defaming Prospero Nograles, a parliamentarian and close ally of President Gloria Arroyo. He was convicted in absentia because he could not afford to pay for a lawyer or to attend all the hearings. -------------------- PHILIPPINES Un second journaliste emprisonné dans une affaire de diffamation Reporters sans frontières condamne le placement en détention de l'animateur de radio Julito Ucab à Butuan City (Sud), depuis le 22 janvier 2008. Il est détenu pour ne pas avoir répondu à une assignation en justice dans une affaire de "diffamation" remontant à 2004. "Après l'incarcération du jeune journaliste Alex Adonis à Davao City, un second présentateur de radio est emprisonné aux Philippines, à l'issue d'une procédure juridique plus que douteuse. Il n'est pas normal que les lois qui criminalisent la diffamation soient encore appliquées aux Philippines alors que les Nations unies ont très clairement spécifié que toute peine de prison comme sanction d'un délit de presse était disproportionnée par rapport au dommage causé au plaignant", a affirmé l'organisation. Le journaliste, qui exerce maintenant à Cagayan de Oro, également sur l'île de Mindanao, avait été poursuivi en justice par un ancien employé du Bureau d'architecture de Butuan City, Amado Jovellano. Ce dernier avait été accusé de viol par une femme au cours d'une émission sur la radio DXBC à Butuan City. Julito Ucab dit "Lito" n'a pas été en mesure de se présenter aux audiences du tribunal de Butuan depuis 2006. Il avait bénéficié d'une remise en liberté provisoire en échange d'une caution d'environ 330 euros. La cour a fini par émettre un mandat d'arrêt à son encontre, sans possibilité de libération sous caution. "Les journalistes qui jouent leur rôle de sentinelle dans la société ne méritent pas d'être traités comme de vulgaires criminels", a déploré Jerry Orcullo, président du Club de presse de Cagayan de Oro. Il a également déclaré que l'arrestation de Julito Ucab était "une preuve évidente de la brutalité de la loi sur la diffamation". La Cour suprême a, le 25 janvier 2008, recommandé aux juges de condamner les personnes coupables de "diffamation" à des amendes plutôt qu'à des peines de prison. Les journalistes philippins restent soumis à des plaintes abusives en diffamation. Le 31 janvier 2007, Alex Adonis, de Bombo Radyo, avait été condamné par contumace à quatre ans et demi de prison pour "diffamation" à l'encontre de Prospero Nograles, membre du Parlement et proche de la présidente Gloria Arroyo. Le prévenu, toujours emprisonné à Davao City, n'avait pas eu les moyens d'être défendu par un avocat et de se présenter à toutes les audiences. -- -- Vincent Brossel Asia - Pacific Desk Reporters Sans Frontières 47 rue Vivienne 75002 Paris 33 1 44 83 84 70 33 1 45 23 11 51 (fax) asia at rsf.org www.rsf.org -- -- --- GEORGE LESSARD Information & Media Specialist 6402135 Canada Inc. 101 - 5202 49th St Yellowknife, Northwest Territories X1A 1P9, Canada Yellowknife Land Line # (867) 873-2662 Yellowknife Cell # (867) 445-9193 Online Business Card: http://lessardcard.notlong.com Home e-mail media at web.net Alternate e-mail: mediamentor at gmail.com Home Pages http://mediamentor.ca Online Activities: http://www.web.ca/~media/index.html Photos: http://photosbygeorge.notlong.com My Public Bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/themediamentor Member: Canadian Association of Journalists http://www.caj.ca Canadian Artists Representation / le Front des artistes canadiennes http://www.carfac.ca/ Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective http://www.carcc.ca/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20080131/dfc75996/attachment.html From ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in Thu Jan 31 13:01:52 2008 From: ardicdxclub at yahoo.co.in (sakthi vel) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:31:52 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [cr-india] 'Dxers Guide Jan~Mar 2008' Message-ID: <962512.88018.qm@web8506.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dear Group members, I am Jaisakthivel from Chennai, India. Some of them already aware of me. Here with we give the link page to this quarter 'Dxers guide Jan~Mar 2008'. http://dxersguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/dxers-guide-jan-mar-2008.html Kindly send your comments and cooperation after read it. 73's Jaisakthivel, Editor Address for Communication: T. Jaisakthivel, President of Ardic DX Club, 59, Annai Sathaya Nagar, Arumbakkam, Chennai-600106, India. /////////////////////// For Contact: Jaisakthivel,59,Annai Sathya Nagar, Arumbakkam,Chennai-600106,India Visit: www.dxersguide.blogspot.com www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com Join: www.groups.yahoo.com/group/sarvadesavanoli Mobile: +91 98413 66086 /////////////////////// Now you can chat without downloading messenger. Go to http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php From media at web.net Thu Jan 31 20:24:56 2008 From: media at web.net (George Lessard) Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:54:56 -0500 (EST) Subject: [cr-india] Radio Broadcasts Incite Kenya's Ethnic Violence Message-ID: <31403.199.247.51.62.1201791296.squirrel@flymail.web.net> Radio Broadcasts Incite Kenya's Ethnic Violence By Alisha Ryu Nairobi 30 January 2008 Ryu report - Download (MP3) audio clip Ryu report - Listen (MP3) audio clip Media monitors in Kenya say inflammatory statements and songs broadcast on local language radio stations have contributed significantly to the surge in post-election ethnic violence that has killed nearly 900 people and displaced 255,000 others during the past month. As VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from Nairobi, the broadcasts bear a striking similarity to 1994 broadcasts in Rwanda that helped whip ethnic Hutus into a killing frenzy that resulted in the genocide of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis. more at... http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-30-voa38.cfm