The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Community Radio the `perfect media for information delivery'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 13, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Community Radio the `perfect media for information delivery'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, DEC. 12. Community Radio can play a vital role in meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015, especially the goal of universal education, said David H. Walker, an education specialist from the Commonwealth of Learning.

Speaking on the eve of a five-day workshop on Community Radio (CR) at Anna University, he said that CR was the perfect media for information delivery in countries that were linguistically diverse. "Through community radio, people can start dealing with issues themselves, in their own language."

Prof. E. Balagurusamy, Vice-Chancellor of the Anna University, emphasised the need to use CR to address issues of healthcare and education and inform people about Government schemes. He said that FM radio could also be used to promote the learning of skills. Anna University's FM station's weekly programme on making palm leaf handicrafts, specifically aimed at women in Kannigapuram in Velachery, was an example.

Anna University set up its FM station in February. This is the only licensed CR station in the country, according to Prof. R. Sreedhar, Director, Educational Multimedia Research Centre. Twenty institutions had signed agreements with the Government to set up community FM stations, but they were still waiting to be allotted frequencies by the Department of Telecommunication.

"The technology is easy, but getting the licence is not," said Mr. Walker, pointing out that licensing was a difficult process around the world.

Finding the money to run Community Radio was a major issue, said Prof. Balagurusamy. "Under the current rules, CR stations are prohibited from running advertisements. So, how do we find funding," he asked. Programming on Anna FM often lacks the clarity of commercial FM programming, admitted Prof. Sreedhar. "While we have a 50-watt transmitter, commercial radio stations have 20-kw transmitters."

Anna University has requested the Government to review the power and height allowances of the CR transmitter.

Although the 30-metre transmitter is expected to reach up to 15 kilometres, the signal does not always penetrate tall buildings.

Participants from countries such as Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal are attending the workshop, sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning, Canada.

The Tamil Nadu Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, will inaugurate the workshop.

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