The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Community radio to soon become a reality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 12, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Community radio to soon become a reality

Staff Reporter

Pastapur(Medak): With women of Deccan Development Society (DDS) slated to receive the letter of intent by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to launch a community radio any time, the Sangham FM has become the first ever community radio of the country.

The Sangham FM, which has been narrowcasting their programmes by playing recorded programmes in villages, will soon broadcast the content prepared by the illiterate but resourceful women members of the DDS in and around Zaheerabad and Jherasangham mandals.

Sharing this information with media persons here on Thursday on the side lines of the community radio regional workshop here, P.V. Sateesh Kumar of the DDS said that the Sangham FM was all geared to start broadcasting within six months. He said women of Community Media Trust, a separate group established to run the radio, have kept ready content for 600 hours.

Vinod Pavarala of the University of Hyderabad said that the spectrum could accommodate 5,000 community radios in the country as a transmitter of Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of 100 W would be adequate to run a radio station.

However, he forecast that at least 100 to 200 community radios would start functioning all over the country within the next two years.

He was not sure why the Ministry had delayed the process of issuing the letter of intent even though the policy stipulated a maximum period of three months for the issuance of licence. The Sangham Radio had applied for permission in February 2007.

10-km radius

Addressing the workshop, Mr. Pavarala brushed aside the government’s fears that community radios could fall into the hands of anti-social elements, saying that the radios were entirely community based and limited to 10-km radius.

He said that the community radios had been told by the Ministry to save the programmes aired in six months period for verification. Permission to run the radio should be renewed every five years.

The two anchors of the Sangham FMreleased a book ‘Other Voices’, on struggle for community radio in India penned by Vinod Pavarala and Kanchan K. Malik.

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