MUMBAI: Communicating developmental plans and schemes of the government to people in the grassroots level, is the major task of community radio (CR) stations. But even as they work towards attaining their goals, most stations face challenges of sustainability in terms of finance and content. These challenges are no different for CR’s of Assam that are located in the south of the eastern Himalayas.
Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Community Radio Association national president Kandarpa Das said, “We communicate educational and developmental issues to people at grassroots level. But to cover Assam as a whole we need atleast 100 stations because of the dacoit area.”
Assam has a long way to go in terms of community radio stations as they have just two community radio stations in the state and geographically, CR will help them create and spread more local content.
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“We update our content on radio with the feedback we receive from the community. Based on the feedback we normally keep on altering. We do this once in six months. In Assam, common people like to hear their own voice and also identify the content that is broadcasted. Audiences enjoy listening to live programs where they can participate and put forth their issues and feedback on social and other related issues. They like hearing their own opinion that is more popular,” said Das.
One of the community radio of Assam, Radio Luit 90.8 FM in Guwahati broadcasts 12 hours a day with the help of volunteers. The first programme starts at 8 in the morning and covers educational programmes, women related issues, women empowerment and superstitious topics amongst others. They also have an open forum where they can speak about certain issues.
He further added, “During one workshop, the association had realized that many people are interested in establishing CR stations. But when establishing a station, one needs to procure the instruments and to run it in a sustainable way is a real challenge. If government spends more funds there will be many more stations in north east. Since the North East region is a dacoit area, CR is a necessity in this part of country than in other parts of the region.”
Das hopes to have a design in place soon, that make community radio sustainable as ultimately it contributes to the government agenda for development; as what the government cannot do is done by community radio stations.
