[Reader-list] Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio 107.8 FM celebrates 3 months of broadcast

[faiz ullah]

*Voices from the other side*

*Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio Station 107.8 FM celebrates three months
of broadcast*

Gurgaon, Haryana: On Thursday, February 25, 2010, Gurgaon’s only community
radio station celebrates three months of round-the-clock broadcasting to a
community that has remained voiceless throughout the transformation of
Gurgaon from a sleepy cluster of villages 20 years ago to a much vaunted
“Millennium City”. The only civil society-led community radio station in the
entire National Capital Region, Gurgaon Ki Awaaz is a platform for and by
marginalized community groups in Gurgaon, especially communities living in
villages in and around Gurgaon, migrant workers and inner city residents for
whom the gloss and glamour of malls and glass-fronted office buildings is
simply a testament of the uneven development that has taken place in this
town.

Broadcasting in Hindi and Haryanvi, the radio station is run by a team of
community reporters, the bulk of whom are from these very target communities
within Gurgaon. The station has been set up and is supported by The
Restoring Force (TRF), an NGO that works in government schools in Gurgaon
district, primarily in the area of infrastructure enhancement (such as
toilets for boys and girls, and drinking water supply in school) as well as
career counseling for high school children. TRF is also actively engaged in
projects that light up villages using solar lanterns.

Gurgaon Ki Awaaz broadcasts 24 hours a day a wide range of programs that
include programs on careers, entrepreneurship, migration, women’s
empowerment and health, folk culture especially music, health, sports, and
community reportage by school-going children. The station’s first trial
broadcasts went on air on November 19, 2009 following several months of
training for its team of raw village recruits, most of whom had never even
opened a computer before. Many have not finished school. Today, the same
reporters confidently and independently handle field assignments, studio
recordings, editing and research. Within their communities, they enjoy
new-found respect as carriers of the community’s songs, views, problems and
concerns.

TRF”s community radio initiative is an attempt to intervene in the
community’s struggle with inadequate power, gaps in education
infrastructure, and lack of knowledge about opportunities in education,
livelihood and income generation. This, despite the fact, that a large
number of Gurgaon’s villagers either have substantial land holdings, or have
substantial cash reserves from selling off this land. Also at the receiving
end are the lakhs of migrant workers who live and work in Gurgaon, and yet
have no say in the shaping of their environment.

The bulk of programming on *Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio
Station,*broadcasting on
*107.8 MHz FM, * is created on-site in government schools in villages such
as Garhi Harsaru, Sikanderpur, Sarai Alawardi and Dhankot. The radio is a
wonderful medium to reach the community -- because by its very sound and
music, it is very evidently "their" station. The station records and airs
folk music and folk ballads performed by local music groups and performers,
children's music (much of it recorded by the children in our government
schools), and debates and discussions very much like Chaupals, that bring
together diverse, but local, voices.
*
Career Counseling and Livelihood*
Since TRF has already worked for many years in the area of career
counseling, one of the programs that is broadcast is a daily on-air career
program called “Hum Honge Kamyaab”. In addition, in a weekly interview-based
entrepreneurship program, a member of the community outlines how he or she
started his or her own small business. This program is called “Mera
Nazariya, Mera Kaam”. Both these programmes work in tandem with job
announcements drawn from the industrial and corporate belt in and around
Gurgaon. In future, the station is also planning to introduce a regular
Speak English program to improve English speaking skills within the
community, for both children and adults.

*Health*
The health program is two-pronged. In addition to a weekly health program
called “Swasth Gurgaon”, an add-on program is being built in partnership
with St. Stephens Hospital Integrated Health Rural Outreach Program, which
already works with schoolchildren through Bal Panchayats in village Dhankot
and surrounding areas. In the pipeline is also a weekend Talk to the Doctor
program, wherein people can phone into the studio and talk to the doctor
about their medical problems.

*Women’s empowerment through awareness and microfinance*

TRF has an exciting partnership with St. Stephen’s Hospital Integrated
Health Rural Outreach program in Dhankot which works in the area of
microfinance and Self Help Groups (SHGs). This finds shape in a weekly
programme called “Nari Shakti” that outlines the concept of Self Help
Groups, brings successful case studies to the radio, and encourages women’s
empowerment through livelihood, awareness and good health.

*Migration and Inclusiveness*

Gurgaon has been shaped by the lakhs of migrant workers from across India
who work in the city’s factories, farms, homes and offices. Our weekly
program “Sara Aasmaan Hamara” brings the personal stories of Gurgaon’s
migrant workers to the radio as they share their journey from their villages
to Gurgaon, their early struggles, the challenge of adjusting to a new
milieu and, very often, living far away from home and family.
*
Entertainment*
Music is the key to building an engaging radio station. The music on Gurgaon
Ki Awaaz is its identity. When listeners tune in, they invariably listen to
Ragini-s being sung by local mandali-s or bhajans by village women or songs
by schoolchildren. So unique is this sound, so rooted to the land and
collective community memory, that there has been an instant connect with the
station. Not one listener asks for Hindi film music.

Since this initiative has to ultimately be supported through community
efforts, Gurgaon Ki Awaaz has found a creative way of building the station’s
music bank without having to pay royalty for songs. The station does not
play any film music. Instead, the studio has been opened to village
performers and mandali-s and anyone who wants to record a demo CD of music.
In return, the station asks performers to sign over Complete Broadcasting
Rights to air that music on the radio station, at no charge. This is a
win-win situation where artistes from all walks of life and all ages can get
a CD of their songs recorded in a studio at no charge, while the community
gets to hear a variety of music. From songs to ballads to instrumental
tracks, the station is slowly but surely building an interesting and diverse
music bank that is extremely popular.



FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Project Manager, Arti Jaiman

*arti at trfindia.org* <arti at trfindia.org>

+91 9811126336

Senior Reporter, Soumya Jha

soumya.jha at trfindia.org.
0124-4087545