Near 5 year of Radio Mewat! Launched on Septemebr 1, 2010, today Radio Mewat has become the voice of the people in every possible way! It is an active, live medium and a true mass media. It has worked towards empowering the marginalsied and vulnerable sections of the community and has helped give a unique identity to the district and its inhabitants. This journey of Radio Mewat from the time it filed its application to the issuance of the license to operate, has been strewn with challenges. From convincing people to listen to the radio and making them understand that information, that can help in your growth, is not being anti religion to the pressure of being socially and culturally accepted by the community leaders has been a learning experience,which has enriched us in terms of developing a better understanding of the community and their needs. The constant struggle in making this station economically sustainable, creating content, training the locals, building a committed team and reinforcing the discipline required to run a station in a different work environment may have been exhausting, but the positive outcome has more than made up for the effort. The success of Radio Mewat is visible in the participation of the community in its programming. It’s differentiator is its determination to innovate, to learn from other stations and endeavor to improve with each passing day. In its two years of existence, Radio Mewat has to beem driven by the desire to use modern communication tehnologies to raise awareness on issues of change. Its impact is slowly being felt in the community, which is shedding its retinence to engage with increasingly. The Radio station has grown in strength in the last one year. From just 4 hours of broadcasting it broadcasts for 11 hours. Thanks to its partnership with Galli Galli Sim Sim, we now have access to GRINS system which has made calling from a phone to the radio station very simple. Radio Mewat, thanks to this system, has now started a live program of 30 minutes in each of its broadcast slots. This has given the listeners a chance to engage with Radio Mewat in real time. Radio Mewat has worked hard to get sponsors to stay afloat. These sponsors disseminate their message through our programmes and also satisfy the felt needs of the community for actionable information. So in a way it is a win win situation for all. Today, Radio Mewat has sponsors for programs on health and key issues of immunization pre and post natal care, government schemes etc, for financial inclusion to help get the community integrated with the banking system, on Panchayati Raj to strengthen the local self government system, on children’s issues of hygiene, education, sports etc to reach out to this segment of society which often gets ignored, on sanitation and hygiene- with a focus on women, as they are the worst sufferers, on insurance and many other sectors that need to be addressed urgently. Without compromising on the values and ethics of community radio movement, Radio Mewat has been able to become a socially and culturally sustainable radio station. It is also a recipient of the National Award for the most Sustainable Radio Station in the country for the year 2012, announced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. We take this opportunity of completing two years of existence as an opportunity to share some observations of the media: Catalyst of Change -Hindustan Times Ear to the ground: A community radio station in Haryana district tentatively carries on the conversation of Change -The Sunday Express Magazine-Eye The biggest succes of Radio Mewat has been in the revival of the dying art form of Mirasi -The Indian post ‘…see the power of grassroots journalism at its best – in the avatar of community radio – in action in the Haryana district of Mewat. -The Hindu Change is in the airwaves in rural India: A traditional Muslim farming community is turning to the local radio station for advice on everything from sowing crops to health -The Independent, London The radio serves as a direct medium that gives people a space to voice their everyday questions -Hardnews
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:39:48 +0000
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