post news network, Bhubaneswar, May 23: Community Radio Association, Orissa, Saturday organised a two-day long workshop on community radio to create awareness among its stakeholders about its functions and matters related to the mode of communication. A number of people working with community radios in the state, NGOs and other persons took part in the brainstorming session.
Speaking on the occasion, Madhusudhan Padhi, secretary, Information and Public Relations department said, “Community radio is a powerful mode of communication. However, radio communication has been facing many challenges. Now, people are opting out of home-based radio; they are now confined to mobile phones and cars. I assure that our government will try to support the unit in the best possible way.”
The workshop also saw the wide participation of people belonging to the NGOs. Ghasiram Panda, program manager, ActionAid said, “Community radio is very relevant when it comes to reaching out to people where normal modes of communication fail to reach. It’s cheaper and easily accessible. It could be used very nicely to disseminate information for the audience at a particular area.”
The association, meanwhile, is mulling some measures, which can potentially help the radio stations to lessen their workloads as also financial burdens. S N Ansari, president of the association said, “We are now planning to make some common content for all the community radio stations in order to lessen our financial burden, as funding is a major challenge for the radio stations.”
Orissa is home to seven community radio stations. Around 30 applications are now pending with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for issuing licences to start a new community radio in Orissa.
Community radio started in India in 2006 with the purpose to serve the local community through the involvement of the very community. It differs from the commercial FM channels in terms of reach, advertisement rates and some other restrictions imposed on it.
