Dear all, A report in <http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=146666>, containing a "brief history" of Sarang.
/--------/ MANGALORE, SEPTEMBER 21, 2009: The century-old St. Aloysius College in Mangalore will launch a community radio service on Wednesday September 23. This is the first community radio to be launched by a college in the Dakshina Kannada district. The radio station set up with the initiative of Francis Serrao, former Rector of St. Aloysius College Institutions, will be inaugurated by His Excellency H.R. Bharadwaj, Governor of Karnataka, Union Minister for Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily and Home Minister V.S. Acharya on September 23 at the college, which was established in 1880. Most Rev Aloysius P.D’Souza (Bishop of Mangalore), Rev Fr Francis Serrao SJ (Provincial of Karnataka Jesuit Province) and Mr Nalin Kumar Kateel (MP) will be present for the event. The inauguration will be followed by a formal program jointly organised by the Mangalore branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Radio SARANG 107.8, St Aloysius College. While Governor H.R Bharadwaj will speak on ‘Mass Media and Social Responsibility’, Dr Moily will speak on ‘Challenges to Law in the 21st Century in the Context of Cyber Crimes’ and Dr V.S. Acharya on ‘Vision Karnataka 2020’. Speaking to presspersons here, Richard Rego, Director of Sarang FM Community Radio and Head of the Department of Mass Communication, St. Aloysius College, said Sarang with frequency of 107.8 MHz will broadcast programmes in Konkani, Kannada, Tulu, Malayalam, English languages (sometimes in Beary language too) on various development programmes for the benefit of farmers, fishermen, employees, college students and daily wage workers. The station would broadcast programmes for eight hours a day for listeners within a radius of 60 km. Dr. Rego said the college had a state-of-the art studio and decided to have regular liaison with local communities, anganwadi centres, non-governmental organisations and professionals. He recalled the contributions made by several people to set up the station. Fr. Rego said: "The College envisioned to partner with the government in the process of development. We look for active participation of local communities in content production. Residents of Puttur, Manjeshwara, Bantwal, Siddakatte, Moodabdri, Padubidri, Haleyangadi and Udupi can listen to our programmes." "We produce programmes on agriculture, farming, health and hygiene, fishermen, children, women, healthy practices/habits among youth and other value-based programmes. Local cultures and folk arts are our focus areas," Fr. Rego said. Here is a brief history of Community Radio Station: Context - Supreme Court Judgment on freeing airwaves (Feb. 1995) Patna boy – who ran a very popular "radio station" from a garage – was forcibly taken away by authorities Power of radio realized 2004 - India’s first Community Radio Station (CRS) "Anna 90.4 Community Radio" at Anna University, Chennai 1 Nov. 2006 - UPA Govt - issued CRS Guidelines Government encouraged CRS at a massive scale - invited NGOs and educational institutions to set up CRS and be partner in development - to provide a forum for people to discuss & find solutions to their problems/ issues - be the voice of people As of now, there are 51 CRS in India, run by NGOs, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Universities, and Colleges St Aloysius College (SAC) took the initiative to set up a CRS at SAC. Rev Fr Francis Serrao SJ (the then Rector of St Aloysius College Institutions, and now the Provincial Superior (President of Karnataka Jesuit Educational Society) The SAC principal entrusted the work to Fr Dr Richard Rego SJ to look into. With the help of other staff of the College – studied the matter & applied in 2007 It moved very fast in till the signing of GOPA (Grant of Permission Agreement); but took a long time to issue WoL (Wireless Operators’ License); and longer still to get the tower height corrected – hence delayed till September 2009 Challenges: Regular content production - for now two hours of daily broadcast (without looping), including Sundays & holidays With launch on 23rd September - we will broadcast for eight hours Resources - very costly - need studio & staff - even a 15 minutes program takes a few hours to produce (conceive, design, record, and edit - make broadcast-able) We have constructed state-of-the art (but low-coast) studios - Necessity of trained staff - many staff Fortunately we have a small but extremely dedicated & committed staff (three) In addition, our regular staff also has taken keen interest in this venture - they also chip in - either contributing themselves or motivating students / outsiders to do so PG Mass Communication- have been especially slogging it out - everyday, they produce some content or the other - both creative and community based College Students -specially journalism (UG) and others have taken a fascination – now they come on their own - either to present (RJ) programs or produce Regular liaison with the various local communities - many villages, anganwadis, NGOs, medical college, professionals, and ordinary folks are on air daily The administration needs to keep a constant tab - to ensure content is in keeping with the communities’ needs and the government norms - usually done by the Station Director Director –with the help of the College Jesuits- also looks into its viability, looking for content-production-projects and other assistance Technological limitations - we work within certain limits Maximum 50 watt transmitter allotted -it limits the reach of the CRS Permitted height of the tower is 30 meters - if you are surrounded by tall buildings, trees, hills – your signals jammed Fortunately, we have the advantage of high altitude Hence reach almost till Puttur on the one side, Majeshwar, Bantwal, Siddakatte, Moodbudir, Padubidri, Haleyangadi, Udupi etc. But in some of these places, mobiles are unable to receive signals – they require good transistors or car stereos Initially, the Telecommunications Ministry had allotted only 20 meter tower; with that, our signals would have been jammed between our own buildings! But the Ministry was considerate – realizing our difficulty (and also with the help of CEMCA (Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, Delhi), they permitted us to raise the tower height to 30 meters. Permitted only a certain type of antenna - once again direction of signal transmission limited – we are forced to choose our areas of transmission Mandatory participation of the local community Our local communities have been eager to contribute programs - you listen to ordinary people like fisher folk, fish vendors, farmers, villagers, children, etc everyday on our SARANG 107.8 Lack of financial assistance - the CRS has to fend for itself When there are restrictions of this nature, it becomes difficult to survive - because of the huge costs involved in program production Limited (now; to begin with ads were non-existent on CRS) time duration permitted for advertisements - question of survival - we can broadcast five minutes of ads - if the reach is less & selective, this can affect the viability of the station seriously We don’t compete with any station - but the present listeners used to FM mentality; - to make them see a listen to new genre of broadcasting is challenging; initially we had this problem. Now people have accepted - many tell us ‘we feel it is our problem!’ ‘We want to listen to it , ‘give us more,’ etc. Feedback has been very encouraging We may not be technically & professionally as well equipped as the other stations are; but some even compare us with the professionals, saying ‘why can’t they produce similar programs!’ That is a pat on our back for quality and relevance of our programs. We produce programs on agriculture, farming, health and hygiene, fisher folk, children, women, healthy practices/ habits among youth, similar value based program. Local cultures and folk arts have been another of our focus areas. And people listen to them! People themselves give program. Initially, they were asking for film music and news! But now, they know what is community radio meant for- for them! -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283
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