New Delhi: Residents of south Delhi can now make themselves heard as they the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) is about to begin its own community radio channel within the next two weeks. The Jamia Milia University was the first to set up such a project in Delhi two months ago.
The FM channel, to be aired on a frequency of 96.9 MHz, will span a 10-km area around the IIMC campus and will cover Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University's South Campus, IIT and adjoining areas.
"The basic concept behind this venture is to inform the underdog. Therefore, we will have programmes on health, legal aid... apart from talks, features and music. And the music will also be our own, whether it's a local music band or some folk music by slum dwellers", S .Raghavachari, professor of Broadcast Journalism at IIMC, said.
Students of Delhi University's Kamla Nehru College have already prepared a programme on road safety; there is one on the problems faced by rickshaw pullers and another on monsoon festivals and the Taj Mahal. College principal Minoti Chatterjee says her students have been given a half-an-hour slot on the channel.
Some programmes have educative as well as entertainment value like the one on varieties of music. Slum dwellers can educate the community about various kinds of folk music and the residents can tell us about the water or electricity problems in the area, Professor Hemant Joshi, one of the project co-ordinators, said.
IIMC's Prof Raghavachari says: "With two offline and one online studio, we have infrastructure which is more than enough to start a radio channel at this level. Our editing system is also digital and another customised software developed by Broadcasting Engineering Corporation of India Limited. Soon we will also have a radio OB van too."
Two-way communication programmes are what distinguish community radio from All India Radio. "We do not want to sit on an ivory tower and teach people, the way it is with AIR. Neither is it a commercial venture like other FM channels. It's simply providing a platform to the people to come up with their problems and find their own solutions," Raghavachari said.
The channel, which will be on air initially for two hours only, plans to involve the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) also. "If we have to keep it running, we better be cautious in the beginning," the professor said.
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