How many of us are aware of the term “community media”? It is due to advanced technology that we have been ignoring grassroots-led projects and failing to communicate with our own people? Maybe it is for this reason that we are not able to appreciate the viewpoints of other communities, or even their necessities for survival. Maybe we are so busy improving our own lives that it becomes too much to look out for others. But there are still some avenues open for underprivileged people, who have historically been unable to share their own stories and experiences and bring them to the concerned authority’s attention. One such avenue is a community media.
Community media projects work for the betterment of people of a particular community. They are independently owned by the community itself. Community Radio Station is a part of community media. They serve the community through radio signals. They broadcast their content specifically to the local people and provide information that is relevant to them.
Brahmaputra Community Radio Station (BCRS), the first non-commercial grassroots Community Radio Station of North East India, is located in Borsaikia Gaon, Hilodhari, Dibrugarh, Assam. It targets the marginalised communities of the tea gardens and other villages nearby. What mainstream radio fails to do, BCRS does—include the community in their programs.
Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan, the station master, helped us learn all about BCRS. He told us how they broadcast their programs, and how they interact with locals and exchange their ideas on various topics like health, education, election, environment, and much more.
The BCRS covers a population of 5,00,000 in Dibrugarh and 4,00,000 in Dhemaji, across a radius of 10-15 kms. They broadcast in five languages: Assamese, Bhojpuri, Mising, Bodo, and Shadri (a tea-tribe dialect).
Community radio station (CRS) programmes differ from place to place. Some are commercial and some are non-commercial. The CRS found in areas of Noida, and Gurgaon have different structures than ours. In these cities, the community itself is built of various people. Each group of people in that specific area takes part in the programs. This is called community participation, which is a very important part of CRS.
In CRS, communities hold the ownership and decide everything from the content, what to broadcast, and the theme. There are also community volunteers, people from distant villages or communities who send recordings through WhatsApp. There are over 200 Community Radio Stations in India, with Odisha leading.
As it happens, about 90% of the radio stations are actually falling into disuse, since people are rather unclear about the concept of CRS. There are nearly 30 radio programmes on topics such as health, education, climate change, women’s issues, nutrition, and natural disasters, which are broadcast through various media so that they can reach the maximum number of people.
There is a range of activities that can be performed through a projects like these, including community video, community photography, and community blogging. Children are taught to produce community video and use social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. They are also shown the twitter handle of our even show how to tweet their issues to the Prime Minister!
BCRS is creating a new network called ‘Radio Bandhu’. This is not area-specific. Anybody from anywhere can have access to it, regardless of education qualification. The aim is community development, allowing people to contribute towards different programmes.
‘Gramya Barta’ is another such programme led by people at the grassroot level. Powerful authorities actually fear dealing with issues raised by locals through these programmes!
CRS has to follow some rules and regulations while broadcasting any programme. Earlier the programmes used to have a duration of 30-35 minutes. Now it has been reduced to 10 minutes as attention spans only lasts for so long. The programmes are broadcast in a definite format, which changes after every three months.
It turns out the human resource for generating content is rather high. CRS could have broadcast more such programmes if they weren’t facing financial difficulties. To deal with the scarcity of people, ‘Radio Bandhu’ is run by volunteers, who are first provided training. This network has been well-received in Kolkata and Guwahati. ‘
It is high time people realised the value of the community radio and used it to empower themselves in the future. When asked about the preservation of the songs in local languages, BCRS responded that they have recorded more than 400 songs in Bodo, Mising, Hajong, and others. They have received funds, which have been invested in developing a website for this preservation work. We also found out that there is no funding for radio. The Assam government has never even tried to understand what CRS really is.
BCRS started in the year 2009 with the tribal people who worked in the tea factories. At the time of its inception, the local people were hardly aware of the concept of a Community Radio Station. They only knew about the All India Radio. They had never talked into a microphone, or faced a camera. As time passed, everything changed. Now they listen to discussions on various topics, from health to politics, with keen interest.
Before the election of 2009, BCRS had organised a live talk show. People participated with much enthusiasm. Women too participated and expressed their views on politics and women’s rights. There seems to be a distinct improvement in people’s knowledge, understanding and participation in the BCRS, although there is still a long way to go!