FM radio Re: [cr-india] Hurrah - School Radios at last.... nearly

[Jo Tacchi]

It is interesting to hear that the Minister expressed surprise at the 
success of FM radio - which surely has succeeded everwhere, hasnt it? i 
assume she is referring to non state radio, not just the use of FM 
spectrum? In Australia, community radio (then named public radio) pioneered 
the use of the FM spectrum nearly 30 years ago. Commercial radio was not 
prepared to take the risk with the 'new technology' but of course, they are 
now paying vast (ie AUS$millions) sums of money for spectrum and are hugely 
commercially successful, if increasingly concentrated in terms of formats 
and ownership. The community radio sector on the other hand is still 
offering a whole range of services under the title 'community radio' 
including indegenous, ethnic, religious, special interest and geographic 
communities.

Community radio in Australia was largely based - in the early days - in 
educational establishments, so perhaps in 30 years we will look back on 
this time as the birth of a huge community radio movement in India?

Personally, I'm very interested in commercial radio in India as well, and 
wonder if anyone out there is conducting research on the new FM services? 
What kind of business models are they using, what kind of audience research 
are they doing, do they describe themselves as 'community' radio at all, as 
serving community needs (commercial radio in the UK has been known to)?

Would be interested to hear from anyone who shares these interests - would 
very much like to get some kind of comparative research going, if its not 
happening already.

Jo

At 06:10 PM 17/08/2002 +0530, Vickram Crishna wrote:
>Item from ToI, Bangalore, today (17th Aug, 2002)... [my irreverent 
>interjections in square brackets]
>
>Good News: Govt Tunes Into School Radios
>
>(just excerpts):
>
>I&B Minister SS spoke ... in Bangalore, on her way to Bellary... that she 
>is giving the finishing touches to a proposal permitting schools, colleges 
>and other educational institutions to set up their own radio stations to 
>cater to a variety of activities.
>
>Article goes on to say that the minister got the idea from the concept of 
>community radio popular in foreign countries [I suppose that means that 
>all the posturing on this list and others left her completely untouched].
>
>It also says that once she has got Cabinet approval, she will approach the 
>DoT for frequency approval, and that the new stations will be limited to 5 
>km coverage.
>
>[hmm... guess she really hasn't been reading this list. Fred, didn't you 
>subscribe her then? Pity.]
>
>"...she was encouraged by the enthusiastic response to her idea. [Her 
>idea?] On whether it would be successful she remarked, 'Just look at FM 
>radio. Who thought that it will catch on like it has? [Only the rest of 
>India, Madame, begging for scraps from your generous table] In fact, the 
>school proposal is an offshoot of this success, and I believe it will be 
>just as popular.'"
>--
>Vickram
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>CR-india at mail.sarai.net
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Dr Jo Tacchi
CIRAC
Media & Communication Discipline
Queensland University of Technology
GPO Box 2434
Brisbane Q 4001
Australia

Tel: +61 (0)7 3864 4479
Fax:+61 (0)7 3864 1810

Mobile 0415452761

Email: j.tacchi at qut.com