[cr-india] Conference offers solutions to impact of AIDS on education

[nisha narayanan]

>From satellites to the Internet, Community Radio comes of age 

 October 13 2003

Financial Express

Use of the latest technology for community radio is among the best way of giving back to the society. Take for instance the case of US-based First Voice International. According to its official website, First Voice International has exclusive access to 5 per cent of the capacity on the WorldSpace satellite network for its broadcast services. The WorldSpace system is a network of geo-synchronous satellites with coverage in Africa and the Middle East (AfriStar) and Asia-Pacific (AsiaStar). While AfriStar was launched in October 1998, AsiaStar happened in March 2000. 

For satellite radio, you require special receivers to capture the signal. Satellite radio can play on battery, power, and even on solar energy. “They have data ports, that when connected to a computer via multimedia adapter cards, enable users to download Web-based text and images onto their computers, thus expanding the receivers’ capabilities beyond audio to digital multimedia transmissions,” points out www.firstvoiceint.org. This helps satellite radio sets transmit high volumes of multimedia material to target audiences in regions where Internet access is tough or expensive. Community radio stations ensure that the largest number of people possible can hear the information. 

Besides satellite technology, First Voice International uses AM/FM radio also. This is particularly true for Africa, to ensure the widest possible reach of its programmes. 

Founded in 1997, First Voice International is a publicly supported non-profit tax-exempt organisation headquartered in Washington DC, USA. Its objective is to serve communities in Africa and Asia which are isolated because of lack of infrastructure and information. It is here that digital satellite radio technology comes in handy. 

It’s achievements in community radio? By the end of 2002, approximately 55.5 million people in Africa had heard at least one programme on the Africa Learning Channel. Also, the broadcasters often translate the programmes into local languages before rebroadcast. 

Of things more recent, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in the US awarded more than $3 million in grants to 42 public radio stations in 13 “seed markets”, according to PRNewswire.com. The grants, it is said, would help radio stations use digital technology to deliver a new level of service and sound to millions of listeners, CPB Broadcasting president and CEO, Robert T Coonrod, said. With the grant, these radio stations would purchase the equipment needed to transmit a digital signal. 

“We are ushering in a new era of public service radio for the American people,” Mr Coonrod is reported to have said. “Digital public radio holds great promise to serve listeners in ways never before possible. For the first time, radio will be able to provide data in addition to sound—which could change how everyone uses radio,” he added. 

Amateur radio equipment is becoming more and more complex, according to neoamateur.org. And, Shackbus, a simple and low-cost system to control all parts of radio stations and related equipment by a single serial interface, is being talked about by industry insiders in that context. 

The project is at its beginning, but it could become a standard for many amateur applications, where the radio station equipment on the one side and the controlling computer on the other side should work together, writes neoamateur.org. 

The Shackbus objectives include offering simple and low-cost interface to all brands of controllers—Windows, Mac, OS/2, Linux, DOS, BASIC, C, PIC, MCU etc. Also, many devices can be controlled by one common controller via a single 3-wire bus. Open protocol in nature, the Shackbus system is independent from device manufacturers and computers/ operating systems. 

Then, there’s Internet radio. You can check it out at www.pirateradio.com. According to the site, ‘Pirate Radio’ is the easiest way to broadcast any kind of radio show over the Internet from your personal PC. All you need is a Windows-based PC, sound card and a connection to the Internet and something to blast out to reach listeners all over the Internet. 

For example, RadioDestiny Broadcaster (a software that you can order at the website) allows you to play any combination of live input and digital audio over the Internet in a few steps. 

And, how do you connect to the Pirate Radio Network? Just click on the radio button and scan through categories of stations broadcasting right now. 

In this, the Destiny Media Player plays all popular audio file formats and connects listeners to the Pirate Radio Network, a directory of broadcasters. Destiny Media Player’s interface allows you to organise and arrange all your digital audio files into playlists, libraries—all easily accessible from anywhere on your computer. 

 

 

 


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