[cr-india] FIRST PERSON: Success Rewards Bush Courage (South Africa)

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

Success Rewards Bush Courage

By Michello Cho   [Radio World * July 2003]

CAPE TOWN, South Africa: The Bush Radio story exemplifies the power of 
positive thinking.

The first community radio initiative in South Africa -- dubbled "the 
Little Radio Station That Could ... and Did" -- proudly celebrated its 
10th anniversary in May (2003).

The celebrations kicked off on 1 May with a "10 Years/10 Days/10 Bucks" 
campaign. The award-winning station asked listeners and newcomers to 
support its decade of low-budget, high-quality programming with a donation 
of 10 rand or more during 10 days of festivities in which Bush Radio 
re-aired broadcasts from 1993 to the present.

Since its humble beginnings during the Apartheid era, Bush Radio has 
always striven to serve as the voice of the people.

It was started by the Cassette Education Trust (CASET), a small group 
interested in developing an alternative audio communications system. They 
recorded information in radio format to cassettes, made duplicates and 
distributed them in townships in and around Cape Town.

Aiming to inform and educate the poor, the tapes covered literacy, 
hygiene, health and, of course, political issues.

CASET had one underlying philosophy, "Information is Power," and the 
initiators knew that the airwaves would be integral to its long-term 
educational and empowerment objectives.

CASET eventually proposed establishing a community radio facility at the 
University of the Western Cape (UWC), just outside Cape Town. Because the 
university was located far from the city and surrounded by dense bush, it 
was known as Bush College.

After much deliberation, it became clear that the UWC campus would not be 
a suitably accessible location and operations moved to Salt River, Cape 
Town.

In 1992, CASET dissolved as an organisation and relaunched as a community 
radio initiative. Keeping the original campus name, Bush Radio was born. 
For the first time in South African history, black people would have the 
opportunity to be broadcasters.

Money was needed and Bush Radio approached numerous international donors 
for support. Fredrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), a German nongovernmental 
organisation with a keen interest in training potential broadcasters, 
provided crucial help.

Once Bush Radio secured the support of FES, it never looked back and word 
spread quickly. Job applications started to flood in and Bush Radio soon 
established itself as a key trainer and lobbyist for community radio in 
South Africa.

Pressuring the government to grant it a broadcast license, training 
fledging stations across the country, and building a strong reputation 
internationally, Bush Radio slowly rooted itself and the concept of 
community radio. 

After having a number of its license applications denied, Bush Radio 
decided to broadcast illegally.

In May 1993, a group of about 20 volunteer activists took a 16-channel 
mixing desk, CDs, tapes and an illegally obtained transmitter to a room, 
set up and prepared to switch it on.

They circulated a press release, designed a short program schedule and 
composed a song. After a few test runs, Bush Radio went on the air.

The first broadcast lasted four hours and, just as quickly as Bush Radio 
went on air, the authorities raided the premises, shut it down and seized 
all the equipment. Two key members were charged with illegal 
broadcasting, illegal possession of broadcast apparatus and obstructing 
the course of justice.

The case dragged on but, following tremendous pressure from individuals 
and organisations worldwide, the state dropped the charges eight months 
later.

Today the station operates from a three-story building and boasts  
digital studio tools, sharing its facilities and resources with the 
Broadcast Training Institute -- a center for the training of producers, 
journalists and media-makers.

The award-winning Bush Radio program YAA 2000 (Youth Against AIDS) earned 
a silver medal for Best Radio Program at the New York Radio Festival in 
2001.

The previous year, the station won the prestigious Prince Claus Award for 
development and, most recently, station director Zane Ibrahim received a 
honourable token of appreciation from the eight Association Mondiale des 
Radiodiffuseurs Communautaires (AMARC) conference in Kathmandu, Nepal.

These achievements, together with the quality programming, convinced the 
Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to grant the 
station a four-year broadcast license in June 2002 -- just reward for an 
extraordinary example of bravery and determination.

* * * 

Michelle Cho is a producer/coordinator at Bush Radio in Cape Town, South 
Africa.