[cr-india] Radio rules amid militancy in Balochistan

[Frederick Noronha]

Radio rules amid militancy in Balochistan
Indo-Asian News Service

Quetta (Pakistan), Feb 7 (IANS) Radio waves have lately been sweeping
Pakistan's troubled Balochistan province, playing hip tunes and
holding at bay political turmoil, raging militancy, a separatist
movement and trouble on the border with Afghanistan.

A radio boom has overtaken the entire valley over the past few months,
thanks to two FM stations. Although there are no clear estimates or
market surveys, the number of radio listeners has increased
tremendously.

Amidst fears that books and radio were two rapidly fading mediums that
continuously failed to attract Balochistan's youth, comes the FM
culture that has dramatically changed these perceptions, says The
Daily Times in a special report.

The boom acts as a balm for youth trying to reach out to the world of
music. This has been made possible by the two FM stations not airing
anything remotely political.

Utterly oblivious to sensitive subjects like politics and religion,
these two stations are engaged in entertaining their listeners with
hip tunes from assorted genres.

"In a largely uneducated society, where entertainment is taboo and
music is 'haraam' (not permissible), the FM stations, where education
and information go hand in hand, have come as a pleasant surprise for
the people of Balochistan," Rubina Rahim, Sachal 105 Station Director,
told the newspaper.

Walk inside a swanky bookshop, a drug store or a restaurant in the
Balochistan capital and the visitor immediately notices the FM mania
that has come over the valley.

At present, only two FM radio stations are operating in Quetta. The
government-controlled FM 101, located inside the Pakistan Broadcasting
Corporation (PBC) compound, was the first to start its transmission
about two years ago.

After nine months of trial transmission, a private station, Sachal
105, run by the Sachal Communication Group, became the second FM radio
station.

Its service was regularised on Sep 20, 2006, and is just four months old.

Though controlled by the government, Tanveer Iqbal, the manager of FM
101, says FM 101 is very different from Radio Pakistan in terms of
censorship. "We try to preach love and harmony. Our RJs observe
self-censorship. There are no government dictations as to what sort of
songs we can and can't play."

"On radio, there is no artificiality. The language used is a peculiar
blend of English and Urdu, which is the one spoken colloquially. This
frank and gracious lingo is easily digestible for listeners and makes
FM radio different from traditional radio," she says.

Enthused by listeners' response, Tanveer argues that Quetta and the
rest of Balochistan are very different from the image people living
outside have about the province.

She said when the FM station began looking for talent in Quetta while
launching Sachal it was surprised to see the huge number of young men
and women who turned up for the auditions for RJs.

"There is no lack of talent and enthusiasm among the youth of
Balochistan, just a shortage of opportunities that bars them from
employing their full potential," she says.

"There is just no outlet for young men and women in Quetta. They don't
know what to do, so they end up being exploited either by religious or
nationalist elements for subversive activities."

The FM radio stations in Balochistan are also gaining popularity for
the wide coverage given to regional languages. For instance, Sachal
105 airs programmes, most of them musical, in seven languages. These
are Urdu, English, Balochi, Pashtoo, Bravi, Persian and Sindhi. Though
FM 101 airs songs in several languages, its programs are presented
solely in Urdu.

FM 101 is on the air 23 hours a day, while Sachal 105 broadcasts for
18 hours. The RJs at both these stations, both young men and women,
are mostly students from the universities of Balochistan.

While these FM stations are gaining tremendous popularity among all
listeners, the management of the privately owned Sachal 105 says the
biggest problem is a shortage of advertisers, cutting the station's
revenue generation.

"Quetta has no large public or private companies at all. People love
to listen to music, but they prefer to advertise their products on
cable television or in the local newspapers," says Rahim.

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