[cr-india] review of campus radio stations

Fri May 2 12:53:40 IST 2008

Thank you Stalin for your interest in the CEMCA data and thanx for pointing out the 'goofs"-for thats just what they are. The data is under  construction, and the data entry people actually are in the  process of checking out the details- It  was put on the site only to check  out how it will pan out, style, lay out , number of sheets, etc.  We had also asked CRs to look at at and fill in missing gaps.  Sajan happened to log on and check the  site and provide a link that you logged on to,  before it was actually ready for public consumption. 

But to set the record straight anyway, let me please  clarify a few things. In some cases, the people who attended the meeting and filled the data made some errors and some were made at the data entry stage by people, not necessarily familiar with the hierarchy of  LOI, SACFA etc and  unable to check the logic (such that exists!).

Coming to specifics:    
Radio Active 108.7 ( its actually 107.8 ) at Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College in Karnataka does even better also pulled a rabbit from its hat. They got their LOI (22.09.06) a month before they even put in their application (18.10.06).

Application: 18.10.2004; LOI 22.09.2006; SACFA  12.03.2007 Commissioning 20.07.2007

Radio Active and PSG College of Technology 107.8 MHz in Coimbatore, CRS - Dharwad 90.4 MHz and Vishnu CRS 90.4 MHz at Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women in AP are all interesting cases. They all applied under the old policy and but all of them got its SACFA clearance during the period of the new policy (2007).

As per the  information we have, they all applied under the old policy and their clearances pending for one to two years. As such, these were not considered technically under the new policy . 

DU and GB Pant managed to get their LOI and SACFA on the same day - 13.08.2007 and commissioned the station within two following two months. 

DU: LOI 10.06.2007; SACFA 04.07.2007, WOL: 13.08.2007. COMMISSIONING: 02.10.2007 

G.B.PANT : Application: 11.07.2007; LOI 04.01.2008, SACFA: Applied, not yet cleared. In fact we helped file the application.

Anna Radio 90.4 MHz at Anna University, Chenna takes cake, or should say manages the mother of all miracles - it managed to commission the station in Feb 04 a couple of months before it even got SACFA clearance in April 2004!

As I understand it, those days, procedures were even more lengthy  and somewhat  different. A station could sign an agreement with GOI after getting an allotment, pending SACFA clearance. They got something called a temporary licence, pending SACFA clearance. 

Anna Frequency allotted  14.01.2004: Test  Transmission 01.02.2004  

On a personal note,  Anna had Dr.Sreedher, who can indeed pull miracles. The good part I think is, he tries to help pull these for others too. A question of perspective , I guess. 

Rest assured,  all the goofs will be fixed and  we will get to see the  picture as it is. Bear with us while we sort out the and correct the  data. Thanks again for your feedback.

Cheers!

Rukmini Vemraju
Programme Officer
Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia
8/4, Sarvapriya Vihar, New Delhi 110016
Phones:+91-11-26537146; 26537148  Fax: :+91-11-26537147
________________________________________________________________________________________
Learning for Development
In consonance with the mission of Commonwealth of Learning, The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, New Delhi, promotes the meaningful, relevant, and appropriate use of information and communication technologies to serve the educational and training needs of Commonwealth Member States of Asia

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From: cr-india-bounces at sarai.net on behalf of Stalin K
Sent: Thu 5/1/2008 8:47 PM
To: sajan venniyoor; cr-india
Subject: Re: [cr-india] review of campus radio stations

The study on CR stations conducted by CEMCA that Sajan posted makes for very interesting reading. Here are my observations from going through the first two columns of the names and the dates (of application, of issuing LOI, of SACFA clearance and date on which the station was commissioned): 

Radio Active 108.7 at Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College in Karnataka does even better also pulled a rabbit from its hat. They got their LOI (22.09.06) a month before they even put in their application (18.10.06).

Radio Active and PSG College of Technology 107.8 MHz in Coimbatore, CRS - Dharwad 90.4 MHz and Vishnu CRS 90.4 MHz at Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women in AP are all interesting cases. They all applied under the old policy and but all of them got its SACFA clearance during the period of the new policy (2007). I wonder if they had to go through the screening committee scrutiny like everyone else under the new policy? If not what rationales were used? Also, are these entities registered as non-profits? Does CEMCA or anyone else have these information?

Of the 23 stations mentioned in the study twenty were set up under the old CR policy and only three have applied and set up stations under the new CR policy. These three are Sivanthi CRS 90.4 MHz at Tiruchendur in Tamilnadu, DU CRS 90.4 MHz at Delhi University and GB Pant Agricultural University in Uttrakhand. Now here is the scoop - DU and GB Pant managed to get their LOI and SACFA on the same day - 13.08.2007 and commissioned the station within two following two months. Clearly there are plenty of lessons to be learnt from these two organizations on how they managed this miracle.

Anna Radio 90.4 MHz at Anna University, Chenna takes cake, or should say manages the mother of all miracles - it managed to commission the station in Feb 04 a couple of months before it even got SACFA clearance in April 2004!

Compare the above to all the rigmarole that community based organization have to go through to get through even the screening committee.

Best regards,
Stalin K
Convener, Community Radio Forum-India

On 4/30/08 1:10 PM, "sajan venniyoor" <venniyoor at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 13 Feb 2008, in a meeting in New Delhi, CEMCA faciliated a
> questionnaire-based review of 23 of the reportedly 34 operational campus
> radio stations in India. To quote the March '08 CEMCA newsletter: 'With a
> view to ensure that the stations deliver the community service they were set
> up to, the Ministry of Information called for a monitoring and evaluation
> meeting of the functional community radio stations in the country. The
> meeting, facilitated by CEMCA, revisited the original goals of the CR and
> implemented an important decision by MIB which is that the community radio
> stations would refer to themselves as "CR" stations rather than FM,
> essentially to underscore the difference in purpose and content from the
> commercial FM stations."
> 
> The raw data from this campus station review is available on the CEMCA
> website - http://cemca.org/scienceforwomen/institutionaldata.pdf. The data
> includes basic details of 23 campus radio stations, programme formats,
> financial management, organizational structure, audience feedback and
> programme planning.
> 
> Sajan
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