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Benjamin Wadewitz
Joined: Jan 5, 2006
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an independant radiostation for kenya
January 10, 2006 - 08:01 AM
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hi people,
i would like to promote the project i am running. it is kind of a big thing actually and i hope, i can find help at this website.
i just started a project about building a government independant radiostation for the coast of kenya.
kenya suffers greatly from corruption and the unawareness of the people of their rights. i have been in kenya, was able to take a look behind the scenes. we found facts, that almost all of the money being sent to kenya by other countries as development aid, simply disappears in the pockets of some big, rich guys.
as well i found journalists who dedicated their lives to make kenya corruption free and therefore get control of the biggest problems there are.
please read my proposal (pdf file) and give me some feedback. there are some photos as well. i would really love to make some effort down there and realise this radiostation. if anybody has any experience in that, i'd love his or her feedback.
the pdf is only german right now - will be updated with english wednesday or thursday. but you can already read the short version.
this is the URL http://projects.takingitglobal.org/radiokenya
thanks so much.
ben
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Anu maheshwari
Joined: Jun 14, 2005
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A community radio station for less than Rs 1000
February 23, 2006 - 01:16 AM
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Hi friend,
maybe this interview will help you with some more ideas.
all the best!
Indian engineer-activist Arun Mehta discusses the innovative uses of low-powered FM
Arun Mehta (52) is an engineer-activist from India. He moderates various discussion groups in cyberspace and is also CTO (Chief Technical Officer) of the Radiophony.com network.
One of the few alumni of India’s prestigious Indian Institute of Technology who decided to stay in India and not add to the country’s brain-drain, Mehta has been a long-time campaigner for the apt use of technology. Recently, he moved into teaching computing science at the JMIT, near Karnal in Haryana. He is known for his work in campaigning to open up radio broadcasting to the Indian citizen. He also works with the issue of ICT-for-disability.
Q)Why do you see radio as particularly relevant to the ‘developing’ world? Can you give some examples of its efficacy?
A)We are looking at innovative uses of low-powered FM.
For one, there’s community radio (where low-powered FM broadcasting is open to non-profit groups). In India, we are relying on the fact that 50 milliwatt FM transmitters are commonly available in the market; we assume the use of this is legal. So, in 2002-2003, we set up a 50 milliwatt transmitter in Oravakal village in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.
It’s possible to set up a simple, low-powered community radio station for under Rs 1,000 (US$ 25).
The other application we’ve deployed is simultaneous translation. For example, at the Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad in 2003, we did simultaneous translation for more than 8,000 people. In three languages -- Telugu, Hindi and English.
We put up three low-powered FM radio transmitters in each hall, one for each language, all set to broadcast at different frequencies. Participants were given tiny Chinese-made FM radios with earphones. Each participant tuned the radio to his or her language’s frequency, and then could walk around, even get a cup of coffee, and still keep listening.
Basically, this was simultaneous translation for under US$ 1 per participant. When you’re talking about 8,000 participants, you can’t do (multiple-language) translation in any other way that’s affordable. The radio becomes part of the conference kit; it’s also a very nice item to carry home.
Q)You mentioned the use of low-powered FM radio in keeping noise pollution down too...
A)Yes, concerts without noise pollution. That’s another application.
Our concept for such concerts is distributed sound. Rather than having one large set of speakers, what we do is feed the audio to a low-powered FM transmitter. Then we place radios where the people are sitting.
So, rather than producing sound at one end of the hall and expecting people at the other end to hear it, we produce the sound only where it is actually being consumed.
We tried this out at the Banganga festival near Malabar Hill, in Mumbai, which is held in January every year. Incidentally, the organisers were forced to cancel it one year due to the noise pollution.
Earlier, they were consuming something like 2.5 kilowatts of power. Our system used only 30 watts of power. What that reflects is how much, or how little, sound you’re creating. You go 20 metres away, and you can’t hear a thing. Yet, at the venue there’s excellent sound.
Q)Doesn’t that result in loss of sound quality?
In fact, the quality is better. When you’re pumping a lot of power into one large speaker it doesn’t behave in a linear fashion. If you have small amounts of power going into a large number of speakers, you get better sound.
Q) Isn’t it more than a bit ironic that your work is being appreciated at various international venues, but hardly gets the attention it deserves from the authorities in India?
A)Yeah. We’ve demonstrated this at events like Asia Source (an international event for NGOs held in Bangalore, in early-2005), Radiocracy in Cardiff (Wales), around 2000, and at Africa Source II held in Uganda recently.
This is very simple, inexpensive technology. The parts that go into the 50 milliwatt transmitter are under $ 2. They are available in any small town where radio and TVs are repaired.
Q)What are the legal issues blocking the deployment of such solutions in India today?
A)In India we have the most absurd system of spectrum management. If you go strictly by the letter of the law you need to get clearance from 34 governments before putting up a tubelight in your house!
Anything above 1 milliwatt requires a licence. There are only two exceptions -- certain kinds of cordless telephones and the 2.4 gigahertz wifi.
The entire approach to the handling of spectrum is a huge millstone around all our development activities. Because in rural areas you’re not able to take wires to people’s homes. You need wireless. And the government has a complete stranglehold over it. It only very reluctantly gives any new licences; and this often takes years.
Q) What’s the way forward then, in such a situation?
A)The dilemma for the government in handling spectrum is that it basically knows just two ways. One is that you auction out the spectrum. In India, you know what a terrible experience that is. Take the case of FM licences or basic services. The whole thing is a mess.
The other way is a ‘beauty contest’. You try and identify which are the better applications of technology and allocate spectrum to those. The problem here is that it becomes a total pull-and-push game of vested interests. And, you’re expecting the government to play technology god, which is ridiculous in this day and age.
The only sensible way to deal with spectrum is ‘open spectrum’. What governments can do is to lay down rules for social behaviour -- ensuring that you maintain low power levels, that you don’t hog any segment of the spectrum. It’s the basic rules of wifi.
The classical way of dealing with spectrum is based on old technology where they gave you an exclusive slice of the spectrum, and only you could use that spectrum. Modern technology where you have smart radios allows you to share spectrums, like in wifi. This works spectacularly well.
--Frederick Noronha
InfoChange News & Features, February 2006
http://infochangeindia.org/ItanddIstory.jsp?recordno=4369&storyofchangev=ItanddIstory.jsp§ion_idv=9
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talia delgado
Joined: Dec 15, 2003
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about your project, useful info
March 5, 2006 - 03:18 AM
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Hello Benjamin!
My name is Talia Delgado ima a spnanish journalist leaving adn working in Romania. I read your message and project and i found it very interesting. I run an ngo that works in the media field.We had several projects some of them posted also here (brainstorming is called) also you can find more info in ww.brain-storming.info.
After this short presentation I woul like to provide you some useful links and contact information for some organizations taht works directly with radio and taht can helo you.some are based in Kenya and others are just founders interested in support the kind of initiative you wanna develop.So i am sending you the web link and there you will found many useful information and contacts.
I hope it will help you
http://www.developingradiopartners.org/
http://radioafrica.oneworld.net/mediamanage/view/6138 this is a radio already wirking adn located in Kenya with similar propouses so maybe you can contact them and they will be interested to make some partnership or at least to give you some tips about how to go ahead in your project.
http://radioafrica.oneworld.net/section/radioafrica/resources here you can find different information about training, exchanges of news on line training adn guides toolkits.just takea look.
Well from now that´s all i kind help you with maybe in the future we could do somethinhg else for anythinhg you wanna ask you can email me at talia.delgado@brain-storming.info
good luck
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Benjamin Wadewitz
Joined: Jan 5, 2006
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Re: an independant radiostation for kenya
March 6, 2006 - 06:35 AM
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hi talia,
thanks for your reply. just to tell you the latest news. we founded a NGO by the name of "free media initiative for east africa" and are now working on detailling out all our plans and starting to do fundraising.
i will fly down to kenya tomorrow to sort some things out, talk to people, do some more investigations, and so on.
thanks a lot for your links. even though i knew some of them it still learned some new things by surfing them again.
unfortunately i did not find the community station in kenya you wrote about. it seems that it was simply an interview with a "water-organization" in kenya and not about a station itself.
i did not find any other community station so far. most of the existing stations are commercial and profit-oriented or controlled by the state.
if you have any other information please let me know!
thank you so much!
ben
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Moses 2005
Joined: Sep 16, 2002
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OK here we come
March 6, 2006 - 10:34 AM
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Ben i make things happen please get back to me ASAP!
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