European Union – Radio Reporter

August 18, 2022August 14, 2022

BURKINA FASO: A RADIO FOR THE YOUTH OF THE SAHEL

RJS will be broadcast on FM in five countries in the Sahel region (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad) and online (internet, app). It will offer programs in French and in the main languages of the region (Mooré, Bamanakan, Hausa, Arabic and Peul)
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In sub-Saharan Africa, the focus is on radio to educate young people about active citizenship and how to deal with the challenges they face, such as idleness and unemployment. Choosing the airwaves to dialogue with young people are the heads of state of the G5 Sahel, an organization that since 2014 has brought together Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad to unite efforts in the fight against terrorism. The initiative was also created with support from the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) and the European Union. Radio Jeunesse Sahel will begin FM operations on October 1 from Ouagadougou, where the last staff training courses are being held: 26 media professionals deployed between headquarters and national branches. The editorial and administrative directors are both from Niger. Aimed at the audience between the ages of 15 and 35, it will have six hours of programming in French and the main languages of the region, with repeaters in each country.

January 29, 2022January 25, 2022

PALESTINE: RADIO STATION ALSO SPEAKS HEBREW AND SEEKS ISRAELI LISTENERS

Jerusalem24 is a Palestinian station broadcasting from Ramallah on 106.1 MHz. Established in May 2021, and inaugurated on 7 October 2021, it’s funded by the European Union to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and talk about the impact on the lives of people in the territories. The editors say they criticise both Israel and the Palestinian Authority “but in a professional way“. The programmes and website are in English, but news bulletins are broadcast in Hebrew with the intention of seeking Israeli “ears”, to give them a chance to hear another voice. A voice that speaks to them about the segregation of Palestinians and the daily difficulties they face, such as power cuts or long waiting times at checkpoints for border workers.

A success story

The station is linked to the Jerusalem24 news site of the same name
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Jerusalem24 is owned by Afkar Productions Company, a company founded in 2014 by a group of young journalists. The business started with the multimedia platform “24FM“, which was created to disseminate professional information and became one of the most popular radio stations. Later Afkar started a news website and 7 years later created an English-language radio station linked to the “Jerusalem24″ website.

February 25, 2021February 23, 2021

HUNGARY: Last independent radio station continues on the Web

Last independent radio continues on the Web — Klubrádió continuing online could have a larger potential audience, because the ERP (effective radiated power) of 2,6 kW that the station used on FM allowed it to be heard only in the Budapest area
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Klubrádió, the last independent Hungarian radio station, switched off its FM transmitter at midnight on February 14th, 2021. It was broadcasting on 92.9 MHz from Budapest: its license was not renewed by NMHH (National Media and Telecommunications Authority) because the station had not communicated in time the contents of its programming. But the station’s director, András Arató, defied Viktor Mihály Orbán’s government by continuing online broadcasting and airing the official anthem of the European Union, a piece from the final movement of the Ninth Symphony composed in 1824 by Ludwig van Beethoven, also called the Ode to Joy, which the EU has adopted since 1972. The EU, through a spokesman, asked Hungary to allow Klubrádió to continue broadcasting on FM.

February 7, 2021February 3, 2021

MEXICO: Institutional advertising and aid to community radios

To support Mexican community radio stations, new legislation requires government institutions, states and municipalities to spend one per cent of the budget allocated to social communication by purchasing advertising space on community radio stations (Article 89, Section VII of the Federal Law on Telecommunications and Broadcasting). The first to implement the legal provision is the Federal Institute of Communications (IFT), which has created a special space on its Internet portal to make it transparent that access to resources is fair.

Support from Unesco for indigenous radios

In Mexico, there are 375 non-commercial radio stations, of which 72% are social, 23.7% community and 3.5% indigenous
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Another support comes from Unesco, which with its ‘Design of public policies‘ project launched in 2020 seeks to bring indigenous content into public and commercial media. Funded by the European Union and the EU-Uesco Expert Bank, it aims to produce programmes in indigenous languages with content that reflects the country’s cultural and linguistic diversity. Strengthening them helps preserve indigenous languages, cultures and ancestral knowledge. Without forgetting that in the event of natural disasters, their role is irreplaceable, so it is necessary to remove the obstacles that prevent them from obtaining broadcasting authorisation.