Airwaves are for every one

Finally, community radio seems to be making waves, writes Ashish Sen

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Bangalore/article2299067.ece

CR News – Tracking Community Radio in India

ANNOUNCING the launch of CR News – Tracking Community Radio in India

We are delighted to announce the launch of a quarterly e-newsletter on Community Radio developments in India: CR News – Tracking Community Radio in India. The newsletter will be the first of its kind in the country and will provide a platform for community radio practitioners, advocates, academics, and policymakers to share community radio news, events, challenges and opportunities. Supported by UNESCO, and produced by the Department of Communication, Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad, the e-newsletter’s editorial team consists of Ashish Sen (Trustee of VOICES, Bangalore and President, AMARC Asia-Pacific) as the Editor; Kanchan Malik (University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad) as the Associate Editor; and Vasuki Belavadi (University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad) for Design and Production.

CR News has an Advisory Board that includes: Prof. Vinod Pavarala (University of Hyderabad and President, Community Radio Forum of India); Frederick Noronha (Independent Journalist, Goa); Anita Gurumurthy (ITforChange, Bangalore); Rajen Varada (UNESCO, Delhi); Anujaa Shukla (Radio Bundelkhand, TARAgram Orchha, MP) and Nikhil Dey (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Rajasthan).

The e-newsletter will comprise four segments, namely:

News and Events

Voices from the field

Opinion and Feedback

Announcements

The inaugural issue of CR News – Tracking Community Radio in India is scheduled to be launched mid-June, 2010.

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

The editorial team seeks contributions by way of news reports, features, announcements and opinions on recent community radio activities in your organization/region/nation. Voices/Stories from the field, including interviews with community members (listeners and producers) are especially welcome.

Kindly note: Contributions should be in English, restricted to 200 words for news/event and 250 words for opinion pieces and features, and typed double spaced. Contributions may preferably be accompanied by photographs/illustrations. Contact address and details of authors/organization should accompany the contributions. The last date for submissions is May 10th, 2010. Electronic submission of contributions is recommended. Please email your articles/reports/features to: crnews2010@gmail.com

If you are unable to email, you can also send your typed articles/reports/features to:

Dr. Kanchan Malik

Department of Communication;

Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication;

University of Hyderabad;

Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046

Phone: +91-40-23135506(O); +91-990-858-2613(M)

The final selection of contributions will be determined by the editorial team. We look forward to hearing from you about your community radio station or all the community radio related developments that you are following. Please remember, the deadline for the content to reach us is: May10, 2010. Thank you in anticipation.

Best Regards

Ashish Sen (Editor) & Kanchan Malik (Associate Editor)

Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to www.crforum.in

(Via cr-india list)

4th Annual General Meeting of CRF – 19th Feb, 2010 - Bangalore

Dear CR enthusiasts,

On behalf of the Community Radio Forum of India (CRF http://www.crforum.in), I am pleased to inform all members that the 4th Annual General Meeting of the Forum will be held on February 19, 2010 in Bangalore. This meeting will be held in conjunction with the 2nd Regional Conference of AMARC Asia Pacific scheduled to be held in Bangalore from February 20-23, 2010. The theme of the conference is "Community Radio for Sustainable Development and Good Governance".

The agenda for the CRF meeting will be: a) to conduct organizational elections and put in place a new executive committee; and b) to have an open meeting, with members and other CR practitioners, advocates and enthusiasts in order to take stock of the community radio movement in India and share experiences of those already on air. The first part of the meeting mentioned as (a) above will be open for registered members of CRF only, however the second part of the meeting is open to all.

The CRF meeting as well as the AMARC conference will be held at The United Theological College, 63, Millers Road, Benson Town, BANGALORE - 560046.

We encourage all of you to attend the CRF meeting and register for the AMARC conference. Please make your travel plans at the earliest so that you don't miss this important meeting of CRF and an opportunity to interact with others in the region. Visit http://www.crforum.in for details on CRF and http://asiapacific.amarc.org for more details on AMARC conference.

Meanwhile, we would like to request specific suggestions on the agenda for the CRF meeting mentioned above. In addition, please review the draft agenda of the AMARC conference and share any ideas you may have for scheduling some sessions in which India participants could play a meaningful role at least on the first two days. This suggestion is being made on the assumption that, although members are welcome to stay on for the full conference of AMARC, most of us may not be able to stay in Bangalore for more than two or three days.

Please send your ideas and suggestions on the agenda to Dr Vinod Pavarala on this list as well as cc it to vpavarala@gmail.com

We will be happy to share further details with you as soon as they become available. Hope to see you all in Bangalore.

Warm regards,
Stalin K.
National Convener
Community Radio Forum of India
Phone: +91-832-2281032
Mobile: +91-9923594635
http://www.crforum.in