Posted to this week's Free Radio Weekly:
Below an FM story from Ed Cummings in Philadelphia, PA
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ed <bernies@netaxs.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Subject: Fwd: When Radio Meets Mobile in Pakistan
To: bill.frw@gmail.com
Bill, here's an interesting story for FRW about a reported 150 Taliban FM pirates (or perhaps more accurately, clandestines) in Pakistan, and listeners using FM receiver-equipped GSM mobile phones to hear them.No wonder the USA is losing the war for the "hearts & minds" of people in that region (besides the bombing-of-civilians thing.) -ed
http://mobileactive.org/when-radio-meets-mobile-pakistanWhen Radio Meets Mobile in Pakistan
Post Date 08.13.09
by CorinneRamey
In Pakistan even the cheapest mobile phones, those without cameras or
other advanced features, come with the ability to listen to FM radio.
Every day, and especially during cricket matches, people walk around
the streets with their phones pressed to their ears, tuned into their
local stations, says Huma Yusuf, a journalist based in Pakistan.
In Pakistan and other countries in the developing world, mobile phones
are ubiquitous. In June 2009, Pakistan had 94.3 million mobile
subscribers, or about 58 percent of the population, according to the
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, a government agency. And
mobiles phones have become a popular way to tune into radio, a medium
that has already been documented to be powerful in democratization and
civil society. Although its not yet clear what effect the combination
of mobile and radio will have, mixing increased mobile penetration
with radio is a potentially powerful combination.
The evolving relationship between mobiles and radios was one of the
subjects of a recent report by LIRNEasia, a think tank that studies
ICT policy across the Asia Pacific. The most surprising finding was
that in three of the countries studied—Bangladesh, India and
Pakistan—more people own mobile phones than radios, says Ayesha
Zainudeen, research manager at LIRNEasia.
About 24 percent of people in Pakistan own radios, according to the
study. Not only has phone ownership surpassed radio ownership in some
countries, but people are tuning in to the radio on their phones.
According to the study, about 7 percent of people in Pakistan listen
to radio on their phones. However, Zainudeen said the numbers likely
underreported the number of listeners. In 10,000 face-to-face
interviews conducted by the researchers, people reported other family
members listening to the radio on a phone shared within the family,
which was not counted in the study.
In Pakistan, where radio stations operate under state restrictions,
radio operators have become creative to share useful content, says
Yusuf, the journalist. For example, FM stations will invite guests who
will talk about issues that are technically illegal to discuss on the
air. “We have a poor government licensing department,” said Yusuf.
”There’s a lot that happens, so they forget and don’t realize they
need to shut something down.” Radio stations have also used traffic
reports, which are permitted by the government, as a means of
reporting gang violence, looting and other unsafe conditions. In this
article, Yusuf writes:
The radio journalist Waqar Azmat advised drivers to avoid the area
known as Gurumandir, “because the conditions there are not good, there
is no traffic in the area.” A few minutes later, at 2:26 p.m., he
returned to the airwaves to say, “traffic on Shaheed-e-Millat Road is
very bad, as it is on Sharah-e-Faisal. There’s madness all the way
until Tipu Sultan Road. Drivers should choose their routes carefully
so that they don’t become victims of bad traffic.”
Descriptions of traffic became code for urban warfare and violence,
warning listeners where it wasn’t safe to travel or be outdoors. In
the future, Yusuf thinks that the combination of radio and mobiles
could become especially interesting is in Pakistan’s North-West
Frontier Province (NWFP) “This is the place where radio can have most
explosive impact,” she said.
Currently, the Taliban has about 150 illegal FM radio stations in this
area, but the Pakistani government is considering allowing other
stations in order to counter the Taliban. “That legislation is
expected soon,” said Yusuf. “If that passes, I think that lots of
incredible things will happen.” While the government is unlikely to
allow community radio stations across the country - for fear of the
power of local reporting, said Yusef - they also recognize the
potential impact that community radio stations could have against the
Taliban. The Obama administration has also supported the use of cell
phones and radio in this area. “The way Obama phrased it is that we’re
losing the information war against the Taliban,” said Yusuf.
As more people in Pakistan (and the rest of the developing world)
listen to radio on their mobiles, the growing number of listeners
could have a potentially disruptive, and democratizing, impact. And
likely, these listeners won’t just be tuning in to cricket scores.
Topic: When Radio Meets Mobile in Pakistan (Read 1954 times)
