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« on: February 12, 2014, 0125 UTC »
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ISTANBUL — The engineer gave the cue that the station was on the air, and the keyboard player began a mournful tune. Then the night’s guest joined in, his rich baritone filling the small, rooftop studio here as it was being broadcast by pirate transmitters in pockets across Syria, his war-torn home.
“The traitor’s army kills us / it fires bullets at us,” he sang. “We are unarmed, nothing in our hands / our blood flows in the streets.”
The broadcast was the premiere of a music show on Radio Watan, one of more than a dozen opposition radio stations that have sprung up since the start of the revolt against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
The stations are run by young civilian activists who played an important role early in the uprising but have since been targeted by government forces, sidelined by Islamist rebels and attacked by extremist groups who consider them infidels for airing music and women’s voices.
As these activists have lost ground inside Syria, they have increasingly resorted to the airwaves to maintain their voice.
Along the way, some have also received support from the United States government, which has spent more than $20 million to train and equip opposition journalists. Washington has also facilitated visas and sponsored trips to Geneva for a number of opposition journalists to cover the international peace talks that resumed there on Monday, according to several program participants.
The opposition radio stations are the most recent arrivals on Syria’s combative news media scene, where parties on both sides try to shape perceptions of a conflict that is conducted largely out of the public eye, because the violence and government restrictions severely limit journalistic access.
While pro-government outlets support Mr. Assad’s line that the war is a terrorist plot driven by foreign powers, opposition news media focus on government abuses and support for the rebels.
But unlike the activists who try to sway international opinion by posting videos of violence online, the operators of opposition radio stations seek to reach Syrians inside the country and consider FM the best way to do so.
“It is much cheaper than TV and more accessible to the public because the listener doesn’t have to have electricity to listen to you,” said Obai Sukar, the director of Radio al-Kul. “Just a small radio with two batteries, and you are on.”
The outlets range from small operations with a single transmitter that covers one town to networks that broadcast in different provinces.
Many stations have staff members inside Syria to maintain equipment and provide on-the-ground reports. This often puts them in the cross hairs of the government and of rebels groups that question their motives.
“People always ask us, ‘Which brigade do you belong to?’ ” said Adnan Hadad, 29, who runs Radio Hara in Aleppo. “When you tell them you are independent, they are surprised and have suspicions about you.”
Radio activists have been killed by the government and kidnapped by extremist groups. Others have been forced off the air by rebels who do not like their programming.
“We want to topple the regime, but when the rebels make mistakes, we talk about it” said Alisar Hasan of Sout Raya, whose transmitter was recently seized by Islamist rebels.
Because of the danger, most of the content is produced in Turkey, where scattered studios turn out programs covering news, culture, health and politics as well as more practical matters, like car maintenance or advice on avoiding checkpoints and clashes.
Among the slicker stations is Radio al-Kul, or Radio for Everyone, which is linked to the opposition Syrian National Coalition. On a recent afternoon, two hosts led a fast-paced news show, complete with upbeat music, teasers at the top of the hour and Skype interviews with activists and politicians.
Mr. Sukar, the director, said the station sought to preserve what he called the original goals of the anti-Assad uprising while reminding war-battered Syrians about civilian life.
“When they listen to music and entertainment, it doesn’t all have to be about the revolution,” Mr. Sukar said. “You try to remind people of the human side, how to live life and not be just a killing machine.”
The United States began supporting the stations in mid-2012 to encourage alternative voices to the Syrian state news media and to help build civil society. The assistance included technical and professional training and broadcasting and production equipment. Wealthy Syrians and European governments and foundations also provide financing.
While the United States carefully selects those it funds, recipients of American support say the government maintains no control over their content.
The evolution of Radio Watan, or “homeland” in Arabic, reflects how the stations have developed from their activist roots.
The station began when a group of friends who organized antigovernment protests in the capital, Damascus, decided to start a pirate radio station to spread their cause. They bought a transmitter abroad and disguised it as a video game machine to ship it to Lebanon, then smuggled it into Syria, said Obadah Alkadri, the station’s director.
At first, they would announce their frequency on Facebook, broadcast for 20 minutes and then shut down and move before the government could track their signal.
After one of their friends was caught with a transmitter and later killed in prison, they moved to a rebel-held suburb of Damascus and opened an office in Istanbul, Mr. Alkadri said.
The recent live music show stretched to more than an hour and revolved around an extended interview with a Syrian singer, Wasfi Massarani, who reflected on his music, rebel leaders he admired and prominent activists who had been killed in the war.
He also sang ballads about his love for Syria and his hatred of Mr. Assad’s government.
“God is greater than them / they slaughtered children with their hands,” he sang. “God will never let them last / and we will never forgive them.”
After the show, Mr. Massarani, who was born in Syria but lives in the Czech Republic, said he had not been to Syria since the uprising began and did not plan to go because he feared that the government or extremist brigades would kill him.
Still, he said, he hopes to make a difference from abroad.
“I can’t just say that I am not inside so I can’t do anything,” he said. “Everyone has to do what they can from where they are.”
A version of this article appears in print on February 11, 2014, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Pirate Radio Gives Voice to Opposition Fighting Assad. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
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