India’s been a destination for medical tourism for a while, but our story on the kidney trafficking scam and the ethics involved for everyone - international recipients, “donors”, the medical profession, the lawmakers and the police - was aired on Radio Netherlands this week. You can see the slideshow and read about it here or just cut to the chase, buffer and listen here. Do let us know what you think of it.

Cinemawallah Salim
Chhavi Sachdev and Piya Kochhar of News Radio India meet Cinemawallah Salim, who splices together dozens of old, discarded film trailers and plays them on an ancient Japanese pedal-powered projector. Aired February 29, 2008, on The State We’re In.

Listen to the piece here.

<We thank our oh so awesome voice-over artists for their help with recording translations!>

I recently had the chance to interview Steve Buckley, president of AMARC, which is the World Association of Community Broadcasters.

He shared his views on the scope of radio in India and on his early days as a “pirate broadcaster”…What’s that?? I asked him. Read the full interview here.

I just got back from freed.in and met Sajan Venniyoor, one of the stalwarts of community radio in India for the first time (though we’ve communicated by phone/email before). During his session he talked about the four areas that make community radio totally contrary to the open source/open forum it’s purported to be
1. Content restrictions: no news on radio. And while we’re at it: no definition of ‘news’, thank you very much. Which means we can arbitrarily make up a definition to include whatever we don’t like, no?
2. technology restrictions - a transmitter costs Rs. 1.5 - 2 lakhs and is only made by two govt. approved companies (can we say “antitrust,” anyone?)
3. spectrum restrictions (uh, excuse me while I snort and roll my eyes at this utter tripe)
4. copyright and royalties (case in point: royalties to ASCAP & BMI combined in the U.S. cost a Low Power FM station, equivalent to a community radio station here, Rs. 5.73 per hour of music. In India, PPL costs Rs. 480.00 per hour of music. uh… hello?)

It was interesting and exasperating to watch someone from All India Radio try to explain away how the govt. tech monopoly would magically crumble AFTER the demand of 1,000+ established CR stations forced it to (like with mobile phones). Later, though, we had a very interesting discussion about shared bandwidth, shared frequencies, defining a community by area, and regulatory bodies. But more on that in another post this week. Stay tuned…  };-) -c*

so the good people who champion open source and freedom in everything tech have their annual conference, freed.in 2008, coming up this weekend. Besides some cool speakers and talks on a bunch of different things, like public transport and FOSSware for your phones, there’s something on community radio every day. Plus an exciting conclave I can’t wait for. Watch this space for posts from the event. -c*

Piya’s roundup of the Bangalore Community Radio Forum annual conference appeared in media watch-owl (?) The Hoot today. Read her distinction between community and NGO radio as well as get a feel for the state of community radio licensing right here.

Coming soon-ish (February 29, to be precise), News Radio India reports on Oscar phenom “Salim baba” — on his history, how he started screening trailers and a Chitrahaar-style spliced selection of songs and action sequences for the kids in his ghetto, at 1 Rupee a screening… it was absolutely fascinating to meet him and his family who were warm and really smart. When I visited, their all-in-one pedal operated projector had gotten a tad ornery in the rain, and they were fixing it. Engineers by necessity, Mohammad Warris, 14, Salim Baba, 52, and Mohammad Ashraf, 16, patiently fixed the machinery so it would run smoothly for the evening show…

Stay posted… we’re starting a section on our site called “the state of radio” in which we’ll feature news, views, and profiles all having to do with–yup, you guessed it–RADIO!

Chhavi and I are Sagittarians, and our horoscope says that Mercury (planet of communications) is Retrograde… which might explain why both of us are at our wits end with our recording equipment. I work with a minidisc that is over six years old, and isn’t even on the market anymore. And Chhavi just got a spanking new flash recorder which has a will of its own, and decides when it feels like recording or not. We’re working on about five stories between the two of us, and every time we go out in the field to record, there’s been some technical glitch or the other. We’d like to send heartfelt thanks out to our sources, who’ve been patient and kind enough to bear with us as we fiddle with microphones and wires and repeat questions which didn’t record the first time.

The upside to all this is that News Radio India now has a very formalized and clear business goal. The day we can afford a top-of-the line Neumann Mic and a Tascam PMD 660, we’ll know we’ve arrived. -pk

I just returned from a really inspiring community radio conference in Bangalore, hosted by the Community Radio Forum India. This group is filled with radio buffs—people who, despite full-time jobs, have dedicated the past decade to pushing forward policy reform for radio in India. To say the least I was humbled and awed by their passion and smarts.

The conference took place from Feb 2-5th, at the United Theological College, a beautiful campus with greenery all around. About 200 people attended—all with a wide range of radio experience and backgrounds.

We started with everyone going around the room and introducing themselves—there was a 30-year veteran from All India Radio, an Italian gent who runs an internet channel out of Auroville, a young graduate who’s shunned mainstream media and is passionate about starting a community radio channel for underprivileged women, a consultant for the Indian government who is in charge of Read the rest of this entry »