Friday, March 26, 2010

Helping Out in Haiti

Some of the gear collected for donation to the hard hit Haitian radios
and taken to Haiti by Jim Ellinger
Cases to bring the gear down.
                                      

This is what the radio station looked like after the quake.
                                       
Repaired antenna is set in new concrete.
   
Hoisting the guy wires.

It's up!

The console.

       
On the air!!!!
                                       
                                               

Thanks AMARC!!!


Thanks Jim!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Canadian Community Television; Local Production Squeezed Out

Community Television in Cape Breton

The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) says that so-called "community" TV channels have been transformed into regional TV networks across the country.

With the excepetion of Quebec, smaller communities have lost their local TV channels because of more concentrated cable ownership, said CACTUS' spokesperson Cathy Edwards. "New Brunswick used to have more than 30 separate and distinct community TV channels - but now has just one service in English and one in French, with local content inserted only occasionally."

CACTUS says it will present additional information when it participates in hearings into community TV in late April, conducted by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

The CRTC first released a list of Canada's 139 community TV channels at the end of January, which CACTUS used to analyze the channels' schedules. "Since cable subscribers are paying more than $100 million a year for the right to create and produce programs for their own communities, we had hoped to find many diverse and distinct types of programs produced in and by Canadian communities for themselves," explained Edwards.

CACTUS says that in English Canada there are only 19 distinct programming services, in which at least half of the programming schedule is produced locally. The rest replay programming produced primarily in larger centres.

Even when a service is "distinct" and more than 50% of the programming is local, the vast majority is not made by the community, but by cable company staff. Cable company reports released by the CRTC substantiate this research, the Association notes.

In 2009, just 27% of programs were reported made by communities themselves, and CACTUS believes this figure is high. "We have heard widespread reports that cable companies report as 'access programming' any program that invites the public on for interviews, not programs actually produced by the public," Edwards said.

CACTUS says that province-wide cable-system interconnection explains the shift from community to regional programming. "Lack of diversity is a major problem for the community TV sector. How can these channels reflect the country's diversity," she asked, "when five cable companies control 90% of them and cut costs by replaying the same staff-produced programs across provinces?"

CACTUS has proposed that the CRTC adopt a community-based model for multi-media training and production that would bring local and user generated content back to more than 250 communities across Canada, at no new cost to subscribers.

"Since most of the productions on cable community channels are made by staff, it's too expensive to produce for every little community. A community-owned and operated model that welcomes community producers is the only model that can fill this growing void of local programming in Canada, as well as the thirst for new media training and access."

For more information visit cactus.independentmedia.ca.

Monday, March 22, 2010

All of Haiti's Community Radios Are Back on the Air!

Letter from Jim Ellinger:
Yes, Radio Zetwal RZFF-93.5FM "Radio Voice of the Peasants," did indeed go back on the air Sunday March 21st, 2010, 2 months and about nine days after the devastating 1/12/10 earthquake.

Thanks to all who donated equipment, funds, skills and sweat.

The tower crew and audio engineer hired by SAKS did the work that would have taken me days and days to complete, finished the job in just a day or so...and better!

Tower is back up to 60ft with new guy wires and hardware. Operating with just one of the two FM antenna bays, (both re-hung) because of reduced 100 watt power of the DIY rig donated by the AA Engineering Department. Station is licensed for 500 watts.

Station operates with small genny for power and a very simple plywood building. I slept for 5 days in simple building built with good Canadian wood, built by good Canadian soldiers.

Cold water bucket baths. Water rationing, as well as severe food shortages are the standard. The local spring stopped after the quake. Another geographical mystery.

Very nice Sign On Ceremony with many locals/leaders taking turns at the microphone. Well documented, audio, video, photos by Ernesto, myself, and Sony's great staff. I am sure many will be posted on various websites, Flickr, etc. later this week.

A great day for the village and region of Fondwa, as the last of the destroyed/damaged community radio stations goes back on the air in Haiti!

The western district was also heavily damaged, with most buildings "pancaked". The city of Longuane (sp?) was virtually destroyed, with remarkable, horrible, wide spread destruction. Some Blue Hats (UN) present with APCs and fairly heavy weaponry, strategically positioned right
in the middle of key intersections. Considerable resentment against Blue Hats because of widespread belief of murders and other ugliness committed. Still, they are they only effective, if you can call it that, police force on the ground.

Tip of the hat to the Canadian army, which put down their weapons and started building. Argentina, Venuzeula, Brazil and nearby neighbors, Cuba, were good amigos as well.

Plenty of USAID 'clasped hands' tarps, serving as shelters in the vast, vast IDP camps. Very desperate conditions prevail.

Many, many evangelicals here. Thousands. Many residing in heavily-fortified, b-wired compounds. In some areas on the only bldgs standing are the evangelical compounds. Resentment here too. This is a seriously Catholic country. 'Evans' bring food, water, power, transport, good int'l
phones, etc. But you must 'believe.'

Friday, March 19, 2010

Lady Murrugarra y Pablo Accousto: Technologies for Social Action




Symposium on Technologies for Social Action
10th to 11th of March 2010. Echegaray Theatre, Málaga.
innovation for citizen enpowerment through ICT

Watch live streaming video from estas at livestream.com






La  Sociedad de la Informacion se caracteriza por la rapidez, la portabilidad, la accesibilidad; por ser una ventana abierta al mundo de la comunicacion a traves de las nuevas tecnologias de la informacion (NTIC). 
Estos nuevos factores, trastornan las formas de aprendizaje , tanto a las personas mayores, como de los pequeños; fomenta la curiosidad y la investigacion, de forma que rompe mas que nunca la jerarquia del que sabe y transmite sobre el que no sabe.   Los jovenes y los niños, sobre todo, aprenden al margen de los procesos formales de aprendizaje caracteristicos de la escuela o de la universidad.  

Esta ruptura de las jerarquias tradicionales no solo se da en la educacion, sino tambien en el trabajo.
e-STAT 2010

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Making Waves: Transmitting Popular Power

Prometheus Radio Project - Palabra Radio - Project South
Outreach Tour: March- April 2010

Our Communication Rights
In the United States, similar to the majority of Latin American countries, big private corporations own information & communication technologies: telephone, television, radio, Internet, newspapers and magazines, etc. To obtain a commercial license, it is necessary to purchase a pre-existing full power station. This requires enormous upfront capital, which non-profit community groups do not have access too. The high cost of licenses and equipment, coupled with the for-profit climate of media prohibit ordinary people and community groups, especially poor people, women and people of color, from owning and controlling the media.
On the rare occasions that individuals within the corporate media tell a different story, they are often silenced by those who own and control the airwaves. For example, during the 2006 massive immigrant mobilizations, many commercial DJs who mobilized members of immigrant communities to participate in street marches were threatened and fired from radio stations.

Objectives of the Tour
• Promote the use of radio as a tool for participatory communication that facilitates community organizing.
With this tour, we would like to visit community stations that already exist and also meet with groups that want to use radio as a tool to organize for social justice. On this tour we will facilitate bilingual workshops on:
• Analysis of corporate media: In this workshop participants will analyze the media and discuss the impacts that media has on our daily lives. Through participatory exercises people will have an opportunity to experiment with creative forms of communication.
• Participatory Radio as a tool for community organizing: Making radio is more than transmitters and djays and strikes right in the heart of community organizing. This workshop helps groups to spell out the pieces-often invisible-that are need to construct participatory radio.
• Strategies for participatory communication: In this workshop participants will identify different models of communication and through collective processes identify the use and impact of each model for the organization.

We will also do some public presentations on the role of the media within resistance movements in Latin America and the United States and the fight to make the radio airwaves and the media in general more more fairly distributed in the United States.
www.prometheusradio.orgpalabraradio.orgwww.projectsouth.org
Prometheus Radio Project and the Campaign to Expand Low Power FM radio
Over the past decade, the Prometheus Radio Project has collaborated with numerous community organizations to start LPFM stations through “radio barnraisings”, which bring together hundreds of volunteers to build a station over a weekend. Two LPFM stations launched by these “barnraisings” have inspired Prometheus to partner with Palabra Radio to build a network of immigrant community radio stations through a national tour. Radio Movimiento, run by Northwest Tree-planters in Woodburn, Oregon, and Radio Conciencia, run by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Southwest Florida, are excellent examples of how communities can use their media to communicate, solve problems, preserve their language and cultural heritage and organize for economic human rights. Both stations broadcast a blend of cultural and informational programming focusing on worker and immigrant rights, and music from the worker’s hometowns in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Low Power Radio Licences
Throughout this tour, the Prometheus Radio project will be mobilizing people to support the Local Community Radio Act and to prepare to file applications for the next opportunity to apply for Low Power FM radio licenses from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
For the last 10 years, Prometheus has been leading the battle for people's access to the radio airwaves. The struggles is based in the principal belief that communication is a basic right. Now we are closer than we have ever been to a very important victory in the legislative campaign to pass The Local Community Radio Act (S592): which is a law that would give an opportunity to various community groups to obtain licenses for new Low Power FM radio stations. We believe that LPFMs can be vital tools and we want to assure that these licenses arrive to the hands of community organizations that will use them to build popular power and strengthen their communities.
Low Power radio stations transmit with up to 100 watts and have a range of approximately 3-5 miles. The license are free and are only allotted to non-profit groups.
Palabra Radio Network
Is a network of technical support and accompaniment of community radio projects in the southeast Mexico, Chile, and within immigrant communities in the united states. Our principle objective is to facilitate and accompany the process of appropriate technologies and the knowledge of organized groups that have a clear message to transmit using this means to organize their community and build social justice. The workshops promote the use of open-source software, and facilitate the documentation and systematization of the process of learning with the objective of creating and distributing materials.
As a part of the objectives of this tour, Palabra radio will be distributing and coordinating the realization of new spaces for spanish-language workshops at the upcoming Allied Media Conference from June 18- 20 in Detroit. This year's track will be composed of 4 workshops focussed on strengthening the work of community radio projects already underway in immigrant communities across the country- and the creation and articulation of a network of these radio projects.
Project South
Project South- the institute for the elimination of poverty and genocide will collaborate with Prometheus and Palabra Radio for the Southern portion of the tour. As a part of their on-going work in movement based infra-structure they have been developing communications tools that spark dialogue, convey vision, and inspire action. Their media justice work includes: Youth Speak Truth: Youth-led radio bi-weekly current affairs program on community radio station WRFG in Atlanta and Southern Regional Shared Newsletter: Southern Strategies, initiated by Highlander Research & Education Center process to produce and distribute a print and online joint newsletter vehicle for multiple organizations and communities in the South. Project South will also be mobilizing for the US Social Forum in Detroit June 22-26, 2010.
 prometheusradio.orghttp://palabraradio.org  http://www.projectsouth.org

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Noncommercial Users Constituency Meeting in Kenya


What It Is | The Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) is the home for civil society organizations and individuals in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). With real voting power in ICANN policy making and Board selection, it develops and supports positions that favor noncommercial communication and activity on the Internet.
Why It's Important | The NCUC is open to noncommercial organizations and individuals involved in education, community networking, public policy advocacy, development, promotion of the arts, children's welfare, religion, consumer protection, scientific research, human rights and many other areas. See our charter for membership eligibility (including proposed revisions allowing individual members). Please complete an application and join us today, and get involved in protecting the communication and activities we value on the Internet!
Who Should Attend | Any interested Non Commercial organizations or individuals who are interested in GNSO participation through the NCSG are invited  and the meeting is open to all other interested parties.
NCUC-NCSG Meeting Discussion Agend Date: Tuesday 9 March 2010
Time: 09:00 – 17:00
Location: Impala Room – KICC
09:00 – 10:30  PROCESS / CONSTITUENCY / STAKEHOLDER GROUP BUSINESS

 How to move forward with NCUC-NCSG transition
Development of Specific Interest Groups
Review Team Appointments & Process for Selection
Need to Secure Resources
10:30 – 10:45  COFFEE BREAK
10:45 – 13:00  POLICY DISCUSSION I

Vertical Integration
New gTLD Policies
Post-Expiration Domain Name Recovery
Whois Policies
Registration Abuse Policies
GNSO Improvements
13:00 – 14:00  LUNCH BREAK
14:00 – 17:00  POLICY DISCUSSION II

Continued Policy Discussion from Part I
Planning for Future
Assigned Statements in Board & GNSO Public Forum
Working Group Assignments




Local civil society representatives met with NCUC.


Now down to work!


One can download some of the ICANN meeting:
the archive is at http://nbo.icann.org/node/8931. To hear sections of the proceedings and only those that spoke to the microphone.

From Alex Gakuru:
In extending outreach to and constructive engagement with other stakeholders, today I attended the 'Potential Consumer Constituency meeting.
Glad I did! Because several questions were directed at me in connection to the public comments I sent on during the consultation period on their proposal. Thus it was a great chance to give detailed explanations on each as requested.
It was reported that the Business Constituency and Intellectual Property Constituency supported the idea of a separate "Proposed Consumer Constituency" to which I responded that I found it strange why those two supported and even advised how they considered that the proposed consumer constituency should be operated. Explaining business interests stakeholders are not well-known as be 'consumer  partners'

From the notes taken at the meeting:
N – in the early years of this group, we had a rowing boat club as a member. We had many discussions not related to the basic interest of this group. There needs to be some more elaboration but groups need to promote noncommercial interests. 



R – as we go forward, we need to focus on the noncommercial aspects of the groups so that the interests they promote are noncommercial. We need to look very carefully at these groups to see if they are commercial or noncommercial to make sure we stay purely noncommercial.
M– in my view this is one of the biggest reasons why at this stage in icann's evolution, having an interest group that's philanthropic and nonprofit is v. beneficial. It allows them to reach across the fence to the commercial side, whether within the ncsg or informally. 
R– from a staff perspective, we share that perspective that robin shared. We tell people who reach out to us tht this is the noncommercial space and if there are challenges you need to talk to the community about. 
A – re. The nonprofit institutions coming into the sg, in kenya we have an example of tespoc (telco provider association). It's a nonprofit, but as Beckstrom said yesterday, communications costs are high, and its interests are commercial, i.e. for profit. Institutions of profit can clothe themselves as nonprofits, but with opposite agendas. We have to be very cautious that the nonprofit agenda is not hijacked. 
D – expanding nonprofit areas are of value to ncuc. Where it will be difficult is in the consumer area. INTUG is a good example as an international association of business users of telecoms. These type of org don't draw a strong line in their membership so we'll have to very clear as there is trouble ahead.  

Friday, March 5, 2010

Message from DURBAN SINGS

greetings!
...your work and all that is featured on these sites has already been an inspiration to our young efforts in Azania. We'd hope to correspond and exchange ideas and productions with you and other deepdish people and visitors; and we'd like to extend our warm invitation to all of you to lend your professional skills to the young DURBAN SINGS audio-media editors and producers by sending us small productions and remixes in response to our on-line audio archives. We'll be producing an interactive DVD that will include the contributions and remixes to the project. We've updated our call-out a little from the one featured here to encourage various professional producers to donate their skills in support of our media activist efforts. we'll paste it for you below.
We are calling listeners' contributions to "REMIXING AFRICAN ORAL HISTORY for a global audience"! please pass on the word! and thank you for listening.
warmest greetings from eThekwini
DURBAN SINGS editors
motho & radio continental drift
molefindlovu@yahoo.com, long_walk_abridged@yahoo.co.uk

*ARTISTS, MUSICIANS, DESIGNERS, RAPTIVISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, FILMMAKERS ! your creative donation will support the on-going work of the DURBAN SINGS collectives in Africa, a network of young cultural activists originating from the townships around Durban.
* COLLECTIVES OF CULTURAL ACTIVISTS AROUND THE WORLD ! your creative donations can be the start of an on-going correspondence and productive exchange with like-minded organisations in Southern Africa.
* WRITERS, RESEARCHERS, POETS, SCHOLARS! donating your creative and analytical skills to the work of the young cultural activists in Durban can support them in their efforts and enlighten the awareness about cultural activism across the borders of a divided world.

this is an open call for listeners contributions. for your response to be included in this year’s DURBAN SINGS publication the deadline is: 31 March 2010

http://durbansings.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/call-for-contributions/


http://www.archive.org/details/DurbanSingsARoughRadioMix

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

EMERGENCY! EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR HAITI






Austin Airwaves and AMARC are seeking the following items to help with putting Creole language community radio station /Radyo Zetwal Peyizan/Radio Star of the Peasants back on the air at 93.5FM in Fondwa, Haiti.  The station was completely destroyed with loss of life, following the devastating 1/12/10 earthquake.

http://www.youtube.com/janeregan#p/a/u/1/hA_nXAWMXxc
http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=Haiti_solidarity_EN
http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=home&l=EN <http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=home&l=EN>

Equipment Requested by RZP-FM Fondwa, Haiti
•One 8 channel and one 4 channel audio mixing board
•Three studio cassette players and three studio CD players
•Four studio quality microphones
•Related hardware: audio cables, stands, anti-pop screens, ext. cords, power strips, etc
•Four small fans and four LED lights, (NO incandescent bulbs)
*Small electronics work kit with soldering gun, RCA and XLR connectors, supplies
*Solar/hand crank radios (NO battery powered radios)
•2 sets of amplified speakers
•Two PCs and/or laptops loaded with software for audio production,
(Adobe, Sound Forge, Adobe Audition, Cool Edit Pro, or similar)
•Blank cassettes and recordable CDs
•Two heavy duty, lockable, wheeled “cargo boxes” for shipping
•Heavy duty cable and locks for securing generator and boxes

Contact: Jim Ellinger @ Austin Airwaves (512) 796-4332

 jimedia@grandecom.net before March 15th

Visit: http://www.austinairwaveshaitiproject.com
Website JUST posted and will be updated tonight. PayPal button soon!
Please, no 'boat anchors' or junk.*
Items can be dropped off or shipped via FedEX or UPS (no mail) to:
Austin Airwaves, Inc.
620 Fairfield Lane (loading dock)
Austin, TX 78751

US Mail to:
Austin Airwaves, Inc.
P. O. Box 49492
Austin, TX 78765

ALL LABOR DONATED TO THIS URGENT RADIO PROJECT
Austin Airwaves is a 501c3 tax exempt educational organization. Cash donations accepted









Monday, March 1, 2010

Remembering Loni Ding


ding.jpg
by Moriah Ulinskas, Director of Next Gen Programs

This morning I received news that Loni Ding passed away on February 20 after a long year following a stroke last Spring. I hadn’t seen or spoken to Loni since before the stroke, and hearing that she had passed triggered a string of memories that left me crying at my desk for the first hour of the day. I’ve spent the morning emailing back and forth with my friend Alison Wong, who, along with myself, was one of Loni’s assistants on the Ancestors in the Americas series back when Ali and I were both just kids, fresh out of college, eagerly entering the world of documentary filmmaking. Ali wrote to me today, “she symbolizes a really special and important time in my life when I was discovering myself and what I wanted out of life”, and I think that aptly summarizes the impact Loni had on many Bay Area filmmakers.

I came to BAVC in the Fall of 1997 as an intern and Loni was a regular at the old facility on Mississippi Street. I remember clearly the day I overheard someone saying to my supervisor that they needed an assistant on a film project. I peered over the divider, told the small smiling woman on the other side that I was interested, and printed my resume on the spot. The next day I rode the bus up Van Ness Avenue and walked the hill to her Washington Street home where I would soon be schooled in social documentary, Asian American history, and how to butcher a chicken.

Loni will forever be remembered for her advocacy work as one of the founders of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association(NAATA) -- now the Center for Asian American Media --as a spearhead of the Ethnic Studies Department at Cal, and for the influence which her film, Nisei Soldier, had on Congress’ decision to redress the Japanese- American internment during WWII. I will forever remember Loni as something of a whirling dervish spinning across the two front rooms set aside in her family’s home for her production studio- simultaneously fielding phone calls from funders, reviewing interviews for the Ancestors series, and mothering over her husband and children. It was the year impeachment proceedings were brought against President Clinton and one night Loni dragged the TV from the living room, the butcher block from the kitchen, and proceeded to butcher a chicken next to me so she could watch one of Clinton’s defenses and talk me through some of the footage I was reviewing and still get dinner on the table.

For Loni there was no clear distinction between the personal and professional- she committed herself wholeheartedly to her family, her teaching, her filmmaking and her advocacy work in a way that boundaries blurred. Her children would often walk across the frame of footage I was digitizing from one of her shoots in China, her home was an office for her staff as well as a meeting site for her husband David’s union gatherings, and her heart was a resting place for the many filmmakers she mentored. Loni was both incredibly soft and incredibly hard. I remember coming out of a screening at the Castro with her one night and as I lit up a cigarette (American Spirit) she took it from me, took a drag then ground it under her heel announcing, “You think it’s better to smoke these organic cigarettes? Smoking one of those things is like trying to smoke a loaf of whole wheat bread”. She was hyper and erratic and Ali and I often just found her HYSTERICAL. I remember being in the narration booth, here at BAVC, and she actually was able to get Pat Morita, from Happy Days, to do the voice over for her film. She kept stopping him during the recording sessions because she didn’t think he sounded enough like the Pat Morita she wanted on the voice over, so she actually did an imitation OF him TO him for him to copy. We were laughing on the other side of the glass watching her bust into the sound proof booth to tell him over and over what he should sound like, this Chinese American woman imitating this Japanese American man…

Things I will remember Loni by: taking us wine tasting while on a shoot in Napa then declaring it “crew nap time” and going to sleep under a tree, getting me pretty much banned from the Bancroft library for losing books I’d checked out for her (which I’m sure are still in stacks somewhere in her home), and teaching me how to butcher a chicken while logging a video.

I pulled up the intro that we recorded at BAVC, to try to remember what the line was that Loni kept reciting to Pat Morita that had us in stitches. I didn’t find it, but I was moved to hear Mr. Morita, also passed now, read Loni’s elegantly written opening lines, “What is history when the reporter does not record and the camera does not see?” Loni dedicated her life’s work to addressing this question, by producing films and fostering filmmakers and institutions that would force the camera to see. And for that, and for many other moments of grace and inspiration, we are eternally grateful.

Rest in peace, Loni Ding.

To read more about Loni:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/blogs/future_of_public_media/loni_ding_social_documentarian/
thanks to Martha Wallner for forwarding this to me. DeeDee


Loni Ding testifies in Senate, 1979


Loni Ding testifies during 1979 Senate hearing looking back on 20 years of public broadcasting since passage of the Public Broadcasting Act. Other speakers include Bill Baker of WNET, left, and Henry Cautehn of South Carolina ETV, right. (Photo: Val Taylor, Current.)

Purposeful Loni Ding

The late filmmaker was ‘a consummate organizer’

Loni Ding, 78, a filmmaker who brought issues of Asian American identity to the surface, and to PBS, and helped win legislation backing independent producers, died Feb. 20 in a hospital in Oakland, Calif.
She had recovered well from a stroke in April but friends said she did not regain consciousness after a second stroke in December.
Ding produced a number of documentaries distributed by PBS, including the start of her unfinished series,Ancestors in the Americas, and she pursued a parallel career as a teacher and mentor. Ding recently retired from teaching Asian American studies at the University of California at Berkeley.
She taught courses in “intervention media”— programs that not only reflect society but also contribute to social change, according to David Welsh, her husband.
Ding attached community organizing to the arts. In the late ’60s, Welsh recalled, she worked for the city’s Neighborhood Arts Program, hauling easels and musical gear in a VW van and setting up events in the parks.
After learning video production, she produced a 65-part course in practical English for Cantonese speakers. KQED at the time had adopted the access-to-media issue, and Ding produced many varied programs for its Open Studio project. One was a musical retelling of a major labor struggle in Chile between mine owners and workers, he said.
Presented with problems, Ding made programs. She made a short series called Bean Sprouts for teachers and Chinese activists who wanted children “to see a little bit of themselves in their natural setting,” Ding said in a 1992 interview with Barbara Abrash of New York University, a friend and filmmaker. With a U.S. Office of Education grant obtained by Asian Women United, Ding produced the four-part On Silk Wings to help open up the range of career options that Asian women would consider.
Ding placed daily struggles, such as the women’s career decisions, in context with people in past and in the future.
“I think that what we were trying to do in the programs was to show that no one has to be alone,” Ding told Abrash. “You can have the company of those whose memories you carry because you are part of something that preceded you. You can have the courage of knowing that something you did will be carried on by someone, and will affect other people, and therefore something more is at stake and something more can be achieved than what you are doing at that moment. Taking that long view will help you out.”
As she watched the moving testimony of Japanese-Americans who were forcibly taken from the West Coast to inland camps during World War II, she realized TV reporters would reduce it to sound bites. She worked two years on Nisei Soldier, telling the powerfully ironic story of Japanese American soldiers who fought as U.S. troops in Europe while their relatives were herded into pens in the American desert. In Color of Honor she drew out additional accounts from often-reticent Japanese American soldiers who had served as intelligence officers in the Pacific.
These stories were decades old but to many Americans seeing them on public TV, they were news nevertheless. Cassettes of her programs were sent to members of Congress and assisted the campaign for redress, Welsh says. He asks: “How can you not give redress when the sons went over and fought for the United States?”
Ding kept her purpose in sight while she structured her films. 
“One of the things that I have understood was how necessary it is to have strategy in all your planning and designing what the work will look like, and you have to have strategy to get it out there to reach its audience,” she said in the interview with Abrash, which is posted on the website of Ding’s nonprofit production company.
“You plan into your work: who your audience is going to be, and how much they will need to understand and how much you have to translate for them in order for them to understand what you are doing,” she said. “If you are going to go to the tough, ugly stuff, you have to place it in the right moment when you have led them up to that moment so that they can face it. Otherwise, they are going to shut off on you.”
Her biggest recent project is Ancestors in the Americas. The first two episodes, backed by the National Endowment for the Humanities, aired on public TV in 2001, Welsh said, and Ding had shot material for two more. Welsh said he’d like to see it finished.
Ding was a major mover in creating not only the Independent Television Service (ITVS) but also, before that, the Asian American pubTV consortium.
“She understood organizing — this was her consummate skill,” says Stephen Gong, head of the group now called the Center for Asian-American Media. When she heard that CPB had funded consortia to aid production by and about the African American, Latino and Native American communities, she reached out to Asian American producers around the country and organized a conference that led to the 1980 founding of the National Asian American Telecommunications Association, predecessor of Gong’s center.
Ding later became a star witness for legislation that eventually created ITVS. “She gave the campaign a great deal of credibility,” says Jeff Chester, a media activist who heads the Center for Digital Democracy.  Ding, Chester and others argued for a structural change in public TV’s funding system, and in 1988 won legislation creating ITVS. “The result was a unique funding organization for independent producers that has supported many important films over the years,” Chester wrote in a eulogy. “If ever there was a public television/independent producer saint, it was Loni Ding,” Chester said later.
Survivors include her husband, children May Ying Welsh and Elias and her sister Pearl Ding Dobson.
A visitation period is set for March 13, 5-6 p.m., at the Green Street Mortuary in San Francisco; a funeral service will be held there the next day, 2-3:30 p.m. Her family said a memorial service will be held later.
A brass marching band will lead a procession to Chinatown, where Ding was born and her parents ran a medicinal herb shop, and to the North Beach area, where she lived for years with her family.
******************************************************
from Brian Drolet:
I remember going with her to the Ford Foundation 10 or 15 years ago to fight for a grant for Asians in America. The meeting was not promising. As we left I told her that my friend Maria Patrick was working on a project for Tom Lennon on "The Irish in America," and that they had received over 1 million in grants. I don't remember Loni ever using the "F" word, but her response was something in that genre, followed by a diatribe about "just what we need, another series about the Irish." Also memories of Loni at home: David's Pacific Basin Report office cluttered in the back, May Ying's playpen in the dinning room. Our kids are about the same age. Elias a year or so older than Rachel, May Ying maybe a year younger than Kevin. A vague image of Elias getting in the playpen and attempting to strangle May Ying one day. Much commotion. May Ying held her ground. A very tough gal, like her mom. It was an incredibly energetic home. David always bursting with ideas and information, Loni moving rapidly and efficiently from kids to work to god knows what projects. I recall the old Chinese saying that "some deaths are light as a feather, some are heavier that Mt. Tai." Loni has left a very weighty imprint on so many lives.

World Association of Community Radio expresses solidarity with people of Chile



(Image from indymedia chile which is providing very good coverage)

AMARC expresses solidarity with those affected by the Chile earthquake

Montreal, 1 March, 2010. AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, expresses its solidarity with the people of Chile and its condolences to those who have lost family and friends in the earthquake of 27 February 2010. Steve Buckley, President of AMARC, said: "We are shocked to hear news of another devastating earthquake in the Americas. We stand ready to assist in any way possible."

AMARC's Latin America and Caribbean regional office (AMARC-ALC) is leading AMARC's international response, working with AMARC's country representative and members in Chile. Chile has an extensive network of community radio stations throughout the country many of which are members of AMARC. Most of the stations remain on air and are providing news and advice.

Maria Pia Matta of Radio Tierra, Santiago, and Vice President of AMARC for the Latin America and Caribbean region, reported that the destruction had been greatest in the South of the country. The worst situation is in Concepción, in the Juan Fernandez Island, but most of
all in the El Maule Region. Radio Tierra remains on the air in Santiago and is carrying updates on FM and the Internet.

Natacha Gomez Barahona of La Radioneta and AMARC Country Representative, reported that community radios in Valparaiso and the surrounding region had not been badly affected but electricity supply had been unstable, hampering access to news media and communications.

A first priority for AMARC-ALC and the community radio sector in Chile is to assess the status of community radios and their staff in the most severely affected regions - Maule and Biobio. It has been difficult to obtain accurate information due to the collapse of the local electricity and communications infrastructure. Some of the worst hit communities are also in isolated and hard to reach locations. AMARC is prepared to mobilise practical solidarity and assistance where this is most needed.

Further information:

International Focal Point
Ernesto Lamas, Regional Coordinator
AMARC-Latin America and Caribbean
Email: elamas@rcc.com.ar elamas@rcc.com.ar>
Tel: +54 1148673806 / +54 1148657554

Country Focal Point
AMARC Country Representative - Chile
Natacha Gomez Barahona, Director
La Radioneta 88.9fm Valparaiso
Email: info@laradioneta.cl info@laradioneta.cl>
Tel: +56 93440988
http://www.laradioneta.cl <http://www.laradioneta.cl/>


Other contacts
Maria Pia Matta, AMARC Vice President
Radio Tierra, Santiago de Chile
Email: mattacerna@gmail.com mattacerna@gmail.com>
http://www.radiotierra.cl/

Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General
AMARC International
Email: secgen@si.amarc.org secgen@si.amarc.org>
http://www.amarc.org


AMARC expresa su solidaridad con los damnificados del terremoto en Chile
*
Montréal, 1 de marzo de 2010. AMARC, la Asociación Mundial de Radios
Comunitarias, expresa su solidaridad con el pueblo chileno y sus
condolencias a quienes han perdido familiares y amigos en el terremoto
del 27 de febrero de 2010. Steve Buckley, Presidente de AMARC, dijo:
"Estamos impactados al escuchar noticias de otro terremoto devastador en
las Américas. Estamos alertas para ayudar a como dé lugar."

La oficina regional de AMARC América Latina y el caribe (AMARC-LAC)
coordina la respuesta internacional de AMARC, trabajando con el
representante de país y los miembros de AMARC en Chile. Chile tiene una
extensa red de radios comunitarias en todo el país, muchas de las cuales
son miembros de AMARC. La mayoría de las radios siguen transmitiendo
noticias y consejos.

Maria Pia Matta de Radio Tierra, Santiago, y Vice Presidente of AMARC
para la region de América Latina y el caribe, informó que la destrucción
es mayor en Sur del País. La situación mas grave es en Concepción,
también en Isla Juan Fernandez, pero sobre todo en la región del Maule.
Radio Tierra está en ondas en Santiago y transmitiendo puestas al día en
FM y en el Internet.


Natacha Gomez Barahona de La Radioneta y Representante nacional de
AMARC, informó que las radios comunitarias en Valparaíso y sus
alrededores no han sido afectadas gravemente pero la inestabilidad del
suministro de electricidad limita Country Representative, reported that
community radios in Valparaiso and the surrounding regiosus capaciudades
de entregar noticias y comunicaciones.

La principal prioridad para AMARC-ALC y del sector de las radios
comunitarias en Chile, es de evaluar la situación de las radios y de sus
empleados en las regions más afectadas - Maule y Biobio. Ha sido difícil
obtener información apropiada debido al colapso de la infraestructira
eléctrica yde comunicaciones. Algunas de las comunidades más afectadas
también están en áreas aisladas y de difícil acceso. AMARC esta
preparada para movilizar solidaridad práctica y asistencia donde sea más
necesaria.

-30-

Para mayores informaciones:

Punto Focal Internacional
Ernesto Lamas, Coordinador Regional
AMARC-América Latina y el caribe
Email: elamas@rcc.com.ar elamas@rcc.com.ar>
Tel: +54 1148673806 / +54 1148657554

Punto focal de País
Representante nacional de AMARC - Chile
Natacha Gomez Barahona, Director
La Radioneta 88.9fm Valparaiso
Email: info@laradioneta.cl info@laradioneta.cl>
Tel: +56 93440988
http://www.laradioneta.cl <http://www.laradioneta.cl/>

Otros contactos
Maria Pia Matta, Vice presidente de AMARC
Radio Tierra, Santiago de Chile
Email: mattacerna@gmail.com mattacerna@gmail.com>
http://www.radiotierra.cl/

Marcelo Solervicens, Secretario General
AMARC Internacional
Email: secgen@si.amarc.org secgen@si.amarc.org>
http://www.amarc.org

L’AMARC exprime sa solidarité envers les victimes du tremblement de
terre au Chili

Montréal, le 1 mars, 2010. L’association mondiale des radiodiffuseurs
communautaires (AMARC) exprime sa solidarité avec le peuple chilien de
même que ses condoléances envers toutes et tous ceux qui ont perdu des
parents et des amis lors du remblement de terre du 27 février 2010.
Steve Buckley le président de l’AMARC a dit : « nous sommes en état de
choc devant les nouvelles sur un autre tremblement de terre desvastateur
dans les Amériques. Nous sommes prêts pour venir en aide au besoin ».

Le bureau régional de l’Amérique latine et les Caraïbes (AMARC-ALC) est
en train de coordonner la réponse internationale de l’AMARC, tout en
travaillant avec le représentant national et les membres de l’AMARC au
Chili. Le Chili a un réseau élargi de radios communautaires partout dans
le pays, la plupart d’entre elles sont des membres de l’AMARC. La
majorité des radios sont en train de diffuser des nouvelles et des avis.


Maria Pia Matta de Radio Tierra à Santiago, et Vice-présidente de
l’AMARC pour l’Amérique latine et les Caraïbes, a informée que la
destruction la plus important se trouve dans le Sud du pays. La
situation la plus serieuse est à Conception, également dans l’île Juan
Fernandez, mais surtout dans la région du Maule. Radio Tierra est en
ondes à Santiago et diffuse des mise à jour en FM et sur l’Internet.


Natacha Gomez Barahona de La Radioneta et représentante nationale de
l’AMARC, a reporté que les radios communautaires à Valparaiso
fonctionnent, mais qu’elles souffrent d’un accès defaillant à
l’électricité ce qui rend difficile la diffusuoin de nouvelles et les
communications.

La priorité de l’AMARC-ALC et du secteur des radios communautaires est
de faire tout d’abord une évaluation de la situation des radios et de
leurs employés dans les régions les plus affectées - Maule et Biobio. Il
a été très difficile jusqu’à maintenant obtenir des informations
appropriées, suite à l’effondrement de l’infrastructure de communication
et de l’électricité. De surcroit les communautés les plus affectées se
trouvent dans des zones isolées et d’accès difficile. L’AMARC est prête
à venir en aide au besoin.


-30-

Pour de plus amples informations:

Point focal international
Ernesto Lamas, Coordonnateur régional
AMARC-Amérique latine et les Caraïbes
Email: elamas@rcc.com.ar elamas@rcc.com.ar>
Tel: +54 1148673806 / +54 1148657554

Point focal au pays
Représentante nationale de L’AMARC au Chili
Natacha Gomez Barahona, Director
La Radioneta 88.9fm Valparaiso
Email: info@laradioneta.cl info@laradioneta.cl>
Tel: +56 93440988
http://www.laradioneta.cl <http://www.laradioneta.cl/>

Autres contacts
Maria Pia Matta, Vice-présidente de l’AMARC
Radio Tierra, Santiago de Chile
Email: mattacerna@gmail.com mattacerna@gmail.com>
http://www.radiotierra.cl/

Marcelo Solervicens, Secrétaire général
AMARC International
Email: secgen@si.amarc.org secgen@si.amarc.org>
http://www.amarc.org

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Amarc-info@lists.amarc.org
http://lists.amarc.org/mailman/listinfo/amarc-info


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