International Radio Event for Migrants

Radio 1812/2007 invites you to Tune in on International Migrants Day!
It is estimated that some 200 million people live outside of their home countries. And this is not a new phenomenon: Europe, America, and Australia were all built on the influx of millions of people in search of a better life. Since 2000, the international community has designated 18th of December as International Migrants Day, to celebrate the achievements and highlight the struggles of migrants around the world.
Last year, December 18, the international advocacy and resource centre on the human rights of migrant workers launched Radio 1812, a global radio event where community stations, commercial radios and national and international broadcasters in over twenty countries stretching from Australia to Peru produced and broadcasted on one day more than 50 programmes in the most various languages, from Chinese and Thai to Spanish and Kazak.
December 18 was also honoured to welcome the support of former Irish President and Human Rights defender Mary Robinson, and of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour. Both used the Radio 1812/2006 event to reinforce their message: that human rights for all means human rights for migrants too.
This year, supported by UNESCO and ™Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, amongst others, Radio1812 is back hoping to bring together more radios, more migrants and more concerned citizens to take part in the celebrations on 18th December 2007.
Rene Plaetevoet, Director of December 18, says: "Last year, Radio 1812 was a successful and exciting new initiative that put the voices of the often-voiceless at the centre of the debate around migration through the power of radio. This year, we call on all radio stations and migrant solidarity groups around the world to come together and join this exciting second edition of Radio 1812 to celebrate International Migrants Day 2007."
For a taste of what happened in 2006 you can listen to a short remix of last year's event and browse through all of the content from the past edition on our new multilingual radio portal.
In 2007, audio programming on migration will be updated regularly thanks to the generosity of all the radios that wish to share their existing and future programming on this issue. Regular feeds on migration-related news, exciting features and briefings and helpful tips on how to take part in Radio 1812/2007 are some of the new additions to this year's initiative.
For more information on how to take part in Radio 1812 or to share any existing audio content you may have on migration, please check the Radio 1812 website at:www.radio1812.net, or contact us at: radio1812@december18.net

The mission of DECEMBER 18 is to promote and protect the rights of migrants worldwide. Our goal is that the human rights of all migrants are recognised and protected effectively, and that an environment is created for migrants to be full participants in any society. We promote an approach to migration policies that is based on existing international and regional human rights instruments and mechanisms.

Students in India Take to the Airwaves

From India Times: Campus radio has students hooked 8 Nov, 2007, 1637 hrs IST,Shreya Biswas, TNN
NEW DELHI: It's time to tune in folks! Ever since the government announced revised guidelines on community radio service (CRS), hordes of educational institutes and universities are hitting the air waves with their own versions of FM radio. While FM radio service by some premier universities such as Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi, University of Agricultural Sciences and Holy Cross College in the south have already gone on air, scores of others are planning to jump on to the bandwagon including IIT-Kanpur. There are others such as IIM-Kozikhode and Lucknow that have chosen to launch Internet radio, a students only initiative to provide a live and interactive platform their community. While IIM-K's K-dio is already
operational, IIM-L is plans go live shortly.

In the last one year alone around 10 campus radio stations across the country have become operational. "The CRS initiative didn't get as much response initially and institutes were reluctant to sign on due to some infrastructural issues," says M V Vijayan, under-secretary, FM, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. "However, in the last one year, after the announcement of revised guidelines, they are responding well and institutions who stayed back due to lack of awareness are now coming forward."

Delhi University's campus radio, launched last month, has already got the students hooked. There have been three auditions for the various programmes and students create the content. While the number of students for the initial auditions was a mere 20-25, the fourth audition has attracted close to 100 applicants. "Almost 50% of the content will be for the students and the issues they are attached to and the rest will be for the community around the campus," says Vijaylakshmi Sinha, head of the project for DU and former director-general, AIR. She adds that the response has been "great".

The programmes are of general interest like girls' safety or academic like career counselling besides softer genre programmes on junk jewellery, eating jaunts, music and discussions. That's exactly what the community radio initiative is aimed at, providing the students or the community an interactive platform to reach out to each other, discuss issues of common interest and provide a platform to develop talent.

IIT-Kanpur, which plans to come up with its own community radio by next March, wants to reach out to the community around the college besides the students. There are plans to air programmes on agricultural research, newer technologies and topics of general interest. "By March next year, the studio would be operational. It will operate within a radius of 15km, reaching out to the students and the people around the campus and addressing topics of their interest." says Sanjay Dhande, director, IIT-K.

Till now, competition from FM channel and limited reach has restricted the success of such community radio to a few. Pune University's Vigyaan Vaani launched in 2005 is a case in point. The channel is received within a radius of 7km of the assigned 10km while majority of its target audience is in the centre of the city. Obviously, they can't be reached. Besides, the huge
competition from FM channels has also been a cause of concern. "Unless we can reach out to more students and people, no one will know the utility of such an effort," says Anand Deshmukh, director, Vidya Vaani. "Though there have been efforts to make it interesting, the efforts are noticed only if you reach out to them. What we have now done is to put up the programmes on the website of the channel so that it is accessible." The channel airs various programmes on issues related to student community, general interest and music where students perform. This, the institutes feel is a good way to nurture talent and give them an opportunity to connect with their immediate neighbours and come up with ideas for problem solution.

Korea's RTV Celebrates 5th Anniversary

RTV is the first public access channel in Korea. It is celebrating its fifth year of broadcasting.This project grew out of the work of Mediact, an impressive media center in the heart of Seoul.These sorts of flower towers are a Korean tradition. There was an entire row of them sent by corporations who do business with the channel.To celebrate the anniversary, there was a seminar on community media, with international guests: Catherine from Vive TV in Venezuela, Adilson Cabral from Brazil, Myung Joon Kim from Korea, Ellie Rennie from Australia, DeeDee Halleck from US, Supinya Kiangnarong from Thailand, Kate Coyer from Hungary and the US and Jon Stout from the US. This is a trio from the US, Brazil and Thailand. Supinya Kiangnarong has been struggling to get freedom of expression in Thailand.Myung Joon Kim, coordinator of Mediact, the Korean media center, explains the exhibit of five years of Mediact's work.