Piya’s story on silence - or the lack of it - in India, one of the world’s noisiest cities aired on the 11th at Radio Netherlands as a part of a show themed “the right to silence.”

Read about it here and click on the “listen to the report link” on the top right. Or just click here to listen directly from here

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 »

a quick wrap up: we’re doing a story on corporate social responsibility
for Radio Netherlands Worldwide based on India’s first ever report that takes the country’s top 500 companies to task on their work for the community.
We’re finishing a story on a wonderful little NGO/company called Conserve that makes trendy accessories out of recycled plastic bags — yeah, the same kind you carry your groceries home in.

We’re also looking for homes for a horse and an elephant… Piya is currently in Mysore, reporting on a story about tongas and the horse heritage project. I’m following up on Haathi Chhaap

Piya and Chhavi aren’t quite ready for you yet. Do check back. We’ll have wonderful stories for you soon… desi stories, authentic, fun, lively, interesting stories. Big picture stories … for a small world. Yeah!