The social media hub and a one-stop guide to Qatar, ILoveQatar.net (ILQ), is in talks with potential backers to establish its own digital radio station, a first in the country.
ILQ is also designing a new website and mobile apps that will make the portal more accessible, which founder Khalifa Haroun hopes will open possibilities for and help build the “ILoveQatar” brand.
Haroun disclosed that the new radio station has already been discussed with licence providers. “All we need is the capital,” he explained.
Morgan Stanley and Britain’s Heart radio network have already expressed interest in the project, with more details still to come.
Haroun said that the language used by the station will be 85% English and 15% Arabic. A number of Qataris have already expressed interest in DJing. “They will be talking in English, but also throwing in a few Arabic words, like how the young generation speak. It will be cool for non-Arabic speakers as well, because they’ll start to capture small words and hopefully learn the language,” he explained.
Station programming will include a talk show for people to discuss issues that are important to them and to the community, “for example, why the pothole on the road has not been fixed in the past 50 years.” While the focus will be on Western music, there will also be an Arabic pop music influence in the mix. Haroun also hopes to have a segment that talks about “the basics of Islam, the difference between culture and religion and cultural etiquette - that sort of thing that a lot of ex-pats don’t get, that cultural orientation, so the radio station can help with that”.
(Source : Gulf Times, Qatar)
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