MUMBAI: Even as private FM broadcasters are growing in markets
and expanding their content offering to different verticals, community
radio stations in India too are not far behind in the growth phase.
University of Agricultural Science Dharwad’s Krishi community radio is
all set to pen its growth story by launching its programmes on the web
and mobile platform soon.
The station in partnership with the organization One World South
Asia has developed a website to provide its radio programmes online and
enhance the reach of the station. The organization is not helping in
funding of any sorts but are developing the technology to ensure
efficient access to content.
This website will tentatively launch between 8-10 February, and
will initially feature only five programmes focusing on farmers and
agriculture. Every evening from 5-8pm, the website will live stream
farmer experience programs which can also be accessed later on the site
under the ‘stored programs’ section. Apart from that, the website will
consist of festival programmes and folk songs in Kannada for access to
users.
Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Krishi community radio programme
officer S Devendrappa said, “We have a lot of programs for farmers and
special farmer experience programmes on our website. We have also
tied-up with 3000 self help groups who organize various activities
related to agriculture and educating farmers. We take resources and
content from them and in turn provide a platform to their content.
Basically the website will help in creating newer avenues for farmers to
educate and benefit.”
Covering about 10-15 kilometers radius around the University, the
station broadcasts for six hours everyday and organizes training
programs every year for farmers, helping and educating them on new
technology in farming which can help them in various ways. It also acts
as research material for students in the university, who use the content
as reference study material for projects.
Currently, the station has around 10 RJs trained by the
university and the broadcaster itself. Apart from that it also boasts of
a student community of 2500 with 200 student volunteers in the station.
“Our station comprises of RJs from other areas as well as
students from the university who we have trained extensively through
various workshops organized in the past. Infact our student volunteers
have also thought of preserving the programs in DVDs and hard disks to
archive it,” he elaborated.
As the graph of the station rises towards success gradually, it comes as a major surprise too see it
launching on different verticals as funding and revenues are still a
major obstacle for most other community radio stations across the
country.
But Krishi community radio begged to differ. Since the station
provides a lot of information and measures on agriculture, it receives a
certain amount of funds from input agencies like fertilizer companies
and more, who sponsor a particular program catering to an issue. The
programs range from issues like TB to using the right fertilizer for
crops and more, while the sponsors range from agriculture department,
environment department and more.
Taking its success onto the next level, the station will also be
launching its services on the mobile platform with the help of IBM. The
mobile service titled ‘Krishi Gnyanavani’ will be provided to the
farmers through the station, where they can access related information
through their handsets. The service is slated to launch within the next
two months.
Devendrappa revealed, “This is the next step in our development.
We aim to provide our content on mobile for farmers to have easy access
to information. We are still in talks and no telco has been finalized
yet, though IBM will be helping us in developing it. We will be
recording programs for the service, of which 40 have already been done.”
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