Mind the gap

February 13 is celebrated as the World Radio Day for the last five years. On this day, the broadcasters and listeners record their feelings as to why they love radio and how it is relevant to them. The point of discussion ultimately remains information and how it affects the lives of common people.

Since after World War II, the developed nations have dedicated the available frequencies, to serve communities of diverse interest. Not only radio is bridging the communication gap between state and society but also providing them with the forum to exchange ideas and expertise at the grassroots level. So, going by the general practice world over, radio is truly a peoples’ media, not a plaything for the wild and vile interests.

“We are living a revolution in how we share and access information — and, yet, in the midst of deep change, radio has never been so dynamic, engaging and important,” says the message of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for World Radio Day.

Contrary to global trends vis-à-vis utilisation of frequencies, Pakistan has started with the commercialization of the radio and this wonderful media has, quite understandably, fallen into wrong hands. Either the people at the helm of affairs did not understand what radio is about or they did not want to exploit frequencies’ potential to bridge trust gap between government and the people.

“Radio has a wonderful potential to alleviate poverty, promote literacy and create awareness on health and environment,” says Najib Ahmad, the first broadcaster to launch FM radio in the private sector. He is strictly following an editorial policy that revolves around fundamental rights, health, education and environment.

Even though there are as many as 143 FM radio stations and all have been granted licenses on a commercial basis, the outcome remains only confusion. Be it music or information, content production is a rarity. Until recently, radio has been using airtime in playing back–to-back music to run commercials. The content to this end was readily available in the form of Indian songs. Local musicians and artists have survived on their own, for the radios have not felt obliged to have studios.

You may blame the private sector for being so irresponsible for promoting ‘foreign’ content, but give also a serious thought to the fact that Mullah Fazlullah, who turned the world upside down in Swat, could also run a radio of his own which gave him the title of Mullah Radio. Why was PEMRA not successful in turning off his mike?

Other than the sorts of Mullah Radio, fake physicians and quacks readily utilised FM radios to attract the people to their businesses. The profit-seeking owners of this media did not realise what damage they were doing to the already shaken healthcare system by handing over the mike to the non-registered health practitioners. The mushroom growth of education sector also owes a lot to the FM radios.

While radio was misused and people were defrauded by vested interests, PEMRA awoke only for new phases of frequency sale. Quite clearly, we moved directionless in the matter of FM radio. The government has mint money and the licenses have gone to those who had the more of it. There is no guarantee of quality content for the end users, the people. Professionals were out of the radio licensing race from the outset. The few, like Najib, are just struggling in the face of PEMRA’s insatiable desire to squeeze more from the licensees.

Commercialization of radio is something that should not have been done. But it happened simply for the reason that General Musharraf was in power and he courted business interests to prolong his rule. He did not need money, for he had a lot due to his being on the side of America. But why the civilian regimes did not cap the commercial licensing, is quite mind boggling and it speaks the dilemma of our democracy.

Why the civilian regimes have not thought out the matter of frequency allocations, constitutes the same problem concerning local governments. The focus of legislation remains very few segments of society that control political parties and the whole legislation process. Regressive taxation but meagre funds for social sector development, is a policy, as intact in the democratic era as it was during times
of dictators.

While Radio Pakistan remains in the state of decline, confronting the shortage of funds and human resources, the available frequencies continue to be on sale. The process does not seem to reach an end, for the concerned authorities have not yet realised how it is dangerous to use frequencies for commercial purposes.

Radio is the media that people can access anytime in every part of Pakistan. Radio can be an excellent source of information and knowledge in such turbulent and chaotic times we are passing through. People are confronting poverty, preventable diseases and extremism but media is not providing them with a way out.

Has not Pakistan been declared as a disaster-prone country? Don’t we have a population so vulnerable to radicalization? Has not climate change made the Pure Land fluctuate between droughts and flash floods? Does not there exist trust gap between the government and the people? Nothing but radio, and the local governments, can lead the people to the safer course.

“While we are running radio on FM band, Europe has shifted to DAB and America to DAB+. India is using indigenously developed DRM which is not only cheap but also technologically superior to the rest,” says Najib worrying the widening technological gap with no solution in sight. PEMRA should leave the matter of radio licenses to the people and concentrate on spectrum management instead, is what he thinks is the ultimate solution.

 

The writer is an Islamabad-based veteran journalist and an independent researcher. He can be reached on Twitter @riazmissen