From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Campus Radio in South Africa
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: University of Missouri
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 18:38:28 GMT

From: PENN@MITLNS.MIT.EDU (steve penn 26-567, 253-1521 Remember Our Humanity; Science is Not Neutral; MIT War Research Kills.)

Included below is an article from the New Liberation News Service
(NLNS) Packet 2.8 -- our autoposter is posting one
article at a time from this 168K file. To receive the full file,
use the GET command (see bottom) on the file NLNS PACKET ; to 
find out more about NLNS, use GET on NLNS BROCHURE and/or email 
Steve Penn at the above address.

To find out more about the PROG-PUBS (Progressive Publications) email
mailing list, use GET on CAMPUS PROGPUBS, or contact RJ Hinde at
rjh1@midway.uchicago.edu
--Harel B.
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NLNS  Packet 2.8  -  31 March 1992
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Campus Radio in South Africa
Justine Akman, from Peacenet 
[media.issues conference] 

March 27, 1992--Community radio in South Africa, like most things 
in the country, is on the verge of flourishing and changing in a 
revolutionary way.  Many groups are preparing for a first-time 
opportunity to have a voice via radio. From the Soweto media 
resource centre, to the civic organisation representing isolated 
townships around Durban, to the women's magazine, Speak,  groups 
all over the country are discussing how to use the medium of 
community-based radio in the efforts to build the new South Africa.
	Campus radio is the one type of community radio that has 
existed inside South Africa during the apartheid era. (The only other 
broadcasters were the South African Broadcasting Corporation, two 
commercial ventures with transmitters in the so-called homelands, 
and Radio Freedom, the voice of the ANC in exile.) Up until now, they 
have been small music stations broadcasting only into the university 
caffeterias. Normally, they were run by extremely conservative 
students who simply wanted to play the American pop music 
supplied by the monopolistic record companies in South Africa.
	This is all starting to change. Campus radio stations are gearing 
up to apply for broader broadcast liscences as soon as they are given 
the opportunity. The ability to extent their range, and to actually 
discuss issues over the air, has attracted a completely new type of 
student into the campus radio movement. They are progessively 
minded students, with a desire to make their stations a true 
community service. Here is a brief description of 2 of the stations: 
-- Dome Music Radio (University of Natal): 2 months ago, a small 
coup was staged in order to push out the conservative students 
running this station. Over 50 volunteers are now involved in 
planning for the new DMR, even though they are not even presently 
broadcasting!  The station coordinators feel that they must be very 
prepared before they go back on air so that they can successfully 
alter the bad image of this station. They have defined the station's 
character as 'youth' radio. They are in the process of creating 
linkages with youth organisations throughout Durban.  Unfortunately, 
they are presently being trained at Capital Radio, a commercial 
station located in Durban. This, however, is the only training centre 
presently available to them.
-- AUDWAX (University of Durban-Westville): U of DW is what was 
under apartheid called a 'Bush University', ie for Black students or, in 
this case, Indian. The coordinator of Audwax was in Umkhunto We 
Sizwe (ANC armed wing) and came out of 9 months of solitary 
confinement under a year ago. Needless to say, the station is 
progressive, and has some great ideas about becoming a community 
service.  Unlike most campus stations, Audwax is relatively close to 
the surrounding community, and also is located on the top of a hill, 
making the potential to transmit to a wider area quite promising.
	There are at least 10 other stations like these across the 
country. Presently, the station organisers are operating more on the 
basis of intuition than any concrete knowledge on how to transform a 
campus station to a community service.  Information is needed on 
almost every aspect of community radio: how to set up a station, 
management, financing, programming networks, news services, 
relations with record companies, appropriate technology, relations 
with the campus, etc.
	These stations are very eager to create linkages with 
campus/community stations elsewhere in the world. They have 
already agreed to send letters of support to some of the 
campus/community stations in Canada (eg. University of NB). If YOU  
[and your station/media outlet] are interested in supporting these 
initiatives, please send any information you think may be useful to: 
The South African Students Press Union (SASPU), 13 DJ du Plessis 
Building, PO Wits, Johannesburg, 2050 South Africa.
	South Africa is presently walking on a tightrope. The transition 
period the country is now in is crucial in terms of planning for the 
shape of the future South Africa. Community radio has a major role 
to play in healing the wounds of apartheid. It would be great for 
these stations to hear from some of you.

Thanks, Justine Akman, AMARC (The World Association of 
Community Radio Broadcasters)

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Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive