Making Waves : KIRITIMATI RADIO
Stories of Participatory Communication
for Social Change
TITLE: Kiritimati Radio
COUNTRY: Republic of Kiribati
MAIN FOCUS: Education in water and sanitation, information, entertainment
PLACE: Christmas Island (Kiritimati)
BENEFICIARIES: Population of around 4,000 in Kiritimati
PARTNERS: Telecom Services Kiribati Limited (TSKL)
FUNDING: KWASP (AusAID), Linnix (Government)
MEDIA: Radio
Everybody wanted to help. The first task was clearing the scrub, pushing over trees and bushes, clearing and levelling the site for the building and its 100 foot guyed tower on which we had to mount our FM transmission antenna. On our third day on the island we were digging into the coral for building slab, the tower base and guy anchor points, and on day four, we poured the slab and tower foundations.
Our next building task was timber frame construction; two young men, who seemed to be quick learners and could work with reasonable accuracy, assisted us. After completing the frames we went back on-site to assemble and erect the tower. This task lasted for two days, and once again everyone involved did the work with much enthusiasm. We continued on-site to erect the building frames, to put on the iron roof and do the cladding of the exterior of the building, the internal insulation and cladding. Working10 to 11 hours each day, the building work on-site took about two weeks to complete. The end result was most impressive.
Because the radio station was sited on the edge of London town, every-body coming into town would see the station as it was being constructed. School children showed interest by calling out and waving as they went past. Many locals driving into town, would sound their car horns as they went past, and some called in to have a look. The new radio station was "a real buzz" around town.
We actually "fired up" the radio station for the first time one month after arriving on the island and it happened to be on a Friday. We decided to carry out reception tests on Sunday by travelling right around the island, to measure the strength of our FM radio signal. To do this we prepared a 30 minute test tape which we then set up to operate continuously (a repeating loop). And so we had a repeat of the same programme (a mixture of local and Western music) for 36 continuous hours. We would think, 'how boring,' but not so for the locals. Local people kept telling us how much they enjoyed listening to Kiritimati Radio over the weekend. We would say, didn't you find it boring having the same music repeated every half hour but the reply was usually, "no we just loved hearing our own radio station".
Written by Ron Ehrke, a consultant and radio specialist.
There was no radio station on Christmas Island before Kiritimati Radio (93.5 FM) transmissions started, six hours every day, seven days per week, in late November 1998. Right after the radio station was constructed and equipped, a seven day period of intense training followed for four local people who had been selected to become radio announcers and programme presenters. The trainees were taught a range of skills necessary to operate a radio studio; such as voice production, interviewing, music production using cassette and compact disc, all blended together to produce composite programmes, through a studio on-air mixing console. An amazing fact of this part of the project was that most of the trainees had never seen a radio studio before but within a few days, were competently operating the equipment.
Kiritimati Radios programming, which airs through a 500-watt transmitter, includes mostly music, announcements and news. In the evenings, from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m., programmes with social and educational content are aired: Education (Monday), Radio Quiz orInterview (Tuesday), Water and Sanitation (Wednesday and Saturday), Health (Thursday), Magazine (Friday) and a religious programme(Sunday). Groups or institutions that support Kiritimati Radio and want to take advantage of its outreach possibilities produce most of these programmes.
- On a weekly basis, different church groups are participating with on-air religious services.
- A wildlife unit of the Ministry hosts a weekly programme involving primary schools in promoting environmental issues regarding birds and corals.
- The Water Project (KWASP) does weekly awareness programmes on water and sanitation safety issues. KWASP prepares the messages that are mainly on water and sanitation, as well as some on the progress of the project. Overseas technical consultants are sometimes invited to discuss issues on-air.
- The programming includes bringing community groups singing groups for example into the studio, to record them and then replay the tape at a later time. The station also has a portable cassette recorder which the announcers can take "on location" to record interviews and meetings.
There are no funds available from local sources. The community, as well as private businesses, are charged whenever they lodge their announcements. Announcements could be on-air every session each morning, afternoon or lunch, and evening programme.
Funding for the building, the equipment, the training and for technical support was provided by the water project (KWASP). Nonetheless, considering that by 2002 the project will end, the government was invited to take over Kiritimati Radio and is currently funding two salaries of announcer/presenters.
Telecom Services Kiribati Limited (TSKL), the Government authority which manages communication systems on the island, and is also the licensing authority, was very supportive of the efforts to establish the radio station. Since TSKL is the organisation that has and will continue to provide local technical support in the event of breakdowns, technicians from TSKL participated in some basic "first-line" maintenance training.
Kiribati comprises 3 groups of islands Gilberts, Phoenix and Line islands; formerly under British rule; it became a republic in 1979. The people of Kiribati are Gilbertese of Micronesian decent; their local language is known as Gilbertese.
Christmas Island is the largest island and has the largest population (about 4,000) in the Line group although there are people living on the other islands. Captain Cook discovered the island on Christmas Eve 1777 and so he named it. Nonetheless, the local name for Christmas Island is Kiritimati and all the locals refer to it as Kiritimati. The island is the largest coral atoll in the world, and it is virtually flat. The British had military bases in the 1950s and 1960s while they conducted atomic tests. There is still some evidence of their presence in the form of military hardware dumps and deserted airfields.
The island is a long distance from the next nearest country with radio services. Hawaii has a number of radio stations, mostly for local consumption, but 3 kilometres is too far to transmit to Christmas Island except under rare atmospheric conditions.
The establishment of a radio station in Kiritimati was only a small part in a larger water project, known as Kiribati Water Supply & Sanitation Project (KWASP), funded through Australia's International Aid Agency (AusAID). The addition of the community FM radio station into the project was an initiative inspired by the KWASP contractor's project director from the Overseas Projects Corporation of Victoria (OPCV). A requirement of the project is to educate the local people in health and hygiene throughout the five-year life cycle of the project. Since there were no media on the island (no newspaper and no radio), the project director came up with the idea of adding a small radio station into the project as the "vehicle" for the educative role in the project.
Ron Ehrke, a consultant and radio specialist, was called in to put the radio project together: "As my designs and plans began to unfold, these plans were passed on to the local government representatives for information and comment but I never received any advice to make changes or include anything extra, based on local input".
The presence of a community radio station, even if it is not highly participatory, has an immediate impact on the population; especially on an island like Kiritimati, where no other media existed before. Small stations such as Kiritimati Radio usually start airing music for most of the day: this already has had an impact on cultural identity and community pride. The next step, closely associated with music programming, is to make announcements and dedications, which contribute to the strengthening of the local social networks. When the station grows in experience and skills, local production of health-or education-related programmes start. These programmes help by disseminating information on important issues that affect the community.
In Kiritimati, for the first time, the local population has access to primary health messages, stool specimen tests by the microbiologist, well-water results, songs on environmental practices, home gardening for better diet, recipes on cooking vegetables, and general cleanliness. Kiritimati Radio is a useful tool for the education and social awareness of the community of Christmas Island.
"This radio station has instilled a lot of soul and fun into the island life now", says an observer who has visited the island many times.
Christmas Island radio announcers speak in the local language, Gilbertese. One very interesting aspect is that they are all women. Three local women manage and operate the radio station. One of them is an older person who had had a number of years of radio experience in Tarawa before moving to Christmas Island.
Linnix Government representatives selected the women from a small field of applicants. All three had to resign from their paying jobs in order to train for their new career in radio. The women began as volunteers with no guarantee that they would be selected after their training was complete. Fortunately all three women were quite outstanding and after only eight days of intensive operational training, they were able to run on-air programmes. After a few months of operation, Linnix decided to pay them.
Only a handful of radio receivers were available on the island, because of the nonexistence of a radio station prior to Kiritimati Radio In order to counter this problem, portable units running on solar or dynamo power (wind-up radios) were bought in bulk and then sold locally at US$26.
All radio stations, even low-powered community stations need to have a license to operate, approved by appropriate government authorities. This might be normal in every country with a radio history, but not in Kiribati. Moreover, the government authority had agreed that no license was required. However, the proposed site was in close proximity to the Telecom authority's building, which included sensitive satellite equipment. When basic radio building site preparations were about to start, the local Telecom Manager said that the station had to have a license to operate, but they would not approve a license for a radio station to be built on that particular site Telecom was concerned about possible interference with its sensitive equipment. All parties agreed to a new site, one on the edge of London town, all in a matter of four weeks a very quick resolution to the problem and perhaps indicative of how things can happen in a place like Kiritimati.
In the near future Kiritimati Radio may not become a communication experience with a strong component of community participation in decisions concerning content, management and ownership. Access is guaranteed, but not full participation in decision-making.
By the end of 1999 the Ministry of Line and the Phoenix group of islands took over the station; two announcers are paid under the Government Recurrent Budget while a third announcer, the account clerk and the night watchman are paid from the proceeds from Kiritimati Radio The Senior Radio Announcer is responsible for the content and format for the programmes, but she must consult the Ministry on any new additional programming to go on-the-air.
This chapter is entirely based on information, e-mails and papers written by Ron Ehrke.
Ron Ehrke. "Radio comes to Christmas Island". Pacific Magazine March/April 1999, Volume 24, No.2, issue 134.
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