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Unheard voice: Vidyawani, Pune University’s community radio……….SiddharthKelkar Pune
Voice of Vidyawani, the community radio of the University of Pune, is feeling stifled, courtesy apathy of the Communication Studies Department, which runs the radio station. Although the service is supposed to be heard in a 10-km radius of the university, the fact is that it cannot be heard even within a 2-km distance. As a result, students show little interest in participating in its programmes. Vidyawani was started three years ago with a view to broadcasting student-friendly programmes which would not only entertain but educate. “We broadcast programmes like interviews of department heads, student achievers, information regarding research work, new developments and the reporting of events in the campus. Besides that we have a slot for non-teaching staff to perform their art,” said Anand Deshmukh, director of Vidyawani. Presently, the radio broadcasts the programmes in three schedules of two-and-half hours each. However, all the programmes in the morning schedule are repeated in afternoon and evening schedules. And only 30 per cent programmes are new. As the students are not interested in participating in programmes, the number of new programmes has tremendously come down. “I have been personally going to the colleges and talking to the students to take part in programmes. But so far the response is not satisfactory,” said Deshmukh. “The radio cannot be heard in most of the affiliated colleges. That may be one of the reasons, students shy away from participating in the programmes,” he said. “The radio cannot be heard even in many areas due to technical problems,” said K R Sanap, head of the Communication Studies Department. “We have a 50 watt transmitter and a 30-metre high antenna. As there are some hilly areas near the university, the radio cannot be heard there. We don’t have permission to increase the height of the antenna or increase capacity of the transmitter,” he said. According to an officer in the department, the Prasar Bharati has come up with new guidelines for the community radios, which clearly states that the radios can apply for 200-watt transmitter. “But the communication department is showing indifference towards applying for the bigger capacity,” he said. |