The Impact of FM Channels in Rural Assam
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ISSN No-2031-5063 Vol.1,Issue.I/July 11pp.1-4 Research Paper The Impact of FM Channels in Rural Assam: A Case Study on Adjoining Areas of Guwahati Jayanta Vishnu Das Assistant Professor & Mayamani Talukdar Department of Cultural Studies M.A. in Cultural Studies Tezpur University, Tezpur Tezpur University Assam Abstract understanding that there was no similarity of programs and The rise of broadcasting media in different parts of its time of broadcasting. According to a survey records the the country also helped in opening up radio station in Assam, talk programs broadcast for nearly 10% of total broadcast the heartland of North-East India. It all started in Guwahati, time is listen to only by 4% of population, 22% of total in 1948, with the effort of first Chief Minister Gopinath broadcasting time take for classical music ,has 10% of Bordoloi. Since then there were quite a few radio station that listeners. It is evident that film songs having been allowed by were established in various towns and cities. But the 5.4% of total time are more popular among the listeners. beginning of the FM revolution in the country was something Therefore Indian listener turn shortwave radio sets to turn path breaking. Easy access to cheap radio receivers saw a radio Ceylon (broadcasting from neighboring Sri Lanka) and resurgence of the radio in the public domain. Instead of being to radio Goa (broadcasted from Goa, then Portuguese) in swept away by the cable revolution radio made its own rules order to enjoy Indian film music, commercials and others and survived well despite many apprehensions from entertainment programs. (2001) government quarters about its ability to sway people. From The days of the single broadcaster was rickshaws to mobiles to cars blaring out hits after hits the FM outnumbered and saw the rise of the private broadcasters revolution changed the way the urban landscape redefined its within the country. The direct fallout was the increase in media habits. FM was in the pockets of everybody. But in the demand for obtaining community broadcasting rights by mad rush of the city dwellers craze for FM there always non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and development existed the silent listeners in the blind spot. Rural audiences agencies, commonly known as Community Radio. The became the consumer of such an urban phenomenon opening up of the airwaves saw also the rise in private although based in rural areas by their existence nearer to participation in the yet virgin FM radio sector. cities. FM waves reaching out to these rural masses were The privatization of FM radio stations shows that never intended but only fallout of the geographic proximity. broadcasting is changing from government monopoly to Instead of community radios FM was what they got. The highly commercialized operation (Noronha, 1999). present study was conducted in the rural villages in the In today's society, the culture of being connected and vicinity of Guwahati. The empirical data was collected on the informed has enveloped the entire human civilization and impact of FM radio on the lives of people of these villages. has successfully created a niche for itself. It has now become Instead of receiving messages that were nearer to their social an integral part of our day-to-day life from which neither can situation they were bombarded with messages mainly meant one escape nor free itself from the impacts of these intrusions for a far more urban audience. Social reality of both the sets in our daily lives. All kinds of information, communication, of audience differs widely. But radio seems to be a great entertainment, imagination, life style come via various forms leveler of sorts in their case as it makes messages without of the media that we know today. They draw and constitute keeping this fact in mind in the present case. And the rural people's inner, private and public life, like fantasies, audiences do not seem to mind the dose of entertainment that emotions, identities, thinking, behaviors, feelings, fears, blares from their radio sets, of course with a few exceptions. desires, songs, dance, food habits, dress pattern etc. The study throws up some important findings on the Radio being a medium of the spoken word uses evolving listening habits of such people and also finds conversational, simple and direct language which can be potential means of passing socially relevant messages that easily be understood even by illiterate people. The could be useful for the targeted audience otherwise not effectiveness of radio measure from the fact that its rural accessible. program has been able to help the farmers in their Keywords: Radio, FM, Media habits, Rural media agricultural works. India lives in village and therefore radio One of the most important needs of a rural society is can be effective as an agent for development, especially in clearly development. Catering to the interests of the rural the rural areas. Rural areas do not have as many facilities for societies in a country like India needs interventions from information and education as the urban areas do. It is one of every possible field. Media has been one such important tool the advantages of radio in India that as a wireless medium it that has been used for such purposes. With the can easily accessible in rural areas where electricity is scarce. democratization of the air waves by the landmark ruling Ethnography of Listening passed by Supreme Court in 1995 broadcasting in India took Assam had its first brush with radio as early as 1948 a new turn. The colonial legacy of centralized broadcasting with the setting up of a radio station in Guwahati. and rigid programming does not make national radio Consequently several more radio stations came up in other broadcasting an effective way of communicating with the important towns of the region, including other North Eastern diverse population of India (Eapen, 1995). Singhal and states. With the government deciding on Rogers stressed on the futility of the programming of AIR: distribution of licenses for setting up of FM stations The programs of AIR consisted mostly news, music talks, saw the advent of FM which was a welcome change from the discussion, dramas etc. Indian film song and commercials monopoly of the state broadcaster. There are now four FM were considered as “low culture”. It is very difficult to station in Guwahati, Radio Ooo la la (91.9) was the first FM Golden Research Thoughts / 1 The Impact of FM Channels in Rural Assam: A Case Study on Adjoining Areas of Guwahati Vol.1,Issue.I/July 11 station in entire North-East region followed by BIG FM communication is an important development in a state where (92.7), SFM which was recently renamed as Red FM (93.5) every attempt at ethnic assertion of identity is carried out and Radio Gupshup. through language and more importantly through the various This paper analyses the advent of FM radio in the media outlets: social sphere of the lives of the people living in the areas There is a standard of Assamese language that they adjoining the cities which inadvertently receive the signals of use in All India Radio, Guwahati, but never find it in FM the FM stations. Fieldwork was done in the villages adjacent radio. (40-year-old-man) to Guwahati for a period of two weeks and data collated from People do not seem to mind the language of the RJ's a cross section of the population of ten villages. The ten as long as the programmes are comprehendible. villages included in the field research work, are from lower Assam. It includes the villages of Bagurihati, Gowalpara, Does people understand the English and Hindi languages Batsor, Baloa, Belsor, Jagara, Bishnupur of Nalbari district, that RJ's use in FM radio Sarthebari of Barpeta district, and Bahjani, Upahupara of 30 Mongoldoi district. All these villages are inhabited by people yes 25 from the Assamese community with agriculture being the t --difficult to understand English n e 20 main occupation, while some of them are also engaged in d n o p 15 s small business. The need of radio for these societies is really e r f felt. Radio forms an important part of these society, in their o 10 o N whole cycle of need for knowledge and information 5 no regarding their livelihood, government schemes, health 0 awareness and the like. Although television was taking 1 2 precedence over the radio, there are still practical problems People 's r espons e like taking the TV to work that makes the radio the preferred mode of infotainment for these people. Figure 1: Graph showing people's ability to understand The 'Spillover Effect’ language of RJ's The nature of radio programmes that are received The spread of the radio in a strange way has lot been by the people of these villages is not just a phenomenon in attributed to the penetration of mobile phones in recent times. isolation. Radio signals generally spill over to the In fact both mobile phones and FM have helped each others neighbouring areas and generally go unnoticed in most cause in a parasitic way. The lack of electricity in these parts occasions. But the nature of the audience profile may vary is a common phenomenon in every part of the state and drastically accordingly with the change in geography. mobile phones negate this problem, also bringing in other Spillovers have always been used in the case of propaganda benefits such as portability. The easy availability of cheap perpetuated by the state on a neighbouring country.