“OWNING” RADIO a Case Study of KAKAMMPI's Radio Experience
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Review of Women’s Studies 20 (1-2): 131-148 WOMEN “OWNING” RADIO A Case Study of KAKAMMPI’s Radio Experience Jean Francis Barcena Abstract This article aims to document the radio experience of KAKAMMPI, both as part of a commercial radio organization and as an independent media source or body, in tackling women’s issues by focusing on the radio program, Babaeng Migrante, May Kakampi Ka; identify the elements of success as well as challenges in using radio as medium to air women’s issues; analyze KAKAMMPI’s use of the concept of “voice” in its media work; and, provide recommendations for KAKAMMPI that may be helpful in further improving its media work. ccording to Feminist International Radio Endeavor (FIRE), A which began as a shortwave radio program in Costa Rica in 1991, now also broadcast live over the internet, radio is the women’s medium because it gives space to women’s voices. Citing studies from the Latin American magazine Dialogue for Communications, women feel that “radio listens to them”, making it a “space that women have owned intuitively” (Collective Journeys 1999). FIRE adds that media, particularly radio, have the capacity to assign power, give equal opportunities to and include women. Radio is also an experimental site which has allowed women to organize others to lobby for policy reforms in Costa Rica and beyond. FIRE has integrated the gender perspective in its daily on-air discussions of relevant issues and has aired live broadcasts of women’s conferences like the U.N. Human Rights Conference in Vienna in 1993, the U.N. Population and Development Conference in Cairo in 1994 and the U.N. Social Development Summit in 1995. One of its significant gains was in 1994 when it interviewed and dialogued with the U.N. conference participants regarding women’s reproductive rights, and presented ©2010 UP Center for Women’s Studies, University of the Philippines ISSN 0117-9489 Barcena 132 itself as an alternative source of information to the commercial media present that time. As a result, the education and empowerment of women and girl children were included as major policies of the conference’s Plan of Action (FIRE 2009; Suarez Toro 1996). FIRE has appreciated radio, among its other advocacy tools, as “giving voice to the voiceless.” There have been several strategies in the past that women have used to gain voice and give it to others, one of which has been through women’s radio. ‘Women’s radio’ refers to both the establishment of stations ran by women, and the women’s groups’ use of mainstream formats and programming to address “a distinctive sector of the audience with particular interest and needs for whom a particular style of address and communicative format were needed to produce a feminized discourse by women for women” (Scannell 1994 as quoted by Mitchell 2002). Birgitte Jallov in Women on the Air: Community Radio as a Tool for Feminist Messages (Jallov 1996, 201-210) recognized that there was difficulty in gaining access to national broadcasting companies to change perceptions about women. Because of this, European feminists have decided that developing their own communication channels or producing women’s radio would enable them to reach out to all women and inform them of issues that concerned them. According to Jallov, those who ran the radio programs generally attempted to “organize experiences of individual women into a collective unit of experience.” Articulating the stories of the women facilitated a collective understanding of their situations which could lead to them to choice and then, to action. Jallov, in her study of women’s radio stations from France, Holland, Great Britain, Norway and Denmark that were operational in 1980s (given that these types of stations come and go depending on the need) concluded that the use of community radio was effective in providing opportunities for women to speak out. However, these women’s radio stations struggled to stay on-air because of change in government policies regarding community or alternative radio, financial problems and personnel burnout due to assumption of multiple tasks. It was also a debate whether a structure within the radio station or the lack of it was helpful. Jallov posed the challenge to women’s radio groups to keep their standards high so as to reach a wider audience and at the same time, be grounded in their mission to get across relevant and significant messages about women and the women’s movement. 133 Women “Owning” Radio To have higher visibility through the media, several feminists proposed steps for the women media practitioners to take. Mileva Ross, Helen Baehr and Michele Ryan recommended more training for female employees in different sectors of radio. Anne Karpf suggested the production of a broader range of programs that tell ‘truths’ of women’s lives, specifically, giving feminist-influenced programs fair opportunities to be heard. She was particularly against daytime radio programs that were tailored for women listeners and dominated by male presenters, where men, in effect, defined women’s space. She pushed for women creating their own stations and actively putting women’s say into the mainstream programming agenda of commercial radio stations (Mitchell 2002). In the Philippines, one of the organizations that found access through mainstream means so that women’s causes will be heard is KAKAMMPI. Kapisanan ng mga Kamag-anak ng Migranteng Manggagawang Pilipino or KAKAMMPI is an organization of overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs), migrant returnees and their families that aims to protect their rights and welfare and effectively respond to the problems of labor migration of the country. Among its integrated family development program intended to facilitate empowerment are building child learning and development centers, that is, support shelters for single mothers and abandoned wives of OFWs and alternative childcare shelter for their children, a family wellness program, and a gender responsive program. The last focuses on addressing issues of reproductive health and women’s rights. For seven years, from 2000 to 2007, KAKAMMPI has successfully penetrated commercial airwaves through its three weekly radio programs, Babaeng Migrante, May Kakampi Ka on Radio Veritas, Kalinga sa Iyong Pag- Alis at Pagbalik on Radyo ng Bayan, and Kakampi ng OFW aired on short wave by Radyo Pilipinas. Although all these programs touched on gender, the first one particularly covered issues on reproductive health and was intentionally formatted to address women’s issues. It has received citations from organizations such as the AIDS Media Awards (AMA). Among the subjects that KAKAMMPI has discussed in these radio programs were family planning, gender justice in international criminal courts, cervical cancer, violence against women (VAW), sex trafficking and HIV/AIDS. The organization has formed chapters in Metro Manila, Rizal, Pampanga, Benguet, Zambales, Pangasinan, Bataan, Ifugao, Bicol, Cagayan, Tarlac, Tacloban, Iloilo, Cebu and Zamboanga, some through actual or Barcena 134 hands-on community organizing and, interestingly, some were through the help of the radio programs. Listening to KAKAMMPI’s Story This article aims to document the radio experience of KAKAMMPI, both as part of a commercial radio organization and as an independent media source or body, in tackling women’s issues; identify the elements of success as well as challenges in using radio as medium to air women’s issues; analyze KAKAMMPI’s use of the concept of “voice” in its media work; and, provide recommendations for KAKAMMPI that may be helpful in further improving its media work. For the purposes of limiting the study to how women’s concerns are gaining media access, it only focuses on the radio program, Babaeng Migrante, May Kakampi Ka. It also documents KAKAMMPI’s alternative media initiatives for the women after the said program went off air in the middle of 2007. It assumes KAKAMMPI’s point of view because of time constraints although she hoped she could have dealt with KAKAMMPI’s radio partners in greater length. Being able to document this pioneering and innovative experience will hopefully allow other women’s groups to explore their media options and consequently, open doors to their causes. This hopes to encourage visibility of women and their voices on issues through popular media, thus, widening the discourse on women in our society. What follows is a case study which uses purposive sampling, singling out KAKAMMPI as its subject as well as its main source of information. The case of KAKAMMPI is a critical case since its story is integral to the general problem, that is, women’s groups’ access to media. Focus interviews with KAKAMMPI staff were done as well as a general review of pertinent documents such as project report, KAKAMMPI’s brochure, sample radio program scripts, website and YouTube comments. Website research was done to verify some of the data that were gathered by the researcher. Women’s Medium, Women’s Ally History Babaeng Migrante, May Kakampi Ka was launched on the Human Rights Day of 2000 on DWIZ 882 Khz. It was a one-hour weekly show with 135 Women “Owning” Radio a magazine-talk format. It included the following segments: a news segment on OFWs; “Rights Mo, Rights Ko”, a discussion of migrant workers’ rights; “Trabaho Patrol”, job postings on-air; “Mission: Impossible”, segment on paralegal counseling and assistance where callers were welcome to consult; “Chikahang Buhay”, interview with resource persons from government and non-government agencies, covering issues of women, health and rights (“Kababaihan, Kalusugan at Karapatan”). The radio program later moved from DWIZ to DZRM Radyo Magasin in 2004. From 2005 to 2006, the same program also aired on a different timeslot on DZRV Radio Veritas 846. Wanting to find their own voice and airing it on their own terms, KAKAMMPI members decided in August of 2007 that it was time to explore other options other than commercial radio.