RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

itself. Moreover , although announcers are trained to be clear and fluid in presentation , they are trained not to sound slick anđ polished, but rather to maintain a natural, local diction . And the languages broadcast are those of the audience : duichua in Ecuador , Mapuche in Chile , and Guaymi in Panama . But the community's sense of ownership goes beyond the sound of the station's announcers . Of equal importance is the subject matter ; if an agricultural program is being presented , for example, it addresses the necessities of farmers in the audience rather than some need perceived in the capital ог in a foreign land . One very popular series of agricultural programs in Ecuador consists of interviews anđ panel discussions where farmers in various communities present their concerns and desires : these are recorded and played for government personnel, other farmers' and specialists' responses . Finally , the farmers' comments and those of the experts are mlxed together to form integrated programs , on, say livestock care or the treatment of corn against pests . Besiđes radio staff going to the field , members of the community at large - thousands every уеаг - come to the radio offices : to share inf ormation, to send greetings over the air , to announce something of importance to themselves or others , or simply to visit the staff and the facilities , often staying for several hours at "their" station. They are met by persons who could well be their neighbors : residents of the area conversant in the native languages and knowledgeable in the cultures representeđ in their auđience . Around the worlđ , these cultural-spiritual-educational stations are setting new standards for community radio . PARTICIPATORY HEDIA (II ) - VILLAGE RADIO "A primary goal should be to improve the local production capability and service . . .startling innovations are needed to inject localness into the communication process and to scale down the media from mass systems to people-sized and small-community-sized media" . (Eduardo_Contreras, et al, Cross -Cultural Broadcasting , UNESCO , Pans 1976). A natural outcome of the trend toward more participatory međia is viilage radio , a self-contained , епегду -mđependent broadcast system which can be carned mto a remote community and placed on the air m the span of a day or two . A baselme village radio system has been developed by The Vanguard Trust, a non-profit corporation dedicateđ to research activities for the betterment of the human condition. A complete 3-watt AM

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