News

Darfur radio on the air

In print | February 14, 2008

Now just entering its fourth semester, the Darfur Radio Project is solidifying itself as an organization and getting ready to reach out to a greater audience. The project, funded by the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility and a Project Pericles Fund grant, was founded by Sarah Manion ’07 in Fall 2006.

As a comparatively young initiative, DRP remains relatively unknown at Swarthmore, let alone among the wider public.

Since its founding, DRP has focused on creating a firm base and producing consistent, quality shows, rather than on advertising. So far, this method has been fruitful.

“We’ve been trying to regularize our production process in terms of making sure we have enough pieces for every show and making sure we have someone who’s a set producer for each show, and we’ve solidified all of the members’ skill levels in terms of radio production and how to produce a piece from start to finish,” DRP member Chelsea Davis ’10 said.

“Everyone with us now who was with us last semester pretty much has produced a piece from start to finish,” she said.

“Every piece is a collaborative process and everyone reads each other’s scripts and gives everyone feedback, so you’re never really alone during your piece,” DRP member Bettina Tam ’10 said.

Without a resident journalist like Ayub Nuri of War News Radio, whose contacts prove instrumental to the show, one may expect DRP to have a dearth of contacts.

However, much like their peers at War News Radio, members of Darfur Radio Project have become adept at finding sources online, through phone books, social networking sites and the internet phone service “Skype.”

When responses to interviews are in Arabic, Nabta Idries ’10, who is not involved in the actual production of the show but has lived in Sudan, helps translate pieces into English.

In addition, DRP keeps in contact with SwatStand and receives audio pieces from conferences from it Members of DRP have also been in touch with the active Sudanese community in Philadelphia.

“The most recent piece I did was on the elections that are coming up … theoretically in July of 2009 in Sudan, and a couple of the other [DRP] members and I went to a talk in Philly by some members of a local Sudanese community who were talking about the election. It sounded like they were really jazzed about it, and this was really important to them,” Davis said.

Members of that community have also provided feedback through e-mail to DRP.

“We’re trying to … more consciously link ourselves with the activist community, not as activists but as a source of information for activists, or inspiration,” said Jessica Engebretson ’09, a senior member of DRP and its primary producer.

Engebretson, whose experience and skills from her WNR experience have been invaluable for DRP, oversees the production of all of the shows. In order to ensure the continued strength of the organization, Engebretson is teaching other members how to produce shows.

With nine staff members, DRP is solid yet small. However, by now, members of DRP feel prepared to recruit new members, particularly because almost half the current staff plans to go abroad next semester. “We’re going to be starting a publicity campaign, hopefully sending some … announcements about ourselves,” Davis said.

Another DRP goal is to expand radio carriage and the group’s listenership. On Jan. 11, DRP began to make its radio shows available on Public Radio Exchange (PRX). So far, two radio stations have licensed the show through PRX.

This month, DRP plans to contact more radio stations and enter into contract agreements. According to Chelsea Davis, DRP, which currently has a podcast on WRSN, hopes to expand to the iTunes Store.

“Long term, ultimately, our big sky-high goal is to change the way that coverage of this topic, of this conflict and I guess of conflicts in general, African conflicts, is presented, though that’s a fairly hefty goal. We would like to gain more publicity for ourselves in terms of the radio world, which is something we hope to do through PRX,” Davis said.

DRP produces one new show every month, which is broadcasted weekly on WRSN.

Since its founding, DRP has produced four shows: “Dual Identities,” “Four Corners,” “Dialogue and Discourse” and “Far From Home.”

The shows are accessible through the group’s new Web site, www.darfurradioproject.org. Apart from the website, advances DRP has made include procuring a new computer and an external hard drive, both of which can be found in Lodge 6, where both DRP and WNR convene.