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Massachusetts/Mongolia Sister Stations - Introduction

From Atlantic Public Media | Part of the Massachusetts/Mongolia Sister Station Project series | 00:10:54
Producers: Jay Allison & Viki Merrick for Atlantic Public Media and WCAI & WNAN

Credit:
The introductory piece to our Sister Station project between radio stations in Coastal Massachusetts and the Gobi Desert

This piece is not intended for other stations to air, but is here as a template for stations wanting to try something similar. Check out the introductory piece and the promos for one approach to this Sister Station concept.

Those who listen much to WCAI and WNAN know that we believe a shared story can help build community and foster neighborliness, even across the ocean, among islands. But how about across the planet, from Coastal Massachusetts to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia? Can we extend our neighborliness that far?

We wonder. And we're going to try. Partly because we believe such exchanges might have a soothing effect in a frightened world, and also because it seems like fun.

Bill Siemering, one of the founders of National Public Radio, has created Developing Radio Partners, to work with community radio stations in developing nations. Atlantic Public Media is working with Bill to pilot a Sister Station Project between WCAI-WNAN and Gobi Wave, 103.6FM in the Mongolian town of Dalanganzad in the Gobi Desert.

Gobi Wave serves about 13,000 people. They also have a speaker mounted above their door which broadcasts to the dirt street in front of their red brick building. Electricity is intermittent and supplies often travel by camel. Their budget is about $8,000 per year.

WCAI-WNAN will periodically exchange audio and email with our colleagues in Mongolia and we'll broadcast what's going on over there. Our listeners, in turn, can help us with what we send over. E-mail cainan@wgbh.org or call our listener line and ask questions, tell us what you want them to know, tell a story, sing a song. Or have your children call. The number is 508-548-9600 x 103.

Other radio stations interested in trying such a project should get in touch with us.

-Jay Allison Hide full description

This piece is not intended for other stations to air, but is here as a template for stations wanting to try something similar. Check out the introductory piece and the promos for one approach to this Sister Station concept. Those who listen much to WCAI and WNAN know that we believe a shared story can help build community and foster neighborliness, even across the ocean, among islands. But how about across the planet, from Coastal Massachusetts to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia? Can we extend our neighborliness that far? We wonder. And we're going to try. Partly because we believe such exchanges might have a soothing effect in a...
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2 Comments Atom Feed

Jen4_square

Jennifer Dunn

Posted on April 12, 2004 at 10:32 PM | Permalink

Review of Massachusetts/Mongolia Sister Stations - Introductory Piece

This piece literally gave me goose bumps at several moments- at the delight of hearing the rolling melody of a sea shanty responded to by mesmerizing Huntu (throat) singing, the clapping rhythms of sea scallops met by the yearning cries of baby camels. The Mongolian Sister Station project invites people to find poetry throughout the mundane moments of their lives, by anticipating how those moments might ring in distant foreigners’ ears for the first time. After hearing this story, I found myself walking along a path I usually only treat with the blurred perception of routine, combing through its suddenly rich audio textures for sounds that might convey a flicker of what my life here is, to someone in the Gobi. I am extremely eager to hear what people across the US and in Mongolia come up with.
The Developing Radio Partners project also represents a profound leap down the path I hope more media travels. In heated debates about globalization, the media is commonly targeted as a primary force of cultural homogenization, as both a symbol and perpetuator of tragic development discrepancies. This project serves as a tremendous example that modern technology and media can in fact build valuable forums for human exchange, empowering rather than overpowering local communities and culture. The fact that the audience is invited to participate in this effort makes it even more sincere, effective, and exhilarating. It is an inspiring concept that I hope stations across the nation somehow emulate.

1 out of 1 people found this comment helpful
Braider_square

Jackson Braider

Posted on April 12, 2004 at 05:44 AM | Permalink

Review of Massachusetts/Mongolia Sister Stations - Introductory Piece

Hard to know where to begin, but if we are ever going to escape the echo chamber of our culture, it might very well be with something like this. The baby camels kill me -- do they wag their tails (do they have tails?). Jay sets the table wonderfully here -- as per usual. College stations trading with college stations, for example. And we don't always have to go 3/4s of the way around the globe to do this (or 1/4 if you go the other way).

Stations are logical traders, but what about producer pen pals? And how do we find stations and/or producer partners elsewhere?
1 out of 1 people found this comment helpful

Broadcast History

This is first piece in our pilot project, airing on our local ATC and ME on Monday, April 12, 2004.

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