Just watched a heartening segment on the PBS program Now showing a community radio station in a Nairobi slum. What an inspiration these 20-somethings were, pushing back against the authorities and giving their neighborhood a voice. They called what they do ‘edutainment’, clearly not knowing the ironic subtext that term has in ed tech circles.
Coincidentally, yesterday one of my regular Google searches brought a surprise to my screen. My little town in Sierra Leone, Bonthe, now has a community radio station! Radio Bontico is a low power FM station, so the only way I’ll ever get to hear it is to go there. More and more often, I think about actually doing that. Such a difference from when I lived and taught there when there were no AM or FM or TV stations. In the morning and evening, the state-owned Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation would do the news, and the rest of the day we could only hear the BBC and the Voica of America Africa service. Nothing much local grown. Like podcasting, this is a great counterbalance against a world increasingly taken over by News Corp and Clear Channel. I wish I had the tech skills to help people do things like this.