Configuration of Radio Stations and Media Centres - DaniCom & Niels Worsoe {devdakilla].pdf

UNESCO and other organisations, which support media development activities in developing
countries, receive a steady flow of requests for support to community radio and community TV
initiatives. Most of these applications do actually deserve support, but administratively it is very
cumbersome to perform reasonable assessments of the proposals and particularly the technical parts
of the applications. Radio and TV equipment develops and changes even faster than other electronic
devises, so UNESCO field staff cannot be expected to follow the technological developments in
detail.
As a consequence of the rapid development it is often necessary to call on external experts in order
to appraise even very modest project proposals, and the external fees can easily be out of all
proportion to the cost of the original proposal. Thus, this handbook represents an attempt to give
some very specific advice on which equipment to choose in different scenarios. This is not without
pitfalls because we might see the technical innovation even before this publication is out of the
print, and types, models and prices change – and they might vary significantly from one continent to
another. Or even from one country to another.
Nonetheless, we do make the specific recommendations even to the detailed level of which
particular model of microphone or speaker to choose, because this is essential information for nonexperts.
But our recommendations should not be taken too rigidly: a computer of type X can be just
as suitable as type Y if the technical specifications are similar. Thus, our recommendations should
be seen as tangible shopping lists for non-experts – but it is definitely possible to substitute the
individual parts with others if you prefer to do so.
The principle of this handbook is that it should be made easy for the community media initiatives to
get started although the initial budget might be very limited. We operate with modules, where the
basic equipment is basically identical whether it is for a small community radio or for a regional
station. Thus, upgrading is a matter of adding equipment – not substituting. In other words, it will
never be a waste of resources to start with a modest technical solution, because it can always be
expanded or upgraded.
A few words about the authors of this publication: Niels Worsoe (nielsworsoe@vip.cybercity.dk)
has a background as a production technician and hardware developer in the Danish Broadcasting
Corporation (DR), Baltic Media Centre and other broadcasting institutions. He has designed turnkey
radio stations for UNESCO, UNHCR and other international clients as well as local radios in
Denmark.
Per Oesterlund (per@oesterlund.com) worked as a radio and TV reporter and trainer for Danish
Broadcasting Corporation for almost two decades but is now partner and senior consultant in the
Media Consultancy company Danicom (www.danicom.net).