Working in a radio

This week, my radio is celebrating its seventh anniversary through a festival tagged “Information belongs to All” (Informasi Milik Semua). We are holding series of discussions, movie screenings at TUK, book launching, musical gigs, etc. Asia Calling also participated at the opening ceremony. We conducted a special “Asia Calling Quiz” with various prizes, such as exclusive Asia Calling T-shirts (which I printed on Mal Ambassador self-made product kiosk the night before), a golden globe (pretended as a winning trophy) and candies to give away. Rebecca and I were hosting the show, while 68H’s crew and the audience participated (Uh, I looked fat in this picture…)

I never thought to work in a radio before.
I always want to be a print journalist. But those print media outlets never call me back to have an interview or else, not as fast as a broadcast station who hired me in a first place. I ended up working in a TV and now, in a radio station. My boyfriend said, “It’s because your speaking is more convincing than your writings.”  Ugh…
Many people don't consider radio as a news media. Back in Soeharto era, all radio stations in Indonesia had to relay news programs from government-owned radio station, RRI. They were not allowed to produce their own news packages. But after 1998, the access of information opened and radio can produce news reports. My radio, KBR 68H was formed in 1999 as a part of the Institute for Studies on Free Flow of Information or ISAI, a non governmental organization who work to establish the access of information in Indonesia. I do feel proud to be part of my radio history.   
But honestly, I never listen much to a radio (except my own radio show at present.. hehehe). I’m not a radio fan or an ‘audio person’. I always get distracted if I have to do something in a room with music flows in it. In high schools, I only listened to Prambors simply because many students in my schools were listening to it. The station had a popular “Tenda Mangkal Prambors”, a monthly off-air event filled with band performances and various attractions.
Living in cities like Jakarta or Bandung, I can fulfill the needs of information from TV, newspapers, magazines and internet -not merely from radio. But that’s not the case in remote places such as Bintuni and Manokwari in Irian Jaya Barat; or Tual and Masohi in Maluku. Those are the locations of KBR 68H radio branches in far-off areas. There, radio becomes a powerful tool to disseminate information because of its availability and inexpensive device. People can buy a transistor radio as low as Rp. 10.000. Radio broadcast can also penetrate illiterate communities -something that can’t be done by print media.
In Bintuni, a multinational energy company, BP, will start operating its natural gas fields next year. In return, government will receive 6,2 billion US dollar for the next 20 years. At the local level, an isolated place like Bintuni suddenly has to deal with international project which cost millions of dollar. Usually, in an immense mining project like that, many problems will sensitively occur, especially if they’re not well managed. Media is critically needed there as a medium to handle potential problems such as social discrepancy, land rows, human rights issues, etc. It simply works to provide public room for people to communicate and solve the problems by their own. 
Sure, working in service sectors such as media can’t give you concrete results in terms of public education. It takes several years, decades or (perhaps) centuries to see the changes. But, hey, a thousand mile journey has to start with a step, right? :)
Frankly, I’m preparing to change my line of work in the near future, but somehow I feel that what I’ve been looking for is right in front of my nose.