Press ReleasesPopular Post-Tsunami Radio Show Signs Off in Aceh, Indonesia
(September 25, 2006) On September 8, after 364 programs, the groundbreaking Peuneugah Aceh (News from Aceh) radio program went on air for the last time. In an emotional final week of programs, the production team featured the comments of a broad range of Acehnese who expressed regret that the program had to end. “I often listen at 10 AM and 5 PM. My favorites are news on tsunami and conflict victims, and news about peace,” said a listener from Blang Mangat in North Aceh. “The Aceh people need information. If Peuneugah Aceh is ended, from where will people get the good news?” This emergency radio service started broadcasting on March 7, 2005, a little over two months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami of December 2004. The daily program was produced by a team of Acehnese journalists in a production studio Internews built in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. Using satellite technology provided by First Voice International (FVI) Satellite Network Services, Peuneugah Aceh was transmitted via satellite and rebroadcast by more than 30 radio stations throughout Aceh. The program was also broadcast directly to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps throughout Aceh. The estimated daily audience for the program was one million listeners. Internews launched Peuneugah Aceh to fill the information gap while assisting the local media to get back on track after losing staff members to the tsunami. These broadcasters also lost equipment and buildings in the disaster. While local stations improved their coverage of the massive reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts over time, the popularity of Peuneugah Aceh grew, and the show was extended several times due to popular demand from listeners, government and aid agencies, and the radio station owners and managers throughout the province who aired the show during their prime listening hours. Although funding to Internews for the program has ended, all is not lost for the many fans of Peuneugah Aceh. Internews is now identifying a local Acehnese NGO to take over the Peuneugah Aceh production studio, with the goal of having a long-term provider of quality radio programming. This news service is especially important as Aceh approaches historic elections in which members of the Free Aceh Movement will be able to run for office for the first time. Production of Peuneugah Aceh was part of Internews' post-tsunami reconstruction work in Aceh, made possible by grants from the US Agency for International Development, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the British Department for International Development, and the Dutch NGO Hivos. Listen to an excerpt of the one-year tsunami commemoration broadcast of Peuneugah Aceh. View a map of Aceh with the locations of the Peuneugah Aceh broadcast partners. Learn more about Internews' work with media after the tsunami and other disasters. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Wayne Sharpe, Internews Indonesia Country Director |
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