The 27th of February, 2021 was a momentous event for Radio Kotagiri 90.4 FM, the voice of Kotagiri. A Stakeholders Summit to have a face to face sharing session with listeners and contributors was organised on Keystone campus. Having turned 8 years old in February this year, the time was appropriate to have a deep engagement with listeners and contributors on the state of outreach and community involvement with programme contents. It’s not very often that listeners of the radio get to meet the people behind the mike, and for the radio team, to see their listeners in person was a cathartic moment. Are programme contents relevant or useful to the listeners? How can the radio deliver contents that people want? These were the moot points of discussion at the meeting.
Listeners of the radio came from far and wide even though there was a public transport-operators strike on the day. It was heartening to see the effort people took to reach here and make their voices heard. Such interactions show the value communities place on the 90.4 broadcasts and revealed the diversity of social groups tuning in. Radio Kotagiri wants to be in constant touch with the community, and this particular Stakeholder’s Summit was imperative as the radio needed to know how best to effectively reflect community needs in the post COVID scenario, which presents a new set of challenges to negotiate with.
The stakeholders included citizen activists, village heads, students and teachers from local colleges and schools in Kotagiri, Anganwadi workers, Civil Society organisations, Press and Journalists Associations etc. from Kotagiri and Ooty. Contributors and content creators from local communities were felicitated during the event as a token of appreciation towards their commitment to keep the voices of the community heard.
By Faisal Rehman
