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Hundreds of people have benefited from the Winston
Churchill Memorial Trust since it was created after his death in
1965.
It offers people the opportunity of
funding to travel and see the world, at the same time as doing something
to further your career or enhance a personal interest.
Social Action producer Anita Miah diaries her journey
to discover more about public service and
community radio in the USA and Canada.
Saturday 24 April
It has been a busy few days at the National Federation
of Community Broadcasters' Conference meeting volunteers and staff
from public and community radio stations all around the USA.
I'm learning a lot about how it all fits together
here. Lots of interesting stories, including the community radio
station in Hawaii that counts its weekly tropical gardening phone
as its most popular programme!
However, I have met people who say that their stations
do struggle to get finances. The downside of relying on listener
pledges and companies to underwrite your station is that less wealthy
areas or smaller stations may have problems.
Unlike the 91Èȱ¬, you can't guarantee that you will
switch on the radio and guarantee a level of service around the
country.
The positive side of this is that local public
and community radio in the USA is more diverse, you never know what
you are going to get when you switch on the dial. Plus there is
a lot of creativity and enthusiasm amongst the people working in
the stations.
Aside from work, I had two strange experiences
today. Firstly, despite being thousands of miles away from home,
I met a radio producer who had just spent a lot of time in Watton
of all places!
Secondly, I met a girl called from Chicago Public
Radio who had studied at the University of East Anglia.
She has worked for the cult public radio show This
American Life and is a producer and assistant with the Third Coast
International Audio Festival.
Native American dancers at the annual Gathering
of Nations |
We went out this evening to a Gathering of Nations
event held at the basketball stadium at the University of New Mexico.
This is a major folk festival for Native American
culture that is held annually and attracts tens of thousands of
people.
Other 3000 Native American dancers from 500 tribes
took part in the celebrations. It was spectacular!
Tuesday 20 April
Today was my first work meeting. I went to the
University of New Mexico to visit the radio station KUNM 89.9 FM.
This is a community pubic radio station run with
the help of 150 volunteers and students from the University. It
runs networked National Public Radio programmes like Morning Edition
and All Things Considered that are distributed to all paying public
stations around the USA.
In addition, KUNM produces the majority of its
programmes locally. Programme director Marcos Martinez told me that
over half of their annual budget comes from people volunteering
to give donations to keep the station on-air.
The station has 90,000 listeners each week and
finances are stable. The station has strong connections with its
Native American and Hispanic audiences. The music policy is eclectic
and reflects this diversity.
Highlights on-air included the Native American
news updates and a programme called Top Stories. As the announcer
put it, 'if your life was a newscast, what would the top story be?'
What followed were candid stories from people talking
about what is happening in their lives, surprisingly captivating.
So, this seemed like a pretty positive start to public radio in
the USA. It seemed to work really well. However, I had a feeling
that other stations might have a different story to tell.
Monday 19 April
Tourist moment for Anita in Albuquerque |
My first day in the States was spent visiting the
Old Town area of Albuquerque. The town has strong Spanish and Native
American connections and you can see the links to its past all around
you.
Mexican restaurants are everywhere and the architecture
reflects the indigenous population. Wandering around Old Town I
saw Native American jewellery and gifts being sold on the street.
The San Felipe de Neri Church sits in the middle
of the Old Town plaza and is beautiful. A great first stop in the
States.
Sunday 18th April
I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico at 2.30am.
I left Norwich International Airport at 1.30pm the previous day,
so my journey door-to-door was about 24 hours.
When someone told me that it was going to be a
long trip, I didn't realize just how long! I flew in via Amsterdam
and Minneapolis. This included a turbulent descent into Minneapolis
airport in the middle of a thunderstorm.
My first experience of New Mexico was the Sunport
Airport at an unearthly hour of the morning. Very tired, I went
straight to my hotel in a yellow taxicab and went to bed!
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