Monday, October 30, 2006
Amman Airwaves #2
Jim Ellinger points the way
to...
AMARC9, in
Amman, Jordan!
The North American Delegation
(partial list)
One of the reasons I am excited about this AMARC conference is the great North American Delegation that will be in attendance this year. These are some of the finest, hardest-working, dedicated practioners of community radio on this, or any other, continent!
Meet the North American AMARC delegates!
We've got a very interesting and diverse group coming to represent North
America. Here are our amazing delegates in no particular order:
Andrew Stelzer and Jackson Allers will represent Free Speech Radio News, the only daily half-hour progressive radio newscast in the US. Andrew has taught numerous training workshops in places like Bolivia, Mexico, and post-Katrina New Orleans. Jackson served as the Chief of Radio for the United Nations mission in Kosovo, and in July and August of this year he reported extensively on the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon. He is based in Beirut.
Norman Stockwell, representing WORT-FM, has worked with community radioaround the world, and has worked on solidarity projects in El Salvador, Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, and China (among others).
Pete Tridish, co-founder of Prometheus Radio Project, has worked for years to improve community radio in the US, battling the FCC and building countless low-power FM stations. Pete has lead radio trainings in numerous countries, including Guatemala, Venezuela, Nepal and Tanzania!
Ahlam Mutahseb is an associate professor of media and communication studies at California State University, San Bernadino. Ahlam also works with Alternate Focus TV, which attempts to provide a more balanced narrative of the Middle East.
Debbi Winsten has 17 years experience empowering citizen voices in the United States, Asia and Africa. She collaborates with diverse cultures on community radio and outreach using participatory, literacy optional tools or sustainable development. Debbi helped Liberians mobilize 25 community radio stations before the 2005 elections, and recently established local broadcasts in Cameroon's North West Province.
Laura Newman is a graduate student at the University of Ohio-Athens, currently studying communication for development practice and theory, with a focus on community media (specifically radio). She has volunteered at WORT-FM and WOUB, and will travel to South Africa this summer to research the effects of radio there.
Sheila Katzman works with the Women's International News Gathering Service (WINGS), [recently uncerimoniously dumped from KOOP Radio jre] and FemVue Radio. The former produces radio programs by and about women around the world, and the latter works as a Peace radio consultancy, training community broadcasters in Africa. Programs run>internationally, and deal with countless women and gender issues (including human rights, and sexual reproductive health), political and>social issues, and efforts to improve access to community radio.
Eduardo DeLanderos-Tierre works with KBOO in Portland, Oregon, broadcasting bilingually to the surrounding community. He has corresponded and worked with radio activists across the world, and hosts a weekly, art-focused show.
Elizabeth DiNovella has volunteered with WORT-FM in Wisconsin for the past 10 years, and works as the Culture Editor for the Progressive Magazine. She also produces Progressive Radio, which airs on 30 stations weekly.
Mansoor Sabbagh is a cofounder and codirector of Global Voices for Justice. The organization produces and broadcasts radio programs for community and public radio across the US, shedding light on important social, political, cultural, historical, and educational issues.
Kristin Shamas is a doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma. She also works extensively with OURMedia, an emerging global network attempting to facilitate a dialogue between academics, activists, practitioners and policy experts around citizens' media initiatives.
Dov Hirsch will represent KGNU, a pioneer in community radio, broadcasting out of Boulder, Colorado. In his capacity as an Adult Mentor in the Youth Radio Program, Dov trains local adolescents and teens in all aspects of radio journalism, from writing to audio editing, to field recording. Mr. Hirsch has a Masters degree in Media Studies, conducting research on how democracy occurs through media.
Former Chief of UnitedNations Peacekeeping Radio in sub-sahara Africa and Chief of Public Information for the UN Peace Mission in Sierra Leone. Prior to that, I was a producer/host at WBAI/Pacifica Radio.
Frieda Werden is the co-founder and current producer of the syndicated program WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service, which has been an AMARC member since 1986 and showcases productions by women from many countries. She also works as Spoken Word Coordinator for CJSF-FM, the campus-community radio station at Simon Fraser University. Originally from the US, she immigrated to Canada in 2002. She serves as Vice President of AMARC from North America. At age 59, she has been active in community radio for 33 years.
Kate Coyer is a long-time radio producer and media activist. She recently completed her PhD and is currently a post doctoral research fellow with the Project for Global Communication Study at the Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania where she is looking at community broadcasting in Central and Eastern Europe. She also volunteers with Prometheus to help people make their own radio programs and build their own community radio stations.
Danila Apasov works with the Prometheus Radio Project, and is taking care of logistics for the conference. She is very busy.
And last but not least, Jim Ellinger is widely known for his years of community media work, including most recently "What It Feels Like to Be Run Over By the FEMA PR Machine;" the battle to provide radio services to the thousands of Katrina evacuees in the Houston Astrodome. He has previously served as PR Director of Austin Community Television, Communications Director of the Austin Music Network, Membership/PR Director of Wheatsville Food Co-op, Founder of KOOP Radio, [even tho' they now deny it! jre] Producer/Host of "Austin Airwaves" and radio columnist for the Austin Chronicle.
Since 9/11, [and since being screwed over by koop jre] Ellinger has focused his efforts outside of North America. He has visited more than 75 cities in 25 countries on various media gigs. He has produced radio theatre in Mozambique for the benefit on non-literate farmers, done radio surveys in the jungle of the Darien Gap of Panama and froze his butt off in Siberia helping a local radio/TV group. He assisted Petri and Co. in putting an LPFM on the air on the roof of the Yak & Yeti Hotel in Katmandu for AMARC8. This will be Ellinger's 8th AMARC conference, making him arguably the longest-running AMARC member.
Following AMARC, Ellinger and his partner "The World's Most Dangerous Blonde," will be traveling through much of the Middle East, looking for co-ops, no doubt...
