October, as reported yesterday during the DVB ethnic groups’ program’s online meeting.
“Because there are more and more magazine and journals [being distributed] in the country, the audience [listening through] short wave radio has become [much] fewer. We broadcast the news [at] 6 o’clock in the morning and 9 o’clock in the evening, but because we broadcast at [those] times, the audience has taken up more and more newspapers and journals to read, instead of waiting for us,” said DVB editor U Khin Maung Soe.
According to a US-based group, which collects data regarding the audience of short wave radio-listeners in Burma, the DVB’s short wave radio programs only attract a 2% audience; out of four Burmese radio stations broadcasting in exile, DVB’s short wave radio has the smallest audience.
Due to such small audience numbers, DVB donors have suggested that the organization stop broadcasting radio programs, and produce TV media programs instead. However, changes from radio to TV broadcasting may pose challenges and difficulties for those in charge of the DVB’s ethnic groups’ program broadcasting.
“Although at the previous meeting it was mentioned that TV training would be conducted, and assistance for any necessary technical [training] would be provided, [nothing has] been implemented yet. And now, within 1-2 months, it has changed immediately for us, [and] we did not get time to prepare,” said the director of the Karenni ethnic program.
During yesterday’s online meeting, directors of the DVB’s ethnic groups’ program broadcasts discussed common difficulties faced in producing a TV broadcast. Due to the fact that the directors live on the Thai/Burmese border, they have found it difficult to obtain raw materials, such as footage and recordings; they also discussed the need for video-editing devices and materials, as well as technical IT knowledge.
The DVB’s current ethnic language radio program is broadcasted in a rotation of Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, Mon, Rahkine, and Shan languages.
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) launched the DVB Burmese Program from Oslo, Norway, which airs news directly from Norway, while the DVB ethnic language program was founded by ethnic armed groups on July 19, 1993 in the Karen Nation Union’s former Marnepalaw Headquarters.
