Young man launches radio station to help his village cope with the Covid-19 pandemic

Saidingliana Sailo is 27 year old who lives in the small village of Behliangchhip, India. When a man from his village tested positive for Covid-19, in the beginning of July 2020, the village became very agitated with the news. “When the news of him testing positive arrived, everyone in our village was suddenly alarmed anxious. The SDM reached our village, issued a set of restrictions and said we now came under red zone. Local task forces were formed and severe restrictions were imposed on public movement. We were all worried about community transmission.”, he explained.

So, he decided to do something to help ease the situation and launched a radio station to spread awareness about the disease while at the same time lifting people spirits through music and entertainment. “I thought something had to be done to help people fight this total lockdown and handle the situation. The idea of FM radio broadcasting in local language flashed in the mind”,

His radio station is called Behliangchhip Radio and it is the only operational community radio station in the state of Tripura outside its capital city. Because Sailo did not have proper radio transmission equipment or a license to broadcast, he decided to launch his radio through Youtube Live streaming. He started transmiting for two hours every evening, in the local Mizo dialect and quickly gathered an audience. With support and participation of my friends and villagers, have got over 1,000 listeners in a matter of four days and counting”, Sailo explained.

His programming already includes several different segments including ‘Biahthu’, in which people can share how they are spending time during quarantine and ‘Speech’, in which he tries to spread awareness about the importance of mental and physical health during the pandemic.

Adapted from: https://indianexpress.com/article/north-east-india/tripura/tripura-man-s...