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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqis Can't Get Enough Talk Radio |
| 2004-07-29 |
| [EFL] And it ain't Al Franken they're listening to. BAGHDAD, Iraq — Whenever he dared to speak of corruption on the airwaves during Saddam Hussein's regime, Majid Salim, the most famous talk show host in Iraq, would be taken out of his studio and beaten in the middle of his on-air programs. He never imagined that one day he would host a program where callers complain about the government. For two and a half hours every morning, Mr. Salim hosts his favorite program of the day: "Service Hours." Usually a couple of ministry officials are invited to the studio where they attempt to solve the problems of the callers. "Hey Norm, I gotta problem with this here anti-profiling directive..." Just three months ago Radio Dijla, or Radio Tigris, leaped onto Baghdad's airwaves. The radio station is privately owned by Ahmad Al-Rikaby, 34, an experienced journalist who was born to a wealthy Shiite family in Prague and raised in Europe. After the war, he helped the coalition set up a string of American-backed radio and television stations known as the Iraqi Media Network. But Mr. Al-Rikaby was not satisfied and left the IMN. In the 15 months since the end of the war, all the broadcast press networks were either backed by America, a political party, or a religious group. Independent media -- good idea. "I found it very difficult to explain to the staff what is talk radio," Mr. Al-Rikaby told an audience at the Birmingham Radio Festival, where he was a guest-of-honor this month. His remarks were reported in the Guardian newspaper. "I had to bring them into my room and switch on the computer to surf the Net" and make them listen to BBC talk radio shows. "I said, 'This is how talk radio sounds.'" If they can succeed taking cues from the Beeb, imagine their ratings if they'd started with Rush... |
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