'Telephone FM' for Baghdad youth
By (Middle East Online)
Updated: 2004-07-06 09:57

The youth of Baghdad, capital of war-torn Iraq, will soon be able to tune in to a new radio programme run by and for young Iraqis focusing on their lives, hopes and leisure time, but produced in Germany.

On July 10, "Telephone FM" will begin broadcasting 90-minute programmes five afternoons each week in what its founder, Klaas Glenewinkel, claims is a first.

"In Iraq there are only two kinds of radio broadcasters," Glenewinkel said. "The mouth pieces of political or religious interests and foreign concerns like the BBC or Radio France."

Glenewinkel (L) is founder of 'Telephone FM'

He said that young Iraqis complained that nothing "modern, open or liberated" was being made available to them when he visited Baghdad last year to see a friend.

Out of what he called "civic engagement", the 33-year-old communications professional drew up a project and found a sponsor: the German foreign ministry, which has provided some 83,000 euros (102,000 dollars) in aid.

With violence and kidnapping a fact of daily life in Baghdad, the station has been set up in Berlin. "We would have preferred to be on site," Glenewinkel said. "But the distance allows us to be more free in our journalism."

For those security reasons, the two Iraqi men and one woman who are working as hosts on the programme refuse to comment on the station's operations or allow themselves to be captured on camera.

Aged from 23 to 30, Ahmed, Nawar and Hiba had never before set foot outside an Arab country but they did have experience in radio broadcasting.

Now they will be working in a vast loft in the centre of Berlin transformed into a modern studio, where a hookah pipe stands in a corner. Two Palestinians and a dozen Germans are there to assist them.

Telephone FM will air a mix of Arabic and mainstream western music.

Its reports and interviews are, logically, conducted by telephone for the most part, and then mixed in Berlin. "We also have a local freelancer who can call us at any time on his telephone," said Glenewinkel.

The Arabic-language programme is then charged onto the Internet and sent to one of Baghdad's rare private stations "Hot FM", which then airs the show.

The programming includes "Local Heroes", a portrait of young Baghdadis who shine out by the example they have set either in business or community life.

"Should I Stay or Should I Go?" hands the microphone over to people who are tempted to flee the country or those who have chosen to stay, despite the insecurity, to try to change things from the inside.

"How to Become" will look at job opportunities, while "Talking Art" will take in Baghdad's cultural life, from its new galleries to its club DJs.

Other programmes will be dedicated to music and listeners on its Berlin partner station "Multikulti" will be able to vote for the Arabic music hit of the week.

The team is convinced it will be a success. "Radio is a tradition in Iraq," said Glenewinkel. "Under Saddam Hussein, it was the only medium that broadcast news from abroad."

"It is still cheaper than newspapers and satellite television," he said, adding that Germany, which vehemently opposed the US-led war, "has a positive image in Iraq."

At the moment, the programme is a six-week pilot project and it is an open question how long it will run for or where future financing will come from.

"We would like it to last until at least January 2005," when Iraq's first post-war elections are due to be held, said Glenewinkel.

"Over the medium-term we want to build up a local station," said his colleague and co-founder, Anja Wollenberg.

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