Radio Zamaneh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Radio Zamaneh (Persian: رادیو زمانه) is an Amsterdam-based Persian language radio. "Zamaneh" is the Persian literary term for "time".
Radio Zamaneh is an independent broadcasting organisation, registered as a non-profit organisation in the Netherlands, with headquarters and studio in Amsterdam. The coordinator of the radio is the Dutch NGO Press Now.
Radio Zamaneh broadcasts in Persian via short wave, satellite and the internet. The programs contain political news and bulletins, philosophical, social and cultural issues.
The radio runs under the directorship of Mehdi Jami, a Persian (Iranian) journalist formerly associated with BBC's Persian Service. Iranian-Dutch politician and MP, Farah Karimi, was among the founding members of the media.
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[edit] Aims
The aim of Radio Zamaneh, according to its administrators, is to produce and broadcast informative programs of high journalistic quality, independent from any governmental, political, or social forces inside or outside of Iran (Persia).
In its press release, Radio Zamaneh announced that "[it]intends to increase and intensify working relations with online bloggers. The Iranian blog sphere is representing one of the largest web communities in the world. They are considered the preserve of young urban Iranians both inside and outside the country. Their voices are not heard by the mainstream media, neither in Iran itself nor in West-based Iranian media. Radio Zamaneh will serve as a platform for Iranian bloggers and reflect their grassroots opinions and views."
In the opening ceremony of Radio Zamaneh, Mehdi Jami said: "The core of RZ idea is to establish a modern two-way radio rather than a traditional one-way radio; a radio with utmost interaction with the audience. In the age of global participation, our ambition is to make a participatory radio; a radio by people for people."
[edit] History
In 2003, the Dutch parliament was going to establish a Persian-language television station in the Netherlands but after negative reactions from the Iranian government, the project was halted. Proposals were put forward for promoting independent journalism in Iran and the budget was divided between a number of projects with Radio Zamaneh and Shahrzad News receiving the bulk of the funding. According to NRC Handelsblad, the government of the Netherlands is trying to broadcast the radio channel to Iran. The Netherlands has banned an Iranian state TV channel for what it calls "hate mongering".[1]
In 2006 after three years of negotiations, the Radio Zamaneh board selected London-based Persian journalist and radio producer Mehdi Jami as the director of Radio Zamaneh. Jami moved to Amsterdam where he held a workshop to initiate Radio Zamaneh's activities inviting more than 30 Iranian writers, journalists and bloggers from San Francisco, Washington D.C., Toronto, London, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Prague and Tehran. Shahrokh Golestan, Abbas Maroufi, Mohammad-Reza Nikfar, Jahanshah Javid, Jamshid Barzegar, Nikahang Kowsar and Behzad Bolour were among them. After a 5-day workshop, Radio Zamaneh released a statement calling itself the "Voice of Persian Bloggers".
In the workshop Farah Karimi, a former Dutch parliament member, said: "Perhaps Radio Zamaneh with its activities makes it possible to establish a TV, as it was a TV project at first".
[edit] Beginning
Internet broadcasting started on 4 August 2006 while satellite broadcasting started on the 7 September and short-wave broadcasting started on September 2006.
Up to now various editors such as Mina Baharmast, Hossein Alavi, Haasan Shakiba and Maoumeh Naseri have helped to create daily programs.
A few days before starting the programs, Radio Zamaneh broadcasted Persian (Iranian) underground music. This act was warmly received by underground musicians in Tehran, but also criticized by many in the target audience because of the harsh language used in many of the songs. RZ gradually divided its musical broadcasts into "Persian Classical", "Persian Symphonic", "Persian Folk", "New Voices", "Western Classical", "Film Music" and "World Music". The current music director of RZ is Pejman Akbarzadeh.
[edit] Broadcasts
Radio Zamaneh broadcasts 24 hours in its satellite edition. The core of its current affairs and cultural, social and economic program is broadcast 3 hours a day through short wave, internet and satellite. Daily broadcasts start at 19:00 Amsterdam time (20:30 Tehran time) and will be repeated 4 times.
[edit] Sponsorship
Radio Zamaneh was a sponsor of a Persian underground music festival in Zaandam and Tehran section of a film festival in Rotterdam.
