- BAGHDAD -- Iraq's most famous
radio talk-show hosts says that under the Hussein regime, whenever he dared
speak about corruption he would be taken out of his studio in the middle
of his program and beaten.
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- "Sometimes I accused some ministers and ministries
of corruption and bribery," recalls Majed Salim, the 42-year-old bass-toned
host. His former boss, Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, was one of the most
feared people in the country.
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- "Uday's security would come, shave my head, beat
my legs and I would go back into the studio and continue my program."
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- Now he's the host of a phone-in show where callers openly
complain about the government and the difficulties of their lives.
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- Welcome to Radio Dijla, the first and only independent
talk-show radio station in the Middle East, where everyone from taxi drivers
to senior citizens to government officials tune in closely to hear the
heart of the people.
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- For 2-1/2 hours every morning, Mr. Salim hosts his favourite
program, Service Hours. Usually a couple of government officials are invited
to the studio where they attempt to solve the problems of the callers.
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- Electricity and Water Ministry officials are the most
unfortunate studio visitors. With power plants still not running at full
capacity since the war, Iraqis suffer in unbearably high temperatures as
fans shut off with the faltering electricity for hours every day and water
pumps stop working.
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- While Baghdad residents get electricity in spurts of
three hours on, three hours off, an old woman from one neighbourhood called
in to say she had much less: "I have no electricity. You are cutting
it too much."
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- Two Electricity Ministry officials jotted down her address.
"We'll fix it and give you four-two," one of them promised.
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- The three-month-old station receives about 18,000 calls
a day, only a small portion of which the staff can answer.
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- Callers can speak freely about any subject, restricted
only from incitement to violence and swearing. "It has happened a
few times," said Mr. Salim, who is also the director of programming.
"We had to cut someone from the line."
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- Programming is a peppy combination of Arabic pop music
and open discussions about social, religious and sports issues. But, Mr.
Salim points out, "95 per cent of our programs are based on the talk
of the caller."
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- He hopes to use the show as a tool to help Iraqi society
progress. "Like when I talk about divorce and polygamy ..... I will
try to discuss whether it's right or wrong."
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- Radio Dijla (or Radio Tigris) leaped on to Baghdad's
airwaves four months ago from a house in a quiet neighbourhood in the capital.
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- The station is privately owned by Ahmad al-Rikabi, a
34-year-old journalist who spent five years working for European radio
stations.
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- After the war ended 15 months ago, he helped the coalition
set up U.S.-backed radio and television stations known as the Iraqi Media
Network.
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- But with all the broadcast networks backed either by
the United States or by a political party or religious group, Mr. al-Rikabi
was not satisfied. He left IMN, determined to start an independent station
with no political or religious affiliation. He contacted Mr. Salim, a popular
broadcaster since 1995.
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- Mr. Salim had been sitting on his couch jobless since
the war. He had turned down offers to work for affiliated stations; working
at an independent station had been a dream. When Mr. al-Rikabi approached
him, he jumped at the offer.
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- With an initial $300,000 (U.S.) grant from Sweden, the
station began broadcasting out of a house in west Baghdad. Now it operates
on revenues from advertisements.
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- But success was not easy, particularly because most of
the staff had no idea what "talk radio" meant.
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- "I found it very difficult to explain to the staff
what is talk radio," Mr. al-Rikabi told a radio conference in Birmingham,
England, recently. "I had to bring them into my room and switch on
the computer to surf the Net" and have them listen to BBC talk-radio
shows. "I said, this is how talk radio sounds."
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- To test its own popularity, "we pretended we had
to close for lack of funds," said Mr. al-Rikabi, adding that more
than 500 listeners offered donations to keep the station running.
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- While the United States pours money into media networks
in Iraq and the Arab world in an attempt to spread democratic values, Radio
Dijla is doing it independently ó and successfully.
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- The U.S.-backed broadcasters are not popular among Iraqis
because they are perceived as disseminating propaganda. Yet the privately
owned independent radio is a hit because it embodies freedom of speech.
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- Latif Subhi, one of the station's legions of loyal fans,
says Radio Dijla has no competition. The 50-year-old taxi driver is impressed
by its programs about unemployment, for example, and the down-to-earth
advice. "They tell the youth to go to work, not just stay at home.
Go to the police, the army ó even sell cigarettes in the street,"
he said.
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- "I always listen to Radio Dijla," he added,
"because they speak about our problems and the real situation in Baghdad."
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