Rural Radio Thrives in Mongolia
12/19/00

William Siemering was the first Director of Programming for National Public Radio, where he helped develop such features as "All Things Considered." He also worked at Minnesota Public Radio. Since 1997, Siemering has been involved in the Rural Radio Project, which is devoted to expanding and improving media coverage in sparsely populated areas of Mongolia. Siemering recently spoke to EurasiaNet about the program’s success in fostering civil society values in Mongolia. The text of the interview follows:

EurasiaNet: What are the objectives of the Rural Radio Project?

Siemering: We see this not only as a project to provide important information for local communities, but also as an opportunity to establish a model of independent journalism in Mongolia that can be replicated in the capital city. There are about five private radio stations in Ulanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, and I don’t think any of them are airing significant information programming, like they are in the countryside. There aren’t many models of good, independent journalism, either in print or in broadcast media. We see this as a very important step in developing independent news.

EurasiaNet: What has been accomplished so far?

Siemering: One of the priorities of the Mongolia Foundation for Open Society has been focused in rural development. The medium that is most used in the countryside is radio. It can take up to a month for newspapers to reach herders, and they need more current information. All that’s been available in the past is state broadcasting and they allow about six regional stations to cut away for four, one-half hour periods per week to put on local programming. The people in the countryside felt that they needed more time devoted to local issues. … So there are a couple of models that are emerging. We have supported about three stations – one is in Selenge province, in Suhbaatar. There has never been local radio there. It’s a first for them. Another one is located in Dourhan, and it is interested in providing coverage of agricultural issues. And then the third station we are supporting is called Gobi Wave and it is located in the city of Dalandzadgad – that’s the provincial capital for the south Gobi desert. That station is run by a group of people who were producing for the regional station, and they wanted to also have their own FM. That’s a different model from the other two stations that are free standing and independent of anything connected with Mongol radio.

EurasiaNet: About how much, in terms of resources, is going into this program?

Siemering: The foundation is devoting about $40,000 over a period of three years.

EurasiaNet: So it does not take much to get the project going?

Siemering: Not at all. For example, the operating costs for the station in Dourhan is $978 for the first nine months of operation.

EurasiaNet: Is the Mongolian government supporting this program? Are they happy to have competition?

Siemering: I don’t think they view it as competition at this point. It’s more a matter that the local government has been supportive of the projects. The local governors need to sign off on them, and they have all been supportive. They haven’t provided financial support, but in some cases they have helped provide buildings for the program. … There is another issue: the licensing authority, which is part of the Ministry of Infrastructure, does not have a category for these kinds of stations. They only recognize state and private radio, and the stations that I have been talking about really fall into a category somewhere in between government and private. Gobi Wave is registered as a non-governmental organization. And when I began talking about ‘community radio’ the translator told me that they really don’t have a word that translates to "community": in that manner. They have a strong sense of community, but they really don’t have a word for it. … We’ve talked with the Ministry of Infrastructure about the need for another category and I think they agree with us, they just haven’t come up with it yet.

EurasiaNet: How many people are the stations reaching, and are there plans to expand?

Siemering: There is no audience data. The best indication that we have is the station in Selenge did its own survey and it showed that nearly everyone who had a radio tuned into the station. I would say it’s popular there. In Dourhan there is some competition with other stations, so it is hard to estimate the audience. But we want to expand in two ways: we would like to network the stations via internet and also add additional stations along the Gobi Wave model.

EurasiaNet: Who is generating the content? Do they receive guidance?

Siemering: We talked a lot in the beginning about the mission and developing a program schedule. And the programming that they put on the air comes from them. In Selenge, they did a survey before they went on the air last December, and they found that most listeners had an interest in music. They did another survey in March, after they had been on the air for a while, and the first preference was for information programming. So they really created an audience for information programming.

EurasiaNet: What is your overall impression of the radio station program?

Siemering: I am very impressed with their diligence and conscientiousness in developing a schedule that is both interesting and valued, and that they have done so much with so little. A lot of the presenters are volunteers. In Selenge, for example, only the station manager and two DJs are paid. All the rest do it on a volunteer basis. That also shows a commitment by the community to the station.

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Posted December 19, 2000 © Eurasianet
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