Community FM station has given marginalised communities a platform for ten years

Priyanka Divaakar R, the first transgender radio jockey in the country, is a well-known voice in Bengaluru. Her weekly show on the LGBT community, Yari Varu, is in its third season. She reaches out to this section of society using the city’s first community radio station, Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz, which celebrated its first decade on Sunday.

For ten years, the station has been a platform for the less empowered — transgenders, people living with HIV, waste pickers and domestic workers — giving them all a voice. “The community radio has helped people overcome stigma, come out of the closet and provided a platform to fight for our rights,” said Radha Mani, who hosts a show, Chigurida Baduku, for people living with HIV.

Radio Active, which is primarily talk radio, offers listeners an eclectic mix of programming with five shows for the transgender community, three on garbage management and others that cover mental health, menstrual health, and feature story telling for children. The latest show is for the North East community in the city, titled North East Ki Awaz.

It was in 2007 that JGI Group, an educational institution acquired the community radio licence. The group subsidises Radio Active.

Pinky Chandran, director of the station, said the focus was on making marginalised communities part of the journey.