Celebrating World Radio Day 2014

Today is UNESCO World Radio Day–a day to celebrate the continued relevance of radio in the twenty-first century.

And today, you, too, can make a difference with radio.  Here’s how:

• Send a shortwave radio, care of us here at Ears To Our World. You can send one self-powered shortwave radio to a classroom or community in the third world for as little as $40.  In impoverished regions still without internet access or electric power, your tax-deductible donation of one radio can inform and empower an entire community of listeners. Click here to donate one time or, if you like, monthly.

• If you’ve heard my 2013 recording for UNESCO regarding the relevance of radio, you may also like to visit World Radio Day’s webpage and hear what others have to say about the relevance of shortwave radio. Share this page with your friends.

• Contact your representative(s) and remind them of the continued importance of shortwave radio in today’s world. Click on the following links to search for your government representative(s) in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Need more ideas to celebrate World Radio Day?  Check out UNESCO’s great list.

Wishing you a wonderful World Radio Day!

Warmly,

Thomas

ETOW Founder/Director

Message from ETOW's Director: World Radio Day 2013

Dear Friends,

Today is UNESCO World Radio Day, which is described as "a day to celebrate radio as a medium; to improve international cooperation between broadcasters; and to encourage major networks and community radio alike to promote access to information and freedom of expression over the airwaves."

UNESCO asked me to share my thoughts regarding the relevance of radio in our mission, as they wished to share it with others on World Radio Day.  You can listen to this short piece by clicking here or listening in via the embedded player below.

Without a doubt, radio is as relevant as it has ever been, especially in the remote, rural areas where we work–those areas without reliable power, let alone the Internet. It's why radios continue to be much more useful than laptops or cell phones.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the support you give Ears To Our World. We're enormously grateful.

This year, we've already sent radios to South Sudan and to Sierra Leone. The partnership in Sierra Leone will use radio to support women's rights over the airwaves through special radio programming. Radio, indeed, is a powerful medium for education and positive change.

Today, please take a moment to think about how radio as had an influence on our world–perhaps on your own life–and how it continues to be a lifeline for so many.

Thank you,

Thomas

Thomas Witherspoon

Executive Director, Ears To Our World

Mission in Process: ETOW’s Radios Educate Despite Extremes

The self-powered world band radios that Ears To Our World distributes to remote, impoverished schools and communities around the world through its global partners are often subjected to extremes—not only climatic, in the form of relentlless tropical rains and scorching desert sand-storms, but also the political and economic, resulting in extremes of usage most technologies are just not built to withstand. To support ETOW's mission of providing the developing world with reliable access to information--e.g, educational programming, local and international news, emergency and health information--ETOW radios must be exceedingly rugged and maintainable in the field. Nevertheless, any technology experiencing this kind of usage must be expected to have a finite functionality: that’s the reason our commitment to ongoing partnership and follow-up support is so vital. When we place radios in schools and communities through our global partners, we do so as a collaborative effort among equals: to make a lasting impact in our served areas, our in-country NGO affiliates distribute the radios where they can do the greatest good. Additionally, our partner teachers and community leaders entrusted with ETOW's radios take responsibility for their care, monitoring each unit's function as a result of daily usage. ETOW maintains contact with these partners and provides assistance as needed and feasible.

Fortunately, the Etón Grundig self-powered, hand-crank worldband radios with which ETOW works have been functioning superbly in the field, in places as diverse as Belize, Chile, Romania, Mongolia, South Sudan, and Cameroon. Thus far, these units have proven more than equal to the challenge: with care, these radios can last up to up to three years in the field, exceeding our expectations for the product. In areas where conditions are extreme, the radios do wear more rapidly, but we have learned that only tens in hundreds break within the first year of use, a remarkable finding and a testament to the committed care of the units by our partner-users.

Even a more significant finding, however, is the validation of our organizational model. ETOW recently had the opportunity to examine the sole radio returned to us from a remote area of Cameroon where our partner, NGO EduCare-Africa, had assigned it for use as a teaching tool in a local school. While the radio still received signals after three years of use, it no longer charged by hand crank; ETOW requested its return for analysis. Pavla Zakova-Laney, Founder, President, Executive Director, and full-time volunteer of EduCare, promptly responded with the radio's return. In the meantime, as per our agreement, she offered the teacher partner a replacement radio. So, although the original radio experienced an internal component failure, it was apparently otherwise well-cared for, as the teacher partner had agreed upon placement; our NGO partner was informed of the problem, and served as on-site intermediary; and ETOW was able to address the problem by replacing the unit. Clearly, ETOW’s model of collaboration and follow-through works.

“We recognize that success in humanitarian aid requires providing consistent and reliable support over time,” explains Thomas Witherspoon, ETOW’s founder and director, “so we commit to our teachers and partners that we will do our best to replace or repair radios when they eventually reach the end of their useful life.”

ETOW’s experience in Cameroon is, in our view, a clear success story. According to Zakova-Laney, there are currently seven ETOW radios serving communities in Cameroon, being used in secondary/high schools. And although they are located in remote areas, EduCare estimates that nearly 2,700 students and teachers have directly benefitted from these seven devices. That number increases dramatically as news and other information is disseminated to students' families at home and to communities at large.

But upon further examination, EduCare’s feedback is not all that surprising. In the areas ETOW serves, even one radio can produce a remarkably broad positive impact. “Every school [that received a radio] greatly appreciated it, and promised it would be used well and handled with care,” explained Zakova-Laney. In developing areas, each radio is an invaluable resource because it can affect so many lives. Even the single returned FR200 with the broken crank, in otherwise good condition despite extensive use, reinforces what we’ve believed from the beginning: radio is the best method to reach the greatest number of people where the need is greatest in the developing world. It is economical, uncomplicated, broadcasts are unhindered by boundaries and politics--and, as we’ve seen, as tough as it needs to be.

We’re proud of the continuing role we play in support of invaluable programs like EduCare-Africa's, helping our partners achieve their goals of expanding opportunities and improving lives through education. So, exactly how important is our role? Zakova-Laney: “I believe that as long as there will be remote places without electricity and...a means of communication, these radios will be very helpful, bringing news, useful information and educational programs—and [they will be] appreciated tremendously.”

ETOW extends our appreciation to our generous supporters who enable us to do what we do. Thank you all.

ETOW Radios Continue To Enlighten As Haiti Rebuilds

Over one year after an unimaginable catastrophe, worldband radios rushed into a disaster zone continue to improve the lives of people in need in Haiti.

When the 7.0 earthquake struck on the morning of January 12, 2010, it devastated the capital of Port Au Prince and the surrounding area, claiming the lives of more than 230,000 and shattering those of millions more. The impoverished country’s already inadequate infrastructure was largely destroyed, with one crucial exception: radio communications.

While most Haitian media were knocked off the air, radio station Signal FM was able continue broadcasting to an audience of nearly three million throughout the crisis. It helped victims reconnect with loved ones, identify aid and supply locations, and calm a terrified population. With re-establishing broadcasting capability a top priority, other radio outlets quickly joined Signal FM in its efforts.

In response to the tremendous humanitarian need, Ears To Our World expanded its mission of providing self-powered world band radios to schools and communities in the developing world to include sending radios for disaster relief. In the immediate aftermath, ETOW, working with its manufacturing and logistics partners, Etón Corporation and Operation USA, shipped 400 of these receivers to Haiti.

The importance of radio access in disaster situations cannot be overstated, and the results getting receivers into the hands of those in need are both immediate and enduring. According to the Knight Foundation, a non-profit organization that advances journalism in the digital age, radio was “the undisputed lifeline for the Haitian public after the earthquake.” In a recently released report, “Media, Information System and Communities: Lessons from HAITI,” the Foundation asserted, “Of all the available humanitarian information tools, radio was the most effective means to share information with the community and to distribute information to affected populations.”

“Radio is Haiti’s dominant medium,” the report stated, “Access to radio can be shared easily and relatively cheaply among many people, and serves both literate and illiterate populations. According to the CIA World Factbook, Haiti has over 250 commercial and community radio stations; a 2009 Voice of America survey describes radio receiver ownership as virtually universal.” Aware of radio’s vital role, the aid community embarked upon the mass distribution of receivers to affected populations to guarantee access to information.

Thanks to the generous support of our partners and donors, ETOW was able to be a part of that effort. We’re pleased to learn that the radios we sent provided critical support not only during the initial phase of disaster relief, but also as the humanitarian crisis continued to unfold, and today still as communities struggle to recover.

As E. Marilyn Lowney, Executive Director of the Haitian Health Organization, which distributed many ETOW radios, recently told us, “When important events or emergencies occur, people gather around available radios for news. Often 15 or 20 people gather around one radio. Public health messages are usually relayed on the radio. When the scourge of cholera recently struck Haiti, health messages and instructions for prevention, proper sanitation and treatment were widely broadcast. The radio saved many lives in our area when Hurricane Tomas struck in November and when cholera threatened to devastate the population.”

“Radio is essential in Haiti,” Ms. Lowney said. “The extreme poverty in Haiti precludes access to electricity, and so many things taken for granted in the USA are unavailable in Haiti…Television and Internet are unknown in the rural villages. This makes reliance on radio, especially self powered, very important.”

“Haiti needs more radios,” Ms. Lowney continued. “Every household should have a solar or a wind-up radio.”

This is why we do what we do. Thank you for helping to make it possible.

Opening a world of sound for visually impaired children in Belize

This year, ETOW had the pleasure of working directly with the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired (BCVI) to bring our self-powered word band radios to the homes of children who are visually impaired. Staff of the BCVI personally introduced us to a number of the visually impaired children with whom they work, as well as their families, who live in very rural areas of northern Belize as well as within densely-populated Belize City. The children were presented radios by ETOW's director, Thomas Witherspoon, and team members of the  BCVI, for use in their homes. Many of these homes lack reliable electricity, thus our radios play an important role for continued, renewable information and education.

Radio opens a world to all of our recipients, but to those who are visually impaired, this can be even more dramatic. Unlike the internet, which requires expensive translation software, radio content is designed to be heard, rather than watched or read--for those to whom sound and touch is their means of experiencing the world, radio is truly the perfect learning medium.

These children were no exception: Witherspoon says he was impressed by their instinctive aptitude for understanding radio, considering that many had never had a radio of their own or even tuned a radio prior to our visit. Smiles brightened their faces as they touched, tuned, and heard the diverse music and voices emanating from their radios.   Said Witherspoon, "These children really responded to the radios, and I knew that it wouldn't be long before they know the frequency bands by heart.  I felt humbled and privileged," Witherspoon added,"to introduce the world of radio to these incredible young people."

We would like to thank our partner, the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired, for helping us open the door to their clients. We were most impressed with the BCVI's holistic approach to helping children through continued, routine contact with both them and their families. Their educational and medical services are a benchmark for other organizations. We look forward to our continued partnership and long-term support through the BCVI.

Make: Magazine Maker Challenge--ETOW Radio Kit

At Ears To Our World, we have long wanted to give radios directly to school children in developing regions, but for a child, carrying one of our self-powered radios isn't always practical or even advisable, as this could make such children a target of theft. This is one of the reasons why teachers are the guardians of our radios. But ETOW recently hatched an idea to pursue the design and creation of an inexpensive kit that children could, themselves, assemble into a simple working FM radio--maybe even a green product, no less, in that the kit radio might incorporate a re-purposed plastic bottle as the radio's housing and/or a scrap cardboard base to hold together its components. If the radio is somehow damaged, parts could thus be easily pulled off and replaced.

The exercise of assembling such a radio could be educational on many levels, and not only would teach a child about radio from the viewpoint of a young listener, but as a young engineer and perhaps even innovator. This kit, while it would provide the basic electronics, may require a certain amount of ingenuity from the assembler as he or she would have to connect the electronics without solder, and perhaps with the assistance of items near at hand (scrap, recyclables, natural elements) for assembly board and housing. Meantime, we at ETOW could learn an enormous amount from these radio-kit recipients, both in terms of practical usage and potential programming concepts.

With this in mind, Thomas Witherspoon, ETOW's founder/director, approached Make: Magazine; shortly after, we were surprised and pleased to learn that his casual inquiry has become a Maker Challenge in their online edition. Creative hobbyists and "makers" alike instantly began to respond with ideas.

Many thanks to Make Magazine and the online editors for their support! What's more, we thank those who have (and have yet to) respond--and look forward to the invention of a kit radio, just for kids!

Why Radio in Disasters?

by Rob de Santos

What would you do if your car died on a dark road, out of sight of any building? Your mobile phone doesn’t get a signal. The car battery has died. It’s cold, dark, and perhaps even raining. You are truly “out of touch,” not sure when help is going to arrive. Would you be worried? Scared, even?

Now, put yourself in a disaster zone. Your house may be damaged or destroyed. Public utilities aren’t functioning. Power is out and mobile phones aren’t working. You are truly “out of touch.” Now, how might you feel?

The scenarios are remarkably similar in the feelings and concerns they elicit. In both cases, the lack of any communication makes the situation far worse. In both situations, if you could just turn on a radio and get news of what is going on in your area and when help might arrive, your sense of security increases as your fears diminish.

Such is the power of radio. When other communications fail, a simple radio with a crank or solar panel for power and knob to tune it offers a reassuring voice. A source of knowledge instead of just rumors. Before schools can get outside resources, or children can travel over repaired roads, radio provides a funnel of information that allows education to continue.

It’s easy (and necessary) in a disaster to think about necessities such as food, shelter, and clean water. How do people in the disaster learn where to go and how to get help with these basic needs? If you live in the industrialized world you might just assume it will show up where you are, sooner or later. As many found even in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, that can be a risky assumption. What you need is information on how to help yourself, and the best way to get the information is through a radio.

Radios To Chile: Partnership Brings Information in the Aftermath

Ears To Our World would like to announce that we are now accepting donations for self-powered radios to the earthquake-affected area in Chile, through a fund-raising partnership with student groups from Harvard and the Boston, MA area. Their fund raising venture is called Reconnect Chile. Through Reconnect, we are pleased to have established a strategic partnership with World Vision Chile, who will distribute the radios throughout the rural coastal villages most affected by both the 8.8 magnitude earthquake, consequent aftershocks and tsunamis.

Please consider donating money today to directly support sending radios to Chile. As with our efforts in Haiti, your $30.00 US contribution purchases and sends not one, but two self-powered Eton emergency radios to Chile.  Radios provide vital emergency information so earthquake survivors can receive news of medical assistance, food, water and reports about loved ones.

Choose Donation Amount

2 Radios To Chile $30.00

4 Radios To Chile $60.00

6 Radios To Chile $90.00

8 Radios To Chile $120.00

10 Radios To Chile $150.00

12 Radios To Chile $180.00

14 Radios To Chile $210.00

16 Radios To Chile $240.00

Case Of 40 Radios to Chile $600.00

Again, all of this is made possible through our partnerships with Reconnect Chile and World Vision Chile. For questions about Reconnect Chile's fund raising activities, or if you would like to help, please contact: [email protected]

ETOW would also like to thank the generosity of our sponsor, Eton Corporation, who makes it possible for us to provide the incredible value of two information-providing radios for every $30 donation.

Ears To Our World is a US registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions to this project are tax-deductible.

Radios To Haiti Update: 300+ Additional Etón-Donated Radios

Etón Corporation, in response to our Radios To Haiti initiative, has generously donated over 300 self-powered radios to Ears To Our World for immediate shipment to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, through our logistics partner, Operation USA.

Moreover, in addition to these radios, Etón has donated over 450 self-powered flashlights to be shipped along with the radios.

Ears To Our World would like to thank Etón Corporation and its CEO, Esmail Amid-Hozour, for sponsorship and continued support of our mission as it expands to help those in immediate need in Haiti.

Radios to Haiti Update: ETOW Ships Over 100 Self-Powered Radios to Haiti

...And we hope to ship even more. The response from our Radios to Haiti fund drive, launched only last week, has been truly remarkable. We wish to thank all that have donated, as well as the volunteers who helped prepare and pack the radios at such short notice.

We have partnered with Operation USA to deliver and distribute our radios to the areas of Haiti affected by the earthquake. Operation USA is a charity that specializes in logistics; their sole purpose is to deliver aid to countries in need, such as Haiti, and for this reason they can do so quickly and efficiently. ETOW is pleased to be partnering with this reputable organization; we look forward to sending more radios to Haiti in the very near future.

Radios to classrooms in Romania

The scope of work we do at ETOW is not limited to any particular region of the world. As long as teachers and their students meet our requirements--primarily, that they lack stable access to utility power at home and school--we will endeavor to work with them. Hence our Eastern European connection in Romania.

Through a partnership with Pleasant Ridge Church in western North Carolina, we supplied Gypsy students and their teachers in Hirip and Satu Mare, Romania, with access to a world of news and educational programming through our manufacturer-donated Grundig self-powered radios.

ETOW would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Jim Smith, who hand-delivered four radios on Pleasant Ridge's recent visit to Romania. In a letter to us, he writes,

I would like to personally thank you for the gift of...shortwave radios...During our trip to Hirip and Satu Mare, Romania, we gave these radios on your behalf to the following [teachers and community] leaders:

Ramona Herosovics...a teacher of English and Current events in a school working with Gypsy upper high school-aged students, as well as some of our seminary students, in Satu Mare, Romania...She will be using the radios to teach English to these students. She will be sending a second radio home with them for English projects. Since many of the students do not have power in the[ir] homes, these radios will be exceptional.

Radios 3 & 4...will be used in the classrooms of a small village school in Hirip, Romania. A teacher travels three days a week to the school to teach there. Sometimes each week [these schools have] a different teacher. The main superintendent...accepted these radios and they were used in the classroom while we were there. There is no power in this building...The teachers will use them to teach current events as well as English and the radios can be checked out after school each day for homework and brought back the next day for classroom use.

Pleasant Ridge Church has maintained a strong relationship with these schools and Gypsy communities in Romania for over 13 years. Through their long-term committment to Hirip and Satu Mare, our partnership with Pleasant Ridge will insure sustained support over the long term, and we hope to supply even more of the teachers and students in these areas with our self-powered radios.