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Surprise new applicant for retired FM frequencies
friends in high places

Spirit FM is licensed as a community radio station in Budapest, Hungary. Its assigned FM frequency is rather low-powered. Two more advantageous Budapest FM frequencies are either vacant or assumed to be so after the first of the year. Hence, Spirit FM’s owner ATV Group is applying for both, noted Hungarian media portal media1.hr (December 10). Hungarian media watchers suggested that the Klubradio FM frequency would be assigned to the Radio1 network, aligned with supporters of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Community station Civil Radio effectively returned its FM license to regulator NMHH Media Council last year, citing financial difficulties. The NMHH Media Council declined to renew the license of much better known Klubradio a few weeks ago but allowed that it could reapply with all any applicants. And so, Klubradio went to court, action still pending. Klubradio is a news/talk station, on-the-air for several years, and often a thorn in the side of Hungarian politicians supportive of PM Viktor Orban. It once held a nationwide broadcasting license. (See more about media in Hungary here)

ATV Group operates television channel ATV and Spirit FM. It is aligned with an evangelical religious group - Faith Church - known for xenophobic and antisemitic views. Spirit FM offers “spiritual” music and talkshows that often include conspiracy theories. Last year ATV Group contracted with ad saleshouse Atmedia, which represents state broadcaster MTVA and TV2, closely aligned with supporters of PM Orban.

Honors for women’s radio station in world’s toughest neighborhood
Impact

A radio station by women and for women was this week (December 8) awarded Reporters san Frontieres (RSF) Press Freedom Awards Prize for Impact. Merman Radio serves the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. The annual awards were presented in Taipei, Taiwan.

Merman, the Pashtu word for women, was established in 2011 and operates on FM. Afghan women’s rights activist Maryam Durani founded and manages the station, which employs 15 people. "It's very difficult to gather men and women in the same place at the same time for any activity or discussion in Kandahar," she said, quoted by Indonesian news agency KBR Asia Calling (January 23, 2016). "That's why I started the station, to convey a message to the maximum number of people at the same time.” (See more about press/media freedom here)

Ms Durani serves on the Kandahar provincial council and has received several public service awards. Tireless in support of women’s issues, Ms Durani recently founded a women’s health club in Kandahar, noted Reuters (September 23). Kandahar is also home to the Taliban, not known as sympathetic to women’s rights.

Others honored by RSF include Russian journalist Elena Milashina, for Courage, and Egyptian chief editor Lina Attalah, for Independence. Ms Milashina in an investigative reporter for independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta and a regular recepient of threats from Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov. Ms Attalah co-founded Cairo-based independent news outlet Mada Masr and has been arrested several times by Egyptian security forces. A special award was bestowed on Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily founder and publisher Jimmy Lai. Four days later he was charged by Hong Kong authorities of “collusion with foreign forces,” noted South China Morning Post (December 11). He had been arrested in August.

Mobile users like to listen so AI transforms text into audio
everything a podcast

As desire meets demand, the possible rises to vision and sometimes on to reality. Audio is the new video. Podcasts are craved. The spoken word is, again, hot.

ETX Studio brought a new product to the world this week. ETX Daily Up is an audio news app pitched as a “100% audio augmented news platform.” The creators, formerly Relaxnews, called on news agency AFP and tech giant Microsoft. Written text is transformed into audio and curated by the miracle of artificial intelligence (AI). Obviously, this was not created in a packed room.

That isn’t the only trick. The app allows users to select the available content and create audio or video for upload to various digital platforms. In other words, it is designed for publishers. ETX Daily Up is available in French and English. ETX Studio is based in Paris.

ETX Studio was once known as Relaxnews, owned until earlier this year by advertising giant Publicis Group. There is a clear attachment to advertising and public relations people, all looking for new ways of reaching out. The ETX Daily Up project originated, interestingly, with automaker client Renault to create an app tool that transcribes text into audio for the pleasure of automobile passengers.

Radio Page week ending December 4, 2020
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