Açık Radyo
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| Broadcast area | Turkey - Regional FM Istanbul |
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| Frequency | 94.9 MHz (Istanbul) |
| First air date | November 13, 1995 |
| Format | News, Music, and Personality |
| Owner | Acik Radyo |
| Website | www.acikradyo.com.tr |
Açık Radyo 94.9 (Open Radio 94.9), is an independent radio station broadcasting from Istanbul, Turkey to the metropolitan Istanbul area and its surrounding area with topics including news, music, and talk. Its motto is "Open Radio is open to all the sounds, colours and vibrations of the universe."
[edit] Structure
Açık Radyo (Open Radio) first went on the air on November 13, 1995. It is a regional radio station founded as a private company, as required by the Turkish law, but functions similarly to a nonprofit business.
Açık Radyo is a collective, with 92 partners holding near-equal shares; the shareholders own share certificates. The station considers itself unaffiliated with any particular party, instead focusing on the promotion of pluralist democracy, the rule of law, as well as the protection and promotion of universal human rights and fundamental freedoms.
[edit] Programmers and guests
By 2009, Açık Radyo had worked with 935 individuals of all ages, nationalities and from all walks of life, on more than 822 talk and music shows to the general program of the radio station.
All Açık Radyo presenters, producers, and DJs are volunteers. As of 2009, 183 presenters contribute to 134 different programs broadcast on Açık Radyo each week.
Açık Radyo has hosted over 14,000 guests in over 14 years’ broadcasting, from many countries and professions.
[edit] International links
Açık Radyo, together with various other bodies (including Radio Nova Paris, and RBB Multikulti Berlin), carried out a collaborative program of research and technological development on world music and the Internet. It has also been carrying out program exchanges with four European radio stations: as of 2009, one of its world music shows is broadcast by RBB Multikulti Berlin, VDR Funkhaus, Radio Sweden P 6, Europa Köln, and Radio Bremen. Furthermore, it also airs world music programs prepared by three- to thirteen-year-old presenters on behalf of the nonprofit children radio Radijojo.
[edit] Talk shows
Açık Radyo airs talk shows on a wide variety of subjects, from ecology and the environment to literature, language and current events in Turkey and Istanbul, and in the latter from war to natural disasters.
Açık Radyo, since its inception, has been active in promoting the cause of global climate change and global warming both in terms of research and news coverage of climate-related events.
[edit] Music and radio documentaries
Açık Radyo acted as the semi-official radio station of the UN international HABITAT (II) Conference held in Istanbul on 1996 and, in that role, broadcast bilingually for fifteen days. Since its second year, Açık Radyo presented a two-hour yearly wrap up program called Last Year in Perspective on the last day of each year (1996–2008).
In 2005, Açık Radyo produced, in cooperation with Radio Nederland, a two-hour program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto against nuclear arms.
In May 2008, special sound collages commemorating the 40th anniversary of the ’68 Revolution were broadcast daily.
[edit] Music festivals and exhibitions
Açık Radyo organized (in collaboration with Positive Organization[clarification needed] the Istanbul Musical Festivities I and II in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Each attended by 10,000 music lovers, these tevents covered all kinds of music, from classical to folkloric, from World Music to jazz, from arabesque to salsa, as well as activities for children, international panels, world premier performances, dance workshops, and the like, with 125 activities in total.
Açık Radyo co-sponsored two photography exhibitions; the first being 1968 Through the Lens of Magnum in 1968; and the second, on the millennium, Portraits of the 20th Century. Each of these exhibitions was visited by around 8,000 individuals. In 2006, Açık Radyo organized a thematic collective exhibition titled NaturMort (Still-ed Life) to draw attention to the issue of global climate change. Six art galleries and 83 artists including some of Turkey’s leading painters, sculptors and photographers contributed and donated the revenues of their sales to Açık Radyo.
[edit] Conferences, panels, and parties
More than fifty conferences (five per year) have been given, including panels attended by Açık Radyo editors and programmers on such topics as broadcasting, independent media, freedom of the press, global climate change, globalization, and the history of music at various universities and cultural centers.
More than fifty parties have been organized by Açık Radyo, each with a different theme.[where?]
[edit] Media coverage
In addition to a great number of articles having quoted Açık Radyo programs as sources, the station itself, its programs, and its activities have been reported on in over 6,000 articles, including nearly 120 interviews and broadcasts during the station’s fourteen years of existence. It has been the subject of two documentaries, two master's theses, and has been mentioned in at least three novels, and one detective novel.
[edit] Awards
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This biographical article is written like a résumé. Please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. (January 2011) |
Açık Radyo has been the recipient of 38 awards in Turkey between the dates of November 1996 and October 2007. Among them:
2008- The Izmir International Fair Award for its campaign against global warming
2007- Public Service Award from the Istanbul branch of the Ankara University Political Science Faculty Graduates
2007- TGC (Turkish Association of Journalists) Nezih Demirkent Special Award; "Continuous Broadcasting for the Protection of the Environment and Persistently Warning the Listeners on Global Warming")
2006- Turkish Tour Guides Association "Broadcasting for Sustainable Environment" Award
2005- Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Best Research in Recorded World Music won by programmer Cemal Ünlü for his book Git Zaman, Gel Zaman (Pan Yayıncılık, 2004), based on his programs at Açık Radyo
2003- The Best Radio Program of 2003 (Association of Turkish Journalists)
2002- The Best Radio Station of 2002 (Association of Contemporary Journalists)
2001- The Most Successful Radio Station of 2001 (Istanbul University, Faculty of Communications)
2000- The Most Preferred Radio Station of 2000 (Marmara University, Faculty of Communications)
[edit] Multiple awards
Two awards in the branch of Radio Programs speaking the Best Turkish (2001/2000)
Four awards in the branch of Technology and Computer Sciences (1996, 97, 98, 99)
Turkish Association of Journalists Radio Program Awards (1998/1997)
Three awards for its health programming, Istanbul Chamber of Medicine (2004/1999), Turkish Association of Physicians (2000)
[edit] Açik Radyo Online
The Açık Radyo website was started in the beginning of 1997. For the first two years of its existence the website (www.acikradyo.com and www.acikradyo.com.tr) included only basic information about the programs and presenters, broadcast schedule and the general structure of the radio station. Açık Radyo then began broadcasting online in May 2000.
Together with the Açık Radyo website a second website became operative towards the end of 2001, named the Açık Site (literally the "Open Site"). According to its "manifesto", the second site aimed to be "a tiny flashlight upon the dark side of the world". Here, transcripts of various interviews and talk shows of Açık Radyo are regularly posted, along with links from various original and translated articles concerning the state of the world.
In December 2004, Açık Site's pay subscription system was eliminated and the two websites were combined into one: acikradyo.com, acikradyo.com.tr.
In addition to gaining access to detailed information about Açık Radyo, its programs and its listeners it is now possible to find a public library comprising approximately 25,000 articles, commentaries, special dossiers, research, reports, cartoons, etc., on the Açık Radyo, which as of 2009 was visited by an average of 50,000 people every month.
[edit] The "Open Space" Project
In the fall of 2005 a group of students from İstanbul Bilgi University carried out a collective graduation on Açık Radyo. The idea of a creating a youth community on AR resulted in organizing through a program contest that enables young people to express themselves through alternative media. Thus AR had its first program contest for university students: “Change the world, even if it’s for an hour a week”, followed by a second contest titled “Let’s Play!” the next year. Sixty-four young people from eighteen universities have participated in with forty-seven projects. And for six months, the winning projects were aired on Açık Radyo.
[edit] Listeners and listener-support projects
The opinion poll conducted by AC Nielsen in 2000 regarding Açik Radyo shows that its "core listeners" (those who listen every day) number around 45,000; those who listen every other day: 80,000; once a week: 120,000; the number of listeners who have listened at least once during the last three months is around 200,000. According to the polls conducted by the Istanbul Foundation of Culture and Arts (IKSV) in 2001 and 2003 among the music lovers and filmgoers of the International Festivals of Classical Music, Jazz, and the Istanbul International Film Festival, Açik Radyo was chosen the most popular radio station.
At the beginning of March 2004, a project called "Açik Radyo is seeking its listeners" was started. The purpose was to further the effort of the 92 founders and 650 volunteer presenters with the contribution of listeners. The main aim was to attain a level of "sustainable independence." With the addition of these funds raised from a few thousand individual "listener-sponsors" to the regular income obtained by advertisements and sponsorships, it is hoped to reach a level of permanent financial sustainability.
During a year-long campaign listeners were asked to sponsor one or more programs. At the end of 2004 the number who had sponsored their own radio show totalled 2,250. The second "campaign" of 2005 produced more or less the same number of individual sponsors.
Every year Açik Radio announces the Listener-Support Project with a one-week radio festival full of guests and special shows. The third Listener-Support campaign lasted 99 hours over nine days in March 2006. One hundred old and new presenters came together in panel programmes to discuss the last ten years of culture and music broadcasting within Açik Radio and around the world.
A fourth project with the motto "Altogether with Açik Radyo", was carried on between 24 February and 4 March 2007. During these nine days, nearly forty "regular" listeners participated in programs. At the end of the ninth day, the number of individual sponsors reached 3,000.
The fifth special project broadcast, with the motto "Altogether With Açik Radyo, Forever!," had numerous celebrities as presenters. Further, some articles from soon-to-be published Open Book (the Açik Radyo Encyclopedia) were read and/or converted to programmes by their respective authors.
In March 2009, the sixth Listener-Support Project was conducted over nine days with the vast majority of supporting listeners having renewed their support. At the end of the Sixth Listener-Support Project the number of individual sponsors of Açik Radyo have reached 4,500.
[edit] External link: Açık Radyo website
