Junta Seeks to Win Hearts and Minds with FM Radio

RANGOON — The 3-year-old girl with thanaka on her face thrilled to the sound of her own voice as she sang along to a song coming out of a cheap, Chinese-made radio. It was one o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, and she was listening to her favorite children’s program on Mandalay’s local FM radio station.

Children are not the only ones who enjoy listening to the radio in Burma. Many adults also like to make their favorite radio programs part of their daily routines.

“I tune in to Rangoon City FM every morning to listen to the famous astrologer San Zarni Bo,” said a bus driver in Burma’s main commercial hub. “I don’t usually listen at any other time of day, unless I can find the time.”

In an era when much of the rest of the world finds it entertainment on the Internet, inexpensive handheld radios are still the technology of choice for most Burmese looking to take their minds off of their mundane lives. And increasingly, they’re finding the distraction they seek on local FM stations licensed by Burma’s ruling military regime.

Although most programming on these stations is not overtly political—unlike the heavy-handed propaganda of the state-run media—it often serves to counter the influence of Burmese-language shortwave radio stations based abroad, which are generally highly critical of the junta.

Especially since the monk-led Saffron Revolution of September 2007 and last May’s Cyclone Nargis, shortwave radio stations have become an important source of reliable, uncensored information in Burma. But at the same time that stations such as the Democratic Voice of Burma and the Burmese-language services of the BBC, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have become fixtures in the lives of ordinary Burmese, local radio stations, usually run by municipal governments, have also become more popular.

“People who are interested in politics certainly listen to overseas radio stations, but they are mostly from the older generation. For the young, FM radio has more appeal, because these stations have more youth-oriented entertainment,” said a media analyst who asked to remain anonymous.

FM radio stations are relatively new to Burma’s media scene. Rangoon City FM went into operation in November 2001, and Mandalay FM began broadcasting in April 2008. Both stations are owned by their respective City Development Committees and operate in cooperation with the privately owned Forever Company.

An executive from Mandalay FM said that the station broadcasts 18 hours a day to reach the widest possible audience. He added that programming centers on music and other light entertainment.

Despite this emphasis on non-political content, however, the stations—many of which are run by cronies of the regime, including Zay Kabar, Shwe Taung, Shwe Than Lwin, and Thein Kyaw Kyaw—also broadcast commentaries that toe the official line on issues of the day.

To make sure that the pro-junta message reaches as many people as possible, taxi drivers who work for regime-affiliated companies are instructed to tune into the stations when they have passengers, according to a driver for the Parami Taxi Company, owned by the Myanmar Economic Holdings Co. Ltd, a military enterprise.

The success of the radio stations operating in Burma’s biggest cities has recently led to the creation of new stations in other parts of the country. In the past few months, four new stations have appeared: Pyinsawatti FM in Arakan State; Cherry FM in Shan State; Shwe FM, which reaches Pegu Division, Mon State, Karen State and Tenasserim Division; and Pattamya FM, which broadcasts to Kachin State, Sagaing Division and Chin State.   

“Our target is every listener, young or old,” said a spokesperson for Pattamya FM, which has been broadcasting 14 hours daily, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., since Oct. 1. “We carry news, art, literature, music, movies, and health and education programs. We also provide up-to-date reports on political developments.”

Residents of Shan State said that Cherry FM’s programming consists mostly of popular music, Shan songs and other entertainment programs, but also includes pro-junta news coverage.

“The station has broadcast some news programs belittling [pro-democracy leader] Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Listeners like the music, but they don’t like to listen to those programs. Most just switch off the radio as soon as they come on,” said a resident of Lashio, adding that exiled radio stations were difficult to access in the area.

Some local residents said they saw the recent emergence of FM stations as part of an effort to win voters’ support for pro-regime candidates in next year’s planned general election. They also said that some people in rural areas mistook the new stations for foreign-based shortwave radio stations, which generally have poor reception in remote parts of the country.