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TUNING IN: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FOREIGN RADIO STATIONS IN QATAR
22 March 2021
“Radio Olive par, let’s learn Arabic.” FM 106.3, Radio Olive, is one of Qatar’s largest radio stations. The above announcement that translates to “In Radio Olive, let’s learn Arabic” is the introduction to one of their many short announcements that focuses on informing the Hindi and Urdu speaking diaspora of Qatar. Every day, this short announcement is aired multiple times and aims to teach one new Arabic word to its listeners.
Qatar is home to millions of expatriates and migrant workers from around the world. Among the various communities that the diasporas have formed throughout the years, foreign language radio stations have been a major part of these communities. Jairo Lugo Alfonso Ocando, the Vice-President of the Advisory Board in Golfo Radio, a Spanish-language station in Qatar, described that the station was a “project to create a community.”
The content of the radio stations primarily structure around infotainment: information plus entertainment. Krishna Kumar, co-founder and director of Olive Radio, a Hindi language station in Qatar said that their content generally centers around music and live shows. Other stations also tend to have similar content within their production schedules. Asmaa Al-Buainain, head of programs at QBS Radio, an English-language station in Qatar, gave emphasis on how their station schedule also entailed “primarily music... and entertainment” and consisted of live shows, news bulletins and other programs.
These stations that help form the community of the migrant population and the workers of the country do more than provide jams and jingles. Hisham Saif, a radio host at Urdu Station, emphasized on the role of the stations in informing the 1.6 Million listeners especially the blue-collar workers in Qatar, “They heavily rely on the updates that we give them.” Hisham further elaborated how stations like theirs are regularly making public service announcements (PSAs) for the expat listeners. Al-Buainain emphasized how their goals also focus around making their broadcasts “more inclusive.” Similarly, QBS also focuses on music and entertainment as well as PSAs. Al-Buainain states that their efforts also entail “making the news just as good as [our] music programs.”
The stations are heavily invested with the local expat community, especially through direct engagement. Kumar mentioned that the responses they get —over calls and WhatsApp— have been “overwhelming.” Stations such as Radio Olive —and the other language(Malayalam, Nepali, Sinhala) stations —, and Urdu Radio that have live shows with callers and texters receive “direct response” from their audiences. For example, Urdu radio witnessed an influx of calls asking about Qatar’s vaccination regulations. Saif mentioned that his experience and engagement with audiences has exceeded beyond the studio. He referred to an instance where he shared a conversation with an uber driver who also happened to be a frequent listener of his station. Beyond the regular broadcast shows, stations also host events such as quiz shows, lucky-draw prizes for their callers and texters and other similar shows that actively engage with the community.
When it comes to finances, how do these stations stay afloat? The Private stations here rely on advertisements for their revenue. They host advertisements that are approved for broadcast. Radio Olive for example, also has its own in-house production team that can make ads for clients who don’t have something that can be aired. Discussing the importance of these ads and their awareness generating goals, Kumar mentions, “if a new product is launched in Qatar, we try to see how we can make that product known to the public.” On the other hand, QBS Radio and Urdu Radio, which function under Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) —a government media network— have their budget directed from the Qatari government itself. In context of QBS’s financial structure, Al-Buainain states, “Technically we are a government entity, so we don't have any revenue per say. But the money comes in from advertisements mostly, and then it’s filtered back through our budget.”
Each station has its own ways of doing things. But most importantly, catering to the diversity of Qatar and providing a platform for the expat population to stay connected and informed with the latest insights is what they do best.