Heron on the Nile
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OK, so I have always been fascinated with broadcasting and when I read of previous volunteers doing some radio work I thought that could be a bit of fun.

On Tuesday afternoon I was invited along to the National Broadcasting studios. I met producer Ghada and presenter Saleh Abubakr. They are responsible for a 10 minute "Thought for the Day" insert called "The Middle Way" which goes out in English on Radio Holy Koran. It requires a westerner to ask naïve questions about Islam to which Saleh then responds. We had a quick run through the scripts for episodes 22, 23 and 24, and then went into the studio, adjusting our chairs in front of a single microphone until the engineer was satisfied that our levels were balanced. The output was connected to a PC, the recording would be directly on to a hard disk; no tape machines here. The engineer hit the space-bar, gave us the cue, and went back to his newspaper. Ghada, meanwhile, went off to accounts to make sure I would get paid at the end of the session.

One episode was on the subject of marriage. I wondered how he could possibly have done 21 episodes without already covering this. Another was on not taking time for granted, but this week's was the importance of using our God-given talents to earn a living, no matter how menial; "like US$20 for 30 minutes work," I thought.

The programme went out on Friday morning. I got up early to hear my radio debut. The station seemed to be an all -Arabic service, apart from our insert, so I am not sure who listens and to what benefit. It was on Medium Wave and the signal was not very strong - but I managed to record a snitch. Below are a few links to some excerpts, sorry about the quality.

http://www.peterbennett.co.uk/herononthenile/gallery/clips/0090_0010_0411260723_Radio_Holy_Quoran.MPG

http://www.peterbennett.co.uk/herononthenile/gallery/clips/0090_0030_0411260727_Radio_Holy_Quoran.MPG

http://www.peterbennett.co.uk/herononthenile/gallery/clips/0090_0040_0411260730_Radio_Holy_Quoran.MPG

More about radio in Sudan at: http://www.proaudiomiddleeast.com/paa/article.asp?cid=363

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