`It's 5 p.m., and this is Radio Muzaffarabad'

By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times, November 30, 2005

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — The two men sat stiffly before a microphone inside a shack-turned-sound studio, a humorless, Pakistani version of Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon.

"It's 5 p.m., and this is Radio Muzaffarabad," began Fida Kazimi in his native Urdu, his delivery monotone. "This is the news from the earthquake zone."

Dressed in a woolen peasant cap and jacket, Kazimi reported on newly opened roads, relief distribution and clinic hours as his partner, Abdul Rahman, punctuated every dead space with "Gi, gi, gi," or "Yes, yes, yes."

Emanating from a city that was nearly destroyed by last month's magnitude 7.6 earthquake, which killed an estimated 87,000 people and left 3.2 million homeless, Radio Muzaffarabad has provided victims a vital link to the outside world and informed them of the availability of key services.

With its signal going out to tent cities and isolated mountain villages, received by battery-powered radios donated by aid groups, the tiny station reaches tens of thousands of earthquake survivors who have responded with about 100 calls a day, either seeking help or giving thanks.

"We need this station. No, we desperately need it," said Mubashir Hussain, 24, a quake survivor who visited the station's hilltop site. "In my tent camp, we listen to the station every day. People have lots of time."

Dr. Naveed Mirza, who works with a relief group, agreed. "We can't get to every tent camp or village. But a radio signal can get there."

Along with an adjacent television complex, the radio station's studios were leveled in the Oct. 8 temblor that killed 26 of its 80 employees. It also toppled a transmitter and left most of its recording equipment buried in the rubble.

But the station quickly returned to the air with equipment borrowed from its parent group, government-run Radio Pakistan.

"We started from zero, or minus 10--we had nothing," said Mohammed Bilal, a 25-year-old producer from nearby Peshawar who volunteered to help restart the station.

Like other employees, Bilal lives in a tent near the sheet-metal studio that--along with a 750-foot radio tower--was trucked in along treacherous mountain roads. Bilal and others dug through the wreckage to salvage a few microphones, an ancient reel-to-reel recorder, computer parts and even an old generator.

Up and running 15 days later

Fifteen days after the quake, Radio Muzaffarabad was up and running again, broadcasting in English and Urdu as well as dialects such as Kashmiri, Gojiri and Pahari.

The station once boasted a broadcast range of 100 miles, stretching into India; the smaller tower covers 30 square miles.

Broadcast time also has been cut, to 11 hours a day from 17. The station goes silent for three hours each afternoon, allowing the generator to cool as workers check for the frayed wiring that has disrupted programming.

When it rains, the sound of the drops on the studio's tin roof often can be heard on the air.

Despite the hurdles, listeners are responding.

People call from borrowed mobile phones, often using free prepaid cards distributed by relief groups. The requests are transcribed and read on the air. Workers then try to contact the appropriate government or relief agency.

Radio Muzaffarabad rarely plays music these days. Rather, its programming is filled with madadgar, or help-line segments. There are daily interviews with local leaders and relief coordinators, who often drop in at the station unannounced, interrupting a scheduled show for an impromptu on-air chat.

Since suffering the loss of so many staffers, the station is short of newsreaders and reporters. So Bilal visits the camps and villages to produce reports on the damage.

His worst moment came during an interview with an 11-year-old girl whose parents were dead and whose older brother was missing. "She was badly wounded and could not walk, but she was holding up," Bilal recalled.

`Her sobs filled the airwaves'

"But as she talked about how she could not return to school, she began to cry. I just let my recorder run. Later, her sobs filled the airwaves. It was a terrible thing to me, but I had to tell the story."

Bilal also looks for scoops, including an interview with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during his recent tour of Muzaffarabad. He didn't get the interview. In fact, he was lucky to get inside the news conference.

"I almost didn't get press credentials," he said. "They needed a photo. I'm living in a tent. How could I come up with a photo?"

Nonetheless, the station takes credit for being among the first to report on the quake.

Employee Rafique Dhatti was at work that Saturday morning and quickly stumbled from the wrecked station. He borrowed a stranger's cell phone and called the parent station with reports of the devastation, choking back tears as he filed.

"The situation was terrible--my city was gone," he said. "It was also a big story."

Bilal says his station continues to serve its listeners despite the hardships: "The proof is the calls we get from devastated people who say, `Thanks for being here.’"