Radio Begum
Afghan radio station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Radio Begum is an Afghan radio station made by women, for women. It was created on 8 March 2021 to coincide with International Women's Day by Afghan entrepreneur and journalist Hamida Aman, and is run by Begum Organization for Women (called BOW) which had been founded on 8 December 2020. It broadcasts live and continuously via both FM and satellite, to Kabul and more rural surroundings, covering approximately three quarters of the country. On 8 March 2024 its sister broadcaster Begum TV was launched in Paris with a grant from Malala Fund,[1] to provide video courses covering the Afghan school curriculum from 7th to 12th Grade by satellite.[2]
Region served | Afghanistan |
|---|---|
| Services | Educational radio broadcasts |
Official language | Pashto, Dari |
| Funding | International Programme for the Development of Communication of Unesco, EU, Malala Fund, private donation |
| Website | https://begum.ngo/our-story |
Origin
Broadcast and programming
In 2023, the radio station was heard daily by approximately 600,000 households thanks to its six transmitters, having permission to use another four.[3] According to its founder, Radio Begum was the number one private radio station in Afghanistan.[4]
The station offered courses for middle and high school students who had been deprived of education since the return of the Taliban to power on 15 August 2021.[5] Programs were offered in the two official languages of the country: in Dari in the morning and in Pashto in the afternoon.
Radio Begum continued to broadcast despite limitations being focus on education, offer topics aimed at women, and have a separate space for women. But in November 2021, it broadcast Afghan or foreign music but only religious music that glorifies the prophet and God.[6]
