The radio station, situated at Tara Gram village in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, was launched in October 2008. Now, 17 months later, it is not only a source of entertainment for people in villages like Tara Gram, Azadpura, Sitapur, Bagan, Gundrai, Chandravan and Lachmanpura, but also a tool of empowerment, a platform to share their stories, experiences, problems and even recipes. Radio Bundelkhand today has a fan following of around 2.5 lakh people spread across Tikamgarh district (Madhya Pradesh) and Jhansi district (Uttar Pradesh).

Each of these villages has a red feedback box, popularly called the lal dibba, hung near the panchayat bhawan. Here, villagers drop in their letters to Radio Bundelkhand—complaints, song requests, tips, recipes and sometimes simply gossip.

It was this lal dibba that helped villagers of Azadpura village in Tikamgarh district. For six months, they wrote to the authorities, asking for the only well in their village to be repaired, but nothing happened. After they dropped a letter in Radio Bundelkhand’s lal dibba, the radio station’s rural reporters aired the villagers’ problems and soon, Azadpura got a new wheel for the well and the handpump in the village was re-bored.

Radio Bundelkhand is an initiative of Development Alternatives, a Delhi based NGO working on development issues. Every day, the channel, with a frequency of 90.4 megahertz, airs programmes for five hours, from 10 in the morning to 12.30 noon and then in the evening from 5 p.m.

to 7.30 p.m.

The channel’s five reporters go to the villages to record their stories. Apart from field reports, the radio station also records programmes at its studio.

Station manager Anujaa Shukla says, "The purpose of the community radio was to create awareness using communication as a tool, to share solutions, to promote the Bundeli dialect and also to provide local entertainment. But a year-and-a-half later, the channel has become a part of everyday lives for over two lakh villagers.”

Besides five reporters-cum-anchors, the radio station has four production assistants who double as marketing assistants. These are Ajayendra Singh Rajput, Prachi Ojha, Manish Samadiya, Dalchand Kushwaha and Jagrup Singh Rana in the reporting team and Rampal, Bharatpal, Ganesh Pal and Matadeen. Most of them hail from backward classes and have either completed high school or are still studying. They were selected from among 50 youngsters in these villages and are paid a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,500 and upwards.

"Initially, people were hesitant about talking to us; not any more. In fact, if any of the reporters does not go to the village for over a week, they write in to us,” says Prachi Ojha, who anchors Saathin, a programme for women.

While Aas-Paas, a programme on the problems faced by villagers, is one of the chart toppers for Radio Bundelkhand, Dalchand and Ajayendra’s Mere Bundele Mere Geet—on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays—is popular too. It plays folk songs on request from a collection of over 1,000 Bundeli folk songs, sung by local singers and recorded in the studio.

Madheyram, a shopowner in Azadpura village, is a fan of Mere Bundele Mere Geet. "For me, this is my only source of entertainment,” he says. Taramati, another villager, doesn’t forget to tune in to the weekly Nuskhe nani dadi ke that offers household tips.

The channel has started getting advertisements, and the slot costs Re 1 to Rs 2 per second. "We are presently being supported by Development Alternatives, but the channel has to go on a self-sustaining mode. The advertisements are a step in that direction,” says Shukla.