My Radio Segment, Episode 4

This week's episode is available for download HERE, and for listening on the listen icon.

In this week's episode, i started with 2 worth-to-mention radio activities that made an obvious effort in supporting the people in Gaza, especially since i was talking last week about the CHR radios and the big rate of competition between them in all fields. The competition between them “human-wise” reached its peak this week, other than the regular calls for donations being aired on their airwaves.

The 1st one was Play 99.6's charity concert, Gaza Calling, featuring several Jordanian and Palestinian artists. Which was held on Saturday the 17-1-2009, and which i have told you about in details 2 weeks ago in my 2nd episode. The outcome of this charity concert was a successful 11,000 JD of donations, that went through the Jordan River Foundation's campaign for helping the people of Gaza. This one by Play 99.6 was probably the biggest campaign or act from any Jordanian radio station for supporting the people in Gaza, 11000 JD is really a success, and worths much more than a thousand news bulletin or a thousand hours of repeatable talking about Gaza, for its people and solving the conditions they have reached.

While the 2nd act was Spin Jordan's Musical Documentary about Gaza, which was aired on Tuesday 20-1-2009. Yes, a Musical Documentary, we might have never heard such a production on the Jordanian airwaves before.
This show was pretty well prepared and attractive, not only interesting in its way of discussing and tackling what happened in Gaza through Jordanian and Palestinian artists and their music discussing the situation out there, especially the Arabic & English rap and hip hop tracks they have created about this situation. But also in the notable quality of production. Its also worth mentioning that some of the artists featured in this documentary were featured in Play FM's charity concert.
The documentary included interviews and discussions with those artists, as well as tracks by them for this cause, and their opinion about how their music can affect this cause.

And maybe this is the 1st time we ever such a kind of Arabic revolutionary/national music, one in both Arabic and English, of the hip-hop style, on the Jordanian airwaves, on either Arabic or English speaking radio stations.

In the show, I have made a combination of about 6 minutes out of Spin's Documentary of 30 minutes, you can hear that by downloading the show and listening to it.

Back to what we heard on the Jordanian airwaves during last week.

On Radio Al-Balad, and during the evening news bulletin on Saturday 17-1-2009, the microphone fell down in the middle of the bulletin on the airwaves, which was presented by colleagues Hamze Soud and Dana Jebreel, which was Dana's 1st ever bulletin on the airwaves even. [sound clip attached].

Another troubler microphone was the one on Spin Jordan, on Tuesday 20-1-2009's morning show with Leena Ghanem, where she has forgotten her microphone ON and running without even lowering the level of its sound while playing a track after she finished talking. Apparently, Leena was talking on the phone with someone, and everything she was saying was going on the airwaves over the song, all of this, at 7.40 AM of that day.

Not only the microphones caused trouble on the airwaves last week, but broadcasting workstations too, as on Radio Farah Al-Nas on Thursday 22-1-2009, instead of having the jingle that was to announce Al-3aser (Afternoon) prayers in Amman Greater Area at 3 PM that day, another similar jingle announcing Al-Fajir (Dawn) Prayers went on the airwaves.

Last but not least, the results of the “Radio Stars Questionnaire” made by Addustour newspaper's youth section were announced in a special ceremony on Saturday 17-1-2009, and the results of this electronic voting campaign came as follows:
Best Jordanian Radio Stations:
1- Radio Fann FM
2- Radio Rotana
3- Radio Sawt Al-Ghad

Best Radio Show:
1- Besara7a with Al-Wakeel on Radio Fann
2- Wenta Mrawwe7, with Mazen Diab on Sawt Al-Ghad
3- 3a Daw El-2ama, with Omar Azzam on Watan FM
AND Shabab 3al FM with Hazem Thaljee on Radio Al-Balad.

Best Radio Announcer (Female):
1- Jessy Abu Faisal, Sawt Al-Ghad.
2- Dezereh Bsaibes, Radio Fann.
3- Randa Karadshe, Mazaj FM.

Best Radio Announcer (Male):
1- Mohammad Al-Wakeel, Radio Fann.
2- Necola Dagher, Radio Rotana. AND, Mazen Diab, Sawt Al-Ghad.
3- Esam Al-Omaree, Amen FM.

Remember that you can contribute too, and send in your comments, feedback and any radio observations on radio@ammannet.net

and note that this segment is being replayed Wednesdays at 4 PM now, beside the basic airplay time, Mondays at 10.30 AM.

Radio Guide Update: Hayat FM now in Irbid on 94.7 FM

Hayat FM started broadcasting in Irbid on 94.7 FM.

This is Hayat FM's 1st frequency outside the one in Amman, which also covers zarqa, madaba and the surrounding areas.

Remember that for all the working frequencies on the jordanian airwaves you can also check: www.JordanRadioGuide.com

My Radio Segment, Episode 3

As promised, this Week's episode got some improvements (Production-Wise), as well as a discussion about CHR Stations in Jordan.

This week's episode is available for download HERE, and for listening on the listen icon.

Here is what occurred on the airwaves during the past week:
Starting Tuesday 13-1-2009, the day when news were being spread the fake news of a shooting incident from the Jordanian side has occurred on an Israeli patrol in Wadi Araba. This news hit the radios first on Radio Al-Balad and Hayat FM around 9.30 AM, where Radio Al-Balad broadcasted it at the beginning of its news headlines at 9.30 as a brief news, and preferred not going into more discussion or details until getting more accurate information. While Hayat FM has allocated part of her morning show for this piece of news, and was broadcasting the details directly from Al-Jazeera TV, but tried in controlling the public's comments and interaction regarding it until having an official statement about it.
The Other news-broadcasting radio stations didn't broadcast it on its news bulletins until releasing the official statement from the head of the Jordanian Armed Forces, so we heard this statement 1st on Radio Amen FM and Radio Fann FM, which declined the roomer news, and then the statement followed to appear on the other radio stations, but everyone was broadcasting it like it is, and probably only Radio Al-Balad cared about broadcasting and reporting the series of actions.

In continuity to the public interaction with what's happening in Gaza, Wednesday the 14th's edition of the afternoon show on Mazaj FM, “3al tareeq”, discussed the calls for boycotting the US Products, brands, and restaurants, and the related activism lately in the occasion of what's going on in Gaza. This topic received a lot of feedback and interaction from the listeners throughout the phones calls, emails, and SMSes. And the show's host, Randa Karadshe, had a smart way of reacting among the callers trying to name some brands.
Also in this show, there has been a “minute of silence” on the airwaves of Mazaj FM, after one of the callers suggested that, and the other listeners as well as the show host reacted positively among the idea.

Last but not least, On Beat FM's morning show, “The Beat Breakfast”, on Wednesday the 14th, and while the show host was talking about computer viruses, it seems he got an attack by one of them on the air, causing him some trouble, that he managed to recover rapidly with high skills [recording attached].

As declared in last week's show, this week i'd be discussing CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) stations in Jordan, also known as Hit Music stations.

This genre of stations that puts on its airwaves the latest western musical hits, was one of the 1st genres being developed on the Jordanian airwaves by private media companies. As Play 99.6 started broadcasting in 2004, followed right at the beginning of 2005 by Beat FM. That is until 2008, when we witnessed the opening of Energy FM and Spin Jordan. Having as a result, 4 CHR stations in Jordan, all targeting the young generation until the 30s in age. And most if not all the music being aired on their airwaves are western music in English, and the spoken language on their airwaves is also English, and its pretty rare to hear Arabic on their airwaves despite the fact that those are Jordanian Stations owned by Jordanian Companies, and most of the people working in them are Jordanian.

[Details about the station owners available in the episode's recording]

Those 4 CHR stations are hot on fire when it comes to competition, and much more than the ones between Arabic stations in the sector. A competition that starts from the latest music the play, but continues to shows, prizes, and all sort of creative events and campaigns that exceed the limits of the small studio from which they broadcast. That is obvious that much that one of those stations, Play 99.6, got an international reward back in 2007 from the NAB, gaining the international excellency broadcasting award from the NAB.

All of this, despite the fact that, according to statistics, those stations' ratings are the lowest in Jordan in general! But maybe because the people behind CHR stations are more “skilled” and “business-maniacs”, especially since some of them got international experiences. And because we are not really finding this competition in other radio genres in Jordan, nonetheless Arabic ones. The competition between them is so obvious.

I've did lately some monitoring for the airwaves of those stations and prepared a small study about whats going on their airwaves, with 2 sample time-frames, one PEAK time between 8-8.45 AM on a working day, during the morning shows, and one OFF PEAK, in a Saturday between 2-3 PM.

The study in details is available here

General findings of the study were as follows:

Play 99.6 is still the dominant when it comes to advertisements, with around 60% of the market, followed by Beat FM with around 30%. While no notable ads are being aired on the airwaves of the newer Energy FM and Spin FM, especially when there aren't live shows on the airwaves.

While when it comes to the music being played, and since CHR is all about hit music, the story is opposite! Because the new radio stations that opened in 2008, are notably winning! As they are trying to attract the listeners and getting a larger share in the market, Energy FM for example appeared according to this study to have 79% of its airplay consisting of fresh new music on, and no single track from what was monitored was from before 2008. While Spin FM had more variety in the music, as it featured older tracks as well, but with a high rate of fresh music, and with close percentages to those of Beat FM, which has a bigger concentration of fresh new music during peak hours. But Play 99.6 is not playing that much new music on its airwaves, as the percentage of fresh new music, according to the study, does not exceed 45%. Now some people in the sector have an opinion about that, that people are more likely willing to hear music that they know, more than the fresh new music. And maybe its a strategy from Play 99.6 to keep its listeners in this competition. Also, one notable thing, is that the only Jordanian track that went on the airwaves of the 4 radio stations was one on Play 99.6, and this stations is known for its support of local talents singing in English.

Last but not least, it was obvious that Beat FM and Play 99.6 are probably just the right balance when it comes to talking on the airwaves, and this shows the professionalism and high preparation of their shows' hosts. While during the 45 monitored minutes on Energy FM's morning show, there was 14.5 minutes of talk! Which is almost the third. On the other hand, Spin Jordan was the only station where the hosts speak Arabic from time to time, even though mixed in English, and they even have some jingles in Arabic playing on their airwaves [Recording attached].

Its worth mentioning by the end of this episode, that many thanks go for the guys at Beat FM, specifically Mr Raad Kawar, that has cooperated positively and supplied us with the Beat FM recording.

Remember that you can contribute too, and send in your comments, feedback and any radio observations on radio@ammannet.net

and note that this segment is being replayed Wednesdays at 4 PM now, beside the basic airplay time, Mondays at 10.30 AM.

Two Countries, One Soul – A Photo Gallery

The Jordanian Romanian Forum for Culture

(JRFC)

Warmly invites you to an eye capturing experience

Two Countries, One Soul – A Photo Gallery

Photos from Jordan and Romania, featuring The special guest and Jordanian Photographer: Ehab Othman

Opening: Wednesday the 21st of January 2009 at 18:30

Mecca mall – Ground Floor- The extension.
Wednesday the 21st , Thursday the 22nd and Friday the 23rd of January 2009


Sponsored by:
Mecca Mall
Ashab Advertising
Abu Mahjoob Creative Products
Jordanian Youth Creativity Forum

JEA's laziness campaign will not support Gaza!

The Jordanian Engineers Association (JEA) has been announcing in the local newspapers and through SMSes to its members to have a 1 hour of no work between the hours of 12-1 PM, as solidarity for Gaza! as they call it!

How will laziness support Gaza!!!!!!!!!
Everything can be a support for Gaza except for this! since when being lazy and not working became a way to win a war! or to support the people of Gaza!

Stupid!

CHR Radio in Jordan, What you Hear is what you Get!

I've wanted to do this “tiny self-study” while ago, and finally I was able to do, especially with the fact that i started my radio segment lately :)

CHR Stations in Jordan (standing for: Contemporary Hit Radio) are probably representing the biggest competition rate in the Jordanian radio sphere at the time being. Being currently 4 radio stations, CHRs are notably competing with everything from shows to bringing in the hottest western hit music for the Jordanian listeners, And from coming up with all sorts of creative event ideas, to bringing in the biggest competitions and prices for its listeners.

All of this, despite the fact that, according to statistics, those stations' ratings are the lowest in Jordan in general, since most of the population prefers to listen to Arabic music, or no music at all even! But maybe because we are not really finding this competition in other radio genres in Jordan, nonetheless Arabic ones. And maybe because those people behind CHR stations are more “skilled” and “business-maniacs”, this competition is hot out there.

[more about CHR stations in Jordan will be discussed on Episode 3 of My Radio Segment, next monday 10,30 PM on Radio Al-Balad 92.4 FM]

So, what I did was that i've chosen random times, random dates, and gave a listen to all 4 CHR stations, documenting all that went on air in those selected time-frames: Tracks, Promos, Ads, and talk!

2 main sample time frames where studied, one OFF PEAK (same date and time for all 4 stations), and one PEAK (same time, but different dates among the 4 radio stations).

General Notes:

• Promotions and jingles are stated with the word [PROMO]

• Unknown artists are stated with [N/A] followed by the title of the song, or part of its lyrics between double quotes in case i was not able to know the song title.

• Fresh new hits are colored in Blue

• Older Hits from 2008 are colored in Green

• Older hits from before 2008 are colored in Red, and much more older ones are colored in light red.

Sample 1:

Saturday: 27-12-2008

Between the hours of 14:05-15:05

Period status: Non Peak Hour / No shows / Weekend

In this grid, in between most (if not all) the songs, an identification jingle was aired. Those are not mentioned in this grid.

Energy FM	Spin FM	Beat FM	Play FM
The Script – Break Even	Rihanna – Its Over Now	Jes – Imagination	Wrap up for the play top 40 of the year + [PROMO]
			Madcon – Begging
N/A - “I wanna say i'm sorry, don't wanna say goodbye”	Fedde Le Grande – Put your hands up for detroit	Maroon 5 – This Love	N/A - “day & night”
Jay Sean - Tonight	Kings of Leon – Loose somebody	Hinder – Without you	Daughtery – Its not over
Rihanna – Disturbia	One republic – Stop and Stare	Kanye West – Heartless	David Deejay – Sexy thing
Katy perry – Hot & Cold	Taylor swift – You Belong with me	Kevin Rudolf – Let it rock	Ne Yo - Closer
Estelle feat. Sean Paul – Come Over	Toni Braxton – Wasn't a man enough for me	Simple Plan – Untitled	Linkin Park – in the end
Coldplay – Viva la Vida	Second hand Serenade – Fall for you	Jessica and Ashly Simpson - The Little Drummer Boy	David Guetta – Love is gone
Flo Rida - Low	Nelly Fortado – I'm like a bird	Enrique – Escape	Beyonce – Like a boy
Metro station – Shake it	MGMT – Kids	Freemasons (Feat. Bailey Tzuke) – Uninvited	Fedde Le Grande – Put your hands up for detroit
Voodoo feat. Sirano – Trans Atlantic flow	N/A - “that was a turning point”	(2) Advertisements + [PROMO]s	Nickleback – Rockstar
N/A - “What a feeling, nothing but a lie”	N/A - “told you how it used to be”	R.I.O. - Shine On	(4) Advertisements + [PROMO]s
Kaskade – Move for me	Leona Lewis – Run	Nickleback – Got to be somebody	Rihanna – Live your Life
Will I Am – Its a new day	Kanye West – Home Coming	Cherish - Killa	Akon – Na na
Will I Am – I've been thinking about you	Jesse McCartney - Its over	Shaggy – Feel the Rush	Chris Brown – With you
Antique - Moro Mou	Jack Jonson – Cocoon	Jay Sean - Tonight	(3) Advertisements + [PROMO]s
Lil' Wayne – Lollipop	Mariah Cary – Touch my Body	Ian Carey – Redlight	ATB – Till I come
N/A - “You can't get enough, keep up pumpin'”	The Script – Break Even	Albert Neve & David Oleart - I'm Alive	Armin Van Burren - In and Out of love
		Three Days Grace - Never Too Late

Sample 2:

Period status: Peak hour / Morning shows / Weekdays

Time: Mainly between 8:00 – 8:45 AM

Dates Specified on each station

Beat FM	Spin FM
30 – 12 – 2008 8:00 – 8:45 AM	30 – 12 – 2008 7:59 – 8:45 AM
David Deejay – Sexy Thing	[PROMO] + (1) Advertisements
[PROMO]	On Air Talking (2m)
Dido – Don't Believe in Love	The Script – Break Even
[PROMO]	[PROMO]
On Air Talking (1m)	Ne Yo – Closer
Kanye West – Love Locked Down	On Air Talking (0m 40s)
On Air Talking (3m) + (1) Sponsor Advertisements	The whosiers – Goodbye Mister
(1) Advertisements + Promo	[PROMO]
Nickleback – Got to be somebody	Kanye West - Heartless
On Air Talking (0m 30s)	On Air Talking (1m)
Enrique – Taking back My Love	Milo – Drop in pressure
[PROMO]	On Air Talking (0m 20s)
Craig David – Unbelievable	The Johnas Brothers - “”
On Air Talking (2m)	[PROMO]
Robbie Williams (Close My Eyes)	Madcon – Begging
On Air Talking (3m)	On Air Talking (0m 50s)
(2) Advertisements + Promo	Lady gaga – Just Dance
Britney Spears - Womenizer	On Air Talking (0m 30s)
[PROMO]	[PROMO]
On Air Talking (1m)	Rihanna – Live your life
T Brothers beat – Pennies , Henny, & Bitties	On Air Talking (1m)
	Shantel – T Shirt

Play 99.6	Energy 97.7 FM
31 – 12 – 2008 7:56 – 8:45 AM	5 – 1 – 2009 8:00 – 8:45 AM
On Air Talking (0m 50s)	[PROMO]
Nickleback – Got to be somebody	On Air Talking (1m)
On Air Talking (1m 10s)	Rihanna – Live your Life
Katy Perry – Hot & Cold	On Air Talking (2m 30s) + (2) sponsor advertisements
On Air Talking (0m 40s)	Goo loo josh Project – Infinity
Ian Carry - Rise	[PROMO]
(1) Advertisements + Promo + (1) Sponsor skit	Beyonce – All the single ladies
Modjo - Lady	On Air Talking (2m)
On Air Talking (2m 20s)	Voodoo & Serano – Trans Atlantic Flow
Rihanna – Live your life	On Air Talking (2m 20s)
On Air Talking (1m)	[PROMO]
(3) Advertisements + several Promos	The Killers – Human
On Air Talking (1m)	On Air Talking (0m 20s)
The Script – Break Even	Christina Agulera – Keeps getting better
[PROMO]	On Air Talking (4m) including a live phone call
Timberland – The way I are	Craig David – Insomnia
On Air Talking (1m)	[PROMO]
Dj Flava Vs Stefani – Beautiful Lie (A Jordanian Song)	Britney Spears - Circus
On Air Talking (1m 40s)	On Air Talking (2m 30s)
September – Cry for you	[PROMO]
[PROMO]	Akon - Beautiful
Kevin Rudolf – Let it rock	Paul Van Dyk feat Jessica – White Lies

General Findings and observations (Despite the fact that this is not a “scientific research” to have accurate enough numbers, but according my listening experience, thats the situation in general on the CHR airwaves):

	Energy 97.7 FM	Spin Jordan	Beat FM	Play 99.6
Nr of Advertisements (Non Peak hour sample)	0	0	2	7
Nr of Advertisements (Peak hour sample)	0 + 2 sponsor	1	3 + 1 sponsor	4 + 1 sponsor
Talking time	14m 40s	6m 20s	9m 30s	9m 40s
Percentage of Fresh Music (Non Peak hour sample)	70%	64%	45% (But most of the other are labeled in Green)	33%
Percentage of Fresh Music (Peak hour sample)	90%	80%	88.8%	60%
Percentage of Fresh music (All)	79%	70%	58%	44%

Maybe its too clear that 3 out of the 4 radio stations are beating hardly on getting the latest and hottest hits, while Play 99.6 is out of this competition at the time being! Mention that even the fresh songs being played on Play 99.6 at the time being are not premiers, and have been playing on other stations for at least 1 month (A good example is The Script's – “Break Even”, and Play's claim to remember where we heard it 1^st while its been on the other 3 station's airplay for 2 months or more [More was in this week's episode of my radio segment] ). While Energy 97.7 FM are jamming the airwaves with a big quantity of hits, and almost no before 2008 songs at all!

Despite this fact, Play 99.6 is still the dominant when it comes to advertisements, with around 60% of the market, followed by Beat FM with around 30%. While no notable ads are being aired on the airwaves of the newer Energy FM and Spin FM, despite the fact that Energy for Example is there for almost a year now!

Talk-wise during the shows at the peak hour sample, Beat FM and Play 99.6 are probably just the right balance, while on Spin Jordan things are bit more silent despite announcement for ways to support people in gaza where being aired as well when taking the sample, talk on Spin Jordan is actually more of a direct one. On the other hand, Energy FM's Martin B spent almost 30% of the time during the taken sample, though he no announcement regarding supporting gaza went on air, and though the last 2 songs of the sample were part of the so-called “no talk triple play” on Energy FM, when there is no talk at all between 3 songs in a row.

Back to the music according to the grids above, and according to my personal “listener” mentions as well, you will be able to mention that Beat FM plays un-popular tracks from time to time , though they might be new (actually, Thanks to the people from Beat FM who helped me in finding the names of alot of tracks from their playlist). While Spin Jordan has a bit of “over redundancy” for the fresh hits, that might not be observed in this study, but when you listen during weekdays to their series of shows from 7 AM – 7 PM.

On last notable thing, is that the only Jordanian track that went on the airwaves of the 4 radio stations was one on Play 99.6, which is known for its notable support for local talents all over those year by the way, the song appearing in the sample is called “Beautiful Lie” and its by “Dj Flava Vs Stefani”

So, let see what do you think of all the above, and what do you listeners think of CHR stations in Jordan in general.

My Radio Segment, Episode 2

This week's episode is available for download HERE, and for listening on the listen icon. and Here are the contents of this episode:

The interactivity on the Jordanian airwaves with the crisis in Gaza has continued this week, without any major changes from the previous week.
Radio Jordan - English Service for example, has continued in broadcasting mellow and classical music, but in the periods when popular shows used to be on air, just like the program “Licenser's Choice” LC, the lines were open for the public to interact with the licenser's regarding whats happening in Gaza, also we have heard several times on the airwaves of this radio station, and at several times, even some Arabic revolutionary and national songs, which, unfortunately, were with quite bad sound quality.

On the other hand, all 3 radio stations operated by Seagulls Communication, specifically, Mazaj FM, Beat FM, and Mood FM, have started promoting for the Jordan River Foundation's campaign for helping the people in Gaza. That is, other than Aramex's campaign that I have mentioned and played in last week's episode. And which has been on most of the radio station's around, but unfortunately not all of them .... ! is it possible some radio stations asked for a charge for playing this announcement!

Play 99.6, is also organizing a music gig, for several Palestinian hiphop bands, that are known for their way musical way in tackling the Palestinian issues, as well as the Jordanian singer hummam ammari. The objective of this gig, as play is announcing is to donate all the money collected from the tickets for supporting people in gaza, also through the Jordan River foundation's campaign.

Play FM has is promoting for this event through its website, www.play.jo, and through several catchy promotions on its airwaves. But one of the interesting things is that I heard an announcement for this gig on Energy FM's “Morning Fix” show, mentioning the cause behind it, but definitely not that Play FM is organizing it. Also, on of the participating DJs in this gig is DJ Sout-u-Soura, who has a show on Beat FM. Despite the fact I didn't hear any announcements on Beat FM about this gig, but having Beat FM allowing one of their DJs in such an event organized by their competitor, Play FM, for such a cause and in such situations is indeed something out of the ordinary war of competition between those radio stations.

In the coverage of the public interaction with what's happening in Gaza, Radio Al-Balad has continued its “Quality” coverage, something that is said not only by me in this show, but Also by BBC Arabic, in their show “BBC Extra”, which dedicated part of this week's show about Radio Al-Balad's extra ordinary coverage for the crisis in gaza and the public interaction with it.

Last Friday, 9-1-2009, for example, Radio Al-Balad started a detailed Live coverage for the public activities and marches around town, and dedicated a big part of this coverage for the big demonstration in Rabieh, which started from a news bulletin that turned into a live coverage for over a couple of hours, and was objective enough to report the events at location through their representative, as well as a lot of phone calls with the media announcer of the anti-rebel police dept (Darak Forces), and other people and eye-witnesses at location, and even some reporters from other media outlets available on location. And thus had the responsibility to show the picture at location for the listeners neutrally as it is, and from all the point of view. That is beside covering other marches and demonstrations in other locations as well.

While Hayat FM for example, had a different kind of coverage on the same day, and was more political oriented, by only covering the speech ceremony held by the islamic brotherhood party, and there was no other coverage for other events. But, Hayat FM had held an event it self 1 day before, by organizing a demonstration for kids from their offices to the UNICEF offices in Tla3 Al-Ali area, and promoted for it through its airwaves.

On the sector news, both University of Jordan and Mutah University had each obtained a license from the AVC for having their own radio stations. Just like the radio stations already running in Yarmouk University and in Ma'an's King Hussein University. No further details yet about those radio stations, or their frequencies or programs, and i promise i will be dedicating an episode soon about those university radio stations.

With the beginning of 2009, i have mentioned some changes in the programs over the airwaves. Radio Al-Balad for example started a new shows grid, by doing some changes in some existing shows, like “3asrieh” which is now more politically oriented, and “Eye on Media” out of which this segment now takes part, along with 2 other segments on Newspapers and news-websites. As well as introducing several new shows, just like “Kolna Bne2dar”, “Kolna zai ba3ad”, “sport files”, a return for the program “7aggee”, “atheer al qawafi”, “Musica men el sharq”... and continuity for the regular other shows on the airwaves, and their interaction with the listener's.

Also, we got surprised on Sunday 4-1-2009 on Spin Jordan, which is just around 3 months old on the airwaves, with a reshuffle for the hosts of their shows, so that the morning show presenter “Tamer Bataineh” is now on the afternoon show called “The Zoo Crew”, and Lena Ghanem was moved from there to the morning show in return.

Beat FM, started airing a promo for its achievements in 2008, promising that the year 2009 will be as their motto, “Bigger, Better, Bolder”, but with no changes on the shows or any new shows, until now.

Also, seem Radio Sawt Al-Madina is planning some new stuff for the new year, but until now, i didn't hear anything but a comedy segment which Radio Sawt Al-Madina has co-produced with those from the comics website, 3alarasi.com


Last but not least, we heard some amusing stuff on the airwaves of Jordanian radios during the last week. On Saturday 3-1-2009 on Radio Al-Balad, specifically on the evening news and while talking on air through the phone to a certain individual, he started thanking Radio Sawt Al-Madina instead of Radio Al-Balad, while he was Live on the airwaves of Radio Al-Balad. (sound clip attached).

While on Energy FM's Morning Fix, those people behind the program, has introduced a new segment on Sunday 4-1-2009, which we actually used to hear it on Play 99.6 a while ago, by allowing school students and interacting with them speaking about their schools, classes or teachers on the airwaves. Unfortunately, seems those behind the idea has forgotten that currently, the schools are either in their med-year vacation, or just wrapping up the final exams.

Finally, on Play 99.6, also on the morning show, Lee McGrath has played us a song, The Script's latest – Break Even, claiming its new and will be big in 2009, and to remember where we heard it 1st .... while this track has been playing all over the other CHR radio stations for over a couple of months even! (sound clip attached)

Next week, hopefully, we will get to know more about CHR Radios in Jordan, and the definition of this format of Radio stations and a detailed discussion about them. So tune in next monday on 92.4 FM starting 10.30 AM, or through www.ammannet.net, for this and more.

Remember you can send in your comments, feedback and any radio observations on radio@ammannet.net

Russians seem to be interested in attracting us! Media Wise

The new russian TV, Russia Today, seem to be really interested in the arabic public, and specifically the jordanian, and attracting them to their arabic channel that has been on the air for several months now.

The station has been advertising in local newspapers, and last week i've mentioned they installed this booth in City Mall, where they even have some young girls, "Not Russian, nor half russian ... Unfortunately ;)" trying "with not even half of the russian dare-full-ness" to let the people know more about the channel.

I've never seen until now such a direct promotion for any TV station in jordan, yet. What do you think about it. Russian's Are Rush-in or what :)

My Radio Segment, Episode 1

This is the 1st episode of My Radio segment within “Eye on Media” which is being aired on Radio Al-Balad 92.4 FM.

Excuse me for being kind of boring in my first episode, due to emotions as well as the flue, i will make sure it would get better on the next episodes.

For the 1st episode, i am discussing the interaction of Jordanian radio stations with the situation in Gaza, and here goes the details, noting that the audio recording for the show is available for listening on the green icon, and for download here. My Segment is by the end of the show:

Starting with Saturday the 27th of December 2008, one of the 1st days of the attack on Gaza. Radio Jordan Broadcasting Corporation stopped the transmission on Radio Amman FM on all its frequencies, and united its transmission with the Main Program of Radio Jordan Broadcasting. Where extensive coverage and news bulletins for the situation on Gaza was taking place on air. Also, Radio Jordan – English and French service stopped their regular programs, and was playing only soft and classical music, along with the regular news headlines and bulletins each and every hour.

On the other hand, Radio Al-Balad 92.4 had a continuous open wave coverage for the situation in Gaza, and was playing revolutionary national music. Hayat FM also had a continuous news coverage for the situation in Gaza, and had also a different coverage including interaction with different political and social personalities and their opinion on the situation, and even a phone call with his majesty's media adviser, Mr Ayman Al-Safadi. Also, one of the different things in Hayat FM's coverage was the fact it was announcing the places and times of demonstrations, a thing that points out the public interaction with this radio station among those activities.

And all the radio stations with news licenses where covering the situation, including the Arabic service of the BBC, which also had a continuous coverage for the event, and even on the headlines level at some stations, like Sawt Al-Madina, which had rapid, short, yet rich headlines covering the events in Gaza.

Staying on the same day, we have witnessed a strange case on Mazaj FM, which had its transmission going off between the hours of 6.30- 8.30 PM (approx). Some people thought it was an intension from Mazaj FM to stop the transmission because of what is going on in Gaza, but later i have received the information that the problem was just due to a failure in the fiber-optics connection between the studio and the transmission tower.

On Sunday,December 28th, the day has started in a different way with the morning shows on most of the radio stations around town, especially the popular morning show, “Besaraha with Al-Wakeel” on Radio Fann, which was involved pretty much with the situation in Gaza. This involvement on those shows also continued in the next days with the same rhythm.
Also on sunday, The Quran Radio – Irbid branch, broadcasted prayers and verses from the holy quran picked especially for this occasion to pray for the “shohada2” who passed away in Gaza, in the afternoon through the evening period.

An interaction with the situation also appeared from the radio stations mentioning their withdrawal from the new year's parties they were supporting and sponsoring. The 1st to announce this was Spin Jordan and Ayyam FM, which had also the parties they were supporting and sponsoring stopped after this withdrawal as well. Also, the Party held in Le Royal and sponsored by Fann FM was canceled on this occasion, and the only remaining party that continued as scheduled and kept sponsored by a radio station was Sawt Al-ghad's, which was held at the Holiday Inn. The issue of the new year's parties being canceled or not was also discussed Live on the airwaves of Hayat FM, and opened the airwaves for the public to interaction with this issue.

The stations in General promoted for gathering donation items, blood donations, and support for the people in Gaza. This started ever since Monday and Tuesday. Most of the western radio stations for example, namely: Play FM, Beat FM, Mood FM, Spin Jordan, where announcing the campaign by 7iber.com, the Jordan River Foundation's campaign, and blood donation campaigns. Some stations also canceled the special programs scheduled for new year's eve on their airwaves, those were namely: Play FM and Radio Sawt Al-Madina. And on Radio Sawt Al-Madina also for example, one of the dynamic and entertaining shows, “Nharak Sa3eed” had changed into a show that interacts with the listeners regarding the situation in Gaza and with national songs being played on air.

Last but not least, an announcement by Aramex for collecting donations for gaza was an interesting one to be heard on absolutely all the radio stations in both Arabic and English. Noting that no radio station requested any fees from aramex for announcing this Advertisement on their airwaves.


Thats all for this week,
Remember, for any suggestions or feedback, or if you hear anything unusual on the radio, on any radio station, tell us right away by email that to:
radio@ammannet.net