Nila Community Radio @ 90.4 FM

Contact Person: Dr. V. Bharathi

Broadcasting Language: Tamil

Genesis: Nila Community Radio Station 90.4 MHz, a non-profit organisation, was established by Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College, in Puducherry. The CRS has been rendering its services to the local community since 2005.  Nila CR is committed to developing community-oriented content that touch upon the aspects that influence the well-being of the community. The CRS engages the listeners through its infotainment programmes while sensitising them about different social concerns around them. 

Thematic Focus:  Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College dedicated to serving and fulfilling its responsibilities to the community. In order to achieve this goal, Nila CRS develops programmes that focus on education, career guidance, women empowerment, health awareness, and agriculture, among other areas. Nila CR also launches local community programmes like medical camps for rural children and adults, and promotes awareness programmes on organic farming, recycling of solid and bio-waste, self- employability for villagers etc. with the help of the faculty, students, guests and local community members. 

Sustainable Development Goals:  

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

SDG 5: Gender Equality

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Primetime Programmes: The primetime programmes that are broadcast on Nila CR offer a diverse range of content, including programmes on cultural heritage, spiritual invocation, thought-provoking discussions on human well-being, health and hygiene, unearthing hidden facts, and community interaction. It delves into intriguing and lesser-known aspects to provide listeners with fascinating information. Each programme aims to engage and inform the listeners in different ways, catering to a variety of interests and topics.

Innovations in format or any other way: Nila CR caters to a diverse community, which also includes illiterate community members. The community members also struggle from a large number of issues in their daily lives. It is important to understand their concerns, and address them in ways familiar to them. Therefore, the CRS hosts community programmes for the community members to come together and voice their concerns. Focus Group Discussions are done before every session to bring out prevalent issues to the fore, and to resolve them through collective efforts. 

Core Team: Nila CR has a strong team of seventeen members, led by the Principal-cum-Station Director. Most of the team members are the faculty of the parent organisation, each of whom essay a specific role to ensure the seamless operation of the CRS. 

Major Projects Undertaken: Nila CRS has successfully completed 365 episodes of the Science for Women project, Planet of Earth project, and Disaster Preparedness through Community of Practice (CoP) project. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) initiated the STIP 2020 program, which involved an orientation and capacity strengthening workshop. Nila CRS broadcast audio and creative/jingle episodes from August 1, 2020, under the guidance of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College. The initiative helped identify local glitches and build rapport with citizens through targeted news coverage, public interest, and opinion stories. The Anubhav Project for Senior Citizens aims to create audio programs on Science, Technology, and Health and cater to the needs of senior citizens, and also involve them actively in the process of content creation.

Sustainable Strategies: Nila CRS is entirely funded by its parent organisation, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College. The CRS also generates its own revenue through the externally funded projects. 

Number of listeners and Potential Outreach: Forty villages fall within the broadcast range of Nila CR and has an active listener base of 12,500 listeners. 

Major concerns in the Community: The major concerns in the target society are health issues, environmental problems, illiteracy, poverty, lack of employment opportunities, and low income. The community also needs better healthcare and educational infrastructure.