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DU bist Radio (YOU are radio) is a radio series which was first broadcast in March 2009 by the non-commercial radio station Kanal K in Aarau (Switzerland). The program goes on the air twice a month. It can also be listened to on the Internet via live stream. The purpose of this series is
- the development of a new broadcasting format which
- without applying any journalistic filter and influence imparts a voice to special
groups in society and thereby
- develops new listening habits amongst the radio audience.
This program focuses on people whose path of life is a very peculiar one; people who for example due to a disability can hardly express themselves or who have completely lost their ability to speak due to a progressive motor neuron disease such as ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). The DU bist Radio crew, however, considers the problem of incomprehensibility solely as a problem on the side of the listeners and challenges them to face it.
DU bist Radio follows closely the concept of dialogical philosophy as developed for example by the religious philosopher Martin Buber: “I become through my relation to the Thou.” In an attempt to experience this dialectical approach the radio production team hands over the microphone to vulnerable groups (patients, prisoners, disabled or terminally ill adults, children in a hospice and drug addicts) and teaches them radio skills and craft. Once this task is completed and the the actual production of the program begins, the media crew takes a back seat and does not exert any influence whatsoever on the content of the show. Thus, the final product - i.e. the radio program - is solely created and accounted for by the media-inexperienced participants. The “result” is therefore completely open and oftentimes unforseen, unexpected and surprising: there can be documentaries, talk, reportages, biographic narratives and other - even unorthodox - forms of expression.
“As soon as we stop asking ‘our’ investigative journalistic questions, we will receive different answers”, program director Ralf Stutzki comments.
The DU bist Radio program “Patients suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)” has recently been nominated for the PRIX EUROPA 2009 media award.
In May 2009 this series was awarded with the German Alternative Media Award.
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