Residents of Farah province in western Afghanistan started getting new programming on their radios and televisions in early May, thanks to the construction of new Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) Farah studios.  A new transmission tower and television antenna system have dramatically expanded RTA’s signal, with villages up to 100 kilometers away reporting good reception of RTA’s programming.  The station was built as a joint effort by USAID, Internews Network, and the Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), demonstrating the effectiveness of coordinated assistance.

In remote areas like Farah, RTA broadcasting is often the only source of unbiased news for villagers.  To boost the station’s broadcasting capacity and provide more Farah residents with access to information, USAID helped the station relocate from an underpowered studio in the center of Farah City to a modern studio at the base of a mountain.  The PRT constructed a two kilometer path and power line from the studio to the top of the nearby peak – and the delivery of necessary construction materials required 1,200 trips uphill by donkey.

Photo: USAID/Internews

RTA Farah’s new transmission tower.

Once the studio building was outfitted with modern FM equipment and a computer audio editing system, Internews trained RTA staff to use the equipment, conduct field interviews, and edit and air them. For some of the staff, this was their first introduction to a computer, but they quickly learned to use the equipment to produce informative programs for the people of Farah.