4 1 Ibahrine Moroccan Radio

4. Radio in Morocco

41

Dr. Mohammed IbahrineAL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY in IFRANE

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCESCOMMUNICATIONS STUDIES PROGRAM

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Developing a Concise Definition

• Developing a Concise Definition

“Mass communication is a process in which professional communicators design and use media to disseminate messages widely, rapidly, and continuously in order to arouse intended meanings in large, diverse, and selectively attending audiences in attempts to influence them in a variety of ways”

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1. History of Moroccan Radio

• 1. History of Moroccan Radio

• The French were the first to start broadcasting in Morocco in February 1928, when radio signals were sent from the city of Rabat with a two–kilowatt medium-wave transmitter

• News programs were tightly supervised by the Résident General, who was positioned to appoint the director of Radio Morocco (Alami, 1985).

• Similarly, in the north of the country, the Spanish colonial power established Radio Dersa Tetuan

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• 1. History of Moroccan Radio

• From this point on in the international zone, Tanger witnessed an emergence of several radio stations, such as Radio Tanger, Voice of America and Radio Africa Maghreb

• These, like the earlier foreign owned Arabic newspapers, offered a variety of programming to boost colonial intentions, while criticizing competitive colonial powers over Morocco (Alami, 1985: 22)

• All these radio stations were in the hands of foreign powers.

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• Radio, in turn became the key form of Moroccan communication and resistance against the French in their fight for independence

• Nationalist leaders voiced their ideas from radio stations based in Spain and Italy

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• As a response to this new situation, the French colonial power issued the Dahir of July 1929 to extend and define the scope of the monopolisation to include all signal transmission tools whether they are audio or visual, since the first Dahir was limited solely to telephony and telegraphy

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• This restriction was designed initially to prevent Moroccans from using Radio

• Moroccan nationalist intensified their radio use in the independence battle by using the Voice of Cairo, which allowed them to communicate their political message to influence others to fight for their independence (Alami, 1985: 22).

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The Post-Independence Era

• As early as 1960s, a central radio station characterised the development of radio broadcasting in Morocco

• The development of the national information system in Morocco was decidedly framed and formed by the regime

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• In 1962, the regime reorganized the county’s broadcasting structure under a radio service in Rabat by the name of Al-Idaa Wat-Talfaza Al-Maghribiya (Moroccan Radio and Television)

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• During the Protectorate, the technical infrastructure of the studios was respectable in the light of the time

• The airing covered only the coastal region of Casablanca and Rabat and some big cities such as Fez and Meknes

• The regime bought the exiting infrastructure of some studios in Tangier and in Tetoun and gave priority to the broadcasting system

• Consequently, the regime took a series of actions to restore and develop radio broadcasting services

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• King Hassan II took reference of the development of radio in Morocco between 1962 and 1970

• By 1960, however, the regime began the process of establishing a Moroccan radio system

• The early stages of radio operations were from Morocco’s early introduction to the radio came from the colonial power and from foreigners living in the country

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• To build a national network, the regime established several regional radio stations in this period

• The regime installed in Marrakech (1958), Fez (1961), Oujda (1962), Agadir (1971), Laayoune (1976), Dakhla (1980) and Tetuan (1982)

• In today’s Morocco, the radio sector consists of a national network radio station in Rabat and nine regional radio stations

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• The national radio covers via long waves 95 percent and on a medium wave about 85 percent of the country (Jaidi, 1999: 226)

• In the 1960s, the modernization of the broadcasting was the result of the cooperation between Morocco and European countries such as France and Italy

• The governments of both these countries were largely responsible for building the infrastructure and upgrading radio facilities

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• From a network of three stations at the time of independence, Morocco’s radio had grown into a major network of almost nine radio stations

• Much of the post-independence broadcasting development in Morocco was based on the framework set down by the French

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• In 1957 Moroccan Radio had three programs: the A program in French and (75 hours per week), the B program in Arabic (60 hours) and Berber (20 hours), and the C program in Spanish (10.5 hours) and English (5.5 hours)

• In 1958 Radio Morocco were officially renamed as Moroccan National Radio (Jaidi, 1999: 226).

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The Golden Age During 1970s

• Radio broadcasting enjoyed its golden age during 1970s. People used to listen to radio almost the whole day

• A 1973 study found that 92, 1 percent of the urban population listened to radio on regular basis and 75, 2 percent of the rural population (211)

• The number of radio receivers in the country increased from 512,000 in the late 1960s to three millions in 1980s.

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• The number of receivers peaked in mid-1990s. In 1997 estimates placed the number of radio receivers at 6, 62 Mio.

• This calculates to one radio set for every three listeners in Morocco

• There were 3, 6 radio receivers for every 1000 per.

• Today, 80 percent of Morocco’s population of about 30 million people can receive radio signals

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• The advent of TV and satellite broadcasting, however, dramatically affected radio

• The number of radio listeners declined substantially in the 1990s

• As the central mouthpiece of the regime, extending radio services to reach all Moroccan citizens especially in isolated areas was a top political priority.

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Since 1999

• In the broadcast media the number of radio stations and television channels has increased, resulting in a more pluralistic and decentralized broadcasting system.

• In the field of radio, the four Arabic stations are National Arabic Channel, Koran channel, Radio Tamazight and International radio channel

• The National Channel, broadcasting 24 hours, features coverage of local news and events, call-in talk shows, drama, and educational and cultural programs. Moroccan audiences have also access to Tangier based radio station Medi 1.

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Since 1999

• Until 1989 the regime had a monopoly on television broadcasting, except for 2M, originally privately owned, but bought by the state

• Another development is the creation of the National Company of Radio and Television Broadcasting (SNRT), a convergence of the Moroccan broadcasting channel (RTM) and the Autonomous Service of Advertising (SAP)

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New Trends

• In recent time, the media landscape in Morocco has changed under the impact of

– the political alternance, – the rise of Arab broadcasting satellites, – globalization processes and information and communication technologies

• Consequently, the structure of the broadcast media was re-defined, the public service broadcasting was reformed, an independent regulator was set up and a framework for private broadcasting was provided.

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Haute Autorité de la Communication Audiovisuelle(HACA)

• In response to all these massive and powerful challenges, the Moroccan government has recently given important policy considerations to regulate the use of television and radio airwaves

• As a first step, the government created the Haute Autorité de la Communication Audiovisuelle (HACA) in August 2002 to establish the legal framework for the liberalization of the audio-visual sector

• In September of the same year, it promulgated a decree law that ended the state's monopoly of the national broadcasting system

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Commercial Radio

• In 2006, there was an explosion of commercial radio stations

Chada FM

Marrakech

Atlas FM

Agadir Radio plus

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4 1 Ibahrine Moroccan Radio