Nicolai Zwinge with staff from Horytna Radio in Cairo. Photo: Nicolai Zwinge

Two web-based radio stations facing similar challenges in different parts of the world.  In the course of eight days in Cairo, the Danish radio station "den2radio" and Egyptian Radio Horytna worked and reported from the streets of Cairo together 

In June 2010 Cairo was the host of an IMS collaboration project between the two radio stations den2radio, based in Copenhagen, and Horytna (Our Freedom), an Egyptian web-based radio station. The Danish radio journalist Nicolai Zwinge, representing the Danish radio station "den2radio", worked closely with the staff of Radio Horytna in an effort to build bridges between two journalistic platforms in very different parts of the world. The cooperation is part of IMS' Twinning programme which partners Danish and Arab media professionals with the aim of sharing knowledge.

During the stay in Cairo, Nicolai Zwinge introduced journalists to the Hindenburg Programme, an editing tool designed for journalists and people working with radio. More importantly, Nicolai Zwinge together with the journalists from Horytna worked together on several co-productions. One was titled “Life in music”.

Two stations, similar challenges

Den2radio is an independent feature radio station based in Copenhagen. Since 2008, den2radio has produced more than one thousand programmes, but still the radio faces a number of challenges. Fine words about quality do not make it alone, and den2radio fights declining numbers of listeners as well as economic and production challenges. Den2radio has an experienced workforce, but few listeners. For Radio Horytna the challenges seem somewhat similar, but still different in an Egyptian context.

Horytna (Our Freedom) Radio  was introduced to the media world in a 2007 web format as an independent, cultural and news-oriented radio, highlighting issues relevant to young people. It aims to serve the local community by promoting the culture of human rights, and cultivating the desire to take part in Egyptian society. An example of where Horytna Radio successfully encouraged active participation of their listeners took place   in 2008, when a massive bolder cliff came crashing down on a neighbourhood in Cairo, and crushed dozens of apartment blocks and trapping and killing  families. Following the catastrophe, Horytna called on radio listeners to take action and thousands of people showed up to help the victims of the accident.

The Bridge

Radio Horytna makes an effort to stay  as objective vis-a-vis  the authorities as possible, not shying away from criticising those in power and in some cases  facing challenges related to the political system. This sometimes means having to leave out debates on human rights from their broadcasts and instead produce music-based radio with news flashes. After sharing both challenges and new ideas for radio production, Nicolai Zwinge participated in an episode of “The Bridge” - a programme which has as its main goal to create dialogue and break down stereotypes. Together, den2radio and Radio Horytna went into the streets of Cairo to conduct interviews and reports. 

Listen to Modstandsradioen 13 (Nicolai reports on Den2radio) 

- To sum up the days in Cairo, I would say that Den2radio and Horytna  learned a lot from each other, and this fortunately means that it is not merely Horytna that can benefit from visits from Denmark,  Nicolai Zwinge says.

- The staff of den2radio are very experienced, but the station does not have a lot of listeners. Working together with Horytna was a source of inspiration for new ideas on radio production in den2radio, states Nicolai and continues.

- Experience alone does not make it in radio, and I think we have a lot to learn from Horytna, which – in the long run, also can help to develope Den2radio.

Bringing stories to life with Hindenburg

Interviewing and recording sounds and atmospheres in the streets are an essential way of getting to know the powers of radio media, according to Nicolai Zwinge. Part of going into the streets as a radio journalist also means trying to understand other aspects of radio production than studio production. This is where Nicolai Zwinge sees many possibilities in the use of Hindenburg editing tools.

At Radio Horytna, approximately 10 people including journalists, Horytna’s editors and trainees participated in a workshop on the Hindenburg editing tools.

- I guided the participants though the basics of Hindenburg editing tools, which is a very simple – and free – editing tool, designed mainly for journalists but also for radio producers in general.

- There is  great potential in taking Hindenburg and simple recording equipment out into the streets to record personal stories and opinions as a key counter weight to the expert interview done in the studio, says Nicolai Zwinge.

- Another great thing about working with Hindenburg is the simplicity. I talked to the people of Horytna, and we agreed, that Hindenburg does not imply technical skills. This makes it possible for radio journalists to work more independently, and at the same time get a greater understanding of the potentials of the radio media.

Planning for the future

Nicolai Zwinge sees many opportunities for future collaboration between Horytna and den2radio. The project in Cairo signifies the beginning of more exchanging of experiences to come.

- This is what a Twinning initiative can foster in terms of building professional relationships, Nicolai Zwinge says.

- If people are to meet each other over a project, both parties have to be open-minded and try to understand different ways of approaching and working with radio. All this I felt we succeeded in Cairo. But a project like this also calls for people to meet on a very basic and human level. This indeed happened during the week in Cairo.