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HAITI / RUBBLE RADIO
STORY: HAITI / RUBBLE RADIO
TRT: 8:03
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CREOLE/ ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 14 JANUARY, FEBRUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
14 JANUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
1. Traveling shot, damaged buildings on the street
2. Med shot, destroyed cathedral
3. Wide shot, destroyed cathedral
24 FEBRUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
4. Med shot, Managing Director of Signal FM radio showing the station
5. Pan right, phone to studio
6. Pan right, SIGNAL FM poster to presenters in a studio
7. Med shot, studio guest and presenter
8. Close up, presenter
9. Wide shot, studio technicians with presenters in the back
10. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Mario Viau, Managing Director of Signal FM Radio:
“There was a problem of communication. Phone lines had died, but the Internet continued working and so did the international lines. With two journalists, we decided to continue broadcasting and talking about what had just happened and how we felt about it. Then our International lines started working; people in the Diaspora who were listening to the broadcast on the internet, started calling us to find out whether their families were OK, because they had no other way of communicating.”
11. Wide shot, studio guest and presenter
12. Med shot, studio technician
13. Close up, computer screen
14. Close up, audio meter
15. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Mario Viau, Managing Director of Signal FM Radio:
”Since there were no means of communication in Haiti, the public started coming to our station to respond to their relatives, telling them that they were alive. Others came to announce that they were looking for their family members and would tell them that they were waiting for them at the station. Others also came to ask for help because they knew places where people had been buried alive in the rubble. They would ask for help to save their relatives from the rubble. I can say it’s the population that changed our programming, we were the only radio on air and we ha to adapt to their needs.”
16. Pan left, street to settlement
17. Med shot, people walking through tent settlements
18. Wide shot, tent settlements with people listening to music
19. Close up, woman peeling potatoes
20. VOX POP (Creole) Man Living in Settlement:
“The media did a great job during the earthquake. I like the work they did and every day they came to the camps and talked to us, taking our names. As a result, maybe tomorrow something better will happen to us.”
21. VOX POP (Creole) Man Living in Settlement:
“I usually listen to Signal FM because they advise us how to live after the earthquake and not be traumatized.”
22. Wide shot, construction site at Radio Tele Ginen
23. Close up, banner reading Radio Tele Ginen de Haiti
24. Pan right, manager onto construction site
25. Med shot, carpenter working
26. Close up, nail being hammered
27. Wide shot, construction worker walking by
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Lucien Borges, Director of Radio Tele Ginen:
“We have to start getting back together; first day emotions, second day emotions. Especially I spent six or seven hours to get my wife and my daughter out of the building and the emotion was big for everybody. And after that, we thought we were the only ones, this is when you know that everybody, we are on the same boat. The state, everything collapsed. So the country, I can say, collapsed. The nerve of the country collapsed. ”
29. Wide shot, director entering the broadcast truck
30. Med shot, director watching journalist working in broadcast truck
31. Close up, manager watching
32. Wide shot, manager checking some equipment
33. Med shot, manager walking passed
34. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Lucien Borges, Director of Radio Tele Ginen:
“We were not ready for it. We as the media we must tell them, we have to rebuild. We have to be aware. Be prepared always. Either for anything, hurricane, you name it. So we must be aware of what’s going on. Information is the key. Even today, we still have the aftershocks coming everyday, and people think another one is coming. But yeah, we must be ready anytime any other one can come.”
35. Wide shot, broadcasting truck
36. Med shot, female presenter reading
37. Close up presenter
38. Med shot, control deck
39. Close up, presenter holding letter from listener
40. Wide shot, presenter
41. Tilt down, crowd gathered outside a tent radio station
42. Med shot, crowd listening to music by tent radio station
43. Pan right, crowd to boy rapping
44. Med shot, presenter clapping and cheering
45. Close up, computer screen
46. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Patrick Moussignac, Manager of Radio Caraibes:
“We are the only ones that do this. For the first two weeks, this show worked as therapy to force people to go back to their normal lives. We regret the fact that we lost about 300,000 people, but we can’t continue to cry over the deaths. The country is not dead. Now we have to put our hands together and lift the country from the rubble.”
47. Wide shot, presenters during the show
48. Close up, audio mixer
49. Med shot, people watching the show from outside tent
50. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Patrick Moussignac, Manager Radio Caraibes:
“All our programs now aim to help people. Not to forget January 12, because you can’t forget it, it’s impossible. I was in my office when it happened and I can assure you can’t forget overnight.”
51. Wide shot, crowd on the street, listening to the radio
52. VOX POP (Creole) Man:
“The show is interesting and we like it. Without the show I can’t tell you what we would do. We are laughing and joking, and you can compete and win money.”
53. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Girl:
“I am not a fan of this program, but I live in the neighborhood, so I listen to it. It makes me happy and makes me feel relaxed.”
54. Med shot, street lights
55. Wide shot, man telling a joke on the radio
56. Med shot, man talking to the microphone
Six weeks after a 7.0 earthquake devastated the Caribbean island nation of Haiti, information transmitted through the airways is still playing a vital role in the recovery process.
As the rest of the world was learning what had happened in Haiti on 12 January, broadcasters like Signal FM managed to stay on air.
The station’s building didn’t collapse and the studios stayed operational even during the earthquake. Somehow, music kept playing, even through the terrifying roar of the quake.
All 23 employees survived the earthquake, but many of them lost relatives and homes.
Mario Viau, Managing Director of Signal FM realized that his radio was still on air and that people needed a voice. He called for volunteers who were willing to go back into the building and continue broadcasting.
He and three of his staff members went in. They immediately took to the mikes, talking about what had happened.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Mario Viau, Managing Director of Signal FM Radio:
“There was a problem of communication. Phone lines had died, but the Internet continued working and so did the international lines. With two journalists, we decided to continue broadcasting and talking about what had just happened and how we felt about it. Then our International lines started working; people in the Diaspora who were listening to the broadcast on the internet, started calling us to find out whether their families were OK, because they had no other way of communicating.”
As the calls kept coming in, Radio Signal not only became the link between the outside world and Haiti, but also served as a means of communication among the survivors.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Mario Viau, Managing Director of Signal FM Radio:
”Since there were no means of communication in Haiti, the public started coming to our station to respond to their relatives, telling them that they were alive. Others came to announce that they were looking for their family members and would tell them that they were waiting for them at the station. Others also came to ask for help because they knew places where people had been buried alive in the rubble. They would ask for help to save their relatives from the rubble. I can say it’s the population that changed our programming, we were the only radio on air and we ha to adapt to their needs.”
As days went by, the population stayed tuned in, getting useful information on aid, on which hospitals were open and other relief updates. They also provided the relief agencies with much needed information.
VOX POP (Creole) Man Living in Settlement:
“The media did a great job during the earthquake. I like the work they did and every day they came to the camps and talked to us, taking our names. As a result, maybe tomorrow something better will happen to us.”
VOX POP (Creole) Man Living in Settlement:
“I usually listen to Signal FM because they advise us how to live after the earthquake and not be traumatized.”
Radio Tele Ginen was not so lucky. The four storey building that housed its Radio and TV studios collapsed and one of their cameramen died. Director Jean Lucien Borger was in the building when it happened and his first thoughts were for his wife and daughter.
SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Lucien Borges, Director of Radio Tele Ginen:
“We have to start getting back together; first day emotions, second day emotions. Especially I spent six or seven hours to get my wife and my daughter out of the building and the emotion was big for everybody. And after that, we thought we were the only ones, this is when you know that everybody, we are on the same boat. The state, everything collapsed. So the country, I can say, collapsed. The nerve of the country collapsed. ”
Radio Tele Ginen now operates in a cramped old truck parked within its compound. The truck hosts both the radio and TV station and focuses on keeping the population informed.
SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Lucien Borges, Director of Radio Tele Ginen:
“We were not ready for it. We as the media we must tell them, we have to rebuild. We have to be aware. Be prepared always. Either for anything, hurricane, you name it. So we must be aware of what’s going on. Information is the key. Even today, we still have the aftershocks coming everyday, and people think another one is coming. But yeah, we must be ready anytime any other one can come.”
Port au Prince residents also use the station’s FM and AM capacity to relay messages to other parts of the country.
People are making the best of the circumstances. Although radio has played a vital role relaying information, it’s also meant for entertainment.
Radio Caraibes was forced to broadcast from the street when their cracked building was proved unsafe to work in. The employees are afraid to go back there and a makeshift tent now functions as their studio. It has become the hang out spot for neighborhood residents, who on some nights gather by the hundreds.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Patrick Moussignac, Manager of Radio Caraibes:
“We are the only ones that do this. For the first two weeks, this show worked as therapy to force people to go back to their normal lives. We regret the fact that we lost about 300,000 people, but we can’t continue to cry over the deaths. The country is not dead. Now we have to put our hands together and lift the country from the rubble.”
The show’s popularity has seen an increase with people looking for a happy distraction from their daily realities.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Patrick Moussignac, Manager Radio Caraibes:
“All our programs now aim to help people. Not to forget January 12, because you can’t forget it, it’s impossible. I was in my office when it happened and I can assure you can’t forget overnight.”
Music, jokes and live performances are all part of the programming for this new socially oriented street radio.
VOX POP (Creole) Man:
“The show is interesting and we like it. Without the show I can’t tell you what we would do. We are laughing and joking, and you can compete and win money.”
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Girl:
“I am not a fan of this program, but I live in the neighborhood, so I listen to it. It makes me happy and makes me feel relaxed.”
With over 200 private stations, radio has traditionally been the most popular form of media in Haiti, something that has not changed during and after the disaster.
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