Somalia races to save Radio Mogadishu’s fading archive
Somalia races to save Radio Mogadishu’s fading archive A small team is racing to digitise decades of Somali history from its main public radio station...
Key points
- Somalia races to save Radio Mogadishu’s fading archive A small team is racing to digitise decades of Somali history from its main public radio station Mogadishu, Somalia – Thousands of reel-to-reel tapes sit in an air-conditioned room in the archive of Somalia’s public radio, Radio Mogadishu, stacked on steel shelves and lined up like old manuscripts beneath a thick layer of dust.
- “We’re working to preserve it but also open it up in future to the public.” Founded in 1951 during the Italian colonial era, Radio Mogadishu would grow into Somalia’s largest and most important public broadcaster.
- “Radio Mogadishu was arguably the preeminent media institution in post-independence Somalia,” Iman Mohamed, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and historian of Somalia, tells Al Jazeera.
- Though Somali audiences could also access BBC Somali, Radio Hargeisa, and opposition stations when the government began to deteriorate in the latter part of the 20th century, it was Radio Mogadishu that dominated the “soundscape of urban Somalia”, Mohamed said.
What happened
Somalia races to save Radio Mogadishu’s fading archive A small team is racing to digitise decades of Somali history from its main public radio station Mogadishu, Somalia – Thousands of reel-to-reel tapes sit in an air-conditioned room in the archive of Somalia’s public radio, Radio Mogadishu, stacked on steel shelves and lined up like old manuscripts beneath a thick layer of dust. “We’re working to preserve it but also open it up in future to the public.” Founded in 1951 during the Italian colonial era, Radio Mogadishu would grow into Somalia’s largest and most important public broadcaster. “Radio Mogadishu was arguably the preeminent media institution in post-independence Somalia,” Iman Mohamed, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and historian of Somalia, tells Al Jazeera. Though Somali audiences could also access BBC Somali, Radio Hargeisa, and opposition stations when the government began to deteriorate in the latter part of the 20th century, it was Radio Mogadishu that dominated the “soundscape of urban Somalia”, Mohamed said. “It made Somalia’s stars.” Robleh, the archivist, added that many BBC Somali journalists who went on to have distinguished careers...