Please join us on Tuesday, October 23, 2018 in DB 2008 at noon for our speaker, Dr. Gloria Khamkar.
The Evolution of British Asian Radio in England: 1960 – 2004 This talk examines the evolution of British Asian radio in England from 1960 to 2004. During the post-war period an Asian community started migrating to Britain to seek employment as a result of the industrial labour shortage. The BBC and the independent local radio sector tried to cater to this newly arrived migrant community through its radio output either in their mother tongue or in the English language. Later, this Asian community started its own separate radio services. This research project explores this development of British Asian radio catering to the Asian community exclusively in England in the post-war period. The main methods used to conduct this research are archives and in-depth semi-structured interviews, which have helped me to understand the relationship between the development of British Asian radio and the ongoing migration of the Asian community in England. This research provides a fresh and strong dimension of British Asian radio services in England. It confirms that the issues of access, participation, representation, integration, and linguistic expression were identified, discussed and acted upon by British and Asian radio enthusiasts, radio campaigners and Asian community groups since the 1960s, which led to the creation of British Asian radio in England. This research highlights the importance and relevance of British Asian radio services in England.
Dr Gloria Khamkar
Gloria is Lecturer and media researcher with special interest in the area of ‘Community Radio’ ‘Participatory Media’ and ‘Media usage amongst migrant societies’. She has completed a PhD on ‘The Evolution of British Asian Radio in England: 1960 – 2004’ at Bournemouth University, UK. Her doctoral thesis explores why and how the Asian radio broadcasting started in England and how is it fulfilling the needs of the Asian immigrant listener communities. She is a member of the Centre for Media History at Bournemouth University, UK. Previously Gloria has worked as a television journalist at Zee News, India. She also works as a freelance radio producer. Since 2010, Gloria has been volunteering as a radio presenter and producer at Southampton’s Asian and Ethnic community radio Unity101 – she hosts a live radio show Suhaana Safar (meaning a beautiful journey) every Saturday. This September, Gloria has been offered a role of Deputy Station Manager at this radio station.
Looking ahead, Gloria is keen to explore the media usage by the immigrant communities outside of the UK. Recently she has been awarded with the Bournemouth University Acorn Fund; through this funding Gloria is planning to develop a collaborative research project proposal with York University on ‘Community radio for the South Asian migrant communities in the UK and Canada’.
You can find Gloria on LinkedIn and also on Twitter (@aglorious)!