In the early days of radio broadcasting in Papua New Guinea, dramas topped entertainment on air. Those were exciting times of nation-building with the then National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) leading the production of radio dramas out of the capital Port Moresby.
Papua New Guineas’ rich oral culture originating from over 800 language groups place them among the most unique people in the world when it comes to passing on information.
Traditional media including the slit gongs, hollowed drums, and conch shells now find their place in cultural performances more than a medium for passing on information. But storytelling remains constant in the ways it uses songs, chants, dance and art inspired by the environment, the elements, spirituality and lived experiences.
Storytelling has changed a little though.
People have become savvy at operating modern-day media having bare minimal support infrastructure for most of the gadgets. While not completely abandoning traditional mediums, they’ve adopted tech-based media and using it for change.
PNG’s media landscape has grown since the radio days, but radio drama continues to be among the most preferred content. It has now become ‘edutainment’ with more and more people living outside the capital taking it on, however possible.
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James Robert, 40, from Aiome, village, Middle Ramu, Madang Province is a content producer for HOPE FM, run by the Seventh Day Adventist.And lives here in Kimbe.
‘’I didn’t have any idea or didn’t know what radio drama was. I had heard dramas on radio while growing up but didn’t know how it was produced or put together”, he said.
‘’I dropped out from grade 10 and never in my life thought I would be engaged in doing this type of program. In fact, when I was given the opportunity to be the content producer for HOPEFM, I didn’t really know where to start.
‘’I thought being a content producer is just collecting recordings, editing them and sending it through for broadcast. That was all I know.”
Learning how to do radio on his own out in the District, James was eager for help. He had heard about a technical workshop being conducted in provincial capital, Kimbe, about 542km from Port Moresby.
The ABC International Developments’ Media Development Initiative (MDI) had been conducting media craft and voice and accountability workshops through one of its three hubs, the District Hub (DHub).
James became a member of the DHub and began attending the workshops being conducted by local MDI staff McPolly Koima and Kevin Dayonga.
James was part of a community of media practitioners, civil society, church-based organisations, government officers, students, and those interested in media, voice and accountability, the District Hub initiated radio dramas to amplify local voices through storytelling.
“I attended the workshop and the whole world of radio drama unfolded right in front of me and I started seeing things in a whole different perspective.’’
‘’I’m very thankful to MDI, with this script writing opportunity, I believe I will be able to touch many lives at any one time by using radio as a medium. And to have partners like the NBC come onboard to broadcast all our radio drama means a lot to us.’’
West New Britain Province (WNB) is just like any other developing provinces in the country, but its best known for its large oil palm industry.
Thousands of Papua New Guineans flocked to the province in the early days, working on the plantations. Many of them never returned, giving rise to land disputes between indigenous people and settlers. WNB is commonly referred to as ‘little PNG’.
Kimbe has expanded over time and has seen an increase of developments in different sectors in the province. James says it’s had positive and negative impacts.
‘’The town has developed a lot. We have seen a lot of good things and have also witnessed a lot of bad things. We try to make a difference and help in any way possible, but change needs to come from within,” he said.
In the script writing workshops, James felt he could really tell important stories on social issues affecting Kimbe. He’s written five radio scripts following the workshops.
‘’I’ve written about Teenage Pregnancy, Adult illiteracy, Peer pressure, production of illegal beer and domestic violence, which are major problems in the province.”
“The skills I learnt from the facilitators has helped me put into perspective different aspect of radio drama that will make the story interesting,” he said.
‘’We wrote according to the issues we knew and relating it to our environment and how people speak, creating dialogues with language and slangs to make it more relatable. For me this was an eye opener and the best part was learning a new style in doing advocacy.’’
James said they had people from different professional backgrounds participate in this workshop who shared their views.
“It helped lots of us, especially the younger ones understand the evolving trend of issues and how different stakeholders are collaborating to address them.’’
‘’For me, putting in humor, key messages and the dramatic action in the dialogues of characters also challenged me to assess myself. Also knowing that, the stories I’ve done is going to definitely have an impact on listeners.’’
James is an active member of his church youth group and says he’ll use this method to train his youths to create compelling programs.
In 2018, the MDI and community members in Talasea created the District Hub to find local solutions to address voice and accountability. This was a critical set-up under the Decentralization and Citizen Partnership (DCP) funded through the PNG-Australia Partnership Program.
During the refresher course in November 2019, 21 scripts had been developed and treated. Ten of those scripts have been successfully recorded and ready to be broadcast on NBCs’ West New Britain provincial station in early 2020 in a pilot under the District Hub.
Meanwhile, James and few of the writers are interested in forming a script writers association for the province and are looking forward to developing a 50-episode drama in the near future.
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