"A World in Your Ear", 9 and 11 Sept 2005, BBC, on Katrina and aftermath

[Benbow]

You can listen to this on the BBC web site, follow Listen Again link on this page:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/aworldinyourear.shtml

This week's A World In Your Ear is devoted to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. We explore how American radio tackled the worst natural disaster to hit US shores in living memory.

With thousands of refugees fleeing Louisiana to Texas, A World In Your Ear hears how attempts to set up a special low frequency radio station for those sheltering in Houston's Astrodome is facing obstacles which appear to be politically motivated.

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One station, however, continued to broadcast, first moving up a floor then evacuating to Baton Rouge . It provided a lifeline of information to shocked citizens. But Katrina also encouraged unprecedented cooperation as commercial rivals combined for the first time to produce joint broadcasts, so creating United Radio of New Orleans.

Katrina was also an opportunity for talk show hosts from both ends of the political spectrum to sharpen their tongues and give their pointed views on what was happening. Other radio stations around the country broadcast the anger felt by many black people in the US at what they saw as the racism at the heart of the political establishment's response to the catastrophe. Chart-topping rap stars let forth on the airways with their views.

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You can also listen to part of a documentary that three years ago accurately predicted the devastation a hurricane could bring to New Orleans , while an award winning author mourns the loss of his New Orleans.

The interesting parts, for me, were the clips from black radio programmes. But one clip of a right-wing white radio presenter was hilarious: she started out by approving France for "stepping up to the plate" with offers of help, and then listed all the stuff that France was sending to help with the relief of hurricane victims, while making out that France was being somehow stingy - sending LESS THAN WALMART! She seemed completely oblivious to how bizarre it is to be sending help to the richest and most powerful country on the planet.

The proposed low-power radio station in the Astrodome is facing one obstacle after another; it seems that the authorities are afraid that the radio will play rap and incite the people in the Astrodome ... Pathetic. And they won't allow it electrical power, and they are excluding media people.