A listening legacy: The Janet Atkins Memorial Production Studio
Director of Operations Gizaw Shibru reads a letter from the Atkins family during the opening ceremony of the Janet Atkins Memorial Production Studio at Kagadi Kibaale Community Radio in Uganda.
Last year, we lost Janet Atkins — devoted wife of Farm Radio International’s founder, the late George Atkins. This year, Janet’s family and friends celebrated her life by helping to set up a new radio production studio in Uganda in her honour.
The recently equipped Janet Atkins Memorial Production Studio is the newest addition to Kagadi Kibaale Community Radio (KKCR), which has been a Farm Radio International broadcasting partner for more than 10 years.
Since the early 2000s, the broadcasters at KKCR have used Farm Radio resources to serve their listeners, partnered with us to do community-based research on a range of crops, and participated in a number of impact projects. And, two broadcasters from KKCR are past recipients of the George Atkins Communications Award: Anthony Lwanga and Kasooha Ismael.
On the air 365 days a year, 16 hours per day, KKCR broadcasts thousands of programs each year, reaching a listenership of four million people in a 100-mile radius around the town of Kagadi in Uganda’s Western Region. The new studio will be used primarily for the production of agriculture, environment, and soil and water conservation programs supported by Farm Radio International.
Farm Radio International’s director of operations, Gizaw Shibru, was there to cut the ribbon to the studio door and say a few words, reading a letter from the Atkins family to KKCR. “May your studio help you to carry forward the vision that you share with Janet — strong, prosperous rural communities faithfully served by capable and dedicated radio broadcasters,” he said on behalf of the family. Listen to him read from the letter here.
Janet’s legacy already lives on in the organization that she worked tirelessly with her husband to establish. And now she also lives on through a radio production studio that carries her name and celebrates her memory.
OTHER RELATED AUDIO:
- Listen to the chairperson of the Kagadi District, Stephen Byaruhanga, officially open the studio on behalf of the community and the government of Uganda.
- Listen to the CEO of KKCR, Dr. Mwalimu Musheshe, speak about the longstanding relationship with Farm Radio International and the benefits that have been seen in the community as a result.