My Radio Segment, Episode 1

This is the 1st episode of My Radio segment within “Eye on Media” which is being aired on Radio Al-Balad 92.4 FM.

Excuse me for being kind of boring in my first episode, due to emotions as well as the flue, i will make sure it would get better on the next episodes.

For the 1st episode, i am discussing the interaction of Jordanian radio stations with the situation in Gaza, and here goes the details, noting that the audio recording for the show is available for listening on the green icon, and for download here. My Segment is by the end of the show:

Starting with Saturday the 27th of December 2008, one of the 1st days of the attack on Gaza. Radio Jordan Broadcasting Corporation stopped the transmission on Radio Amman FM on all its frequencies, and united its transmission with the Main Program of Radio Jordan Broadcasting. Where extensive coverage and news bulletins for the situation on Gaza was taking place on air. Also, Radio Jordan – English and French service stopped their regular programs, and was playing only soft and classical music, along with the regular news headlines and bulletins each and every hour.

On the other hand, Radio Al-Balad 92.4 had a continuous open wave coverage for the situation in Gaza, and was playing revolutionary national music. Hayat FM also had a continuous news coverage for the situation in Gaza, and had also a different coverage including interaction with different political and social personalities and their opinion on the situation, and even a phone call with his majesty's media adviser, Mr Ayman Al-Safadi. Also, one of the different things in Hayat FM's coverage was the fact it was announcing the places and times of demonstrations, a thing that points out the public interaction with this radio station among those activities.

And all the radio stations with news licenses where covering the situation, including the Arabic service of the BBC, which also had a continuous coverage for the event, and even on the headlines level at some stations, like Sawt Al-Madina, which had rapid, short, yet rich headlines covering the events in Gaza.

Staying on the same day, we have witnessed a strange case on Mazaj FM, which had its transmission going off between the hours of 6.30- 8.30 PM (approx). Some people thought it was an intension from Mazaj FM to stop the transmission because of what is going on in Gaza, but later i have received the information that the problem was just due to a failure in the fiber-optics connection between the studio and the transmission tower.

On Sunday,December 28th, the day has started in a different way with the morning shows on most of the radio stations around town, especially the popular morning show, “Besaraha with Al-Wakeel” on Radio Fann, which was involved pretty much with the situation in Gaza. This involvement on those shows also continued in the next days with the same rhythm.
Also on sunday, The Quran Radio – Irbid branch, broadcasted prayers and verses from the holy quran picked especially for this occasion to pray for the “shohada2” who passed away in Gaza, in the afternoon through the evening period.

An interaction with the situation also appeared from the radio stations mentioning their withdrawal from the new year's parties they were supporting and sponsoring. The 1st to announce this was Spin Jordan and Ayyam FM, which had also the parties they were supporting and sponsoring stopped after this withdrawal as well. Also, the Party held in Le Royal and sponsored by Fann FM was canceled on this occasion, and the only remaining party that continued as scheduled and kept sponsored by a radio station was Sawt Al-ghad's, which was held at the Holiday Inn. The issue of the new year's parties being canceled or not was also discussed Live on the airwaves of Hayat FM, and opened the airwaves for the public to interaction with this issue.

The stations in General promoted for gathering donation items, blood donations, and support for the people in Gaza. This started ever since Monday and Tuesday. Most of the western radio stations for example, namely: Play FM, Beat FM, Mood FM, Spin Jordan, where announcing the campaign by 7iber.com, the Jordan River Foundation's campaign, and blood donation campaigns. Some stations also canceled the special programs scheduled for new year's eve on their airwaves, those were namely: Play FM and Radio Sawt Al-Madina. And on Radio Sawt Al-Madina also for example, one of the dynamic and entertaining shows, “Nharak Sa3eed” had changed into a show that interacts with the listeners regarding the situation in Gaza and with national songs being played on air.

Last but not least, an announcement by Aramex for collecting donations for gaza was an interesting one to be heard on absolutely all the radio stations in both Arabic and English. Noting that no radio station requested any fees from aramex for announcing this Advertisement on their airwaves.


Thats all for this week,
Remember, for any suggestions or feedback, or if you hear anything unusual on the radio, on any radio station, tell us right away by email that to:
radio@ammannet.net

My own Radio Show segment on Radio Al-Balad 92.4 FM

I will be starting my own radio show segments by the beginning of 2009, where I'd be talking about the Jordanian Radio-sphere on weekly basis! Covering all the latest in the Jordanian radio scene, frequency updates, coverages, and what's hot and what's not on the Jordanian radio stations regardless of their genre and orientation.

The segments, will be weekly episodes as part of the radio show called: "Eye on Media", on Radio Al-Balad 92.4 FM, the 1st Jordanian Community Radio. Airing every Monday at 11 AM, and replayed Wednesdays at 11 AM and Saturdays at 3 PM..And will be also available as a podcast and a text-based format each and every week.

This weekly segment is fully prepared and cooked by yours truly, independently from any radio station, including Radio Al-Balad it self (this is how a real community radio should be after all!). As you most probably got used to my style on my blog, i will publish anything, rationally, independently, neutrally and clearly, based as much as possible on facts rather than personal opinions. And will make sure this will be my methodology while preparing this weekly segment. And i hope you'd feel free to accept any positive criticism, and feel free to comment on Absolutely anything! and feed the segment with what you listen on the radio right away to the email address: radio@ammannet.net

For the 1st upcoming episode, i will be reviewing the reactions on the jordanian radio stations regarding the Gaza crisis.

If you think you heard anything unusual lately on the radio on any station regarding this issue, please feel free to contact the email mentioned above or comment on this post.

Lubna "Al-Koshieh" decleared dead!

For those who don't know, and maybe never been to zarqa to know, Lubna Al-Koshieh (لبنى الكوشية) or (لبنى السريعة) is most probably the most dangerous woman in Jordan. and is famous in zarqa (mainly the inside zarqa bus terminal) for getting money from shops and people by force using knifes, and is also famous for beating up alot of gangsters in zarqa.

Lubna was declared dead yesterday after a fight.

The question that was always raised, forgetting the fact that her case was caused by a family destruction:
Why, and how she was always free! regardless of what she was doing.

Here is also a video i found on youtube for lubna during a wedding, another way for her to collect money:

Exclusive Photos of the Aqaba teenagers car accident

ammannet.net, Radio Al-Balad's website has published last night exclusive photos for the teenagers car accident that happened during the eid holiday in Aqaba.

Just a to recap, this accident was caused by 5 teenagers, 4 boys and a girl, all under 18, driving during the eid holiday late at night without a license, on the southern beach highway in aqaba with a nissan with over 180 Km/h at crash time as reported by the traffic police dept (also obvious in the 1st photo), after it got off a bridge and ended up in a valley near the sea near the port's industrial area.

The tragic accident caused death to 4 of the teenagers, out of which was the son of the minister of justice, along with children of other socially and economically famous families.

I am publishing the photos just for the sake of reminding people that cars are not toys, and that responsible driving is the responsibility of us all.

Bloggers on air!

Radio Al-Balad and ammannet.net have announced the launch of "Bloggers on Air" (مدونون على الهواء), a project and initiative oriented for improving video blogging.

The project will train 25 individuals on how to blog and vblog, and then create a blog for each and every one of them. and a video cam for 20 of them. and accordingly start a radio show that will tackle what they would be blogging!

The complete information and registration details are available on this link

Tomorrow, The Romanian Movie Days in Jordan

The Jordanian Romanian Forum for Culture, along with the Romanian Embassy in Amman, and the Royal Film Commission, are proud to announce the 2nd edition of:

The Romanian Movie Days in Jordan

This coming Thursday & Friday, 4th and 5th of December, 2008. at the Royal Cultural Center.



1st Day: 4th of December.
Starting 6 PM:
- Opening ceremony by the Romanian Folkloric Group "Dumitru Zamfira"
- The 13 minutes short film : “Datorie” / “Duty” : by Vlad Trandafir
- The 9 minutes short film : “O Scurta plimbare cu masina” / “A short ride”
by Paul Negoescu – Karlovy Vary Fresh Film Festival winner
- The 14 minutes short film : “Megatron” by Marian Crisan – Cannes 2008 Best Short Film winner.

2nd Day: 5th of December.
4 PM: Classical Long Movie: "Padureanca" by Nicolae Margineanu
6 PM: Classical Long Movie: "Stefan Luchian" by Nicolae Margineanu

Entrance is Free. Films are subtitled in English

Classic Music back on the Jordanian airwaves

I don't want to say "finally", since i discovered this show on Radio Jordan English Service by mistake several weeks ago, but well, later better than never, we do have an hour of "Classic Music" weekly on the Jordanian airwaves!

With all this jam of radio stations on the jordanian airwaves, we don't have a single radio station providing us with "Classical Music", Back in April 2007 we had a potential of having a radio station playing this type of music on the airwaves, but the station turned to be, at the end of the story, Sunny 105.1 FM, a Hot AC station.

Thank god Radio Jordan's english service, took the duty of playing classic music after the continuous revolutions we had in it, especially after we used to have the french service airing over 5-6 hours of it daily, and utilizing the big classic music collection it has with a weekly show, which is being aired at 11 PM on Thursday nights.

The show, which i never heard a title for, is quite interesting, as there is a man telling us about the piece of music with all the tiny musical details before airing the musical piece.
The show lasts mostly for about an hour, but sometimes more, depending on the played piece's length. so don't get surprised if at a certain moment of silence, you get Rihanna singing! its just that the show has ended!

Update:
The classic music show broadcasting on radio jordan is called "Nocturne", and its prepared and presented by Tariq Younes, along with another couple of classic music shows:
"Fortisimo": Tuesdays 1-2 pm
"Jordanesque": Wednesdays 6-7 pm

نوابنا الحريقة! حضور أسوء من مدرسة ثانوية و أفكار نابغة

يعني فوق إنو بزبطوا حالهم بالسيارات و الزيادات من ألف و فوق و بصوتوا على إعطاء أبو عشر نيرات للشعب، و بمنعوا وزارة الزراعة من فتح استيراد زيت الزيتون مشان يحطوا هم السعر اللي بدهم اياه على تنكة الزيت و قوت المواطن اللي بطلع من مزارعهم.

فوق هذا كله كمان ما بيجوا على جلسات المجلس، مثل ما صار مبارح لما حضر 31 من 110.
و يا ريت هالــ 31 زي العالم و الناس... خذولكوا هالعينة

أشار الضلاعين، في نهاية كلمته، إلى أن العديد من الوزارات باتت بلا فائدة للدولة، ما حدا به إلى طرح الاقتراحات التالية حول مصير بعض الوزارات :
1- وزارة تطوير القطاع العام: لتصبح وحدة إدارية في المعهد الوطني للتدريب أو ديوان الخدمة المدنية.
2- وزارة التعليم العالي: تدمج مع وزارة التربية
3- وزارة التنمية السياسية: لا يوجد لها أي أثر، فالأفضل إلغائها.
4- وزارة الاتصال وتكنولوجيا المعلومات: أن تصبح جزءاً من المركز الوطني للمعلومات.
5- وزارة النقل: أن تصبح وحدة إدارية في هيئة تنظيم قطاع النقل.
6- وزارة البيئة: أن تدمج مع وزارة البلديات أو وزارة الزراعة.
7- وزارة الثقافة: أن تتبع للمجلس الأعلى للشباب

لا والله رأي حريقة، بده وزارة الإتصالات و النقل يصيروا جزء من دوائر فيهم، و البيئة هي و الزراعة واحد، مش كلوا بحكي عن كوكب الأرض، أما وزارة الثقافة فبرأيه شبابية بالآخر

Laugh it out loud with Jordanians!

This article By Mike V. Derderian, can be found in TODAY's edition of the Star.

“Does anyone have any questions for the sponsors?” Omar Al Maani, the mayor of Amman, with a hint of gentle sarcasm said to a silent hoard of media representatives before someone actually did.

Silence prevailed for a moment or two until one journalist finally asked a question and begged one sponsor to fund an association for theatrical actors. For a press conference about a comedy festival that was extremely funny. A few minutes ago Maani, who with the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) is sponsoring Jordan’s first stand-up comedy festival, said that he uses humor to face the trials and tribulations of a day at the office.

“If I don’t do so I would blow a vein or die of a heart attack. Please if anyone has a good joke or two e-mail them to me,” Maani, who gave a heartfelt laugh as members of the press soon joined in.

Sitting next to Maani was Dean Obeidallah, an American comedian of Arabian roots, who was there with Maani and the of course sponsors part of a press conference to talk about The Amman Stand-Up Comedy Festival, which is to be held between December 2 and December 5 at Al Hussein Cultural Center.

Jordanians were first introduced to the stand up comedy format a few months ago when Obeidallah performed along The Axis of Evil comedians Maz Jobrani, Aron Kader and Ahmed Ahmed, who will all perform in the upcoming festival.

Some journalists attending the press conference mistook this social, religious, economic and political driven art form of self-expression as a branch of comedic theatre. Ok, maybe I am pushing the envelope when I religious. Stand-up comedy is an inner monologue that is voiced out-loud to a sitting crowd and a stand-up comedian is only armed with his razor sharp tongue, wits, jokes, humorous dialogue, punch-lines and of course a microphone.

For the upcoming festival there will be over 15 performers including Arab American comedians like Ali Hassan, Amer Zahr, James Smith, Mike Batayeh, Nemr Abu Nassar, Ronnie Khalil, Meena Dimian, Ronnie Khali, George Azmy, Ted Alexandro, James Smith, Russell Peters and of course Maysoon Zayid.

On their Facebook group the organizers announced that they want Jordanians in the lineup of the festival. So anyone interested in performing can upload videos online and send the links to ascf@ammancity.gov.jo and dean@deanofcomedy.com.

The stand-up comedy fever is spreading and the festival's posters that were fixed over electricity line poles are worth the checking. Reading the festival's main tagline Rah Tedhak Khawa, which roughly translates to You Will Be Forced To Laugh, which is written over and under human faces that have a wide smile superimposed over their real and dull expressions, one cannot but wonder why Jordanians are looked upon as no more than a bunch of sourpusses—hardly the case when one attends a gathering of friends, young and old, read a caricature for Emad Hajjaj or even strike up a conversation with a taxi driver.

Jordanians are funny but they have been repeating this lie—Jordanians are not funny—for so long that they've started to believe it and the Festival of Comedy will hopefully change this.

"The purpose behind the festival is to change this misconception as I believe Jordanians are intelligent and often express themselves through humor in their daily activities," Maani stated, adding, "the success of Laughter Week yielded the idea for this festival, which is part of GAM's mission to hone individualistic skills and talents."

The festival, which is part of a non-profit program, was developed in close collaboration with the critically acclaimed New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, which according to Maani is here to stay if it proves successful with Jordanians.

“This is truly the first festival. The other show we did had the same performers each night. This is each show is a different night with different performers and that's truly the essence of a festival in my eyes," Obeidallah said, before adding, "such a festival will result in positive press coverage for the locality that is having the event. The Montreal and Edinburgh Comedy Festival did the same respectively for Canada and Scotland.

Obeidallah believes that this Festival will encourage young talents to become more active in the Jordanian performing arts arena especially stand-up. "I also see this event creating a wider appreciation for comedy in Jordan and should be recognized as a marked calendar occurrence staged in Amman, as the region is full of raw talent that we are hoping to bring to the forefront and if all goes well this year the festival will become a staple of Amman,” Obeidallah added.

The festival according to Maani will contribute to Amman's position as a pioneering city that embraces, creates, and hosts cultural activities like the stand-up comedy festival that he hopes will attract headlining performers from the Middle East, United States of America, and Europe.

“The Greater Amman Municipality anticipates that this festival will increase tourist traffic to the City during the month of December and will also place Jordan and its talent pool on the international map of comedy. We are always keen on urging our community members to express themselves and interact through the many forms of performing arts and stand-up comedy is the rawest and most interactive form of comedy,” explained Maani, "if this year's festival proves successful we will turn it into an event that will turn Amman to a comedic hub that will attract comedians from across the Middle East."

"The goal of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival that I worked on and created with Comedian Maysoon Zayid, five years ago was not only to entertain but to break stereotypes and show other Americans that Arabs can be funny. I hope that there will be media coverage back home about this festival to show that Arabs in this region are funny, "Obeidallah explained.

Well, Jordanians will just have to prove, to themselves first, and the world second, that they have funny bones and a Jordanian holding a microphone standing on an empty stage facing a crowd can be as funny as an American stand up comedian doing the same.

Expressive enough :) See you at the Amman Stand-up Comedy festival between the 2nd and the 5th of December at Ras El-Ein :) .... hmm ,,, well, less the last couple of days, as i have another hot even for you to be reveled soon ;)

"Jordan Business" ignoring my response on last month's story

It was "interesting enough", as much as disappointing, how non of the points i mentioned in my response on Jordan Business's Magazine last month's cover story were neither commented by any of the magazine's staff to whom the response was sent, nor mentioned and not even commented in this month's edition of the magazine.

If you never tried public transportation, and can't move your self out of that car, just SHUT UP! we dont need your "Rich thoughts" if you consider public transportation for the "lower class".

Physically speaking, the bus riders are in a higher lever than car drivers by the way.