Description: RootIO is a platform for low cost, hyperlocal community radio stations.
RootIO Radio stations are tiny FM radio stations that require little investment, maintenance, or contribution from the community, yet at the same time offer more and better modes of interaction than traditional stations. After a few days of installation and training, stations can start to facilitate new economic opportunities, new opportunities for expression and deliberation, and provide information across, into, and out of the community they serve.
Each station is amplified by our cloud/telephony Radio as a Service (RaaS). With the cloud, an individual station can receive free voice-quality calls that go straight to air, download audio from the Internet in the background, or run SMS votes. Using any basic phone (through RaaS) local hosts can run live shows with callers; local business people can record ads or announcements; citizen journalists can cover live meetings or sports events. With solar power a station can serve as 24/7 endpoint to emergency
Four stations have been running in Northern Uganda for the last year, and small rural communities are creating their own programs, reporting their own news, and requesting audio content from the Internet. RootIO, with the help of Resilient Africa Network , is hoping to launch another 20 stations in the coming year.