SMART Community Radio Prioritizes Real Stories from the Grassroots More Than Bold Headlines

Mainstream media channels are often forgetting their purpose (intentionally) and hiding the truth with unnecessary noise. At this crucial time, community radio is coming forward and observing the situation silently. The community radio, SMART (Seeking Modern Applications for Real Transformation), is taking a step forward to take the right action. The SMART Community Radio is a network of hyperlocal stations that operates in India. This community radio created a sensation among all with some startling updates. The founder of SMART Community Radio, Archana Kapoor, is putting in her initiative to grow community radio stations. She is coming with the ground-level real news that the media often neglects.

The owner of the station, Radio Mewat, her radio channel that reaches 168 villages in Haryana that reaching out to nearly 6.5 lakh listeners. SMART Community Radio is not only a platform for distributing information, but also a platform that slowly shows the transformation as well. For example, a few years ago, this community radio came with a conversation that was about a pregnant woman from Uttar Pradesh, who was worried about whether she should fast during the month of Ramzan or eat to take care of her low hemoglobin level. At that right moment, SMART reached out to the local imam, who then later issued that pregnant women do not have to fast during Ramzan. This might not seem like a potential issue for big media companies, but avoiding these grassroots-level problems is holding back the country more. Let’s unveil some big movements of SMART Community Radio-

• How SMART Community Radio is bringing transformation?

SMART Community Radio is putting its effort into reaching out to the people at the very ground level. They broadcast on 90.4 FM regarding everything about public health issues. With this broadcast, they talked about the importance of sanitation, tuberculosis, COVID-19 awareness, maternal health, domestic violence, gender rights, financial literacy, and more. In rural culture, most people are aware of any of these things. However, it is essential to reach out to them and offer the right information. Only this can be helpful in bringing transformation. They have collaborated with big names like, Gates Foundation, UNESCO, Azim Premji Foundation, and more. They are trying to reach out to more people with initiatives like folk songs, poetry, jingles, street plays, and more.

Kapoor has said a few things that are ‘At the heart of Mewat, where rumours often travel faster than facts, Radio Mewat has become a trusted voice—debunking myths, countering fake news, and restoring faith through truth-telling. From vaccine fears to farming myths, their stories are not just reports—they are acts of public service, rebuilding trust where it has been fractured’. She also added ‘Radio is our tool for engagement. It serves as a bridge between the community, the local administration, and the rest of the country’. Kapoor also stated ‘Even in the clutter of social media, our stories are popular and believed, because community members engage with, and contribute to what they hear’.

• A notion to help people:

The SMART Community Radio has only one notion, and that is to help the people in need. They never tried to get into the headlines and influence people. This community radio is constantly trying to make everyone’s life a little easier with the right pieces of information. Archana Kapoor started her SMART NGO in the year 1997. She said, ‘I was in for a big shock. Just 70 km from Delhi, this place had no water, no roads, nothing. The winds from Rajasthan would slap our faces. The hostility towards NGOs was palpable’. Before getting into the work, she made a documentary, regarding which she said, ‘I sat with them, cried with them, had tea in their homes. But could never go back to check on them. And it felt deeply unfair’.

Kapoor also added ‘We realised girls aged 14 were embarrassed to sit with six-year-olds in the same class, which is what the system back then entailed. So we created groups, adapted, and even added a ‘learn and earn’ model from Sri Lanka. Women carried sewing machines on their shoulders to the centre’. She later made 100 centres and employed the local women. However, Kapoor had to fight a lot with the government. She said, ‘We did dharnas outside the DC’s office when they wouldn’t release our dues. Eventually, I met the Chief Minister and we got the funds’. Kapoor was determined to bring a change with her initiative. And that is why she started the radio station. It was the only thing that could affect the people from the grassroots. Through an article, she came to know that a station can be made with Rs 25000, but in reality, it costsRs 3-4 lakhs. That is why she sought support from UNESCO and launched her community station in Mewat in 2010. She said, ‘Sixteen ministries were involved—from Home to Defence to Telecom. It was no less than a trial by fire’.

• Real stories that moved SMART Community Radio:

SMART Community Radio has always talked about the real issues of the grassroots level people. She first started with groups for adolescent girls’ support, sewing workshops, health services, financial services, and domestic violence. These are some of the most important sectors of a healthy community. That is why Kapoor started focusing on these to help the needy people. She said, ‘Our approach was always to build stake. If they want their daughters to learn sewing, that’s where we start. We provided lunch at our centre. We said, ‘come on time—even if just for roti’. It built rhythm and trust’.

She also said, ‘We had a girl who used to write poetry—she left after marriage. Another girl, Farheen, became our health champion, got the COVID-19 vaccine despite fear, and is now a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII ) Exemplary Women award winner in the field of health. She took the reward money of Rs 3 lakh and married off her sister’. One of the biggest changes she has brought is that she has made the rural women of Mewat become storytellers, reporters, and advocates of Radio Mewat. Such a massive transformation has made a huge impact on the families.

Archana Kapoor said, ‘They go from being silent to being recognised by their voice. Shopkeepers say, ‘Yeh Radio waalihai’. That recognition changes something deep—it gives them autonomy’. Right now, SMART Community Radio is running 44 stations in UP and Bihar. With the help of the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), they get to support the domestic violence project. In addition to that, with the help of UNICEF, they are helping 25 stations. Along with all these, SMART is also putting in more effort on climate change. Right now, Kapoor’s only aim is to eliminate all the drawbacks of society regarding misinformation, financial literacy, and nutrition at this age of the digital era. She said ‘Digital games are individualistic. But when you play something like a board game, you talk. You remember. And that’s where change begins. In a world of virality, we remain accountable. We have lost faith in the news. Big media retracts but never apologises. Where do people go for the truth?’ She even said, ‘We do not do desk reporting. Every story is from the ground. What we do is low-tech, non-extractive, and very human’. The key to SMART is ‘Five Cs: community, context, content, connect, and credibility’.

SMART Community Radio is reaching out to the people whom big media companies do not even address. They are willing to transform society and their lives with the right action.

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