During the Islamic State (IS)’s rule in Mosul, radio stations were banned and replaced with broadcasts of jihadist propaganda. Today, young Iraqis are filling the city’s airwaves.
One budding presenter is Nour Tai, 16, who faces the microphone with a confident tone and a professional style. She hosts a weekly programme on One FM, a Mosul station launched in February that broadcasts a mix of music, entertainment and current affairs debates.
Back from Kurdistan
Her career began a year ago thanks to a talent show organised by Al-Ghad, a station in the Kurdish city of Irbil which hosted many of those displaced from Iraq’s second city.
She now sits in the One FM studio, accompanied by her father, as a degenerative illness left her blind three years ago. She says her aim is to “give people hope, especially those who suffer from a handicap”. “I want to tell everyone that we can all contribute something and that we can realise our dreams,” she says.
The launch of One FM came six months after Iraqi forces declared victory over IS . Young presenters are busy 24 hours a day, producing and broadcasting shows which are also filmed for broadcast on the radio’s website and social media accounts. The channel is run by volunteers who bought the necessary equipment by pooling their savings.
Yassir al-Qaissi, One FM’s head of communications, says their aim is to “denounce violence and extremism, and broaden people’s minds”.
Ahmad al-Jaffal, 30, says the jihadist occupation “created a vacuum of thought”. “With my programme, I try to promote ideas of coexistence, of mutual understanding, and of acceptance of the other,” says Mr. Jaffal, who worked as a journalist prior to the IS takeover in 2014.