True to the mission statement of ANNA FM @ 90.4 MHz which emphasizes on programming by the community, for the community, Samuthaya Nerkanal – an hour long, live, phone-in interactive talk show with the people, in on air every Saturday evening from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm and repeat broadcast the next day from 6 am to 7 am since August 2004.

Samuthaya Nerkanal reflects the pulse of the community. It offers a platform the under represented sections of our society in the coverage zone of ANNA FM, to voice their feelings without any inhibitions. From the hurried housewife, vegetable vendor and street mechanic to the flower seller, tailor, plumber and the domestic maid – all of them long to grab the WLL phone to say a word or two, be it praise or anguish at the powers that be. The sense of accomplishment on their faces after having given vent to their problems on ANNA FM, is to be seen and heard to be believed.

To ensure that such monumental efforts don’t go down the drain, earnest efforts are on to alleviate their difficulties. The issues include non-burning of street lights and water logging in the streets during the monsoon, violation of traffic regulations, shortage of medical facilities and non-availability of kerosene at the ration shop, to name a few.

A training programme for the women folk at Kannigapuram, the Chennai suburb of Velachery, is on the anvil, jointly with the Centre for Empowerment of Women at the Anna University and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. This in fact, is in response to a fervent plea made by the women of Kannigapuram to help them with entrepreneur training by forming self help groups. This free training programme will empower these women with skills in manufacturing palm-leaf based handicrafts right from the comfort of their homes and market them fruitfully.

Samuthaya Nerkanal has in the recent few months traveled to far flung areas such as Perumbakkam, Chitalapakkam, Moovarasmpet, Madipakkam, Pallikaranai and Kannigapuram in the listening zone of ANNA FM @ 90.4 MHz and has completed over 15 such talk shows.

This programme is being produced by enterprising media students N. Satish, Lakshmi and Mohana Priya jointly with research scholars, Uma Maheshwari and Neeraja Prabakar, supported by a dedicated team of student volunteers including Saleem, Joseph, Janani, Hari, Ganesh, Tilak, Anitha, Amudha, Vijayakumar and Divya at the community end. Not to forget, the technical support at the studio end from D. Vinod Rajesh and Balamurugan, who have contributed to the successful broadcast of this live talk show that promises to work for societal development with special focus on the underprivileged.