Radio Drama Series Extended and Broadcast again in 2024
Since January 2023, the 26-episode radio drama series
"Love and Greed in the Valley of Cashmere Goats" has been broadcast
weekly on FM radio 98.5 and 102.1, as well as on its official Facebook
page, capturing the attention of thousands of listeners. Starting from
October 2023, the series was rebroadcasted three times a day, increasing
listenership. A non-representative survey among listeners of the radio drama
revealed some interesting findings. Most of the listeners were women (62%) and
between 18-40 (75%) and over 50 years old (20%). Except for radio broadcast
users (12,5%), the wider majority followed the series on Facebook or the MGM
website. Over 70% found the drama “interesting” and “very interesting”. On a
scale from 0-10, over 70% rated the series 6-7, and another 10% rated the
episodes 8-10 regarding the radio drama depicting
reality, including the character's emotions, the events that took place, etc. Garid
was by far the most popular character (50%), followed by Chantsal (28%) and
Suvda (25%), i.e. the ‘good’ and ‘environment-friendly’ persons. The environmental issues listeners learned about from the radio
drama that they didn't know before were, first of all (31%) pasture carrying
capacity and livestock quality, then forest fires (16%) and illegal hunting
(13%). Accordingly, the nature protection methods introduced by some characters
that were considered most feasible were the fight against illegal hunting (33%)
and forest fires (31%).A majority of 59% were willing to participate in related
method if these were implemented in their community.
These results are considered a great
success for the radio station. Therefore, Radio 102.1 confirmed that they will broadcast all
episodes for free as a bonus, starting 1 Feb, 2024. 28.
In addition to this good news, the
UNDP ENSURE project agreed to finance two more episodes to the drama series. In
Episode 27, Garid and Suvd
explained to Yondon different ways to reduce livestock numbers while
maintaining his economy. Yondon liked the idea of fattening lamb to market meat
as this will save fodder, increase income while pastureland will recover. In
Episode 28, an ENSURE project expert visits Yondon to explain the award
nomination for the environmentally friendly herder. The primary criterion is to
reduce livestock numbers to contribute to pastureland management. Yondon is
happy to hear that because he is already doing it while also engaging in community-based
tourism as a start-up. So, finally Yondon gives up his "2000 herd
herder" title and become an "environmentally friendly herder".