After a year of broadcasting in Donbas, Army FM, Ukraine’s official military radio station, says it is getting ready to start broadcasting over a broader area of the country.
The station, which is based in Kyiv, initially broadcasted only via satellite or online, but with the new equipment its voice can now be heard in the FM band in many of the big stronghold cities close to the front line, including Volnovakha, Slovyansk or Stanytsya Luhanska – and in many districts that are under Russian occupation.
“Now we have the widest audience in the war zone,” says Oleksiy Makukhin, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of defense on communications. “We’re present in 15 (Ukrainian-controlled) cities there, including in the biggest one, Mariupol. To be honest, we went a lot further than anyone could have ever expected – a year ago our plans were much more modest.”
The next aim for the station is to start broadcasting in Kyiv, a city which is not only heavily populated, but which is also where all the security services are headquartered, the radio hosts say.
The Army FM military radio outlet was launched on March 1, 2016, as Ukraine’s armed forces brought their voices to the Donbas, where Russian radio stations and TV channels dominate with propaganda. The radio station was created with funding from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the U.S.-based Spirit of America charity.
“Taking into account our sudden success in the war zone, we’re now realigning our strategies and goals,” says Makukhin. “We’re expanding our geography – and adapting our lineup and broadcasting content to be interesting not only to the military, although they remain our main focus, but also to civilians living in the (war) zone.”
According to its organizers, Army FM has already made some important advances.
After initially putting around $76,000 into setting up the station and operating it in its first six months, Spirit of America has launched a fundraising drive to purchase more FM radio transmitters.
A total of $122,936 is needed to buy all of the required transmitters, with each one costing $15,367. According to its website, the charity has raised about half of the $200,000 it plans to spend on buying the transmitters and other new equipment for Army FM.
The salaries of the 11 staff (four civilian ministry workers, and seven soldiers) are paid by the Ministry of Defense, which has also provided equipment. Apart from that, the ministry has no set budget for the station. The ministry says it has allocated funds for salaries and more equipment for the coming year.
News for all
To attract the civilian audience, Army FM decided to start addressing the everyday problems affecting millions of people living in the war zone, on both sides of the front line.
“Many of the topics are really relevant to both soldiers and civilians,” Army FM journalist Iryna Sampan says. “Our show ‘Entry Point’ was mostly for the military, but now it covers civilian matters – cooperation with law enforcers and local authorities, welfare benefits in the war zone, crossing military checkpoints on the separation line, and so on.”
It is no secret that, partially due to hostile propaganda influence, communications between Ukrainian security officials and local population in Donbas are strained, Sampan says. Building bridges between them is thus one of the primary tasks of the army radio station.
“Those who tune in to Army FM radio must eventually understand that we do care about civilian problems, and that the Ukrainian military can really help them.”
While also working for the popular independent station Hromadske Radio, Sampan is helping Army FM become a high-quality military broadcasting outlet.
With one of the station’s main tasks being to inform listeners, Army FM broadcasts the latest news from Ukraine and from other war zones around the world, seeking cooperation with journalists reporting from battlefields in Syria and Iraq. Also, as a specifically military radio station, Army FM devotes a lot of attention to the latest news about the Ukrainian peacekeeping contingents acting under the mandate of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Liberia.
Inform and entertain
But apart from informing, entertaining is also important for Army FM.
“Michael Schur has agreed to help us,” Sampan tells, referring to the stage name of the highly popular Ukrainian comedian and journalist Roman Vintoniv, who was himself recently demobilized from the Armed Forces after a year of military service. “There will be series of comic news broadcasts from the occupied territories, about the so-called victories of Russian-backed forces, told in (Vintoniv’s) own specific way.”
Music and entertainment shows take up just over half of Army FM’s airtime – a mix of the most popular Ukrainian and foreign songs and with comedy talk shows. Army FM DJs say that the station’s positive and lively atmosphere supports and encourages soldiers and officers serving in the combat zone, far from their homes and families.
“During our ‘Greetings to the ATO’ talk show, we receive calls from the wives of our servicemen, sending their regards to their loved ones at the frontline,” says radio host Olena Kravchenko.
“They tell us how much they miss them and can’t wait for them to get back home safe.”
Among the talk shows on military topics, Army FM broadcasts the top-40 popular Ukrainian and foreign songs, as well as rave music hits from the 1990s by Prodigy and Scooter.
It is officially a state-run military radio station, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be boring, the hosts say.
Written memories
Like any other radio station, Army FM broadcasts its own morning show on weekdays.
“Many of the calls that we receive during the ‘Wake Up Company’ show are actually made from the occupied zone,” says show host Illia Yarema. “In particular, we have two regular listeners in Luhansk – Volodymyr and Liudmyla – whom we’re always glad to hear from. Basically, all the topics for live broadcasts are chosen to entertain both a civilian and military audience – just to encourage people in the morning, to wake everyone up with their coffee.”
Army FM even offers reviews of books from a trending segment of modern Ukrainian literature – war fiction.
“After three years of war, military fiction by Ukrainian veterans is a huge and very special layer of our literature,” says Kateryna Potapenko, the host of the show “Sector L.”
“When this all ends, and it is going to end very soon, there will be lots of written memories about this time.”
