(Source: Aljazeera)
Radio Red Zone broadcasts from a town under quarantine and brings listeners useful health advice and sense of community.
Codogno, Italy – As the coronavirus grips Italy and stringent measures are taken to slow the spread of the infection, a local radio station is providing citizens with a sense of normality amid a quarantine.
The station broadcasts from Codogno, a town now known as the “Wuhan of Italy” under lockdown. Trains do not stop there, and the streets are empty.
“Good morning, Codogno!” says 82-year-old presenter Pino Pagani, starting his live broadcast from inside Lombardy’s red-zone area, where about 50,000 people have been under quarantine for almost two weeks.
Pagani then reads an inspirational message sent in from listener Diego Lazzanoni, an Italian living in Castiglione d’Adda town:
“We are here in our homes to fight with our childhood friends and families. Although we are on our knees right now, I feel the silent vicinity of my town. Even if the streets are empty, and no sound is to be heard, I know that when this nightmare is over, we will be partying as we alone know how. We don’t and won’t give up.”[…]
This is great. It reminds me of how a two FM stations got back on the air on the MS Coast shortly after Katrina. They were a great source of local information, and just a comforting bit of news during that episode. Radio Zona Rossa shows why we need these local stations.