The stations are set to become some of the earliest adopters of Campcaster, open-source software designed in Prague to simplify demands of broadcasting in the developing world.

"The goal of Campcaster is to turn your PC into a radio station," said Sava Tatić, managing director of the Center for Advanced Media–Prague (CAMP), the nonprofit behind the software. CAMP is part of the Media Development Loan Fund, begun a decade ago to finance independent media in developing or oppressive nations.

CAMP's goal is to use the tools of new media to help broadcasters do their jobs, Tatić said.

Grassroots

Several Campcaster programmers, including Douglas Arellanes, one of the project's managers, traveled to Freetown in December to roll out Campcaster's newest version, customized for the demands of CORNET stations.

When it was time to install the software at Radio Mount Aureol, the first station — a complex process, since Campcaster runs only on Linux — Arellanes stepped back to let Sahr Gborie, a Freetown native who has joined the Campcaster community to provide support in Sierra Leone, do the work.

Gborie installed software that simplifies the tasks of broadcasting, such as keeping continuous live feeds, automated broadcasts, previewing tracks on separate channels, remote management via the Web and storage of broadcast files on a network.

The program, true to its open-source nature, will evolve as Western stations, like Radio Orange in Vienna, adopt and customize it.

Before Campcaster, an African community station might use Windows Media Player or "even just two turntables and a microphone" to broadcast, Arellanes said. Citizen FM even used several tape decks, though the station's equipment is receiving an upgrade, thanks to the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.

Some stations resort to software piracy, using programs that would normally cost $700 (15,000 Kč) and up for a single license. This makes broadcasts easier, but also leaves stations exposed.

"We're interested in the practical dangers of using pirated software, particularly in countries where working stations are subjected to unequal application of the law," said Arellanes.

It's common for oppressive governments to audit the taxes of independent media as a form of intimidation; a new trend is combining this with a computer audit for pirated software.

Because of the WTO and the Business Software Alliance, "everyone wants to be seen as good on intellectual property," Arellanes said. "We're strongly opposed to pirated software, because [in Linux and Campcaster] there is a free and legal alternative."

Sierra Leone has allowed its community radio room to grow.

"There are no threats on stations here," Gborie said. "Broadcasting is being done in a good, democratic atmosphere. For stations in the provinces, the biggest problem is [Internet] connectivity," used to share reports across the stations. "But all of the stations are broadcasting for 12–18 hours a day."

Gborie, whose Internet connection is limited to the power he gets from a gas generator, will present Campcaster to the African Union at a meeting in Addis Ababa next month.

"With 11 100-watt stations all connected to each other, it starts to get interesting," Arellanes said.

With the trial of warlord and former Liberian President Charles Taylor set to begin in the Hague in April, a number of stations in Liberia have expressed interest in Campcaster, Tatiç said.

"It would be an opportunity to bring Liberians into the discussion," Arellanes said.

CAMP has not secured funding to help the Liberian stations, however. The organization's budget is donated, and has come from George Soros' Open Society Institute and the Swedish government, among other sources. The developers have not approached USAID for assistance, though they have considered it.

No one knows how quickly Campcaster will grow now that it has become reliable code. The beauty of open source is that no one will know how many stations have adopted the system. There is no phoning home in the program, no centralized control.

"You're free to use this software and not tell anyone about it," Arellanes said.