The international Show and the German Show “Schwedische Gardinen” at Radio AF are the only broadcasts for exchange students, but few people get involved.
Tuesday, 4 pm: “Hello, and welcome to International Radio with Edward and Sharon.“ Edward Percival and Sharon Bowker sit in Studio Three of Radio AF.
Edward is Australian and has been involved in the development of the international show at the Student Radio of Lund since last year. Sharon has been part of it for the past two years.
– We are offering the show in English, so international students, who can´t understand Swedish, have access to the radio station, Edward says.
On Tuesday, the 6th of September, the program started its latest term. The show will be streamed weekly, every Tuesday from 4 to 5 pm.
– I really hope we can speak to a lot of exchange students from all parts of the world during our broadcast. We like to hear their opinions of Swedish culture and their experience with the university. We also discuss the daily news, Edward says.
Monday, 10 pm: Julia Hoffman and Dorina Reichel sit down in front of the microphones and welcome the listeners in German to “Schwedische Gardinen”. Both, Julia from Germany, and Dorina, from Austria, are students of Environmental Studies. During the next hour they want to talk about Swedish News, especially around Lund and Malmö.
– Most of the German students don´t know what is going on around them, because they don´t understand Swedish. We try to fill this gap.
They talk about sustainability, too, says Julia and continues:
– We like to discuss new projects and ideas about Sustainability from all around the world.
The question: “How does a Swede think about it?” gets special attention. The Swedish culture has been an important part of the German show since its start two years ago. Its music is selected by Julia and Dorina, most of it from Swedish artists.
The music during the 
international show represents the Swedish charts. Nine songs normally find place between talking and advertising.
– We decide very spontaneously the topics for the show, says Edward.
They don´t have the capacity to prepare a special program. The talk master himself is student of Welfare Policy, Sharon works full-time in Malmö.
– Some other students are coming and going, but there are never enough to get substance into the show, says Edward.
– Germans like Sweden, and are here a lot, says Julia.
She is happy to communicate every week something about Sweden to German speaking people.
– I learned a lot during my one year at the show and it is still fun to chat in the microphone, to tell people about things you yourself find fascinating. As with last year, they want to integrate a “Learn Swedish”-Section and a “Swedish word of the week” to reduce the language barrier a bit.
– Soon we will have it in our program again, but at the moment there is someone missing, who actually speaks Swedish and German, says Julia Hoffman.
Bilingual content would be nice to have as well in the international show, says Edward:
– There is enough free space.
But there are some struggles with the internal organization. The inscription of programs for the semester ends before international students arrive in Lund. At the same time, a lot of international students come to Lund for just a semester and don´t think about involving themselves in Student Organizations.
–Radio AF offers a big opportunity to experience more of student life and more of Sweden, says Julia.
She and Edward agree:
– The International broadcast would really win a lot if there were more international students bringing new ideas to the show.
Photo: Janine Beyert
