In Makhmour itself, the locals say they listen to both stations almost every day. But they say that, despite the military’s fears, Radio Imam doesn’t have any impact on them.
At the moment, many locals see Radio Imam as the winner in this battle for bandwidth simply because the extremist radio signal is far stronger. Some worry that sooner or later, Radio Imam will be able to reach even more people and possibly influence them with its extreme messages.
“The Iraqi government could technically stop Radio Imam,” suggests Ismail al-Shahbandar, a doctoral student of media studies at Baghdad University and also a Makhmour resident.
“Right now the military radio has a weaker signal than Radio Imam. The army really needs to work on this and improve its signal,” he argues. “We already know how potent a weapon media is in, in this war.”
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