Muslims in Chicago launch radio program

10/3/2004 4:38:00 PM GMT

A group of Chicago-area Muslims launched its own talk radio program, in an attempt to break down stereotypes about Muslims and have them talk about everything from religion to breast cancer.

"Whenever I hear the word 'Muslims' in the news it is always followed by something negative, a car bombing in Iraq," said Jenan Diab, the producer of "Radio Islam," which was launched Friday evening on WCEV 1450-AM.

"We want something positive for Muslims. We want to encourage them. We want to show non-Muslims something positive."

The daily, hour-long call-in show, broadcasted in English, will host several Muslim-Americans, including educators, physicians, religious leaders and attorneys, and both Muslim and non-Muslim guests. A wide variety of issues will be discussed, including those that are not specifically about Muslims. Broadcast time is 6 p.m.

"This is not about Muslims for Muslims," said the show's executive producer, Abdul Malik Mujahid, whose multimedia production company, Sound Vision, is broadcasting the show.

For example, there is a planned discussion about media stereotypes of Arabs. Mujahid also said; “we will have a show in a couple of days on what parents can do to make television healthier for their children."

He added that the radio show is important because Muslims do not have the kind of access to mainstream media they need to correct some of the misperceptions about them.

"For example, people think many Muslims don't condemn beheadings and terrorism," he said. "We condemn it every day, but nobody hears about it."

He also said that he hopes the show will attract non-Muslim listeners because many things of what is reported in the media about Muslims have been unfair or incomplete.

He referred to the case of a Muslim chaplain who was detained in solitary confinement for 76 days before he was cleared in an espionage probe at Guantanamo Bay.

"When he (Capt. James Yee) was suspected of terrorism it was headline news, but (when he was cleared) it was nothing," he said. "So our neighbors don't hear about it."

The station carrying the show, WCEV, sells time to the producers of ethnic programs. A Mass in Polish, a Gospel show and a Lithuanian information and variety show are among the programs on the station. Some of the shows are in English and many are in other languages.