The man who laughed at al-Qaeda
Remembering Raed Fares the Radio Fresh FM founder who fought hatred with humour in Syria.
Raed Fares, founder of Syria's legendary Radio Fresh FM, was mowed down by unknown gunmen as he left his studios in rebel-held Idlib in November 2018. The death of the man who fought hatred with humour and laughed in the faces of President Assad, ISIS and al-Qaeda, sent shockwaves way beyond his troubled homeland. When ordered by Islamist extremists to stop broadcasting music he had replied with bird song and clucking chickens. On being told to take his female presenters off air, he put their voices through software to make them sound like men. In tribute to its founder, Raed Fares's radio station has refused to die with him. One year on from his killing it continues to broadcast the comedy programmes he loved, as Assad's troops close in and bombs fall around it.
Presenter: Mike Thomson
Producer: Joe Kent
(Image: Raed Fares standing outside Radio Fresh. Credit: Radio Fresh)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Broadcasts
- Thu 28 Nov 2019 13:32GMT麻豆社 World Service except News Internet
- Thu 28 Nov 2019 18:06GMT麻豆社 World Service Australasia
- Thu 28 Nov 2019 21:06GMT麻豆社 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 28 Nov 2019 23:06GMT麻豆社 World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Fri 29 Nov 2019 02:32GMT麻豆社 World Service except West and Central Africa
- Fri 29 Nov 2019 03:32GMT麻豆社 World Service West and Central Africa
- Sat 30 Nov 2019 16:06GMT麻豆社 World Service News Internet
- Sat 30 Nov 2019 18:32GMT麻豆社 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
Download this programme
Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes