User:Stauma02/sandbox

Episodes
The series begins with the female character Bayan becoming engaged to Majed. As Bayan is waiting for her driver to pick her up, she is harassed by a group of young men asking her to drive with them. The main male character, Malek, then fights the group in the car and offers Bayan a ride; which she ultimately accepts. After this Malek meets his friends at their local hangout spot and explains how he gave a ride to a young woman he did not know. He received much criticism for this because of the conservative traditions in Saudi Arabia about young men and women interacting. Malek then runs into Majed, who turns out to be a good friend of his. He then realizes that Majed is engaged to Bayan. Both Malek and Bayan are receiving criticism for riding in the car together when they did not know each other. Majed begins to get suspicious of Bayan because he over heard a conversation between Bayan and another female about getting into a car with someone. Majed then finds the book that Malek lent to Bayan when she was in the car and realized who had given her the ride. A secondary plot arises in this episode where Malek and his group of friends begin filming a movie about a drug ring in Jeddah. The episode ends with Malek and Majed meeting at the hangout spot, where Majed is going to confront Malek about the ride he gave Bayan. The episode begins with Majed and Malek talking about the ride and book that Malek gave Bayan. Malek receives a call from his friends who are helping him film the movie and they tell him that members from the drug ring they were filming had captured them and want the tape. At this time Bayan’s family has found out she received a ride from an unknown man through social media and her father yells at her for the inappropriate behavior. Malek meets his friends who are being held by members of the drug ring. He hands over a tape to them and his friends are released. However, Malek handed them a random tape and kept the actual footage. Once the members of the drug ring realized this they chased down Malek and his friends. The episode ended in a fight where Majed was stabbed. No english subtitles available yet. Malek’s friends and Bayan are blaming Malek for what happened to Majed and not speaking to him. Malek asks his father for help with purchasing a new camera, but his father tells him how he wants him to stop trying to be a filmmaker and focus on his education. Majed is out of the hospital and recovering, but Bayan is becoming hesitant about her engagement with him. The episode ends with one of the Majed’s friends, Ahmed, returning from abroad. Malek agrees to help a friend in the CPVPV by filming a short movie with them to bridge the gap between the youth and the CPVPV. Malek realizes that Ahmed is back from abroad and expresses his concerns to his friends about being around him because he has caused trouble in the past. Bayan and Majed work out their problems about Bayan receiving the ride and the recent scrutiny she has been receiving on social media. The episode ends with Majed’s mother expressing her concerns about his engagement to Bayan due her working alongside men and the comments made about her on social media.
 * Episode 1
 * Episode 2
 * Episode 3
 * Episode 4
 * Episode 5
 * Episode 6
 * Episode 7
 * Episode 8
 * Episode 9
 * Episode 10
 * Episode 11
 * Episode 12
 * Episode 13
 * Episode 14

Radio as a Political Tool
Radio has also historically been utilized as a political tool in Egypt beginning under the rule of President Gamal Abdel Nasser.(10) Nasser became president of Egypt in 1954 and served until his death in 1970.(10) When Nasser came to power he realized that radio could be utilized as a powerful political tool for two reasons. First, the illiteracy rate in Egypt has been traditionally high.(11) Using radio to spread political ideas, therefore, allowed a greater number of the population to hear his political ideas. Many Egyptians, both literate and illiterate, also enjoyed listening to radio, so this provided an alternative means to propagate his ideologies other than print media.(11) Second, he had the power to expand the radio to all parts of Egypt allowing for the dissemination of his political messages throughout Egypt.(11)

The main program Nasser utilized to voice his politics was the Voice of the Arabs.(10) This program was started on July 4th, 1953 and was directed by Ahmed Said.(10) Said was also the chief announcer of the program and had a close relationship with Nasser and his administration. Nasser’s political goals for Egypt were seen as strongly revolutionary and adopted positions such as anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist, and anti-Zionist.(10) These positions were highly supported and strongly voiced on the Voice of the Arabs in the mid to late 1950’s.(10) This revolutionary propaganda influenced two significant events in Arab countries in the 1950’s.

The first was when the Voice of the Arabs began a series of broadcasts in 1955 that called for Jordanian citizens to campaign against their countries involvement in Baghdad Pact and against their governments close involvement with Britain.(10) This resulted in the dismissal of General John Bagot Glubb, a veteran soldier and Arabist who had been in Jordan over 25 years, as a commander of Jordanian forces.(10) Although the broadcasts cannot be proven fully as the reason for his dismissal, it is strongly believed that the demonstrations that resulted from the broadcasts influenced the Jordanian presidents decision.(10)

The second was broadcasts from 1955 to 1958; which promoted revolution in Iraq.(10) At this time period Iraq had joined the Baghdad Pact, and Nasser saw this as Britain attempting to westernize the Arab world.(10) Due to this the Voice of the Arabs broadcasts were calling on for a revolution by the Iraqi citizens against the royal family and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said.(10) Broadcasts in 1957, in fact, called for the outright assassination of es-Said and the royal family.(10) In 1958, a military coup overthrew the Iraqi government and es-Said and King Faisal II of Iraq were killed.(10) The Egyptian broadcasts were not the sole cause of this, but Ahmed Said did receive a letter with a piece of es-Said’s finger inside that thanked him for the support.(10)

After 1958, the role of radio as a powerful political tool declined.(10) By the 1960’s radio had been around for many years in Egypt and the emergence of television created competition for the radio. Also, after 1970, radio programs such as the Voice of the Arabs reduced their broadcasting hours substantially. During this same period religious radio programs increased more than any other.(10)

10. Boyd, Douglas; Development of Egypt's Radio:'Voice of the Arabs' under Nasser. Journalism Quarterly pp: 645-653

11. Chiba, Yushi; Media History of Modern Egypt: A Critical Review. 2010 pp: 8,11