Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Dustin Vartanian
Staff Writer
Listen up, the “All Things Armenian” radio program has been on the air for more than a year. Tune in to hear interviews with interesting members of the Armenian community and to hear about the upcoming events planned by the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State.
“All Things Armenian” has gained popularity and is now being re-broadcast Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 9:00pm on SoCalArmenian 95.5FM in Southern California.
The “All Things Armenian” radio show has now produced forty-seven episodes full of insightful interviews. Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian has hosted the show and he has interviewed professors, students, musicians, actors, and others who discuss topics relevant to the Armenian community.
There have been many insightful and interesting episodes produced recently. Episode forty-two featured special guest Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian, who was calling in from the United Kingdom. Dr. Tchilingirian is on the faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University and is the director of the Armenian Diaspora Survey (ADS). The Armenia Diaspora Survey “conducts surveys of public opinion in Armenian diaspora communities to inform the public, scholars, policy-makers and community leaders about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the Armenian world in the 21st century.”
Dr. Tchilingirian discussed some of the interesting results in the Survey, which was recently made available to the public.
In episode forty-four Dr. Tamar Boyadjian of Michigan State University was the featured guest. One of the topics she discussed was the concept of identity, and what makes an Armenian. She explained the complexity of defining a homeland for herself and for many Armenians. She also explained her passion for literature and her life-long journey to becoming a professor of literature. Dr. Boyadjian also discussed the making of her book The City Lament: Jerusalem Across the Medieval Mediterranean.
In episode forty-five, “All Things Armenian” host Prof. Der Mugrdechian interviewed Dr. Stephen Badalyan Riegg, assistant professor of History at Texas A&M, who discussed the complicated history between Armenia and Russia. He spoke about his research into the question of varying Russian-Armenian relations throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Dr. Riegg’s new book, Russia’s Entangled Embrace: The Tsarist Empire and the Armenians 1801-1914, was based on his doctoral dissertation.
One of the most interesting aspects of the program is learning about the life story of each guest. Before diving into the main discussion, Prof. Der Mugrdechian invites each guest to tell the audience about their life story and about their involvement in the Armenian community. It is fascinating to learn about a guest’s background, because each has a very different story to tell. Guests on the show are from all over the world and each of their childhoods and educational experiences are vastly different. However, they are all in some way involved in the Armenian community.
Tune in to see what new stories will be told this week. “All Things Armenian” airs on Multicultural 1600AM on Sunday afternoons from 2:00-3:00pm. Past episodes can be accessed on Multicultural Radio’s website or can be heard on SoundCloud, by typing “All Things Armenian” in the search bar.