Sandiwara Daerah of Radio Republik Indonesia Yogyakarta and Surakarta , 1950 s-1990 s

This article discusses Sandiwara Daerah [regional plays] organized by Radio Republik Indonesia Yogyakarta and Surakarta by applying historical method. This article shows that Sandiwara Daerah broadcasts on Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) Yogyakarta and Surakarta had been held since the 1950s. The performance of Sandiwara Daerah broadcast profoundly related to the position of RRI as a government cultural media which exclusively responsible for disseminating regional cultures. Sumardjono and Maria Kadarsih are prominent figures in the production process of Sandiwara Daerah RRI Yogyakarta, as well as Siti Aminah who became a key figure in the production process of Sandiwara Daerah RRI Surakarta. Sandiwara Daerah is an event favored by the Javanese people. Nevertheless, Sandiwara Daerah experienced a decline since the private radios launched Sandiwara Radio in 1990.


Introduction
Radio promptly gained wide participation from the Indonesian's society in the early 20th century, exceedingly with the emergence of amateur radio. Gradually, several radio amateurs were developed, owning stations, and broadcasting. These radios have different visions, missions, and orientations along with the dynamics of community development. Kaan (2017) has explored the relationship between radio and identity politics in the Dutch East Indies (1927)(1928)(1929)(1930)(1931)(1932)(1933)(1934)(1935)(1936)(1937)(1938)(1939)(1940)(1941)(1942). According to him, almost all radios during the Dutch colonial period strictly segmented the East and West audiences, and were involved in the segmentation of the Dutch East Indies' society. Radio continued to catalyze the polarization of East and West identities, weakening the social cohesion and stability among the Dutch East Indies' society.
During the Japanese occupation in Indonesia (1942)(1943)(1944)(1945) there was a dramatic change in the world of radio broadcasting. Broadcasting was under the supervision of the Japanese Military Government which treated under strict censorship and was entirely devoted to achieving the objectives of national policy as well as conditioning the public mind, this was done in oder to accept and respect national goals [according to the Japanese military perspective]. Hence, the Japanese Military Government built a centralized broadcasting system. All private radio broadcasts were 'frozen' and rearranged by a special service called Hoso Kanri Kyoku, which was a radio center station based in Jakarta along with 15 branch stations (Hoso Kyoku) and all Indonesian staff (Lindsay, 1997, p. 110). Hoso Kyoku's broadcast was mainly consisting of war propaganda. The programs were permitted to broadcast in Indonesian language. Hoso Kyoku also gave encouragement to the development of Indonesian music broadcasts (Ministry of Information, 1953, p. 22).
During the independence era, radio also played an important role in the life of Indonesian society. Wild (1986) has demonstrated that during the revolutionary period (1945)(1946)(1947)(1948)(1949)(1950) radio had a huge impact in the struggle of Indonesian nation. The role of radio was also significant in understanding Indonesia's history during 1950s-1960s as indicated by Lindsay (2011, p. 25), Puguh (2017) conducted a study that primarily address on the role of Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) in 1945-1960 period by focusing on RRI Surakarta. Within the period, RRI Surakarta had two roles in the context of decolonization. In 1945In -1949, RRI Surakarta played a role in defending Indonesia's independence, meanwhile in 1950-1960s, RRI Surakarta participated in efforts to form a national culture. In addition, there have some discourses on radio broadcasts by several experts both from within and outside the country. Lindsay (1997) discusses private radio and local identity in Indonesia; Mardianto and Darmanto (2001) discuss the Javanese literary tradition of radio; and Puguh (2015) in one of the chapters of his dissertation, discusses broadcasts of Javanese performing arts in RRI Surakarta.
From the previous studies, it can be examined that radio has played an vital role in Indonesian history. Unlike in the aforementioned studies, this article discusses one of the cultural programs in RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta, which favored by the RRI's audiences, specifically the Javanese community, namely Javanese radio plays or known as Sandiwara Daerah. The locus of this article is RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta, it stands to reason, because RRI Yogyakarta was a pioneer of Sandiwara Daerah program, while RRI Surakarta was later able to overtake the pioneers of RRI Yogyakarta in organizing Regional Drama. The discussion of this article focuses on the creative process and the response of listeners to these cultural broadcast programs without neglecting the genesis aspects of the program's existence regarding its origin and development. To gain a complete understanding, the previous section also discussed the position of RRI as a government cultural medium that could be utilized to understand the existence of Sandiwara Daerah broadcasts.

Method
This article was arranged by applying historical method which consists of four phases, namely source collection, source assessment, interpretation, and reconstruction. The sources were consisting of written and audiovisual. Written sources in the form of contemporary sources consisting of Pedoman Radio, Berita Radio, Mingguan Radio Republik Indonesia, Djajabaja, Mekar Sari, Dharma Kanda, and Kompas These source has been broadcasted by TVRI Yogyakarta on February 15, 2019 at the Kang Tedjo Pendopo. These sources are substantially relevant, important, and credible for the arrangement of this article, because they provide accurate information related to the topics. The facts are selected and sorted based on the relevant subject. These are linked on the basis of the principle of chronology and cause and effect. Afterwards, by the historical imagination, the facts are reconstructed into a written story which socalled history (history as written) (Black & MacRaild, 2007).

RRI as Government Cultural Media
RRI was established in the Conference which was held in Jakarta, on September 11, 1945, after dealing with struggle of thoughts and struggles of Indonesian national leaders. At the beginning of its growth, RRI had to experience the dynamics of history along with a wave of struggle to defend the independence from the invasion of Dutch troops who wanted to regain power in Indonesia. RRI broadcasts became incendiary tools and propelling to the struggle for the independence. Thus, it can be stated that since its founding, RRI has been an outcome the revolution which become a center of command for the patriotic struggle to defend the independence. In the development, when Indonesia entered a new phase in 1950, RRI remained the main wave proclaiming for struggle and at the same time carrying out its function as a means of entertaining the people and spreading culture (Wild, 1986;"Sambutan," 1955, p. 3). Through the airwaves, RRI tried to deliver the conscience of the Indonesian nation, as a fully independent nation and owning a national culture ("Tradisi," p. 3).
Based on the above facts, it is not surprising that Sen and Hill (2000, pp. 82-84) state that RRI was established in order to support government programs. Thus, since its establishment, RRI has become a political and cultural media for the government. Therefore, it is inconceivable for RRI to carry through broadcast politics as opposed to government politics. RRI is necessary to participate in maintaining the state safety, particularly by organizing broadcasts which able to maintain the national unity (Ministry of Information, 1953, p. 252; "Sembilan," p. 3). As a consequence, RRI had a monopoly on broadcasting national news, and its regional branches gave part of its broadcast time for local programs (Lindsay, 1997, p. 111).
The implementation of this policy dealt with the content of RRI broadcast programs, especially a series of national broadcast, must be regulated in such a way to embody the interests of all Indonesian people (Effendy, 1978, p. 69). Meanwhile, regional RRI has the privilege to broadcast programs based on its own choice, as long as it is parallel with the established policy and program lines; both by the government and RRI itself ("Sembilan," p. 4). The Regional RRI is obliged to devote part of its time to relay the program broadcast by RRI Jakarta as the central station. One of the RRI Jakarta programs that must be relayed every day by the Regional RRI is Warta Berita Nasional. Warta Berita Nasional is broadcast every day at 06:00, 07:00, 08:00, 13:00, 14:00, 14:45, 20:00, 21:00, and 22:00 Indonesian Time (WIB) ("Sambutan," p. 3). Likewise, RRI Jakarta also compiled a newsletter entitled Varia Nusantara which was not obliged to be relayed by RRI Daerah. Varia Nusantara is consistently broadcast at 18:00 WIB. Meanwhile, each Regional RRI also has the right to broadcast regional news, such as Warta Daerah, Berita Regional, Berita dalam Bahasa Jawa (RRI Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Semarang), and so forth (Berita Radio, 1954Radio, -1956).
In its position as government cultural media, RRI commits to collect and broadcast the regional cultures so that it is acknowledged by all Indonesian people. RRI explores all the richness of the Indonesian indigenous culture then introduce them to the community. This is not intended to revive regionalism, but as a part of efforts to shape national culture. Furthermore, regional culture must be broadcasted widely to all Indonesian people, so that a free assimilation process can emerge and formulate a new national culture. Therefore, RRI has to be an active channel to accomplish these efforts (Ministry of Information, 1953, pp. 253-254). The position and role of RRI is significant, until 1955, RRI had 28 stations spread across various regions ("Sambutan," p. 3).
In the next period, on the basis of historical, political, sociological, psychological, and geographical factors, RRI as a broadcast radio organization which has a network is grouped into several categories, namely: National/ Central RRI Stations, RRI Nusantara Stations, Regional RRI Stations, RRI Stations Locals, and RRI Relay Stations (Effendy, 1978, p. 67). The National/ Central RRI Station is located in Jakarta as the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia. As the capital city of the country, Jakarta is the centre of political, economic, social, cultural and defence and security activities. In accordance with its position as the National/ Central Station, the broadcast program of RRI Jakarta also relayed by the subordinate radio stations. Some broadcasts were relayed by all broadcast radio stations in Indonesia include news reports, state ceremony reports, and parliamentarians. To strengthen the performance of event production and launching of broadcast program with national and international scope, the National/ Central RRI Station divides programs into five categories, namely Programa Nasional, Programa Khusus, Programa Ibu Kota, Programa Musik Sepanjang Hari, and Programa Siaran Luar Negeri (Effendy, 1978, p. 68-69).
RRI Nusantara Station is located in the provincial capital as a sub-center for political, economic, social, cultural, as well as defence and security activities. In Indonesia, there are five RRI Nusantara Stations, namely RRI Nusantara I Ujung Pandang, RRI Nusantara II Yogyakarta, RRI Nusantara III Medan, RRI Nusantara IV Banjarmasin, and RRI Nusantara V Jayapura. Each RRI Nusantara is in charge of designated Regional RRI Stations. RRI Nusantara station is in charge of coordinating broadcast operations executed by regional and local stations within its territory. RRI Nusantara Station organizes event production and launches radio broadcast within the scope of its coordination area, broadcasts aimed at its regional areas through Programa Nusantara broadcast, regional, and local (Effendy, 1978, p. 71).
Regional RRI stations are based in provincial capitals or cities / regencies have regional activities in the politics, economy, social, culture, as well as defence and security sectors. For instance, RRI Surakarta and RRI Semarang. RRI Regional Station organizes event production and launches radio broadcast within the scope of provincial areas and or important cultural centre through regional and local programs. Local RRI stations are located in municipalities/ districts that have political, social, and cultural potential. The main task is similar to RRI Regional Station, but the scope is smaller. Many of the programs are relayed from the National/ Central RRI Station, the RRI Nusantara Station, and the Regional RRI Station. Meanwhile, RRI Relay Stations are settled according to the needs in cities or areas where RRI broadcast reception is experiencing obstacles (Effendy, 1978, pp. 71-72). Having had many stations across the country, RRI has the potential to dig in and disseminate the cultural wealth in the regions. Moreover, assimilation process is expected to form a national culture ("Sembilan," p. 4).
In line with the current policies, RRI organizes cultural broadcast, following the term coined by Yampolsky (1987, pp. 10-12) are including National Music, Regional Entertainment, and Regional Music and Theater. National Music has a general definition. The term was only intended to facilitate grouping ("Tradisi," p. 3). However, according to Yampolsky, National Music is a term referring to music in performing the identity of Indonesians as Indonesians, across regional and ethnic boundaries, and is not identified with certain regions or groups. In general, the lyrics of National Music are written in Indonesian language. The main varieties of National Music as produced by Lokananta are entertainment, Keroncong, Malay (such as dangdut), Struggle songs, Islamic religious recitation and songs (usually using Arabic instead of Indonesian), and Worship songs (Yampolsky, 1987, p. 5).
Regional Entertainment is categorized as National Music, a regional language song with a melody composing like National Entertainment. Regional entertainment applying idioms and presenting it with a Western musical ensemble. Ocassionally, it is displayed in orchestral form. Regional entertainment includes traditional Malay, Karo, Simalungun, Tapanuli, Minang, South Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Maluku regional music (Yampolsky, 1987, p. 13;Yampolsky, 1995, pp. 706-707).
In conducting the broadcasts, RRI is supported by Lokananta, which formerly has no recording studio. Therefore, Lokananta used RRI's recording studios which scattered across the regions. Lokananta was founded in 1956 in Surakarta. Its establishment was an idea realization by the Director General of RRI in 1954. The idea of establishing a recording studio was intended to preserve the existence of RRI stations located in the regions. The Lokananta establishment serves two purposes. The first objective is practical, namely to improve the RRI discotheque and reduce the use of foreign exchange. In this case, the establishment of Lokananta is intended to meet the needs of RRI broadcasts. The second objective is more ideal because it relates to a broader goal, namely to increase the production of national LPs which is expected to contribute to the development of Indonesian culture. Thus, the establishment of Lokananta is expected to reduce the influences of foreign cultures in the context of realizing national culture (Puguh, 2015, pp. 312-313;Puguh, 2018, p. 427 Additionally, the awaited programs by Indonesian people was Pemilihan Bintang Radio [Radio Star Contest] ("Tradisi," p. 4). The following describes one of the cultural broadcast programs favored by the Javanese community organized by RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta, namely Sandiwara Daerah.
According to RRI centralized policy and the position of RRI Yogyakarta as the Nusantara II Station in charge of the RRI Surakarta Regional Station, it can be ascertained that Sandiwara Daerah and Theater events at RRI Station Yogyakarta have existed in the mid-1950 decade. In Berita Radio published in 1955, information was obtained that Sandiwara Radio (including Sandiwara Daerah) is the most popular broadcast program (Berita Radio, September 1955 Yogyakarta were threatened by congestion. Since then Sumardjono emerged as the leader of the Keluarga Yogya to continue the broadcast of the RRI Yogyakarta Regional Theater Theater ("Sedjenak mendjenguk," p. 5). After five years of devotion at RRI Yogyakarta, in 1964 he was appointed as a Head Section of Siaran Kata; a position he held until 1979. This appointment was, indeed, inseparable from his ability in the field of drama and sandiwara. His career was constantly improving, from 1979 until his retirement in 1986, his last position was the Head of Broadcast Planning. Sumardjono's role in organizing Sandiwara Daerah at RRI Yogyakarta is prominent, he is the main writer, director, and actors. In other words, he is the key actor of the event (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 139).
The production process for Sandiwara Daerah evoked by the discovery of story ideas, script writing, recording, mixing or montage processes, and broadcasting. The process takes more than 10 times the duration of the event. The discovery of story ideas is attained in two ways, namely: by seeking inspiration from the social life of community and adapting stories deriving from abroad. Thus, the stories featured in the Sandiwara Daerah broadcast are authentic stories by Sumardjono and adapted stories from novels in both English and Dutch. According to Asri Sumardjono (Sumardjono's wife), if the recording process has not acquired a story idea, Sumardjono persuaded his wife to go on a motorbike surrounding the city or villages to enjoy the local atmosphere and environment. During his trip, Sumardjono conducted a dialogue with the people he met. When he got an inspiration, he was immediately returning home to write a script. Ocassionally, completing script takes time from noon or evening until late night, or eventually pushed it to the next morning. The manuscript was typed on 19-20 pages of doorslag paper and made several copies (because there were no photocopies) with one and a half spaces. The original story of Sumardjono's work tells about feudalism and the author's antypathy toward feudalism ("Profil Soemardjono", 1985, p. 75;Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 143).
Respectively, for several stories adapted from foreign novels, Sumardjono was inspired to write a script from his wife, who is in charge of the the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and speaks in both Dutch and English. He asked his wife to read the novel and retold it to Sumardjono.
Then the story is processed into a Sandiwara Daerah story. Many adaptation texts inspired by novels written by Morold Robin and Paul Welman which were adapted to the Indonesian environment. Apart from modifying stories from novels in foreign languages, Sumardjono also adapted novels in Indonesian. One of his works, Godril was inspired by the Anak Perawan di Sarang Penyamun by Sutan Takdir Alisyahbana) (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 145). According to Sumardjono, in his position as a script writer, for 21 years he has been involved in the implementation of Sandiwara Daerah he has produced as many as 780 manuscripts, both original and adaptations (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 139 & 145). From hundreds of stories, there are several stories which are popular and have become a public memory, including Gumbret, Rahmoyo, Katri, Raden Mas Basuki, Perkutut, and Godril ("Menyingkap Album Acara Top'45-'85", 1985, pp. 69-70;"Profil Soemardjono", 1985, p. 75). Bondan Nusantara, a mataraman kethoprak activist, testified that as a teenager (1960s) he regularly listened to Sandiwara Daerah. The most memorable series of Sandiwara Daerah is Godril, because it was the first horror skit broadcasted by RRI Yogyakarta (Muryanto, 2013, p. 141).
In regards to the characteristics of the Sandiwara Daerah script, various types of information were conveyed as follows. Basically, each manuscript sheet is divided into three parts, particularly: the part numbering, the actor name column, and the part of dialogue sentence. Each manuscript consists of two main elements, namely technical language (play and production instructions) and dialogue sentences that must be read by the actors. In terms of technical language, Sumardjono's works constantly started and finished by writing gamelan (Mardianto and Darmanto, 2001, p. 153). In case of writing serial story, the script writing is finished with the same pattern. Within the script, the name of the character started with a capital letter. In Sumardjono's script, characters' dialogues generally use a mixture of Javanese and Indonesian (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 153 & 157). After the script is complete, a copy of the script is distributed to the actors. According to Arief Hartoyo, a member of the Keluarga Yogya, frequently scripts were given to the actors in a few hours before the recording (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 143). The recording did not always run smoothly, sometimes obstacles interrupted the process. The actors have indeed been prepared and roles have been determined. However, sometimes up to the time before the recording, one of the actor was unable to come, even though the recording could not be postponed any longer. In such case, Sumardjono as the director must immediately contact other people to replace the actor ("Profil Soemardjono", 1985, p. 75).
In 1965 the Regional Drama was broadcasted every two weeks. A year later, in 1966 there was a change in broadcast frequency into once a week. This program was broadcast every Sunday night with a duration of 90 minutes after the broadcast of Warta Berita at 21:00 WIB. Since the first launching, Sandiwara Daerah has a group named Keluarga Yogya. Until the end of the 1990s the name remained attached and always mentioned at the beginning and end of the story (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 137). In 1960s to 1970s, Sandiwara Daerah RRI Yogyakarta was like an addiction that made the listening community of RRI Yogyakarta addicted. They were not willing to leave this event for even one night. As an illustration, if a regular community meeting held in a certain village on Sunday night to discuss a range of issues in that environment, the time for the meeting was limited which was finished before the commencement of the Javanese radio broadcast. The fondness of society for Sandiwara Daerah programs is also reflected in the social realities for society in the upcoming day. On Monday morning, both in offices, markets, and other public places as well as anywhere and anyone in small discussions about Sandiwara Daerah which were listened the night before ("Sedjenak mendjenguk," p. 5; Ratmana, 1975;"Menyingkap Album Acara Top '45-'85, 1985, p. 70 Planning Division, has programmed the Sandiwara Daerah to be finished before Berita Asean (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 142). Sumardjono mostly took stories from both foreign and Indonesian novels, whereas Maria Kadarsih does not use stories from others. The whole story is a story of his own creativity. There are external factors that prevented Maria Kadarsih from adapting a foreign story to broadcast Sandiwara Daerah, namely the issuance of the Copyright Law. He realizes that there are legal consequences for adapting story books without paying royalties. In order to avoid any legal consequences when adapting a story, the choice was made to try to produce a story of his own work. However, Maria Kadarsih's creative process in creating stories has no major difference from Sumardjono's. Newspapers, magazines, and books, and social situations are sources of inspiration to her. She is among the writers who can finish writing the script immediately. Writing a script for a broadcast package in 40 minutes (about 14-15 pages) can be completed in few hours. The differences in writing the script by these two figures are in technical language; Sumardjono's works always started and finished by writing Gamelan, while Maria Kadarsih's works used gendhing term.
Apparently, Maria Kadarsih has a better understanding in terminology applied in the Javanese musicals, so she can use a more precise term than Sumardjono, because the term gamelan refers to the instrument, while the term gendhing refers to the composition in Javanese musicals. When the term is used to refer to an illustration used to support a play scene, the term gendhing is more appropriate than gamelan. Unlike Sumardjono, who frequently handed over the script of Sandiwara Daerah to the players before recording, Maria Kadarsih was able to distribute the script to the players no later than the day before recording. Thus, the players can take preparations, because the script can be read in its entirety before recording, which in turn they know the whole story content and understand the characters of each actors. In this way, it is hoped to be able to produce a high quality of Sandiwara Daerah (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, pp. 152-153, 162).
There are differences in writing script by Maria Kadarsih compared to Sumardjono in terms of pattern in writing serial stories. In the script by Maria Kadarsih, the writing of Series II consistently begins with retelling the summary of the Series I story, the writing of Series III begins with a summary of the story of Series II, and so on. Maria Kadarsih also tends to use pure Javanese with the application of Javanese attitudes (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 158, 155 (Kadarsih, 1985, p.115).
Sandiwara Daerah favored by the community was also inseparable from its illustrative support. The presentation always begins and ends with gendhing as a tune that functions as an event recognition music. In addition, in each transition scene was included an illustration gendhing which has a multiple functions, separating the scene, and creating an atmosphere according to the story. Sandiwara Daerah also take advantage of sound effects for various functions, including: helping to create an atmosphere; other forms of acting (the sound of footsteps replacing the acting of walking in visual drama), and showing the place (for instance, the sound of waves to describe scenes on the beach) (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 163).
Opening and closing gendhing for the performance of the Sandiwara Daerah were made by gamelan master of Yogyakarta, Ki Tjokrowasito, who later became known as Ki Wasitodipuro. This name is popular in the Javanese musical art world, because its character in the musical field has received recognition from various parties, both from within and outside the country (Tim Pengkajian "Maskarja", 2004). Waridi (2008) named him as one of the supporting pillars for the life of Javanese karawitan, because he has been a pioneer in the renewal of Javanese karawitan through its gendhing. Gendhing for illustration of Sandiwara Daerah between 1970-1987 also uses Ki Wasitodipuro's work. However, in the 1987-1995 period there was a change because the illustrations also used the work of other RRI Yogyakarta composers, namely Hardjo Rachman and Sutarjo.
Since 1996, apart from using gendhing by Harjo Rachman and Sutarjo, Murjono's works have also been used. The use of the gendhing works compiled by the composers of RRI Yogyakarta was adapted to the demands of the story, so that in one broadcast package used illustrations from several creators. The determination and use of the type of illustration for the Sandiwara Daerah is carried out by the operator doing the montage or mixing (Mardianto & Darmanto, 2001, p. 163).
In the 1990s, there is a major change in the media and entertainment industry. Along with the development of the private television and radio industry, the public is increasingly selective in choosing the media and its programs. People prefer television because it is more attractive. RRI Yogyakarta is not the main source of information and entertainment for the community. As a result, Sandiwara Daerah is also increasingly marginalized (Pramesti, 2013, pp. 53-54). Sandiwara Daerah was already in place. She added that the drama was performed either in Javanese or Indonesian. ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah"). Nonetheless, unfortunately the legacy of broadcast scripts and recordings did not exist, due to limited facilities and infrastructure.
The implementation of Sandiwara Daerah broadcasts aims to preserve Javanese culture, notably Javanese. The drama is chosen as one of the media to preserve the Javanese language, because the stories in the drama is related to everyday life, therefore it is easier for the public to digest and accept than wayang wong. Wayang wong performances are relatively difficult to digest and accept, because they have to appreciate more deeply both language and songs. ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah"). Because the drama is in accordance with everyday life and uses Javanese as it is used by the community, the story is easy to understand. It is hoped that the use of Javanese will help to preserve the Javanese language, because through Sandiwara Daerah, the Javanese are accustomed to hearing Javanese conversations.
In the period before 1979, Sandiwara Daerah broadcasts were managed by Rudi Sunarto and W.S. Nardi. There was no written information about how the broadcast was organized and the public's response to the Javanese-language theatrical program at that time. A reliable information is about the performance of Sandiwara Daerah which supported by cultural institutions in Surakarta ("Sumarjono lan sandiwara ", 1979). This means that actors under the cultural institutions in Surakarta take turns filling in the broadcast programs organized by RRI Surakarta.
Among the artists of Sandiwara Daerah, Sumardjono was an influential person who has raised the Sandiwara Daerah to be a nationally recognized event. Therefore, he was known as Mr Sandiwara Jawa RRI Nusantara II Yogyakarta (Darmoatmodjo, 1972, p. 8 1979). In the case of writing the Sandiwara Daerah script, Sumardjono always says "write with the correct guidelines, particularly starting from the following parts including exposure, process, climax, and resolution" ("Profil Soemardjono", 1985, p. 76). By this training, it is hoped that the Sandiwara Daerah held by RRI Surakarta will have a certain quality, and there will be enthusiasm for pursuing and developing this art. On the last day of the training, there was a drama performance played by participants. Sumardjono chosen three impressive scripts written by Yusmiar, Siti Aminah, and Ahmad DS. At the time, the idea emerged in order to form a drama group in Surakarta that could be a prime focus in Sandiwara Radio ("Sumarjono lan sandiwara", 1979). Siti Aminah's work received the highest score. Its production also received a highest rank. This is not so surprising, since 1970 she has been managing Sandiwara Radio in Radio Konservatori Surakarta. For her achievement, she was offered by the Head of RRI Surakarta, Muhammad Hasyim Beni to work at RRI Surakarta, and since September 1, 1979, she has worked at RRI Surakarta as a staff of Music Broadcasting and Assistant for Siaran Kata and became a person incharge in organizing Sandiwara Daerah broadcasts ("Bu Lusia Siti Aminah", 1980, p. 19). Since then, she has been appointed as script writer and director for Sandiwara Daerah at RRI Surakarta until the early 2000s. She quitted from the broadcast of Sandiwara Daerah on RRI Surakarta in 2005.
("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah"). Thus, the discourse on Sandiwara Daerah broadcasts on RRI Surakarta is inseparable from the figure of Siti Aminah.
Siti Aminah managed the broadcast of Sandiwara Daerah at RRI Surakarta passionately.
In accordance with the policy outlined by RRI, the Sandiwara Radio must be able to convey the high moral values of society at a certain time; instill confidence in society that truth, honesty and nobility; overcome evil; as well as minimize the symptoms which endanger society or obstruct the progress of the nation (Effendy, 1978, p. 99). She wrote a script which was broadcasted regularly once a week. She got inspiration from books, novels, films, and true stories. In fact, she also needed to conduct interviews with various parties and make observations to compile a drama script. For instance: court scenes, she did consultation with the judge; health problems, she conducted a conversation with a doctor; on criminal matters, she also interviewed the police and sometimes included guest players from the police ("Transcript of Interview with Siti Aminah"). The themes of the story were diverse, such as: family, crime (the most common theme), mystery and horror. In addition, she also brought up a story about Javanese culture, entitled Sri Panggung and Javanese arts mission overseas, both of which were inspired by the true life of the Surakarta Javanese artist. Sri Panggung tells about the story of an artist's struggle who gets opposition from her parents because she dislike art. She continues to strive to realize what her dreams of preserving culture, so that she becomes a famous person. The story about the Javanese arts mission overseas tells of a fraud committed by the intermediary who organized the art mission. The mission of writing stories about the life of Javanese artists is to place Javanese art in its proper position. She does not want to be denigrated by Javanese arts ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah").
Similar to Sumardjono, her teacher in the field of Sandiwara Daerah, she uses Javanese language which is unbounded by literary language in composing scripts. The draft mostly uses Javanese as a daily language of communication.
Frequently, there are some foreign or non-Javanese terms that is unnecessary to be translated into Javanese. This choice is based on the consideration that the work would be more communicative ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah"). The actors were recruited from various parts of RRI Surakarta. She selected suitable actors by doing a voice test to find actors whose voices can reflect the characters that will be performed in a drama (Sunyoto, 1978, p. 172). The selected players did not have a theater education background. Exercises were performed at the time of recording. Because the actors were not professional, as the director, she did not only develop the behavior, but also guide the actors to do voice "acting" according to the characters. It was important to build the listeners' imagination. Her success in fostering these players made them famous. The players known to the public were Slamet Supardi, Jimi Sandi, Atin Warokatin, and Widoyo Sumarto ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah"). Listeners become fond of and addicted to Sandiwara Daerah RRI Surakarta, because it is supported by reliable actors.
Sound effect is an element that cannot be neglected in the performance of Sandiwara Radio, because it gave real suggestions and create a certain atmosphere (Sunyoto, 1978, p. 45). This element also inextricably linked to Siti Aminah's attention.
Sound effects as supporting scenes in Sandiwara Daerah are recorded in accordance with the a required atmosphere, and some are made immediately during the recording. For example, Javanese gendhing and the sound of gurgling water was recorded; while the sound effect to support the fire scene was made at the time of recording ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah"). RRI Surakarta has broadcasted thousands of episodes of the script or approximately 120 titles of Siti Aminah's Sandiwara Daerah over a period of 20 years . The broadcast program was held once a week and lasted an hour and a half. Each stories require between seven and ten broadcasts ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah").
The decade 1980 to 1990 was a period of magnificence of Sandiwara Daerah. Sandiwara Daerah attracted attention and favor of the community (Murhadi, 1990, p. 32). Regional and Indonesian theater enthusiasts are different. Both radio drama have their own fan segments. Fans of the Sandiwara Daerah RRI Surakarta, are Javanese people in rural areas and far from entertainment. This is reflected in the testimony of Sukadi Sonokaryo from Giriwoyo Wonogiri.
In the 70s to early 80s there were still few people in rural areas who owned TV, so they tended to prioritize radio as a means of entertainment. Entertainment that really hits at night is regional arts, plays etc. Our family was very happy and often listened to Sandiwara Radio [radio plays] from the RRI station in Surakarta, which were broadcast every Thursday -if I am not mistaken -around 10 pm Routinely was performed by Siti Aminah Subanto. Her works are very varied on story themes from stories of love, loyalty, affair, struggle for inheritance, struggle for power, ghosts, war, and others ("RRI Surakarta Javanese Language Radio Theater", http://sukadicindiragroup.blogspot.com/200 9/02/sandiwara-radio-bahasa-jawa-rri.html were many Sandiwara Daerah listeners gathered from the area around Sragen. One of the Sandiwara Daerah broadcast fans from Salatiga took the time to attend the meeting. They were only eager to see the players. Another fan told me that she was reluctant to leave the house for fear of missing the drama series ("Interview Transcript with Siti Aminah"). Sandiwara Daerah broadcasted every Wednesday at 21.30 (after the Javanese news broadcast) is an event that is always eagerly awaited by listeners and fans.
Based on these facts, it can be concluded that Sandiwara Daerah RRI Surakarta broadcast is able to compete the popularity of Sandiwara Daerah RRI Yogyakarta broadcast. However, in 1990 Sandiwara Daerah (both Indonesian and Javanese language), were produced by RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta, experienced a decline in popularity with the presence of Indonesian-language radio plays broadcasted by private radios, such as Tutur Tinular and Misteri Gandrung Arung ("Sandiwara RRI kalah," p. 36).

Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it can be concluded that RRI was established with the aim of supporting government programs. Hence, since its establishment, RRI become a political and cultural medium of government. In its position as a government cultural media, RRI has responsible to make efforts in collecting and broadcasting regional culture so that it is known by all Indonesian people. These efforts are aimed, among others, at preserving regional culture. The implementation of Sandiwara Daerah broadcasts at RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta is a manifestation of RRI as a government cultural medium that has the duty to explore regional culture in the effort to preserve the Javanese language.
As stated by Indonesian cultural figures at the beginning of independence, Javanese language as an element of Indonesian culture could be marginalized along with the designation of Indonesian as the National Language. Thus, efforts are necessary to preserve it. RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta as government agencies exclusively responsible to preserve the Javanese language in a different way from formal educational institutions that make Javanese as a subject in schools. RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta make this preservation effort by utilizing other cultural elements, namely art by packaging it in a Javanese drama known as Sandiawara Daerah which is broadcast regularly by the two RRI stations. This option was taken considering that RRI also has a function as a medium for community entertainment.
According to the author, the efforts of RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta until 1990 can be considered to be fruitful, because the Sandiwara Daerah show is favored by some Javanese people who support the Javanese culture, especially Javanese language. In addition, Javanese people become much more appreciated to the Javanese language. In the period after 1990, that efforts became ineffective because RRI's audience had decreased in line with the development of the massive media and entertainment industry, such as the private television and radio industry which presented and offered more attractive programs. RRI Yogyakarta and Surakarta are not the main sources of information and entertainment for the community. When the prestige of RRI as a cultural medium that carries responsibility in preserving culture in danger of extinction, it is necessary to conduct other smart and effective ways to preserve the Javanese language, which is currently decreasing in number of speakers and at one time is predicted to face extinction.