Beehive Radio
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| City | Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
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| Slogan | Voice of the People |
| Frequency | 105 FM |
| Owner | Mam Sonando |
| Website | www |
Beehive Radio (Khmer: វិទ្យុសំបុកឃ្មុំ; Vityou Sambok Khmum) is a Cambodian radio station in Phnom Penh, owned and operated by independent journalist Mam Sonando. It broadcasts on 105 FM. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described it in 2012 as "one of Cambodia's few independent news outlets".
In 2012, Human Rights Watch described Beehive Radio as "a key platform for promotion of human rights and democracy in Cambodia". The station is one of the few to address controversial topics, including "Cambodian civil society, the fight against HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality and human trafficking, campaigns for women’s rights and gender equality, political and economic transparency, equitable and sustainable development, labor rights, environmental protection, the rule of law, and electoral education and election monitoring." It also carries programming by Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
In 1995, Mam Sonando, a French-Cambodian dual citizen, returned to Cambodia and acquired a broadcasting license for a new station that he named Beehive Radio. It began broadcasting on August 6, 1996. He used the station to advertise a new political party, the Beehive Democratic Society Party, and stood in the 1998 general election. According to the Asia Times, his campaign only won him "a reputation as an eccentric, spouting Buddhist philosophy, pleas for democracy and a personal campaign for attention." After failing to be elected, Sonando dissolved his party, but continued broadcasting on Beehive Radio as an independent journalist.
As of 2012, Sonando had been arrested three times on charges related to the station's broadcasts. In 2003, during the Phnom Penh riots, a caller to Beehive Radio claimed incorrectly that Cambodian embassy officials were killed in Bangkok. On 31 January, Sonando was arrested and accused of "relaying false information", "inciting discrimination", and "inciting crime". He stated to reporters, "They blame me for broadcasting an opinion of a listener which turned out to be untrue. But if I have to go to jail to allow people to express their opinion I am happy." He was released on bail on 11 February and never brought to trial.
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