[HCDX]: Information concerning R. Tanzania Zanzibar

["Enzio Gehrig" <enzio.denia@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

The following information may be of interest to those who have written RR's
in the past to Radio Tanzania Zanzibar and who did not receive an answer.
During my five-day visit to Zanzibar I had the opportunity to visit the
radio station and to exchange information and ideas with RTZ staff,
especially Ali Bakari Muombwa and Khalid Hassan Rajab. The latter is the
Chief of the Shortwave Radio Transmitter and speaks very good English (he
has attended training courses in the US).

Mr Ali Bakari Muombwa, a friendly 25-year old employee, is handling all
incoming correspondence including foreign mail. Ali's problem is that he
does not read, speak or write English well enough to read or answer letters
from foreign listeners. He has to have all English letters translated into
Swahili! This explains why most RR's remain unanswered - Ali simply does not
understand them.  In certain cases, Mr Khalid Hassan Rajab has answered RR's
in the past, even though this does not fall into his area of responsibility.
So don't be disappointed if you don't get an answer from RTZ. The employees
I have met are extremely nice, they make very little money (about $ 30 per
month), they do what they can but they receive far more foreign mail than
they can handle.

Now some information about the radio station itself: RTZ employs more than
150 people including 18 announcers and 10 technicians. The station
broadcasts 8 hours a day on 11734 kHz shortwave, using a 50kW chinese
transmitter and a rhombus antenna directed towards Oman, where a large
number of Zanzibaris reside. A parallel program is broadcast during 18 hours
daily on 585 kHz medium wave, using a Harris TX with also 50 kW power
output. All broadcasts are in Swahili language, including a rebroadcast of a
30-minute news program produced by the Deutsche Welle, which is transmitted
by satellite directly from Cologne to Zanzibar three times a day. English
language broadcasts are planned for the future. Also, the station has plans
to broadcast in FM stereo, if they can get the funding from the Tanzanian
government.

The broadcast house is impressive and was built in 1993 with financial and
technical help from China. Mr Rajab was nice enough to show me around on a
Saturday morning, where I also had the occasion to speak with the station
director and with Mr Abulrahman M. Said, the chief engineer. I also had the
opportunity to visit the studios and to be present during the recording of a
broadcast. RTZ has four studios with relatively modern Swiss Studer
equipment.

The highlight of my stay in Zanzibar was a visit to Ali Bakari's village of
Makunduchi, where Ali's family prepared a big welcome lunch for us. We also
took part in the festivities of the annual Makwa Kogwa festival which is the
celebration of the New Year by the people of Makunduchi. An interesting part
of the festival is the traditional fight between youngsters from North and
South Makunduchi, who literally beat the hell out of each other using banana
stems. The purpose of the fight is to alleviate pent-up aggressions and to
end conflicts among hostile families. It's really an odd sight to watch!
After two hours of fighting, the conflicting parties bury the hatchet and
drink and dance together until the wee morning hours. The festival was being
filmed by reporters from the National Geographic Society, so some of you may
get to see it on TV sooner or later.  It is well worth watching.

So much for this. Those of you who have mailed me reception reports to
handcarry to RTZ should receive an answer shortly. Mr Rajab was nice enough
to sign off on them (after carefully reading each and every one of them!)
and I have personally mailed all letters on 24 July 99 from Zanzibar Town.

Regards,

Enzio Gehrig
Denia/Spain (38.50N 00.04E)
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