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[HCDX] What Next For Minivan Radio?



  What Next For Minivan Radio?
By Ajay Makan
May 27, 2007

Last week pioneering opposition radio station Minivan Radio failed to 
secure a frequency to broadcast in the Maldives, leading local media, 
including ourselves, to question its viability.

Reflecting on the failed frequency bid, the radio?s editor Shaheeda 
Fathimath tells MN there are no plans to close the station.

She robustly defends the station?s independence, distancing it from 
both Minivan Daily and Minivan News, and controversially calls for the 
other organisations to change their names.

And she admits Minivan Radio would sign the Information Ministry?s 
Agreement to secure broadcasting in the Maldives.

Future?s Bright

?Minivan Radio?s future is very, very bright. We will not stop,? Shaheeda 
says emphatically.

?There are many options to continue,? she argues, pointing out the one 
hour daily broadcasts are still available to download from the internet.

Until now Minivan Radio has been the only alternative to government 
broadcaster Voice of Maldives. But after last week?s distribution of FM 
frequencies, a number of competitors will be broadcasting on FM 
twenty-four hours a day.

?Even if they have an alternative people will go for Minivan Radio," 
Shaheeda says. "The people have accepted Minivan Radio. It is the 
people?s radio. They trust it.?

Shaheeda lists Short Wave broadcasts and selling content to other 
stations as possible revenue raising options. But it is clear she still sees 
FM broadcasting as the way forward. ?TAM have said they have more 
reserved frequencies. We can always ask them again.?

Credibility

To begin broadcasting, companies must sign an agreement with the 
Information Ministry, which will regulate radio. Shaheeda argues the 
agreement is incompatible with independence.

?I don?t believe in the Agreement. I don?t believe in the Content 
Committee [the body established by the Agreement to regulate 
content]. I don?t believe in the Minister selecting eight members for the 
Content Committee. If that?s the case its not fair.?

?We cannot have an independent media unless we have it on [the 
government?s] terms, and this is not democracy," she says. ?If someone 
abides by this Agreement, they cannot be independent."

No Choice

Last week Shaheeda criticised the distribution of frequencies by blind 
auction.

?I have already proved I can run a radio. I have been doing this for three 
years,? she said. ?But these frequencies are for the rich. They don?t 
care as long as they can get money out of this. It is a commercial 
venture.?

But beyond the rhetoric, Shaheeda accepts the commercialisation of 
radio and agrees, ?in some ways it is a positive development.?

?I?m not criticising commercial broadcasters. I don?t have anything 
against them. I am for them and I am with them. If I had money to 
compete with them, I would.?

The problem for Shaheeda is not that frequencies were sold 
commercially, but that broadcasters will have to sign the Information 
Ministry Agreement.

But she says broadcasters have no choice, and Minivan Radio too 
would sign the agreement if they had won a frequency.

?I would sign an agreement. I have no choice. It means I will be more 
like the state media. I will have to make compromises.?

?This is the hard part," she laments. "There are a lot of people who call 
me and tell me not to sign an agreement, but it is the only way. And if I 
sign it, that means I have to abide by it.?

Independence

Minivan Radio has often been accused of being anti-government, a 
charge which Shaheeda emphatically denies.

?We give the people the news. We try to get the whole angle on it. This 
includes the government. We try. Everytime we try. But they don?t 
cooperate and they don?t give us information.?

Although Shaheeda will not reveal the names of Minivan Radio?s 
funders as ?they would get hurt,? she says funders have never 
interfered with editorial.

?If someone wants to help Minivan Radio, I say there can be no 
conditions. I tell them even if you call me once and ask me to change 
something, I will quit.?

Which Minivan

Shaheeda wants to distance Minivan Radio from Minvan Daily and 
Minivan News. ?All the time people think that Minivan Radio and 
Minivan Daily are together. But we don?t have the same editorial policy, 
we don?t have the same management, we are independent.?

But with all three organisations operating from the same premises and 
sharing the same name, Shaheeda admits it is hard to establish any 
distance.

?I have tried many times to change the premises. I have asked many 
people to give me an apartment but they are quoting so much more 
than I pay that I can?t.?

And she says the other two organisations should not have taken on the 
Minivan name. ?I am the one who started Minivan. First came Minivan 
Radio three years ago, then Minivan News and then Minivan Daily. I 
don?t know how and I don?t know why Minivan Daily got my logo. I have 
a problem with that.?

?I wish Minivan Daily would change their name. I wish Minivan News 
would change their name. I am not asking them to, but I wish it would 
happen.?

http://zlgr.multiply.com (raidio monitoring site plus audio clips )
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/302315/ (Litohoro) 321199/Tinos 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachgr    pictures upload 
.
on my main : www.geocities.com/zliangas 
-tty-px.html : test of various TTY programs
-ethics.htm    : greek ethics , days and institutions 
-frape.htm: the greek way of cofee !!! 
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece 
greekdx @ otenet dot gr  ---  
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000 
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop 



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