Radio stations over-stepping their boundaries

THERE has been growing concern over the operations of the country's mandated supervisory agency in the communication industry, the National Communication Authority (NCA), over irregularities characterising the operations of the growing radio industry in Ghana.

The irregularities include the rebroadcast of programmes of other radio stations from the nation's capital, Accra, by radio stations in the various regions, including the Eastern Region, with the confusion of radio station signals clashing, as well as weak monitoring and supervision of operators in the radio trade.

Experts have warned that the situation was posing a great threat to the industry, and could remain a major challenge to the development of the sector.

In the Western Region, over 15 radio stations are in existence, while the Ashanti Region is registered with over 20.

The situation has become a source of worry and concern to some of the operators in the industry.

Consequently, Western Salem Communication (WSC), operators of KYZZ 89.7 FM, one of the radio stations in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, with support from the Business Sector Advocacy (BUSAC), is leading the campaign for a clean radio industry.

It has decided to embark on advocacy work, to get the attention of the NCA, and all stakeholder institutions in the trade, to take appropriate measures and actions to properly regulate the activities of the industry, which is fast becoming the largest employment creating sector in the country.

To this end, the station on Thursday, engaged some of the stakeholders on a radio programme, to seek clarification on how the industry could be streamlined to grow effectively.

To begin with, the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association, Mr. Gerald Ankrah, was called via phone on to the programme dubbed, “Mantem Police,” hosted by Kwame Malcolm, to react to issues relating to some of these irregularities confronting the industry.

In his response, Mr. Ankrah noted that it was important for members of the association, to simply lodge formal complaints with the authorities, instead of engaging them in a blame game.

He, therefore, called on the public to provide evidence on some of the stations that were involved in these irregularities, so that the association could act accordingly.

The Executive Director of the Center for Media Analysis (CMA), Dr. Messau Mawugbey, on his part, supported the idea of streamlining the activities of the industry.

According to him, the industry was still too young to be out of control, as he hinted that the sector would become one of the most vibrant institutions in the country very soon.

He added that the industry would witness what he described as “Consolidated Broadcasting Platform (CBP), a system he indicated would compel many other radio stations in the country, to either fold up or be consumed, by the bigger ones.

He pointed out that in America, community radio stations, which were in effect operationally proficient, though small in character, could not bear the heat of competition.

Out of that, all marginalised ones were phased out of the system by the CBP.

Dr. Mawugbe asserted that the essence of regulating the industry was to provide listeners with quality programmes, which to him, was lacking in our current situation.

Politics and sensational stories, he noted, were the dominating issues on the airwaves in Ghana, indicating that the sector was the sole responsibility of the NCA, to supervise and streamline.

Three radio station managers, who were called into the programme, also poured their frustrations on air.

In the view of Mr. Kwesi Essel, General Manager of Good News FM, a Takoradi- based radio station, radio ideally should have been a community business, but there were others whose transmission travelled beyond their boundaries, as demarcated by the NCA, and yet nothing happens to them.

While acknowledging this as a challenge, he noted that since it could not be controlled, advertisers who spend much of their money for better outcome on the airwaves also look out for stations had a wider coverage.

Mr. Samuel Gordon Etroo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Space FM in Tarkwa, a mining area in the Western Region, on his part, told the host of the programme, Mr. Malcolm, that because the NCA was not performing its core function, as the statutory supervisory institution in the sector, many of the radio stations were engaging in dubious activities, to the detriment of others.

He held that in Tarkwa for instance, where Space FM is operating, a university campus-base radio station, which had an experimental license, was busily competing with them commercially, and no regulatory body was challenging the act.

When asked by the host of the programme, if formal complaints were lodged for actions to be taken, Mr. Etroo held that many petitions written to the appropriate authorities had hit the rocks.

While the CEO of Space FM held this view, Mr. Samuel Agyenim Boateng, Marketing Manger of Spark FM, located in Dunkwa in the Central Region, noted that though all radio stations with licenses were supposed to operate within their range, those in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, were infiltrating the Central Region, and as a result, causing great harm to their businesses.

This, he bemoaned, was because advertisers were dealing with them for a wider coverage, though illegal, the situation in the end was affecting their business.