The Daily News (Harare)
Ntungamili Nkomo
11 September 2003
BULAWAYO'S Radio Dialogue, an aspiring community broadcaster, has embarked on a massive campaign to raise public awareness on its objectives as a community-oriented organisation.
This campaign follows the deregulation of the broadcasting industry by the government last month. The government announced an end to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation monopoly, saying it was soon going to issue broadcasting licences to those willing to venture into the industry.
Kholiwe Nyoni, the organisation's publicity officer, said they had already started hosting awareness shows around the city to spell out their objectives as aspiring community broadcasters.
"From mid-September to the end of the year we will be running various awareness programmes such as road shows, fun fairs and competitions in a bid to reach out to the community," she said.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has in the past denounced the Father Nigel Johnson-led and blacklisted Radio Dialogue which he accuses of being British-funded.
However, Johnson has dismissed Moyo's allegations as "ridiculous and unfounded", saying theirs was a community-backed initiative sponsored by the Norwegians, Konrad Adenauer of Germany, Media Institute of Southern Africa, and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasting.
Nyoni said they had resolved to seriously engage the public since they were an aspiring people-oriented broadcaster.
"We at Radio Dialogue feel that it is important for the people of Bulawayo to understand the objectives of a community radio station, how it operates, its structures paying particular attention to ownership and control," she said.
A number of broadcasting aspirants in Bulawayo, who include the Catholic Church and Amakhosi Community Theatre, are eagerly awaiting the issuing of broadcasting licences.
Since being blacklisted by the government, under its widely condemned Broadcasting Act of Zimbabwe which bars any foreign-funded organisations or individuals from broadcasting, Radio Dialogue has ventured full-time into the music production industry.
To date the organisation has helped many upcoming artists with the composition and release of their albums.
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