Colleen 'Auntie Colleen' Beckles is host of LOVE FM's enormously popular 'Little People Show' - a programme for kids and those young at heart. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer IT HAS been 10 years since LOVE FM began beaming on the radio airwaves and is now one of the top three stations in the country. Initially, it captured 15 per cent of the listening audience and served to awaken Jamaicans to gospel as an intrinsic part of Jamaican life.
LOVE FM's birth gave a fillip for gospel music in Jamaica, as it was difficult to get radio stations to play more gospel then. But notes, LOVE FM's CEO, Winston Ridgard, gospel music flourished when this new station came on stream and it has influenced radio stations to devote more air time for the playing of gospel music. Also, by the presence of LOVE, other stations were influenced to increase the number of religious radio programmes being aired, he said.
MONUMENTS
LOVE FM and LOVE TV are monuments to ecumenical co-operation in Jamaica. These entities are owned and operated by the National Religious Media Company (NRMC), which is inter-religious by definition, but functionally a Christian entity.
When the National Religious Media Company was being formed, Mr. Ridgard said, invitations were sent to just about every religious group to apply for air time on radio. There was not much response from the traditional non-Christian groups. Only one non-Christian group, the I AM St. Germaine Foundation has a presence on the air at this time. In fact, the programming schedule is such that there is no time for another paid broadcast because the time slots available will be devoted to having more music and family-related programming, Mr. Ridgard explained.
"The National Religious Media Company was set up with a union of church groups. Some of them, in terms
of their ideology, may not see eye to eye. But over the years, they have recognised that the focus of the station was the spreading of the gospel. Therefore, they did not vary on that point. And over the 12 years of working together as a group, there has been no occasion of disagreement in terms of the focus. They have worked harmoniously together. One of the conditions of the licence is that the station should not carry any view that berates or otherwise denigrates any religion," Mr. Ridgard said.
"Many people marvel at the fact that they come here at Carlton Crescent (Kingston, home of LOVE FM and LOVE TV) and they do not see a massive tower on the premises. But when you do not own your own building and premises, it becomes difficult for you to put in that kind of infrastructure when you may have to go and move one day," Mr. Ridgard said.
That does not, however, mean that there have been no technological advances at LOVE radio, as the station has been covering the country fairly well with nine transmitting sites targeting the major population centres, according to Mr. Ridgard.
"From a commercial point of view, we did not want to establish a kind of rate that compared with the other stations because we felt that it was a ministry we were undertaking. And therefore as long as we could cover our overheads, as long as we could have a moderate amount of development, then we felt very comfortable. And in that respect, we have to a certain extent, succeeded. We are still in the black. We don't have an abundance of money. We have not been able to acquire our own property as yet. But we are still working and hoping that that will materialise. As we look towards the future we realise that a permanent home for ourselves is really what is very necessary. One of the objectives that we had at the very outset, was that we would establish a centre, identified as a communications and worship entity. So we would have radio and television in there and we would also have a worship and a concert hall in the facility; so that people could come and feel free to worship at any time of day and also we would also be able to establish some choice concert performances at that venue. That in itself requires a larger facility than we would normally have," Mr. Ridgard said.
MULTI-SKILLED WORKERS
Employees at LOVE FM and LOVE TV, Mr. Ridgard said, are expected to be multi-skilled. There is continuous on-the-job training that facilitates this. According to Mr. Ridgard, "In the production area, for example, any technical person in there is capable of operating in both radio and television. In terms of our presentations, our radio presenters are the ones who also do the presentations for television. I think that as the television begins to earn its way we will need more individuals - currently we have been able to manage without having the duplicated staff."
Increasingly, the workers have found themselves having to offer counsel on the telephones and in the office as people call or otherwise present themselves at the station's doorsteps seeking counselling. It is indicative, Mr. Ridgard said of the effective witness that the radio station and its TV counterpart have in ministering to the needs of hurting people. But recognising that staffers are not trained in counselling, the NRMC is exploring referral options to help those who seek such help.
Mr. Ridgard, who is a former programmes manager at Radio Jamaica, acknowledged the flack that the radio and television stations receive for the relatively high amount of foreign broadcasts. The cost to produce suitable local programmes, he said, was prohibitive and as such it has forced the National Religious Media Company to source foreign input. Furthermore, the terms and conditions under which both the radio and television stations are allowed to carry the foreign broadcasts sometimes mean that such is played without any adjustment in the content to suit local audiences, he said.
STILL HOLDING ON
Nevertheless, the station continues to hold on to its market share despite the presence of more radio stations now than when it began. "The listening audience for the radio station in recent surveys have shown a decline but it is not a reflection of interest level waning, but as audiences change and the number of stations come on the market, you will find that the audience fluctuates. Therefore, our 15 per cent have gone down to 13 per cent, but it is no reflection on the programming itself. It is just that people's interest levels sometimes tend to wane when new stations come on the market - a curiosity fad."
Next week Mind&Spirit looks at LOVE TV.
