Welcome to Chikuni Community Radio Station 91.8 FM

 

Radio Chikuni’s cardinal years of empowering the people

By Mazuba Mwiinga

Five is a numerical figure common to everyone. Each time we think of it, fingers come out first in our mind. And you know how useful fingers are to world creation. And not just that, you might know as well that at five years, a child relieves the mother of all imminent fears. That’s why may be the common care called Under-Five clinic is so important to the growth of a child. The moment a child is five, most of the babyish manners are gone. Intelligent children can even start Grade 1 at this time.

In the dictionary FIVE is defined apart from just being a sum of two and three as a cardinal number. Cardinal simply means something of greatest importance or something fundamental.

Talking of Radio Chikuni, March 25, 2005 is a day it will ever remember being on air for non-stop fundamental or cardinal years of community broadcasting. The Radio will be celebrating its fifth anniversary as a Community Broadcaster.

Almost like starting from no where – a dream undreamed of before, Radio Chikuni’s foundation was laid in early 1999. By the end of the year, a tune so familiar today to all the ardent listeners: Nywee Nobantu Bamuchuundu muteelele, inganda Yaku Chikuni yajulwa muteele (you the people of Chuundu (Southern Province) listen, Radio Chikuni is on air); hit the air waves like a big joke to the local people. I hope I am not exaggerating because I wasn’t there; but my sixth sense and witnesses’ comments, that day was one of those red-letter days, people hardly forget.

That was October 1999 when it started test transmission. It was not until March 25, 2000 that the Broadcasting Laws of Zambia recognized it as a fully operational Community Radio in the southern region of the land. The event looking from the pictures in the archive and stories told by those who attended, it was colorful, vibrant and full of joy. As the Station’s slogan goes: Kazyula Nkumba Muyoba – for sure something unexpected came with good news to the people. Government sent the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting Newstead Zimba to officiate.

Five years down the line, Chikuni Community Radio Station, popularly known just as Radio Chikuni, never looked back in anger of all those hiccups it encountered nor forward with fear of what next, but looked at present with awareness.

It has developed from a mere 8 hours of transmission per day in 1999 to 17 hours currently. From as few as 5 programs per day in 2000, today there are more than 12 programs per day on average touching all angles of human development. From small but dynamic studio mixers or consoles, today the Station boasts of being the first one in the country to acquire digital mixers for both on-air and production studios.

The station has its own Internet satellite dishes that has made it possible to develop its own dynamic web-site on which all its operations are well explained and articulated. This development has made its communication links with partners in development so easy and efficient.

From the monologue cassette recorders, the station has advanced to the use of digital memory card recorders along side mini-disc. To sustain its life span, the station managed to sacrifice resources and did away with domestic cassettes fast dubbing machines, and went for industrial ones. Today the cassette production studio department has a CD manufacturing capacity. You no longer need to go to South Africa to have your music on CD, for Radio Chikuni can do it for you professionally and efficiently.

In five years, the Station succeeded in coming up with 55 Listening Groups, which make their own programs according to their needs in their communities. The programs are aired with very minimum editing on their contents. The more than thirty News Gatherers walk and cycle in the different areas of the station’s reach, searching for information and news. They run a weekly Current Affairs program on local news called Chuundu Acisi Coonse – News from Southern Province and the Rest of Zambia. This news can be accessed on the web-site in English.

More than twenty centers for under privileged children and adults have been established to teach them how to read and write through the Radio. The program called Learning at Taonga Market has seen literacy levels in villages shrink amazingly. The learners do not just get reading and writing drills, but also life skills on health, hygiene and creativity.

In its effort to restore culture through music, the station has successfully been holding the Tonga Music Concert since 2000. This year’s will be the sixth. On the other hand twenty-eight School Leavers have gone through Radio Chikuni’s one year internship as Media Scholars since 1999, Musonda Mukanu, who is today Head of Community Media Services with the Radio being the first one.

In five years, the station has seen most of its objectives coming to fruition. The Radio’s Head of Public Relations, veteran broadcaster Mr. Joseph Simunungu who is the only one left of the first crew to join the station says of Radio Chikuni’s successful story being in having a guiding vision.

“The success of Radio Chikuni in the past five years has been guided by its vision and mission in which community participation is paramount. The local community responded positively right from the birth of the idea up to the completion of its construction”, Simunungu reflects.

“On March 25, 2000, the day of official opening, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Mr. Newstead Zimba, echoed major issues which are exactly being done by the Radio today. These include among other things, fighting of social evils and other injustices”, Mr. Simunungu recollects.

He further says that the research done by Media Institute of Southern Africa in early 2000 with Radio Chikuni was very helpful in knowing what the people expected of the Radio Station.

“Since 2000 the Radio has improved greatly compared to the year 2000 when we were just starting. We have all the Radio communication facilities and some of our staff have managed to get training in Europe”.

For sure, five years of community broadcasting hasn’t been easy though. E.g. one issue that crops up once in a while is the Mbeza Irrigation saga, in which Radio Chikuni had to pay K 5 million in an out of court case settlement with Senior Chief for allegedly defaming him in a Face the Media program in 2002.
Radio staffs have been getting threats from known and unknown people over their work. But team spirit and zeal to keep the ideal goal afloat seem to have been their driving force to come this far.

Coincidentally as Chikuni Mission, on whose ground the Radio is laid, celebrates 100 years of Christianity, the Station will be laughing at its mistakes and nodding agreeably at its victories in the last five hard earned years.

A salutation of great respect as the mission continues. Congratulations Kazyula Nkumba Muyoba.

END