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Ehiopia’s first FM
radio station broadcasting in the English language
began pre-test broadcasting approximately a week
ago.
The station, run by Paconet Media Plc, incorporated
in January 2008 with an initial capital of about 3
million Br, originally planned to turn on its
transmitters September 1, 2008. However it
experienced delay and began the six-day test
broadcast May 29, 2009.
Paconet is owned by
Addis Alemayehou and his wife, Martha Wondimu.
Addis is the chief of party of VEGA Ethiopia, a
USAID programme that assists private companies in
Ethiopia in effectively exploiting AGOA
opportunities.
The family owned company was licensed by the
Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority in March 2008 to
start the radio station on FM band 105.3. AfroFM
plans to officially inaugurate its radio station
within the coming 60 days, Addis told Fortune.
The station now airs mainly infotainment
content with a mix of local and international news
from 6:00am up to midnight. The station plans to
work with other local media organizations for
content development.
“Obviously this type of business is not something
that we are going to do alone,” Addis, major
shareholder and managing director of Paconet, said.
“So we need other media and individuals to work with
us in terms if sharing ideas and content development
for the new local radio station.”
Though, at the moment, Paconet’s station broadcasts
for 18 hours a day, the company plans to eventually
broadcast 24 hours seven days a week.
The air time expansion will depend on the
availability of content; the content will also be
accessible on the station’s yet to be developed
website, according to Addis.
The transmitter and other studio equipment were
imported from Britain and Italy four weeks ago, the
Managing Director said.
The foundation of this radio station is based on the
owner’s belief that the international community in
Addis Abeba has no way of knowing what is happening
in the city because there is no media providing them
continuous information in a language they can
understand.
The target audience is made up of emerging foreign
investors and the Diaspora in Addis Ababa – the seat
of the African Union (AU), United Nation Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA) and other
international organizations that make the city the
world’s largest diplomatic community out side of New
York, with over 100 diplomatic missions. Addis
states that he is not only trying to target foreign
nationals, but the news coverage of AfroFM will
focus on local business, politics, entertainment and
other socio-cultural affairs as well.
Addis claims that he has been trying to start the
English language FM for eight years but could not
get the green light from authorities until last
year.
Addis Alemayehou, who grew up in Kenya and moved to
Canada before he came back home to Ethiopia, says
the foreign community has so far been neglected by
the media in Ethiopia. Though AfroFM is the first
ever English private broadcasting service in
Ethiopia, the Amharic commercial broadcasting in
Addis Abeba has been dominated by prior stations
like FanaFM, ShegerFM, ZamiFM and AddisFM in the
past few years. There are also four community
broadcasting services in Ethiopia – Kore, Kambata,
Bonga and Jimma. Public broadcasting services have
been awarded only to federal and regional government
running , radio stations .
The full operation of the new radio station is
expected to create 15 to 30 job opportunities,
according to its owners. |
