GTV reduces transmission

...due to rising electricity bills
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Television (GTV) transmission to parts of the Volta Region has been reduced under a tentative arrangement to control rising electricity bills.

Mr Ralph Avornyo, Acting Regional Volta Regional Director of GBC, announced this on Saturday at a grand durbar to mark the Sixth Anniversary celebration of Volta Star Radio (VSR).

He said the transmitters at Akatsi and Amedzofe would begin beaming signals in the morning at 5 a.m. and shut up at 9 a.m. and continue from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Mr Avornyo said the new arrangement and its impact would be monitored and reviewed by management of the Corporation. He said the VSR, which picks up the electricity bills of the Corporation's two stations, paid 260 million cedis in respect of Amedzofe station alone since January, this year. The VSR, set up in 1996, was a deal between the GBC and the Non-Formal Education Division of the Ministry of Education and combines traditional radio programming with adult education lessons.

Mr Avornyo said the high hopes at the station's inception had not been attained and called for technical and professional upgrading of the station in readiness for competition when the FM station landscape in the region changes.

At the moment, the VSR, which is the main FM station operating in the region, has a coverage area extending to Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The Volta Premier FM station on the Ho Polytechnic Campus and another one, Comboni at Sogakope, are the other FM stations in the region but are community based and limited in coverage.

Mr Avornyo expressed concern about frequent threats of attack and destruction of equipment of the station through telephone calls and appealed to well wishers to help the VSR construct a wall around its offices. Mr Kofi Tse, Director of Internal Audit, who represented the Director-General of the GBC, said the government would sign agreements very soon for the rehabilitation of all GBC transmitting stations and also bring all equipment at FM stations of the Corporation at par with new trends.

He said all GBC FM stations would be networked soon and linked to TV transmission to enable Breakfast show to be carried by radio. Mr Tse said by the end of November, long distance learning programmes would also begin on GTV.

He said as the Corporation's contribution to the Vice-President's campaign on indiscipline, GBC management had cut out all films deemed to be immoral on the screens of GTV. He lamented the problems the VSR was facing with electricity bills and promised that headquarters would help to bring TV transmission in the region back to normal.

Mr Tse entreated government to revisit GBC's demand for an increase in TV license fees to at least 50,000 cedis, saying that if the demand was acceded to, government could be relieved of the burden of paying staff salaries of the Corporation.

Responding to allegations by Mr Francis Agbotse, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho-West, that GBC was denying other political parties the use of its airwaves to transmit messages, Mr Avornyo explained that GBC policy was based on a consultative group decision involving all political parties that political off-seasons be observed by GBC stations.

Mr Agbotse announced an initiative to set up a fund to procure a stand-by generator for the VSR and also replace a decoder for the transmission station at Amedzofe.

Mr Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister, said the government would not infringe the law and decisions made by the courts, saying it had not contrived to use the facilities of any mass medium of communication to the exclusion of any Party.

The Regional Minister said the VSR had performed creditably in the midst of difficulties.

He said GBC's task of operating to break even and at the same time serve public interest was a daunting one, especially when it had to compete with private stations some of which did not operate on professional lines.

Mr Owusu-Yeboa asked management of the VSR to moderate its phone-in programmes in such a way that emotional, and sometimes defamatory statements from callers could be avoided.

He also suggested that press reviews should be handled in such a way to make listeners differentiate between comment, opinion and facts.

Mr Owusu-Yeboa pledged the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council's support for the station and urged the district assemblies to contribute to its growth.

As part of the anniversary, a 75 million-cedi three-room office extension block was commissioned while a sod was cut to start the construction of a fence wall around the station.

About 49 million cedis was realised from fund-raising activities within the coverage area of the station, including Togo, some of whose chiefs were represented at the durbar.

...due to rising electricity bills
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Television (GTV) transmission to parts of the Volta Region has been reduced under a tentative arrangement to control rising electricity bills.

Mr Ralph Avornyo, Acting Regional Volta Regional Director of GBC, announced this on Saturday at a grand durbar to mark the Sixth Anniversary celebration of Volta Star Radio (VSR).

He said the transmitters at Akatsi and Amedzofe would begin beaming signals in the morning at 5 a.m. and shut up at 9 a.m. and continue from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Mr Avornyo said the new arrangement and its impact would be monitored and reviewed by management of the Corporation. He said the VSR, which picks up the electricity bills of the Corporation's two stations, paid 260 million cedis in respect of Amedzofe station alone since January, this year. The VSR, set up in 1996, was a deal between the GBC and the Non-Formal Education Division of the Ministry of Education and combines traditional radio programming with adult education lessons.

Mr Avornyo said the high hopes at the station's inception had not been attained and called for technical and professional upgrading of the station in readiness for competition when the FM station landscape in the region changes.

At the moment, the VSR, which is the main FM station operating in the region, has a coverage area extending to Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The Volta Premier FM station on the Ho Polytechnic Campus and another one, Comboni at Sogakope, are the other FM stations in the region but are community based and limited in coverage.

Mr Avornyo expressed concern about frequent threats of attack and destruction of equipment of the station through telephone calls and appealed to well wishers to help the VSR construct a wall around its offices. Mr Kofi Tse, Director of Internal Audit, who represented the Director-General of the GBC, said the government would sign agreements very soon for the rehabilitation of all GBC transmitting stations and also bring all equipment at FM stations of the Corporation at par with new trends.

He said all GBC FM stations would be networked soon and linked to TV transmission to enable Breakfast show to be carried by radio. Mr Tse said by the end of November, long distance learning programmes would also begin on GTV.

He said as the Corporation's contribution to the Vice-President's campaign on indiscipline, GBC management had cut out all films deemed to be immoral on the screens of GTV. He lamented the problems the VSR was facing with electricity bills and promised that headquarters would help to bring TV transmission in the region back to normal.

Mr Tse entreated government to revisit GBC's demand for an increase in TV license fees to at least 50,000 cedis, saying that if the demand was acceded to, government could be relieved of the burden of paying staff salaries of the Corporation.

Responding to allegations by Mr Francis Agbotse, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho-West, that GBC was denying other political parties the use of its airwaves to transmit messages, Mr Avornyo explained that GBC policy was based on a consultative group decision involving all political parties that political off-seasons be observed by GBC stations.

Mr Agbotse announced an initiative to set up a fund to procure a stand-by generator for the VSR and also replace a decoder for the transmission station at Amedzofe.

Mr Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister, said the government would not infringe the law and decisions made by the courts, saying it had not contrived to use the facilities of any mass medium of communication to the exclusion of any Party.

The Regional Minister said the VSR had performed creditably in the midst of difficulties.

He said GBC's task of operating to break even and at the same time serve public interest was a daunting one, especially when it had to compete with private stations some of which did not operate on professional lines.

Mr Owusu-Yeboa asked management of the VSR to moderate its phone-in programmes in such a way that emotional, and sometimes defamatory statements from callers could be avoided.

He also suggested that press reviews should be handled in such a way to make listeners differentiate between comment, opinion and facts.

Mr Owusu-Yeboa pledged the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council's support for the station and urged the district assemblies to contribute to its growth.

As part of the anniversary, a 75 million-cedi three-room office extension block was commissioned while a sod was cut to start the construction of a fence wall around the station.

About 49 million cedis was realised from fund-raising activities within the coverage area of the station, including Togo, some of whose chiefs were represented at the durbar.