A notice posted in the Broadcast and Radio Professionals group in
LinkedIn gave notice that a mediuimwave station in Costa Rica is looking
for an investor or a partner, and gave the contact email of
radiopacsur(at)gmail(dot)com .

The station is Radio Pacfico Sur on 1480 kHz with 5kW.  Their website is 
www.radiopacsur.com and their mission statement, in Spanish and English, 
states as follows:
*"RPS AM 1480 Broadcasting Services aims to inform, communicate and entertain it's
listening audience by providing_high-quality
_innovative, bi-lingual, locally produced programs,
eclectic shows, news updates, locally focused information services and
community access."*
It also has links the the fiscal revolution websites 
(www.thefiscalrevolution.com and www.fiscalfugitives.com) and it would 
appear the station and/or its owners are heavily involved in this 
failing protest against the evils of money and corporate/governmental 
greed.  They have streaming live for those who would like to take a listen.
Not sure what the profit potential would be on an investment like this, 
but I am sure it could be used as proof that one has invested in a local 
business which could confer residency rights.  I'm told that Costa Rica 
is a very nice place to retire.
73
Al Muick
Whitehall PA  USA
											

The National Community Radio Awards in the identified categories have been given to the following for their remarkable efforts and performance : 

A)    Thematic Award Category
1.       Radio Namaskar, Konark
2.      CMS CR, Gomati Nagar
3.      Radio Active CR, Bangalore

B)     Community engagement award category  
1.      Radio Namaskar, Konark
2.      CR Benzigar, Kollam
3.      Kalpakam CR, Kalpakam

C)     Promoting Local Culture Award category  
1.      Radio 7, Jaipur
2.      Radio Sarang, Mangalore 
3.      Gurgoan Awaaz, Gurgaon

D)    Most Creative /Innovative  Programme content award
1.      PGP CR, Namakkal
2.      Rudino CR, Ahmedabad
3.      Radio JU, Kolkata

E)     Sustainability model award 
1.      Radio Mewat  

++++++++++++++++++++++
(Jaisakthivel, ADXC, India Via Arti Jaiman, Vickram Crishna, CR-India)
www.dxersguide.blogspot.com

Expressing confidence that auctions for FM Phase III for Radio would be conducted on time, the Information and Broadcasting Secretary, Mr Uday Kumar Varma, has said that the search for a dependable auctioneer was the priority at the moment. “The Cabinet has given us a three-year time period to carry out the auctions and has asked us to conduct it on the lines of the 3G auctions,” Mr Varma, Secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, told PTI.

“We will have to appoint an auctioneer first, so we have formalised an RFP (Request for Proposal). An inter-ministerial committee has discussed that RFP and has come up with some suggestions,” he said. Mr Varma said that the Cabinet had directed that the Radio Phase III auctions be carried out on the auction of 3G spectrum for telecom, his ministry still had to adapt those guidelines for the Radio auction.

Big number

“There are some differences between these auctions and the 3G auctions. One the number is very big as over 800 radio stations have to be auctioned,” he said. “Second, the auctioneer who will conduct the bids, for his fee, the formula will be different from what was employed during the 3G,”he added. Mr Varma also added that his ministry was trying to check the suitability of applying certain clauses.

Experience clause?

“Third, we are trying to judge whether we should set an experience clause for whoever conducts the bid, because we may have difficulty in finding someone as we don’t know where in the world such auctions have been carried out through e-auctions,” he said. Mr Varma said that his Ministry had prepared a timetable and will be able to conduct the auctions much before the three-year deadline set up by the Cabinet.

Keywords: radio auctions, FM auctions, radio stations, Phase II radio auctions“There are some differences between these auctions and the 3G auctions. One the number is very big as over 800 radio stations have to be auctioned,” he said. “Second, the auctioneer who will conduct the bids, for his fee, the formula will be different from what was employed during the 3G,”he added. Mr Varma also added that his ministry was trying to check the suitability of applying certain clauses.

Experience clause?

“Third, we are trying to judge whether we should set an experience clause for whoever conducts the bid, because we may have difficulty in finding someone as we don’t know where in the world such auctions have been carried out through e-auctions,” he said. Mr Varma said that his Ministry had prepared a timetable and will be able to conduct the auctions much before the three-year deadline set up by the Cabinet.
Keywords: radio auctions, FM auctions, radio stations, Phase II radio auctions
(thehindubusinessline.com 20/02)
++++++++++++++++
Jaisaktivel, ADXC, India.
www.dxersguide.blogspot.com

The new CEO, Jawhar Sircar, picked on Thursday by the vice-president and others, is currently secretary, culture, in the government of India

The stewardship of the country’s largest broadcasting network and its only terrestrial TV broadcaster has just been handed over to yet another retiring bureaucrat, largely unnoticed. After all it is an unbroken record, dating back to 1997 when a non-Congress government appointed a former secretary of the ministry of information and broadcasting as the first CEO of the newly notified Prasar Bharati. Several IAS officers followed him in the job, with the most recent incumbent B.S. Lalli, being in the home ministry when he was appointed. He was suspended roughly a year ago.

So why not uphold an illustrious tradition? The new CEO, Jawhar Sircar, picked on Thursday by the vice-president and others, is currently secretary, culture, in the government of India. The more broadcasting flourishes as an industry in this country, the more the government strives to retain public service broadcasting, something that any democracy needs, as a government preserve.

The selection committee which chose the newest CEO included a representative of the ministry of information and broadcasting along with the chairman of the Press Council and the vice-president of India. The Prasar Bharati Act provides for a nominee of the President of India to be on the selection committee along with the eminences mentioned above. Did the President pick the secretary of the ministry of information and broadcasting to represent her on the selection of an autonomous broadcaster’s CEO? How charming.

And unsurprisingly in the final pick the other leading contender was a recently retired secretary of the same ministry of information and broadcasting. This is because the CEO’s job was not advertised, though another senior post on the Prasar Bharati board, that of member, personnel, was. The autonomous Prasar Bharati board, with which the CEO is expected to work, figured not at all in choosing the next CEO, nor did it even know, officially, who the candidates were. Yet, it is the board the CEO reports to, not the ministry.

Prasar Bharati exists on a low-visibility, low-accountability plane. Its daily news bulletins do not offend as much as those of private sector new channels do even if you get an overdose of what government leaders are doing. That can seem positively constructive when compared with the daily verbal assaults of performing news anchors on the other channels. Doordarshan occupies so little mindspace that even the opposition parties lose no sleep over it.

Broadcasting is to be judged by its output, not by how well the organization is run, except when the taxpayer is footing the bill, and the government resources are involved. Prasar Bharati, therefore, deserves greater scrutiny. It costs us upwards of Rs. 4 crore a day. The losses incurred by private channels pale in comparison with the figures Prasar Bharati has run up: the revenue projections for 2010-11 were Rs. 1,562 crore against which the revenue receipts were Rs. 969 crore and the expenditure was Rs. 2,506 crore. It manages to lose money even when it telecasts cricket, with the Public Accounts Committee pulling up Prasar Bharati and the information and broadcasting ministry last December on this account.

The Prasar Bharati Act was passed in 1990 ostensibly to give autonomy to the state broadcaster, and was notified in 1997. However, till 2012, the government of India has not been able to bring itself to either transfer financial powers to the corporation it created, nor have the personnel been transferred. On the contrary, employees lobbied for and won in 2010 the right to be treated as government employees with all benefits. In fact, financial powers for the Prasar Bharati board, of up to 50% of its annual budget, have only recently been conceded.

Over the years, the broadcaster’s programming capabilities have been decimated rather than nurtured—there are 1,000-plus vacancies, several hundred programming personnel have not been promoted for two decades or more, ad hoc appointments abound. When there is a vacancy at the top of either Doordarshan or All India Radio, chances are it will go to an IAS officer.

Why such blatant self-serving matters is because at a time of Doordarshan’s digital roll-out on the technological front, one would imagine the government owes it to the country to look for the best in the business to head the behemoth that has a monopoly over all terrestrial spectrum. Recently, the Prasar Bharati board brought on deck the former head of Tata Sky Ltd and the current head of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. But as recent experience with Lalli showed, under the current law, the corporation’s CEO does not have to listen to the board he is accountable to.

You could argue, as the government does, that an autonomous broadcaster is no longer desperately needed given how much private sector broadcasting media we are surrounded by. But the current record of commercial broadcasters only underscores the need for public service broadcasting to meet non-commercial communication needs. And should public service equal the government of India, and should the latter’s monopoly over terrestrial broadcasting remain unquestioned despite a Supreme Court judgement (1995) to the contrary?

If the past few years have shown how highly spectrum is valued, does the terrestrial spectrum that Doordarshan and All India Radio have a complete monopoly over not require better stewardship and more accountability? Should recruitment to the top job be so cosy even if it was made by a committee headed by the vice-president of India? And more to the point, if the problems of Prasar Bharati stem from a bad law passed 22 years ago, should that situation be allowed to continue?

Sevanti Ninan is a media critic, author and editor of the media watch website thehoot.org.
++++++++++++++++
Jaisaktivel, ADXC, India.
www.dxersguide.blogspot.com

Jeff White confirms that WORLD OF RADIO will be airing at a new time starting tonight on WRMI 9955, 0600-0630 UT Mondays. We often have had sufficient reception of other programs during this semihour.

73, Glenn Hauser