Tappita, Nimba County – One of Nimba County’s oldest community radio stations and the Press Union of Liberia “2008 Best Community Radio Station in Liberia”, the Voice of Tappita is at risk of been shut down due to lack of sustainable power to run the station.
Since its establishment in 2005, the station has been relying on Orange formerly Celcom GSM Company for electricity for broadcast purposes, but with the news that the company is relocating from the Telecom Tower where the station is situated to its own facility, many fear that this could bring to an end the over fifteen years of operation of the entity if nothing is urgently done to address the situation.
The station’s Technical Supervisor, Jacob Bantu said they have embarked on a number of fund raising initiatives to raise funding for the construction of a solar panel plant to provide electricity to the station, but the management is not getting the expected outcome.
Mr. Bantu disclosed that it will cost over twenty four thousand US$24,000 for the construction of the solar panel plant and the purchasing of new equipment as per the two quotations received from A&J Pacific Enterprise Limited, a solar energy company in Liberia and Broadcast Store, an Italian Equipment Store based in Italy.
“We have run this station for 17 years now, but the station is at the brink of collapse due to the depreciation of our equipment and the lack of electricity as Orange is about to relocate from the Telecom Tower to Thomas Hill. To construct a solar panel will cost US$12,000 and will last for twenty five years and to buy new mixer, antenna, transmitter and other equipment will cost US$12,473.55. So to raise this money, we have written every town to contribute, but the process is slow”, he said.
Mr. Bantu explained that the management is unable to relocate along with Orange Liberia to its new site because the little they had was used to upgrade the facility before the relocation notice was given.
“The little money we had was used to put tile in the building, changed the sound proof in the studio and attached offices to the building. So we don’t have money now to move with them because we want to remain to our original site”, he added.
“We have the West African Power Poll electricity in Tappita, but its constant fluctuation has blown several of our equipment off and we can’t rely on it. It is a challenging moment for us at the station and it is time for every well-meaning citizens to come to the aid of the station”.
The equipment currently being used by the station were provided by the Liberia Media Center (LMC) through the Radio Netherlands Training Center INFORMATRAC program and USAID through IREX. Many of them have outlived their usefulness.
The Voice of Tappita Technical Supervisor then reminded residents of Tappita District that the radio station belongs to them and in the absence of donor funding, it is their responsibility to support the station.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bantu has hailed the District Representative, Dorwohn Twain Gleekia for setting up another radio station in Tappita, but reminded him that the Voice of Tappita is the district radio that needs his full support to remain operational.
“We think it make sense to open another radio station in Tappita and I want to appreciate the lawmaker for such initiative. But I think he still needs to support the Voice of Tappita because it is a community radio station that belongs to the district. If he does not support this station and it goes down, it means the district has failed and he, as a lawmaker of the district, has also failed because this is a donation that was given for us to manage.”