| Wednesday, 08 Sep 2010 05:05 +0800 |
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Multiplying Village Voices
GETTING set up is easy. MBC sells a package that includes the transmitter, antenna, satellite dish, and satellite receiver for around P50,000, depending on the size of the town where the station will be based. All the new broadcaster has to do is plug it in and buy a rudimentary microphone and perhaps a CD player to air a few local favorites and he or she is in business. In addition, partners pay a monthly programming fee of about P4,000 to MBC for the satellite feed and agree to air at least 10 hours a day of programming and national advertising from the home network, which includes a morning news feed from MBC's Manila flagship station, DZRH, a leading news-talk station. The Radyo Natin network offers a choice of seven satellite formats, the most popular being love songs in English and Filipino mixed with national news, from the Manila headquarters. The rest of the time, the stations are free to do music requests, local news, religious programming — anything they want. Still, the initial outlay is steep, given the grinding poverty in rural areas. MBC executives say that the typical Radyo Natin operator is a small businessman who sees the project as a way to add to his holdings. The Aplaon family, for example, owns some small plots of land in La Carlota, and the father works as an executive of an agricultural company in Luzon. "We wanted a family business," says Beluma, a fresh college graduate, of the family's decision to go into broadcasting. "My dad wants me to do it. So I am the one making the announcements and selling the advertisements. It's like my first job." The station is a means of giving the family a business opportunity at home. MBC encourages Radyo Natin operators to go out and talk to the local general stores, hardware providers, and others to generate ad revenues. Beluma Aplaon says her family has convinced a number of local stores to advertise. "We need to sell more but we think it is going to work," she says. In Kabankalan town, south of La Carlota, the Radyo Natin outlet has sold time to the local government for community-service programming and the Catholic Church to air religious messages. In addition, an electrical contractor, hardware store, and a number of small restaurants are regular clients, buying time at less than P50 for 30 seconds. "We get revenue from two sources," says Fred Elizalde's son Juan, who is MBC's programming executive. "One is from selling the equipment and licensing the programming. The other is from national advertising. The local guys have to get their money from local advertisers." The concept is deceptively simple but with far-reaching implications. In other cases, already wealthy politicians are buying the stations, not for their business potential but as a cost-effective way to increase their ability to reach voters. One of the first markets MBC tapped in its search for partners, in fact, was Congress, making promotional presentations to politicians on the efficacy of owning their own little radio stations in order to reach their constituents. MBC executives and others say that local politicians are quickly buying into Radyo Natin. Senators, congressmen, and governors have all bought stations, in all likelihood because they are eyeing the 2004 elections and see Radyo Natin as a cheap way to reach a mass audience. Privately, MBC executives acknowledge that the possibility exists that a politician buying a number of stations in a given province could eventually develop a virtual monopoly on local radio in the area. While MBC is hesitant to discuss the names of station owners, especially the politically powerful ones, reports have it that former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis 'Chavit' Singson has purchased a number of stations in his province. In Bataan, Congressman Antonio Roman has also bought a chain of five stations in his district. MBC is even planning to produce regular messages for Roman's constituents, recorded at the Batasang Pambansa and then relayed to his stations via satellite. Says one MBC executive: "This is a great way for a politician to speak directly to his people." RADIO in the Philippines is far more sophisticated and independent than in virtually any other country in Asia. Free of most government interference, private broadcasters have a long tradition of independent programming dating back to the 1920s, and their reach extends across the archipelago. Looked at in one way, Radyo Natin radically lowers the entry cost for local operators to come into this scene, giving small provincial businessmen access to a technology previously available only to large corporations. For a small community with no local radio, these tiny stations offer a chance to have affordable electronic media in places that were previously dependent on Manila and other large cities. But does this really democratize radio? The satellite programming and national news content on Radyo Natin is all produced by MBC, giving it the ability to far outstrip any of its rivals in terms of reaching deep into the barrio. And it is unlikely that any other company will be able to match MBC's economies of scale in putting up such a network. So far, the savvy firm has also decided to allow only one Radyo Natin station per market in order to avoid having partners compete against one another for ad revenue. MBC may even have bigger ambitions. "We have access to satellites with a footprint all over Asia," says Juan Elizalde. "There is no reason we couldn't replicate Radyo Natin anywhere in the world." All these are making other broadcasters twitch. As it is, they are already nervous about MBC's drive to capture small local markets. "Almost all of the small operators see it as a threat," says an insider at the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas.. "It is going to be a big controversy." The immediate fear of some traditional broadcasters is that Radyo Natin could draw vital national advertising money away from existing provincial stations. "This is like stabbing us in the back," says Peter de Jaresco, owner of Bohol Chronicle Broadcasting, a two-station radio company on the small island-province of Bohol. "The government should not allow MBC to have so many stations. We are the real local broadcasters, our two stations reach all the towns in this province, and we rely on national advertising for our revenues also. What is going to happen with Radyo Natin is that politicians will take advantage of it and real local broadcasters will suffer." Bigger broadcasters, for their part, say the government should close the loophole in the telecommunications law that has allowed MBC to set up so many micro stations. That move, however, could penalize other community broadcasters who benefit from the liberal regulations for community stations. There is no question that by going intensely local in their pitch to advertisers, MBC is trying to siphon pesos away from other broadcasters. MBC is confident consumer-product companies with a desire to reach potential customers in even the most far-flung barrio will see the advantage of going with the network and its Radyo Natin scheme. MBC has entered into several agreements with various corporations to do nationwide promotions tied to Radyo Natin stations. In one promotion, listeners will be urged to collect proof-of-purchase labels of a particular product in order to enter a weekly raffle at a participating Radyo Natin station. At the end of the promotion, MBC intends to bring millions of these labels to Manila for a nationwide draw to demonstrate the consumer punch of their local stations. But it will be up to individual operators to make Radyo Natin into something vital and worthwhile. Those who use the stations to inform and invigorate their communities are also providing them a tool for local empowerment. As Juan Elizalde says, "These stations are a blank slate. Nothing like this has been done before. It will be up to the operators to make them interesting." Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved. PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM This article was originally published by the PCIJ on their website. |
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