Baati Rewmi Radio To Raise Political Awareness in The Gambia—Sigga Jagne

By Pa Modou Bojang, UK

Sigga Jagne, the Vice Chairperson of the Save The Gambia Democracy Project, and also an HIV/AIDS Program Director, Kentucky Department of Public Health has been explaining the significance of radio in mass communication. The STGDP VP said her organization deemed it crucially imperative to set up the “Baati Rewmi” known as the  (Voice of the Nation) radio station in a bid to raise political awareness in The Gambia—most importantly grassroots Civic Education. She said they intend to use the radio to sensitize Gambians about their civic duties, and responsibilities.

FREEDOM RADIO – Interview with Siga Jagne 26^th June 2010

This is the verbatim version of the interview with Sigga Jagne, the Vice Chairperson  of Save The Gambia Democracy project (STGDP) and also a staffer of the  “Baati Rewmi” known (Voice of the Nation) radio station. In this interview with Pa Nderry M’Bai, Sigga Jagene  explained the rationale behind the formation of   “Baati Rewmi”  radio and other burning issues in The Gambia.

FR:   Good evening Siga Jagne, how are you?

SJ:    Good evening Pa Nderry Mbai,  Thank you very much for inviting me to your forum on your radio station.

FR: Sigga, what can you tell us about “Baati Rewmi” radio station, which is being funded by the Save The Gambia Democracy Project (STGDP). What is this radio all about? Could you explain to our listeners what you are trying to achieve by setting up the Baati Rewmi radio?

SJ:    Baati Rewmi, also known as Voice of the nation has been set up as a venue for Gambians all over the world, wherever you are, in the US, in Europe or on the ground in The Gambia, particularly—because “Baati Rewmi” is broadcasting every Saturday on 1525 MHz on short wave radio, meaning you can really tune into Baati Rewmi everywhere in the world. You can tune into Baati Rewmi  and short wave radio being the same type of radio wave that the BBC is being ‘broadcasting’ and in particular the reason why Save the Gambia  Democracy  project  only known as  (STGDP)  wanted to set up this radio station is really: exactly what the cadre of the radio is, Voice of the Nation to provide a vital voice by Gambians all over the world to discuss different issues around nation building and whether its politics, economics, human rights, justice, agriculture, different elements towards national building; towards improvement of the system inside and outside of the Gambia that would march forward our nation and this radio will be a venue for discussion around those issues.

FR:   What time does this radio broadcast its programs? Can someone in Basse or Brikama listen to this radio?

SJ:    The radio comes on air every Saturday, on a weekly basis. The initial programming…. because right now we are still in the launching phase and trying to get notary… in broadcasting, in awareness from different people about the radio. We are only beginning with a 15 min segment.  Every Saturday  from 6:15 – 6:30pm Gambian time,  which is GMT and the radio will be broadcasting and if you are in Basse or whether you are in Banjul or whether you’re in Kerewan or whether you’re in Europe, in Japan or China or in Malaysia or in the US, wherever you are in this world, you can only, like I said, tune into “Baati Rewmi”  on short wave,  which is the same radio BBC is broadcasting on,  on 1525mhz.

FR:   Is this radio out to antagonize  Jammeh  or is only meant for the opposition?

SJ:    The radio like I said, is for all Gambians, all Gambians really. We want to make it a venue for all Gambians regardless of their political stance.  Even the Government, if they have a point to make, they are free to contribute, but certainly we’ll not allow the radio to be a propaganda machine for anybody at all. We really want to make it for all Gambians, regardless of who you are—to have a voice around the issues that impact on The Gambia. For example, if anybody in the government wants to talk about national issues as long as they are able to defend what they are saying, they are free to contribute. The radio is for all and sundry.  It can be used by ordinary Gambians to discuss any issue that impact on the daily lives  of ordinary Gambians, particularly on the ground, but also those residing outside the country.  

FR: Siga, audience is very important in broadcasting.  You need to get a loyal  audience communicate your programs.  If you don’t have audience, the purpose of the radio would be counter-productive.  Do you have the required staff, which is going to manage the radio and also to get the  right content—in order to get a wider audience.

SJ:    Certainly Pa Nderry, you are absolutely right. As media personnel, you absolutely right in those statements. Now, obviously the Executive Committee of STGDP, which Fatou  Manneh is  part of and myself as the Vice Chair, Christine Sukuna, who is the secretary and then we also Mr. Sambou, who’s also an executive member and Sol Njie who’s the treasurer, Musa Jeng, an executive member and we also have Pa Samba Jaw and a number of other people are part of the management of the radio station.

         In the beginning,  as we’re beginning to form a radio station and I know it will go to an extent. Additionally, we’re doing this in collaboration with GRTS International, MBye  Sarr  and the other staff of GRTS are in collaboration with us, they only support the technical side of the radio, the recording and also, not only doing recording, but in downloading information etc. Now we also work closely with Radio “Manny” International, who’s really our contractor and through who we broadcast the episode of “Baati Rewmi”, so we need a wide network of individuals that are providing support right now. We don’t have permanent staffing, but hopefully as it begins to expand as the radio forge its four words and really sponsored identity and goes into listenership, we will hopefully at some point, we will absolutely grow whereby we will be having our permanent staffing.

FR:   If I get you, you are implying that you are using another radio to broadcast your messages to The Gambia; you are buying airtime from another radio to reach out to your audience.

SJ:    Yes, we’re working with Radio “Manny” International. The radio operates on short wave radio broadcasting in Germany and it’s the agent that we work through and Radio “Manny” International will really, basically own the mechanism by which the broadcast is done, so certainly several radios, even in the US radio station do that, meaning they might be an organization or a company that actually have the technology to do the broadcasting and they may be different radio stations, you might see I can talk about Frankfurt, I can talk about our local radio station such as 96.5 as well as 97.1, all of them are broadcast by the same agency. That agent owns the technology but really broadcast for all the different radio stations, so the radios in fm station, they can’t, you designate a certain radio waves that you use within the technology and the equipment is owned by the agency maybe broadcasting a variety of radio stations in much the same way it happens that we work with Radio “Manny” International who’s our representative in collaboration with another agency in Germany.