Radio comes to Tekin, Sandaun Province, PNG

Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea (sharing its western border with Irian Jaya) is one of many very remote and isolated regions of PNG. Tekin, a key community in what is known as the Oksapmin sub-district, is a mountainous region, only accessible by small plane (a once per week service). Satellite technology is now enabling radio email access for ‘outside’ communication with the local high school (introduced in 2009). But when the community radio station was established in December 2004, this was the first communication medium to be provided among communities in the Tekin valley (population around 10,000 people).

Radio services (AM, FM or Shortwave), are provided in PNG by the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and it’s extensive network of Provincial radio broadcasting services. However ageing NBC technical infrastructure and lack of Government funding over many years has resulted in people in many remote PNG communities being denied access to these kinds of radio broadcasting services that are taken for granted in developed economies.

International donor communities through Government foreign aid programs (Canadian and Australian) and also an Australian Non-Government Organisation (Baptist World Aid Australia) provided funding to establish a community radio station at Tekin, commissioned in December 2004. This station, operated by local people trained to produce and present radio programs, provides 7 hours of radio broadcasts each day to inform, educate and develop local people as well as provide music for entertainment.

Radio Building

A dis-used former Mission house was chosen to convert two bedrooms for use as radio studio and office/technical area. A local carpenter carried out modifications to the house for these purposes.

The site also had a suitable area adjacent to the house on which to erect a mast for the antennae system and a solar power system needed to provide power for the radio station.

Equipment Installation

Studio equipment and solar panels and other components for the solar system and antennae mast were shipped from Australia and installed on-site with labouring assistance provided by local people who were very enthusiastic to help.

A total of 20 solar panels were installed together with 12 x 2 volt batteries and associated solar control equipment to provide power for the radio studio and transmitter equipment.

FM transmission equipment using a 100 watt transmitter sourced from Broadcast Solutions Electronics, Cape Town, South Africa and antennae from Aldena, Italy, were shipped directly to PNG and installed on site, again with the assistance of local people.

Radio Training

A radio broadcast specialist from Australia provided training to local people from the Tekin communities who had been chosen to be trained as announcers to operate the studio equipment and produce and present radio programs.

After two weeks of intensive production, presentation and operational training, local announcers were ready to go ‘on-air’ and be rostered to provide radio broadcasts each day from the new Tekin radio station.

Grand Opening

Tekin Community Radio Station, broadcasting on FM 99.90MHz, was formally opened and commissioned on 6 December 2004 by local Government officials and attended by more than 1,000 people from surrounding communities. After the formal opening, the general public who attended were invited to walk through the radio studio and most of them excitedly lined up, to file through in small groups, to see how radio programs were made.

The Future

Radio programs broadcast from Tekin Community Radio station include a range of different education and development programs covering various health issues and concerns (especially HIV Aids), women’s issues, agriculture as well as informing people in the communities about Local Government information and development matters. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio Australia, PNG production unit, also provides regular programs on a range of topics (supplied on compact discs) especially prepared, in their common language Pidgin English, for radio broadcasts to people living in PNG.