Eketāhuna Community Radio Station

Radio Eketāhuna

Colin Fraser-Davies writes:

This is an update on the current situation of the above society. Some months ago the committee became dysfunctional due to personality clashes. The end result was the mass resignation of the committee, leaving me, as patron of the society, to sort out the situation.

In this situation the constitution of the society allows me three options (1) Close down all operations and dispose of the assets as specified. (2) Put the society into indefinite recess or (3) Try to re-establish the society.

I decided to go for the last option, but two urgent problems needed to be resolved. The first was that the broadcasting licence had not been renewed. Loss of the licence would have been terminal, but luckily it was renewed due to donations at the eleventh hour. The second problem came to light after this when Radio Spectrum Management from MBIE realised that our society’s registration with the Companies Office had been allowed to lapse, hence we were broadcasting illegally. I decided to get the society reregistered and MBIE were very co-operative in allowing us to continue broadcasting while this was done. After quite a protracted battle the reregistration has gone through, so the broadcasting is now all legal. This takes some of the heat off the situation and will allow more time to organise the new society.

There are financial problems remaining however. Namely a dept to TDC for the rent of the studio premises. While there are funds remaining in the account these cannot be accessed until a new committee is elected. In the meantime the Eketahuna Our Town committee has agreed in principle to clear the outstanding debt so that a clean start can be made.

With Christmas and holiday time fast approaching this would not be a good time to attempt electing a new committee. Also we need time to check over the station equipment, carry out any necessary repairs and draw up a new asset list for accounting.

My target is a public meeting in the New Year – maybe February. I believe that there is still goodwill in the community for the society and I would like to identify people as soon as possible who might be willing to join the society and operate the radio station. No prior knowledge of radio is required as all training will be provided. Naturally some experience with, say, DJ equipment, home audio systems or computers would be an advantage. If you have always fancied being an advertising executive or a reporter then these are also roles to be filled! I would also like to hear input from the community on what they would like from the station in future and any feedback on the current broadcasting. I feel that the station still has a role to play in the event of a Civil Defence emergency and, with our local newspaper likely to close, an increased role in providing news and information. Please contact me on 06 375 8634, 020 4175 0942 or fraser-davies@inspire.net.nz

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