Gateway Radio 89.6fm, a Christian community radio station serving the rural Hessequa region in the Western Cape Garden Route region, is seeking financial support to get back on air after SENTECH cut off its broadcast signal for non payment.
Sally Nicholls, founder and station manager of Gateway Radio said by God’s grace they are still reaching tens of thousands of people across the world through streaming but they need help to continue reaching and supporting the local Hessequa community who the Lord has called them to serve. Many local listeners who don’t have internet have expressed sorrow that they are no longer able to worship with the station.
Sally said that for three years the station has been applying for a MDDA (Media Development and Diversity Agency) grant to help cover its broadcasting costs but this has not transpired. She said that before their launch in 2016 SENTECH directors who were keen for their business assured them they were top of the list for government funding which would cover their SENTECH fees.
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Because of the challenge of raising advertising and funding in a rural area where most people are financially challenged and poorly educated and the business sector is limited to a few, small, local businesses, the station has always had a vision of vision of empowering and educating the community, and was never intended to oprate as a business.
Despite the funding challenge they had paid nearly everything in their bank account to SENTECH, amounting to over R300 000 in the past two years, said Sally. But they are not able to keep up with the R29 000 a month SENTECH fee and were cut off from the air.
“What companies such as SENTECH do not understand or care about is the community work which the station is achieving throughout the poverty-stricken area which we serve,” she said.
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“Gateway Radio 89.6fm has a huge outreach programme in the Garden Route area. We have given away some R350 000 worth of Bibles in four different languages as well as assisted feeding programmes and other NGOs. We also have an established children’s outreach programme, visiting schools ,libraries, hospitals, churches, care centres and rescue centres. We are in the process of starting a women’s abuse programme as well,” she said.
She said: “We are aware that the SABC as an SOE is allowed to get away with arrears to SENTECH of some R360 million and community radio stations (of which most are not able to pay their SENTECH accounts) are collectively in arrears of only R81 million and we cannot see the viability of closing down all these small stations.
“We are reaching out reluctantly for assistance in raising the funds to both get back on air and then become self transmitting. Ultimately the total cost would be around R2.5 million, she said. She urged existing contributors to continue their invaluable supprt while the station works towards self transmitting.
Sally can be contacted at info@gatewayradio.org or 028 7222467.
Gateway Radio‘s banking details are: Heidelberg, Western Cape, 623 5800 3003. Swift code for international payments: FIRNZAJJ. Branch code: 200113. International routing number. 081205112.
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