No more money in budget for Radio New Zealand International

On the other hand there’s no less money either in the latest government budget for 2010/2011 announced in Wellington yesterday for Radio New Zealand International (RNZI), the country’s shortwave broadcaster.

Funding remains at NZ$1.9m (AUS$1.55m)for the year and it’s required to deliver 16 hours of good quality reception daily to a minimum of 11 Pacific nations with one 100kW analog transmitter installed in 1990 and one 100kW digital capable transmitter installed in 2005.

The primary coverage nations it’s funded for are French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Tokelau, American Samoa, Samoa, Niue, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Tuvalu, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

The secondary coverage nations are Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Kiribati, whilst general coverage must be provided to the Asia/Pacific and Pacific Rim region including the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau.

In addition, RNZI must increase the number of Pacific radio stations relaying or rebroadcasting its news bulletins to 18 and is permitted a maximum 1% of transmission time lost from equipment failure.

Despite being disappointed with the budget freeze, Radio Heritage Foundation chairman, David Ricquish, says, “At a time when many shortwave broadcasters face budget cuts and complete closedown of services, this continued confidence in RNZI’s ability to deliver a quality service with a bare-bones budget is tribute to the extreme dedication to duty and pragmatism of the entire RNZI team.

“RNZI provides valuable cyclone, extreme weather watch and tsunami warnings for the entire South Pacific region. It also provides local FM quality news, information and other programs for rebroadcast on a growing number of local Pacific island radio stations.

“With Fiji in media censorship lockdown and media freedoms poorly understood in many of the target nations, RNZI provides local listeners with a respected and valuable news source from a Pacific perspective,” says Ricquish.

Still Ricquish is concerned about the serviceability of his 20 year old transmitter. He says, “Every week, thousands of New Zealanders are on holiday, on business visits or working and living in the Pacific and RNZI provides a valuable service for their continued safety. “Catastrophic RNZI transmitter failure co-inciding with natural disasters or sudden political events and instability in the region could threaten the lives of New Zealanders and New Zealand’s security and commercial interests, says Ricquish.