Category: World
Service
Date: 23.02.2006
Printable version
The Falkland Islands
Government, Falkland Islands Media Trust and 91Èȱ¬
World Service have signed an agreement to strengthen the development of a strong,
modern and independent media environment on the islands, it was
announced today.
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The agreement follows the decision to end the broadcast
of the 91Èȱ¬ World Service's twice-weekly, 15 minute Calling
the Falklands programme.
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The agreement includes:
- The continued supply of 91Èȱ¬
World Service programming, free of charge, for rebroadcast by the
Falkland Islands Radio Service (FIRS)
- A fund to support training
and development of FIRS staff to build capacity in the media sector
of the islands
- The provision of technical advice in the areas
of broadcasting and transmission to aid the future technical
development of the Falklands' media sector
- A two year subscription to 91Èȱ¬
Worldwide Radio International's package of 160 hours of annual
programming (100 hours of spoken word and 60 hours of concert/pop
programmes) to assist the transition to develop more original
Falkland-based programming
- Closer cooperation between the Falkland
Islands' media and appropriate counterpart 91Èȱ¬ local services in
the UK and Channel Islands
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Chris Simpkins, Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands
Government, says: "Calling
the Falklands has become something of an institution and will
always have a special place in the memories of Islanders since
it has reported on all significant events in the modern history
of the Islands.
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"But the time has come to move on. The Media Trust
is to be congratulated on its achievement in securing a new
agreement with the 91Èȱ¬ which will see a step change in programming
and the future development of our community broadcasting station."
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Richard Sawle of the Falkland Islands
Media Trust says: "Whilst all of us here
in the Falklands will be sad to hear the last broadcast
of Calling the Falklands, it is a positive sign that the Falklands
is maturing both as a nation and also more specifically in media
terms.
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"We used to have to place reliance on programmes such
as Calling the Falklands to tell us what was happening in the outside
world - where
the threats were coming from, who our friends were,
and any other news that might be of relevance or interest
to us.
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"Calling the Falklands was our link to outside
realities. Time moves on though, and now we have
instant news via the radio and television, a fully independent
and locally produced newspaper and finally, of
course, access to the internet and satellite TV stations.
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"The agreement we have reached with the 91Èȱ¬ is an exciting
one. We
will be taking part in a full programme of training
and looking at what modern technology might have to offer us.
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"The
radio station staff will have on-going training courses with
the 91Èȱ¬ and there will be more 91Èȱ¬ programming made available to
us.
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"The Media Trust and everyone at FIRS are very
grateful indeed for the support of Calling the Falklands in the
past and for the increased support and real partnership that we will
now be having with the 91Èȱ¬ for the future."
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Nigel Chapman, Director, 91Èȱ¬ World
Service, said: "This new agreement builds on
the strong historical ties
between the 91Èȱ¬ and the Falkland Islands' broadcasting sector; and
will help the development of media on the islands.
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"We'd like to thank
the teams who have worked on Calling the Falklands over the
years.
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"But we believe this agreement will better serve
Islanders in the multi-media age and will help speed the Falkland
Islands Radio Service's growing maturity as a vital home grown element
in the wide ranging Falklands' media sector."
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Notes to Editors
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Calling The Falklands
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Calling
The Falklands began in 1944 as a weekly compilation of record
requests and personal messages from friends and relatives to the
islanders.
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During Argentina's invasion of the islands in 1982,
Calling the Falklands became a daily programme
and assumed great importance for providing information about the
political and military developments on the islands as well as in
Britain and Argentina.
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Since the conflict, Calling The Falklands
has become a regular transmission of news
of interest to the islanders, featuring a press review, extracts from Parliamentary
debates and personal messages from friends and relatives.
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Calling The Falklands currently broadcasts for 15
minutes twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays
at 2130 GMT.
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The final programme will be broadcast on Friday 31 March
2006.
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Falkland Islands Radio Service
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The radio service used to be available
in the early days through a wired loudspeaker into
Stanley homes known as 'the
box'.
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It is now staffed by five
full-time employees and, having recently come under
the responsibility of the Media Trust, is now
even more independent of the Government and even
more self-reliant.
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