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Radio Pacis and the Arua Diocese Media Centre

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Arua Diocese Media Centre is located in Ediofe, near Arua, Uganda, East Africa; Arua is in the West Nile region 500 km from the capital city, Kampala. The centre includes the offices of Radio Pacis 90.9FM, 94.5FM and 101.4FM, the studios of Radio Pacis 90.9FM and 94.5FM, the Arua Diocese Printing Services, and the Arua Diocese Communications Department.

Radio Pacis Mission

• Radio Pacis broadcasts 24 hours of programming on three frequencies. Radio Pacis 90.9 broadcasts in English, Logbara and Kakwa languages. Radio Pacis 94.5 broadcasts in English, Alur and Ma’di languages. Radio Pacis 101.4 broadcasts in English and Luo languages.

• Radio Pacis educates and informs! while promoting the well-being of our community - “Providing Infotainment for our community” Infotainment is a combination of the words Information and Entertainment. It means educating listeners in an entertaining way:

  • Radio Pacis is not only a radio station, but a means of education for the listeners. Topics include health, women's rights, domestic violence, agriculture, development, schools, family life, and children's programmes. These topics are transported through programmes such as dramas, talk shows, features and up-to-the-minute news.
  • Radio Pacis news coverage has a strong reputation for its full news coverage from the villages, the nation and the world. The news bulletins are offered throughout the day and night in English and several vernacular languages.
• Radio Pacis serves the Community! Radio Pacis is a community-based radio and so it differs from other commercial radio stations in the area. As a community-based radio, the programming is designed for the integral development of the listeners. The programmes seek to entertain as well as educate and to provide information in creative ways that are attractive to the listeners. The community is also actively participating in several programmes:

  • A network of volunteers provide information from our listening area. In every parish of Arua Diocese (altogether 39 parishes) two voluntary communication secretaries inform Radio Pacis about news in their villages. Those communication secretaries receive on-going training by Radio Pacis to provide news tips and stories from the grassroots of Arua Diocese. They coordinate the booking of drama groups and choirs for recording sessions. They also promote the radio and contribute written stories to the diocesan bulletin.
  
  • Adult and children volunteers participate as guests in many radio programmes. Some of these volunteers are regular participants in weekly programmes such as Bible for the Kids, Amazing Life, Catechist Hour.
  • A volunteer student drama group works with a radio professional to produce weekly dramas for the radio.
  • Diocesan officials have weekly programmes; participating departments include the bishop's office, the Caritas department, the health department, the education department and the youth department.
  • Audio for programmes such as Farmers Talk and My Business-Your Business is often collected in the field.
  • Announcements and greeting cards facilitate communication within the community.
  • Promotions are done in a way that also serves the community; for example, Radio Pacis was the first organization to collaborate with the municipal council to place rubbish bins in town.
  • Local choirs and artists have been busy in the production studios of Radio Pacis recording music that is used in the programming. Possibly, we have the largest collection of local and traditional music from the West Nile region.
  
  • Features and talk shows provide valuable information about up-to date issues like HIV, smoking, tax laws, political issues, refugee repatriation, cholera outbreaks, immunization campaigns...
• The Radio Pacis tagline is “Peace of Christ for all”. Though the radio has a strong Catholic identity, we are proud to be recognized as unbiased and open minded to all.
  • Owned and operated by Arua Catholic Diocese, we uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church in regard to ecumenism and dialogue.
  • The staff members themselves represent a variety of faiths and denominations. We strive to be a model of fair and honest labour practices with the staff.
  • In our marketing efforts we carefully screen products for advertisement avoiding those which do not contribute to the well-being and advancement of the community. Our marketing department upholds ethical standards in its transactions.
  • The Catholic identity of the radio is strong. Radio Pacis is a means of fostering evangelization and the growth of the Christian communities.
  • o The Catholic identity is reflected throughout the programs. Feast days and liturgical seasons are observed with special programming. The Sunday Mass is broadcast weekly and on a daily basis Scripture Moment invites the listeners to reflect on the readings of the day. Faith Matters, Church News, Catechist Hour, Bible for the Kids, Vatican Radio, American Catholic Radio and the weekly diocesan department programs announce the Good News of Jesus Christ.
  • Specific Gospel music programmes are part of the daily schedule. Throughout the day religious music is mixed with appropriate secular music.
• Radio Pacis is committed to collaborate with others in development! Networks are created and training is conducted with other radio stations and with our own staff.
  • Radio Pacis shares office space in Kampala with Radio Wa of Lira. This office serves not only as foundation for marketing activities, but also to exchange ideas, news and radio programs.
  • A candidate-mentor program has been established to identify and train candidates in journalism and radio broadcasting. The benefit for Radio Pacis is the establishment of a broad base for personnel planning and the overall benefit for the community is the training and education of interested people.
  
  • Radio Pacis welcomes other radio stations who ask for training support. For example, Radio Pacis has cooperated in the training of personnel for the Bakhita network of radio stations in Southern Sudan.

Highlights

June 2005

An independent "Listener Survey" published and organized by FIT-SEMA and sponsored by ILO (International Labour Organization - a UN organization) listed Radio Pacis as the radio with the highest number of listeners in West Nile.

June 2005

Radio Pacis awarded first prize at the SIGNIS-Africa exposé of the media activities held in Kampala just before the AMECEA Bishops' plenary (AMECEA region comprises 8 countries).

September 27, 2005

The national newspaper, THE NEW VISION, published the results of a survey about radio listenership carried out by Target Group Index in Uganda. Radio Pacis, out of 115 radio stations, was listed at the 6th place at national level.

November, December 2005

Radio Pacis hosted 2-hour talk shows with the leading candidates in the presidential elections: Dr. Kizza Besigye and President Yoweri Museveni.

December 2005

Radio Pacis increased its broadcasting hours from 19 hours a day to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In December 2006

Radio Pacis entered a competition sponsored by the BBC for English-speaking radio stations in Africa. We entered in the category of "new radio station". In February 2007, the judges selected Radio Pacis as the best new radio station in the East Africa region. As such, the station was a finalist for best new radio station in all of Africa. In May 2007, the director, station manager, programme manager, assistant programme manager, and assistant news editor traveled to Nairobi for the BBC awards ceremony where Radio Pacis was named the best new radio station in all of Africa. It was a huge achievement for the station and the community it serves.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES of RADIO PACIS

Become self sustaining

Radio Pacis itself is not yet self-sustaining. High costs come with the high quality of the programs. At the same time, as community-based radio, Radio Pacis offers limited air time for commercial advertising. Each year the total amount of locally generated income increases significantly.

Attract and maintain qualified staff members

As Arua is one of the poorest areas of Uganda, it is difficult to attract qualified staff such as radio presenters and technicians. Therefore one of our goals is to attract and maintain the qualified staff through several initiatives such as staff quarters for key employees, competitive salaries, and attractive working conditions.

Reach more listeners in more areas

West Nile has several different cultures and languages. Radio Pacis 90.9 caters for Lögbara and Kakwa speaking people. Radio Pacis 94.5 caters for Alur and Ma'di speakers. With a transmitter and studio in the Gulu area, we transmit Radio Pacis 94.5 programming and locally generated programming as well as Radio Pacis 101.4, thus reaching Luo language speakers of the Archdiocese of Gulu. With the construction of a new mast in Arua and other technical improvements, we want to reach some of the places in our listening area where the signal is weak.

Make services more accessible in areas distant from Arua

The mini recording studio located within Moyo Multi-Purpose Centre allows people to conduct talk shows, interviews, and announcements from Moyo Vicariate, eliminating the multi-hour journey to Arua. The Moyo Bureau also has recording equipment for use in other locations of the area, for recording drama, music, rural debates and other events. The studios in Gulu have similar capacity. More and more, recordings from the field are part of nearly every program and news bulletin. In addition, the rural debate program has become especially popular as people from all corners of the listening audience have an opportunity at one time or another to make their voice heard. SMS services and TRAC FM also increase audience participation in the radio broadcasts. Social media such as FACEBOOK and TWITTER are in the experimental stages. One frequency 90.9 is streamed live on the website.

Become a competence centre for radio training

For the future, Radio Pacis wants to put this training on a broader level by generating partnerships with universities and inviting other radio stations to partner with them for the development of all radio broadcasters in the area.

Radio Pacis Marketing

To fulfil our primary strategic goal to be self-sustainable, Radio Pacis has established a professional Marketing Office. We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership to deliver messages through

• Talk Shows
• Announcements
• Classified Adverts
• Sponsorships
• Greeting Cards
• Ad-hoc Programmes

Point of Contacts/ Marketing Offices are located at the head office in Arua Diocese Media Centre, in Kampala, and in Arua Town Office.

Radio Pacis Programming

As a community-based radio, Radio Pacis programming on all three frequencies is designed for the integral development of the listeners. The programs seek to entertain as well as educate and to provide information in creative ways that are attractive to the listeners.

Radio Pacis broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on all three frequencies. The majority of the programming is produced in the Radio Pacis studios. Radio Pacis 94.5 and Radio Pacis 101.4 share the English programming and the Alur programming; several hours of programming is generated from the Gulu studio. Four programs, of 30 minutes each, are broadcast from other sources: Daybreak Africa from Voice of America (VOA), English for Africa from Radio Vatican, Focus on Africa and Network Africa from BBC and American Catholic Radio from Franciscan Radio. The locally produced programs include news bulletins, features and magazines. Daily, news is presented in English, Lögbara, Ma'di, Alur, Kakwa and Luo languages. A daily news journal and a press review are also part of the regular programming. In addition to news, several magazines present topics of religion, education, health and interpersonal relationships. The "We Go Forward" program is presented live each day in five different languages; it tackles a broad range of developmental issues. Other programming targets women, children and youth. Catholic pastoral programming attracts listeners from other denominations and faiths.

Two particular programmes target the children: Bible for the Kids and Amazing Life. Women are targeted every morning on Monday through Friday in a programme called Life as We Know It.

Perhaps the most entertaining feature is the locally produced drama series. The programming is rounded out by the usual greetings and announcements and music. Special programming is made for events such as public and church holidays.