Highlight: Zambia’s most listened-to radio stations

RADIO fans are free to tune in to a radio station of their choice at the touch of the knob, going by the messages and mails sent to this column. It is evident that there are three most listened-to radio stations in Zambia: ZNBC, Phoenix and Radio Christian Voice (RCV).

A good number of listeners tune in to ZNBC for news updates, mostly political news, while vernacular programmes attract their ethnic groupings, except for the Bemba’s Kabusha Takolelwe Bowa which is listened to across all tribes.

Radio Phonenix is preferred by listeners mostly because of the live talk-show programme of Let the People Talk, for comparative current affairs and for the presenters’ maturity as compared to other private radio stations.

RCV is considered as the church in the listeners’ home. The most tune-in hours are mornings for devotions, a bit of afternoons and a lot more in the evenings as people retire to sleep.

A wide range of private and community radio stations are most sampled randomly as and when convenient to listeners within the locality in which they are found.

RCV

I got a phone call from Pastor Benson Chisenga of Glorious Gospel Bible Church in Lusaka’s Emmasdale area at Step Ahead School.

Pastor Chisenga’s call was in response to comments made in this column last week. This is what I said: “While radio has been used as an evangelistic channel by the clergy, sermons preached on such space, however, are either meant to woo membership or popularise the speaker.

Evangelist Chisenga’s presentation was nothing of that sort. He instead gave guidelines on how a Christian could avoid being deceived by false prophets.

In the words of Evengelist Chisenga, some pastors take advantage of their members’ curiosity, naivety and ignorance of the scriptures to prey on them.

He then gave qualities of a true prophet as one who needs to be in harmony with God’s testimony, one who confesses Christ, one who exalts Christ and not self, one who reproves people of their sins, and whose moral conduct is upright.

With such information given freely on air, Christians ought to be awake by searching scriptures and test the mushrooming so-called ‘men of God’.

1 John 4:1 – Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Mathew 7:15 – Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

His words to me were: “I thank you my brother for the work you are doing, your efforts are a contribution to the work of the Lord, God bless you.” I humbly received the blessings.

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RCV brings “Faith comes by hearing the Word.” It is the reading of the Bible, a programme sponsored by the Bible Society of Zambia.

The programme comes in convenient for those who might be too busy to pick up the Bible and flip up a few pages for edification, because, while in bed early mornings, the Bible is read up to your hearing.

SUN FM

ROWLIV is the name of a SUN FM radio presenter I heard bring a “House of Praise” programme last Sunday between 09:00 and 12:00 hours.

The brother has a cool but heavy voice, he talks less and sounds reserved from the other presenters on that station.

ICENGELO

Charles Kasanda is an awful news reader on Radio Icengelo. It was one of the fans of this column who alerted me to tune in to Radio Icengelo and hear a singing news caster last Thursday, September 12, afternoon.

“Hello, tune in to Radio Icengelo for a sing-song news,” read the message that attracted me to touch my dial to Radio Icengelo.

There I was, I heard Charles with my own ears, literary singing the news with a fake accent, irritating speed and wacky poses.

We have talked about this type of mediocrity on radio before, we are not going to belabour it anymore. It remains for the concerned to improve.

TIPS

It has been learnt that programme managers and producers in Africa face a tremendous challenge.

They lack skilled broadcasters, who are well-trained in the craft and can make a significant contribution to the development of the station and nation.

Radio programme making is unavoidably a technical craft. It calls for a special way of developing ideas, a special approach to writing and a technique for translating ideas and scripts into workable radio terms.

Familiarity with the technical facilities for production and knowledge of their operation is an essential part of the training of a radio producer.

This is particularly necessary for more complex production work or where senior technical staff is scarce, as is often the case on small stations and in developing countries.

Before examining the facilities for production, we must understand in outline the process of programme transmission.

When we speak or strike a drum or make any kind of sound we cause the air about us to vibrate and a series of invisible waves of energy is set up.

These waves are made by the vibration of our vocal cords or the skin of the drum or the vibration of whatever is making the sound.

If it is a low-pitched sound, then the vibrations are slow; if it is high-pitched the vibrations are fast.

The word ‘frequency’ is used to describe the speed of the vibrations which is measured in cycles per second, also called Hertz.

The terms kilocycles or kiloHertz and megacycles or megaHertz are used for thousands and millions of cycles per second.

There is an exact relationship between the speed of vibration or frequency and the length of the pressure wave which it produces.

You can demonstrate this for yourself the next time you shave or wash. Gently paddle a finger in the hand-basin and watch the ripples on the surface of the water.

By paddling slowly you set up widely spaced long waves, measuring from crest to crest, while by paddling rapidly the spaces between the ripples become less and the wavelengths shorter.

When we speak before a microphone, the energy of the sound or acoustic wave acts upon it to produce an alternating current of electrical energy.

This current has very little pressure, therefore, its voltage is raised by amplifiers in the control room. It then passes as an electric current, alternating at the frequency of the sound waves, along telephone wires to the transmitter.

At the transmitter, high-powered oscillators produce steady waves of radio energy and send them into the aerial system.

These radio waves have high frequencies ranging from 150 kiloHertz to IOO megaHertz; the choice of fiequency, and, therefore, the wave length of the station in metres is determined by the purpose which the station serves.

The lower frequency long and medium waves are used where the broadcast has to travel only a few hundred kilometres, while higher frequency short and ultra-short waves are used where it has to travel several hundreds or thousands of kilometres.

MULTICHOICE NEWS FLASH

Ladies and gentlemen, to all soccer fans, from Kafubu Stadium, home of Stylish Roan United in the garden town of Luanshya, SuperSport 9 will show a live match between Roan and Zesco at 12:45 hours while the Nkana vs Napsa Stars will show at 14:55 hours today.

Super Sport 7 will show Stuttgart vs Eintracht Frankfurt at 17:25 hours with Milan vs Napoli showing at 20:40 hours.

Super Sport 2 will show Real Madrid vs Getafe at 18:55 hours and Valencia vs Sevilla coming on Super Sport 3 at 20:55 hours.

On Super Sport 3, Manchester City vs Manchester United at 16:30 hours, Arsenal vs Stoke City at 14:00.

Super Sport 7 will show Crystal Palace vs Swansea City at 14:20 and later at 16:55 show Cardiff City vs Tottenham Hotspurs at 16:55 hours from SuperSport 2.