The new station manager of Musina FM, Justice "Hot-Ice" Langa, has vowed to take the border-town community radio station to a higher level. Langa takes over from Selinah Phiri, who has taken up a political position as councillor in Musina Municipality.
With only two months in the hot seat, Langa is adamant to lead the station to its former glory after it had not been operational for almost four months last year. Langa says the most important thing now is to restore confidence with listeners, advertisers, and community stakeholders. "When you have not been on air for almost four months, you feel like starting afresh because you need to convince all your stakeholders that you are now back to stay. We have met with various stakeholders in the community to formally introduce ourselves and to share our developmental vision with them," says Langa.
He says he is busy arranging that the annual general meeting (AGM) can take place, which will lead to the election of the new board of directors for the radio station. "The radio station could not hold an AGM for some years, and this cannot be accepted. We need the public to be involved in the running of this radio station because it belongs to the community. If we can manage to convene an AGM before June this year, it would be much easier to run the radio station with the support of the board of directors that has been elected by the community."
Langa adds that another top priority on his list is to restore coverage to all areas that were previously serviced by the radio station when it started operating in 2008. "Right now, we have challenges with our transmitter, which only covers less than half of our previous areas of coverage. We have already engaged with some sponsors to assist us with the acquisition of a bigger transmitter that will cover a wider area, and the process is at an advanced stage," he says.
Langa is not new to the broadcasting industry. He had cut his broadcasting teeth at the same radio station, Musina FM, where he worked for five years as a producer, presenter and marketing manager. He then took a year's break but re-joined the radio station when it reopened in December last year.