Yatsani Radio is Officially Launched
Yatsani Radio, one of several community radio stations of the Catholic Church in Zambia, was officially launched and its new studios opened last Monday, September 17th, 2001.

After the Synod for Africa in 1994, the bishops of Zambia decided that the Church in Zambia needed to be more involved in the media, such that some time, each diocese might have its own radio station.
Yatsani Radio was finally granted its Construction Permit in December 1998 by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services.

Sr Janet Fearns, Yatsani's Acting Director, says that people of more than thirteen nationalities, from the donors to the volunteers to the builders and the core staff, have come together in peace and understanding in order to bring the station to its present excellence. This is a wonderful example for the rest of the world, so often torn by fighting, disharmony and bloodshed.
The German Church gave Yatsani its support, first of all to enlarge the original library of the then Dominican Convent into a presentable office and studio. They funded the equipment and tower needed to get Yatsani Radio off the ground.
Sir Rupert Murdoch, one of the world's richest media magnates, gave Yatsani some financial help.

The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) staff helped the original staff at Yatsani give workshops aimed at training people in the parishes to make their own radio programmes.

Sr Fearns says Yatsani has received wonderful support from the parishes and unpaid generous volunteers who give of their time and energy. From various backgrounds, the volunteers represent most, if not all, of the parishes within the Lusaka Archdiocese. They create and present more than 90% of the radio's programmes, and receive absolutely nothing other than the heartfelt gratitude of those involved in Yatsani Radio.

When the radio began, these people were given three instructions. The programmes could be in any language chosen by the volunteers; they had to be in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church and they were to avoid party politics, which can be so divisive.

The needs addressed by Yatsani Radio include poverty and health. The station, which also encourages its listeners to be actively involved and committed to development, addresses social justice, and has a deliberate policy to make a stand on human rights.

In March of this year Fr. Casserly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications called Yatsani Radio "a model for the whole of Africa" and asked if they could consider taking on students from the whole of Africa for two months at a time.

- From Catholic Information Service for Africa (CISA), Issue No. 47, Friday, September 21, 2001