Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

Fresh air-waves in Zambia
By Mike Daka
Mike Daka is owner and Managing
Director of Breeze 99.6 FM – a
privately owned radio station in
Chipata, Eastern Zambia. He has
over 30 <strong>years</strong> media experience
having worked as a reporter, editor
and director of <strong>the</strong> Zamcom media
training institute.
Breeze 89.3 FM is a radio station
located in downtown Chipata, <strong>the</strong>
capital of Zambia’s Eastern Province,
and it’s a commercial radio station
with a difference.
That’s because it encompasses three
kinds of radio: it is a communitybased,
commercial radio station
with public interest programming.
Legally, Breeze FM is easy to define.
Chipata Radio Services Limited is a
private company, registered under
<strong>the</strong> Companies Act of 1994. Yet it
has a public service mission and its
operations are more in line with
community radio.
This is only possible because of <strong>the</strong>
strong relationship existing between
<strong>the</strong> station and its community. The
station’s focus is on <strong>the</strong> interplay of
issues concerning <strong>the</strong> community –
its history and <strong>the</strong> social, cultural
and economic activities and
endeavours of <strong>the</strong> people.
Radio was my second choice when
I decided to retire and re-locate to
my home town. After many <strong>years</strong>
as a journalist, trainer and media
activist, I really wanted to start
a newspaper. However, I was not
happy with <strong>the</strong> quality and cost of
Section 2: Pluralism
local printers.
With opportunities blossoming for
broadcasting when multi-party democracy
was restored in Zambia in
1991 <strong>after</strong> 27 <strong>years</strong> of one-party
rule, radio seemed like a good idea.
The media environment was changing
fast as <strong>the</strong> airwaves were liberalised.
I opted for commercial radio and
sold my family house in Lusaka
to raise money to buy <strong>the</strong> station
building in Chipata. I <strong>the</strong>n applied
for a licence, raised funds from
UNESCO for initial equipment and
Danida to renovate <strong>the</strong> studios, and
immediately set about hiring staff.
The first team of 15 was chosen out
of <strong>the</strong> first 100 applicants. Today <strong>the</strong>
station has 30 employees.
The next task was to think of a
name. We settled on Breeze FM to
represent <strong>the</strong> cool air that blows
over Chipata from <strong>the</strong> surrounding
hills, especially at dawn and dusk.
The listeners quickly identified with
<strong>the</strong> name because its translation
in <strong>the</strong> local Chinyanja language,
Kamphempo ka Yazi Yazi, is both
melodious and full of meaning.
The station commenced test transmissions
on 5 October 2002 and was
granted a Confirmed Broadcasting
License on 31 January 2003.
Breeze FM broadcasts mainly in
Chinyanja (or Chewa) and one third
in English. Chinyanja/Chewa is also
widely spoken in Malawi and parts of
Mozambique. The station operates
for 24 hours each day. For 18 hours
from 6am to midnight, it broadcasts
local programmes. The night shift,
from midnight to 6am during
weekdays (and 7am over weekends),
transmits BBC programmes. Breeze
FM is a partner station of <strong>the</strong> BBC.
Initially Breeze FM had a broadcast
radius of 120km and covered slight-
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