Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

ly over half of <strong>the</strong> population of
eastern Zambia of 1,3 million people.
Two <strong>years</strong> ago, it was granted
authority to expand its coverage
area to <strong>the</strong> entire Eastern Province.
Work on <strong>the</strong> geographical expansion
programme started in June 2011 and
was due to be completed in August
2011, with <strong>the</strong> aim of increasing <strong>the</strong>
listenership to well over one million
people. The expansion programme
will make Breeze FM one of <strong>the</strong>
largest community-based radio
stations in Zambia and <strong>the</strong> region.
The expansion work was supported
through a grant from <strong>the</strong> Open
Society Initiative for Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Africa
(Osisa) and a loan from <strong>the</strong> Media
Development Loan Fund (MDLF).
Of course, Breeze FM has had its
shares of challenges too. These include
difficulties in finding suitably
qualified people, <strong>the</strong> shortage of
serious paying clients, delayed payments,
hostility of previous governments
and power interruptions.
These challenges aside, audience
surveys carried out by various
organisations in <strong>the</strong> province show
that Breeze FM is <strong>the</strong> most-listenedto
station in eastern Zambia. More
than 75 percent of respondents cite
Breeze FM as <strong>the</strong>ir favourite station.
Breeze is, <strong>the</strong>refore, ideally placed
to carry out its broad development
mission, which is “… to stimulate
prosperity in <strong>the</strong> coverage area by
creating access to useful, relevant
and up-to-date information that
will give growth at personal, family
and community levels.”
The station began to register a profit
during its fourth year of operation,
setting it on <strong>the</strong> path to achieving
its vision of becoming a model of
a profitable, community-based and
commercial radio station.
96 | Media in Africa - 2011
Poverty is <strong>the</strong> bane of
media development
By Thompson Ayodele
Thompson Ayodele is a
former journalist in Nigeria
and currently <strong>the</strong> director
of Initiative for Public Policy
Analysis, a public policy thinktank
based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Although <strong>the</strong>re has been an
appreciable growth in media in
Africa in recent times, <strong>the</strong> continent
still lags behind in comparison to
its potential audience. In a recent
ranking, no newspaper in Africa was
rated among <strong>the</strong> world’s top 100 of
<strong>the</strong> most-circulated newspapers.
Poverty is <strong>the</strong> reason why many
readers share a single newspaper.
Despite <strong>the</strong> population of Nigeria,
none of <strong>the</strong> national newspapers
has a circulation of one million
a day. It is logical to infer that
somebody who shares or borrows a
newspaper would be willing to buy if
he/she had <strong>the</strong> financial means. But
it is a common sight for newspaper
vendors to be crowded by those
who want to view headlines or look
for opportunities to read a free copy
– even to <strong>the</strong> point of straining <strong>the</strong>ir
necks. In Nigeria, such people are
referred to as “free readers”.
Since many people live on less than
a dollar a day, it is obvious <strong>the</strong>re will
be nothing left to patronise a pay-
TV station or to buy a daily copy of a
newspaper. Weak purchasing power
is thus <strong>the</strong> bane of audience growth