The Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Professor Amin Alhassan has called on staff of the Corporation to rise up to the task in terms of revenue generation in order to meet the internal challenges, the competitiveness of the electronic media industry while at the same time serving the purpose of the State Broadcaster.
He made the call during a brief meeting with the staff of GBC Ura Radio during a working visit to ascertain the progress of work of its satellite station in Bawku “GBC Radio Bawku”.
Explaining the rationale of GBC Radio Bawku, Prof Alhassan stated that, it will cater for the Kusaal and Bissa languages at the Eastern corridors whiles a third language perhaps be added to broadcast in Ura Radio.
He indicated that the language dynamics are complicated in the Northern sectors yet, the State Broadcaster needs to galvanize all in service to nation-building.
Regarding the role of Radio in the development of the country, Professor Alhassan indicated the need for opening up the satellite stations saying when two languages are moved to Bawku there will enough space in Ura Radio to serve the people.
He said despite the Bawku frequency of 93.7 was mistakenly allocated to a private media house in the Upper East, he is determined to get it back at all cost adding that GBC was given 33 frequencies and GBC is not ready to lose even one.
In Tamale, the Director-General stressed that there is the need for the satellite station in Yendi citing, for instance, the Kokombas, the second largest ethnic group in Northern Ghana but the language is not spoken in Radio Savannah including the Baasarie and the Chokosis and Dagbani could be added to serve the people of those areas.
Prof Alhaassan indicated that the last time there was a conflict in the area, the warring factions could not hear them when they appealed to them to stop and that is the significance of the whole exercise.
He stated that there are similar problems in the Upper West and the Western Regions and steps are being taken to address them.
Regarding TV licence, the DG alluded to the fact that TVL would have been the panacea to the problems of GBC, saying the State Broadcaster cannot run effectively without TV licences.
He said other problems hindering GBC are judgment debts and unpaid retirees benefits, adding that, sadly enough, some die in the process without receiving what due them. He concluded that other issues of confronting staff will steadily be looked into.
Story filed by Emmanuel Akayeti.