Guyanese will never forget the day when they learned that Anthony Vieira had sold his TV channel. Vieira Communications Television – Channel 28, Guyana’s very first TV station from back in the 1980s will go down in our history books. I was sad to learn that the name VCT will be no more. VCT was all that Guyana knew in the form of any kind of television viewing for quite a number of years until other TV stations arrived on the scene.
Berbicians are ever thankful for we have been receiving VCT’s full relay signal from Georgetown. This meant that we were connected to VCT at Versailles all the time – no interruptions or shenanigans like we’re currently having with another Georgetown- based entity here. Berbicians received the signals of VCT on Channel 13 for a few years, and then the signals went off. It was not until a while later that the change was made from this frequency to 12, which we receive up to this day. Mr Vieira has done his best in the field of television in Guyana. With little or no advertising from Berbice businesses, he continued to expend large sums of money, I am sure, in keeping his transmitters running at Blairmont on the west bank of the Berbice River. He wanted all of Guyana to receive television. He wanted more as well, I am sure. Proof of that was in the establishment of his FM broadcasts which were heard loud and clear in Berbice and continued for some time until the ones endowed with ‘power’ stopped his transmission and carted off his equipment in broad daylight.
In 2001 in the Stabroek News of October 2, I wrote a letter congratulating Mr Vieira for the job he was doing, especially in Berbice. On October 29, he made these remarks in his commentary which was broadcast during the Evening News, “Before I close tonight I want to refer to a letter from a Mr Leon Suseran that was printed in the Stabroek News of Tuesday October 2, 2001 congratulating us for the good job we are doing in Berbice, I would like Leon to know that the Programme Manager of VCT is yours truly. In fact it was I who personally designed, redesigned and engineered the Berbice system for three long, hard years to get it right; it was the hardest thing I ever did. VCT runs 6 transmitters to take this service to our friends in Berbice, so the signal has to be perfect going into the system and I would like to assure Mr Suseran that we are aware of the problem of the ‘jumping’ of The Evening News broadcast in Berbice and that we are working on it.
“We try very hard ladies and gentlemen, given the poor nature of our resources. I am not a person that accepts too many excuses; I insist at all times that we at VCT try to treat our viewers with the respect they deserve, if one of the VCT operators treats the public with contempt by having a blank screen on the air for more than 15… Thank you Leon; it is feedback like yours which makes it all worth while.”
I guess a lot for Mr Vieira changed after nine years, as the article about VCT being sold, cited that he needed to pursue “less stressful” enterprises. Also, during that time, a tree fell and knocked down wires connected to his transmitters in the Blairmont compound, resulting in millions of dollars in damage.
After a few weeks, the signals were back on again, after sending the equipment to London to be repaired. A few months ago, VCT stopped transmitting for twenty-four hours, citing high electricity costs. He resumed his full day and night broadcasts, being the kind of broadcaster and person he is.
The climate, as Vieira said, isn’t right for the expansion of this kind of business in Guyana (because I am sure he would have expanded and improved his services in the future), hence it is very discouraging for private media entities such as VCT.
I’ve always said that VCT’s programming is some of the best available on Guyanese television. A careful blend and mix of programmes ensured balance for viewers of all genres. Guyanese would never forget such broadcasts as The Ramayan which aired for several weeks over a decade ago, the mayoral weekly broadcasts, car racing on Sunday mornings, Media Watch, Untold Stories, The Oprah Winfrey Show (which has been at the 8 o’clock time-slot for over a decade now) and the many hours of my favourite Sci-Fi channel movies which I never could have gotten enough of.
I wonder, though, of the background of the person/ persons who bought VCT Channel 28. Many Guyanese know very little of the group which purchased the channel. And being the proprietors of the newest newspaper, which has been leaning so favourably towards the ruling party, I feel worried at what will become now of VCT. Would this become another propagandistic TV station? I shudder at the thought.
VCT has been a tradition for many Guyanese over the past years, and it is hoped that the current management will continue that legacy which was started, nurtured and carried on by Anthony Vieira. Guyanese will accept no less.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
