Dear Editor,
I thank Mr Mohamed Sattaur for speaking to the issues raised in my letters about 98.1 FM and VOG in Stabroek News (‘The 98.1FM signal is available in Berbice and can be accessed on a home radio with a connection to an antenna,’ June 17). I do find, though, most of the letter misleading. Listening to VOG on an ordinary radio is very painstaking. There is lots of static and noise, especially in the night. One can hardly hear, so it’s better to turn off one’s radio.
The CEO stated that the 98.1 FM signal is available in the Berbice area. I never said it wasn’t. Car drivers usually have their radios tuned to 98.1 FM, but the signal fades drastically by the time they reach Rose Hall Town on the lower Corentyne.
The stereo system in my home picks up 98.1 FM but the quality gets very poor often. So, again, it’s best to turn off one’s radio. The online streams for 98.1 FM are on 24 hours a day and have improved quite steadily over the past couple of months, since they used to be on and off. I guess Berbicians will have to do some work to their outdoor antennas if they would like to pick up 98.1 FM, as Mr Sattaur suggested.
Mr Sattaur said he personally accessed the FM stream before writing his letter. Did he access VOG? Because I still cannot do so. His letter was misleading, in that VOG streams have been off for months now.
In fact, I just tried again to listen to VOG online, and the Windows Media Player issued me the message, “Windows Media Player cannot play this file. This can occur when another programme or operating system component encounters a problem but does not communicate the nature of the problem to the Player.” Trying to play VOG with WINAMP, I am greeted with the message, “Service Unavailable.” The player embedded within the website does not play VOG, as it does 98.1 FM when one clicks on 98.1 FM. Maybe Mr Sattaur is doing something different that enables him to pick up VOG online. Kindly share. I would like to think that Mr Sattaur believes my words in these columns are about attacking his company; they’re not. Corporate entities like NCN should be thankful that someone is out there monitoring their efforts and giving pertinent feedback relating to the quality and standards of the service and broadcasts.
I have no anecdotes, like Mr Sattaur, to share with the readers. I say what I have to say in the most open manner. For example, GT&T has an advertisement which we hear over a hundred times per day on TV and radio which begins with these words, “What do all these people have in common?” I would believe the telephone giant’s advertising personnel would know when it is time to pull the plug on what has been a very overplayed redundant advertisement most Guyanese are sick of hearing and seeing on the TV.
Mr Sattaur did allude to the fact that NCN is under financial constraints when it comes to upgrading radio signals and such around the country. It still seems to me, though, that NCN is seeking to expand their television services more than their radio ones. Somehow I get the idea that radio is still left on the backburner.
The time and finances taken to establish what would shortly become another NCN Channel in Berbice (one which would showcase only local Berbice programmes), could have been invested otherwise to improve radio quality services and 98.1 signals to Berbice. I just don’t see the need for another NCN channel in this region. I shudder at the thought.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
