RADIO 101 IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE AIR

AIM Zagreb, 21 January, 1997

"We are in contact and organized. There will be no anarchy, but we do not intend to surrender". This is how in the past few days, on the eve of the new decision of the Croatian Committee for Telecommunications, leading men of Zagreb Radio 101 take courage and they are also threatening the authorities a little. Although their chances to get concessions (right to broadcast in a certain territory) are by far greater than last time, they are cautiously planning a strategy for survival on the air with representatives of students' organizations and forums for protection of freedom of media.

That their caution was justified was shown after opening of tenders at the repeated competition for concession for the channel at which Radio 101 has been broadcasting for twelve years already. Although it was not expected that the popular 101 would have a rival, a new one did appear - Radio Plavi 9, which has not existed so far and the owners of which are still unknown to the public. In this way, the story from the last invitation for tenders seems to be repeating.

Let us be reminded: in November last year, the Committee for Telecommunications allocated the concession for broadcasting in the region of Zagreb to the rival of Radio 101

• Radio Globus - but did not immediatelly interrupt broadcasting of Radio 101. Listeners of the 101 reacted uproariously: they telephoned and shouted curses directly in the program, sent faxes of support and finally tens thousand of them gathered on the main Zagreb square. Radio 101 became a symbol of opposition and political changes, gathering various opposition politicians and public workers.

Demonstrations had a specific outcome: the owner of Radio Globus, Ninoslav Pavic - publisher of the weekly Globus and a few other journals - quitted claim on the allocated concession and enabled new invitation of tenders for the channel. Now he hurried to make it public that he had nothing to do with Radio Plavi 9.

Encouraged by support of the public, Radio 101 is awaiting the result much more peacefully. Apart from that, the Committee for Telecommunications has from somewhere drawn out another concession for the region of Zagreb. At the time of the last invitation for tenders, it claimed that channels in the city were crammed and that the only available was the one on which Radio 101 was broadcasting its program. After the invitation for tenders for the two concessions, opinions still differ - on the one hand there are those who had claimed that in the region of Zagreb there were free channels proved to be right, and there are others who claim that the concession from the last invitation for tenders was just broken into two in order to enable Radio 101 to remain on the air, to enable the authorities to get out of the scrape, but also in order to satisfy the appetites of one of the rich media entrepreneurs. Radio Krugoval (which was also the rival to Radio 101 in the last invitation for tenders) and another unknown Radio Plavi 9 competed for the second concession.

The great support it is getting from the USA is also helping survival of Radio 101. For instance, the editor-in-chief Zrinka Vrabec-Mojzes was the only one from Croatia who had gone to Washington, to the inauguration ceremony of President Bill Clinton. All political visitors to Croatia - from Clinton's special envoy John Cornbloom, Ambassador Peter Galbraith, all the way to a group of congressmen who walked around Zagreb a couple of days ago - are stressing that Radio 101 must not disappear from the air and interrupt its twelve-year old broadcasting. The congressmen warned the Croatian authorities that closing down of Radio 101 would be a "bad message" which could even stop foreign investments in Croatia. The congressmen recommended the Belgrade recipe to the radio crew - they should immediately notify the Congress, and the Americans would "persuade" the Voice of America and the Radio Free Europe to re-broadcast their program, as it was done after closing down of Radio B 92 in Belgarde.

In the midst of the confusion caused by allocation of the concession to its competition, Radio 101 demanded resignation of members of the Committee for Telecommunications, resenting that instead of journalists and culture workers, politicians, mostly from the ranks of the ruling HDZ, were its members. It also demanded immediate allocation of the concession without a new invitation for tenders. Although none of the demands were met, Radio 101 nevertheless decided to apply again, with the explanation that they were legalists and that they did not wish to be reproached some day that they had not used all legal posibilities.

Since program feasibility study is one of the major legal criteria according to which the Committee for Telecommunications allocates channels to radio stations, Radio 101 submitted a program study on almost 300 pages. This document exceeds several times the volume of program studies of the other radio stations which got concessions for broadcasting on the level of the state. Among other, people from Radio 101 listed in the study various awards they had received for the information contribution to defence of the country. Diplomas like the one awarded to them by the Croat State of Herzeg-Bosna should convince members of the Committee that this radio station has certain good "national recommendations".

Along with Radio 101, the favourite for the other concession is the third competitor from the second invitation for tenders, the already mentioned station called Zagreb Krugoval. It was whole-heartedly supported in the Committee for Telecommunications by Ivic Pasalic, Tudjman's advisor and an influential member of the HDZ. Zagreb Krugoval has, however, won only one, Pasalic's vote. Advocating of Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, who is also employed in Tudjman's offiice, brought victory to Radio Globus. She is believed to belong to the faction of Hrvoje Sarinic, alleged opponent of Pasalic and his friends mostly by origin from Herzegovina.

It seems that in "palace" games, supporters of Krugoval have won a victory, because founders of the station confirmed to the journalists that they had already got almost all the equipment and that they would be ready to begin broadcasting in about a month.

According to some newspaper information "from reliable sources, the HDZ authorities settled down to the fact that Radio 101 should be given a channel. Although it is still without restraint defying Franjo Tudjman: it broadcasts ironic jingles with quotations from his speeches and every now and then it broadcasts the anthem of the Dinamo football club, which is certainly like a red cloth for Tudjman's vanity - the HDZ could strike back with a major blow only if it wins the forthcoming local elections with great superiority. And such an outcome would be a great surprise.

Various pressures from a still broad arsenal are possible - for example, keeping the radio station on temporary permits as it was done so far, or sending financial police to it, "technical" problems with the signal, etc. - but before the elections this would not be too popular. But just in case, concerts of support and public gatherings have already been prepared, speeches have been written... The opposition would immediately get involved, since "surfing on the waves" of Radio 101 has been fashionable for a long time now anyway.

IGOR VUKIC