Dear Minister Hood,
Re: Broadcast of carnival events
I write to bring to your attention what I would regard as a disservice to the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
For several years some radio stations in Grenada collaborated to cover carnival activities, in particular the semifinal and final rounds.
This year (2014) radio stations were cut off from doing so due to a “backdoor deal“ between the Spicemas Corporation (SMC) and another radio station.
To date I do not know of any radio station that was formally contacted by the SMC inviting them to participate in any bidding for the rights to broadcast carnival activities. To date I do not know of any radio station manager or owner who've been formally contacted by the SMC, informing them that they will not be able to carry the shows live as done in the past.
I have written to the manager of SMC, who has ignored my request for dialogue. Many of my phone calls went unanswered. I have made attempts to speak to the head of the Cultural Foundation, and I am yet to receive an answer.
As Minister for culture I think it is your responsibility to ensure that the affairs of carnival are put into the hands of those who are capable of running the SMC effectively, given the limited resources. Whatever the SMC does it must be for the improvement of the carnival product; I am not convinced such is the case in this scenario.
It would be remiss of me to insinuate that the SMC, through their limited resources, have not been trying to improve the carnival product, however, in doing so we cannot tolerate such error in judgment.
It is my hope that government and other stakeholders and partners are giving the SMC the relevant support they need in order to run the organization effectively.
It baffles me as to how a team of persons or maybe one person will see it fit to limit the number of people who can listen to what's happening at the competitions.
People have a right to know what is happening. Our responsibility as media houses is to ensure that this right is upheld.
I ask the question; whose interest does it serve to remove what has worked for years -- which is a multi-station approach -- and replace that with a deal that would result in a disadvantage to the people?
I mean no harm or disrespect to anyone but I see the need to address this immediately as this slap in the face to media houses; this self-serving move; this blatant disregard for people, must never happen again.
Regards,
Mikey Hutchinson
Broadcaster
WeeFm Radio
