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ANTENA M, radio station
PROJECT SUMMARY:
Antena M is the only electronic media in Montenegro which is not controlled by the actual
regime. The emergence of independent electronic media is of great importance as that kind
of the media has a stronger influence on the wider population in this region than the
press.
Antena M has the same principles in its editorial policy as Monitor: civil society,
private property, human rights, multiethnic coexistence and cultural and religious
tolerance, distinctive anti-war attitude...
In the short period of its existence, Antena M has gained a wide audience, passing even
the governmental radio, according to a public opinion poll. To tell the truth, only in the
region of Podgorica, the lack of finances on one hand and obstructions by the regime on
the other hand are why Antena M had not been able to cover a wider area of Montenegro yet.
Antena M is an urban radio which is an important fact in this surrounding that is
submerged with a cultural trash.
BACKGROUND:
Antena M was founded in July 1994 by entirely private capital, independent from any
political party. The registration was quite difficult as the authorities had tried to
annual our licence obtained from the Federal Government during Milan Panic^s mandate. We
have even had to appeal at the Federal Constitutional Court to obtain the permit to start
the project.
In a very short time Antena M proved to be virtually independent radio station so that its
quests and audience are members and sympathisers from various political and national
blocks. The wide audience is also due to the fall of Kninska Krajina. The audience of
Antena M reached between 100.000 and 200.000 people (which is about 90 percent of the
population in the area that is covered by Antena M), while the governmental media were
hiding the regular number of reaches up to 70.000 which are significant figures for
Podgorica that counts 150.000 inhabitants.
Antena M regularly co-operates with foreign radio stations (Radio free Europe, Voice of
America, Deutsche Welle) whose programmes in Serbo-Croatian language it broadcasts
repeatedly. Antena M is member of the Yugoslav Association of Electronic Media. All the
NGO organisations that assisted Monitor did the same for Antena M.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
1. Maintenance of its impartial editorial policy and strengthening of professionalism;
2. Expansion of the audibility to Niksic, Bar and Budva which would cover two thirds of
the audience in Montenegro;
3. Improving of sound and signal quality.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES:
1. Improving of editorial staff and extending the program scheme to a whole-day programme;
2. The local authorities have relaxed the pressure, so that there is a possibility to
lease frequencies for any town in Montenegro, but the problem is the extremely high rent
by which the state tries to protect itself from independent electronic media;
3. The realisation of this plan depends on financial means and if can be found, and with
the substantially qualified team, Antena M will be able to satisfy high standards.
EVALUATION PLAN:
Considering that the editorial board is the same as in Monitor, the same editorial staff
arranges the media (but not the same journalists) and it is assisted by the same
foundations. The reports are submitted on a monthly and three months basis, with the
regular annual report that summarises all in the end.
ORGANISATIONAL BACKGROUND (and working conditions)
Antena M employs 8 people: 5 journalists, 2 technicians and 1 employee who is in charge of
the marketing. It has 15 contributors: 10 journalists, 2 technicians, 2 in the
advertising, while it uses the same services that work for Monitor, from the typist and
the interpreter to the correspondent.
Salaries and honoraria are partly (about 65 percent) covered by the earnings from the
media advertising and the rest is for the time being a loss which is covered by the
founder.
Antena M had collided with the government even before it started. As already mentioned,
Podgorica’s authorities had tried to annual the regularly obtained licence for the
start of the radio. As they had not succeeded in they postponed the authorities require
enormous tolls for the lease of frequencies, having started with 900 DEM they ask up to
2.500 DEM a month!
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P.O. Box, CH-8031
Zürich, Switzerland