The Harare-based Radio Voice of the People - which is transmitted on SW for listeners in Zimbabwe via the Radio Netherlands Relay Station in Madagascar - now has its own website: http://www.vopradio.co.zw. The website is hosted in Zimbabwe.
(Source: Bernd Trutenau via DX Listening Digest mailing list)
on Jul 1st, 2005 at 00:19
If they can actually be based in Harare, have their site hosted in Zimbabwe, they must not be as anathema to the Mugabe regime as SW Radio Africa. And I don`t recall hearing of any jamming problem for VOP, right?
on Jul 1st, 2005 at 11:44
I also don’t recall a single mention of Voice of the People in all the reports about jamming against SW Radio Africa. In fact I had to made sure that Voice of the People still exists, since I could hardly believe that this station doesn’t matter in this context.
Judging from the websites Voice of the People appears to be rather docile while SW Radio Africa has a much more aggressive policy, right?
on Jul 1st, 2005 at 13:53
I don’t think “docile” is quite the right word. Their programming is different, yes. They operate from within Zimbabwe, and ironically can’t do the sort of hard news coverage that SW Radio Africa does. For one thing, their programmes cannot be fed live, and have to be prepared in advance. But to suggest that the Zimbabwe government doesn’t mind them is wrong. Remember their studios were bombed two or three years ago, and I talked to a couple of the guys who work there a few months ago and they told me there’s still a lot of harrassment. But since the recent elections Harare itself is now controlled by the opposition MDC, so hopefully the harrassment will be scaled back.