1180 106.4 FM: Thai province foray into public radio
austraLasia 1180
106.4 FM: Thai province foray
into public radio
BANPONG: 2nd July 2005 -- With the first three months of
successful broadcasting (the public licence was sought in March and
granted for an April 24th start), 106.4 FM has been a real hit.
The Social Communications Commission for the province, headed by Fr
Dominic Amnuai, sees this venture as a major thrust for evangelisation.
The Thai Government strongly supports the idea of
community radio, and has provided the small amount of initial funding
needed to purchase equipment and a licence. Banpong is a city
with 200,000 inhabitants, in the province of Ratchaburi. It is
also a place where many Catholic families and communities are
concentrated. The parish alone has 1500 Catholic members, quite large
by Thai standards. The Salesian Family has
been in the district since 1927. Sarasit school with 2600
students, of whom 250 are Catholic; Nariwooth FMA school with 1800
students, 200 of whom are Catholic; then there is the aspirantate, a
Senior High school with 40 aspirants; and Don Bosco Technical School
with 500 students. Additionally there are communities of
Camillians (hospital), Camillian Sisters, Capuchin Sisters, and a
Franciscan formation house.
106.4 FM operates for 18 hours a day. It
offers one hour each to the Religious communities mentioned above.
Sacred music is a special offer within the Buddhist environment and
much appreciated. Then of course there are opportunities to play
Salesian music, present lives of Salesian saints and the like, as
well as topical catechesis and reflections on the Word of God, Lectio
Divina.
Students at the above-named schools are regularly
asked if they listen in - homework is occasionally set on this
basis! The Camillian Sisters' home for the aged and the hospital
are both regular listeners. 106.4 has a range of some 50 kms.
The Social Communications Commission, together with
Youth Ministry, see to the overall thrust of this exciting
communications venture. The aspirants and postulants of Ban
Nazaret House are actively involved in the apostolate as a form of SC
training, under the watchful eye of Fr Agustin Yarat and Bro Sam
Chitti. The SC Delegate, Fr Amnuai, is completing his MA in
Social Communication at Chulalonkorn University, while Deacon Paradorm
is about to commence his MA in same at the UPS later this year.
VOCABULARY
foray: literally means to raid in
search of plunder! But often used in the more general sense of
any effort to go out in search of..
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