Ann Eveleth
Greater Durban Television (GDTV), South Africa’s first=20 regular community access television station, is up and=20 running, charting new waters in public broadcasting.
GDTV is operating under a temporary licence granted to=20 a coalition of community-based video groups by the=20 Independent Broadcasting Authority.
GDTV took to the airwaves last week with a range of=20 community-based videos from church organisations,=20 community groups and in-house videos filmed in the=20 station’s studio on the University of Natal’s Durban=20 campus (UND). Broadcasting from a borrowed radiation=20 laboratory at the university, GDTV hopes to de-mystify=20 TV broadcasting and generate wide community=20 participation in a project aimed at “bringing Durban=20 closer together” through video.
Kubeshni Govender, a freelance video producer and media=20 studies masters student at UND, who represents the Film=20 and Allied Workers Organisation (Fawo) on the station’s=20 steering committee, said GDTV was open to “anyone from=20 the community with an interest in broadcasting”.
Govender sees the station as the natural extension of a=20 video training project Fawo has run over the past four=20 years for members of disadvantaged communities: “Fawo=20 has trained over 100 people by now … this is the=20 ideal opportunity for those people to put their=20 training into practice.” =20
Run by a coalition including Fawo, the UND Centre for=20 Cultural and Media Studies, Audio-Visual Alternatives=20 and Durban Arts, and deriving volunteers from Natal=20 Technikon’s Department of Video Technology, UND media=20 and drama students and Fawo trainees, the station=20 provides training to volunteers in the use of studio=20 equipment and sends crews out to film videos of local=20 events, such as plays and music performances. GDTV=20 representative Mike Aldridge said this demonstrated the=20 power of media as “a way of linking people up and=20 bringing them together across the divides in our=20
Programming this week also included a broad range of=20 shows on subjects ranging from vivisection to=20 censorship to the art of Zulu storytelling, or=20 Izinganekwane, encouraging calls from a number of=20 viewers who picked up the signal from Durban North to=20
Aldridge predicted the station would also provide a=20 major boost to the local video industry, with local=20 small businesses seeking production of advertisement=20 videos for screening on the station.
‘In terms of the RDP, this could help small, medium and=20 micro- enterprises to grow. Not every business can=20 afford to advertise on SABC, so we should look at=20 developing an integrated approach which combines=20 community broadcasting with the commercial or business=20 side,” said Aldridge.
While Govender said the group was still trying to raise=20 funds to sustain the project on a long-term basis –=20 and pinning hopes on government subsidies in support of=20 the RDP — she added that: “The great thing about=20 public access TV is that it doesn’t require the kind of=20 expensive equipment used in a regular station.”=20
The sparsely equipped studio appears very basic, yet=20 GDTV has broadcast five hours of programming daily with=20 the aid of a single 486 computer, nine monitors, two=20 SVHS video tape players, a production mixer, edit=20 controller, camera and a tiny microwave link that looks=20 like little more than a glorified antenna hooked=20 outside — all donated by companies like Panasonic,=20 Orbicom and Sentech.=20
GDTV joined the airwaves last Thursday, and is licenced=20 to continue broadcasting on channel 43 until July 11.