‘COLOSSAL MISTAKE’ – Former G.M. Speaks Out On RSL Closure

FORMER General Manager of Radio St. Lucia, Winston Springer, views the station’s imminent closure as a “colossal mistake”, one that will leave a void that no other radio station on the island will be able to fill.

“Certain programmes are necessary for broadcasting to the nation and this could only be done by the national broadcasting service whether there is a profit or not. This is something that is necessary,” Springer said.

The veteran broadcaster noted that during his time at the radio station, staff worked extremely long hours to bring information to the nation during tropical storms, hurricanes and other occurrences at no cost.

“That was the function of the St. Lucia Broadcasting Corporation (Radio St. Lucia),” he said.

Springer’s pronouncements on Radio St. Lucia comes amid efforts by the government to permanently close down the radio station for lack of fiscal prudence as seen in statements by Prime Minister Allen Chastanet to the House of Assembly last month where Chastanet said the station’s financial performance in recent years had been far from desirable as the station continues to accumulate liabilities that could be inherited by the government.

According to Chastanet, at the end of March 2015 the station had accumulated losses that amounted to $3.3 million and reported a loss of a half a million dollars.

He also said the station failed to meet its statutory requirements by way of wage-related expenses, owes the National Insurance Corporation just over a half million dollars for unpaid employee contributions and owes the government $231,000 in taxes.

Information and Broadcasting Minister, Dominic Fedee, just this week confirmed the imminent closure of the station and spoke of options on the table for exploration into what’s to be done with the staff and equipment.

Two of the several options said to be on the table are a merger with the National Television Network (NTN) and a name change for the station.

However, while government is mulling which direction it should take with respect to the station, Springer suggests keeping the station open since its mandate is to serve the people of the country based on its quality of programmes that educate, inform, enlighten, notify, advise and improve the overall mental development of the nation, things, he said, cannot be viewed in mere dollars and cents.

“State-owned radio stations should not be seen as profit-making but rather as a medium for educating and informing the nation. That is my belief,” Springer said.

He said that money-wise, the people who owe the radio station the most — whom even he had difficulties getting to pay up during his time at the station — were the political parties.

“The closure of Radio St. Lucia is a colossal mistake. What the government seems to be doing is placing profits over people,” Springer said.

He added that nowhere else in the region are governments closing down their national radio stations. Barbados, he said, refused to entertain recommendations by the Caribbean Development Bank to divest the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

“The governments of Dominica and St. Kitts refuse to divest their national radio stations when they were going through the IMF adjustments programmes. Why has the Government of St. Lucia chosen to go down this path when virtually all other governments have rejected similar advice from both the CDB and those who had signed on to the IMF structural adjustment programme?” Springer asked.

Radio St. Lucia was established in 1971. In 1976, the government of the United Workers Party under the stewardship of John Compton undertook to remove RSL from a cubby hole in government buildings on Laborie Street by building a studio complex on The Morne in the old colonial building which used to house the Commissioner of Police. The building was officially opened December 14, 1976. Springer said neglect by both political parties is partly to blame.

“Radio St. Lucia was not always a recipient of a subvention from the government in spite of it being a government-owned and operated radio station from inception in 1971. Both the governing United Workers Party and the St. Lucia Labour Party neglected Radio St. Lucia. This entity was always left to fend for itself and so it did,” Springer said.