The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure, Senior Reporter
THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Information, Media and Broadcasting Services on Tuesday afternoon visited Diamond FM in Mutare and expressed satisfaction at the operations of diversified Zimpapers Group’s second radio station.Diamond FM is housed at The Manica Post building. The station manager, Mr Leander Kandiero, told the legislators that Diamond FM was out of the incubatory phase and was meeting or exceeding set budgetary targets.
Mr Kandiero added that the station commands 97 percent of listenership in Manicaland and demand was high for it to spread its tentacles to every corner of Manicaland.
The chairman of the parliamentary committee, Cde William Dehwa, said the station was meeting its mandate and his committee would recommend to Parliament that its licence, currently at 40km radius, be upgraded or amended to cover the entire province.
The committee said Transmedia, a State-owned broadcast and digital media entity that provides television and radio signals to all broadcasters in the country, should address signal gaps resulting in some pockets within the station’s mandatory 40km radius coverage failing to receive signal.
The legislators also recommended that the station premises be declared a protected zone with armed security personnel. The committee is touring commercial radio stations in Mutare, Masvingo, Zvishavane, Gweru, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls to ascertain the challenges being faced.
