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Helsinki Edition
October 1998
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New Belgian youth radio
In November, the private Flemish broadcasting company VTM (Flemish Television Corporation) will finally launch their new radio station, targeted at a young audience. Earlier this year the private broadcasting company announced to start in September or October. The Flemish youth will have to wait and hear whether this time the radio will really start.
The Flemish public broadcasting company has a monopoly on national radio. They occupy all available FM frequencies. European Union Commissioner Karel Van Miert said the monopoly is legal, but won't last forever. In the future digital radio will create room for new radio-stations.
Since there is no room on the FM band the Flemish Television Corporation decided to work together with a chain of local radio stations. Instead of having one national FM frequency for their radio like the public national radio stations do, they will have different frequencies in every town.
The Flemish Television Corporation aren't the only ones who want to start up a new radio-station. The other private broadcasting company for Flanders, the Scandinavian owned VT4, also has plans, although they have not yet set a date. For the past few months they've been experimenting with broadcasting on medium wave. They are also looking for alternatives, since medium wave has a very small audience.
Even though there is no room on the FM band, rumours about a new public national radio station circulated last month. The public broadcaster denied they had any such plans. In a press release they stated that they always have plans and ideas ready in an ever-changing media world. They refused to comment on the matter.
Ann-Marie Cordia |
