90% of radio stations in the red

90% of radio stations in the red

SURABAYA: Ninety percent of private radio stations are
considered unfit to operate as they are unprofitable, a
communications expert said on Monday.

Hinca I.P. Pandjaitan, an executive director of the Indonesia
Media Policy and Law Center (IMPLC), said these radio stations
continued suffering financial losses, thereby forcing their
owners to use their private funds to keep them on the air.

Speaking during discussions with the Ministry of
Communications and the Association of Indonesian Private Radio
Stations (PRRSNI), Hinca said the radio stations were languishing
in the red because of unprofessional management and the inability
of advertising revenues to cover operating costs.

"Several radio stations, for example, have advertising rates
of only between Rp 2,500 (US$0.24) and Rp 3,000 per second, even
though ideally the charges should be between Rp 30,000 and Rp
60,000. How could they make profit?," Hinca said as quoted by
Antara.

There are currently 779 private radio stations registered with
PRRSNI.

Commenting on the statement, PRRSNI's chairman Soetoyo
Soekomihardjo said his organization had yet to collect data on
its members' operations and admitted that it had never conducted
any research on the issue.

"If ninety percent of the private radio stations in Indonesia
are said to be unfit to operate, it could well be true. But we've
never looked into the issue," Soetoyo remarked. -- Antara