'Suara Metro' told to change frequency

JAKARTA: Private radio station Suara Metro, which is under the patronage of the city police, has been told to change its frequency for the second time by the Indonesian Broadcasting Committee (KPI). The radio has assumed a bandwidth allocation that belongs to community radio stations.

"The KPI is acting as the mediator in the dispute between Suara Metro and the Forum of Jakarta's Community Radio," KPI commissioner Andrik Purwasito said on Monday.

He added that several members of the forum, mostly radio stations of universities in the city, had visited the KPI's South Jakarta office to file their complaints about Suara Metro.

Suara Metro had been using the 107.8 megahertz (MHz) band, which was specially designed by the then ministry of communications for community radio stations. Previously, Suara Metro used 91.0 MHz but it disturbed SP FM at 90.8 MHz and RRI at 91.2 MHz.

When the ministry reorganized the frequency of all radio stations on Aug. 1, Suara Metro did not receive its bandwidth allocation as it was not registered. -- JP