NETIA Radio-Assist Brought to Congo's Bukavu Archdiocese to Enable Broadcasts for Positive Social Change
CLARET, France - Feb. 05, 2007 - NETIA today announced that its Radio-AssistTM range of digital audio software programs is being used to launch a new radio project within the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Designed to give a voice to the voiceless, the people excluded from society, and to offer solidarity to those who are suffering, Radio Concordia will encourage the social integration of the less-fortunate classes into mainstream society.
"The installation of NETIA's Radio-Assist TM here in South Kivu will be a first-of-a-kind achievement for the region, and we're working hard to make this project a reality," said Rev. Jean-Paul BAHATI, the Catholic priest whose mission led him to in the DRC's Bukavu Archdiocese and to the Radio Concordia project. "Radio-Assist TM will give us the tools necessary to create and broadcast educational programs that we feel will make a significant social impact here. Because the software is easy to use and has few technical demands, it will simplify production of programming and eventually enable us to offer members of the community the opportunity to contribute to local program content."
Jean-Paul BAHATI studied theology in Rome, followed by courses in journalism at Rome's Sainte-Croix University, where he earned a degree in social communication. During three years spent working as an immigration editor at Italy's RAI (Italian Radio and Television), he became familiar with NETIA's Radio-AssistTM. RAI has counted on NETIA technology for its most critical radio operations since 1998, and now Jean-Paul BAHATI is bringing the same reliable performance of Radio-AssistTM to the DRC to support and integrate the country's outcast.
The Radio-AssistTM 7.5 range of digital audio software programs covers the entire operation of a radio station, from production to broadcast, including acquisition, sound-file editing, commercial and music production, newsroom system, scheduling, multicasting, administration, and more. Jean-Paul BAHATI and his colleagues received the necessary governmental authorization to install a local radio station. Once they raise sufficient financial aid to establish Radio Concordia, they will use these tools to begin their own broadcasts, bringing the Gospel to Bukava Archdiocese along with messages addressing the social divisions in the area.