Looking Forward to the Year 2002
by: Msgr. Pietro Nguyen Van Tai
The Program Planning Seminar in August year 2000 has been a pivotal blue print for the renewal of Radio Veritas Asia from there on. The Program Department of RVA is resting on these two pillars: the program production staff (of different languages) in Manila and the multiform involvement of the local Church in the intended area (program production and evaluation, audience analysis and promotion, etc.). The fundamental characteristic of RVA has been and continues to be "the local Church participation" in the human promotion and evangelization of its own people through the technical facilities implanted in the Philippine soil.
The final recommendations of the Program Planning Seminar in August 2000 posted clearly the two directions of renewal and improvement of RVA. First, at RVA in Manila this current year 2001, we have established a basic and solid technical support for the program staff, to use the new information technologies in its two-phase of program production and broadcasting. The internet connection has already proven its effectiveness for each office in the Program Department. Moreover, RVA now has its own server, ready for the eventual web-casting of each of its 17 language services, making the language broadcasts available globally to the new emerging group of internet users-listeners, without renouncing its services to the majority of the "mass-people" living in the rural area, who are still deprived of the new technologies (computer, digital radio, etc.) Parallel to the technological improvement, the in-house training of the personnel of the Program Department to handle the new IT has been taken care of by the newly introduced section of "Program Computer Network". Hence, we are looking forward to the possibility of web-casting in the year 2002.
On the second pillar of RVA broadcasting, namely, the audience factor, aside from the drive of organizing in the local Church the different "Language Program Board" for each language section of RVA, we intend this year 2002 and from this date onward to improve the RVA audience survey and analysis with closer and more effective collaboration with the different Program Production Centers in the target area, to make our broadcasts more audience-oriented than ever. The final recommendations of the Program Planning Seminar have listed several activities to be conducted in the local Church. One of these shall be implemented this coming March 2002. We are planning for an Audience Research Seminar to be conducted by Prof. Graham Mytton at RVA in Manila, at the total cost of 1.5 million Pesos.
The operating cost of the RVA Program Department for the year 2002 has been slightly increased. This is due to two new factors: the integration of the Hmong Language Service into the Program Department as one of its regular language service, and the introduction of the new section, the Program Computer Network. We have decided to list the Audience Research Seminar as special project of the Program Department. The cost, however is to be considered as one-time expense (una tantum) of this year 2002. We pray for the attention and support of the RVA funding agencies for this project.
Msgr. Pietro Nguyen Van Tai
12/2001