Radio stations receive second shutdown warning
Lebanon, Business, 8/15/1997

Even as 11 unlicensed northern radio stations announced merger plans on August 14, others have begun preparing for the post-closure period by moving into the DJ business.

For a second day, security officials carried out instructions to notify unlicensed media that they must shut down immediately.

While the Islamic Tawheed movement's Hilal TV and Sawt Al Haq radio continued to broadcast, the two stations, under the direction of Sheikh Saeed Shaaban, toned down their presence by dropping news bulletins and limiting themselves to religious programming.

Several smaller commercial stations remained on the air, but refrained from identifying themselves for fear of prosecution.

Going on and off the air appeared to be a preferred strategy by Faiha TV and the Islamic Chariatable Works Association's Nida Al Iman radio, which returned to the airwaves on August 14 after adhering to the closure decision on August 13.

At least five commercial stations have begun the transition to the post-media law era by liquidating their assets, making arrangements to sell cassette tapes or contract themselves out as DJs.

One station, RTL Radio, has become a lawyer's office.

Akkar MP Khaled Daher blasted the government, saying that both the north and the country's Sunni Muslims have been the losers. He complained that the north's insufficient share of development projects has been compounded by the lack of licenses for any stations.

Eleven northern radio stations formally announced their intent to merge and apply for a broadcast license. Representatives from Jinna Farah, Nujum,Waad, Shamal, Madina, Ghurub FM, MGS, Sharq Tripoli, Mustaqbal, and Sigma radios gathered at the Tripoli development association headquarters to announce the step, under the direction of financier Jamal Badawi.

Like Daher, the station representatives said the government's slogan of balanced development should be translated into a license for a northern media entry.

In the Bekaa, Hermel-based Orontes TV and Hermel TV announced they would adhere to the decision, while Higher Shiite Council president Sheikh Mohammed Mehdi Shamseddine's al-Bashaer has begun test broadcasting.

Hermel residents repeated their request for Information Minister Bassem Sabaa to reconsider the decision. Hizbullah's Manar and Syrian TV are the only television stations reaching the area, they said.

Previous Stories:
  Zoghbi condemns forced closure of unlicensed media   (8/14/1997)
  Force will be used to shut down Islamic TV and other radio stations   (8/13/1997)
  Hizbullah-dominated TV to continue broadcasting   (7/24/1997)

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