The Pigeon on the Pager

As far as we know, there are five radio stations in Valjevo. The oldest and the most respectable of the lot is Radio Valjevo, which belongs to the local council, and which regularly and conscientiously performs the duty of informing the public. Everyone at Radio Valjevo is eager to be noticed. For example, even before the seismological institute issued an official statement, the director of Radio Valjevo Zivorad Jankovic knew that the epicenter of the recent earthquake was in the villages of Ducic and Vracevic, the same ones which president Milosevic had visited a year earlier. Also, when the president subsequently ‘visited the earthquake’, radio Valjevo was there to witness and record the occasion.

The Left has its own radio station in Valjevo, under the name of Golub (Pigeon). Working conditions in the Golub are inspiring. In the office shared by the chief editor and the director one can see, framed and in color, a picture of Milovan Bojic with the chief editor Zoran Stanojevic, and another of director Rajko Milinovic standing next to Minister Dojcilo Radojevic. ‘It’s the bloke for the frequencies’ the editor explains. He ads that the radio broadcasts 24 hours a day. It offers a wide range of programs on agriculture, sports and culture, but also gives listeners a chance to request their favorite tunes and broadcast their own personal messages through the ether. As far as music is concerned - only that of the folk kind... There is money around, he must not say how much. They also have news, they get TANJUG bulletins on their pagers and broadcast them instantly. The listeners like it.

Director Rajko, with a suitable tie, is an expert in all aspects of broadcasting. The station has a rich music program, celebrity guests, doctors, lawyers, the share of the audience is huge... That is why they are moving to new premises, in the center of the city, where they will have better facilities, computers, state of the art Sony equipment. There will also be a TV channel. The new media legislation? They followed the issue, and reported on it. Does it affect the functioning of the station? Nope, they are a clean, commercial music radio, and it is well known that the proprietor is JUL. Obviously, things about the Party get through, but nothing more. Only music and whatever else is necessary gets on the air. Around the clock. A few days a go, Predrag Savic, a local JUL official celebrated his birthday. That is why the station constantly played his favorite tune ‘Hey kid, have mercy and spend the winter with me’.

The above mentioned Golub is partly responsible for the audibility of the ‘Voice of the Church’, the only Orthodox radio ‘between Cetinje and Vladivostok’. Namely, those who took part in this station’s programs claim that on one occasion archdeacon Ljubomir Rankovic rang his own mother in his home village of Lolic, to find out whether she could here his radio station. She told him that the reception was good, but that she could hear Golub even better. Rankovic decided to fight ‘this communist aggression’ by investing in a stronger transmitter. Although the main purpose of this radio station is the affirmation of spiritual values, it also fulfills music wishes of its listeners. If the requested tune cannot be found in the station’s record collection, Rankovic is prepared to offer his own rendition of the song. As was the case with Golub, the source of the information broadcast in the news bulletins is interesting. Considering that press agencies charge for their services, this radio station reads the news from the newspapers citing, as the source the ‘Falcon’, that is ‘the first Orthodox news agency’.

As far as other radio stations are concerned, there is ‘March Radio’ and the Patak (‘Duck’). March suffered a setback since its owner Zoran Devecar quit JUL and thanked them for their patronage and support (which lead to the creation of the Golub), while the Patak is a member of ANEM. According to its chief editor Branko Antonic, the Patak is an urban radio without a fixed broadcasting schedule. Instead, news bulletins are broadcast ‘throughout the program’. The station uses information supplied by the Beta news agency, it exchanges programs within the ANEM network, transmits bits of B92’s production, although, in light of the recent legislation, BBC’s news bulletins are no longer broadcast.

Within the same broadcasting company is ‘Radio Center’, which, like the Golub and ‘Voice of the Church’ fulfills music wishes of its listeners, but more importantly subsidizes the Patak. The proprietors of the Patak obtained a license for the Center, but when they went to the ministry to sign the contract, the ten-year license for the Patak was revoked, only to be substituted with a one year license. When they asked to see the contract, the representatives of the Patak were told that this will be possible once they have signed it. Minister Dojcilo Radojevic only confirmed this. Although the ‘enemy propaganda’ is no longer broadcast on its frequency, the Patak, in association with ‘Kontekst’, a local foreign language school, produces its own program in English, so a number of listeners complained about its unpatriotic content. The new media law seems to be keeping listeners awake at night, so they protested against the music program which the Patak takes over from a satellite channel and broadcasts in the wee hours of the morning. The program’s English-speaking DJ is seen as sabotaging the Serbian airwaves. The station’s chief editor Antonic claims, in accordance with the law, that the law cannot be improved and that, in his opinion, the only problem is that the journalists are guilty of everything, until proven innocent.

There are four TV channels in Valjevo: ‘Gronic’ and ‘Vujic’, which have a valid license, the above-mentioned ‘Mars’ which was left without a license by the Golub, and the local RTS studio which covers regional issues. Private TV channels do not show anything illegal, but they do steal live sports broadcasts and films, which constitutes a substantial proportion of their daily schedule. They also have what they call news programs. In contrast, the local RTS program mainly consists of news bulletins. They have enough staff and equipment for that type of broadcasting.

The editor, Slobodan Rakovic manages a total of 28 members of staff including himself. Together, they produce 1800 minutes of footage a month for the RTS. The editor’s crew also stands out when it comes to making regional programs. When the president visited the area, they were all on the spot. Fortunately, since the president’s visit there is plenty of material to work on. The Mionica region is now the venue of considerable demolition and construction. All this requires coverage, and the crew must report the fact that once again the army is with its people. There aren’t enough bricks and tiles for all the soldiers who have come to help. The cameras film the construction of a house in the Gypsy settlement in Sovljak, a house of some 35 square meters. The host, with tears in his eyes cries as he speaks: ‘Thank you everybody, thank you Slobodan Milosevic, thank you people. I am glad, but I am most grateful to Slobodan Milosevic’. In the Village of Dracic the peasants gathered to discuss the construction of the waterworks. The president of the local authority claims that the council hasn’t got the required four million dinars, but others argue that the waterworks are of fundamental importance and that the funds can be obtained ‘as we go along’. Then, they are suddenly all cheered up by their own (he was born in Dracic) and omnipresent president of the federal parliament, Milorad Minic. "We will provide the money, as long as you provide the unity and the work", said Minic, as he closed the matter in a presidential manner.

The program also covers cultural events, and reports on other issues of vital importance for life in the region. A young female reporter reports from a ‘very important event’: the reconstruction of the cinema in Ub. The big screen in the local cultural center was brought back to life with the projection of the film ‘Powder keg’. The director of the center has promised a roasted ox should the film win an Oscar, considering that the projection in Ub was a contribution to its future success.

The written word is not far behind the electronic media in Valjevo. In the lead is a little miracle called ‘Napred’. In it, ‘work is not dying down’ (even in the headlines). The same applies to the obituary pages. On the front pages the paper reports on the successes of the working man, at the back it publishes the well earned obituaries which come once all that had to be accomplished is accomplished. Even before he started with his publishing project, Stevan Ciric, the editor of ‘Napred’ took the view and made it public that his newspaper takes pride in not belonging to the so-called independent media. Recently, publicly, and in his own paper, he agreed with one of his readers that independent media are to blame for everything, and that only independent journalists are even more guilty than the media themselves.