Radio Station Bridges Ethnic
Divide
An IT engineer and a journalist joined forces to create a united voice in a
divided city
In 1997, Amna Popovac was having coffee with some journalist friends in Mostar, a city divided between Catholic Croats in the west and Muslim Bosniaks in the east. Even two years after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina had ended, it wasn’t advisable for friends from different ethnic groups to be sitting together in public, but there they were.
The journalists were complaining about being censored by their respective state news organizations. Struck by the absurdity of having to listen to two news reports — one from the Croat side, one from the Bosniak side — to find out how many children were born or what fires had broken out today in Mostar, a single city, Amna asked her friends, “If I start a radio station, will you work there?” Amna had no radio experience, but she was an IT engineer with a master’s degree in small business management. She wrote a business proposal, and journalist Amela Rebac developed the programming. Together, the two launched Radio Studio 88 in 1999.
Today, the station is a vibrant, independent voice in a city that is still ethnically divided. Recently, Studio 88 began targeting women age 25 to 45. Amna believes this audience segment is open to change, and “we didn’t start this radio station just to play music.” To help build an audience, USAID supported a promotional campaign and a daily 15-minute show dedicated to the reopening of the famous Stari Most bridge — a 450-year-old World Heritage site destroyed by shelling in the war and rebuilt stone by stone using the original construction methods. The show focused on ethnic reconciliation and civic improvements. The show and station were promoted on TV and billboards Mostar city, as well as other frequently visited locations in the Herzegovina region.
Thanks to the business savvy of its managers, Studio 88 is commercially successful. During a recent promotion, the station helped a car company sell 26 vehicles in 24 hours. “Now we are stars,” said Amna with a grin.
Amna says things have improved in Mostar. In late 2006, Croat advertisers were among those wishing the station‘s Muslim listeners a happy Bajram holiday. That, Amna believes, is real news.
Radio programom premostava
etnicke podjele
Nismo pokrenule ovu radio stanicu da bismo pustale muziku
1997. godine, Amna Popovac je sa kolegama novinarima pila kafu u Mostaru, gradu podijeljenom izmedju Hrvata-katolika u zapadnom dijelu i Bosnjaka-muslimana u istocnom dijelu grada. Cak i dvije godine nakon sto je zavrsio rat u Bosni i Hercegovini, nije bilo preporucljivo da prijatelji iz razlicitih etnickih skupina javno sjede zajedno, ali oni su to radili.
Novinari su se zalili na cenzuru od strane drzavnih medija. Pogodjena apsurdom da mora slusati dvoje vijesti – jedne sa hrvatske a druge sa bosnjacke strane grada, kako bi saznala koliko je djece rodjeno ili sta je vijest dana u Mostaru, jednom gradu, Amna je upitala prijatelje: “Ako pokrenem radio stanicu, biste li radili za nju?” Amna nije imala radijskog iskustva; ona je inzenjer informatike sa diplomom magistra za menadzment malih preduzeca. Napravila je biznis plan, a novinarka Amela Rebac je kreirala programsku semu. Zajedno su, 1999. godine, pokrenule radio Studio 88.
Danas je ova radio stanica ziv i nezavisan glas u gradu koji je jos uvijek etnicki podijeljen. Od nedavno je Studio 88 usmjeren na slusateljke starosne dobi izmedju 25 i 45 godina. Amna vjeruje da je ovaj segment slusatelja otvoren za promjene i kaze da “one nisu ovtorile radio stanicu da bi samo pustule muziku”. Kako bi im se pomoglo da privuku slusatelje, USAID je podrzao promotivnu kampanju i 15 minutnu emisiju koja se emitovala svaki dan, a koja je bila posvecena obnovi cuvenog Starog mosta - mosta starog 450 godina koji spada u svjetsko naslijedje, a koji je unisten granatiranjem u ratu i ponovo izgradjen kamen po kamen koristenjem originalnih graditeljskih metoda. Ova se emisija fokusirala na etnicko pomirenje i poboljsanje zivota gradjana. Emisija i radio stanica su promovirani na TV i oglasnim panoima u Mostaru i drugim prometnim lokacijama u regionu Hercegovine.
Zahvaljujuci poslovnom duhu svojih dikrektorica, Studio 88 biljezi komercijalni uspjeh. Tokom nedavne promocije, ova stanica je pomogla jednoj atuo kuci da za jedan dan proda 26 vozila. “Sada smo zvijezde”, zadovoljno kaze Amna.
Amna kaze da su se sada promijenile stvari u Mostaru. Krajem 2006. godine hrvatski oglasivaci su uglavnom cestitali Bajram muslimanima, slusaocima ovog radija. Amna kaze da je to prava novost.
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