Jordan Times
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Sawt El Ghad goes
on air next week
The radio station will transmit on the 101.5 FM megahertz frequency
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN — Arabic music fans can tune in to the
latest songs by their favourite artists when the Jordanian affiliate of the
Lebanon-based Sawt El Ghad (Voice of the Future) hits the airwaves on April 17.
Sawt El Ghad Managing Director/Jordan Motasim Ababneh said the station signed an
exclusive agreement with the largest music producer in the region, Rotana, under
which it has first rights to air debuts of new songs released by the label.
The radio station, to transmit on the 101.5 FM megahertz frequency, would also
include social programmes, he added.
The station began broadcasting in Lebanon in 1997 and extended operations to
cover Syria in 1999.
According to Ababneh, in 1999 the station was declared the most listened to
Arabic radio station in Lebanon by several Lebanese and Arabic statistics
companies, and has proudly held that title ever since.
He added that Sawt El Ghad has obtained licences to start broadcasting in
Bahrain and the UAE.
Sawt El Ghad will soon be joined on the air by three other FM newcomers: Nagham,
AmmanNet and Mazaj.
This week an agreement was signed between the Audiovisual Commission (AVC) and
the Al Kawn Company for Radio and TV Transmission, licensing the company's radio
station Nagham.
Starting later this month, the station will transmit musical varieties and
programmes on 999 FM megahertz in the Greater Amman area and Zarqa, and in Irbid
on another frequency.
In March the owners of Sawt El Ghad, AmmanNet and Mazaj signed agreements with
the AVC, obtaining licences to broadcast their programmes in the Kingdom.
AmmanNet, to transmit its programmes in Arabic on 924 megahertz frequency, will
focus on community affairs including social, municipal, cultural and sports
topics in the capital. Its experimental transmission is set to begin in late
April, with actual broadcasting starting in the middle of May.
Mazaj, which will broadcast social issues on the 953 megahertz frequency in the
Amman area, began experimental transmission last month.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday the Cabinet approved a 10-year licence for the Jordanian
Company for Radio and TV to broadcast programmes, not including political and
news programmes, on the FM frequency covering Greater Amman and Zarqa
Governorate.