Newly Founded Radio in Malawi’s Blantyre Archdiocese “to focus on the pastoral challenges”

During the July 28 interview with ACI Africa, the Communication Coordinator of Blantyre Archdiocese highlighted some of the pastoral challenges.

“Many Pentecostal Churches are springing up in the city and in villages” making it difficult for the Church’s evangelization mission in the Archdiocese of Blantyre, Fr. Frank said, adding that other religious denominations have devised strategies to bring their message closer to their followers.  

“When you move around Blantyre, you can clearly see that the Muslims are good in numbers and their style of Islamization is quite aggressive,” the Malawian Cleric said, and continued in reference to the Muslim leadership in the city of Blantyre, “They have put Billboards in the city and they have their radio station.”

In the remote parts of Blantyre Archdiocese, Fr. Frank said, “we still have some traditional practices that need to be challenged with the Gospel because of lack of access to information.”

“For the youth in the city, they have too much information which they fail to sieve what is good for their development from what is not good while those in the villages have access to very little information and that affects how they make decisions,” the Priest who doubles as the Youth Chaplain in Blantyre Archdiocese.

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He added, “Other churches have their own radios targeting their own youth, so we need to address our youth.”

Kuwala FM, which will broadcast in English and the local Chichewa, will have specific programs to address the needs of the faithful in the Archdiocese, Fr. Frank reiterated. 

He explained, “We will focus on catechesis programs designed for modern understanding with questions and answers. We will also air news and programs addressing social and pastoral challenges common to our local Church.”

“We will have catechesis programs targeting different age groups, members of different social status. We will also have a program that addresses the urban population, those in rural areas and programs for the elite of the society,” the Cleric of the Archdiocese of Blantyre said.  

Other programs will have the youth as the target audience, with a particular focus “on integral formation, which combines both spiritual and human formation,” the Malawian Cleric told ACI Africa. 

Asked about the sustainability of the radio, Fr. Frank said that Kuwala FM will “take commercials which we think will generate funding for radio.”

“We chose to go commercial because those radios which didn’t do so and opted to depend on donations from Christians became unsustainable,” Fr. Frank said referencing the type of license obtained from the government.

The leadership of Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) announced, July 17, that the application for a “Commercial Sound Content Licence” had been successful.

“The licence will only become effective upon publication in the Government Gazette and this shall be done once you pay the initial licence fees amounting to US$1,500,” the Director General of MACRA, Henry Shamu stated in the July 17 letter addressed to the Managing Director, Kuwala Radio.

“We will have a marketing team which will also help identify sponsored programs for sustainability purposes," Fr. Frank told ACI Africa. 

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“At the initial stage, the Archdiocese will fund most of the things, and some external funding from SIGNIS and the like for initial equipment,” the member of the Clergy of Blantyre said.

In the July 23 letter addressed to the people of God in the Archdiocese of Blantyre, Archbishop Msusa made a “strong appeal for support.”

“I ask you to make generous contributions,” the Archbishop said July 23 and added, “I ask for individual contributions towards the purchase of the following: furniture, computers and air conditioners for our studio.”

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.