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Jagdeo, Ramroop expand media empire
…own newspaper, TV and now radio stations
A press release from [email protected] announced, yesterday, that “Radio Guyana Inc. (RGI) was launched on Thursday December 6, 2012.”
Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop
Queens Atlantic Investment Inc. (QAII) is the company headed by Executive Chairman Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s best friend. President Jagdeo is also believed to be a major shareholder in Queens Atlantic.
Ramroop’s QAII now owns a newspaper—Guyana Times, a television station once owned by Anthony ‘Tony’ Vieira and operated as VCT 28 and is now TVG— this radio station, Radio Guyana Inc (RGI), and a host of other companies.
The release added, “The radio station is the first of new radio licencees to commence operation here. In January, the Government of Guyana (GOG) issued licences to ten entities to operate radio stations.”
QAII enjoyed special privileges when it set up the newspaper, when it began to operate the television station it bought from Vieira, and now with the radio.
President Jagdeo had withdrawn advertisement from Stabroek News. However, he was to reverse this decision when he launched Guyana Times, the newspaper owned by QAII, in which he is said to be a major shareholder.
He began to give advertisements to Guyana Times and to justify this he reinstated advertisements to Stabroek News and Kaieteur News.
The television station enjoyed even greater privileges. Jagdeo, the then head of state, had informed the nation that no new television licence would be issued until Broadcast Legislation was introduced.
He had also proclaimed that no television licence could be transferred. Ramroop’s television had to be the exception to the extent that people began to believe that the television station was in fact acquired by President Jagdeo himself and that he used Dr. Ramroop as a front.
To show that he meant business when it came to new television licences, he moved against the estate of Sanchara which operated STV Channel 4 in Queenstown. He revoked the licence for that station when C.N. Sharma moved to take over the operations at the request of Sanchara and sought to broadcast on that channel.
Jagdeo insisted that the licence could not be transferred. But Queens Atlantic had no such problem. As soon as Channel 28 was bought from Vieira, it began to transmit.
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo
Ramroop changed the name of the station to TVG, implying a transfer of a licence to him, contrary to presidential statements.
The radio station is no different. Vieira operated a radio station, but Jagdeo refused to grant him a licence. When Vieira decided to broadcast, Valmiki Singh of the National Frequency Management Unit moved against Vieira and seized the equipment.
Vieira moved to the courts and won, but the decision was never handed down until Queens Atlantic bought the television station. This purchase also provided the entity with a radio station.
Observers now say that shame at the flagrant breach of the television licence prevented Queens Atlantic from operating the radio station. The government, through Valmiki Singh, had also raided the home of Mark Benschop to seize radio equipment that he had in his home. The message was clear to the rest of the society—no radio unless it belonged to the government or to the Ramroop Group of Companies.
QAII now says that RGI is part of a “dynamic media group”. It will be based out of TVG, located at Camp and Quamina Streets, Georgetown. The station will provide a twenty-four hour mix of several genres and styles of music.
“The station plays all the music you love while striving to keep up with the desires of its listeners. R&B, Soca, Bollywood Hits, selective Chutney, Hip-Hop and Reggae music can be heard. RGI can be heard on 89.5MHz and 89.7MHz,” the release added.
The station’s programme has been set to reflect the ethnic and religious make-up of the country, according to the release.
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