The committee declared a contest yesterday for getting a license for broadcasting radio shows on 90.3 and 90.7 megahertz stations. The “Meltechs” INC and “A1+” were among the many participants that had applied for the contest. The National Television/Radio Committee will announce the results on May 25. But even optimists are getting ahead of themselves and claim that there will be no miracles this time. They also think that although “A1+” has more advantages than the rest of the participants, the committee will still recognize it as “weak”. After all, we have the 2007 parliamentary and 2008 presidential elections ahead of us and it’s obvious that both the authorities and the president of Armenia don’t prefer giving air time to a medium, which they have always referred to as their rival and have tried to isolate from the mass media. Of course, head of the national television/radio committee Grigor Amalyan once again assured journalists that he is not against any participant.
Director of the OSCE Yerevan branch Vladimir Pryakhin was also present at the committee’s session yesterday.
“The OSCE Yerevan branch doesn’t care who wins, as long as it’s fair,” said Mr. Pryakhin and hopes that this will be the case.
What are the participating companies suggesting and who’s competing against “A1+”? “A1+” has one competitor for each one of the two contests.
It’s worth mentioning that the competitors are thinking about creating a radio station that we already have. The first competitor for “A1+” is “Ulis Media” INC. According to our sources, their office is located in the “Nairi” cinema building, despite the fact that the contest application states that their office is located in Nor Nork. What remains a mystery is who the director is. The company promised to identify themselves on the day when the contest applications were read. But they didn’t. The only thing we know is that the name of the owner of “Ulis” is Arthur Muradyan. However, yesterday chief producer Norair Mkhoyan and director of the creative group and former Armenian television personality for the “Family Lotto” game show Gevorg Yeghiazaryan presented their proposals for the contest. What also remained a mystery is what they were up to before participating in the contest. Chief producer of “Ulis” INC Norair Mkhoyan said the following in response to the question of one of the reporters for “A1+”:
“Whoever knows, knows, whoever doesn’t, doesn’t.”
According to them, the “Ulis Media” radio station has to be a “modern radio station for everyone”. The radio station has to have 80% Armenian radio shows, of which 70% have to be produced by the radio station. The company says that if it gets the license, they are going to make a 35 million AMD investment within the course of 7 years and 20 million is going to be spent during the first year of broadcast.
As for the “Radio-Pro” INC, who has applied for the 90.7 FM frequency radio station, their proposals were presented by one of the founders Alexander Ter-Hovakimyan. “Radio-Pro” plans on broadcasting musical and entertaining shows if it comes out victorious. They are also going to have news broadcasts. In fact, owner of “Radio-Pro” Ter-Hovakimyan confessed that the radio station had been founded with the purpose of participating and winning in this contest because, in his words, “if we look at radio from the business perspective, then it’s really profitable.”
The radio station still doesn’t have the necessary technical equipment, but according to Ter-Hovakimyan, the station will get all it needs in a year with the 27 million AMD investment. The station will broadcast 80% Armenian shows, and 70% its own. Mr. Ter-Hovakimyan said the following in regard to its competitor “A1+”:
“If we look at the contest as a game where each competitor follows the rules, then I must say that I truly respect “A1+”. I say may the best win.”
As for “A1+”, it came out with its own slogan:
“Listen to us and get to know us”.
While presenting their program, a reporter from “A1+” Diana Markosyan said:
“Our radio station is first of all going to be modern and informative.”
“A1+” is ready to invest as much money as necessary to buy the necessary technical equipment for 24-hour broadcast. The media representative will also invest another 22 million AMD for further development. The radio station plans on developing in the years to come based on the income from commercials. According to the calculations of the “A1+” representative, if the radio station fixes 1000 AMD (2 dollars) as the price for airing one commercial on the radio, then the monthly income for the radio station will be approximately 12,000 dollars. That will be just enough for the radio station to take care of its expenses. “A1+” plans on only broadcasting its programs. It will only provide 35-40% of news.
If we compare and contrast, we find that “A1+” has more advantages than its competitors do. After all, it has a staff, up-to-date technology, etc. Overall, as the representatives said, they are sure that they are going to win. The only thing left is for Grigor Amalyan and Robert Kocharyan have a political will and show a little bravery to finally give air time to “A1+”.