Vladimir Tuz: "That’s the End Of FM-Broadcasting" :: Charter'97 :: News

One of the most popular Russian DJs, Vladimir Tuz, was frankly upset, at hearing the news about the latest regulations for the Belarusian radio broadcasting. As we have informed, since January 1 all FM stations in Belarus were ordered to play minimum 75% of Belarusian music.

“I am afraid that there won’t be enough Belarusian music to cover 75% of broadcasting time, even if the best groups would be collected. It separates the Belarusian listeners from the Russian and world musical culture. The rock music does not have borders; it does not have national colouring. The Beatles belong to the whole humankind, and even maybe more to the Russians than to Liverpool residents. These 75% are leading nowhere: the Belarusian music will become the music for internal consumption. Less and less performers, who would be able to overstep the borders of their country, would appear.

If five or six bands are compulsorily played in the air, people simply stop listening to the radio. The times will return, when, in spite of jammers, people were listening to Voice of America, Radio Liberty and so on. The consumer must decide for himself which goods he needs. If he is not receiving that article, he will find a way to get it indirectly. The Belarusian radio stations will simply lose listeners and advertisers. Under such conditions the independent, commercial FM broadcasting business could “kick the bucket”.

It would be too late to regret afterwards… It is the usual style of the Belarusian establishment: to adopt a hasty decision without a public discussion, because somebody had decided that it would be better this way. But I am sure that that won’t do any good.

It is not the state’s concern to impose the format of broadcasting to international radio stations, who are trying to survive the product which is accepted by a listener. As Mao Zedong said, there is a field where different flowers are growing. Some flowers can be watered by the state to make them more flourishing. But others should grow independently. People have invested money to radio stations, they have risked, they have won a part of the market, and suddenly a musical censorship is imposed on them. Thrusting of some radio broadcasting format on all radio stations by the state is the end of FM broadcasting”.