Community Radio in Amsterdam

Sat, 10/12/2013 - 2:39am | Pieter Pastoor

Amsterdam is known for a lot of things but the town also has a thriving community radio/TV network known as SALTO (Amsterdam Broadcasting Authority).

“The Amsterdam Broadcasting Organization is an independent foundation that is intended for, and open to, all residents of Amsterdam. It is important to remember that the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organization is not a mouthpiece for the city council, or for specific pressure groups or institutions.

The Dutch Media Board, a national authority, has granted us the license to broadcast locally and the city council's only responsibility is to check that the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organization board is representative of the diversity of the Amsterdam population.”

Jeanne and I received the cooks tour and any and all questions where answered. Stand outs.

FUNDING: Is through the City of Amsterdam and some on air advertising. The station is not allowed to receive sponsorships from any business but is allowed to advertise though only once at the end or beginning of a broadcast - never during a broadcast.

PROGRAMS: Very similar to KDRT with some exceptions. Non profit community organizations are encouraged to develop programs. Organizations are charged a fee of approximently $20.00 per show. Individual doing shows are not charged.

Several radio shows are also broadcast on TV (known as talk TV) Most popular show is one where citizens send in questions regarding the city. Any number of questions are reviewed and the appropriate city official is then invited to the show to have a response. In approx. 6 months the broadcast re-visits the same question to see if/how the city has responded.

FACILITIES: In a nut shell - the facilities are top of the line, state of the art - TO DIE FOR.

It just so happened that the next day, as we where walking about town, a young man approached us to see if we wanted to join the “radio/TV club”. He was a volunteer for the community radio station encouraging folks to join the club and LISTEN and WATCH. He was not asking for money just making you aware of the station. The motive was to get the ratings up. Once a year the city of Amsterdam pays for a station ratings survey. The more listeners public radio has the more funds it receives.