Member Highlights

LIVE UP Spotlight:
COMMITTED MEMBERS FINDING CREATIVE WAYS TO LIVE UP

June 2008

St. Maarten Cable TV LIVE UP Fridays


	St. Maarten Cable staff proudly wearing their T-shirts for LIVE UP Friday

Once again, St. Maarten Cable TV is showing what it means to truly LIVE UP. This CBMP member has recently instituted “LIVE UP Fridays” where all staff members wear t-shirts emblazoned with the LIVE UP logo and website information. Station Manager, Mr. Davey Woods, spoke to “Live Wire” about LIVE UP Fridays and noted that this was part of their 2008 plan which focuses on HIV/AIDS related initiatives.

“We chose this method because we are members of the CBMP, and we felt that this would be an effective way of raising awareness about HIV and the LIVE UP Campaign. Of course there is a bit of friendly competition thrown in for the staff since the Government is having their ‘Red Campaign’ with the red t-shirts,” Woods noted. When asked how the St. Maarten Cable staff reacted to the notion of LIVE UP Fridays, Mr. Woods was quick to point out, “All of the staff have really embraced it, and if one person didn’t come wearing the LIVE UP t-shirt, then the others would say something like, ‘What happen to you? You don’t LIVE UP?’”

St. Maarten Cable has been at the forefront in their endeavors to find creative and effective ways of operating within the CBMP partnership in their response to HIV/AIDS. Readers may recall from the March issue that they produced the HIV radio jingle “Rap Session” with artist Gee Money. This jingle was included in the CBMP’s June Programming Package and distributed rights- free to all CBMP radio members. The St. Maarten Cable team also participated in an HIV Sensitization Workshop on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008, so that staff could be fully equipped to deal with HIV/AIDS related matters both on the job and in their daily lives.

From now until the end of the year, all staff members of St. Maarten Cable, including technical staff who visit the homes of customers, will spread the message of the LIVE UP campaign by proudly wearing their colour coded LIVE UP t-shirts. St. Maarten Cable continues to find creative ways of LIVING UP, and the CBMP once again takes pleasure in saluting them!

Radio Toco Taking AIDS Awareness to the Community


	Radio Toco staff interacting with youths from the community during their outreach programme

Radio Toco CEO Vera Edwards recently spoke to “Live Wire” about the station’s community outreach initiatives. Ms. Edwards spoke about her station’s daily health broadcast as well as their weekly programme in the community high school to educate students about healthy sexual lifestyles. She stressed the importance of going into the community, and noted that this school initiative was taken by Radio Toco, “because of the need to consolidate the information shared via the radio and have one- on- one interaction with the group most at risk”:

Live Wire: What prompted Radio Toco to have a daily five minute programme entitled "AIDS and You"?
Ms. Edwards: The programme was produced based on a need Radio Toco saw within the community from a baseline survey conducted in 1997.

Live Wire: What has been the response to the programme by your listeners? How have they responded to your weekly segments on healthy sexual lifestyles?
Ms. Edwards: Feedback is measured by the number of callers to the programme and the level of interaction with young people as well as students.

Live Wire: Why did your station decide to become involved in visiting schools every week regarding these kinds of issues?
Ms. Edwards: The station decided to become involved in visiting schools because of the need to consolidate the information shared via the radio and have one-on-one interaction with the group most at-risk.

Live Wire: How receptive have the students been to your visits and attempts to educate them on healthy choices?
Ms. Edwards: The students have been very receptive to us. This is reflected in the level of participation from the students, teachers and even parents in some instances. They have shown anticipation and openness in their interaction.

Live Wire: Overall, how effective would you say this programme within the schools has been?
Ms. Edwards: Our school intervention programmes have resulted in young people now being able to make healthier and wiser choices. This is reflected in the way the students respond to questions on sex and sexuality and the interaction with their peers.

Live Wire: How easy or difficult is it for your station to make HIV/AIDS programming a priority in your broadcasts on a daily basis?
Ms. Edwards: HIV/AIDS programming for us is not difficult because the resource material used is available to us, because of our ability to network with other organizations and because institutions doing similar work.

Live Wire: What advice would you give to other CBMP broadcast members about becoming involved in programmes such as these?
Ms. Edwards: My advice to other CMBP broadcast members is that they should consider involving themselves in such programmes because they will assist them to keep close links with the community, stimulate public opinion, and assist in the social development of the community.

For more information, contact Vera Edwards at veraedwards41@yahoo.com.

HAMA TV in Antigua Taking Dramatic Turn with New Series “Paradise View” View the trailer!


	A scene from the new dramatic series Paradise View

Audiences the world over have long been fascinated by televised dramatic series, and the Caribbean audience is certainly no different. Dramatic characters often take on life-like importance to their fans that may result in animated conversations around the office cubicle or intense debates about the merits of one character over the other. Often times, these characters are larger than life and represent a form of escape for the viewer. Critics have often wondered what the result would be if such intense emotion and caring for the trials of a televised character were applied to resolving some of the social issues which affect real people today. Would audiences care and be moved that deeply by a character that they could recognize as a family member, friend or simply the person they pass on the street every day?

CBMP member HAMA Productions is attempting to answer this question in a novel way by not only creating a local dramatic series, but one which will feature an HIV positive character. Managing Director of HAMA Productions and HAMA TV, Ms. Mitzi Allen, recently spoke with “Live Wire” about their dramatic series “Paradise View”.

“We are really trying to dispel some of the myths surrounding people living with HIV/AIDS, and I am referring specifically to some of the myths surrounding what they ‘look like’ and their ability to function in society and be productive individuals. I hope Paradise View achieves what drama series usually do and that is to spark dialogue. Usually what happens is that people start to talk about the issues of the drama around the water cooler, so just as they go on about other dramatic characters we hope that they become involved with our characters the same way. It is only through talking about HIV/AIDS that we will make any real progress,” she stated.

Mitzi points out that it has not been easy to create this series as the issue of stigma and discrimination within the region made it difficult to cast this HIV-positive character.

“Even local actors were fearful of being seen to have the disease so we had to look outside to cast the character. We are hoping that people will come around in their thinking once they are exposed to this drama. At the end of the thirteen episodes, I want the call for more to come from the viewers, so that then I would know that we had truly been successful,” she stated.

Audiences in Antigua can expect this dramatic series to start airing in September while other CBMP members will receive it later in the year in their Programming Packages.

LIVE UP Message in New HIV Awareness Music Video Watch the video!

Cultural festivals have always been an essential element of life in the region and certainly music plays a big part in the success of these festivals. In the Caribbean, we have reached the stage on the local musical landscape where we have our own regional superstars, some of whom are especially popular during the carnival and crop over festival seasons. If we add to this the meteoric rise in stardom of a singer like Barbadian superstar Rihanna, then the possibility of “making it” on the international music scene is suddenly quite real for many young acts in the Caribbean. According to Corey Lane, Chairman of the National HIV/AIDS Youth Committee (NHAYC) in Barbados, because of these many factors, what has resulted is a sudden increase in “bedroom studios” without any real sign that this music would live past the season. This realization led Corey and the NHAYC in 2005 to launch its first-ever HIV/AIDS Awareness Song Contest (HASCo). Three years later, the NHAYC has taken this initiative one step further and has launched its first HIV/AIDS Awareness Music Video. This new music video features the 2007 HASCo winner Nicholas “Screws” Goodfellow out of the group “Street Soldiers” with the winning song called ‘Love Life’. The CBMP was quite pleased to hear multiple appeals in the song for listeners to LIVE UP! Love! Protect! Respect!

As this video reaches audiences with its message, Lane notes that apart from increasing HIV awareness and creating a platform for behavioral change, one of the aims of the project is to promote the message of the LIVE UP Campaign “through the energy of these artists”.

“Many people are very impressed with the quality of the video and even doubt that it was produced locally. They are also impressed with the new approach and the level of talent of all involved. We hope to achieve a number of things from the launch of this video and these include creating a wave of interest among the younger population to a new approach of education as well as sending a message that a new methodology must be used in regard to tackling HIV/AIDS. This will help to generate interest from a wider cross-section of young people,” he further stated.

“The goal is to spread the messages far and wide using the proven effective method of music. This competition will help us to compile a cadre of creative, popular music and music videos mainly directed at the youth. I hope to see this music video make it big, become a hit and get the message out in an effective way. Also I hope to see more of these types of initiatives following” he stated. The CBMP in the mean time hopes to see members continue to promote the message of the LIVE UP Campaign in new, creative and effective ways.