The Demise of the Newspaper

Folks I was deeply saddened yesterday when a colleague of mine announced that he was closing his business at the end of this month.

Elton Callwood is the founder of the VI StandPoint and its predecessor The BVI Pennysaver, which was established in the Virgin Islands in 1997. He since also established a companion website http://www.vistandpoint.com.

His was the third newspaper in the Territory, which now has five radio stations, three newspapers, three local television channels on the Cable system, four online news sites and a proliferation of other magazines and periodicals.

This is all great for freedom of speech and getting information from different sources. One would hope the standards of the media profession would be upheld for the most part with all of these media, but it begs the question.

Here is the press release from VI StandPoint and my impassioned response to my colleague.

April 3, 2013

RE: TEMPORAY CLOSURE OF THE VI STANDPOINT

It is with deep regret that we announce that the VI Standpoint will temporarily cease publishing at the end of April 2013. After careful consideration, we recognise that we cannot continue to operate in an environment where we are forced to absorb the economic challenges being experienced by our clients and advertisers.

Following the April 25 edition, the VI Standpoint will not be available on newsstands. This temporary measure will facilitate restructuring of the company as it examines the way forward in these harsh economic times. While the newspaper will not be published during this time, the company will continue to operate and clients with outstanding balances will be contacted to settle their accounts.

We wish to thank everyone, including our faithful advertisers and loyal readers, for your support throughout the years. And we look forward to serving you in the near future when we re-launch the Virgin Island’s most trusted news source.

Sincerely,
Elton Callwood
Managing Director

Elton Callwood ;
Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: Press Statement

Dear Elton,

It saddens me to learn of the impending closure, albeit temporarily, of the StandPoint.

Your paper had become quite a staple in the Virgin Islands and was one, in my opinion, to have really touched the entire community of people and businesses.

I am not surprised however at this turn of events, in that it does not take a media analyst to see that the local market is indeed saturated by a proliferation of entities providing information to the public. Everyone wants to compete against the other, instead of finding their own niche or working together to build up one another.

This is a service, the media, that cannot be provided without the support of a philanthropist or the business community. And when the business community is bombarded with over 10 mainstream media organizations plus other magazines and periodicals battling for the same advertising dollar, it must be a tremendous challenge.

Perhaps the business community also has a part to play in upholding certain professional standards by being more selective in where to channel their funds. It is indeed a culture and a mindset that is not too late to be inculcated in any society, that negativity is not cool!

I will not venture at this juncture to inject my perspective on how debasing we have allowed the profession to become in these islands as some media houses fail to balance between good journalism and the almighty dollar.

Suffice it to say, I think the StandPoint has done its part to remain ethical and professional.

I would only hope that this closure of the StandPoint moves the other media organizations and persons involved in the media to do some introspection and seriously consider one of its mandates to play a major role in the building up of the society, review the status quo and take action to ensure that we do not take this profession lightly.

I wish you the very best Elton as you re-group.

Cheers.

Angela Burns
AUB Media House

Elton’s response:

Thanks Angela. This means so much to me. You must know that this decision didn’t come lightly and it leaves a void, but I can’t continue to do business this way while I sink deeper and deeper into the quick sand. Thanks again and you’ll soon be seeing my new initiative.

Carving out a niche…

Been busy over the past days meeting with the players in the television industry here, carving out a niche for myself once again.

After five years of working for a leading Caribbean telecommunications company, I have decided to go it solo again. And the ride has been extremely revelatory.

Note I said carving out a niche, because having held several jobs and also being self employed, I am much preferring the latter. And so apart from this blog and my Sunday radio show, I am heading into hosting a current affairs television talk forum starting within the next few days. This would be my second stint at same.

Having not had a steady traditional job for the past five months, I have come to realize and can fully empathize with persons who are unemployed, don’t have a source of income and as a result are barely eking out a living.

Personally, I have had the good fortune of being gainfully employed for close to 28 years and basically had no understanding of what the other side of that equation looked or felt like.

Having researched the job market in the British Virgin Islands in the latter half of 2012, I think I have a pretty good idea now of how some people feel, what perhaps lends to the moral decay of society and how uncaring the powers that be seem to be. My conclusion is that the unemployment line is dehumanizing!

Don’t worry. I am not going down the road where I do not recognize employers who go out of their way to provide jobs for some people and these workers turn around and betray their employers’ trust by giving substandard service, being tardy and dishonest.

These employers must be praised for reaching out, some even again and again, despite the odds, hoping to be proven wrong, hoping just to get their work done.

These employers though must well be looking in the wrong direction, because there are people out there who are begging to be noticed and given a chance to be of service.

There are people who don’t want and cannot afford to hear ‘we dont have any openings’ especially when that is not true, ‘you are too qualified’ when the person is willing to take what they get because that’s better than what they have or ‘we’ll get back to you’ especially when the employer knows this is not going to happen.

How does the principle of being open and honest and upright in everything we do not be a simple enough mantra for us to follow? What about our duty to help our fellow man as much as we can so that this world can be a better place for all of us to live?

Again, I would advocate for anyone who is unemployed to carve out their niche. Explore a non traditional option, for example, network marketing.

We all have unique gifts and talents and strengths. How about trying to be less dependent on the system?

And for those gainfully employed, do it earnestly!

Radio…Love it! Is it a thing of the past for you?

So today is the first Sunday in the month of February 2013 and I am actually on air now on a Christian radio station here in the BVI called ZKING, broadcasting on 100.9FM and on the worldwide web at https://bit.ly/Wnz7FB.

I started deejaying in 1989 as a necessity. I was plunged into it. I was working at a radio station in Montserrat called GEM Radio, which broadcasted via satellite a network in Chicago I think, and the island was affected by the worst hurricane to date, Hugo, which devastated 80% of the island’s infrastructure. And so the satellite signal was cut off, but we still had broadcasting capabilities. So, the owners and managers decided to jump to the rescue and broadcast live, giving listeners throughout the Caribbean the opportunity to be kept up to date on the disaster, find out how their relatives and friends had fared and send the greetings etc. Because of course, the telecommunications systems were destroyed and there was only ham radio and other emergency communication from the island for days! True story!

This was quite a heyday for me. It is something when you are in a studio, generally, playing music and talking, just thinking and believing and hoping (lol) that people are out their listening to you. But it is quite another something when you get a call from your aunt in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands who says ‘hi, I am listening to you, how is everyone…’! So, that was really a cool thing (I am under-stating that actually…I was beyond ecstatic) and it was a memory I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

I love radio. Because over the years, I have come to recognize and appreciate its importance for disseminating news and providing essential and urgent information (but admittedly sometimes damaging information which of course I don’t subscribe to), comforting listeners through songs and the spoken word, giving people an opportunity to feel connected to someone or something etc.

As I reflect, I had another unique opportunity to be a disc jockey when I went to Jamaica in 1990 to be one of the first announcers on the start up IRIE FM, the first reggae radio station in Jamaica, if not the world. That was really great. I got to see live, meet and even rub shoulders and then some with lot of the reggae superstars – J. C. Lodge, Freddie McGregor, Ibo Cooper of Third World, Papa San, Tony Rebel, Stitchie, Judy Mowatt, Toots from Toots and the Maytals, Andrew Tosh and I can go on.

I also had the opportunity to meet a few of the great music producers, Robert Stewart included, and other players in the industry and formed some of the greatest friendships among other people that I cherish to this day.

So, as I said, I really, really love radio.

This love has followed me to the British Virgin Islands, where In the mid 2000’s, I did a stint at another start up, ZCCR 94.1FM, affiliated to the Upper Room Victor Church of Bishop Mervin Herbert. There I managed the first year or so of getting some systems in place and I also did a Sunday morning music programme.

For the past four months, I find myself at ZKING 100.9FM, actually volunteering and enjoying every minute of it, again because of an undying love for radio. Let’s see where this takes me.

Funny how on this small archipelago of less than 30,000 people, we have five radio stations, all thriving, if you please! Did I say radio was important? Each station has its following of listeners and of course a group of advertisers who value what that station does and want to be associated with it as a means of reaching clients.

What radio station are you listening to and why? Or is radio a thing of the past in your world?

Cheers.