SATURDAY-19TH JANUARY 2008 - UMS TO SET UP RADIO STATION

UMS to set up radio station
Public will be able to communicate with students

KOTA KINABALU:

The public will be able to communicate with Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) students when its radio station starts operating by the middle of this year.
Running on a 500-watt band, the radio station will be aired in English, Bahasa Malaysia and other ethnic languages. UMS Vice Chancellor Datuk Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin when disclosing this yesterday, said they are in the final stages of renovating the studio and installing the antennae.
The effort was made possible thanks to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the university and RTM last year, which is aimed at providing training for its students majoring in communication courses. “We would also incorporate art into the 10-hour daily programmes,’ he said to reporters after announcing the Education Journalism Awards 2007 jointly organised by the university and Sabah Journalists Association yesterday. He said that the equipment had already arrived and was now just waiting for the studio renovation to be completed. Although the programme contents are mainly produced by the university, Mohd Noh said they would still be under the supervision of RTM.
“In fact, he said the broadcasting licence is acquired from the Government via RTM,” he said, expressing his excitement over the programme that would stretch up to Kudat, Beaufort and Brunei. He said a similar campus radio had been set up by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UiTM) and other higher learning institutions in Peninsular Malaysia. On another development, Mohd Noh stressed they would continue with the practice of maintaining 40 per cent of student population from Sabah, while the rest is open to others from outside the State.
He said there had been cases where students from other states rejected offers by UMS as they wanted to take up courses closer to home. “However, those who fail to turn up after the registration exercise may appeal to the relevant authorities and come to us. This has happened before when they arrived at the UMS campus during the second semester,” he explained. Mohd Noh said that they would still continue to promote courses available at UMS through roadshows in the Peninsular. Also present were Sabah Journalists Association (SJA) President Datuk Joniston Bangkuai and UMS Education Journalism Award 2007 organising chairman Dr Andreas Totu.