In complementing the ‘Buy Malawi’ strategy, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) has resolved to be playing only local music on its three platforms on Fridays.
The broadcaster’s move has come barely months after Malawi National Assembly passed an Act requiring all local broadcasting houses play 70 percent of local music and 30 percent foreign music.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) for MBC Chembezi Mhone said on Thursday, the move is aimed at promoting Malawian musicians as 24hours is more than enough time to play a lot of music on its three channels.
“This is part of complementing Government’s Buy Malawi Strategy. We believe it will give space to our artists to showcase their skills more than ever before,” said Mhone.
Reacting to the news, veteran musician Paul Banda described the development as a blessing.
“I am very grateful. This means MBC is considering musicians. This is quite a blessing. I can only urge my fellow musicians to up their games so that we should not be spoiling people’s Fridays,” said Banda.
Concurring with the veteran music star, Skeffa Chimoto hailed MBC for the bold move and urged other broadcasters to emulate the feat.
“MBC is a parent broadcaster and we know when parent leads-children follow and this is exactly what we are expecting from other broadcasting stations,” said Chimoto.
On its part, Musicians Union of Malawi (MUM) president Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango said the move was a great step forward.
Said Mhango: “This is beautiful and it’s a big step forward. To my fellow musicians, I can only ask them to improve- this is an opportunity we can’t afford to mess by bringing half-baked music to the radio.”
MBC houses Radio One, Radio 2 FM and MBC Tv. And according to a January 2016 survey by National Statistical Office (NSO)-which was commissioned by Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) MBC TV enjoys an 87percent viewership while MBC Radio One has 80.2 % listenership which a country that has close to 100 radio and TV stations.