March 14, 1992. I remember the day as if it were yesterday. Archbishop Joseph Mercieca, accompanied by Bishop Nikol Cauchi, inaugurated RTK, the Church-owned radio station.

At least since 1986, the Church had expressed the wish to own a radio station. So, when in 1990 prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami offered a radio frequency, one would have thought that everything else should have been plain sailing. It was not. Questions about the radio format, its financing and relationship with the diocese of Gozo had to be ironed out.

Archbishop Mercieca launched a wide consultation process during which two models were presented. One was a religious radio station in the strict sense of the word. The other was an all-format station with a Christian inspiration. The first presented direct religious content most of the time, the second inserted the Christian ethos as a leaven in different programmes. The second option received massive support.

The founding stones of RTK: the first group of workers, presenters and volunteers led by Paul Attard (standing, front row, centre), the first station manager.

In the diocese of Gozo there were those who preferred going it alone, supporting a station in collaboration with a leading bank and a ministry. They had not yet discovered that the Broadcasting Act made that option legally impossible. The first meeting with a delegation from the Gozo diocese drew a blank. But the project was soon on track following a meeting with Bishop Cauchi. 

A committee of seven people representing the Archdiocese of Malta, the Diocese of Gozo, male and female religious, laypeople and parish priests was set up. This paved the way for the setting up of the board of directors, which I had the honour of chairing.

David Azzopardi, the first head of programmes of RTK, showing the studio to the workers of the Media Centre.

The financial dimension was a tougher nut to crack, till someone came up with the idea of offering shareholding to parishes, religious orders and lay associa­tions. This exercise in crowdfunding also served to heighten a sense of belonging among the Catholic community.

Some wanted to name the station Radju Gabriel while others proposed names in Latin such as Onda Aeries. All would have defeated the purpose of having a low-definition Christian radio station. The late George Fava came up with the name RTK. Three letters which could stand for anything from ‘radju ta’ kwalità’ (radio of quality) to – according to ‘evil tongues’ – ‘radju ta’ kafkaf’ (shoddy radio). The slogan chosen was ‘Radju ta’ kulħadd’ (radio for everyone).

George Pollacco (second from right), head of the technical team from before the beginning of the station, with technicians and DJs of the station. Fr John Avellino (far left) was a journalist and later chairman of RTK.

In September 1990, Archbishop Mercieca told a press conference that the Church accepted the offer to have a radio licence and emphasised that the station should shed the light of the Gospel on events happening around us. The management team took this direction to heart and RTK’s news bulletins, current affairs and discussion programmes were scheduled as the core of the station. 

Joe Brockdorff (second from right), owner of BPC, presenting the Journalist of the Year Award to Fr Joe Borg, editor and chairman of RTK. Carmel Attard (right) was the station’s first news manager. Second from left is Sylvana Debono, RTK news manager from 2000 to 2004 and editor-in-chief of Church media from 2016 to 2021. On the left is Roderick Agius, then an RTK journalist.

RTK’s newsroom collectively won the 1995 edition of the Journalist of the Year Award for investigative stories about a Labour MP who used to send women for abortions in Sicily, a PN government consultant who was being investigated in Sicily and a minister whom we accused of breaking the ministerial code of ethics. 

“For the first time in years, the vast majority of the station’s audience is now under 50”

And, yet, the Labour Party constantly campaigned against RTK, claiming the station was biased against it. All libel actions we took to defend ourselves were won. The only time during under my watch that RTK was found guilty by the Broadcasting Authority (BA) ironically was for broadcasting material in favour of the PL government before the 2017 election campaign.

The station quickly became the second most listened to radio station in Malta. When I left the station in early 2000, according to an October 1999 survey by the BA, RTK had garnered an audience of 53,000 listeners.

With the passage of time, the radio scene changed. RTK started reaching less people and, like Radju Marija, was reaching mainly the over-60s and 70s.

Arthur Caruana, the first channel manager of 103 Malta’s Heart, the radically rebranded RTK, together with presenters of the breakfast and morning shows.

In 2018, Beacon Media Group, the name of the company owning the Church media, initiated a consultation process with the bishops to map the future of the station. This led to its radical rebranding as ‘103 Malta’s Heart’ in July 2019. The main objective of the reform was the building of an audience under 50 years of age; a task easier said than done. 

Archbishop Charles Scicluna together with the workers and presenters of 103 Malta’s Heart and Newsbook on the inauguration of the new studios in September 2019. On the archbishop’s left is Gege Gatt, then chairman of the board of directors of Beacon Media Group (owner of the Church’s media), while Fr Eddie Zammit (on the archbishop’s right) has been a director since 1992. On the far right is Anton Attard, then CEO, and Kevin Papagiorcopulo, the current editor of Newsbook and 103 Malta’s Heart. PHOTO: CHURCH.MT

This is now being achieved as, for the first time in years, the vast majority of the station’s audience is now under 50. The size of the audience registered in the surveys of the BA is still less than the desired one but, today, there are other ways of measuring uptake besides this survey.

Some short-sighted people would be tempted to abort the experiment. This would be a mistake. The way forward is to continue the reform started in recent years. Digital technology enables us to break down the silo mentality of the different platforms, as was dominant in the analogue technology and the mentality it begets. 

The way forward should not be downsizing the organisation but making the maximum use of all content across all platforms. Such opening up needs adequate investment and enough time to mature. Radical media reforms are not done by pressure cookers.

The state-of-the-art studios of Beacon Media Group