Hands off Radju Bronja

There has been yet another worrying contribution about PBS in The Times. The title of Gorg Peresso's letter (December 8) is rather ominous and, one hopes, not prophetic.

Readers will recall that Radju Bronja was referred to in the Mimcol report as a "white elephant which was too expensive to maintain". This statement is so difficult to believe that it cannot be true.

First of all this is a radio station and not a television station. Secondly, Radju Bronja programmes are produced by persons who are dedicated to culture, who probably derive more intellectual satisfaction from producing programmes than they do from their fees.

It is common knowledge that most, if not all, of these producers do this work for a pittance. The statement that Radju Bronja is "too expensive to maintain" simply cannot be true. It is made without any reference whatever to the quality of the programmes broadcast by this radio station. The Mimcol report is therefore seriously flawed through not taking into account the value of the product.

The impression received over the whole affair is that this is a case of too many PBS chiefs and too few Red Indians. It may be the former who are too expensive to maintain and not the programmes themselves or the staff who are directly responsible for these programmes. This applies particularly to Radju Bronja programme producers. The latter are dedicated to delivering the goods and are not demanding on PBS finances - for instance they do not have travel expenses and do not receive company perks.

Radju Bronja is Malta's only programme dedicated to the arts and cultural matters. As such it is indispensable. It probably has a much larger following than the writer(s) of the Mimcol report suspect. It must not be taken off the air.

The arbitrary way in which this matter is being handled deserves more attention. In so far as Radju Bronja is concerned it appears as though the intention behind all this could be to remove this programme on the pretext that it is "losing money". The absurdity of this is that Radju Bronja cannot possibly be regarded as a profit-making (commercial) organisation in the first place. The purpose of this station is to inform, educate and entertain listeners - something which this station is doing admirably. Most listeners probably contribute to PBS in the first place by paying for a TV licence.

Radju Bronja listeners are urged to do whatever they can not to allow anyone to tamper with this excellent radio station.