Johnny Drummond, Saint FM's founder
In the beginning...
Saint FM is the vision of the late Johnny Drummond, former Editor of the St Helena News and St Helena Herald.
The relationship between Government and the press has always presented an interesting mix of colonial rules and supposed ‘freedom of the press’. The present St Helena News Media Services [SHNMS] is, to a degree, recognised as an organisation independent of Government but ironically remains for the most part, funded by the organisation it strives to separate itself from.>>
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The line between a free press and a government run media is a blurred one on St Helena and Johnny recognised the need for a organisation, i.e. a new radio station, totally independent of Government or any other bodies and which provides a free media for the people of St Helena.
Talks about the new station began in August 2003 between Johnny and the current Station Manager of Saint FM [and former C.E.O. of SHNMS], Mike Olsson. Sadly Johnny passed away on 27th October 2003.
Negotiations started afterwards and the broadcasting licence was issued on the 22nd July 2004 and Saint FM was officially born.
Johnny Drummond, former Editor of the St Helena News/Herald and Mike Olsson, former CEO SHNMS & Station Manager of Saint FM
Read the editorial tribute to Johnny.
Published 31st Oct 2003
Published 31 Oct 2003
We welcome stories, news items and articles to Saint FM/St Helena Independent.
Initial Training...
Originally manned by three full-time dedicated staff, the station has grown in leaps and bounds since its conception in 2004.
One of the wishes Johnny had for the staff of Saint FM was that they receive professional training outside of St Helena. In May of 2004, Angela Williams and Emma-Jane Yon embarked on a three month training course at the Broadcast Training Institute of BUSH Radio in Cape Town.
The training consisted of all aspects of radio broadcasting from the routine everyday tasks of programming and paperwork to the more technical aspects.
Angela, who was a Production Assistant at Radio St Helena >>
[SHNMS] for three years prior to joining Saint FM, returned from the training with skills refreshed and reinforced. Whilst with Saint FM she produced a daily show and worked towards the development of the station, before moving on to pastures new at the St Helena Development Agency in March 2006.
Before joining Saint FM, Emma-Jane's role in media was as Deputy Editor and Graphic Designer for the Newspaper, the St. Helena Herald for four years. A whole new experience, She had to apply herself in a totally different medium in which she had never worked before.
Returning from Training in Cape Town, she too produced and presented on radio in addition to other duties. She continues to >>
work at Saint FM putting both her training in radio and experience in newspaper to use with the formation of the St Helena Independent in November 2005.
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Initial test transmissions(28th September 2004)
In October 2004 we launched the Saint FM website and were in full operation with news bulletins for the month leading up to the initial test transmissions in September that same year.
Monday (27tn Sept) saw the team, with help from Paul Hickling, rigging the aerial outside of the temporary location of Saint FM (Mike Olsson's front yard). >>
After a couple glitches, the aerial was up and the first FM signal was transmitted. Angela and Emma-Jane took a drive around for a ‘covert’ investigation into the quality and coverage of the signal in Jamestown and surrounding area on the West side of the island... We were on our way and the race was now on to furbish and finalise new premises for the station.
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