TONGA'S first women-led community 98FM radio station called Voice of the people (Le'o 'o e Kakai) 98FM radio station was launched in Nuku'alofa on September 16 for a one week trial run featuring programs on women's and youth issues.

Using the suitcase radio technology, the station is based at the Ma'a Fafine Community Media Centre at Fasi and operated by eight women led by Bale Huni who have been trained over the past months to operate the station.

Betty Blake, President of the Ma'afafine and Family said to day that their first day of broadcast in Nuku'alofa was only a trial run from September 19-23 to test out that they are not interfering with the frequency of other radio stations in the capital.

She said their programs for this week will be include one on one interviews with women and youth, particularly young women from the various communities.

Through their life stories these women would identify the issues and challenges they are facing as women in Tonga and they would then include in their programs women who are experts in certain fields like CEOs in Government Ministries to provide sound advice on issues highlighted by community women.

Betty added that because World Day of Peace is marked on Wednesday, September 21 their news would also highlight peace in their dialogue.

The station has been given a temporary licence by the Ministry of Communications to operate this week and was launched by the CEO of the Ministry of Communications, Paula Ma'u.

She said the radio would open again open only from November 25 to December 10 for 16 days of activism when they would hold programs featuring NGO's who are lobbying against such issues as domestic violence.

International Women's Day

The radio would start operating on a fixed routine when it is officially launched on May 8, 2012 the International Women's Day and will air from Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

This is the second community radio station established within the Regional Women's Media and Policy Network coordinated by FEMLINKPACIFIC and the Generation Next Project.

The community media project is based at Ma'afafine mo e Fafine in partnership with FEMLINKPACIFIC and supported with funds from AUSAID and Canada Fund.

The 100-watts transmitter can be heard by listeners in a 10- kilometre radius from the centre at Fasi.