Bridging The Gap

NEWSTALK 93 FM UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, MONA CAMPUS

Prepared by Hugh Douse

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

Ever since the great captivity of over 20 million Africans and the attendant kidnapping and holocaust which created a great rupture in the family of peoples from the continent, there has been a sense of yearning, a void to be filled and a wound to be healed between those at home and those taken. Those who have had the opportunity to go (back) to Africa and enter through the ‘Door of Return’ have experienced the reconnection to the homeland that Africa’s diaspora still experiences a longing for. This longing is expressed in many ways, both consciously and unconsciously. A sense of displacement from the place of origin brings this displacement into the new home; a feeling of what W.E.B. Dubois calls a ‘diasporic double-consciousness’. The diasporas of Africa include people of mixed race, many of whom have Africa not as their only ancestral home, but as a place of longing and desire.

BRIDGING THE GAP

Bridging The Gap is a Radio programme for the entire African family, and those who are interested in the advance of the African family and the human family. The idea of bridging a gap is the creation of an active process of reconnection of access across the rupture of connection that the diaspora and the motherland, Africa, continue to strive to close. A brige also denotes a journey as well as a place of exchange, yet commonality, of bonding, of unity.

The show is not intended to be exclusive as dialogue will be had with persons from all global ethnicities and spaces once it is pertinent to the issues of Africa and her diasporas all over the world. It is particular however about the advancement of arguably the most disadvantaged group of humans in modern history. The tone of the programme will not emphasize victimhood, but, rather, empowerment. The tone will be highly energetic and celebratory; it will have the feel of a family reunion. It will fall into a practice of Stuart Hall’s theory of Representation as, even though the conversation will initially be between a Jamaican Radio Station, NewsTalk 93 FM and a Ghanian Radio Station (to be named), the two ends of the conversation will represent Africa at home on one end and the African Diaspora at the other. The programme will be aware of the diasporic double consciousness and tease out the common threads that bind the African family at home and abroad and will resist any feature which subordinates Africa at home or sets up any notion of western philosophical domination, which is at times noticed with some African diasporans from particular spaces.

CONTENT

The programme will be a news, entertainment and magazine programme, which will begin as a one-hour long programme initially airing on Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Jamaica Time/ 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m. Ghana Time. The programme time may need, in the future, to be expanded to two hours. It will feature, among other things,

Culture

Traditional Music

Contemporary/Popular Music

Spiritual Music

Artiste Interviews

Business Profile Interviews

News Items

Academic Interviews

Investment Opportunity Focus

Conversations with Government Officials

History Focus

All of these segments would not happen every week, but on a more detailed schedule all of these areas would be explored every two weeks; some weekly, some bi-weekly.

SAMPLE 90 MINUTE PROGRAM

(TIME-CLOCK)

00:00 Theme Music

Possible Theme Songs:

Tarrus Riley’s “Shaka Zulu Pickney” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgcIJAvkH6E “Africa Unite”, Bob Marley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff_7HsTYHnw “‘

“Africa Awaits Its Creators”Ewan Naptalihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFusdN_pH6s

00:01 Introduction to BRIDGING THE GAP (While theme song continues)

Introduction program’s theme for the day, name the guests and features for the show. Mention is made of the primary sponsor. The call letters and frequency for both radio station, (Shared by both hosts.)

00:04 Ishe Oluwa (Gospel Music Corner) “Tambira Jehova” Mkhululi ft Joyous Celebration Choir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgHK-WryPRc

00:08 Commercial break. Remind listeners to keep listening by highlighting what is coming up after the break. (Until we have commercials, we can provide promos for other NewsTalk93 programs–other programs will be promoting ours.)

00:11 Theme Music back into program

00:12 Interview: Professor Emeritus Rupert Lewis of the University of the West Indies on linking Marcus Garvey and the 100^th Anniversary of the First International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World with the Black Lives Matter Movement

00:25 Theme Music into 2nd commercial break

00:26 Burna Boy’s “Wonderful” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k33o1IgtUEM

00:28 Artiste Interview: Burna Boy “Ye”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPe09eE6Xio

00:38 Burna Boy’s “Another Story” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXbWwR4rSmY

00:45 Music News From Jamaica, Ghana and the wider regions

00:49 Toots Hibbert “Bam Bam” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w68cxXI0DBA

00:52 Artiste Obituary: Toots Hibbert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozvwg9xC8Qs

00:55 Toots Hibbert “54-46” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhI3iVQfJ1g

00:57 Theme Music into 3rd commercial break

01:07 Government To Government: Culture Ministers

Jamaica’s Hon. Olivia Babsy Grange and Ghana’s Hon. Catherine Afeku

01:17 Conclude interview and thank guests.

01:20 Business and Investment Opportunity News – Jamaica/Ghana or Africa/Diaspora

01:28 Outro: Preview next week’s programme and thank listeners for joining today.

01:29 “Country Road” Toots Hibbert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeVRaxHtwuk

SOCIAL MEDIA COMPONENT

The Programme would also be available also via Social Media, particularly YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. As such there would be a visual component to the broadcast. Staff will be dedicated to the maintenance of these pages. They will also allow for live interaction during the show with its audiences on all platforms.

SPONSORSHIP

Sponsorship would be sought from companies and organizations in both regions who are, or are interested in investing in both regions particularly those with origins in the African continent or the African Diaspora.

These include organizations like: