ANNUAL REPORT
Year ending 31 March 2007
Foreword by Chairperson
Echo Radio, as its listeners know, continues to broadcast a weekly roundup of news and current affairs from the Netherlands as well as news of the Dutch community around New Zealand on Access Radio.
That this continues to be the case is the result of the hard work of those who produce the programme and the funders who make it possible. 2006-7 was a business-as-usual year except for a period of illness, which showed us how dependent Echo Radio is on Theo Boekel whose commitment and expertise enable the programme to go to air.
The request from one of our funders to provide a strategic plan for the next few years gave the Board of Echo Radio an opportunity to reflect on the future and our dependence on the team who produce the programme and the funders who pay for the air- time.
The Board is particularly conscious of the crucial role played by the
Friends of Echo Radio. The Friends are both our listeners and our
financial supporters. They therefore provide a vital bridge between
these two elements of the Board's strategic mission. Echo Radio needs
its Friends and the Board is very grateful for the fact that it has so
many loyal friends.
As friends you are not alone. Others who fund the transmission of Echo Radio's programme include our regular and much valued supporters: The Lotteries Grants Board, the Canterbury Community Trust, and The Christchurch Netherlands Society.
Programme material continues to be provided by the Wereld Omroep of Radio Nederland without which the programme would not have its essential connection with what is happening in the Netherlands.
This year Echo Radio also received an additional grant from the Pub Charity, which helped to pay for a new computer for the studio.
The Netherlands Migration Fund also became a life member. It is notable that this last organisation was set up to help Dutch migrants settle in their new homelands. Receiving support from the Netherlands for the work of Echo Radio is an acknowledgement that the relationship of migrants with their country of origin never disappears. It is part of every migrant's experience that home is always to some degree where you came from.
Our plans, mentioned in last year's annual report, for the production of
a brochure and new logo are still pending but these should be produced
this year. The Board has also not had continuing contact with the
Hogeschool Utrecht on possible help by way of Dutch broadcasting
students coming to New Zealand. Cost here seems to be the main factor.
Broadcasting students in the Netherlands who are on work experience
expect to be paid and don't expect to travel to the other side of the
world at their own expense.
One matter of interest is worth sharing with our Friends and other readers of this report. Annually Echo Radio representatives attend the AGM of the Netherlands Society in Christchurch to thank it for funding the air-time for Echo Radio broadcasts in the Canterbury region.
This year the AGM was remarkable for the fact that recent migrants and second -generation migrants sought office for the Society and were elected. A few years ago it might have appeared that the formal manifestations of Netherlands community would gradually disappear. So it was great to hear a recent migrant talking about the importance of Sinterklaas and other Dutch festivities for her children and a second- generation migrant wishing to put something back into the Dutch community he was born into in New Zealand.
It is the wish
to Echo Radio to continue to serve its regular listeners as well as this
new potential set of listeners and to keep them in contact with what is
happening in the Netherlands, and to do so in the Dutch language.
I am also happy to share the news that two members of the Board who produce the weekly programme have become engaged.
Koen Kuiper