Jamaica's newest radio station, The Edge 105, will begin scheduled broadcasts tomorrow morning with the promise of providing listeners with programming that will help them live more useful lives plus wholesome, first-rate music from across the world.
The Edge is owned by S&B Communications, a Jamaica Observer affiliate, and will feature media savant Richard “Richie B” Burgess, who returns to the airwaves from a five-year hiatus, as the host of Top of the Morning starting at 6:00 am to 10:00 am. Top of the Morning is designed to get listeners in the frame of mind to take on the work day.
Burgess will be followed by singer/songwriter-turned podcaster Tami Chin Mitchell on Live Out Loud from 10:00 am to 12 noon. She will provide music and life-inspiring talk segments with the clear purpose of transforming the lives of listeners.
Between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm university lecturer Georgia Crawford will delve into issues that are mainly common to women in the programme call Un-Filtered.
Songstress Alaine Laughton, otherwise simply Alaine, will pilot the 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm slot called High Frequency, a programme is designed to bring expression to the cultural realities of the country while providing a recipe of what it takes for the audience stay true and grounded in their lives.
The last show of the day, called Home Run, is between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm and is hosted by another veteran broadcaster, Deon Mattis. She will take on the challenge of calming the minds of her audience who may have had a hectic day at work and are looking forward to the solace of their home. Mattis will make the things at home appear fun and welcoming while helping listeners to make better choices in their career and life in general.
A kaleidoscope of uptempo reggae hits from across the world will be presented in-between programmes.
The Edge, which can be heard on frequencies 105.3 FM in Kingston and other parishes, and 105.1 FM in central Jamaica, has been garnering much curiosity and ovation since its test music broadcasts launched two weeks ago.
On Friday, at a pre-launch staff orientation at the Observer's headquarters on Beechwood Avenue in St Andrew, Broadcasting Commission Jamaica Executive Director Cordel Green praised the station for its format.
“What you are doing with The Edge, given the goal you have for the station to change mindsets, is not just changing the radio landscape here in Jamaica, but certainly around the world,” he said.
S&B Communications General Manager Ronnie Sutherland expanded on Green's comments, saying: “There is a view that there are too many radio stations on the island. I beg to differ. What we saw was too few radio stations that help their listeners to live more useful lives. That is exactly what The Edge is here to address.”
He added that the station will celebrate the vast influence that Jamaican music and culture have had on the world, arguing that Jamaica should take charge of the discourse as a source of inspiration.
Sutherland explained that the mix of programmes across the day is purposely designed to inform, entertain and inspire the audience.
“The station has determined from research that people experience different moods during the day, reflecting the varying levels of pressure they are facing. As a consequence,we will offer one hour of uplifting and inspiring gospel and secular music from 5:00 am daily,” Sutherland added.
Credit: Jamaica Observer -- http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/new-station_186730?profile=1373