Reforming broadcasting industry through Culture

Every culture has a dual tendency, one towards stability and another towards change.

Surprisingly, on numerous occasions, even normally intelligent and knowledgeable Africans, erroneously and inadvertently conceptualize their culture as only “drumming and dancing” and therefore fail to see any of the contributions this culture has made or makes to the struggle for socio-economic development.

In 2020, we evidenced a positive step when the Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced at a meeting with the Electronic Media Content Owners Association of Nigeria (ENCOAN) in Lagos that, the country will reform its broadcast industry and enforce at least 70 percent cultural and local content in radio and television programs.

The world is constantly evolving whether how we advance digitally, how we view our political climate, or even how we view our planet’s actual climate. Obviously, this evolution brings out our core human ability of adapting to change.

It is an understatement to say that the Internet has changed our lives forever. And with that technological leap forward we are still adapting and unfolding new possibilities to become ever more connected.

In this article, we will dive deeper into how, a digital transformation organization like AKTINA Productions, Inc ., which took the leap, managed successfully to rise to the top while promoting specific cultures through its owned and operated media assets and activities.

AKTINA Productions, Inc., is a New York-based non-profit and tax-exempt under 501 (c) 3 Media and Arts Cultural organization founded and established in early 1993.

The organization is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the rich heritage and cultures of Cyprus and Greece through radio, television and live performances for the benefit of Greek and Greek Cypriot Americans of all generations and of the general public of all ethnic backgrounds.

Through these activities, AKTINA also focuses in strengthening the cultural bonds of immigrant Greek and Greek Cypriots that unite them with their ancestral homelands, Greece and Cyprus.

AKTINA Productions, Inc., owns and operates the public service media outlets, AKTINA FM (EST. May 1993) and AKTINA TV (EST. April 2002), both non-profit and commercial-free, founded by AKTINA’s President, Elena Maroulleti.

AKTINA FM and AKTINA TV also focus on the promotion and preservation of the Hellenic identity, culture and folklore in America, including matters that relate to the Greek and Greek Cypriot American community, the national issues of Greece and Cyprus, including topics of wide public interest pertaining to life in America, social issues, education, health, good community relations, politics, quality of life among other.

In support of its cultural mission and activities, AKTINA Productions, Inc., also owns and operates ten websites, which carry the AKTINA FM name-brand and also stream the radio station worldwide everyday 24 hours 7 days a week. Furthermore, AKTINA collaborates with the veteran non-profit and tax-exempt New York-based cultural organization CYPRECO of America, Inc., for the delivery and streaming of AKTINA FM on CYPRECO’s three owned and operated websites.

Streaming simultaneously across the aforementioned 13 websites, AKTINA FM delivers online unique programs and content to local, regional, national, and international audiences. All AKTINA FM streaming websites combined reach over 3.8M listeners.

From this audience, some 1M are dedicated listeners from the Tri-State area of New York and beyond. In addition, several thousands of other listeners stream AKTINA FM “On the Go or at Home” from their smart speakers or mobile devices through TuneIn, Amazon Echo (Alexa), GoogleHome and SIRI among others and from several Online Radio Streaming Platforms which carry AKTINA FM.

In 2003, AKTINA Productions, Inc., introduced and established the AKTINA TV Youtube Channel, a very popular online channel with over six and a half thousand subscribers and with overall views of its videos surpassing 1M annually, while some videos individually surpass 3.5M in views.

AKTINA Productions, Inc., further implements its cultural mission with the production of live programs pertaining to the culture, folklore, music, dances and the literary arts of Greece and Cyprus with local musicians and artists. Of much acclaim are the concerts from AKTINA’s series, GREEK MUSIC JOURNEY (GMJ) which features the most distinguished and representative singers and musicians who are invited from Greece to perform at renowned landmark theaters in Manhattan, New York.

Greek Music Journey (GMJ) Concert Series was introduced in 1994 and fully established in 1997 with a purpose to promote and preserve different aspects of the representative music of Greece such as, the traditional, folk, popular folk and rembetika genres which comprise the basis of Greek music.

For three consecutive years, in 1998, 1999 and 2000 GMJ was selected by the Lincoln Center concert committee to represent Greece during their annual “Lincoln Center Out Of Doors Festival” given every August before over 10,000 spectators. On March 7, 1999, AKTINA’s Greek Music Journey was given at Manhattan’s prestigious landmark theater, The Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.

The sold-out performance featured 34 Greek American performers consisting of singers, musicians and folk dancers in a one of a kind musical production which showcased the different representative music genres of Greece such as, Byzantine, Demotic, Island Folk, Rembetika, Laika (popular-folk) and Contemporary.

Conclusion and Advice

The importance of the promotion and preservation of every country’s distinct cultural heritage within its own society by media cannot be overstressed, especially in developing African countries such as Nigeria. Culture is learned socially through the acquired traditions and lifestyles of that society.

The promotion and transmission of the Nigerian cultural heritage has been a herculean task to accomplish because western cultures and media have created undeniable changes in the Nigerian cultural space, subjecting it to continuous changes, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.

Hence, there is a dire need for the Nigerian media to counter or check the influx of western media influential content and increase their efforts towards the promotion and preservation of the indigenous culture.

Mass media play a key role in preserving a cultural heritage because they promote awareness of the traditional values and practices that further highlight the importance of unique customs and beliefs that help keep alive the knowledge and the unique experiences for future generations and furthermore, provide access to a diverse range of cultural expressions.

Mass and digital communications Companies around the globe need to adopt similar operating cultural norms, practices and procedures such as those of AKTINA Productions Inc., for the promotion of their country’s history, culture and heritage so these won’t be eroded when they reach the next generations. The cultural benefits to be provided of such adaptation will be numerous and enormous for all concerned.