Council signs accord with ACAF for production of Ràdio Illa content

The Formentera Island Council and the Associació Àudiovisual de Formentera (ACAF), signed this morning a collaborative agreement to administer Ràdio Illa content over the course of the year. Cost of the service is 33,000€, higher than last year's figure of 28,000€. This, as announced today by Jaume Ferrer, president of the Island Council, and Sònia Cardona.

The accord's signing represents a step forward in the establishment of our public radio, while also providing for new content in the weekly programming and strengthening weekend programmes and coverage of sports and cultural events. The objective behind ACAF is to provide a daily, local information service, both national and international, and to simultaneously promote culture, music, sport and local participation.

ACAF was founded in 2006 as a not-for-profit organisation, formed by IT professionals from the island and volunteers and founding members of Ràdio Illa (1986), who began work to reestablish the station's activity, which some years prior had ceased to make regular broadcasts.

In March 2008, ACAF signed an accord with the Formentera Island Council by which the former assured content production for the municipal radio station, the idea being to offer a professional public communication service adapted to new technologies. That same year, ACAF began to broadcast a 2-hour, weekly news magazine (every Saturday) called “Formentera a prop” (“Formentera close-by”) and hosted by Josep Rubio. The programme gradually took form and in May 2009 it became a daily, morning news magazine called “De Far a Far” (“From Lighthouse to Lighthouse”), with new coordinator Toni Ruiz joining in 2011. Today, the Ràdio Illa station keeps its programme schedule complete from 8 am to 12 noon, with news bulletins at midday and nighttime programmes.

Ràdio Illa has established itself as a reference in current events on the island, incorporating new sections and adapting its format to the demands of listeners. Apart from informing on day-to-day news events and providing press reviews, “De Far a Far” includes some twenty collaborators that offer a wide array of perspectives in culture, art, gastronomy, news, comedy and politics. The commentating provided by Ràdio Illa on a daily basis is especially significant, constituting as it does a forum for social debate which promotes local participation.

In recent years, ACAF has overseen important achievements at Ràdio Illa, first among them the station's presence on the social networks (Facebook and Twitter), in addition to the station's new website. The page, sleeker and more functional, puts more services within the reach of listeners and makes improvements to the online listening system.

This has allowed for increased listener interaction, which has implied greater local participation and richer programme content. Moreover, the Ràdio Illa profile is right now one of the most participative digital forums on the island.

Another important milestone has been raising the station's presence on a street-level. Over time the station began to cover important cultural events on Formentera like the festivities organised around the Day of Sant Jaume, those of Santa Maria, and others still. Especially notable this year is has been the devotion of resources to sports coverage, certainly evident during S.D. Formentera's classification for the third division.