Karonga Diocese’s Tuntufye Radio Hits The Airwaves

After waiting for some time,Tuntufye Radio Station that belongs to Karonga Diocese of the Catholic Church in Malawi has hit the airwaves, Bishop Martin Mtumbuka has confirmed.

The radio station adds the number of Catholic Media Houses which are Radio Maria in Mangochi Diocese,Radio Alinafe of Lilongwe Archdiocese and Tigabane Radio of Mzuzu Diocese.There is also Luntha Television and Montfort Media in Balaka.

Responding to a questionnaire,Bishop Mtumbuka said he is deeply pleased that the diocese has now reached a stage of establishing the Radio Station.

“As a Diocese we are deeply pleased that we have reached this stage of establishing the Radio Station. Of course what we have started doing today is no more than signal-testing.
We will continue doing so for some time because we are yet to install the big transmitters which are due to arrive in the country within the next two weeks. But reaching this far is very gratifying indeed and we are very grateful to all those who have support us,” said Bishop Mtumbuka.

Bishop Mtumbuka who is also the Chairperson for Social Communications Commission at the Episcopal Conference of Malawi said establishing a radio station is not a small job for anyone – let alone for a young and small Diocese like Karonga.

“A lot of work had to be done with very few people to assist us. As mentioned above we still have to install the big transmitters. So there is still a lot of work to be done. The transmitter we are using now is very small – it can fit in a briefcase. But thanks to advances in technology, with it we are able to reach around 50,000 within and around Karonga Township,”he said.

According to Bishop Mtumbuka,this is one of the very first projects the diocese thought of when it started as a Diocese.

He said the Diocese of Karonga has 6 parishes but with only 16 priests and that the terrain in some of the parishes is extremely difficult in terms of movement of both goods and people.

He said, “Furthermore, we are the only Diocese in Malawi that has large areas where no priest has been to since the Church was born. These are places where there is no road, no school, no hospital, no Church etc. Against this background it was very clear to me from the very beginning of the existence of the Diocese that a radio station would be the most effective means of reaching out to the people within the Diocese with the Good News of Salvation and development which is part of Salvation”.

Bishop Mtumbuka said Chitumbuka, Kya Ngonde, Chindali and English will be the mail languages when broadcasting its programs.

The radio station has financially been supported by Church in Need, Missio Aachen and the Archdiocese of Cologne. Radio Tigabane has also given a lot of technical assistance for the establishment of the radio station.