1. Background
Bui Division is one of the 7 divisions that make up the North West Region of Cameroon. The North West Region is highly deprived in regards to communication except for the capital, Bamenda. The rural areas, because of their hilly nature, have limited access to the National Radio and Television as well as to the Regional Radio situated in Bamenda. It was because of this limited exposure to the audio-visual communication media that our NGO, the Apiculture and Nature Conservation Organisation decided to help the Bui community with a population of 350,000, get a powerful radio station.

Working with Radio Active in Britain, and a few public spirited persons, the radio equipment with a 300 watts transmitter was procured and the tower built. The Bui Community Radio (BCR) station located in Kumbo, formally submitted its application file to the Ministry of Communication in July 2009 and in September began broadcasting.

2. Coverage The signals from BCR station are received all over Bui Division and some parts of 3 neighbouring Divisions, namely: Donga-Mantung, Ngoketungia and Noun, the last found in the Western Region, thus reaching an estimated population of over 750,000.

3. Objectives The objectives range from entertaining, educating and informing to contributing in the fight against poverty, (through income generating activities and sustainable farming systems) HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (Article 2).

4. Management of BCR BCR is managed on a day to day basis by an experienced, qualified station Manager assisted by 3 unit heads (Programs, Technical and Finance) The manager is placed under the supervision / direction of the Technical Management Committee (Article 5.2.6) a sub committee of the Management Board. The latter consists of representatives of various sectors of the Bui Community (Article 6). It meets twice a year, formulates general policy, approves annual budget as well as plan of work for the following year. The Bui Community Radio is a Project of ANCO, the Apiculture and Nature Conservation Organization www.anco-cameroon.org which took the lead in its realization.

5. Challenges Still struggling to build its structures both physical and social, the BCR is handicapped by many challenges three of the top ones being:
+ Power Irregularity. The national power grid is most unreliable. We have thus had to procure a UPS and a generator. Conscious of the negative impact of gas-produced power we have planned to replace the generator with either solar or wind system if assistance can be obtained
+ Untrained Staff. BCR badly needs access to training opportunities. None of our present staff has been formally trained.
+ Equipment. BCR station is handicap by the lack of a lap top, a computer, and 3 recorders

Bui FM97.5/November 2009