ethioguide.com

16.10.2000

After listening to Noah Samara, the CEO of WorldSpace Saturday,
I ran out today to buy the WorldSpace receiver, which is pictured
above, taking a prominent space on my desk and opening a world
that's has been, until now, not available in Ethiopia.
I paid 1,460 birr (about $175 USD).I wonder how a farmer in Arsi, the
supposed beneficiary of this new technology, is going to afford to spend this kind of money?
I simply plugged the Panasonic receiver to the electrical outlet, stuck the
coaster-sized satellite receiver out my study window, and viola! I have over forty radio
stations (expected to grow) providing me with crystal clear, almost CD-quality music and
news. There are jazz, pop, rock, country, urban, African and other
type of music stations as well as educational and news stations such as
the BBC.

Incidentally, I heard a news report on the BBC this evening that
eight Eritrean journalists were detained by the government, ostensibly for avoiding
mandatory service. But the fact the arrests coincided with the plan
by papers in Eritrea to publish a critical open letter written to the government
by 13 Eritrean intellectuals in Germany has raised eyebrows.

--

(In case you are curious about the picture above, the posters in my study wall were given to me by
my friend Misrak Yoahnnes when I visited her graphic design company earlier
today (Modern Centre for Business Service, MCBS). Misrak had designed the
posters in minutes so she and her staff could ran out of their Bole Road office and
properly greet Ethiopian athletes returning from the Sydney Olympics a little more than a week ago.)

16.10.2000

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