A locally owned radio station is launching an eclectic programming format that will target the Asian market of both Guam residents and visitors.
Guam Broadcasting’s principals include Gary W.F. “Frank” Gumataotao vice president and general manager of Island Equipment Corp. with 40% ownership; Toyohito Yoneyama vice president and treasurer 20% ownership; and Yasunori Kawauchi secretary with 40% ownership.
Kawauchi told the Journal Koreans Japanese and Chinese are the company’s target market. He said tourists and expatriate residents should enjoy the station.
“We don’t have the programming yet but it will be in Korean Japanese Chinese and English ” he said. Kawauchi said Guam Broadcasting has spent about $300 000 on a tower and transmitter that will transmit to about 83% of the island. The tower will be placed atop the newer Pacific Islands Club Guam building in Tumon.
Kawauchi said he could not discuss the details behind the agreement with PIC. Bartley A. Jackson general manager of Pacific Islands Club Guam said he was “not at liberty to discuss the details” of that arrangement. “We do have the tallest building on the island. Many cell phone companies have their antennas here and it would make sense that a radio station would be here too. I can tell you that all our tenants pay ” he said.
The station has four people on staff already.
Kawauchi said the studio is small — about 150 square feet — and located at the La Casa De Collina building 200 Chichirica Street behind the DFS Galleria. Kawauchi said the station is still considering under what name it will do business.
Kawauchi said the idea of a radio station targeting Asians was his idea.
He was a tour agent on Guam on Aug. 8 1993 when an 8.2 earthquake struck the island. “Japanese tourists were scared. The phones were not working. Nobody could communicate. So I called an FM station and asked to say a word on the air but they said no. After that I said I’d better start an FM station to give information to Japanese.” In 1997 he applied for a license with the Federal Communications Commission and received approval on Feb. 25.
The company’s goal is to create a network with radio stations in Korea Japan and China to webcast or stream live radio programming from Guam to those locales. “The market has changed. We used to wait for tourists now we have to be aggressive and go and get them ” Kawauchi said. “We can talk about the weather or what is happening on Guam.”
He is looking for companies that are interested in appealing to the market his company is targeting. “We need sponsors for air time ” Kawauchi said. MBJ
