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Testing the waves
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by Nicholas Noe
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 Despite Egypt’s reputation as a regional leader in radio programming, the past few years have made it clear that the country lags far behind its neighbors when it comes to adapting the sector to global trends.
Because of an excruciatingly slow reform process and a government long used to controlling radio spectrum as the primary mechanism of public exhortation, the private FM market is still limited to the same two broadcasters as it was four years ago when the government granted the first such licenses.
Now, however, things might be changing, say industry insiders. Rumors abound, admittedly as they have for several years, that at least four companies are vying for FM licenses with the government – two non-profit and two commercial.
What makes the rumors more credible is that the Egyptian government has been encouraged by its recent privatization of the GSM sector, as well as by the generally uncontroversial operation of both the English-language Nile FM 104.2, which accounts for the bulk of the advertising revenue in the country, and its sister Arabic station Nagoom FM 100.6.
“The government is looking at establishing a regulatory body for the sector,” said Ahmed Fahmy, director of programming at the parent company for both stations, Nile Radio Productions (NRP). “Without this, nothing further will happen… but the GSM model, with its regulatory body, has been successful.”
Still, even if more stations come online, the sector will have a long way to go to catch up with other regional markets.
According to a recent report by the Arab Advisors Group, Egypt lags far behind when it comes to average advertising rates: just $55 for a 30-second spot on a weekday compared to Gulf averages of about $100. Total advertising revenues, according to most analysts, are thought to amount to no more than $5 million each year, with most of that sum taken by NRP since government channels carry little in the way of advertising.
“Egypt is quite far down in our comparison of seven representative countries in the region,” explained Nadine Usta, an analyst at Arab Advisors Group.
“It’s attributable to the large number of government owned stations and the lack of private stations,” she added, pointing to the seven state-owned regional radio stations covering the country that are complemented by Radio Monte Carlo, BBC’s Arabic service, and an often-faint signal from Radio Sawa.
“It’s a very sensitive situation for the government,” explained Fahmy. “They are paranoid about what you will do with an FM license.”
Even if lingering paranoia delays the formation of a regulatory body, Nagoom, which focuses on Arab pop music, and Nile FM, with its US-UK Top Forty format, have already had a liberalizing influence on the government-owned channels.
As the most significant example, Egypt’s main government-owned entertainment station, Asharq al Awsat 89.5 FM, is now revamping its format along the lines of Nagoom – adding interactive features, mixed formatting and pushing advertising as a core mission. The government also recently leased airtime to a private company called Goal FM that produces interactive programming before and after football matches.
Of course, several constants are expected to remain long into the future. For one, even as the government-owned stations adapt their formatting, it is unlikely that popular Lebanese artists such as Nancy Ajram or Haifa Wehbe will be heard on them. That’s because the radio and television union has to approve all artists for airtime. Since the union favors Egyptian singers, and is loath to give up its control over the state-supported stations, significant gaps in the governmental play list will persist.
Another item that probably won’t change, at least in the near future: the ability to broadcast news.
“We would love to do news but our license does not permit us,” explained Alison Esprit, Program Controller at Nile FM.
While Fahmy expects the government to allow a certain number of “baby steps” – for example broadcasting pre-approved news headlines – real format flexibility is indeed probably a long way off.
Also a long way off is apparently an end to government blunders. Several weeks ago, Nagoom and Nile were forced off the air for several days because a government engineer thought he could stuff two more government stations onto the already crowded transmitter used by NRP.
The result was a complete burnout that necessitated an emergency trip by an engineer from Germany. Unfortunately, and in an ironic twist, the cost of the repairs probably would have paid for some of the market research that NRP has been unable to initiate on its own.
Still, with the possible entrance of as many as four new stations, Egyptian radio might yet reach a scale where reliance on limited government transmitter space as well as self-reliance when it comes to understanding the market landscape are no longer the norm. Perhaps then the sector will finally be able to seize the initiative on the Middle East’s airwaves – an initiative which Egypt first realized long ago, but which is now carried by others.
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