30 years of Church’s radio broadcasting

March 14, 1992. I remember the day as if it were yesterday. Archbishop Joseph Mercieca, accompanied by Bishop Nikol Cauchi, inaugurated RTK, the Church-owned radio station. At least since 1986, the Church had expressed the wish to own a radio station. So, when in 1990 prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami offered a radio frequency, one would have thought that everything else should have been plain sailing. It was not. Questions about the radio format, its financing and relationship with the diocese of Gozo had to be ironed out. Archbishop Mercieca launched a wide consultation process during which two models were presented. One was a religious radio station in the strict sense of the word. The other was an all-format station with a Christian inspiration. The first presented direct religious content most of the time, the second inserted the Christian ethos as a leaven in different programmes. The second option received massive support. The founding stones of RTK: the first group of workers, presenters and volunteers led by Paul Attard (standing, front row, centre), the first station manager. In the diocese of Gozo there were those who preferred going it alone, supporting a station in...