In the middle of the laborious task of planning the schedule for ten days of 12-hour long live broadcasts, TGM co-founder Ardene Sirjoo suddenly stopped and said, “Wow, “Could you imagine how good intimate performances from people like Ophelia Maria from Dominica, Renette Desir from Haiti, and our local artistes will be in our Festival Radio studio?”
With just over a week to go to Carifesta XIV, it’s all systems go at TGM as we prepare to run the festival’s official online radio station – Festival Radio.
From the visual arts to the culinary arts, Carifesta XIV, which kicks off in Port of
Spain from August 16 will see hundreds of events taking place across a range of
artistic platforms. So how does one keep up?
Festival Radio, is just the thing for those who can’t be at this incredible display of Caribbean culture. Our mix of live interviews, reviews, performances and news will enable those listening near and far to get a proper appreciation of the vibrancy of this
festival taking place across Trinidad and Tobago.
The online station which begins broadcasting with coverage of the Opening
Ceremony on August 16.
One of Festival Radio’s big highlights and unique selling points is the broadcast of
three radio dramas, that were co-produced with Sparklab Productions in Manchester,
UK for BBC Radio 3.
Writers were chosen after a call-out for submissions earlier this year. They were
asked to come up with bold, original ideas that reflect contemporary life in the
Caribbean. The three writers commissioned were Derron Sandy, Kyle Hernandez
and Elisha Efua Bartels.
Mel Harris, founder of Sparklab spent two weeks in Trinidad working with the writers
and directing the actors.
The plays will premiere on August 18, 19 and 20 with rebroadcasts from August 22
to 24.
They will be broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio 3 in mid-September.
Festival Radio for Carifesta XIV is following in the tradition of other festival radio
stations like Worthy FM for the Glastonbury Music Festival in the UK and Coachella
Radio for the Coachella Valley Festival in California in providing special content for
listeners and essential news and updates for Festival patrons.
HOW TO LISTEN
Listeners can tune in to Festival Radio via the Carifesta XIV app for IOS and Android
and on this site.
Festival Radio will also livestream selected segments of their broadcast via
Facebook – Trini Good Media and on Instagram – @trinigoodmedia.
For more information, email festivalradiott@gmail.com or call 708-6362/463-4297.
Your Carifesta coverage is just extraordinary from the range of high-quality interviews, in-depth research and supeb radio hosts. It’s radio at its best. Fully engaging, fully informative and with rado plays along with very brilliant music! Caribbean powers should take this forward as a regional channel.
Thank you for your kind words Chris!