In January, 2011 Breeze FM hosted a professional colleague based in Tanzania, Peter Erichs. Peter is a Swedish national and is a specialist in media and communication. He is a radio producer by training and has worked for local and national media in Sweden.
Peter is on leave of absence from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in Stockholm where he has been working with the international media support cooperation programme since 1992. He was responsible for elaborating SIDA’s first media policy and developed cooperation with the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA).
Since 2008 Peter has been in Tanzania with his family. Peter’s visit to Chipata was intended to enable him get a first hand picture of Breeze FM operations. He had read about the radio station on the internet and was interested in its approach to engaging with the community and its efforts to attain sustainability.
‘My aim was to find out how Breeze FM is working and if the Breeze FM model could be a valuable experience for Tanzanian local radio stations,’’ he said.