On Tuesday, March 8 – observed globally as International Women’s Day — women were given an additional reason for celebration with the coming into law of the long-awaited Domestic Violence Bill. However, supporters of the UWP were ironically being encouraged to protest, outside the parliament, against the closure of Sky FM, a radio station that has been operated without a broadcasting license for a long time.
In an appeal on one of the UWP’s official online groups, Rene Prudent disclosed that SKY FM, which has been operating for quite some time in violation of related broadcasting laws, had officially been closed by the island’s regulators.
SKY FM’s illegal operation was brought to the station’s attention by letter last year, from the Minister Responsible for Telecommunications, Senior Minister Stephenson King.
However, the station’s owners and operators disregarded the Minister’s letter, as well as similar communication of the station’s breach of the law from the National Regulators, the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC).
According to Prudent’s Facebook post on Monday evening (March 7): “Late this afternoon, SKY FM received a letter from the NTRC ordering that we cease all broadcasting.
“Therefore, in light of this latest development, we are left with no choice but to ask our supporters to congregate outside of Saint Lucia’s Parliament this morning…”
SKY FM hasn’t issued a statement on the issue and the police are not known to have given any permission for the proposed protest gathering outside parliament, nonetheless, the protests went on outside the parliament.
