News / Regional
Baboons force radio station off air
01 Oct 2015 at 06:41hrs | Views
Newly launched YA FM radio station in Zvishavane has been knocked off air amid reports that daring baboons eat parts of the transmission cables.
The station's chief executive officer, Munyaradzi Hwengwere, a troop of baboons ate through their fibre optic cables while Davis Mugadza was broadcasting the breakfast show, forcing them to go off air for an hour.
Hwengwere said they realised something was wrong when one of their radios went quiet.
"We've a radio in the studio which abruptly went quiet. We initially thought it was the ongoing load shedding programme by Zesa, but we later realised the lights were on.
"We'd to contact Tel-One technicians to assist and discovered our transmission tower which is in a mountainous place had been preyed on by baboons. I'm told there were more than five of them that ate into the cable. When we got to the tower, we saw the baboons scurrying away," Hwengwere said.
He said the disruption which saw them going back on air at 10AM from about 9AM cost them about $1,200 in commercial adverts which were scheduled to flight during that period.
The station's chief executive officer, Munyaradzi Hwengwere, a troop of baboons ate through their fibre optic cables while Davis Mugadza was broadcasting the breakfast show, forcing them to go off air for an hour.
Hwengwere said they realised something was wrong when one of their radios went quiet.
"We'd to contact Tel-One technicians to assist and discovered our transmission tower which is in a mountainous place had been preyed on by baboons. I'm told there were more than five of them that ate into the cable. When we got to the tower, we saw the baboons scurrying away," Hwengwere said.
He said the disruption which saw them going back on air at 10AM from about 9AM cost them about $1,200 in commercial adverts which were scheduled to flight during that period.
Source - Chronicle
