The OBSERVER Goodwill Day committee, volunteers, staff and well-wishers are petitioning the public to donate to the OBSERVER Goodwill Day Project in an effort to preserve independent media in Antigua and Barbuda.
“Free media is one of the pillars of democracy, and if we are serious about democracy we have to protect free and independent media,” Cleon Athill, one of the Observer Goodwill Day committee members, said.
Dave Ray, the first ever Antigua and Barbuda Mr. Teenage winner and a volunteer for the day’s activity also spoke to the importance of the event.
“I am about democracy, and about having every voice be heard and people should have an area where they should be able to vent or share what they are going through. It shouldn’t be about any one side or one belief or one philosophy. That’s not how the world should work,” he said:
The project, which is being launched today, is encouraging the public at home and in the diaspora to make monetary contributions via the Observer Goodwill Project’s Go Fund Me and Facebook pages, Antigua Commercial Bank account #100-004-883 in the name of Newsco Limited-Projects, making pledges via telephone, or by hand delivering funds at a station located outside the ABI building on Redcliffe Street.
Today, also, radio listeners will be treated to a refresher of the history of the OBSERVER group, the predecessor for NEWSCO Limited.
To kick-start the day’s events, a number of guests, including Robert Derrick and Foster Derrick – brother and nephew, respectively, of the late founding brothers Fergie and Winston Derrick – among others, will appear on OBSERVER AM with host Daren Matthew-Ward from 7am.
The appearances continue on the Good Morning JoJo show with past staff members Mickel Brann and Julian Rogers, along with early radio show hosts such as Edward Mansoor, Colin Sampson and Deborah ‘Auntie Debbie’ Eckhert from 9 am.
Next, on Voice of the People with Paul Quinn and Franz DeFrietas, guests such as Valerie Hodge, Eutha Meade, Arvel Grant and a host of others will pay tribute to the show’s founder, Winston Derrick.
The line-up continues through the afternoon until midnight with a host of other guest appearances on OBSERVER PM, Ole Time Something, and the Snakepit, where a line-up of past and present contributors will chronicle OBSERVER’s journey from the past into the present.
Listeners are also being encouraged to call in to share their reflections and fondest memories of OBSERVER Radio.
The Observer Goodwill Project is expected to be an annual occurrence. Long live free and independent media!
