News story about ownership disputes surrounding radio station '90 FM' in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and the impact upon the news/talk radio format in the market, written by Grant Goddard in March 2004 for Radio World magazine.

1. NEWS: '90 FM' OWNERSHIP
DISPUTE DISRUPTS NEWS/TALK
FORMAT IN CAMBODIA
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
March 2004

2. Phnom Penh station “90 FM” is at the centre of an ownership dispute which
has led to two court cases and serious disruption of the station’s news/talk
format. The dispute results from the death by kidney failure of station director
Chhim Bunthorn on 2 December last year. Bunthorn’s widow Keo Sothea
issued a complaint in Phnom Penh Municipal Court that a man named Nhem
Sophana had taken over the station, and the presiding judge ruled in her
favour on 12 February. After the court verdict, Bunthorn’s brother Touch
Kongkea told The Cambodia Daily that “our 90 FM will broadcast only songs
and spot advertisements.” From 14 February, back-to-back music and
advertisements replaced regular talk shows by local radio personalities such
as Kem Sokha, the outspoken director of the Cambodian Centre For Human
Rights. A few days later, 90 FM broadcast every few hours an emotional pre-
recorded 10-minute plea by newly proclaimed owner Keo Sothea for listeners
to understand the problems she had faced at the station since her husband
died: “I did not rob anyone or any party’s property, but just took mine back.”
On 18 February, the US Embassy in Phnom Penh issued a statement that it
would “continue to follow closely the outcome of this dispute” over 90 FM
which could lead to “the loss of a vital source of news and information for the
Cambodian people.” The statement asserted: “The United States believes that
equal access to the airwaves is an essential cornerstone of democracy.” After
90 FM dropped his talk show, Kem Sokha told another Phnom Penh station
Radio Beehive: “It means they prevent my voice speaking to the listeners
regarding the problem of freedom, democracy and human rights.” Lu
Laysreng, Minister of Information for the opposition FUNCINPEC political
party, told Radio Beehive: “This is banditry. I would like to appeal to the judge
and prosecutor to re-examine this case.”
Deposed station director Nhem Sophana filed an immediate counter-
complaint, which was heard in the Municipal Court on 26 February. Judge Hing
Thirith revoked the court’s earlier ruling that had favoured Keo Sothea,
declared that fellow judge Kim Sophoan’s decision had been “wrong”, and
ruled that Nhem Sophana was henceforth the station’s rightful owner, on the
basis of documented evidence. An “urgent affair verdict” was issued, following
a request from Nhem Sophana’s lawyer that the court remove Keo Sothea
from the station premises. That afternoon, a dozen police and court officials,
accompanied by two fire trucks, arrived at 90 FM to enforce the order. Keo
Sothea took to the airwaves, sobbing and hysterical, asking listeners for help:
“If anything happens, me and my four children will kill and burn ourselves here
in this radio station.” Despite these threats, officials took the station off the air
peacefully at 3.30pm. By the evening, the station had resumed broadcasts and
was apparently in the hands of a FUNCINPEC-appointed trustee. Deposed
Keo Sothea, who said she would appeal the court’s latest decision, was
arrested the following day in connection with an outstanding warrant from last
December for alleged financial fraud. She was released on bail, though no
date has been set for her next court appearance.
The subsequent resumption of 90 FM’s news/talk format was welcomed by
human rights activist Kem Sokha, who told Radio Free Asia: “I am very
pleased my Centre [the Cambodian Centre For Human Rights] is able to
News: '90 FM' Ownership Dispute Disrupts News/Talk Format In Cambodia page 2
©2004 Grant Goddard

3. News: '90 FM' Ownership Dispute Disrupts News/Talk Format In Cambodia page 3
©2004 Grant Goddard
continue my programme for our people to listen to.” Jackson Cox, country
director of the US-based International Republican Institute which sponsors
Sokha’s show, added: “I am very happy that the ‘Voice of Democracy’
programme is now back on the air. Their programme is not only extremely
popular across the country, but it is very effective. The Cambodian Centre For
Human Rights is talking with people and strengthening democracy in
Cambodia.”
Since its launch in 1993 by the then governing FUNCINPEC party (National
United Front for an Independent, Peaceful and Co-operative Cambodia, led by
then Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh), 90 FM has had a tumultuous
history. It shut down in 1997 when FUNCINPEC lost power in a violent coup to
the Cambodian People’s Party until, the following year, the new government’s
Ministry of Information signed an order allowing the station to be re-opened by
Chhim Bunthorn. According to FUNCINPEC, Prince Ranariddh bought the
station back from Bunthorn in early 2001 for US$30,000 though no paperwork
exists to confirm the sale. In a document dated June 2001 and countersigned
by FUNCINPEC’s Lu Laysreng, Prince Ranariddh then transferred ownership
to a private company owned by Lay Chhum Sareth, who was named station
director. A subsequent letter from Laysreng dated March 2003 ordered Sareth
to be replaced as station director by Nhem Sophana, who is now at the centre
of the dispute with Bunthorn’s widow. It appears that Bunthorn remained a staff
member at 90 FM throughout these management changes. Cambodia’s
Ministry of Information would comment only that it was unaware of the
ownership dispute, but has recognised Nhem Sophana as the station’s director
for nearly a year.
Another pro-FUNCINPEC Phnom Penh radio station, FM 90.5 Ta Prohm, was
in the news last year when, on 18th October, its reporter Chour Chetharith was
shot in the head and killed by two gunmen as he left his car to enter the
station’s studio at 8.20am. The gunmen escaped by motorbike and have never
been apprehended. Only days earlier, Prime Minister Hun Sen (of the ruling
Cambodian People’s Party) had warned FM 90.5 to stop criticising his
speeches.
Phnom Penh presently has 17 FM stations, including full-time relays of the
BBC World Service and Radio France International, serving a capital city of
less than one million people. Although the law forbids political parties from
direct ownership of licences, many locally-owned stations have affiliations to
such parties, while others are owned by a joint venture involving Phnom Penh
Municipality, including Love FM, the only local English-language station that
plays all Western pop music.
[First published in 'Radio World' as 'Tumultuous Times At 90 FM', August 2004, p.5]
Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk