Niksic: I will spend Wednesday - Friday in the nearby town of Niksic (pronounced Nick-sheets). The city is Montenegro's second largest municipality and can trace it's roots to a 4th century Roman camp. I'll spend my time at Radio/Television Niksic, where I'll first do some observing and then offer some recommendations about management and sales. I had a good meeting there on Monday afternoon with the Managing Director (general manager), the news director and program director.

The station was literally off the air for TWO years due to management and financial problems. Among other things, the previous manager seemed to have been a political appointee with no knowledge of broadcasting--or much of anything else. There was an employee strike of supporters when the local government tried to remove him and then a strike by workers who didn't support him and opposed the other workers' strike. What a mess. On top of that, people apparently have not been paid--even though the old manager made a public commitment to pay everyone.

The people I met seemed pretty sharp and motivated to solve problems. This is the only TV station licensed to the city--which is about a 40-50 minute drive from Podgorica. They do receive signals from national TV and the many private TV stations that are based on Podgorica but the local station is working hard to be a local voice. TV Niksic was the first municipal TV station in Montenegro. By law, the station may air up to six minutes of commercials every hour. Private TV station may air up to 12 minutes.

The biggest problem with advertising sales is the lack of local clients to sufficiently support local media...or national media, for that matter. A vigorous economy, free of illegal (grey) economic practices--untaxed or unreported income--would produce a substantial, positive difference in the societal structure of Montenegro.

For more information about the town...and there's not that much to include....go to:
http://www.niksic.cg.yu/ETurizam/EIzletista.htm

A friend tells me I should always post some sort of picture as an eye catching device. Unfortunately, the Internet connection isn't running well enough to make that happen. I will try later.