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KVZK and ASTCA collaborate to air Manu'a Cession Day live

The Office of Public Information (or KVZK-TV) is working in collaboration with the American Samoa TeleCommunication Authority to provide for the first time a live feed to broadcast the Manu’a Cession Day festivities from Ta’u island.

 

The collaboration comes amid Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga’s call for all ASG entities to work together for better economic development for the Manu’a island group, long ignored by previous administrations.

 

Responding to Samoa News questions regarding the possibility of broadcasting Manu’a's Cession Day live, Public Information Office director Fagafaga Daniel Langkilde said KVZK and ASTCA engineers are presently testing the system that will provide the live feed from Manu’a to Tutuila.

 

“The first phase of the test has been completed here on Tutuila, and everything went very well. The next phase will be to originate the signal from Manu’a to Tutuila and run it for 24 hours to see if it is stable,” said Fagafaga, who added that the broadcast signal will be transported via microwave link.

 

Fagafaga also pointed out that the “spirit of working together on this project between ASTCA and KVZK is very strong, with both entities eager to achieve this task.”

 

“Carrying a live broadcast from Manu’a has never been done before, and if this is successful, it will open up more opportunities for future events,” he said.

 

Manu’a Cession Day on July 16, marks the 109th year since the former island kingdom was ceded to the U.S. and became part of American Samoa. The governor has already made clear to all departments and agencies to have their branches set up in Manu’a to be dedicated on that day.

 

In a news release more than two weeks ago, the ASTCA board announced that chief executive officer Moefa’auo ‘Bill’ Emmsley presented his first monthly report during a board meeting May 29.

 

One of the issues presented by Moefa’auo to the board, according to the news release, deals with Manu'a Development Initiatives, which included a request from KVZK officials for a Live Feed to assist television broadcasting from Manu'a.

 

The board statement says KVZK is interfacing its equipment with ASTCA hardware to ensure compatibility.

 

NEW PROGRAMS

 

Asked about new, locally produced programs planned by KVZK-TV, Fagafaga says there are several new programs currently being worked on and they include the revival of the old ‘Talofa Tamaiti’ program for children which was very popular in the 60s and 70s. 

 

“We are working to partner with the Humanities Council in producing this show,” he said and noted there is also a cooking show ‘on the burner', so to speak, in which the office is working with the Department of Youth and Women’s Affairs.

 

Additionally, a live morning show is also soon to be launched, as well as a show called “Motu o Fiafiaga”, which will feature all kinds of activities and places to see in the territory.

 

“A game show is also in the planning stages which we are very excited about, and several more programs which will enhance the KVZK program grid and enable us to provide all local programming on Channel 2 by the end of the year,” he said.

 

A popular Samoan game show on KVZK back in the 1960s and 1970s was called “Ta’u Mai”, which was the Samoan version of the popular U.S. television network game show, “Password”, with the original version hosted by Allen Ludden in 1961.