I would like to put Manwel Mifsud’s (April 12) mind at rest: life at RTK is not only normal but more vibrant and creative than it ever was.

We have just launched a new schedule with 45 hours of totally new or radically revamped programmes. From Monday to Friday we are giving importance to container programmes presented by the best of the previous presenters while introducing several new ones. Readers can be assured that we are not in short supply of people who want to present on RTK, quite the opposite.

From today we are presenting a new breakfast show. The 9am to noon popular magazine programme has been given a makeover. A new magazine programme is being broadcast between 3pm and 4.30pm. Between 4.30pm and 6pm we are offering a brand new current affairs programme which is also innovative in that time band.

Paperscan is being presented by three professionals during the breakfast show. We have a new 30-minute news programme starting at noon. Saturday’s popular discussion programme will now be presented by the station’s editor.

Our choice of programmes is inspired by the ethos and mission of the station as well as by audience surveys. We are not referring here to amateur surveys. We refer to audience surveys conducted by the National Statistics Office for the Broadcasting Authority, the broadcasting regulator.

The authority pays huge sums of money for these professional surveys. These have repeatedly shown that Mifsud’s Seher il-Malti attracts a very small, albeit very dedicate, audience. We are appreciative of the sterling work of Mifsud, so much so that we wanted to position the programme in a time slot which surveys show can potentially attract more audiences.

We were also ready to change the day of broadcast to accommodate him. Mifsud was happy in his comfortable cocoon. He did not want to take the challenge which presented him with a win-win situation.

This consisted of a possible greater audience together with a cyber audience who can still follow the programme thanks to our webcasts. Other presenters took the challenge. We thank them.

The Faculty of Education, for example, did take up the challenge. They are presenting in the same time zone proposed to Mifsud. The challenge was taken up also by the European Parliament as well by psychiatrist Joe Cassar and psychologist Anna Cassar.  The challenge was also taken up by Charles Briffa who is doing a live programme about the Maltese language every Thursday at 6.15pm. We did not choose any Tom, Dick or Harry to do the programme. We chose another university professor whose latest book is being given good promotion on the website of the Akkademja tal-Malti. I hope that no one will now say that the only academic capable of discussing Maltese on radio is Mifsud. We would be in a very sorry state if it were so.

But one may ask: why are we taking all this hassle?

Our brief is to make RTK one of the most popular stations on the island while retaining its quality broadcasting.

This year will be a hard one. We have to build anew by strengthen the input of the best people on the station while recruiting new people who do not shy away from challenges and new ventures. We are not interested in moaners or losers. We want people who are determined, like the rest of the team, to reach our targets.

This is only the beginning. More radical changes are planned. We are determined in our mission to succeed.

Anton Attard is project manager at RTK.