And the winner is...

On friday 28th of november we announced the winners of the annual Salto Awards. The full report of the jury can be viewed here (dutch) and photos of the Awards are located here.

Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation Live

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Located in a unique building in an ambitious urban regeneration area, the Pakhuis De Zwijger on Piet Heinkade, the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation is a public broadcasting corporation open to all Amsterdam residents. Our aim is to reflect what is happening in the city and to be a forum for all its residents: approachable, and as diverse as Amsterdam itself.

At the moment we operate six radio channels and three TV channels although Radio broadcaster FunX and the local news and current affairs broadcaster AT5 are editorially and organisationally separate from the public access channels. The majority of our broadcasting time is split amongst more than 180 different local organisations, and the number is growing all the time. These range from neighbourhood-specific to religious, sports-oriented, cultural or ethnic groups. Other organisations have central themes such as politics, art, sexual orientation, choice of music, or different shared interests.

An independent foundation

The Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation is an independent foundation that is intended for, and open to, all residents of Amsterdam. It is important to remember that the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation is not a mouthpiece for the city council, or for specific pressure groups or institutions.

The Dutch Media Board, a national authority, has granted us the licence to broadcast locally and the city council's only responsibility is to check that the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation board is representative of the diversity of the Amsterdam population.

Programming to match the needs of the community

Any resident of Amsterdam can submit a proposal for a programme. Programmes can be informative, amusing or they can be public debates about issues that affect local people. They can focus on specific target groups or be aimed at everyone who lives in Amsterdam. Many things are possible programme-wise, as long as they are in line with our General Terms and Conditions. These state, amongst other things, that programmes must not incite hatred or violence. And of course, we have to be able to fit them into the programming schedule. Most of the programmes are in Dutch, but currently we also broadcast in a total of 26 languages!

We also produce our own programmes in an attempt to encourage informed social debate. These include the political interview programme De Raad Vandaag, and the political/cultural talk show De Hoeksteen. Furthermore, we broadcast the Amsterdam council meetings in full on radio and TV.

Access to state of the art facilities at low prices

Our new location represents a bold leap into the future for us!
We now have all new studios, superbly equipped for the digital and web age, and the resulting package offers enormous opportunities for sharing and swapping ideas and concepts with other cultural institutions.

Every organisation that broadcasts through us has to make its own programmes. However, we can assist where necessary with our knowledge or specialist equipment. We believe that public access should be as broad as possible and therefore we make our studio facilities, equipment and broadcasting time available at very low prices.

Breeding ground for new talent

By supporting and encouraging diverse local groups to "go live" the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation acts as a breeding ground for new talent. In fact several radio formats like City FM and FunX, now successfully independent of the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation, had their origins with us.

Furthermore, representatives of groups who find it difficult to get access to national commercial and other media find a platform for their views with us and a springboard for new ideas. At the same time, experimental video and other forms of art can be showcased to the general public by means of the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation.

Playing a full part in the community

Accessible and free media play an important role in keeping a complex, diverse city like Amsterdam liveable, fun and lively. Not only that, but free and professional communication contributes towards integration and social cohesion. In this respect, the Amsterdam Broadcasting Organisation believes that it has an important contribution to make in facilitating and stimulating this for the benefit of everyone.