General Director Alexander Kurmuzakov said the channel would have audiences throughout the republic. The channel will be partially accessible in the neighboring Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions and in the republic of Chuvashia, which are all home to ethnic Mari minority groups.
Those attending the ceremony, including experts in the Finno-Ugric linguistic family who have gathered in Yoshkarola for a scientific congress, said "ethnic Maris in the republic's most distant areas now have an opportunity to get current information."
A network of relay stations had to be built, and the local population had to be provided with high frequency receivers before the channel was opened. At the moment, the channel is broadcasting a total of 24 hours a week, and this figure will grow. The project is being funded mainly by the local government, as the channel had won the tender for broadcasts in Mari.
Under the agreement, news programs have to account for at least 40% of the channel's airtime. Programs for children and those devoted to different topics based on audiences' varied interests will be launched in September.
Today, the radio channel hosted Finnish Ambassador Harry Helenius, a Hungarian embassy official, Estonian Education and Research Minister Mailis Reps, and Katrin Saks, an Estonian member of parliament and member of the Estonian delegation to PACE, representatives of the countries within the Finno-Ugric group.
