by Kareem Smith
The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)’s first-ever Chief Executive Officer has promised that the heavily indebted state-broadcaster will “do better” as it moves toward a more efficient operation.
Sanka Price made the declaration as he entered the Pine, St Michael radio and television station for the first time with warm greetings from members of the management team led by Sherwood McCaskie, who has been Acting General Manager.
“I am eager and excited to welcome Mr Price with us. He is quite experienced; he is very much interested in this kind of work and we are very much looking forward to working with him,” McCaskie told reporters.
In his first public statement as CEO, Price pointed out that in his opinion, many Barbadians still “care about CBC” and his mission would be to make a positive difference.
Price declared: “From the time that [my appointment] was announced, my phone was flooded with calls and that says that CBC still matters to Barbadians and that is why it is important that we up our game.
“I know we can do better; there are a lot of talented professionals here. I have interacted with them over the years and I know that. We will be trying our best to improve things so that you, the Barbadian public will love us even more.”
Barbados TODAY first broke the news of Price’s appointment in late May. The recommendation to select him followed two interviews with members of the state broadcaster’s Board of Directors and was later approved by Cabinet.
Price declined to disclose further details of his vision for the corporation, which is saddled with $125 million in debt. He said discussions would first take place with the corporation’s board during a meeting later in the day.
The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (Amendment) Act was passed last year to abolish the post of general manager and create two new leadership positions – chief executive and chief operating officers. Government explained that the CBC Act was changed with the intention of modernizing the management structure and placing the agency on a more competitive and revenue-generating path.
The Act also empowers the Minister for broadcasting with the final approval of all positions at the state broadcaster, which was created 56 years ago.
When asked to explain the implications of this new structure, Acting Deputy Chairman Peter Boyce indicated that the corporation would be seeking to do business “as effectively and efficiently as possible”.
“The new structure of the corporation allows CBC to be more competitive in relation to its future endeavours… I think it is very important that visual media and the culture of media is seen as a business,” said Boyce.
He added that the CBC played a role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue to do so in areas of culture although the country will not have a formal Crop Over festival this year.
On the appointment of Price, he added: “The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation continues in its quest to provide Barbadians with the best in quality entertainment and I know from the CV of Mr Price, he already has done a yeoman job in making a contribution to Barbados in terms of what he has done in media previously, and the board looks forward to Price doing exactly the same thing at CBC.
“I think the great thing about Mr Price is that he is a practising media person, which means that he would know CBC from a very intimate level that would enable us to go to the next level,” Boyce added.
Price’s broadcasting experience is as presenter of the popular Down to Brass Tacks talk show on Voice of Barbados. Most of his media experience is a 25-year career as a newspaper journalist, editor and executive with the Nation Publishing Company.
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