Website: http://www.talkoftheisland.org/
Talk Of the Island started as the first bilingual radio program broadcasted island-wide in Cyprus since May 2006. The project was the result of a joined effort between the Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute and The Management Centre of the Mediterranean (Mc-Med), which was funded by HasNa Inc.. A precursor to this program was the internet radio implemented experimentally during the media activities of the Reconciliation Now! project.
As Larry Fergeson, one of the first coordinators of Talk Of the Island mentioned, the program was the first and is still to the present day the longest running bicommunal radio programme on the island of Cyprus.” Its success, originality and a need for a platform for “communication” were the key reasons for its continuous success.
At the beginning, Talk of the Island was funded only by HasNa Inc., a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit organization. Subsequently, its fathers secured funding from the United States Institute of Peace. Talk of the Island was regularly transmitted live in Cyprus between 10.00 -11.45 hours every Saturday and was repeated the same evening at 19.15 hours in the years 2005-2008. The broadcasting covered Nicosia, Kyrenia and Morphou, Famagusta and Larnaca. The program could be heard from both from the Turkish and the Greek sides. Two program presenters Kyriakos Pierides and Hasan Kahvecioglu, together with the interpreter Yucel Koseoglu, designed the program to display balanced news reporting by informing all island communities about local issues and events that are not typically covered by the current media. The program promoted a culture of peace and mutual understanding. Talk of the Island aspired to be instrumental in providing a vehicle for all Cypriots who share a vision for the future.