By, For and About the community... that’s the core principle that surrounds what you hear on any Access Radio station in New Zealand, and Access Manawatu is no exception. Anyone in our transmission area is encouraged and entitled to make radio programmes that reflect their views and values.

As you would expect from any radio station, technology and IT form the backbone of our operation. Given that we are a Charitable organisation, our budgets are... limited! Any maintenance or upgrade funds are usual directed to broadcast equipment, and as such, staff computers have been neglected.

We encountered an increasing number of issues with our “redundant” copies of Microsoft office, from outdated versions of publisher through to the inability to open .docx files (an issue when you receive many press releases every day!)

As a result of the TechSoup discounts, we could – almost effortlessly – upgrade our staff machines, offering all staff a “level playing field” for document creation and – increasingly important – contact sharing.

We are also preparing (through other funding) to install a central server (which has both broadcast and administrative benefits), and Office 2007 will allow us to make best use of that server with many sharing possibilities (calendars, contacts and other details).

In short, Access Manawatu has benefited greatly from the Tech Soup offers, and we will no doubt be taking full advantage again in the future.

Our thanks to Tech Soup, and Microsoft!

 

Read PDF version