BRITISH COLUMBIA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM RADIO STATION BCNG Portals Page

Nov 22 2006

The show must go on and the radio station must launch, says the owner of a new multicultural radio station which had much of its production equipment stolen last Friday.

At about 7:20 a.m. Nov. 17, i.t. Productions Ltd., which produces nine multicultural TV programs and Radio Rim Jhim, Canada’s first Indo-Canadian radio station, had its Norland Avenue offices in Burnaby broken into.

The culprits were loading a car, and were about to go back in for more loot when a company technician showed up for work, said Sudhir Datta, the company’s director of operations.

They fled in their car after being confronted and the technician chased them before losing them on the freeway. While he got a good description as well as a licence plate, police later determined the car had been stolen from North Vancouver, said company founder and owner, Shushma Datt.

The timing and the nature of the break-in have her strongly believing it was a targeted theft.

For one thing, much of what was stolen, about $15,000 worth of computers and production equipment, was dedicated to its new AM radio station RJ1200, set to launch this Saturday, Nov. 25.

The thieves, two to four people, walked right by the company’s regular office computers, which would have been more easily sold on the black market, said Datta. Instead, they headed straight for a corner where the main servers sat, hidden by insulation piled on top.

Much of the equipment they took was older and less marketable, he said, adding they’re “no good to anybody.” What was of most value to the company was what was stored on the machines – software, playlists and production elements created for the new station. They took an on-aircomputer for Rim Jhim that automates the playing of music and commercials. Two production computers, used to make commercials and other on-air material, were also taken, and a computer secured to a table was knocked over, damaging the equipment below it. A special mixer just delivered the day before from the U.K. was alsostolen.

The thieves must have known about the windows on studio room doors, because they brought a softball-sized rock along, Datta noted. They didn’t have to use it and simply left it behind.

Because the offices were being moved around following five months of renovations, Datta admits the material was not backed up as it should have been. He’s particularly upset at the loss of some material that is “irreplaceable,” interviews and messages of congratulations to the new station recorded by Indian pop and film stars who came through town in recent months.

While production elements can be recreated, he is also disappointed at the “creativity that’s lost.”

Nevertheless, staff have been putting in long hours to ensure everything’s in place for Saturday’s launch, the culmination of a year’s work.

Owner Shushma Datt (who is also Sudhir Datta’s mom) says she has her own hunches about who might be responsible. “One hundred per cent I think it was a targeted hit,” she said. “Somebody didn’t want us to go on air because it would hurt them.”

Datt started her broadcasting career in 1966 with the BBC in London, moving to Canada in 1972 after marrying. She said she was one of the first announcers for the first multi-ethnic station in Canada, CJVB 1470 (now Fairchild Radio).

Over the years, she said, she has been outspoken on numerous social issues in the South Asian community, including violence against women, senior abuse and feticide. “I’m a single parent. If I fought for the rights of women, I was always called a homewrecker.”

So with Datt no stranger to challenges, the break-in and theft is just another wrinkle to overcome.

While Rim Jhim, founded 19 years ago, provides music, current affairs and news for the South Asian community, RJ1200 will cater to a younger generation, she said.

It will play more music, and be more like an FM format on an AM station. Monday to Saturday it will be devoted to South Asian programming and on Sunday, it will go international with programming in numerous other languages, from Italian to Farsi.

It will hit the airwaves as planned, at 1200 AM on the radio dial, on Saturday at 6:48 p.m. – 12 minutes to 7 p.m., Datta explained with a smile.

wchow@

burnabynewsleader.com

mario bartel