Many gypsies do not want to live on the dole

Radio editor

They offer a range of documentary and informative programmes on issues such as mixed marriages and, as the title of one programme says, "Those who have managed to break out".

One staff member told the television: "There is an increasing number of gypsies who do not want to live on the dole, they do not want to be a parasite on society. They want to do something for their prosperity."

Young gypsies prepare for broadcast

By promising Roma jokes and Roma music, Radio C also wants its programme to be light enough to attract a large audience.

Radio C has invited members of the gypsy community to visit its studio and bring along their own music to set up the radio's own music archive.

But Radio C also wants to be interesting enough to appeal to the rest of society.

We think it can give a major boost to the emancipation of gypsies

Gyoergy Kerenyi

The radio would also like to break down the barriers between gypsies and the market place.

"Advertisers should discover Roma as consumers," Mr Kerenyi said.

"We think it can give a major boost to the emancipation of gypsies, which is taking place in other areas."

Radio C starts its operation under a one-month provisional licence on the VHF frequency of 88.8 MHz, but it hopes to acquire a seven-year licence in a current bid for regional public servivce radio frequencies.

Struggle

The long struggle to set up a radio station for the gypsy community goes back to before the fall of Communism.

Radio C has been set up with the help of the European Union's Eastern European reconstruction fund.

The Hungarian Independent Media Centre and the Roma Press Centre have organised nine-month journalist courses - with a three-month intensive course and a six-month on-the-job training period - for young Roma people, free of charge.

Hardest hit by economic transition

Radio C is only one of several initiatives by the gypsy community to establish its own social and cultural institutions.

These efforts include a local cable TV studio set up by the local gypsy Self-Government in Mateszalka, in the northeast - one of Hungary's least developed regions with a large Roma community.

Hungary's Roma population is estimated to be about 700,000, around 7% of the population, and this proportion is rising.

Politicians and analysts agree that this community has been the hardest hit by Hungary's transition to a market economy, when many of them lost their low-skilled, low-paid jobs.