Lennox Lawrence's Vibes Radio in testing phase

Lennox Lawrence, a director of the new Vibes Radio, says the FM station is independent.

In an interview with the SUN newspaper, Lawrence, a vocal supporter of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP), maintains that Vibes radio has no political affiliation.

"Vibes radio has been there for two years and I have not heard talk of them being political. They are independent and no one can suggest that there is any partisan politics. If people want us to be political they then must come and tell us; but for now our focus is on entertainment as we have done for the last two years," Lawrence stated.

Vibes Radio, he said, was created as a broadcaster on the Internet and all that has happened is that Vibes Radio has started to test its signal on 99.5 FM. The testing, he stated, began just a week ago; to evaluate "its sound and quality so that when it is formally launched, all of those tests would have been done and we would bring a whole new quality of broadcasting on the FM band."

Vibes Radio, he said, aims to pool various cultures of the Caribbean diaspora to create an avenue for entertainment and professionalism in the broadcast community.

"I'm not an engineer but from the reports that I have been receiving thus far it won't be long before we will formally launch and we will be fully commercial radio," he said. "We have certain plans to upgrade the quality in radio; we have looked at what is available and we aim to make Vibes Radio, within the next year, the number one radio station."

The radio station, he said, can be listened to in parts of Portsmouth and the Pointe Michel, Soufriere area.

"What we have we wanted to make it work and bring a whole new fresh sound in radio," he said.

Lawrence is the vice chairman of DBS board of directors but he dismisses any suggestion of a possible conflict of interest.

"It is good that you have someone who is involve in radio at that level to be also be on the board of DBS to ensure that the station realizes all of what its objectives are," he stated.

The station is the sister of the website "DaVibes"

The radio station has been operating on Marpin 2k4's channel 98 for over a year.