Hello from the little radio with a big heart!, was an introduction sentence to our interview with Vedrana Šajn, originator and editor-in-chief of Vedri radio broadcasting for almost two years. The program is aired live, six days a week. The broadcast is aired from Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 3 pm, after which time they play music in the languages of national minorities until 8 pm. Saturday program is broadcast from 10 am to 10 pm and is dedicated to minority happenings, events, stories depicting customs and highlighting traditional values of the minority population and local news.
At the beginning Vedri radio existed only in my imagination, Vedrana said, explaining how the project started. At high school I was very interested in learning about different cultures and ethnic groups of Rroma. I volunteered in the Association of Lovari Rroma in Bjelovar as an assistant to the Youth Education & Advising Centre. I entered the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Rijeka, and then because I was home sick I transferred to Osijek University and then started working on the local radio station in Pitomača on minority shows. Fourteen months later I started working on another local radio station as a marketing manager, but all the time I was dreaming about launching my own little radio station.
With the help of nice people around her and her parents, and with the young entrepreneurship incentive program she received from the Croatian Employment Service, Vedrana Šajn has made her dreams about launching her own radio station come true. Since the beginning of the broadcast, about two years ago until the present day, there has been a wide range of topics reported every day. Besides reporting on the events, Vedri radio has also launched numerous events. For the second year in a row, it is the organizer of the Festival of National Minorities in Pitomača, and is also the initiator of two events – Easter and Christmas with minorities, on their way. It is also interesting to note that the Radio is the founder of the “Munhro ilo” Rroma Association. Larger range of topics and increased involvement of the Vedri radio in the lives of the locals is proportional to the number of listeners. Vedrana Šajn approaches new challenges enthusiastically and is looking forward to the future. There are many wishes and plans, there are no limits, and I will tell you about their realization in the future on another occasion.
