When you consider that only 25 years ago - there was only one radio station and presence throughout Belize, it's fairly impressive to know now that there are now over thirty licensed radio operators operating from all corners of Belize.
We don't know how many of them are making money - but the model is interesting. To stay afloat, many of these fledgling media enterprises have to run tight operations on shoe-string budgets.
To be sure, the conditions are tough: some suffer, some just survive while others thrive.
Universal Radio in Orange Walk is somewhere in between those modes of commercial survival. It is one newcomer to a market that was already crowded with three commercial radio stations.
The fledgling operation recently celebrated its first anniversary and they told us how they get by, and get over:
Jim McFadzean Reporting
Radio Universal! It's one of the North's latest addition to the airwaves, and at the 88.5 FM dial, listeners in all of northern Belize including San Pedro, Chetumal and as far north as Merida and far south as Rural Belize can tune in to an eclectic collection of music and radio programming.
Dillon Jones, Co-owner, Radio Universal
"We have 4 gospel programs running on a weekly basis on this radio. We have comedy, as you know I am involved in a lot of comedy. We do a lot of comedy on the radio. It's a bilingual station. We have our friend, Mr Castillo and a young lady by the name of Crystal Flores, who does most of the Spanish segments on the show. We play all kinds of music; the only thing is that we are not into 'crazy music'."
That's Dillon Jones, co-owner of the station that hit the airwaves a little over a year ago. He along with his business partner, Robert 'Checkie' Usher, are no strangers to the media and public spotlight. Checkie is of the popular Youth Connection Band fame, while Dillon is a popular comedian. They seem to enjoy, and share a unique relationship both on and off air.
Robert "Checkie" Usher - Co-owner Radio Universal
"Lots of people ask us if certain politicians own this radio station. I want to tell them that only myself and Dillon are the soul strugglers of this radio station"
Dillon Jones
"Here we try to keep it professional. Our agenda is not designed and run by no party politics. we are open if you want to come and do something."
But comedy aside, the men have invested seriously in the tiny radio operations located in Orange Walk at number 6 George Street. They've both worked in radio production before, having worked at Suga City Radio, and they need that experience and expertise to compete on an increasingly crowded FM dial.
Around 30 Radio stations commercial, private and religious crowd the dial in all parts of the country.
So what sets this latest radio station apart from the estimated dozen or so operating in Northern Belize alone?
Robert "Checkie" Usher
"We focus on families. We have our events. Our music is mostly music with positive messages; we don't really play any kind of music when it comes to - even if it doesn't have obscene language in the song, the message of the song. We play songs with positive music. We have music which we play that moms and dads can stay at home and work out. They can do their physical at home with the type of music we play. We have children programs in the morning from 7-8 o'clock where we wake up the children, sending them to school, tell them what to do when they go to school, how to conduct themselves. So, it's a family oriented radio station."
Dillon Jones
"We don't want to be like anybody else. We don't want to sound like no one else. We want our own distinct sound; we want people to identify themself with us. So when we come on the radio, we tell our employees that it's very important when you press that button, be careful what they are saying because we want people to relate with us. And our objective is to build this community-based radio station"
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