Former Playboy editor wants to get Latvian kids listening to local music

Latvia’s youth radio station Pieci.lv may be forced to play exclusively Latvian-made music if ex-Playboy editor Ivars Āboliņš gets his way.

A perhaps slightly unexpected defender of local culture, the former editor of the Latvian edition of Playboy now sits on the country’s National Electronic Mass Media Council.

“We have to change [the station’s] social role and to define the channel as a Latvian music channel. In this way we will maintain, defend and strengthen the Latvian language, and Latvian cultural values [...] We can’t finance the UK Top 40 from state money,” he said at the Council’s press conference on 11 May.

According to a report by local news site LSM.lv, the radio station has responded to Mr Āboliņš‘s vision with great surprise. Maybe they expected someone with such a colourful CV to be a little more open-minded?

Source: LSM.lv