BY RUI FERREIRA
  El Nuevo Herald

  Pedro Roig, new head of Radio and TV Martí, has two precise goals: finding a way to make sure that Cubans on the island can watch the U.S. government's TV Martí service and gauging who listens to Radio Martí and what they want to hear.

  ''We want the Cuban people to have the chance of having this formidable window that the government of the United States offers them to get accurate, credible and very objective information, and at the same time promote democracy, which is a mission of ours,'' Roig said in an interview last week in Miami-Dade County.

  A veteran collaborator at Radio Martí, where for years he hosted an interview and cultural affairs program, Roig said his priority is to make TV Martí easy to watch in Cuba. Cuban jamming makes the signal virtually impossible to pick up.

  ''This is something that is in its early stages,'' he said. ``After all, I've only been here 11 days, but [TV Marti] has something that is worth watching.''

  Running a finger over a chart of the Florida Straits, Roig seems to find a possible clue to how to boost the TV Martí signal on the island.

  ''Here it is,'' he said. ``Look, Sand Key, south of Key West.''

  It's a spot where the United States has jurisdiction.

  The idea is to have an aircraft flying within U.S. airspace, but closer to the Cuban coast than the existing balloon used by the U.S. government to beam the signal from Cudjoe Key, north of Key West.

  ''I don't know if this will work, but I believe it's worth trying,'' Roig said. ``Cubans must have access to images from the world.''

  Roig also wants to make Radio Martí more responsive to audience demands.