[Swprograms] Re: Why is BBC World Service reducing its short wave provision?

[John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan:

If you say that shortwave receiver sales are down, then they're down.

But I'm not disputing the fact that there are more ways to reach more 
people than ever before.  Neither am I denying that it's a genuine 
challenge trying to figure out how to leverage all these methods 
intelligently and effectively.  All I'm saying is that is unnecessary 
for the BBC to totally abandon shortwave to any region.  Here in NA, 
e.g., we have plenty of very cheap excess shortwave transmitter 
capacity.  And the content on most of them is pitiful.  An owner would 
jump at the chance to relay the BBC for a few hours a day.  All it 
would take is one frequency in the morning and another in the evening.  
Sure, it may not be to the BBC's once lofty standards in this regard, 
but Antigua wasn't performing all that well for some time.  And 
flexibility is a necessity in this era.

So, if I can't be home by my computer, or in a wi-fi served cafe, or in 
my Sirius-served vehicle, I can still hear the BBC if I want.  As for 
the "serving the whole world because it's a public service broadcaster" 
argument, I'm just differentiating between the theory behind and 
mission of a commercial broadcaster and that of a public service 
broadcaster.  Those, unfortunately, appear to be collapsing and my 
feeble efforts to remind about the subtle but real differences between 
the two are falling on mostly deaf ears. A lost cause--you might say.

Good to hear from you on this.

John

On Monday, March 21, 2005, at 02:29  AM, Jonathan Marks wrote:

>
> Hi Dave, John, et al
>
> If you talk to the receiver manufacturers, you will discover that 
> shortwave
> radio sales are indeed on a permanent decline, which explains why 
> there are
> just a handful of really good sets out there, not like the 60 or so 
> models
> when I was testing them for the WRTH and Radio Netherlands.
>
> I believe that good content drives technology and if something comes 
> along
> which does a more efficient job of delivering content, then it makes a 
> lot
> of sense to use it.
>
> The web is great at delivering good audio to many parts of the world 
> with
> broadband. Does it replace delivery to a portable radio in rural areas?
> No...and the technologies to replace analogue shortwave have just a few
> years to get cracking if they don't want to go the way of SSB....I was
> copying off some old Media Networks from 1984 and had to laugh at the
> predictions that by 2015 we would have progressed to SSB instead of AM.
>
> Public service broadcasting does indeed have a duty to serve all its 
> public
> - in areas where a licence fee is charged. So the BBC uses terrestrial
> transmitters and spends a fortune getting to the remote Scottish 
> islands
> where other channels don't bother with.
>
> I don't think the BBC has an obligation to serve the entire world....it
> doesn't. With 6.2 billion people on the planet, their audience of 144
> million of people who listen at least once a week means the majority 
> of the
> world doesn't listen, or can't listen.
>
> I do think the BBC needs to re-think how it explains to its audience 
> its
> shift to different technologies. The current BBC Web page is very 
> poorly
> worded. I don't see newspapers telling their readers that the paper is 
> going
> to have less pages in it, or that readers in rural areas should stop 
> buying
> their publication. Wouldn't it be great if they involved the audience 
> in
> finding solutions to their distribution challenges, rather than the 
> method
> they are using now. I feel insulted, rather than consulted.
>
> Hi to all those who remember me,
>
>
> Jonathan Marks
> X-DX but still very much into radio
>
>
> Jonathan Marks
>
> Director
>
> Critical Distance BV
>
> Stam 69
>
> 1275CG Huizen
>
> The Netherlands
>
> Newsblog: http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com
>
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>
>
>

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