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BBC World Service radio facing major cuts
It's been the best source of news to travelers for generations, but now the BBC World Service is facing serious cuts. Five of its 32 language services will disappear completely, many other language services will be limited, and 650 of its workforce of 2,400 will lose their jobs.Radio is the hardest hit. Services in Azeri, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish for Cuba, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Ukrainian will all go. Shortwave broadcasts will cease in Hindi, Indonesian, Kyrgyz, Nepali, Swahili and the Great Lakes service (for Rwanda and Burundi).
While best known in the developing world for its radio service, the BBC World Service also has broadcasts on TV, mobile, and online. Those aren't immune either, and all services for some languages will go--Macedonian, Albanian, Serbian, English for the Caribbean, and Portuguese for Africa.
The BBC hopes to save £46 million ($73 million) a year. It estimates it will lose 30 million weekly listeners.
While wandering in the more remote regions of the globe I've always found the World Service a timely and reliable source for breaking news. It warned me of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait while I was excavating an archaeological site in the Israeli countryside, told me of Nixon's death while I was crossing the border from India into Nepal, and has kept me up-to-date in countless other places. The BBC says it will increase its online presence, but we're not a fully digital world yet, and in the places I like to go, good old-fashioned radio is still the only reliable means of communication. This is bad news for adventure travelers everywhere.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Europe, United Kingdom, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
khagendra nepali Jan 27th 2011 5:54PM
The news of the BBC’s planned closure of the Nepali Service on short wave frequencies from March is a blow for the Nepali listeners. As a result BBC World Service will lose it’s unique position as an unstoppable true source of news and objective analyses. The Nepalese listeners now will have to depend on local FM stations which are always at the mercy of the government of the day. In effect, the BBC has submitted itself at the hands of the authorities as they can always switch off the transmission of the local broadcasters. Moreover, FM broadcast do not cover the whole of Nepal let alone India where millions of Nepali speaking people live.
Short wave transmission has its strength and weakness. Although the signal may be weak and less reliable, delivery of programme is 99% guaranteed.
By doing away with short wave broadcast the BBC will lose its unique position in broadcasting market which is a matter of grave concern for all of us. Therefore, we should try to persuade the BBC officials to change their mind to continue short wave transmission of the Nepali Service.
Jannes Oct 25th 2011 11:36AM
I've also got the same problem as M Lemon. SInce October 15th 2011 no audio on BBC anymore. I'm living in Goma, DR Congo and BBC trough WorldSpace has been my one and only news provider for the last 5 years. Now I'm cut off from this valuable source my morning and evening hours have become less interesting. Who can help?
M Lemon Mar 1st 2011 4:36AM
I have been an avid listener to BBC satellite radio broadcasts for years (World Space).
However, since Saturday night 26 February 2011 at about 00h00 CAT, I no longer receive an audio signal.
The small screen on the Sanyo World Space receiver still shows the station identifier and other symbols, but no audio.
Please help.
Gavin Mar 4th 2011 2:02AM
I've got the same problem as M Lemon. The BBC Worldservice was the only unbiased radio station that I could tune to. Now what remain on the World Space receiver is two boring American stations