(Source: Radio New Zealand via London Shortwave)
The ABC ends its short-wave service to the region from 1pm Solomon Islands time and says it will focus on FM and online services.
Ruth Liloqula said people from Choiseul to Malaita and as far south east as Tikopia tuned in to the ABC because the signal was stronger than that of the country’s public broadcaster SIBC.
Ms Liloqula who works with Transparency International says the ABC has been very valuable for the country and a good way to get her message across.
“We are very very mindful of the fact that the SIBC media here is owned by the government. I mean they don’t ask the questions that they need to ask for obvious reasons. I mean we do get asked those tough questions by ABC and that gives us the opportunity to talk about the issues that affect this country.”
Ms Liloqula said after the recent earthquake people in the bush in Choiseul only knew there was no tsunami by listening to the ABC.[…]
I wonder if Michelle Guthrie uses light bulbs, land line phones, or goes out to see motion pictures? These are all technologies older than shortwave radio. Shortwave is no different than AM radio but a tad bit higher on the spectrum. Do these people even know what they are doing?
Nothing beats shortwave’s ability to provide people in remote areas with news, music, etc. It’s the original World Wide Web in many respects. It is truly magical. The world of information, however, continues to move away from old-school methods of reaching the world. Its sad to see this happening.
Beefing up FM and online services. Yeah… that’ll help distant folks without wifi how? Someone needa to investigate Michelle Guthrie’s motives.