Tag Archives: BBC World Service

BBC World Service longevity vs. commercialization

(Image source: BBC)

Back in October 2010, we learned that the BBC would take over the cost of the World Service from the Foreign Office from April 2014. Shorty thereafter, the BBC World Service was dealt a 20% budget cut which eventually lead to the loss of 550 jobs. Now April 2014 is upon us.

The BBC, which is largely funded by a mandatory TV license fee, must now share its budget with the World Service. But even after the announcement of this consolidation, the TV license fee was not increased accordingly.

And then there’s another over-arching question: Will the BBC be a good steward of the World Service? BBC World Service boss, Peter Horrocks was recently asked this question by The Guardian:

“The switch from government to licence fee funding prompted fears that if the BBC faces further downward pressure on budgets – surely inevitable – it will be the World Service that suffers rather than a domestic channel such as BBC2. “Of course there may be people who make those arguments,” concedes Horrocks. But he argues that licence fee payers directly benefit from the World Service’s role as an ambassador for the UK and from its journalists who increasingly contribute to the BBC’s domestic output. Plus, it has nearly 2 million listeners in the UK every week (including its overnight broadcasts on Radio 4).”

Horrocks is being optimistic. After all, while not on the scale of the BBC, the death of Radio Canada International had much to do with the fact that the domestic news arm, the CBC, found RCI an easy cut. When the CBC was dealt a 20% overall budget cut, it cut RCI’s budget by 80%, effectively firing Canada’s radio “ambassador.”

Moving forward, the BBC World Service is dipping its feet into commercialization to prop up their relatively meager budget and to lighten the load on the TV license payee. As my buddy Richard Cuff says, this is a slippery slope–and as Peter Horrocks states, “It’s not that easy to get advertising in Somalia.“

If you would like to read more about the changes at the BBC World Service, check out these most recent articles:

You can also follow our tag: BBC World Service Cuts

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BBC World Service ‘can make a difference’ in North Korea

Confession time: I love the BBC countdown

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Most shortwave radio listeners are familiar with interval signals–those ditties that precede a shortwave radio broadcast–indicating a specific broadcast frequency and that a broadcast is about to begin.

On television, there’s really no need for an interval signal: channel selection is accurate and schedules are ubiquitous. Indeed, there’s no guess work involved at all. Tune to channel 3 at 6:00, and you know the evening news awaits you.

Still, many television news services around the world provide a visual-plus-aural countdown for their viewers which, in essence, serves the same purposes as an interval signal. As on the radio, it’s a build up…a “get ready, here comes the news” statement that’s separate from the title sequence. The most notable example I know of is the BBC’s television countdown, which, depending on timing, might count down for one minute–or even for several minutes on satellite feeds.

Here is the BBC’s latest (2013) countdown:

News agencies in the US, alas, never bother with a one-minute countdown to the hour because this is profitable time that can be filled with a sponsors’ advertising.

Perhaps that why I’ve always been a fan of the BBC, and even proudly payed my TV tax when I lived in Britain. The BBC, in general, represented a refuge from other TV mass media and the accompanying news network over-stimulus. While I still have many criticisms of the BBC–indeed, they’re stumbling now–I nonetheless prefer this broadcaster to most TV news services stateside. [Of course, what I find most objectionable are the changes which could affect the integrity of the BBC World Service, now directly funded by the UK’s TV licensing fees instead of the Foreign Office.]

But I do enjoy this countdown.

If you share my appreciation for this “TV interval signal,” here are a few other examples starting with a compilation of BBC countdowns from 1999-2007 produced by a fan:

ABC News 24:

NBC News Special Report Countdown:

Sky News:

And if you can’t get enough of the BBC’s countdown montage, here’s a 10 minute filler version:

Will anyone else confess their love for a broadcaster’s countdown? Please comment!

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Richard voices his opinion about BBC World Service commercialization

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Richard Cuff–noted SWL and festmeister for the Winter SWL Fest–sent a message to the BBC World Service listener feedback program Over To You deploring the BBC’s decision to incorporate limited advertising on the World Service as of April 2014.

Over To You contacted Richard and invited him to an interview where he discussed these changes with Mark Bunting, head of BBC WS Strategy.

The program aired earlier this week. Richard noted that the discussion was “chopped quite a bit” to fit a nine minute time slot.

Click here to listen to Richard’s interview on Over To You: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sbmkt

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BBC World Service to further reduce shortwave

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(Image source: BBC)

I appears the BBC World Service is cutting shortwave broadcasts even further in an attempt to meet tighter budget numbers. Not many details, at the moment, in terms of what language programs will suffer the most.

Many thanks to Richard Cuff for the tip:

(Source: The Guardian)

The BBC World Service will further reduce its shortwave transmissions next year as part of a £15m savings drive which staff have been warned will be a “real stretch”.

The money will be used to invest in new TV and digital services, part of a programme called Invest to Innovate.

An extra £6.5m is being pumped into the World Service’s budget this year, alongside an extra £1.5m of savings, helping to create 130 jobs. New initiatives include a global version of Radio 1’s Newsbeat.

But the BBC’s director of global news, Peter Horrocks, said further savings would be required in the future.

[…]Horrocks said changes would include more multilingual reporting, with staff filing for their own language service and in English, as well as a further reduction in shortwave transmissions.

He said the World Service would also have to integrate further with the main BBC News operation.

Horrocks also announced that the BBC’s global news division, which includes its world news TV channel, would be renamed “World Service Group … a sort of World Service-plus” and the World Service board would be axed with the change in its funding.

[…]It closed five language services, stopped radio broadcasts in seven languages, cut back on shortwave and medium-wave transmissions and axed a number of World Service English programmes.[…]

Read the full article at The Guardian online.

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Adverts on the BBC World Service?

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(Image source: BBC)

According to this article in The Independent, the international arm of the BBC plans to commercialize:

“The BBC has sparked anger with plans to commercialise the 80-year-old World Service, and to downplay the coverage of politics in its global television news output.

The changes, which one MP warned could jeopardise the future of the licence fee, are being lined up as the broadcaster prepares to take over funding of the World Service, previously paid for by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Reforms could include having advertising on the service.

In a letter sent to a member of the House of Lords, the Director of the World Service, Peter Horrocks, has also revealed plans to use private funding to support the prestigious radio network which began as the British Empire Service in 1932. “The BBC Trust is considering proposals for a wider commercialisation of World Service, which might involve launching new language services, if they could be commercially self-sustaining,” he told Lord Alton of Liverpool.” [continue reading…]

While it’s hard to imagine the World Service advertising over shortwave, I certainly believe adverts in local radio and TV markets could become a reality. The broader implication (at least, in The Independent) is that the BBC WS program offerings will shift in order to appeal to sponsors. Then again, this would come as no surprise, as every other broadcaster who relies on commercial sponsorship has done the same.

Many thanks to Jonathan Marks for the tip!

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BBC News on the long-term survival of shortwave radio

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Alex, who shares this essential listening: an audio report aired at 17:45 GMT today by Lucy Burton of the BBC World Service.

In this report, Burton discusses the future (or lack thereof) of shortwave radio. Burton interviews staff at Radio Romania International and even Glenn Hauser. To listen, just click:

listen to ‘The long term survival of short wave radio’ on Audioboo

The report reminds me that shortwave radio is often viewed as only legacy technology, when, in fact, shortwave has many advantages over digital options and is as relevant as ever.

This photo was taken in South Sudan, after Ears To Our World distributed radios in this rural community for the fourth year running. This photo was taken prior to the outbreak of violence the country is currently enduring. Can you imagine the power of information each radio can provide to its community?

This photo was taken in rural South Sudan, after Ears To Our World had distributed hundreds of radios via our partner Project Education South Sudan. This photo was taken prior to the recent outbreak of violence the country is currently enduring. Can you imagine the power of information just one radio can provide to a community during these turbulent times?

As I’ve mentioned before, Gareth Mitchell once interviewed me for the BBC World Service technology program Click. Mitchell’s interview focused specifically on my non-profit, Ears To Our World, which uses self-powered shortwave radios to further its mission. His description of our radios during his introduction was as insightful as it was humorous:

“…Portable battery powered devices that can stream audio in real time all via an intuitive touch interface.”

Aptly put. Shortwave radio, after all, has several profound benefits over the Internet, the three most significant being: 1) radio has no regard for national borders, and crosses them effortlessly; 2) listeners retain anonymity (thus cannot be readily tracked nor penalized by repressive authorities); and 3) radio requires no apps nor subscriptions to work. Nor even, for that matter, a power grid. It’s “just” an inexpensive “battery powered device” that can bring listeners vital lifesaving information, and, well…the world.

In short, I continue to stand by what I reported to UNESCO last year:

This post joins our popular tag: Why Shortwave Radio?