Tag Archives: BBC

BBC MW stations in Lincolnshire and Nottingham to close

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(Source: Southgate ARC)

More BBC AM transmitters to close

On the British DX Club (BDXC) Yahoo Group Nick Buxton reports that BBC AM stations in Lincolnshire and Nottingham are to close

In his post Nick says:

In an e-mail reply today (29/11) from Andy Roche, BBC R. Lincolnshire’s Acting Programme Editor, he says 1368 kHz will cease broadcasting their programmes on 6 January 2018. It will continue until 28 January 2018 running a continuous loop advising re-tune to FM/DAB. They will shortly be running a campaign to let people know.

In a very brief e-mail reply from BBC Radio Nottingham, enquiring about closure of their 1584 kHz service, they advise “No transmission from late December. Re-tune now”

No reply received from BBC R. Humberside concerning their 1485 kHz transmitter….

British DX Club (BDXC)
http://bdxc.org.uk/
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/BDXC-News

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“Soap operas and short-wave radio” punch through North Korea’s armour

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(Source: GlobalNews.ca)

One of the BBC’s newest radio stations began broadcasting across the Korean peninsula on Tuesday. And the signal was almost immediately jammed by the North Korean government, according to news reports.

[…]But cracks are appearing in the system. InterMedia, a research firm, interviewed defectors from North Korea and found that 48 per cent of them had seen foreign DVDs and 27 per cent had listened to foreign radio, according to a 2013 report.

Defectors aren’t exactly unbiased sources or representative of the North Korean population – they’re people who hated the regime enough to risk their lives fleeing it and who were able to do so – but such surveys are one of the only ways to learn about North Korean television viewing habits.

Some defectors have reported that what they saw in foreign media influenced their decision to leave, according to Williams.

“I think it’s just spreading dissatisfaction, cracking the government’s complete control of information which is one of the central parts of the entire system. If you start to crack away at that then you start to crack away at the system as a whole,” he said.

[…]Although it’s illegal to watch foreign media, many people watch these DVDs or USB sticks filled with movies and South Korean TV shows. South Korean soap operas are popular, said Williams, and are more seditious than romance and melodrama might seem at first glance.

[…]Radios sold in North Korea are modified so they can only tune in to certain frequencies – government-operated North Korean stations, of course. But people do illegally “jailbreak” their radios, says Reporters Without Borders. They can then listen to South Korean stations near the border, or to shortwave foreign broadcasts like the BBC’s and similar ones from Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.

“North Korea does its best to stop the broadcasts coming in but it is the only way that exists at the moment to get current information into the country,” said Williams.[…]

Read this full article at GlobalNews.ca.

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BBC reporter discovers radio tuning has become a lost art

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors, Michael Taniwha and Mark Hirst, who share this link to a video at the BBC where a reporter quickly discovers that many can’t find BBC Radio 1 or even tune a radio.

Click here to view.

It’s hard for a radio enthusiast to believe, but there is little reason for a millennial, for example, to ever tune a portable radio. Many have only ever connected with radio via their smart phone, computer, or other Internet appliance. Tuning, in a sense, is a foreign concept. And the irony is, me for, tuning is the fun part!

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New Korean language service from the BBC

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(Source: BBC Media Centre)

BBC News launches Korean language service

The new Korean language service announced in November 2016 by the BBC World Service began broadcasting today. Audiences in the Korean peninsula and Korean speakers around the world can now hear radio broadcasts and access the latest news online at BBC.com/Korean.
BBC News Korean is one of 12 new language service launches now underway as part of the biggest expansion of the BBC World Service since the 1940s, funded through a £291 million grant in aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Director of the BBC World Service Francesca Unsworth says: “BBC News Korean will build on the long-standing reputation for fairness and impartiality the BBC World Service has earned all over the world.”

BBC News Korean features a daily 30-minute radio news programme broadcast at 15.30 GMT on Shortwave (SW) and 16.30 GMT Medium wave (MW). The service will also feature a digital offer with written stories, videos and radio programmes which can be downloaded and shared. The new service features a wide range of news, sport, business, culture, in-depth reports and English language learning.

BBC News Korean journalists will be based in Seoul, London and Washington and will draw on the full extent of the BBC’s global network of correspondents.

Notes to Editors
Service to launch on Monday 25 September at 15.30 GMT (Tuesday 26 September in Korea):

  • Shortwave service to broadcast for three hours, 15.30 – 18.30 GMT (0030 – 0330 GMT local time Seoul; 00.00 – 03.00 local time, PYT)
  • Medium wave service transmission for 1 hour 16.30 – 17.30 GMT (0130-0230 local time Seoul; 01.00 – 02.00 local time, PYT)
  • All transmissions to be 7 days a week
  • Medium wave (MW) Frequency: 1431KHz
  • Shortwave (SW) Frequencies: 5810 kHz & 9940 kHz (from launch to 28 October 2017) then; 5810 kHz & 5830 kHz (from 29 October 2017 to 24 March 2018)
  • The BBC News Korean website will be available at BBC.com/Korean

The BBC World Service is currently launching in 12 new languages – Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Gujarati, Igbo, Korean, Marathi, Pidgin, Punjabi, Serbian, Telugu, Tigrinya, and Yoruba.

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BBC World Service launches first of 12 new language services

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(Source: BBC Media Centre)

The BBC World Service today launched the first new language service in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.

A digital Pidgin service for West Africa is being launched today. It will shortly be followed by new online services in Amharic, Afaan Oromo and Tigrinya, aimed at Ethiopia, Eritrea and diaspora audiences around the world. Further services, including Korean, are set to launch from this autumn. This expansion means BBC News will operate in more than 40 languages.

The BBC World Service expansion comes thanks to a funding boost of £289m from the UK Government.

Director-General of the BBC Tony Hall says: “Today marks the start of a new chapter for the BBC.

“The BBC World Service is one of the UK’s most important cultural exports. In a world of anxieties about ‘fake news’, where media freedom is being curtailed rather than expanded, the role of an independent, impartial news provider is more important than ever. The new services we’re launching will reach some of the most under-served audiences in the world.”

World Service Director Francesca Unsworth says: “For more than 80 years the BBC World Service has brought trusted news to people across the globe. I’m delighted that millions in West and then East Africa will be able to access the BBC in the languages they speak.

“The BBC World Service expansion will also bring benefits to audiences in the UK. Having more journalists on the ground will enrich our international reporting, bringing news from areas which are often under-reported.”

Pidgin is spoken by an estimated 75m people in Nigeria alone, with additional speakers in Cameroon, Ghana, and Equatorial Guinea.

The Pidgin service is fully digital featuring six daily editions of BBC Minute – a 60-second audio news update – followed by two daily news video bulletins in November. Two further services for West Africa – Yoruba and Igbo – will launch at the beginning of next year.

The Amharic, Afaan Oromo and Tigrinya services will launch online and on dedicated Facebook pages next month. This will be followed later in the year with shortwave radio services in each language, consisting of a 15-minute news and current affairs programme, followed by a 5-minute Learning English programme, from Monday-Friday.

Notes to Editors
The BBC World Service is launching in 12 new languages – Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Gujarati, Igbo, Korean, Marathi, Pidgin, Punjabi, Serbian, Telugu, Tigrinya, and Yoruba.

See: https://www.bbc.com/pidgin

Read this article at the BBC Media Centre website.

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BBC and Marketplace to launch new global business broadcast

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(Source: Talking Biz News via Howard Bailen)

Marketplace and BBC World Service announced Tuesday a new daily global business broadcast, “Marketplace Morning Report” from BBC World Service.

The new broadcast launches Tuesday, Sept. 5 on U.S. public radio stations nationwide. The program will be hosted live from London by the BBC’s Anu Anand, who has more than two decades of experience as a global journalist.

“There are large scale shifts underway in the global economy, and our expanded relationship with the BBC will provide millions of public radio listeners in the U.S. with a fresh global perspective to start their day,” said Deborah Clark, senior vice president and general manager, “Marketplace,” in a statement. “We see this collaboration as an important element in realizing our goal to increase the economic intelligence of all Americans by applying global context and tying it together for U.S. audiences.”

Continue reading the full article at Talking Biz News…

Many thanks for the tip, Howard! Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal is one of my favorite radio broadcasts–I rarely miss it. I’m looking forward to the new Marketplace Morning Report collaboration.

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