{"id":29693,"date":"2017-12-18T08:15:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T12:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=29693"},"modified":"2017-12-18T08:16:03","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T12:16:03","slug":"belgium-to-end-telegram-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/belgium-to-end-telegram-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium to end telegram service"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Source: BBC News<\/a> via\u00a0Kris Partridge)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Belgium’s telegram service is about to stop. Stop.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One hundred and seventy-one years after the first electrical message was transmitted down a line running alongside the railway between Brussels and Antwerp the final dispatch will be sent and received on 29 December.<\/p>\n

The fact that this 19th-Century technology is still up and running in the age of Instagram and Snapchat may seem rather odd – especially when you consider that the UK, which invented the telegram in the 1830s, abandoned it as long ago as 1982.<\/p>\n

The United States followed suit in 2006 and even India, which had been by far the world’s biggest market for the telegram, finally closed its system down in 2013.<\/p>\n

Just 10 businesses and a handful of individual customers have kept the Belgian system going until now. It has been chiefly used by bailiffs, who had need of a system which provided legal guarantees of dispatch and receipt.<\/p>\n

The buyer can call up a telephone operator to spell out their message, which is then sent by post.<\/p>\n

But with a “flash” telegram costing \u20ac23.75 (\u00a321) for a basic 20 words, plus \u20ac0.90 for delivery in and around Brussels, it is not difficult to see why the system is struggling to survive in the age of unlimited texting on cheap mobile phone tariffs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here to read the full story on the BBC News website.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: BBC News via\u00a0Kris Partridge) Belgium’s telegram service is about to stop. Stop. One hundred and seventy-one years after the first electrical message was transmitted down a line running alongside the railway between Brussels and Antwerp the final dispatch will be sent and received on 29 December. The fact that this 19th-Century technology is still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,305],"tags":[1562,1062,5584,1130],"class_list":["post-29693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nostalgia","tag-bbc-news","tag-belgium","tag-kris-partridge","tag-telegraphy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-7IV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51835,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/02\/bbc-ws-documentary-world-wide-waves-22-the-sounds-of-community-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":29693,"position":0},"title":"BBC World Service Documentary: “World Wide Waves ’22: The sounds of community radio”","author":"Thomas","date":"February 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who shares the following: Just heard a trail for this BBC World Service Radio programme to be broadcast at 12h00 UTC this coming Saturday, 12 February 2022. Here is the background of the programme: For World Radio Day 2022, we tune in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FM"","block_context":{"text":"FM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/fm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/World-Radio-Day-WRD-2020.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/World-Radio-Day-WRD-2020.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/World-Radio-Day-WRD-2020.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/World-Radio-Day-WRD-2020.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22721,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/bbc-research-department-report-on-the-beverage-antenna\/","url_meta":{"origin":29693,"position":1},"title":"BBC Research Department Report on the beverage antenna","author":"Thomas","date":"December 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who writes: [R]esearch on DTH satellite TV service took me to a public website which is an archive going back to 1934. And boy, there is so much information there ..! So what I pass to you for the Blog is this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/SX-99-Dial-Nar.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24144,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/kris-also-forced-the-shipping-forecast-to-repeat-a-broadcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":29693,"position":2},"title":"Kris also forced the Shipping Forecast to repeat a broadcast","author":"Thomas","date":"February 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Kris Partridge (G8AUU) who shares the following comment in reply to our post about Dave's experience forcing the Shipping Forecast to repeat a broadcast: Hi Dave, G4OYX, et al Not the only time the Shipping Forecast has had to be repeated for \u2018Operational Error\u2019\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Shipping-Forecast-Beaufort-Scale-1024x573.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Shipping-Forecast-Beaufort-Scale-1024x573.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Shipping-Forecast-Beaufort-Scale-1024x573.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46388,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/links-for-a-deep-dive-into-bbc-radio-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":29693,"position":3},"title":"Links for a deep dive into BBC radio history","author":"Thomas","date":"November 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who writes: Last night I sent the link to the SWLing Droitwch item to a former colleague. He replied this morning, reply below, and includes a couple of useful links. I\u2019m very sure the SWLing Post knows about MB21. Thinking that maybe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dial.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dial.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Dial.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40536,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/the-bbc-and-the-cold-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":29693,"position":4},"title":"“The BBC and the Cold War”","author":"Thomas","date":"November 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who writes: With Saturday being the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, BBC OnLine has posted this to commemorate the anniversary: https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/historyofthebbc\/100-voices\/coldwar The Cold War was the defining global conflict of the second half of the Twentieth Century. Fought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38181,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/website-shares-story-of-the-bbcs-wartime-reporting\/","url_meta":{"origin":29693,"position":5},"title":"Site shares story of the BBC\u2019s wartime reporting","author":"Thomas","date":"June 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kris Partridge, who shares the following note following our recent series of posts about WWII radio: The, nearly, full story of the BBC\u2019s wartime reporting can be found here. Yes, I hope another interesting read both for your good self and the readers of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/BBC-AT-WAR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/BBC-AT-WAR.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/BBC-AT-WAR.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}