When I purchased my first short wave radio in the mid 1970's I did so precisely because I wanted to hear what was going on in the UK.
At that point the vast majority of International Broadcasters were targeting their audiences with information on their countries so that people living abroad could get a sense of the country and I suspect they also were targeting expats who wanted news of home. As we all know the money crunchers at the BEEB have decided that this is not what the world needs and in fairness given ease of access to Radio 4 via the internet it isn't too hard to fill in the gap. However, I do miss the old BBCWS and have happy memories of listening to it. SF -------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Sandy Finlayson Director of Library Services & Professor of Theological Bibliography Westminster Theological Seminary Philadelphia, PA 'Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library' Sir Winston Churchill -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard Cuff Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 9:09 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Shortwave programming discussion Subject: Re: [Swprograms] Does the BBC World Service fail Britain? The reason I flagged the letter is that it focused specifically on the lack of content *about* Britain on the World Service, and that resonated with me. If one looks to the World Service of the 1980s, there was a thrice-weekly program called "Network UK" that focused on events in Britain and British culture. It was somewhat similar to today's "Outlook" but didn't have the emphasis on the arts that Outlook often has. There was also a program called "News About Britain" that ran 15 minutes a couple times per day that enabled the listener to hear domestic news with enough background to inform a global audience. In 2008, the World Service continues to deemphasize the UK in its programming, and I believe that's a loss to those of us who listen to shortwave radio -- er, make that international broadcasters -- in order to learn about other countries and their perspectives. Regarding expats, they certainly were an historical target audience of the World Service; the advertisements in the World Service publications "On Air" and, before that, "London Calling" touted offshore investment schemes and health insurance programs that specifically appealed to expats living overseas. Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 2:30 AM, Mike Barraclough <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Why has this letter from one individual reader of the right wing press any particular significance? > > It's in response to this: > > Sir - The BBC has withdrawn the World Service from most European countries, including France, where many thousands of Britons live. > > How does the BBC reconcile making an overseas service more readily available to Britons who are not overseas, as it has done, while withdrawing it from Britons who really are overseas? > > Philip Perkins, Ramsbury, Wiltshire > > The BBC World Service never was a service for ex-patriates who don't pay for it. And of course it hasn't withdrawn it, it's available on several platforms. Mr. Perkins also ignores the fact that BBC World Service does broadcast in languages other than English. > _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list Swprograms@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above. _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list Swprograms@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above.