Actually from Kevin Anderson...who had meant to hit 'reply all'. Richard
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kevin Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 12:35 PM Subject: Re: [Swprograms] RNW to end shortwave usage to North America as of the B-08 schedule change To: Richard Cuff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> One huge advantage of internet-based delivery schemes over all other methods is the instant and complete nature of statistical information available. A radio station can know on a daily, hourly, or even by the minute, how many users are "listening" (streaming or downloading a podcast) and, with just a bit of analysis, approximately from where each accessed from. OTA shortwave can't compete in this regard. Short of having all listeners e-mail once a week a "listening log" to a clearing house similar to an Arbitron diary, they would have no idea when someone is listening at a statistical level anywhere close to internet. More of the "just-in-time" "me" world applied to international broadcasting. Kevin --- On Tue, 10/7/08, Richard Cuff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Richard Cuff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [Swprograms] RNW to end shortwave usage to North America as of > the B-08 schedule change > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Shortwave programming discussion" > <swprograms@hard-core-dx.com> > Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 9:49 AM > A follow-up note: > > One of the metrics that both the BBC World Service (in > 2001) and Radio > Netherlands (in 2008) used in deciding to curtail shortwave > usage to > North America was "cost per shortwave listener". > > Back in 2001, the BBC published an assessment of its > "audibility" in > each target region -- that is, how easily the station could > be heard > in various geographies. This was when the BBC made use of > Antigua and > Sackville (as well as the UK) to reach North America -- > before they > pulled the plug. The BBC found that its audibility in > North America > was not as good as it was in West Africa, South Asia, > Europe, Southern > Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific Islands. > > Meanwhile the BBC also calculated a cost per listener -- > looking at > the transmitter-hours that served the various targets and > then > dividing by the number of listeners to reach a > cost-per-listener. > > They found that the North American audibility was lower > than most > areas, and the cost per listener was higher than most > areas. That > wasn't a good combination. > > Radio Netherlands pretty much went through a similar > exercise over the > past year. They didn't develop this audibility > assessment, but they > did estimate their audience in various regions and also > look at the > transmitter cost to reach that audience. Once again, the > cost-per-listener for North America was higher than in > other English > language regions. > > Given the decline in North American listener feedback (vs. > other > regions) and given the maturity of North American media vs. > media in > English-speaking Africa, Asia, and much of the Pacific, > North America > became a lower priority for RNW and they decided to shift > SW resources > to services where SW was a more important delivery method > -- Spanish > speakers in Latin / South America. > > Much like Radio Australia has noted, RNW believes that it > can reach > many of its its devoted North American listeners via > Internet > delivery, and the costs for that are much less (by > RNW's calculations) > than the shortwave costs. > > The moral of the story: "vote early, vote > often:" If you value a > broadcaster's presence on shortwave and listen to it > regularly, tell > them so, and tell them why these alternate platforms > don't work for > you. > > That type of "letter writing" won't work for > RNW at this point -- the > analysis is complete, and the decision has been made -- but > it might > be helpful for other broadcasters on the fence. > > Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA > > On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 12:03 PM, Kevin Anderson > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Now I know shortwave is dead. The one international > broadcaster who argued most vehemently for keeping shortwave > an option for all. A very sad announcement indeed, because > I am generally not a podcast or online listener, believing > still in the medium of over-the-air radio (and not > necessarily just in the broadcastable nature of spoken word > programming, which I do believe in as well). It puts on its > head the nature of who is "privileged" in the > world - I almost now want to consider the > "privileged" to be the Indonesian, Pacific > Islander, Andean highlander, or African resident who can > still rely on "radio" as radio. > > -- Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA International broadcasting / shortwave blog: http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ 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.