[Swprograms] Re: Incredible Arrogance

[Peter Bowen <peter.bowen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yeah, it was nice to hear John's letter read over the air, especially
since he put his case very well.

And, yes, the gentlemen (who was head of distribution, if I'm not
mistaken) was rather insensitive to the needs and loyalties of us
shortwave listeners.

But, they have made their decision, for whatever reasons, and it is
extremely unlikely that they will back down. In fact, I would not be
at all surprised if they do away with shortwave completely for the
Americas in 1-2 years.

The important 0100-0200 UTC slot has been cut form the Americas sked.
This is a real loss, as there were great science programmes during
that period.

Also, with the summer programming changes, we lose such gems as
"Analysis" and "The Instant Guide" during shortwave transmission
times. What a shame.

Time to look at other options, I think, both in terms of delivery of
BBCWS and in terms of other radio stations.

73,
pb



On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 08:40:31 -0500, Sandy Finlayson <SFinlayson@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> I too listened to this incredible display of arrogance last night.
> 
> They have decided to phase out short wave, they don't really care what their audience thinks and that is the end of the story.  We listeners have been naive to think that they really care about us.
> 
> Sandy
> 
>        -----Original Message-----
>        From: swprograms-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of John Figliozzi
>        Sent: Sat 3/26/2005 12:16 AM
>        To: Shortwave discussion; dxld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; edxp@xxxxxxxxxxx
>        Cc:
>        Subject: [Swprograms] Incredible Arrogance
> 
>        Well, I was surprised somewhat to hear a segment of my letter on Write
>        On tonight; but I was even more amazed to hear the absolutely
>        incredible degree of arrogance displayed by the BBC's spokesman in
>        reply to a series of letters telling him and the BBC that they are just
>        plain wrong.
> 
>        At one point, he (I'm sorry I don't recall his name and neglected to
>        write it down; but he's apparently the responsible party for
>        determining or carrying out their distribution strategy) claimed that
>        the BBC's research shows that they have a listenership in North America
>        of around 5 million now and---now get this--most of them listen late at
>        night!
> 
>        Duh.  That's the only time they're on in an overwhelming number of
>        local markets because local FM rebroadcasters will only turn over the
>        overnight hours to them!
> 
>        To the series of correspondents protesting that their shortwave radios
>        remain perfectly useful and convenient instruments for listening to the
>        BBC, he simply replied that his research says otherwise.
> 
>        One letter pointed out that the BBC was attempting to take its
>        listeners back to a time when the family had to sit around a large
>        instrument in the center of the room to hear "radio".  He was unphased
>        essentially saying that the BBC was doing this for the benefit of ALL
>        its listeners and if some had to be sacrificed along the way, well that
>        was too bad but necessary.
> 
>        "We're right; you're wrong" was the subtext throughout.  The clear
>        logic of the letter writers was deflected with one word: "research".
>        To give her her due, Ms. Penny Vine did a good job pressing the
>        listeners' case as forcefully as she could.  He was just having none of
>        it.
> 
>        At several points, he referred to the BBC as a "business".  Maybe
>        that's all it is to them at this point.  And maybe that's the problem.
> 
>        John Figliozzi
>        Halfmoon, NY
> 
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>
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