Re: [Swprograms] [ODXA] BBC to Caribbean

["Scott Royall" <royall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All probably true, if a bit romantic. I date back to the '70's, and I don't
remember too many portables being worth a damn. Today, I have EVDO. It would
be no problem for me to sit on many beaches and have the BBC digital live.
Never mind the satellite services, too expensive for too little. With EVDO,
the entire Internet is obediently at my heel at > 450Mbps. Absolutely not as
exciting as our youthful memories, but part of a much larger picture of
merging technologies. The BBC could therefore claim that they are more
accessible than ever via technology we use heavily. That doesn't make them
right, but remember that they want urban penetration. 

 	
 	
-----Original Message-----
From: swprograms-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:swprograms-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Figliozzi
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 9:44 PM
To: odxa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: dxld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Shortwave programming discussion
<swprograms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Swprograms] [ODXA] BBC to Caribbean

 From my point of view, it would take very limited resources to  
preserve a minimal shortwave presence in the Western Hemisphere.  For  
this reason, it appears to me that the BBC is much more interested in  
making a point rather than ensuring that all the listeners who want  
to hear it, can.  What is the point?  I'm not quite sure.  it could  
be something on the order that the BBC is a forward looking  
institution that is not afraid to make the bold moves it deems  
necessary to ensure its place now and into the future, as it sees it,  
etc., etc. ad hominem...

Which would be well and good if the BBC had to impress institutional  
investors or venture capitalists.  Which it doesn't.  So, in my view,  
it is not well and good.  The BBC has overplayed the (admittedly very  
real) shortcomings of shortwave whilst downplaying the (also very  
real) shortcomings of its preferred platforms.  As  Kim Elliott  
observed <www.kimandrewelliott.com>, "And so gone are the days when  
an American could take a portable shortwave radio and listen to BBCWS  
any time the evening, from any room of the house, or from the patio.  
Now it requires an XM or Sirius subscription, with antenna pointed  
just so, unfettered by southerly obstructions. Or listen to BBC  
programs selected by your local public radio station, at times  
selected by same." I should add that it also requires AC power.  If  
the lights go out (or planes, god forbid, once again start flying  
into buildings), so does the BBC.

These small but important points are all but lost to the brahmins of  
the BBC and that, my friends, is a very sad fact.  It is also a fact  
that the primary task of an institution founded on public service is  
to serve the public in every way possible.  It is possible--and I  
think we have made this most valid point many times here in these  
forums--to preserve a presence on sw and fully embrace the new  
platforms in a financially responsible manner.  The BBC argument that  
it can't do both has been effectively refuted several times and in  
several ways.

So this is their choice.  It is their right to make, but that does  
not make it the right choice.  And so it goes.

John Figliozzi
Halfmoon, NY

On Mar 29, 2006, at 7:28 AM, Richard Cuff wrote:

> The version I received directly from Bush House matches what Harold
> mentioned below.
>
> I hear that the decision to drop South and Central American services
> was made recently -- possibly in early March -- and transmitter
> schedules that were not updated after that decision was taken would
> not be correct.
>
> As I posted over the swprograms group, there were approximately 66.7
> daily BBCWS shortwave transmitter-hours targeting the Americas and the
> Caribbean in early 2001 before the July cuts.  Now there are 4.5 daily
> hours (and they're not even daily).  That's roughly a 93% reduction in
> service.
>
> Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA  USA
>
>
> On 3/28/06, Harold Sellers <listeningin@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> I'm afraid so, Gary. Below is part of a posting to Glenn Hauser's DX
>> Listening Digest.
>>
>> Harold Sellers
>>
>> ====================
>> So this is ALL THAT`S LEFT of English BBCWS on SW in the entire  
>> Western
>> Hemisphere:
>>
>> 1100 1300 Daily   11865
>> 2100 2200 Daily   15390
>> 2100 2130 Mon-Fri 11675
>> 2200 2300 Daily    5975
>>
>> Page linking to all the BBCWS in English SW frequency schedules  
>> (and each
>> has a
>> separate link in graph from showing transmitter sites):
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/frequencies/index.shtml
>> (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
>>
>>
>
>
>
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