Browsing Kim Andrew Elliott's blog led to an interesting letter from Vincent Nowicki, the director of engineering and technical operations at the International Broadcasting Bureau (VOA's parent organization) about shortwave vs. other programming delivery methods.
These were in response to a Radio World article about the BBG's shutdown of key SW transmitter sites. See http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0044/t.12101.html Overall I think I agree with most of Nowicki's points, with one exception: He cites that Pakistan is nowadays less favorable for shortwave since only 8% of the audience owns a shortwave radio. However, this begs a couple questions: 1) Does that 8% reflect an audience that has no reasonable alternatives to hearing a particular broadcast or broadcaster? If so, then shutting off that 8% would be a significant inconvenience. 2) Do the demographics of that "8%" audience make it a key target audience? Is that "8%" the type of audience the BBG should try to reach at all costs? While shortwave can get the short shrift when it comes to audience size, broadcasters should also be sure to note *who* listens to shortwave. Richard -- Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA International broadcasting / shortwave blog: http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above.
