Voice of America, addio onde corte per l'Asia

Da lunedì l'Asia non sentirà più Voice of America in inglese sulle onde corte: il Congresso, secondo SWLing.com che ha raccolto la notizia dall'ex corrispondente Dan Robinson, avrebbe decurtato drasticamente il budget per le trasmissioni per il continente asiatico. Chiuse le trasmissioni in azerbaigiano, bengali, cambogiano, curdo, laotiano e uzbeco. Forti limitazioni a Free Europe e Free Asia. Il rapporto costo/audience è diventato molto sfavorevole, a quanto sembra (a furia di sentirlo dire ci credo anch'io). Affermare che la radiofonia in onde corte sta morendo è banale e ripetitivo, potremmo organizzare un concorso aperto a chi riesce ad azzeccare meglio la previsione del momento in cui l'ultimo impianto broadcast tra 3 e 30 MHz verrà definitivamente spento, con buona pace di chi anche vivendo in nazioni governate da regimi oppressivi avrebbe potuto ascoltare con facilità (e senza dispositivi digitali comunque costosi e controllabili) buon giornalismo e politica equilibrata. Pazienza, tanto la prossima guerra farà passare tutto in secondo piano.

FAREWELL TO SHORTWAVE 

We were informed late Friday that BBG’s proposed shortwave cuts for FY2014 have been approved by Congress.
As of the end of the day on Monday, June 30th, all shortwave frequencies for English News programs to Asia will be eliminated. We will no longer be heard via shortwave in the morning (12-16 utc), and the evening (22-02utc)…mostly in Asia.
Shortwave frequencies for the following services will also be eliminated: Azerbaijani, Bangla, English (Learning), Khmer, Kurdish, Lao and Uzbek. Shortwave being used by services at RFE/RL and RFA are also being cut.
Because shortwave has been a cheap and effective way to receive communications in countries with poor infrastructure or repressive regimes, it was a good way to deliver information. But broadcasting via shortwave is expensive, and its use by listeners has been on the decline for years. At the BBG, the cost vs. impact equation no longer favors broadcasts via this medium to most of the world.
Important for us is that we will continue to be heard on shortwave frequencies during those hours we broadcast to Africa. Also, we know through our listener surveys that about half of our audience in Asia and the rest of the world listens to us via the web and podcast – so all is not lost.
Let’s break the news about this change to our audiences starting Sunday night. I doubt specific frequencies are critical to announce. The important point to make for our listeners is that we encourage their continued listening through local affiliates, and on the web at voanews.com.”