AWR Increases Broadcasts in Key Languages

Last week, Adventist World Radio’s board of directors voted the ministry’s 2013 budget, which includes a significant increase in shortwave airtime for the new broadcast season, at a cost of well over half a million dollars. Currently, AWR is scheduled to broadcast for 27,177 hours in 2012; next year, the schedule will expand by 5,200 hours – an increase of nearly 20 percent.

“We are able to make this welcome change thanks to several years of solid financial stability,” says AWR president Dowell Chow. “In years past, we were forced to reduce the frequency of programs for some languages, due to financial constraints. We are very, very pleased that now we will be able not only to restore some of those programs, but also add new languages for some key territories.”

The additional broadcasts will be spread over 21 languages – such as Amharic, Somali, Panjabi, and Urdu – for listeners in Africa and Asia. These languages were chosen in close consultation with AWR’s Africa and Asia region directors, who identified the areas of most need and highest priority. In some cases, the frequency of some programs will be increased from half an hour per day to twice a day, while for other languages, the program length will be doubled from half an hour to a whole hour.

“Delivering as many programs as possible to listeners every day is the core purpose of AWR,” Chow says, “and we are very grateful to God that we are able to expand this ministry wider and wider so that more people can hear the gospel in these languages.”

(Source : AWR)

SES and Eutelsat go to war over UK frequency rights

Two of the world’s top three providers of satellite capacity are locked in battle over rights to 500MHz of transmission spectrum for the lucrative UK DTH market served by BSkyB and also Freeview. The dispute, which has been simmering several years, was brought back to the boil by SES launching a new satellite, Astra 2F, into orbit in September, and stating that it intends taking over 500MHz of spectrum currently used by Eutelsat. Its intention is to do this from October 2013, at 28.2 degrees East, which is a prime slot covering the UK and Ireland, beaming highly popular channels from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. In total, the spectrum under dispute equates to 15 transponders capable of carrying 140 to 180 HD channels.

SES argues that there is no dispute because it had negotiated the rights to the claimed spectrum back in 2005, and that Eutelsat had been operating over those frequencies only on a temporary basis. The rights had been owned by Deutsche Telekom until 2005, with an agreement before then for Eutelsat to use the spectrum. But in 2005, Deutsche Telekom appeared to hand the rights over to German satellite services company Media Broadcast, which in turn signed a deal for those rights with SES. Having launched Astra 2F in the right position, SES now wants to invoke those rights that it believes it owns.

Meanwhile, Media Broadcast had been leasing capacity itself from Eutelsat, but according to some reports, ended that arrangement last year. For its part, Eutelsat is arguing that its own agreement with Deutsche Telekom had no time limit, and was still in force. The dispute therefore appears to hinge on whether SES actually did have full rights to the spectrum after its deal with Media Broadcast, if Eutelsat had a pre-existing contract for them dating back to 1999 that had never been annulled.

Eutelsat has now requested the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris to rule on whether Media Broadcast and Deutsche Telekom did have the right to snatch away the spectrum from Eutelsat. The ICC is an international business body that does arbitrate in disputes between major enterprises, although it is not totally clear whether its decision is absolutely binding across the world of satellite operations.

SES is the world’s second-largest telecommunications satellite operator by revenue after Intelsat, both based in Luxembourg, and operates a fleet of 50 geostationary satellites able to reach 99 percent of the world’s population. France-based Eutelsat is the world’s third largest satellite provider, covering the whole of Europe, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas.

(Source : Broadcast Engineering)

Sponsors line-up to support Radio Festival

A record number of radio services and companies are supporting this year’s Radio Festival, taking place next to MediaCityUK in Salford Quays.

Organisers tell us tickets for annual event are selling fast but a limited number are left. High profile speakers already secured include Pete Waterman, BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine and Fru Hazlitt, Commercial Director at ITV. Other names include Global Radio’s Stephen Miron and Richard Park, BBC Radio 1’s Ben Cooper, Frank Skinner, Spotify’s Chris Maples, Twitter’s Bruce Daisley, Adrian Chiles from ITV Sport and Heart and Classic FM’s Margherita Taylor and many more.

The Radio Academy’s Hall of Fame Dinner, which will see Mick Hucknall presented with the PPL Lifetime Achievement Award, also has a limited number of tickets still available.

Support wise, in addition to support from returning businesses PPL, BBC Radio 6 Music, RCS Sound Software, Radio Studio Services, Broadcast Bionics, Arqiva, Other Lines of Enquiry, VDL, and Radio Today, new sponsors and partners for 2012 include, 7digital, AdsWizz, All In Media, Audioboo, Blue Revolution, Exaget, GES, NDL Group, P Squared, Pure, The Radio Ideas Bank, ReelWorld, Sharpstream, TuneIn Radio, Triple A Media and Wheatstone Coporation.

A full programme will be released shortly, incorporating the theme, ‘Opening Ears to Excellence’, emphasising The Radio Academy’s ongoing commitment to the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK radio broadcasting and audio production.

Clive Dickens, Chairman of the Radio Festival, told RadioToday.co.uk: “Once again we have had a fantastic response from sponsors and partners for this year’s Radio Festival, Techcon, Foot in the Door & Hall of Fame Dinner. The breadth and quality of companies shows the significance of the Festival for the wider radio industry. We still have some spaces for businesses who wish to sponsor sessions at the events, but they are going fast!

“We are looking for a record number of delegates during the Festival, with tickets still available via the Radio Academy website. We have had some amazing announcements from the confirmed line-up so far and we look forward to seeing everyone soon at The Lowry in Salford.”

For more information and to purchase Radio Festival tickets go to radioacademy.org

(Source : Radio Today, UK)

BBC World Service to cut a further 73 posts

Cuts are third phase of plan to make £42m in savings after broadcaster's budget was cut in 2010 spending review

A further 73 posts will be lost at the BBC World Service following its cut in funding by the government with a number of programmes on its English-language service axed.

The cuts, which were announced to staff on Thursday lunchtime, are the third phase of £42m of savings at the global broadcaster after its budget was cut in the government's comprehensive spending review in 2010.

A total of 25 jobs will go on the English-language service with arts show The Strand to be axed and World Briefing replaced by a new programme, The Newsroom.

News coverage will shrink from 18 to 14 hours a day during the week, with a "simplified" schedule and "fewer regional variations".

The number of documentaries will also shrink, from four weekly strands to three, with Your World axed, and Evan Davis's The Bottom Line no longer aired on the World Service.

None of the 27 foreign-language services will be dropped in the latest round of cutbacks, saving about £12m, which will come into effect by April next year. Some £30m of cost savings have already been made.

Read the full story

(Source :  The Guardian, UK)

VOA Korean Service Recognized for 70 Years of Service

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) awarded a Certificate of Recognition to the Voice of America’s Korean Service in honor of their 70 years of broadcasting to Korea. BBG Governor Victor Ashe and VOA Director David Ensor visited the Korean Service on October 11, 2012 to honor the occasion.

(Source : Broadcasting Board of Governors)

Statement regarding interference to BBC World News and World Service transmissions

The following statement has been issued by the BBC.

The BBC, together with a number of other broadcasters, is experiencing deliberate, intermittent interference to its transmissions to audiences in Europe and the Middle East. 

Impacted services include the BBC World News and BBC Arabic television channels and BBC World Service radio services in English and Arabic. 

Deliberate interference such as the jamming of transmissions is a blatant violation of international regulations concerning the use of satellites and we strongly condemn any practice designed to disrupt audiences’ free access to news and information.

(Source : BBC Press Office)

Liberia: Radio Veritas Closed Indefinitely

Radio Veritas, owned and operated by the Catholic Church in Liberia has been shut down indefinitely by the Archdiocese of Monrovia.

Rev. Father Jerome Zeigler, head of the Archdiocese of Monrovia said a major restructure of the institution is pending, including the arrival of new equipment.

Zeigler told the station employees during an emergency conference that they would be given their severance benefit for services rendered the institution in accordance with the labor law of Liberia, but did not say when.

Sources informed this paper last night the employees would get their benefits at the end of October as the Church is consulting with the Labor Ministry on the payment, which could be in the sum of thousands of dollars. The station is reported to have some 20 full time employees plus 10 interns.

Fortnight ago, Veritas or truth, which is noted for its hard news and independence reporting on development affecting the country, was off the air with technical problem cited, but the employees were barred from entering the premises.

Veritas, formerly ELCM (Eternal Love Community) Radio started broadcast here in 1981 as the second Christian-run radio station outfit after ELWA (Eternal Love Winning in Africa) which opened its door in 1950s by the Sudan Interior Mission.

Those were the two private but church-run stations besides the state-owned Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) until the onset of the rebellion on 24 December, 1989.

But Veritas, under past regimes has experienced difficulties. The junta shut it down many times during the destruction of its facilities in the course of the conflict.

It suffered the same fate under former President Charles Taylor when the station door was closed in 2000. Until it can resume broadcast with the same reportage of truth-telling, the station will be remembered by its numerous listeners around the country and abroad.

(Source : The New Dawn (Monrovia) via allAfrica.com)

Mozambique: Community Radio Reopens in Manica

Maputo — A community radio station in central Mozambique, shut down on Friday allegedly on the orders of the local mayor, re-opened on Monday according to a report in the independent daily newsheet "Mediafax".

The Macequece community radio, owned by the Macequece Community Association of Manica (ACOMAM), broadcasts in Manica Town, and the radio's editor, Arlindo Francisco claims that the order to take the radio off the air came from the mayor of Manica, Moguene Candieiro, although the mayor vigorously denies the claim.

The interference of the mayor "could at no time be accepted, because the radio belongs to the community and not to the Municipal Council", said Francisco. It is believed that Candieiro ordered the closure, because the radio declined to broadcast political messages that he wanted transmitted.

Francisco said that the radio reopened after lengthy meetings between the radio managers and municipal officials.

But Candieiro gives a different version of events. He blamed the closure on conflict within ACOMAM. "We sent the police to protect the radio, because there's a war between the associates", he claimed. "I didn't order the closure. Who am I to order a radio to shut down?"

He predicted on Friday – accurately as it turned out – that the radio would re-open on Monday "because the associates have sat down and discussed the matters that divide them".

Francisco, however, denied there was any such internal dispute. "There's no friction between the associates", he said. "There was in the past, but the matter was overcome a long time ago".

He claimed that the person who created discord in the past had left and was now involved with the mayor in intrigues against the radio station. "What is happened is that the politicians want to interfere in the radio and we won't let them", said Francisco

The Community Radio Forum (FORCOM) sent a delegation, headed by its President, Joao dos Santos Jeronimo, to Manica at the weekend to investigate. The district police commander, Anito Machava, told them he had received orders from the mayor to close the radio because there was a demonstration taking place at its premises. But when the commander went there personally, he could see no sign of any demonstration.

(Source : allAfrica.com)

Burundi: Humanitarian Diplomacy in Action - Free Radio Airtime Increasing Red Cross Visibility in Burundi

Ariane Ngoti, communications assistant in charge of radio broadcasting at Burundi Red Cross says Red Cross visibility has increased dramatically since 2009, when volunteers started broadcasting their experiences through radio stations all over the country. The number of volunteers has also increased to 350,000.

Ariane, travels from province to province meeting various volunteers. "The volunteers are always eager to share their stories and experiences," she says.

Ariane records these into a one-hour radio programme and distributes it to five nationalwide radio stations. The name of the radio programme is Agir pour Sauver (meaning, "act to bring salvation" as loosely translated into English).

The content of this programme has impressed five commercial radio stations who now offer free airtime to the National Society allowing them to reach audiences all across the country.

The programme is broadcasted in French and Kirundi each week on Rema FM, Africa Republic Radio, National Radio and Television for Burundi.

Through the programme, volunteers are able to explain how they respond to different emergencies and this creates awareness among the listeners. "We recently aired a malaria campaign funded by Belgiun Red Cross," Ariane says. "Volunteers advised the listeners on malaria prevention. The campaign was successful and in subsequent programmes the volunteers reported that families in the community now use mosquito nets, while pregnant women access medical care when they suspect that they have malaria."

Arian, not only interviews the Red Cross volunteers, but she also talks to local administration and partner organizations in order to get a wider view of the various topics discussed in the programme.

"Volunteers also share the various income generating initiatives that they are involved in and how they are assisting vulnerable people within their communities. Other topical issues discussed are how to protect the environment, and how to administer first aid," she says.

Such initiatives reflect successful humanitarian diplomacy in action. Staff and volunteers from the Burundi Red Cross have demonstrated that they can carry out quiet diplomacy, mobilize resources locally, and assist the most vulnerable people in the community through sharing information on a weekly basis.

It is through 'behind the scenes' negotiations that they have been able to access various resources that encourage volunteer development. Airtime that would ordinarily break the organization's budget can now be accessed free of charge.

Humanitarian diplomacy has become a pillar of support for Burundi Red Cross and their stories are worth telling repeatedly. The National Society is now on the road to standing on its own and becoming a model of empowerment and change in their communities, and for Africa more broadly.

(Source : International Federation of Red cross and Res Crescent Societies via allAfrica.com)

ABU GA – Top programs and broadcasters recognised at ABU Prizes 2012

Programs about the environment won both radio and TV categories of the inaugural Seoul Awards presented at the ABU General Assembly gala awards evening in the Korean capital.

 

The Seoul Awards were given to the TV and radio projects that best contributed to the development of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region throughout the past year.  

The inaugural awards were presented by Mr Gil Hwan-young, Vice President of Korean Broadcasting System at a function attended by more than 400 delegates and guests.

The winner of the TV category was the CARE (Change Asia, Rescue the Earth) series by KBS and the radio category was won by the Green Radio initiative of RRI-Indonesia.  

More than 50 radio and television programs or program segments were selected for the finals of the ABU Awards from 166 television and 76 radio entries from 18 countries and 25 organisations, a field the Union’s Secretary-General Dr Javad Mottaghi said reflected the scope and quality of programming the annual ABU Prizes attracts.

A popular winner in the Interactive Program Category for radio was SBS Asia Pop entered by Australia’s multicultural broadcaster and which reflected the popularity of Asian music in that country and internationally.  

The Entertainment TV Award was given to Mr Isao Okajima from JBA Japan for Lady's Story: 1600 Days of Orphan Chimpanzee and a Zookeeper, while the ABU Perspective Award for a program that delivered the best message on a theme – which for 2012 was "water" – was won by Global Report: Endangered Times, The Global Water Crisis by KBS.

The Special Jury Prize for the production crew of a TV or radio program that demonstrated innovative and creative ideas despite limited resources went to Metro TV of Indonesia for The President of Grey Republic and to Bangladesh Betar for the radio program Thorns on the Way.

The Dennis Anthony Memorial Award for the top news report of the year was sponsored by CNN and won by China Central Television for a report on China's manned space mission.

Entertainment at the gala awards dinner was a special performance by Fusion Korea, the World Vision Children's Choir and by popular K-Pop group Infinite.  

The full list of ABU Prizes is as follows:

ABU Radio Prizes Winners for 2012

• Drama - The Day I Became Iron by JBA Mainichi Broadcasting System, Japan;
• Interactive Programmes – SBS Pop Asia, SBS-Australia;
• Radio Jingles, Promos or Station IDs – Let’s Introduce Our Culture: Dalang, RRI-Indonesia;
• On-Air Personality – Michelle Lovegrove, SBS-Australia;
• News Reporting – Burning Garden, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK);
• Documentary – The Boy with the Violin (World Stories), BBC;
• Special Jury Prize – Thorns on the Way, Bangladesh Betar (BB);
• ABU Seoul Prize (Radio) – Green Radio, RRI – Indonesia.

 ABU TV Prizes Winners for 2012

• Drama – Inklusion by ARD Bayerischer Rundfunk, Germany;
• Documentary – Tears of the Antarctic, MBC-South Korea;
• Children - And It’s Up to You (Ene mene bu), ARD ZDF KiKa, Germany;
• News Reporting – The Policeman Zookeeper, Caring for animals, caring for people, JBA Kansai Telecasting, Japan;
• Sports – Tour de France 2011 Opener, SBS-Australia;
• Entertainment – Lady’s Story, 1600 Days of Motherless Chimpanzee and a Zookeeper, JBA STV, Japan;
• ABU Perspective Award – Global Report, The Global Water Crisis, KBS-Korea;
• Special Jury Prize – The President of Grey Republic, Metro TV, Indonesia.
• ABU Seoul Prize (TV) – CARE Series, KBS Korea

 ABU Technical Awards Winners for 2012

• Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award – Dr Kazuyoshi Shogen, Senior Associate Director, BSAT Japan;
• Engineering Industry Excellence Award – James Rodney Santiago, Consultant, Association of Radio Industries & Businesses, Philippines;
• Technical Review Prize 2012 Best Article Award – Dr Ngo Thai Tri, Nguyen Chien Thang and Hoang Thanh Tung, AVG-Vietnam.

 Other Awards

• Asia-Pacific Child Rights Award – I-Witness: Piggy Bank, GMA Network , Philippines;
• Dennis Anthony Memorial Award – China’s Manned Space Mission, a Success, CCTV-China.

(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)