Von: BueschelW@web.de im Auftrag von Wolfgang Bueschel ...

SW TXsite Jan 20)
In this week's Talking Point we examine the future of shortwave
broadcasting. Shortwave has undoubtedly been on the retreat in developed
countries, forced to share its former primacy with upstart mediums such
as the internet and satellite radio. But are its days numbered even in
the developing world.
The topic for this week's Talking Point is one that is close to home for
the staff of Radio Prague and for a large number of its listeners. It is
the future of shortwave. Shortwave is our main broadcast medium with
feedback from listeners suggesting that this is the way we reach around
half of you.
But shortwave transmission has also been one of the station's main costs,
representing 13 million crowns out of a budget of just under 65 million
crowns last year [that means 20% of the total budget ... that's not too
much, I guess, wb.]. And with demands from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
for severe cutbacks, the whole future of shortwave broadcasting by Radio
Prague has been under threat.
Station director Miroslav Krupicka describes the latest situation.
"Radio Prague's budget for this year has been reduced by 15.0 percent. It
is a little bit more than we expected but we have to come to terms with
it. It still makes it possible for us to continue shortwave broadcasts.
What we have to do is to close one[!] of the two[!] short wave
transmitters that we have in Litomysl. We will be able to cover basically
more or less the same territory we have been covering so far, which means
the whole of Europe, North Africa, let's say the Middle East and parts of
North and South America. We won't be reducing very much the area that we
cover so far."
Those economy measures almost halve the shortwave transmission bill
to 7.0 million crowns a year. [...]
"Major broadcasters like the BBC have actually stopped broadcasting to
Europe on shortwave along with France. Denmark and Norway have gone off
the air, as has Austria and Slovakia. The list goes on and on. There are a
lot of transmitter facilities that are at the moment standing idle. And
frankly I do not think they will ever come back to the glory that we knew
say 20 to 25 years ago."
He adds that one of shortwave's main problems is its expense. "In terms of
short wave broadcasting, you need huge powers - electricity costs - in
order to make just one signal. And if you are spending hundreds of dollars
to keep a 100 or 250 kW shortwave radio transmitter on the air, that may
have been physically possible 10 years ago when oil was 50$ a barrel but
when it becomes 100$ a barrel it becomes a very, very expensive way of
sharing an idea."
But Radio Prague's Mr. Krupicka believes shortwave still has a major role,
especially in those parts of the world where the internet has not advanced
so far and so fast.
file:///E|/datentransfer/wwdfxc_2010/BCDX948.TXT[06.01.2011 12:38:08]