December 22 2024
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‘This is London’ no more
End of BBC Arabic Radio evokes nostalgia, highlights digitization
Dana Al-Zyadat, Jordan news
last updated:
Jan 29,2023
Ahmed Kamal Sorour, the first broadcaster to read a bulletin on BBC Arabic in 1938. (Photo: BBC Arabic)
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AMMAN —
After 85 years of broadcasting, the BBC Arabic radio service officially went
off the air on Friday, prompting sorrow from listeners across the globe. اضافة اعلان
The shutdown
comes as part of various cuts at BBC’s World Service aimed at decreasing costs
and focusing on digital programming.
The service,
known for opening its news bulletins with the words “This is London”, was
launched in January 1938, when Ahmed Kamal Soroor commenced it as the first
non-English-language broadcast from Britain before the Second World War.
Jordan
News spoke to
various listeners on the closure of BBC’s Arabic broadcast. Here is what they
had to say.
DigitizationYasser Abu
Hilala, Al Jazeera's former director-general, told Jordan News that
the shift to digitization is based on economic factors, seeing as “the cost of
radio operations are much higher than the cost of going digital”.
“There is a
growing need to go digital,” he added.
“Regular
radio listeners are no longer common. Societal behavior has changed, and
listening patterns have changed. Many now listen to topics that interest them
at times that suit them.”
Radio
services, he said, must be developed to meet listeners’ needs.
Digital
media is quickly taking over as the dominant form of media transmission.
According to a report by the Reuters Institute, broadcasters face increasing
disruption with rapidly declining audiences — across all age groups — for
linear news bulletins and opinion programming.
In terms of
digitization, the market is increasingly competitive.
Political
analyst Labib Kamhawi told Jordan News that, as of now, the
BBC does not compete at the forefront of options.
“There are
many competitors, and the competition is intense, and the BBC entered the
competition a bit late,” he said.
BBC World
Service is a global broadcaster with a weekly audience of over 300 million
people, available in 41 languages.
‘Loss
for traditional media’With
changing audience habits and increased online news consumption, the BBC has
shifted towards a "digital-first" approach for financial reasons,
including a funding freeze and rising operating costs.
Eleven
language services — Azerbaijani, Brasil, Marathi, Mundo, Punjabi, Russian,
Serbian, Sinhala, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese — have already transitioned to
digital-only.
Abu Hilala
affirmed that the BBC can advance in digital media as it has a historic
presence and a strong archive.
“We are
facing a new type of media, and we do not know what it is until now,” he said.
“Any experimentation is subject to success or failure.”
Ramadan
Rawashdeh told Jordan News that the closure of BBC Radio is
“a loss for traditional media, as the BBC radio was characterized by its
professionalism”.
“I am
certain that the digital launch will be strong … it was necessary to move (to
digital).”
Decreasing
soft powerSince the
announcement of the BBC’s axing of its Arabic broadcast, many have voiced that
this presents Britain's shrinking political role in the Middle East and North
African region.
Kamhawi
stated that BBC’s radio station had “a historical tie linked to British
colonialism in the region.”
It later
turned into a main destination for Arab and international listeners wanting to
know the latest about the region, he added, as there was a “blackout among Arab
media”.
“The BBC
became the chosen outlet for many Arabs who wanted the correct information
without obfuscation and manipulation,” he added.
The
broadcast, said Nidal Mansour, president of the Center for Defending Freedom of
Journalists, was linked to the listeners' “conscience and political awareness,
especially to those listening during the media blackout.”
“It was a
haven,” he added.
“I am quite
sad over its closure,” he said. “We are losing something that existed prominently
throughout our history.”
‘Here
is London’ While the
BBC insisted that no language services would close, the final “Here is London”
brought tears to some eyes.
Jim Muir, a
BBC correspondent to the Middle East, tweeted: “Tears in my eyes as I listen to
the last broadcast by @BBCArabic, closing down after 85 years. It meant so much
to so many people here over the decades. Now the airwaves are dead. End of an
era.”
بعد 85 عاماً من البث المستمر، ينتهي اليوم مشوار راديو بي بي سي عربي، لكننا نبقى معكم عبر شاشات التلفزيون وكل المنصات الرقمية الأخرى. الزمن يتغيّر ولكن لا يتوقف .شكراً لوفائكم. pic.twitter.com/ckGMqiUyEz
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