"Due to Technical Problems…" – Stuart Pinfold's Blog | Page 2

Today is the 29th of April, 2011. It’s the last programme of Ukrainian BBC service. The first one was broadcast on the 1st of June, 1992.

London calling! The Ukrainian BBC Service.

The Ukrainian BBC service is on air. It is 7pm in London, and 9pm in Kiev. The next half-hour you’ll be listening about world events, information from Ukraine, business and cultural news and many others. You’re with the BBC Ukrainian Service.

We send you greetings from London. This is the first radio programme from BBC Ukrainian. We are on the frequencies 9585 and 11760. We hope you’ll listen to us on middle wave and FM. It’s raining today in London. Nothing special. And the special thing is that it’s the first Ukrainian broadcasting from the headquarters of BBC World Service. The people, who make these programmes, will do it honest-minded and interesting. And now is our first programme. You’ll learn the following: The Prime Minister of Great Britain John Major was interviewed by our Ukrainian service. We also interviewed the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchyk “The relationships with Britain are very important for Ukraine…” And that’s not all. Today the priest Father Lunev will tell us about Ukrainian programme.
It’s good that we’re not on television. And you didn’t see all of us, members of BBC, who had been working for BBC for a long time, laughing at our voices that were so funny then…

Frankly speaking, the opening of the BBC Ukrainian Service was a difficult and serious task. The first head of Ukrainian editorial staff was Elizabeth Robson. I asked her: Was it easy to persuade the direction of BBC to open the programme in Ukrainian language? At the time everybody thought that people, who live in Ukraine, speak Russian, understand Russian. The Russian BBC service had been on-air for 10 years already. It was one of the biggest sections of the BBC World Service. It was very difficult to persuade management to create Ukrainian BBC Service.

“Everything was opening up because of Gorbachev’s politics of Glasnost. Ukraine was trying to become an independent country. The state sovereignty was proclaimed. And they were the additional arguments to start broadcasting in the Ukrainian language. Before that the logic was as follows: All these countries are the parts of USSR, the state language is Russian and everybody knows it. So let us leave the other languages for Americans – radio “Freedom”, the radio “Europe”. Besides, it’s very expensive to open additional services. And the BBC didn’t want to spend money. In 1990, Douglas Hart, the Foreign Secretary, visited the headquarters of BBC World Service. I told him about the importance of establishing the Ukrainian service. He didn’t give me an answer. Probably he had the traditional point of view “if there is a Russian service, who needs a Ukrainian one.” After the Soviet Union collapsed, particularly, but even before that, when the republics began to declare independence, it was obvious that the old Empire had been ruined forever. The BBC had to expand the number of languages by creating new services. It’s clear why Ukraine, being one of the biggest countries of the Soviet Union, got priority. The money was found. And by the time the Soviet Union collapsed (in December 1991) we were preparing to broadcast programmes in Ukrainian. We started to hire the workers.

At that time the British government had doubts whether they should open a Ukrainian service. And what about Ukraine? You visited Ukraine several times then. What was reaction there?

“The contrast couldn’t be greater. It was an extraordinary experience. Ukraine was on the wave of national enthusiasm at that time. They realised that Ukraine was becoming an independent and self-reliant country. New opportunities were opening for mass media. And many things were new for us. It was for the first time, when we hired people from Ukraine, we could make contracts with radio services, whether they were state or commercial. The ministry of communication helped us with transmitters. And that was really great. We felt as if we create something new, something important for the people.”

Elizabeth Robson was the first head of Ukrainian BBC Service. Later, Oleksij Sologubeko took control of the service. He was one of the first journalists to work – and still does – for the BBC Ukrainian Service in London’s Bush House. Before he came to Britain he worked at radio “Kyiv” and “Inshomova”. He graduated from a British university. So this position was no coincidence for him. Together with Elizabeth Robson he visited 10 Downing Street, the residence of British Prime Minister. They interviewed John Major. I asked Oleksij Sologubenko to share his memories.

“It had a symbolical meaning as it was the first programme in Ukrainian. The Ukrainian language was spoken in Bush house for the first time! Our first programme included two interviews: with John Major, who was the Prime Minister at that time and with Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine. So, two leaders sent greetings to Ukrainian-speaking audience, the audience of a new BBC Ukrainian Service. The programme lasted one hour. And I promised the audience, that our programmes would be honest. I think they’ve been honest over the last 19 years.”

In your opinion, are 19 years enough to take a strong position on the market? Is it fair that you won’t be broadcasting anymore? Does everything depend on time, modern equipment or is it just a matter of financing?

“Of course it depends on financing. Many other language services are being cut. And unfortunately the Ukrainian service is no exception. Speaking about Ukrainian broadcasting in general, we’ll use new means of mass media. I think Ukraine will soon start using broadband and high-speed Internet. Because of many reasons, Ukraine was not among the leading countries if compared with Turkey, Russia or the countries of Western Europe, where the influence of broadband Internet is strong. It is a matter of time, I hope everything will change. And Internet users will have an opportunity to get our information as cheaply as possible. Speaking about the reputation on the market, I should say, that one could work for years to build up a reputation, but destroy it in just one minute. Working with other radio stations, our partners, we had built a strong reputation. We had many partners. Now our partner is “Era”. I’m happy to have such a partner. And of course hundreds of thousands, millions of our listeners make our reputation. I hope it wasn’t stained.”

Oleksij Sologubenko mentioned hundreds of thousands of listeners. Some of them took up our invitation to share their impressions and emotions today, in this final BBC Ukrainian Service transmission. I’ll read some comments:

“I like your station and I’m sorry for you. I’ll miss you. You’re the best. Mikola from Lutzk.”
“Thank you for your work. It was the best journalist’s manual for me. Sergij from Donezk.”
“The day is rich on events. I wish you luck. Serzh.” Thank you very much. We wish you luck too.
“Dear BBC members, I love you so much. I can’t imagine my life without your programmes. This is beep beep…Mikola.” His emotions are too expressive!
“All countries broadcast the BBC. Let everybody see the truth! Be, please, with me, my BBC!” Not signed. Nice verse!
“BBC Ukrainian, you’re the best in our media, because your journalists are the best! Thank you. Lutzk loves you. A student”
And here is an interesting comment from Vechaslav, Kyiv: “BBC was a pig, that tried to find dirt everywhere and it squealed. But Russophobes failed to turn the people of Ukraine into zombies!” Yes, Vechaslav, we didn’t work hard at this problem. We’ll try to do it via the Internet.
“We respect you, love you, miss you. We hope you’ll come back. I have the Internet, but I can’t take my computer everywhere with me like a radio.”- Volodimir writes.
Oleg, 23, from Kyiv writes: “Wonderful BBC radio, I listen to you every morning during breakfast. My Dad has been listening to you since the times you were jammed. I feel sorry you won’t be on air anymore. As if I say good bye to my good friend, whom I’ll miss. I wish you good luck. You were the best. Truly yours, Oleg from Kyiv…and my Dad” Thank you, Oleg, and your Dad.

I’m remembering our first service heads, Elizabeth Robson and Oleksij Sologubenko, and about their first interview with John Major, who was the Prime Minister then. I’m thinking about the low-quality interview with Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine. You heard part of his speech earlier. It was of low quality as if it was recorded over the phone. In fact, he was interviewed by Mikola Veresen, one of the first staff correspondents. He worked in Ukraine and was one of the most famous Ukrainian journalists of that time. Mikola interviewed the president not over the phone, but directly in person. Mikola Veresen is on the line now. Good evening, Mikola.

“Good evening, Fidel.”

So, tell us about your first interview with Leonid Kravchuk. Tell us about your memories of working for the BBC. You were a Ukrainian star and then turned to an international star!

“I don’t remember everything. It was long time ago. I interviewed Leonid Kravchuk several times. And I don’t remember every interview. Speaking about the status of a star, I should say I didn’t feel it. There were no stars in Ukraine at that time. I worked for 10 years. And now I won’t work, because there won’t be a Ukrainian service. It’s unpleasant. Frankly speaking, I’ll miss you. It’s not just because I took part in it. It’s better for any country to have the BBC, rather than not having it. There was a time when the BBC meant democracy. Everything has changed now. As far as I’ve understood, the lack of financing is the reason of closing. I’ll miss you. BBC sets an international standard of journalism. So, this is bad news. It was unpleasant news for me. On the one hand I’m happy to speak to you now, on the other hand I’m so sorry that we won’t be able to speak to you on air again.”

Mikola, thank you very much. The situation is very unpleasant for us too. We won’t be on air but some of our colleagues will work on the multimedia site bbcukrainian.com. It offers you not just usual articles and reports; it also offers news, galleries, video material and forums where you can discuss different events and express your thoughts. It’s an active multimedia site – bbcukrainian.com. One of our listeners is on the line now. Good evening. This is our last broadcast. Introduce yourself and talk to us.

“Good evening.”

Good evening.

“I’m Robert from Kiev. Thank you for giving the opportunity to share my opinion. I’m happy to speak after Mikola Veresen. I respect him. And, by the way, nobody speaks about this: Nobody should compare opera and ballet, music and painting. Internet is Internet, radio is radio. It’s a real spiritual communication. Every correspondent has their own charm. It’s a spiritual unity. Ukraine is in a difficult situation now. In my opinion, we, Ukrainians, need encouragement like the BBC has provided us. I’m 52. I remember, when I was a little boy, I was falling asleep, listening to the buzz of a radio set. My grandfather listened to the Polish BBC Service. And when I heard the buzz of the radio set I imagined as if correspondents were in the plane.”

In fact, the radio broadcasting was jammed.

“Yes, it’s true.”

Thank you, Robert. By the way, many listeners share your point of view, especially those who adjusted to BBC like my parents…

“There are different kinds of art, and no-one should compare music with painting, ballet with opera. They are different. Internet is Internet, and radio is broadcasting.” With radio, you feel the waves that surround you. Internet is a totally different thing. You can’t sit at the screen and listen to the radio…”

Absolutely. And a radio set costs less than a computer. And not every person can afford it…

“Yes, yes, These things are different. I’m an optimist. I think BBC services will return within 3 years, at least on the territory of CIS. Maybe one of them will be Ukrainian.”

Thank you very much, Robert. There is another listener on line now. He was with us for many years, being one of the most faithful listeners. His name is David Livshiz. He is from Kharkov. Good evening, David. We’re pleased to hear you.

“Good evening, sir Fidel and everyone who is in the studio now. I’ve sent you an SMS today that instead of Ukrainian BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) there will be Ukrainian BIC (British Internet Corporation)!”

(Laughing) That’s true. But, you see, that’s the matter of time…

“What Mr Cameron is doing now is worth than a criminal. It’s a mistake. The day is very sad. As if your friend is dying in your hands. Thank you for everything. And I want to say some words to you. I’m use the air for my own purpose…”

Use it, use it…!

“I want you to send greetings to your wonderful parents.”

Of course… I’ll do it. David, I think you can do it yourself. I’m sure my parents are listening to the last programme now. They hear your greetings and send you greetings too. Thank you. Svetlana Pirkova sends you greetings too. She is next to me now. And she wants to tell you something. Svetlana…

Good evening, Sir David.

“Good evening, Svetlana.”

I was very pleased to meet you during the “Book Manuscripts 2010” ceremony. I don’t know whether the ceremony will take place again or not, but your review of the novel written by Oksana Zpushko was excellent. We were happy to see you. I hope to see you again. And now I want to read a passage from an interesting poem ”Thank you, Panove” by Feodor Makovchuk. It was written in 1958, when the creation of Ukrainian BBC service was mentioned for the first time. So, here is the verse by Feodor Makovchuk: ‘We live in the world, work, study, sing nice songs, build plants and mines, Palaces of Culture; we sow the fields, are fond of sport. And we don’t think that a lack of something, that’s not a trifle; it’s important. And our life is not a life without it, success is not success. We believed that everything was good… but no! What do we have a lack of? The BBC programmes in Ukrainian! That’s the answer.’ It turned out, that we haven’t realized yet the benefit of the truth. I can compare it with a fountain that splashes from the BBC English-language services. We ironically call it Baba BBC-ha (BBC Dame). How slow we are! I am thankful to our curators from the English-Ukrainian organisation. Thank you, kind gentlemen. We couldn’t imagine that far away, on the Foggy Albion, there is such an honest institution. It was 1958. I’ve just remembered a magazine “Perez” and those enemy-dogs, whose lies poisoned the whole Soviet Union. Over these 19 years we were talking on different topics and I hope you were listening to us…

…and loved us. Thank you, Svetlana Pirkova. She is one of the initiators of the contest “Book of the Year”, indispensable hostess of this contest. It became very popular and traditional. We’ll lose our programme and Svetlana Pirkova, but I hope the contest will stay.

There are many guests in my studio now. They are not just guests. They are my friends, my colleagues. One of them is Natalka Makevchuk Skofenko. At the beginning of the programme you heard a fragment of the first programme that was broadcast on the 1st of June, 1992. The news was presented by Natalka. She is next to me now. Natalka, I should say, that I started my work at the BBC later than you. And I learnt from you, from your experience. I had no such experience. You were the hostess of the first programme and I have the honour to be the host of the last programme. I’m very glad to see you. I’m glad you’re not crying, because I’m about to cry. Say something.

“Life goes on. You shouldn’t cry, although I understand that the day is sad. By the way, the first programme was broadcast from this studio, studio number 7. This is a lucky studio. The day is sad for us, but today is the wedding of the British royal family. Millions of people are gathered to watch it…”

Instead of listening the last programme of Ukrainian BBC service?!

“Ukrainian BBC service told you the speciality of the wedding. A wedding is a symbol of hope and future. And, by the way, the Queen wore yellow-blue clothes today. It’s symbolical! Perhaps she knew that Ukrainian BBC service is about to be closed…”

And who will tell us about divorce?

“So, life goes on. Everybody listened to BBC, and now they’ll watch it on the Internet. Life goes on!”

Thank you, Natalka.

One of my colleagues (though we are not working together now) is next to me now. Her name is Olga Bitko. She was the hostess of the BBC Ukrainian service. We were the hosts of the same programmes. Olya visited Brazil; she was in the Amazon; she made many interesting reports from Nigeria. She makes many interesting reports for the English-language radio services now. Several days ago she made a project on Chernobyl. She interviewed people who live there. Olya, tell us about this project.

“Well, that was a so-called overwhelming experience for me; a kind of thing that changes your views. I spoke to old people, who are in their late 80s. I thought I would see a picture of scare and depression…Nothing of that kind! We visited one old woman. Her name is Maria. She is 88. She lives in one village, Ladizhichi, all alone. We brought her some peppers. She looked at the peppers and asked: ‘Can I plant the pepper?’ I said: ‘The pepper is from the supermarket, it won’t grow.’ And she said: ‘You know, daughter,’ – everybody called me daughter there – ‘the spring will come and I’ll plant it.’ Then she showed me a marvellous linen bag; she embroiders it in a traditional Ukrainian pattern. And then she said: ‘I’m glad to speak to you , but it’s high time to make a fire in my oven.’ So, she has plans for the future. There is no depression there…”

Unlike here, in our studio. Some of us are depressed. One of our listeners is on the line now. He is not just a listener. This person worked in London at the beginning of 1990s, when the BBC first started broadcasting in Ukrainian. He is a former ambassador of Ukraine to Britain. His name is Sergij Komesarenko. He is our listener and friend. Good evening, Mr Ambassador. You’re on air with the BBC.

“Good evening. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I’m speaking to you now, on the other hand it’s very sad that this programme is the last one. I am working in the National Academy of Sciences now; and many of my colleagues have signed an appeal to the Prime Minister. We asked him not to close the Ukrainian service. Unfortunately, it still happened. I was very glad to hear the voices of Elizabeth Robson, Skofenko, Sologubenko. They are people I’d been working since 1992 until 1998. They often visited us. And I visited Bush house.”

Thank you very much. The title Ambassador keeps forever. Sergij Komesarenko works at the National Academy of Sciences now. He was a participant of our programme. A listener from Donezk is on line now. Good evening. You’re on line with BBC.

“Hello. My name is Ganna. I’ve just heard the information about your closing. I’m very sorry that you won’t broadcast anymore. The Internet is not accessible for me. I haven’t got a computer. I’m so sorry you’re leaving.”

We’re sorry too. Thank you for the warm words. It was a difficult decision both for the BBC managers, and for the members of British Parliament. In fact, everything depends on money. And…

“Yes, I understand. It is sad there won’t be nice writers and famous politicians on air anymore. I’ll miss my favourite programmes in Ukrainian. I wish you luck.”

We wish you luck too. Thank you for the worm words. Best regards. We hope you’ll find an appropriate Ukrainian radio station, if you don’t buy a computer. I’m sure you find something interesting, not as interesting as the BBC of course!

I’d like my colleagues to say a few words. One of them is Irina Taranyk. Together we started the programme ‘Novini shogodini’ (News every hour). It was one of the most difficult programmes. We tried to tell the news every hour, sometimes every half an hour. The news lasted 5 minutes. We didn’t repeat the same information; we tried to tell something new. Irina?

“We started many programmes together. We had a lot of night shifts. We were tired but tried to work with inspiration. Do you remember the phrase ‘to cut a tail’? It means to make news shorter if it was too long. Radio is a very intimate medium. I think we’ll miss communication with our audience. We don’t talk to a microphone; we talk to a real person in a lively voice. I’ve been working for the Internet site half a year already. And I don’t feel the energy I felt while working at the radio station. This day is sad. Our listeners are able to find the truth from other sources now. I think 19 years were enough for our listeners to learn how to make the distinction, listening to the information from the national channels, private and commercial radio stations. Our listeners have a skill to interpret the information. They won’t hear Svetlana Pirkova’s jokes anymore. Fidel Pavlenko is so sad. I hope our listeners won’t hear us crying on air. It’s bereavement for us. I wish you luck. Thank you for being with us.”

Thank you, Irina. And I want to talk about my private business now. I think I can allow it to myself today. Katerina Henkulova is next to me now. She left Ukrainian BBC service one year ago. She came to us today. Katya, I’m preparing to live without BBC. Is this transformation painful or not?

“There is no painless transformation. It’s always difficult to leave such an organisation. I want to look into the future. I’m trying to be an optimist as is Natalka. One of the main things, the BBC Ukrainian service has done, is collaboration with Ukrainian radio stations. They are our partners. One of them is ‘Era FM’. We’ve done a lot of mutual programmes and projects. For example, ‘Koleso Pitan’ (the Wheel of Questions), ‘Era Zhinki’ (Woman’s Hour). Everything we’ve done is not only our merit; we’ve done it with the help of our partners.”

Thank, you, Katerina Henkulova.

Another listener is on the line now. Good evening. You’re on the final programme of Ukrainian BBC service. Introduce yourself, please.

“I’m Vitalij from Kiev.”

Greetings from London.

“I wish you creative success for your special, intelligent, analytical, creative work. Thank you for this opportunity to share my opinions on BBC radio, beginning with Askold Radzinski, who agreed with me: ‘Vitalij, Ukraine needs Scientific Zoology.’ I wish you luck…”

(Laughing) And you didn’t pay for it. You were on air several times and we didn’t take money from you. Is that true?!

“It is! Thank you, very much. I wish you luck…”

Thank you very much, Vitalij. We wish you luck.

And now I’d like to read some messages from you:

“Thank you for your programme, thank you for being with us. We wish you luck. I hope you’ll come back. Tetyana from Zaporozhe”
“BBC is being closed. The school in Gvozdivki is closed. It’s very sad.”
“Vasil from Fastiv, Kiev region. I liked to listen to you. I’ll communicate with you via the Internet.” He is an optimist. We have one user already! Vasil, open our site as many times as possible. Look through the news. It will give us a lot of ‘clicks’ and we’ll be popular! So the site won’t be closed! We’ll rely on Vasil!

Speaking about the Internet, the last head of Ukrainian BBC service, Machek Bernard Reschinsky, told us about his future plans:

“When the cheerfulness fades up, we’ll work more quickly, cheaper and better. That’s my dream. I think everything will be good. Our service won’t disappear, our service lives on, it will continue its work. Unfortunately, we’ve had to make some people redundant. I’ve said goodbye to many people during these 20 years. And it won’t last the whole life. I know we’ll have contacts. I think everything will be in a different way, everything will be good. There will be a site – bbcukrainian.com. We had been working with radio, while the site was an additional content to our work. We’ll be without radio now. Our friends are working on the site. Our audience will find us there. They can find our interviews and analyses there. By saying “our” I mean the BBC. It will be something different. Radio is communicating with audience. It is warm and intimate. We’ll try to do our best to keep this atmosphere. We wanted to show our country in a global context. And now we’re planning to show the world, world events for Ukraine’s benefit. If we speak about events in Libya or some other events there will be a part of Ukraine there, because Ukrainians are everywhere all over the word. One of the main things is not to be framed only by Ukrainian events. We have access to the wide BBC World Service, to their treasures: video, scripts. And our task is to share these treasures with Ukraine. It’s wonderful. It means that we’re not competitors. Nobody else has access to these treasures.”

The head of BBC Ukrainian speaking about future plans for the service. He told us about the advantages of the Internet, about multimedia and more.

There is a listener on the line now. He is our true listener, our former colleague. He’ll tell us if there is life after the BBC. He is one of the famous Ukrainian television anchormen, Andrij Kylikov. Andrij, you’re live on-air.

“In my opinion, there is life before the BBC, during the BBC and after the BBC. BBC Ukrainian is a unique example of quality. It had success on the market, when it was supposed to have failure. In 1992, when we started our work, we wanted to know who would listen to it, because not everybody in Ukraine knows the Ukrainian language. But the service was of a really high quality. Soon the transmitters appeared. BBC was an example of skilled journalism in the Southern and Western parts of the country. It showed the principals of real journalism. I think its importance will be saved. We remember your voices, your programmes. I think your website will have significance too. I should say that even in a very sad situation there is always a way out; a way with good prospects. It’s a pity that many interesting programmes won’t be broadcast any more.”

As Saint Exupery said, ‘it means somebody needs it’. Thank you very much. I don’t want to finish on a sad note. Andrij said about the product of a high quality that the BBC Ukrainian service offered to you. I can’t say the same about the phone communication with Symmi, the city, where Oleg Kylikov is now. Sorry for this. Now I must ask our editor, Rostislav Hotin, to speak. I learnt many things connected with journalism through him. He interviewed many outstanding Ukrainian and world-famous politicians. But he was behind the scenes. He planned and prepared the programmes. And we were just the stars of the air.

“I want to say thanks to our partners, our Ukrainian radio stations, our key partner radio ‘Era FM’. We were together for many years. We have the biggest network of Ukrainian correspondents in the world. I’d like to send greetings to our correspondents: from Sofia to Tallinn, from Washington to Berlin; Johannesburg, from Beijing to Riga and Rome. We were together for years. I’m thankful to them. I should say the BBC service from Kyiv made a great contribution to our service. I’ll miss you; and I hope we don’t say you “farewell”, we say you “see you later”.

Thank you, Rostislav Hotin, the editor of BBC Ukrainian service. He mentioned our team from Kyiv. They are gathered in the BBC studio in Kyiv now. My colleague from London is next to me now. And there, in Kyiv, is another skilful editor, Svetlana Dorosh. She is Evgenij Klichko’s colleague. She is one of the youngest hostesses, who have been presenting the morning programmes to you for the last 2 years. She is very energetic and optimistic. She is in London now. We’ll ask our colleague from Kyiv to speak. Svetlana.

“At last… I thought you wouldn’t give me to speak!”

Did you really thing I would allow you to speak a lot during our last programme?!

“I thought you wouldn’t give us the microphone! I’m not alone here. My colleagues from Kyiv are next to me now. We were waiting for this moment; we were discussing, that we would have strange feelings on Monday. We won’t prepare radio programmes. We don’t know these feelings yet. And I think, even those people, who haven’t been working with us many years, will feel the same. They won’t make the programmes. I want to say about our partners too. You’ve already mentioned ‘Era FM’. Many other Ukrainian radio stations supported us too. They are: ‘Lvivska Hvilya’ (Lviv Wave), ‘Zahidnij Polus’ (Western Pole) from Frankivsk, ‘Glas Odessi’ (Odessa’s Voice), ‘Vasha Hvilya’ (Your Wave) from Poltava, ‘Assol’ from Simferopol and ‘Zhitomirska Hvilya’ (Zhitomir’s Wave).”

And what about ‘Velikij Lyg’ (Great Meadow) from Zaporozhe? And what about my friend Yakiv Brinza? I’m sure he is listening to us now. I’m thankful to him. I travelled to Zaporozhe on business several times. He helped me a lot like many other retransmitters.

“I should say we have many partners. The stations appeared and disappeared. It depends on time and politics. I mentioned those, which were for years with us… till the last minute… till today. I think we shouldn’t be sad. New things replace old things. Maybe after the closing of our service, there will be time, when informational intellectual speech will replace foreign broadcasters…”

We’re entertainment radio…

“We are entertainment intellectual radio. And we’ll find investors, who understand that it’s worth financing. And we want to say, “We stay with you!!!” (Chink of champagne glasses)

Have you got champagne?!

“Do you want the truth?”

Let me have the truth…

“Yes, we have champagne!”

Our royal correspondent Natalka Mokevchuk Skofenko says: ‘Say that we’re drinking “Prince William champagne” – what about your champagne? Is it ‘Sovetskoe’ (Soviet)?

“No!”

Ah-hah, you’re rich!

In fact, there is so little time left. I’d like to read your messages, but for the past 16 years I’ve never seen so many messages… more than 150… and they still coming… from the whole of Ukraine!

(Sighs) Well, everything will be good. There are 15 of us in the studio. I’d like to introduce everybody but we’re out of time. BBC Ukrainian service has been with you over these 19 years. We’ll be with you on the Internet – bbcukrainian.com. But we won’t be on-air anymore.

Good night.

This is BBC Vietnamese Radio from London.

Good evening listeners, I am Ha My. It is 9.30PM in Vietnam on March 26, 2011. The news: President Obama talks about the progress that international military forces have achieved in the campaign to impose the no-fly zone in Libya.

“The world is always changing but the mission to serve our audience is always available. We are looking forward to serving you in these very important days for the people of Vietnam in this period”. Pham Khiem – BBC Vietnamese said in the last special over short-wave radio. Welcome to the programme.

First of all, Ha My with the world news.

Rebels in Eastern Libya have recaptured the important town Ajdabiyah from Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi’s loyal forces. This is the first town to be retaken since a the no-fly zone has applied in Libya. A Libyan Minister said government forces had withdrawn from Ajdabiyah after being hijacked by an international force. He accused them of directly aiding the rebels. A BBC correspondent saw government tanks and vehicles that had been destroyed and abandoned. President Obama said that international military action against Libya is clearly focused and important progress has been made. He also said the Libyan air force have been destroyed. Forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi are not marching anymore and have avoided a disaster for humans. But he said the United States cannot intervene every time there’s a crisis somewhere in the world. He said other countries must bear the costs and responsibilities in maintaining peace and security.

Japanese officials have discovered high levels of radioactivity measured around the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant. Japan’s Chief Cabinet says there is no report of adverse impact on the marine life. Iodine radiation levels were found more than 1200 times higher than the permitted level. Authorities said the threat of contamination by radiation is only short-term because iodine quickly dissolves.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators streamed into central London to protest against UK government budget cuts. Unions have said It is one of the biggest demonstrations in the UK since rallies against the Iraq war. The British government said their spending cuts are needed to solve the huge budget deficits of the United Kingdom.

A member of the government in Yemen has said he has almost agreed a power transfer deal from the president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Foreign Minister said that President Saleh is willing to look at all possibilities, as long as there are real commitments by opposition to come and initiate a dialogue. The BBC correspondent in Yemen said this is the first time the government has confirmed that Mr Saleh is negotiating the terms of his resignation. Mr. Saleh said he was ready to leave later this year, but the opposition wants him to leave immediately.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have been told to release a considerable number of political prisoners. Several different sets of data about the number of prisoners have been released.

A series of radio programmes from the BBC World Service have come to an end in the past two days, yesterday and today, including BBC Russian and BBC Vietnamese. BBC Russian was established in 1946 and had millions of listeners during the cold war. After communism collapsed, the programmes restarted. Today is also the last broadcast in Vietnamese after 59 years of operation since the opening day on January 6, 1952.

Dear listeners, In the last radio broadcast of the BBC Vietnamese service, let’s with Nguyen Giang and other my colleagues share memories of journalism on BBC Vietnamese. This is a special broadcast of the BBC Vietnamese hosted by Nguyen Giang.

Dear listeners, today is the last broadcast over short-wave radio of BBC Vietnamese as well as to the Vietnamese community abroad via our partners. Today in the studio, all my colleagues are gathered. I am Nguyen Giang, and with me is Ms Ha My, Ms Hong Nga, Mr Nguyen Hoang, Mr Hoang Duong, Mr Pham Khiem, Mr Xuan Hong, Mr Le Quynh, Mr Quoc Vinh and secretary of BBC Vietnamese Ms Nguyen Xuan.

In a meeting like this, it is also the opportunity to share our programme with listeners. First, Ms Ha My has prepared several articles in particular to recall the history of BBC Vietnamese from 1952 until now.

There are many memories of happiness and sadness through the past 16 years working at BBC Vietnamese radio. Due to the time limit, so I only recall 2 memories. One of them is from 1995, when an IRA bomb exploded behind Bush House. The next day, Mr Bao Vu, Mr Chi Vuong and other colleagues told each other that there were a big bomb the day before. Ha My and Mr Chi Vuong both said at the same time that “the bomb was big blast”. I said “Its sounds like a B52”, but Mr Chi Vuong said “Its sounds like bombing of Viet Cong”. This is also a very interesting and funny. Because we come from two different regions so it was reminiscent of different memories when we described the IRA bomb. That is interesting to see the variety of the Vietnamese employees at the BBC.

Last week, the BBC’s website had special articles about the closure of BBC Vietnamese. It also refers to several generations of Vietnamese who lived in the south and north of Vietnam and later overseas, all listen to BBC Vietnamese radio while young generations find our website through the guidance of previous generation. A person who is younger: Mr Hoang Duong, do you want to say something?

In fact, my time of working at the BBC is shorter than others. I just say very briefly that I am grateful for the listeners’ sentiment. Sometimes, in broadcasts or on a normal day, I was not aware those programmes have a certain impact. For example, when I went to work in Central Vietnam or went to California, the audience hears my voice on the radio, they already know that who is speaking, or they know all my colleagues at BBC Vietnamese. I am very surprised at listener’s sentiment to BBC Vietnamese radio in recent years. Hoang Duong want to say thanks to all BBC’s listeners.

Ms Hong Nga has returned from Hong Kong this week to join with us on this farewell meeting of BBC Vietnamese, BBC Chinese and BBC Indonesia on March 25 in London. Can you share with us one of your memories of the BBC radio service?

There are many memories from my time at the BBC. It is difficult for me to pick out a commemorative to answer Mr Nguyen Giang right now. But Hong Nga thinks that somehow, it cannot divide us because we both have future ahead. You can still hear our voice everyday, via our website on the Internet and the interviews we launched there. So I do not have the feeling that today is breaking up with you. Of course, breaking up with radio programmes is very unfortunate because you stick with it just like we have stuck with it for the past years.

You’re listening to a special programme on BBC Vietnamese radio from London. This is the last broadcast over the radio to Vietnam and the overseas communities. We are sharing the memories on this programme. But our Vietnamese-language website will continue. Mr Nguyen Hoang, Would you like to share your memories?

There are many memories, but I think basically that radio needs voice and tone. Sometimes, we can interview by phone, but others time we cannot interview by telephone, so we must meet people to have an interview. I’ve been to Vietnam and made a report on HIV AIDS in South Vietnam. I went to a facility which receives patients suffering from HIV AIDS, who only have another week or two left to live. I made a report and then I had received a letter from a listener, who was very moved when listened to my journalism. I think radio has power that other media find more difficult to obtain. Although we will not make radio programmes anymore, our voice and interviews will continue to be posted on the BBC website to serve our listeners.

Mr Quoc Vinh, who made radio programmes and recently moved to making videos is a BBC Vietnamese veteran. I want to ask you – what is different between video for web and radio?

Obviously, radio and video for web are different techniques. Video need images to support it, and voice is not necessary in as much detail as radio. Meanwhile, we see that no need images in radio. Sound recording must help the audience follow the story. For example, when a reporter is on location, your voice and sound must prove to the audience that you’re there.

Mr Xuan Hong, I must say that you have the best voice of the BBC Vietnamese radio. I admire your voice. How have you got a great voice?

I certainly learn from my family, or maybe from friends or due to the audience’s sentiment that I must practice. We could never say this region have better voices than another region because any region has appealing and attractive characteristics.

One person who making news from the front line in Bangkok and monitoring the situations in the region is Mr Khiem. Would you like to share anything with the BBC’s listeners?

In the past 12 years I have worked for BBC Vietnamese radio, I realise that this is an organisation that is always changing, always evolving and always reconstructing. The UK faces many problems, the BBC also have to overcome the worries, calculated on a daily budget. But beyond all, dear listeners, we still want to set a standard of journalism. This standard is always emphasised by senior management, head of the BBC Vietnamese, Mr Duc Giang, each time we make news, interviews, writing… We think: “The world is always changing but the mission to serve our audience is always available. We are looking forward to serving you in these very important days for the people of Vietnam in this period”.

Maybe, we’ll come back to the radio in the future, If there are big things that happen in markets such as Vietnam. Director of the BBC World Service Peter Horrocks has promised us that. But for now, I am Nguyen Giang and on behalf of my colleagues at BBC Vietnamese, a temporary farewell to you, the audience of BBC Vietnamese radio. See you on our website as well as in other programmes launched at bbcvietnamese.com

For the moment, Nguyen Giang and other colleagues at BBC Vietnamese have shared their memories throughout the years of sticking with the programme from London. Meeting our listeners through our narrative interviews via the BBC’s radio programmes is an honour of all staff of BBC Vietnamese in recent years.

Sounds and words are always a particularly excellent way to transfer information and it is easy to go to the heart. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts we will have to stop our radio service.

We are really moved by the listeners’ sentiment, who have emailed us after hearing BBC Vietnamese will come to an end today. In our last of broadcast from BBC Vietnamese, once again, on behalf of all my colleagues in different generations at the BBC Vietnamese, Ha My wants to say thank for all of listeners’ sentiment in the past years.

We hope to continue to serve our audience at bbcvietnamese.com

This is BBC London, Ha My is saying farewell to our listeners. Good evening.

[You are listening to today’s BBC programme at 6030 KHz- 49 meters, 7215KHz-41 meters and 9750KHz-31 meters on the short waves AM frequencies, 11727MHz vertical pole. You can also listen to us on the Hot Bird 8 satellite. Our program is also available online, www.bbcazeri.com]

London calling.

Here are Headlines of the latest World News from BBC radio on the 25th of March.

The prime Minister of Japan expressed his worries about Fukushima Nuclear Power Station.
Protestors have held the biggest anti-Government demonstration so far in Yemen.
This is the last broadcast of the BBC Azeri service and today’s programme is only about shutting down the radio program.

“The service will continue to be available for audiences online.”
“Even in the independent period of our history, the BBC has been the most important program for Azerbaijan audience.”
“Hello my dear BBC! I have been listening to your all programmes very attentively for 16 years. Not only me but also my 90 year-old father!”.

Hello, Good Evening.

Today, it is the last broadcast of our BBC Azeri Service and one part of our broadcast has been devoted to the future of BBC Azeri Service, the unique heritage our broadcasts have left behind, its role in the world media and opinions of experts, and messages from listeners. In spite of this being the last programme, as always, firstly we will introduce you the latest events happening in the world. Here is my colleague Konul Khalilova.

Good Evening.

Ten thousand people have marched in two demonstrations against each other in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. Some of them were opponents of the President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the others are supporters. The president made a speech on state TV and said to prevent the bloody battle he was ready to hand power over to reliable hands. He also added that he wanted to hand the government to the public, not to a group of corrupt politicians.

Thousands of demonstrators have also challenged freedom appeals in Deva in Syria. According to news agencies, armed soldiers have shot at them and 20 people have been killed. Hundreds of people gathered in the capital Damascus to support President Besher Al Esed.

An explosion has occurred near the Ajdabiya in Libya. The revolutionists are fighting with the loyal powers of Colonel Qaddafi there.

The Azerbaijani opposition has said that they are going to hold a massive protest rally against the government on the 12th of April. They say that people unhappy with the current regime will gather in streets and squares. Oppositionists say that, if deep reforms aren’t implemented in the country, a revolution will be unavoidable.

The chairman of Azerbaijan’s Khalg Jebhesi party Ali Kerimi notes that it wouldn’t be right to give credit to the opposition for arranging the meeting on the 12th April. He said: “It is public meeting. Our main purpose, and you should help us to assure Azerbaijan people that, it is not the action of any organisation, it is the action which will be held altogether by all discontented and free election wishing people”. It is said in the final resolution to be adopted at the meeting that the Azerbaijan government should draw a lesson from the processes happening in the world and shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of Arabian regimes. Habil Suleymanov, BBC News, Baku.

You can read more about this news at www.bbcazeri.com.

While the number of incidents on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border has increased, the OSCE Minsk Group has specifically criticised illogically killing rage and revenge attacks. Three Co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk Group declared in Vienna the results of their joint visit to 7 regions surrounding Nagorno Karabakh. OSCE believes that the peace negotiations have reached an essential point. The present Chief of the organisation and the minister of foreign affairs of Lithuania Audronius Azubalis said in an interview for this programme that he approaches these problems realistically and sees a purpose even in small steps.

“We don’t look at the problems with rose-tinted spectacles, our wish is to make progress even if it is one millimeter, and the value of this millimeter could equal a ton of gold”.

Co-chairmen say that they will succeed in their mission to bring peace to the conflict zones soon. You can read the information about it at www.bbcazeri.com.

Konul Khalilova, with the latest news.

[This is the BBC - London calling. You are listening to the first programme from the BBC in the Azeri language. BBC radio, which has the vast audience in the world, starts its first broadcast in Azeri language today. The BBC World Service has broadcast in 39 languages until today, Azeri language is the 40th foreign language in the history of the BBC. Its audience is more than 130 million around the world. This radio, which is a window to the international world, from today, will be open for Azerbaijan listeners too...]

As we know, 16 years ago, in 1994, the BBC Azerbaijan Service started its broadcast. Many years later the head of British Broadcasting Corporation decided to shut down BBC Azeri radio. Hamid Ismayilov, the Head of Central Asia and Caucasus service at the BBC World Service comments about the reasons of shutting down BBC Azerbaijan Service.

“Primarily it happened due to financial problems. As you know, the British Coalition Government had announced a cutback in expenditure in social sectors and the BBC World Service had to find 16% cuts, and additionally different financial factors such as the BBC pension had increased this percentage. The head of the World Service Peter Horrocks noted many times that, to shut down some language services doesn’t depend on the achievements of those programmes or the quality of the broadcast they prepared. Mr Horrocks appreciates alllanguage services very highly. Coming to the point of Azerbaijan, Russian or Ukrainian services, I want to note that, there will no longer be radio broadcasting of these languages. But, the service will transfer its activity online, on www.bbcazeri.com only; this field will be the target of future media”

However, many people in Azerbaijan, especially opposition members, think that shutting down the BBC Azerbaijan service is welcomed by the government. It means that, it is advantageous for the current power.

“I don’t think so, because the BBC Azeri service will continue its activity online and that potential is not less than radio broadcasting. Coming to the point about radio programmes regretfully I want to note that, we have been broadcasting in short wave for the last few years and that the listeners on short wave aren’t as many as the others. But, Online offers comprehensive platform, here can be found voice, picture and also video materials of the program. Now we are improving this field”.

Does it mean that BBC Azerbaijan radio service has a future?

“Most of the Internet users of the Azerbaijan population are young people. Online services, technologies, for example Facebook, Twitter and other blog services are involving great audiences day by day. I am sure the BBC will use all these opportunities and continue to introduce Azerbaijan to the world and the world to Azerbaijan”.

The last question, what legacy is the BBC leaving after itself from the world frequencies?

“The BBC Azerbaijan service is leaving a very rich tradition after itself. I am very proud of many programmes, prepared by my Azeri colleagues during these 16 years, for example, Karabakh conflict and children, or the programme about the women whose husbands go to Russia to earn living for their children, important news and analytical materials, oil, culture, Islam, sport topics, discussions and debates, opinion exchange, Azerbaijan and the opinion of international experts and some other programmes like that are great example of its richness. I am sure that BBC Azerbaijan radio will continue its activity with the same qualities but on another, contemporary platform”.

That was Hamid Ismayilov, the Head of Central Asia and Caucasus at BBC World Service. From now on, BBC Azerbaijan Service will continue its activity at the site www.bbcazeri.com and we hope our listeners will follow us online.

New Media is spreading widely along the south Caucasus and as an example of that, we can think back to the protests arranged on Facebook in Baku. However these protest actions are very small in size, it raises a question if the social networkss and online media are open for regional countries. What kind of chances are there for the new media, which comes to the surrounding, undergone hard censorship? We asked the Regional Editor for Caucasus at Global Voices Online, Onnik Krikorian.

“I have always preferred to see new and social media as a tool. I think it would be incorrect to call social media that creates revolution in the thought of people. First of all, it depends on those who utilise this media. Specifically regarding Azerbaijan, certainly Facebook and Twitter users in Azerbaijan are very active. Even in Georgia, Facebook is used very widely but in Armenia it is not as wide as the other two countries. If you pay attention to the number of people taking part in protest gatherings on Facebook In Azerbaijan and the number of protestors in Armenia not gathered on Facebook you will see that the site is not leading power here. So, the protesting people in Armenia are significantly more but I think potential existence, the progress of events and to be given in use new media in regions attracts more attention. The government is always aware of any progress, and the main objective is, not to let the thought of people be occupied in future”.

Blogger Emin Milli from Baku has said the following to our programme:

“Naturally, the broadcasts by the BBC to Azerbaijan is not a business; it is one kind of philanthropic project. This factor should be considered and, I think while realising this policy, every country shouldn’t be put at the same level. I think Britain is a democratic country and such decisions can be influenced in democratic countries easily. Even if the resolution is enforced from the 1st of April, after some time this policy can be changed”.

Blogger Emin Milli from Baku.

[Since 1994 BBC Azeri has been providing our audience with objective, correct and neutral information on the radio. Starting from the 25th of March 2011 our radio services will stop broadcasting. But we will continue to serve our audience through online. You can follow our program at www.bbcazeri.com]

The BBC Azeri Service has been broadcasting to you for 16 years, 3 months and 25 days. During this period we have tried to give you objective, correct, neutral and important information about the incidents happening across the world. You have heard the voice of outstanding Azerbaijan personalities such as ex-presidents Haydar Aliyev and Abulfaz Elchibey in our programmes.

Abulfaz Elchibey: “My main goal is to struggle for the freedom of the Azerbaijan nation and building a free, democratic state in Azerbaijan’’.

Haydar Aliyev: “You know that, in this world nothing falls from the sky, everything is created by people and by society as a whole. It means that, people always create and develop in any period of the history’’.

The first news about their death had only been announced on BBC radio. The Karabakh conflict was widely reported only on our service. Our colleague Zulfugar Rufatoglu was the first Azerbaijani Journalist who visited Armenia while the conflict was on the tragedy level.

“Upon seeing that no-one meets the reporter coming from the BBC I realised that I was in big danger. So I was alone with my Azerbaijan passport in my pocket in the middle of Yerevan…”

His radio essays with “peace” headlines were listened by thousands of listeners sorrowfully.

“Today, at this time and here we have come to knock the door of history, of Azerbaijan history”.

“It is enough you are teasing, Mr Keelson I have told you about Azerbaijan many times. In the days there will be or Italians either hell, or both of them there”.

“The first oil owners were the inhabitants of this area. They were Azerbaijanis and the places inherited them from their family members. Even some people who were very poor used to go to their grandfather’s yard and have a well dug then used to appear as millionaire”.

“It seems our friend knows Javid’s Poesy very well, but I think he is a bit drunk.”
“He can’t get a job that’s why he is a bit sad.”
“Nothing is solved by clenching your fist.”

We have strived to give information about Britain, arranged debates, asked difficult questions of our managers and raised actual issues. We have broadcast about Azerbaijan literature and culture. So, shutting down the BBC radio program in Azerbaijan language hasn’t been met with unilateral agreement in Azerbaijan. The leader of Musavat Party, Isa Gambar:

“BBC radio is one of the most famous services in the world and its standards are accepted and respected across the globe. Because, these are the standards of objectivity and gives the opportunity for all kind of opinions to be heard. The information about any kind of incident was broadcast only after they were investigated thoroughly and standards like this are very important and has great influence in the world media. BBC radio has always been listened to in Azerbaijan with great interest. Even during the Soviet Union totalitarian regime the people used to search for BBC radio on Short Wave with difficulty and listen to it because, as an objective information source, the BBC had a great reputation. For the standards I mentioned, the BBC was one of the important services in the independent period of Azerbaijan. After the authoritarian regime formed in Azerbaijan in 1993 the importance of the BBC increased because Azerbaijani people were in need of free information. We are very sorry that the BBC Azeri radio service will continue its activity only on the Internet. Naturally, financial problems are understandable but, it seems that our authoritarian regime willingly restricts broadcasting objective information. It is obvious that the Internet has spread widely but it can never replace the radio, on the other hand it hasn’t developed in Azerbaijan as much as other developed countries yet. At the present time, not everyone is able to buy a computer and to get high-speed Internet in Azerbaijan. Because of all these reasons we consider a big loss that BBC radio be changed into an online-only service. I think, it is not too late, this problem should be reviewed again and at least the office of Azerbaijan and some other countries in which totalitarian regime exists should be kept. Even If it is impossible today, we should keep trying to prevent the shutting down of BBC Azerbaijan Service. Azerbaijan people need BBC radio.”

They were the thoughts of Isa Gambar, the leader of Musavat Party. Now the opinion of Ali Kerimi, the leader of Khalg Jabhasi:

“It is a pity that media is still under strict censorship in our country. Television and radio completely serves the government. There isn’t any independent broadcasting service in Azerbaijan. Under these conditions, the BBC, Azadliq, the voice of America and such other services are very important for Azerbaijan. BBC radio expresses pluralism and freedom of speech. I am very sorry that BBC Azerbaijan Service will be excluded from the list of BBC World Service languages. Azerbaijan is a country where there is always a need for freedom of speech and the BBC was one of the services which were able to meet such demands. Actually I expected and wished the BBC Azerbaijan Service would enlarge its activity. What the importance of BBC radio is for me; it is certainly one of the free media. It is an information service which supports pluralism and gives the society balanced information. I feel sorry there won’t’ be such a radio any more. What are my best memories about BBC? I have been a guest in London many times and taken part in programmes directly from the studio. I would surely notice, not many people have had such a chance to give a speech or say his word on BBC radio. But I have had this opportunity and even I have been a witness of the foundation of the BBC Azeri Service.”

Ali Kerimi, Leader of Azerbaijan Khalg Jabhasi. Now we introduce you Aydin Mirzezade, from New Azerbaijan Party, with his comments about the closure of BBC Azeri Service.

“I regret that this service is shutting down, because the BBC is listened to in Azerbaijan very widely. I also regret that, mainly financial cutbacks have caused it to shut down and wish this service to continue its activity again from 26th of March.”

Aydin Mirzazade, New Azerbaijan Party. Well-known writer Chingiz Huseynov complained about some problems in regard to media during his interview with Elchin Suleymanov.

“From the political point of view I think, it is a wrongful step to shut down this service. Generally, from the point of human rights and freedom of speech, Turkic-speaking nations are very weak to get free and complete information. Because, they aren’t allowed inside the country and even Internet or some other services, bought from foreign countries are interfered with. Radio is a voice which spreads the truth about the world and informs ignorant people. Consequently, almost 80% of the people from these countries are unaware of world events. The level of democracy hasn’t developed enough here.”

The situation of Journalist and Media is appraised variously in Azerbaijan. You have just mentioned the Internet, in this regard, how do you think, can be evaluated citizen journalism, blogger space and social media?

“Officially, I appreciate this situation highly but, it can’t be considered freedom of the media. Impartially I must note that, the power, I mean the situation in Arabian Republics before events, does whatever they want and then says you may write what you want, it doesn’t affect us anyway. But sometimes, the journalists aren’t satisfied, who says his word obviously, are taken to court, accused in criminal courts, or killed (for example Eldar’s Death). Maybe, there is freedom of speech but, nobody pays attention to it”

That was the writer Chingiz Huseynov.

BBC Azerbaijan Service was one of the services which broadcast in Azerbaijan language alongside with Azadlig Radio and Voice of America. A correspondent from Azadlig Radio, Khadija Ismayilova, now shares with us her wholehearted words about BBC Azeri Service:

“BBC Azeri has been the most and longest listened radio among daily programmes. The broadcast by the BBC in Azerbaijan is very important therefore, the information of international standards should be broadcast to Azerbaijani listeners in their native language. I feel sorry that this service will stop broadcasting and this is my worry as a listener. Especially, as a journalist and a person training journalism I feel sorry about it; because, this radio kept proving the possibility of journalism, meeting BBC standards in Azerbaijan every day. It was very important to create the BBC Azeri broadcast in this quality and at this standard whilst it was difficult to get information and the journalists were under pressure in Azerbaijan. As a radio journalist and also as the journalist of Azadlig Radio it is a big loss for us because, it will decrease the number of organisations, broadcasting with international standards. We were very satisfied of having an competitor like the BBC. I think the biggest stimulus for creation of high-quality radio production can be possible only in competitive situation. We will do our best to keep continuing this whilst the BBC is missing from our range.”

That was the head of Azadlig Radio, Khadija Ismailova. Definitely, our listeners also feel sorry about it. Since the information about shutting down of the radio was announced we have got a lot of letter and messages from our listeners. Now, Jafar Guliyev from Balaken is on the phone with his sincere words about the BBC:

“I have always listened to the world news and Azerbaijan news only on BBC radio. I don’t want this service to be shut down; I want it to continue its broadcasts forever. I don’t know much about new technology, Internet or some other online services because I find it too difficult to learn the new technology at my age. So, BBC radio is the only way for me to get information about the world easily.”

“Hello, BBC radio. I am calling from Khachmaz village of Oguz region. My name is Farida Jamaladdinova and I am 55 years old. I have been listening to your all programmes for 16 years. We live in a suburb village and get all the information about the world through BBC radio. My neighbours often gather around me and ask about the events happening in the world. They know I always listen to the BBC and I am keenly aware of everything. So, I share all the information I hear on this service with them to inform them about world news. Now, I feel very sorry and don’t know how I will get information any more.”

“Hello, my dear BBC! I am Jahangirova Firuza Adil Gizi. I like all your programmes and over 16 years I have constantly listened to this service. Not only me, but also my 90-year-old father used to listen this radio every day. He was always interested in the programmes of this service and as soon as the time of transmission arrived, he used to ask me to turn the radio on. Now I feel very sorry that, the two dearest things will be missing in my life, my father and BBC radio. I found the BBC programmes very interesting and it has opened my eyes to the world. I want very much for the BBC Azerbaijan Service to continue broadcasting and to be able to hear the voices of people working there and get world information.”

“Hello, BBC radio! I am Afig Malikov from Lenkoran. The radio we most listen to is the BBC. It has great efficiency in the life of youth. For almost 8 years we have been active listeners to the BBC. Naturally, the BBC has had an irreplaceable role in the development and enlightenment of young people like us. They arranged programmes in different themes including the facts of HIV & Aids, enlightening information about tobacco and cigarettes and its danger to human life. We have learned a lot of information from its programmes – that’s why we feel very sorry that the BBC will stop broadcasting in the Azeri language.”

Here is another message from a young and talented violinist Nazrin Rashidova who lives in London. BBC Azerbaijan Service has followed Nazrin’s creativity since she was a little girl. At the present time she is a graduate of London Music Academy. Now you hear on our programme Nazrin playing her small orchestra. One of our interviews with Nazrin I had said: “Nazrin, your violin is bigger than you!” Today, I reminded her about my words and she said laughing:

“That is right; you had told me those words. My first concert had been when I was 8 years old. Since that time your service has always come to my concerts and prepared interesting programmes from the concert hall. The first time the voice of my concerts was heard only on your radio service. I want to tell you that, BBC Azerbaijan service has had a great role in my development as a musician.”

That is all! Since 1994 the BBC has provided you with free, neutral and up-to-date news from the world.

Today, 25th of March 2011, this radio will stop its activity. Now we, all colleagues of BBC, Zulfugar Rufat Oglu, Konul Khalilova, Elchin Suleymanov, Elshan Ali, our correspondent from Russia Eldar Ismayilzade, from Yerevan Alyesha Manvelyan, from Tbilisi Suleyman Afandiyev, from Baku Naile Bagirova and Habil Suleymanov and me, Sadagat Ismayilova thank you for being with us for 16 years, 3 months and 25 days.

This is BBC Chinese Radio in London

Dear listeners, the time is now GMT 14:30, Beijing time 22:30. The BBC Chinese radio programme will be permanently signed off in an hour. This will be a milestone in the history of BBC short wave radio.

BBC Chinese will, in turn, enter an era of multimedia – where ongoing news reports will be delivered to the audience online.

So in the next 60 minutes, we’d like you to join us looking back into 70 years’ of history of BBC Chinese radio programme. We’ll hear some familiar voices of past colleagues. We’ll also call some colleagues from Hong Kong as well as some worldwide correspondents. At the end of the programme, some old and new listeners will join our conversation as final farewell.

First of all, Peter Horrocks, Director of the BBC World Service, has something to say to all the loyal listeners.

“First of all, on behalf of BBC, I would like to thank the millions of listeners to the BBC’s Mandarin service in the past 70 years. I truly hope they found our radio service helpful over these years. Second, I’d like to extend my gratitude to all the BBC employees who have consistently offered high-quality programmes, and my regret over the BBC terminating its Mandarin radio service. Unfortunately, the budget of BBC World Service has been cut due to the sluggish British economy and the world as a whole. We had to make our decisions based on programme priority. A multimedia network integrated by video, audio and text would be the best platform to provide audiences with free and independent international information. And we know our readers realise the importance of that. Therefore, the BBC Chinese website will continue. On behalf of the BBC and British people, I express my appreciation to all of you, who have listened. Thank you very much.”

Thank Mr. Horrocks for these words. Mr. Horrocks just mentioned the Chinese radio service has been around for 70 years. Why don’t we start this farewell episode by looking into the past?

“This is BBC London, UK…”

What we’ve just heard are some memorable jingles in our past programmes. These short yet powerful notes witness 70 years’ of BBC Chinese service history. On May 19th 1941, at a time when China was experiencing hardship during WW2, the BBC started its radio service. Until now, the BBC has never stopped serving its audiences and witnessing Chinese and internationally-important moments.

We will play a few precious historical clips for you.

“It is now BBC, London news hour. Australian troops have taken over the last land invaded by Japan in Leeward Island. What’s also in control is the Granite city. Meanwhile the US army has eliminated all the Japanese counterparts moving up North. On their way back home, the Granite City residents graciously greeted the US soldiers. On Luzon Island…”

“The coronation ceremony is over. We now hear the beautiful sound of church bells. The army of navy, land and air forces are saluting the Queen. Sovereigns from various countries, noble representatives and the Great British Prime Minister have left after the army is dismissed. Accompanied by the crowd’s cheers, the Queen walks to the front of the coronation throne, where the audience for the first time, can see her in person…”

“[This is Xiao Te, a reporter from the BBC. Mr. Hua, you said everyone is equal before the law. So I’d like to know if you have the plan of putting the Gang of Four on trial. If so, what is the timeline?] We’ve been consistently emphasizing building Chinese Society of Rule of Law. At the occasion of NPC, I do agree that everyone is equal before the law…”

The clips we’ve heard are our colleague, Long Yuanguang broadcasting status reports during WW2in 1945; a report on the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I; and the Chinese leader, Hua Guofeng visiting the UK in 1973 when he was questioned on the issue of the Gang of Four during a press conference. All these clips are good examples showcasing BBC Chinese Radio’s insightful reports on critical issues in China and the world. Moreover, each point in the development of China not only became BBC’s focus but also provided a chance when listeners could deeply interact with us.

“As of 10am on May 20th, parts of Beijing have been under siege. Some PLA deployed from other parts of the country have reached downtown Beijing…”

“My name is Chai Ling. I am the command-in-chief of Tiananmen Square Student Protest. I’m still alive. I would be most qualified to comment on the story of what has happened at Tiananmen Square from June 2nd to 4th. And it is also my responsibility to expose the truth to each and every Chinese citizen. ”

The 1989 Chinese democratisation movement ended up with the governmental crackdown through military intervention. The banner that read “Thank you, BBC” by one of the Beijing protest students had become a milestone in history.

We are pleased to have Mr. Qiu in our studio, who was a senior journalist and now has retired from the anchorman of Chinese Current News Affairs at BBC Chinese Radio. Mr. Qiu, you are deeply respected by many of our colleagues. Your name might not be familiar to some BBC Chinese Radio listeners. But at the mention of Wei Ming, a time-honored programme in BBC Chinese, most people will have a clue. So I guess the clip we’ve just played brings back a lot of memory regarding the June 4th incident at Tiananmen Square.

“Indeed. Quite a few of my colleagues, including BBC Chinese Radio team and correspondents at Beijing reported on the whole story when China is undergoing a huge transformation. That historical sea change, like those we had reported in China’s development, had a considerable impact on the protest students and Beijing residents. We had a lot of interaction with them. For example, we aired some conversations between a then-student and our BBC reporter. Our colleagues in London also contributed in bringing home the truth to our listeners thoroughly and objectively.”

As the host of the BBC programme, Chinese Current News Affairs that has been around for long and witnessed transformative changes in Chinese modern history, when looking back, do you think that many historical moments are unforgettable?

“Absolutely. In addition to the June 4th incident, we aired a special episode on the threshold of the 30th anniversary of Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1996. We invited some experts, scholars and people who had experienced to discuss the reason behind the occurrence of the Cultural Revolution as well as long-run influence. Similar stories we had done included Chinese Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong leaders interviews and reports on Chinese NGO participants safeguarding people’s basic rights. What impressed me most is that hundreds of letters from our listeners after those episode. We could receive praise and gratitude, sometimes, recommendations of improving the programmes in those letters.”

Thank you, Mr. Qiu. It is a great pleasure to have you to say goodbye to all our listeners, especially your programme’s loyal listeners at this special moment.

“Good morning, listeners. It’s Thursday, February 20th. I’m Lily. I’m Kelvin Li. In today’s World Morning, we will be specially reporting on the death of Deng Xiaopeng, one of China’s vital leaders and its aftermath effects. It has been officially confirmed that Chinese national leader, Deng XiaoPing died at 9:08am Beijing time. The following was reported by Chinese state TV station at 0:30am: ‘The respectable Comrade Deng Xiaoping, at his terminal stage of Parkinson’s disease, died at the age of 93, from respiratory system failure at 21:08 February 19, 1997 in Beijing…’”

Lily, I bet you are familiar with the voice at the beginning of that clip.

No doubt. That was a special episode that I co-hosted with Kelvin Li, featuring the death of Deng Xiaoping. Every time there was a historical turning point like Deng’s case, not only did we provide the first-hand news report, but also we invited experts, scholars and independent commentators to share their opinions with our listeners. Sitting besides me is Mr. Zhang Wei, a well-known Chinese political issue analyst and commentator. Hi, Mr. Zhang. What impressed you most as a BBC news commentator in the past few years?

“It’s an exciting job. I’ve been observing Chinese major historical events, such as the fall of the Gang of four in 1976, and 89’ June 4th incident in Beijing. Afterwards, I had the opportunity of voicing my views on the economic and political development in China Mainland through the cooperation with BBC Chinese. Plus, BBC offered me chances to exchange opinions with the Chinese Mainland listeners.”

Right, our cooperation started by BBC interviewing you and having you as a columnist at BBC Chinese on Chinese issues. What are the challenges in this job?

“Chinese issues are always complicated. It’s no easy job accurately and objectively commenting on the issues seen from outside the country. For example, some Chinese mainland nationals don’t trust the data released by the government, such as inflation rate, unemployment rate and exchange rate. It is a must to get to the bottom of these rationales before making accurate comments.”

I agree. Sometimes this data is not so transparent. It’s almost become a phenomenon of Chinese characteristics that things may be what they seem. Therefore, we need to “read between the lines”. Does that add difficulty to your column article writing?

“Actually, ‘reading between the lines’ is not so difficult to someone, like me, who has been living in China Mainland for long, which actually becomes an edge for BBC Chinese.”

Got you. Now that we still have two websites (English and Chinese) after the BBC Chinese short-wave radio service is cut. What’s your expectation to our websites, from the standpoint of a reporter or article contributor?

“Yes, it is a shame to lose the short-wave radio sector, in which we have a lot of audience. On the bright side, we still have the two websites. I hope BBC will expand into other communication vehicles such as multimedia platform or mobile phone access, a media form favored by the Chinese Mainland youth. More important, BBC should carry on its competitiveness in the future, in a more objective and just way. It shows respect to Chinese mainland listeners if we can present the truth or report news from two angles (the Chinese Mainland angle and western angle).”

Once again, thank you so much for stopping by, Mr. Zhang…

During the sovereignty handover ceremony held at Hong Kong Exhibition Center on June 31st 1997, the Chinese national flag is rising accompanied by the national anthem at midnight. Hong Kong, a region ruled by Great Brain in the past 150 years, again becomes part of the People’s Republic of China. Peng Dingkang, the Hong Kong governor said in a farewell speech:

“I’m the 28th governor, the last governor. Like all the governors and their families, my wife, kids and I will miss Hong Kong forever. It has been my lifetime honor to spend the past 5 years with you and shoulder the partial responsibilities of your future. Now, Hong Kong people will govern themselves. This is something we have promised and an irreversible trend.”

The ‘97 Hong Kong sovereignty handover is a historically great moment to both Hong Kong and British people. Peng Dingkang, then-Hong Kong governor was appointed as the president of BBC Chinese trust fund not long ago. In the past, we only had one reporter residing in Hong Kong whereas now BBC Chinese has permanent office in Hong Kong. Now on the other end of the phone line, we’ve having Yi Ren, a senior editor in Hong Kong office. Hi Yi Ren. It’s been around 5 years since you moved from London to Hong Kong. There must be some differences when it comes to reporting news of China and Asia Pacific Region, right?

“Indeed. Reporting Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong news when I was in London was different than I am here. One of the reasons why we feel more effective has to do with the Hong Kong hosts handover we’ve heard early on. For example, when the Hong Kong office was created in 2006, we were faced with the special reports featuring the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong retuning in China the next year that followed. Quite a few BBC co-workers in London, including Peng Dingkang, were experienced in interviewing the sovereignty handover back in 1997. Our Hong Kong team was able to garner first-hand views on the 10th anniversary of the sovereignty handover from Hong Kong locals, new immigrants from China Mainland or tourists from China Mainland. Some Hongkongnese co-workers did a good job in churning up quality reports more efficiently than before. For another, I was chatting with friends online when the 08’ Chinese Wenchuan Earthquake broke out. All of a sudden, my friend told me the news of the earthquake. The next minute, I confirmed the news by visiting the website the Bureau of U.S. Geological Investigation. After knowing the intensity and epicenter of the earthquake, I sent the news via a text message, which was several steps before the Chinese official seismic investigation released the news. That was something reporters in London could achieve”

True. One of the disadvantages of radio news is that we need to air the breaking news 24 hours later as opposed to the news is updated by the minute via Internet media. The time difference is a pain. After the establishment of BBC Hong Kong office, is it easier to report the rolling news 24/7?

“Absolutely. Talking about rollplay news 24/7, we are always doing so since the first day BBC Chinese Radio was started. After all, reporters are human being, whose late night productivity might not be good, in an attempt to keep with up the news update in London. Now that we (Hong Kong office) are in the same time zone with China Mainland, the productivity has improved a lot. “

We still have some other Hong Kong colleagues who’d like to say something.

“Hi everyone, I’m Yu Dingsi. One of my unforgettable reporting experiences has to be the 2010 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou. During that time, I had to cover news reports in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. [Despite the BBC Chinese Radio won’t be around,] good thing we had bbcchinese.com and the News Weekly in Cantonese. I hope our current listeners will continue to support us.”

“Dear listeners, my name is Shan Meng. I’d like to take this opportunity to say goodbye. Thank you for the long-time support to the BBC Chinese Radio.”

“Hi everyone, I’m Xiao Er. I’d like to extend my gratitude to all the listeners who’ve been following the BBC Chinese Radio. I hope you can continue to support us on BBC Chinese website.“

The year 2000 witnessed the presidential election in Taiwan. The ruling of KMT came to an end. And for the first time, Democratic Progressive Party, voted by the public referendum, came to charge the office, realizing the alternation between two parties. Lin Nansong, who used to report the election in Taiwan, is now a permanent BBC correspondent in Taiwan, sending news report back to London. Hi Mr. Lin. What’s your take around residing back and forth between Taiwan and London?

“My biggest concern can be my obesity. The Taiwanese night market snacks are so good. I’m gonna be a living example. Joking part, I was mainly responsible for hosting programmes in London and once in a while, did some special reports such as the stowaway to Turkey or Taiwan business 60 years after WWⅡ. As a journalist, I prefer to walk out of office and report news. Now my dream has come true after moving to Taiwan. But I still miss the days when I was in the broadcast studio in London, especially on some programmes that allowed me to interact with our listeners. I’d like to take this opportunity to greet and bid farewell to listeners.”

Okay. Now you’re based in Taiwan. As a Taiwan resident, you must have seen a lot of interesting stories going on there. Our Chinese target audience will get news from Internet a lot if they’re not exposed to a real Taiwan. So, how would you convert a Taiwan local story into a more globalized one that is reader-friendly to the mass?

“According to my observations, not many Taiwan locals access news update from radios, but primarily from Internet instead. The BBC Chinese has made some achievements in capitalizing on the new media. Sometimes the local media will even use BBC Chinese news report due to very fewer language barriers. After the disappearance of BBC Chinese radio service, I’ll continue to report news via Internet, which is a communication platform way faster than snail mail. So I’ll be happy to contribute my efforts if our netizens are interested in a certain topic.”

How do you feel when showing your BBC journalist badge in attempt to getting interviewee?

“BBC has a good credibility in Taiwan. Most interviewees are very cooperative. Interestingly, people usually take us as a TV station and ask me questions like ‘where is your camera crew?’”

Thank you, Mr. Lin.

If you are just tuned in, this is a special episode featuring the farewell of BBC Chinese Radio Service. This programme is also being live broadcast on BBC Chinese website.

In 32 minutes, the 70-year-old BBC Chinese Radio will come to an end with this episode.

Our Chinese Radio partners from all over the world would like to share their thoughts at this special moment. Here are some words from our counterparts in Hong Kong Radio Station (Mandarin division) and American Times Radio Station.

“I’m Chen Xi from Hong Kong Radio Station (Mandarin division). I’m Chen Xian. It is such a shame to cancel BBC Chinese Radio Service as an influential programme in the industry. Over the years, our BBC counterparts helped us get connected to UK, bringing first-hand news and information to our Hong Kong listeners. I hope we can join our hands in the days to come, building quality Chinese radio programmes.”

This is a special episode featuring the farewell of BBC Chinese Radio Service. Once the news got out, lots of our loyal listeners expressed their complicated feelings. Here’re some emails from them.

Niu Mang, from Wuhan, China shared with us a story as follows. Niu used to work at a quarry at Huangshi, Hubei, One day, a young dude shout out,”they were apprehended. News came from radio that the PLA had made their move in Beijing”. My co-workers thought he went crazy. It wasn’t till days later that we realized he was talking about Jiang Qin (Chairman Mao’s wife), one member of the Gang of the Four was caught. That young dude heard the news from BBC Chinese via short-wave radio, marking a beginning of a new era.

Here’s another email from our listener named ABCD. “I am as old as BBC Chinese Radio Service and have been listening via crystal radio set as early as 1950s.”

Time now is GMT 15:00. Beiing time 23:00. Kai Lu is ready for today’s news recap.

“The Suining Municipal court in Sichuan, China sentenced Lu Quanbin 10-year imprisonment for instigating national stability. The Korean government claimed that they didn’t discover spies at Korean consulate in Shanghai.. But diplomat’s severe breach of protocol was exposed. The Chinese quality investigation Bureau found that in Wuxi, two passages with high level of nuclear radiation on a plane coming from Tokyo. The NATO agreed to take over the Libya military intervention baton from United States. Affected by the earthquake, the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant in Japan started to replace sea water with fresh water to cool down the nuclear reactor. The latest earthquake death toll has exceeded 10,000.”

Thank you, Kai Lu. That was probably your last news update over the BBC radio, so to speak. How do you feel now?

“I have mixed feelings. A little said, I would say. When I heard the different versions of BBC Chinese Radio jingles, I felt excited. After all, I think the shutdown of BBC Chinese will mark the ending of an old era. However, I’m honored to have the chance of reading news update on the last episode.”

Is it true that our listeners cannot hear your beautiful voice over the radio in the future?

“Despite the shutdown of the BBC China, listeners can hear 24/7 rolling news via our Chinese site as of April, 11. In other words, there’ll be a 3-min news update every two hours at full hour. And we’ll also roll out some vlog on our site. The address is bbchinese.com”

Thank you, Kai Lu. Dear listeners, this is a special episode featuring the farewell of BBC Chinese Radio Service.

In addition to news updates, listeners stick around for the purpose of learning English. The BBC English teaching programme is always popular.

“Dear listeners, my name is Yang Li. You’re most likely to know April 29 was the wedding day for Prince Williams. I’ve got a super exciting story…”

The owner of the beautiful voice we’ve just heard is Yang Li, who is one of the producers and hosts of English teaching programmes. Yang Li, what’s new with the BBC English teaching programme?

“We put a lot of efforts into choosing an attractive title for each programme, diversifying hosting style, and finalizing the subject matter to keep audience engaged.”

What’s your secret then?

“Our new programme is titled ‘Royal Romance, everyday love story…’”

What are the advantages of teaching English via multimedia and how do we make them stand out?

“We have quite a few competitors offering online English learning content. From the standpoint of BBC, what is our unique English teaching? That is the question we asked ourselves long time ago. First of all, we’ve changed from radio media to multimedia. Second, we now have real Englishmen conversing in those role-play dialogues, even with different accents.”

Thank you, Yang Li. In addition to the dynamic news update. We’ve come up with a lot of featured series in the past 70 years, which were favored by our listeners. Let’s hear some clips first.

“The 20th century starts at 1900 AD. The Beijinger, Wang Fu has turned 81, whose ancestor used to work as empirical doctor in the Forbidden City. He has a lot to say when talking about Beijingers’ living habits at the turn of this century…”

“The young man caught people’s attention by keeping saying ‘China’ and ‘Mao Zedong’… (singing)”

“He cried in his mum’s arm, saying ‘I love my mother. But I love my miserable China more’. Tears welled up in my eyes… ‘I kept drawing a hand, a bloody hand, Deng Xiaopeng’s hand made all this different’.”

“It’s now 8am in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. We can see there’s still sea water around us. Residents will be affected by the tide this time of a year (the second half of the year)…”

What we’ve heard are Chinese centurial vicissitude, European urban cultures, 10th anniversary of the June 4th Incident and Climate Changes vs. international tactics respectively. Other popular featured programmes played via multimedia include World eye on China, British Literature history, the rise of South Asia and Oversea China, etc. The type of our weekly programmes range from technology and healthcare to culture, sociology, economics, sports, entertainment, and education as well as overseas study.

“Good evening, listeners. This is BBC hotline in London, a weekly one-hour international hotline live programme. I’m Tang Long. Tonight we’ll talk about Lun Kong..”

We’ve been working on providing more interactive platforms with listeners, the BBC online forum, for example. Sometimes we would throw several different topics for timely discussion. Meanwhile, Listener’s mailbox, known as the London mailbox is always trusted and supported by our audience.

Over the years, we’ve built a worldwide correspondent network in different parts of the world. Now we’ll try to reach them by the phone. Tong Qian, our stringer in Japan decided to pre-record her words in case we cannot get connected due to the earthquake aftershock.

“After the March 11th earthquake in Japan, there was a big telecommunication breakdown. I’ve record the following clip just in case I’m not reachable when the programme is on. BBC radio has constantly adhered to the punctuality under any circumstance. I’m already used to that. Even on the day when we were hit by the earthquake, we did not stop writing reports. And in the worst case, we just hid under the tables. The transferring of BBC Chinese from radio to multimedia will change the way I work. I don’t have to carry certain equipments or keep thinking about interview atmosphere and sound quality. What differentiates us from other news agencies will be how fast we report the news. Interestingly, I came across a conversation between a grocery owner and a client about radios one day after the earthquake. Sometimes radios are necessary under natural disasters or electricity blackout no matter how advanced the technology has evolved. It goes without saying that radio will continue to be a means of communication. There’s a rising cost in fighting against deliberate communication shutdown, followed by a disproportional number of employees. Goodbye, listeners. We’ll meet up again online.”

Let’s hear from Ai Ling, our BBC correspondent based in the States. Ai ling, how is it different that you’re based in U.S compared with working in London back in the old days?

“Very. Unlike when I was in London, there was a routine meeting each morning debriefing us what to do, now I’ll have to find a new report angle on my own and telephone my editor in London to see if my idea is a good fit.”

We all know the U.S is big. What are your criteria of choosing one story over another at the end of the day?

“It depends on if a story will arouse the interest of Chinese readers, who are mostly in China Mainland. For example, the tiger mother’s (Amy Chua) story made a stir in the American society one month ago. She talked a lot about her way of parenting kids. Originally, I thought it was about some insights of Chinese way of parenting kids. Turns out it was totally different. A lot of reports were tried to “please the general public” as a strategy of promoting her new book. This is one interesting example I’d like share with you guys. “

Looking forward to more of your reports, Ai Ling. Let’s speak to Wang Jia, our correspondent based in Australia. Wang Jia, it should be very early in the morning in Australia, right?

“Right, it’s 2:15am”

Okay. What impressed you most as a long-time correspondent in Australia?

“I agree with Ai Ling in that everything is by the guideline when working in London. While here in Australia, things can be different, especially sometimes it takes me long to get to the downtown news center. I’ll give you an example. One week before the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics 2000, I was supposed to interview the mayor of Sydney. Some initial contact didn’t come off well .When I said I’m a BBC reporter, the mayor consented to my interview with pleasure. I vividly remembered that he also asked someone to record the whole interview for future reference.”

Thank you, Wang Jia. When the news that BBC Chinese Radio will be shut down got out, both new and old listeners expressed their reluctance to part. I think it’d be a good idea to leave the rest of the time to these listeners. Mr. Wang, what’s your interesting story with BBC?

“I have a good one. I got to know my present wife from BBC forum and now we’ve had our first baby.”

Good, congrats.

“I’m sad to hear the news. I’m wondering if the text message platform will still be around.”

No worries. The BBC Chinese service will resume on multimedia… Now, let’s talk to Mr. Wang Youshan on the other end of the phone. Hi Mr. Wang. As a loyal listener to our programme, what’s on your mind now?

“My horizon is broadened from listening to BBC as it provides more objective news.”

Are you still a student now?

“I’m now working. BBC has somehow realised my dream of studying at UK by offering me a lot useful information.”

So, Mr, Wang, what’s your take on the shutdown of the BBC Chinese Radio? The multimedia trend is here to stay and irreversible, any thoughts on that?

“As long as the BBC Chinese News division exists…”

Hi, Mr. Mao Yiling, what did you gain most from listening to BBC radio? I heard you’d won a prize from us.

“Yes, I was lucky to win a one-week London sightseeing prize from BBC.”

Oh, big one.

“Eh, as a communication major myself, I felt honored to oversee the BBC Chinese Radio, London office. It was definitely an unforgettable experience to me.”

Unlike most listeners, you got the chance to visit our workplace at Bush House, what did you learn from that?

“Felt to me that the BBC at the Bush Building is a small United Nation. I got the chance to see the dedicated BBC staff with my own eyes. It was very exciting.”

I’ll spend the last few minutes reading some listeners’ emails out of millions of ones. Ms. Liu from Sydney said she “listened to BBC as early as 1970 when BBC is still illegal in China for political reasons.” Listener Yue Xuan wrote “his father’s generation listened to BBC, which had a far-reaching influence on both his father and himself.”

Time is now GMT 15:26. Beijing time is 23:26. In another three minutes, we’ll say goodbye to BBC Chinese service over short-wave radio. All my colleagues are gathering in the studio now. I’ll let our two editor-in-chef, Hua Ying and Ling Lan say something.

“I am impressed from what I’ve heard in the past hour. Especially, our old colleagues made great contribution over the 70-year history of BBC Chinese Radio. I hope we’ll make more milestone achievements on Chinese and English sites. Please support us.”

“Hi listeners, it is radio wave that has brought us together all these years. You are the best reason of our hard work. I hope we’ll get connected again via new media. Thank you”

Last but certainly not least, we’d like to have Mr. Lee Wen, the director of BBC Chinese radio give his farewell to all the loyal listeners out there.

“Okay. Today, we’re still to witness the last chapter of BBC’s 70-year history of Chinese radio service. I believe everyone will have mixed feelings, even sorry or sad. However, I think we should feel more than sad. Instead, we should be proud of what we did in the past 70 years. We should also be happy and relieved to have so many loyal and lovable listeners around. Some listeners are very concerned about the continued existence of BBC Chinese services. Some even wrote via emails, saying “please ensure the BBC Chinese news via the website stay for at least 50 years. Technology is evolving by the passing day. What I can say for sure is that you’ll continue to hear our voices via the Chinese website.”

Thank you. Li Wen. We’re going to say goodbye.

To sum up, thank you for your support. Although the service over short-wave radio is over, the BBC Chinese reports via multimedia will last and continue to expand.

This is BBC Radio in London. We’re saying farewell to our listeners from the studio of Bush House. Wish we’d see each other again via multimedia in the near future.

So long…

[Singing: Auld Lang Syne]