Somalia - With the end of the winter schedule, another short wave service of the BBC will be gone. This at least seems to be the essence of https://www.bbc.com/somali/war-52051980 when translated by google into German, English or Italian, which seemed to work best. Rachael Akidi, Head of languages BBC East Africa, justified the closure with general decisions taken by the BBC, which also affect other language services. A special program highlighted the history and future of Somali service, which in the future will primarily be based on television and the Internet.
additional information by Dr Hansjoerg Biener
In 2017, BBC Somali began broadcasting 15 minutes television programs that were broadcast by local partners and on the Internet. In 2018, the program was extended to 30 minutes. The BBC Somali radio service started with two quarters of an hour a week in July 1957. (Back then, the BBC started broadcasting in Hausa, KiSwahili, and Somali.) As early as 1958, the quarter-hours became daily. The Somali service has recently attracted attention by bringing extensive football coverage of the Premier League to short wave. This may have been of some importance for the Horn of Africa, but given the global diaspora of Somalis, the BBC Somali has to offer content that can be distributed on platforms working worldwide e. g. internet and social media.
(Dr Hansjoerg Biener 28 March 2020 via WOR io group)
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Still transmissions have been planned for the summer season, as shown at http://hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=A20&broadc=BBC
So the next step will be to check if these signals are indeed no longer on air. Or rather, which of these planned slots will be really activated. Two years ago there was internal gossip in the BBC about rather drastic reductions of transmissions to Africa. It specifically mentioned indeed Somali but also Hausa.
Kai Ludwig
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Transmission on 13790 and 15420 just started at 1100 as scheduled, with opening announcement mentioning bbcsomali.com, so definitely not something else. (By the way, it appears that Encompass inserts the old WRN/Babcock "Cello" loop only on circuits used for transmissions of other customers than the BBC, or perhaps not at all anymore? Up to cutting on the actual program audio there was just open carrier.)
The gossip about BBC Somali two years ago had it that the broadcasts 1400-1500 and 1800-1830 were to be cancelled and 1100-1130 to be broadcast on workdays only. Well, today is Sunday, so also such a plan has not been implemented at this point.
Back then the gossip had it also that production of Somali was to move from London to Abuja. What became of this?
Apparently some information from real insiders (as opposed, I fear, to the quoted manager) is needed here...
Kai Ludwig
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Still transmissions have been planned for the summer season, as shown at http://hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=A20&broadc=BBC
So the next step will be to check if these signals are indeed no longer on air. Or rather, which of these planned slots will be really activated. Two years ago there was internal gossip in the BBC about rather drastic reductions of transmissions to Africa. It specifically mentioned indeed Somali but also Hausa.
Kai Ludwig
----------
Transmission on 13790 and 15420 just started at 1100 as scheduled, with opening announcement mentioning bbcsomali.com, so definitely not something else. (By the way, it appears that Encompass inserts the old WRN/Babcock "Cello" loop only on circuits used for transmissions of other customers than the BBC, or perhaps not at all anymore? Up to cutting on the actual program audio there was just open carrier.)
The gossip about BBC Somali two years ago had it that the broadcasts 1400-1500 and 1800-1830 were to be cancelled and 1100-1130 to be broadcast on workdays only. Well, today is Sunday, so also such a plan has not been implemented at this point.
Back then the gossip had it also that production of Somali was to move from London to Abuja. What became of this?
Apparently some information from real insiders (as opposed, I fear, to the quoted manager) is needed here...
Kai Ludwig
