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WA4ZKO > SWL 21.06.11 15:19l 99 Lines 4823 Bytes #999 (0) @ USA
BID : 7034_WA4ZKO
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Subj: VOA operator plans "sunset" for shortwave broadcasts
Path: IZ3LSV<IK6IHL<IK6ZDE<VE3UIL<JE7YGF<N9PMO<ZL2BAU<N4JOA<N4ZKF<WA4ZKO
Sent: 110621/1334Z 7034@WA4ZKO.#NKY.KY.USA.NOAM BPQ1.0.4
From:
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/06/voice-of-america-ope.html
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Voice of America operator plans "sunset" for shortwave radio broadcasts
Rob Beschizza
The sun is setting on Voice of America's shortwave radio service, heard
worldwide in dozens of languages for 70 years.
A strategic technology plan prepared by the Broadcasting Board of
Governors (BBG), the federal agency responsible for Voice of America,
Alhurra, Radio Free Asia and other international stations, concludes
that it should end many shortwave broadcasts in favor of "more effective"
media such as internet radio.
"The intrinsic high cost of operating high powered shortwave stations is
constantly being weighed against the rapidly diminishing effectiveness
of shortwave within a growing number of countries," the report states.
"...the cost effectiveness of shortwave transmissions continues to wane
and is expected to be circumscribed to a very small number of target
countries in the relatively near future."
The "sun-setting strategy" proposed will reduce the number of stations
owned by the BBG in favor of lease or sharing arrangements with or
outsourcing to independent broadcasters. A "long-term analysis" of each
country and language, and in-house research on shortwave's effectiveness
in each, would determine which areas retain service.
The report, released following a Freedom of Information Act request by
Government Attic, took six months to surface and it isn't clear to what
extent its recommendations have been implemented. In February, however,
Voice of America ceased shortwave broadcasts in China.
Its authors anticipate "political pressure" to continue widespread use
of shortwave radio broadcasts. The BBG's own 2012 Budget Request (PDF)
reported that it "must continue to broadcast via traditional
technologies such as shortwave [because] the impact of not investing in
infrastructure improvements will be the loss of capability and the loss
of audience." It noted Burmese listeners as particularly dependent on
shortwave service.
Titled 2010-2012 BBG Technology Strategic Plan, the report claims that
BBG-funded broadcasts reach 101.9m people worldwide by radio, 81.5m by
television, and 2.4m via internet. Internet broadcasts accounts for 1.4
percent of the unduplicated total audience.
The largest internet audiences are in Iraq, China and India, with large
percentages of the population listening online in Oman, Kosovo and
Morocco. The report notes that Voice of America's audience in Iran was
about half that of the BBC World Service during recent electoral unrest
there. A brief overview of anti-censorship software the BBG supports,
such as Freegate and Tor, was also offered.
Much of report, however, is dedicated to describing the upgrades and
management shake-ups required to address problems within the BBG's
apparently shambolic I.T. department, whose failures are covered in
detail and illustrated with photographs.
Throughout, the complexities of maintaining and staffing a worldwide,
multilingual broadcast media network weigh heavily on the report's
author. But criticisms often fall upon particularly egregious lapses
such as servers hidden under nests of network cabling, major software
choices determined by the "dogmatic beliefs" of influential staffers,
and redundant systems standing idle.
"The most serious situation presents itself at the heart of the BBG IT
network," the report states. "Currently, the network is dependent on a
single enterprise-class Cisco core router whose failure would severely
cripple the entire agency for an extended period of time."
Adds the author: "Many other such situations exist ... such as servers
equipped with dual power supplies but with both power cords plugged into
the same electrical circuit."
While the engineering section is said to be well functioning, disaster
recovery plans rely on "the presence of key individuals." The
department lacks "baseline operational discipline" and labors under
"several historical and personality- related 'accommodations' designed
to isolate certain individuals and maintain legacy reporting
relationships."
Even the email system is outmoded, according to the report, which
recommends platform consolidation, virtualization, systems co-location,
cloud computing to cut the number of physical servers in use, "clear
standards and expectations for interpersonal behavior," and adoption
of MPEG-4 for broadcast and archive use, as part of a two-year plan to
fix the problems while trimming costs.
The report was released after a FOIA request from Government Attic,
which posted it in full at its archives early Monday morning. One
paragraph of the report, concerning disaster recovery, was redacted.
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