the BBC, when I first sought something
to aspire to. I grew up admiring the BBC,
for the clear diction of their presenters
and how they gave each cues to speak,
as if giving each other space was normal.
It was natural when I was working class to defer
to what seemed 'better', if I had worn a cloth cap
I would have doffed it when the radio was on.
I was in awe of how it was scripted and presenters
and guests did not talk over each other. The BBC
carried it's reputation as the first modern media
as a marker of it's pride in how it promoted itself.
and guests did not talk over each other. The BBC
carried it's reputation as the first modern media
as a marker of it's pride in how it promoted itself.
But for being the first in so many fields of expertise
it was also the first to make many mistakes, and the last
to admit how many treasured recordings of the programmes
it has made were prematurely discarded, their value unrecognised.
The difference started there - the BBC was founded twenty years
before Ampex audio tape and recording machines became standard
for American radio broadcasters to record broadcasts on first,
as if they sensed the commercial interest
in preserving programmes, to sell them on to the future.
before Ampex audio tape and recording machines became standard
for American radio broadcasters to record broadcasts on first,
as if they sensed the commercial interest
in preserving programmes, to sell them on to the future.
And Ampex invented video tape for video recorders in 1956,
whilst the BBC filmed public events that it knew were important,
like coronations, but in black and white because the management
thought history should be in black and white, like the print media
who came before it, who breathed jealously down the BBC's neck.
whilst the BBC filmed public events that it knew were important,
like coronations, but in black and white because the management
thought history should be in black and white, like the print media
who came before it, who breathed jealously down the BBC's neck.
Nowadays I get my daily dose of world news,
comment and entertainment from Youtube videos,
as once I might have got from the BBC World Service,
with no thought before here of Youtube's business model.
comment and entertainment from Youtube videos,
as once I might have got from the BBC World Service,
with no thought before here of Youtube's business model.
They are happy to carry material their users pirate
from other broadcasters, copyright allowing,
whilst Youtube have a three strike policy
over people who upload video material it owns.
from other broadcasters, copyright allowing,
whilst Youtube have a three strike policy
over people who upload video material it owns.
America is a place where justice is bought via lawyers.
Youtube's policy comes down to which broadcaster
has the most expensive lawyers, when few uploaders
or corporations has pockets deeper than Youtube has.
has the most expensive lawyers, when few uploaders
or corporations has pockets deeper than Youtube has.
Over a century on from it's founding,
and unknown numbers of programmes lost,
with the means to make programmes now universal,
the BBC voice remains a distinctive around the world.
But it is a voice that seems to be half drowned out,
amid an ever widening welter of broadcasters,
podcasters, performers and composers - all fighting
for a share of the world population's ears and eyes.
No longer do the airwaves ring with the clarity
of the once proud BBC mission statement,
coined in the days of the British Empire,
'Nation shall speak peace unto nation*',
but with many other declarations instead.
*an adaption of a phrase from The Old Testament, Mikah Ch 4 V 3.
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