BBC Bengali to drop two half hour shortwave transmissions at morning & evening

With effect from 1st April, 2018 BBC Bengali will drop its two half hour shortwave transmissions at morning, 0030 UTC (Prabhati) and late evening, 1630 UTC (Parikrama) .

"We have noticed that the radio audience of Bangladesh is gradually decreasing and most people have become dependent on television to hear or to know about the news," said Sabir Mustafa, editor, BBC News Bangla on the decision. Today 81 percent of the people in Bangladesh watch television and only 15 percent listen to the radio. "

"On the other hand, young people are going through digital media and online to meet their news and entertainment needs. In this context, we decided to reduce the radio show and will further increase our performance on television and online. "

"At the same time, we think it is very important to keep the news program on the radio in the morning, the popularity of the night is not very much, and we expect the demand for this morning's show will increase further", said Sabir Mustafa.

Mr. Mustafa says, "Now our activities through online and social will grow very much. Facebook and YouTube will be able to give more videos and more analytical articles will be published on our website. At the same time, the kind of stories that people can be good at reading or getting inspiration, the news will be given more. "

Sabir Mustafa said that although two radio programs were closed, BBC News Bangla is now going to become more diverse media.

Revised shortwave schedule BBC Bengali B17

UTC         FREQ  DAYS     SITE    PWR AZI 

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0130 0200  9560   smtwtfs KRANJI       250 330

0130 0200  11995 smtwtfs KRANJI        250 320

1330 1400  5875   smtwtfs TASHKENT 100 131

1330 1400  9510   smtwtfs KRANJI       250 330

1330 1400  11750 smtwtfs A SEELA     250 60

To be cancelled from 1st April 2018 :

0030 0100 7465  smtwtfs KRANJI   250 340

0030 0100 9560  smtwtfs KRANJI   250 330

0030 0100 11700 smtwtfs KRANJI   250 320

1630 1700 5845  smtwtfs KRANJI   250 340

1630 1700 7485  smtwtfs KRANJI   250 340

1630 1700 9540  smtwtfs KRANJI   250 330  

(Alokesh Gupta, with inputs from BBC.com)