This is the BBC

Syndicated to numerous foreign publications in 1997:

THIS IS THE BBC - LOUD AND CLEAR IN FRENCH
by Ian Richardson

(click here for PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION)

There is a new revolution going on in Africa.

The winds of technical change are blowing across the continent and the beneficiaries are the hundreds of millions who rely on radio for their news and entertainment.

Leading this friendly revolution is the British Broadcasting Corporation's African Service.

The BBC is a much-admired and much-loved international broadcaster, but it must be admitted that tuning in can sometimes be hard work for many of its devoted listeners.

At the heart of this problem is the unpredictability of short-wave broadcasting, the BBC's transmission mainstay around the globe.

The crackle-and-fade of the shortwave signals often makes listening a chore - with the result that only the most dedicated are prepared to make the effort.

But in a steadily increasing number of African countries there is now a high-quality alternative: FM.

Across the continent, governments are relaxing their restrictions on radio. Out goes the rigidly-controlled broadcasts of the State-owned media; in come "lively and loose" programmes from a new breed of radio entrepreneurs and enthusiasts with their FM stations.

The BBC, ever anxious to increase its audiences around the world, has been quick to grasp the new opportunities in the region.

It is doing so on two levels: 1) by setting up FM relay stations which provide a continuous crystal-clear signal to audiences in the major African cities and 2) by going into partnership with local FM stations which re-broadcast a pick of the BBC's news and general programmes.

The results so far have been dramatic.

The first BBC relay to go on stream was in Abidjan, capital of the Ivory Coast, and almost overnight the number of listeners to BBC Afrique doubled to 44% of the adult audience.

This put the BBC neck-and-neck with its old rival, Radio France International (RFI).

The next relay to go "on stream" was in Brazzaville, the Congolese capital, and within five months, a third of the city's population was tuning in on a regular basis.

The impact of FM was further highlighted by the fact that just two percent of Brazzaville's population was listening to BBC Afrique's signal on shortwave.

The BBC's third FM relay in West Africa - in the Senagalese capital, Dakar, was officially opened in June by the Managing-Director of BBC World Service, Sam Younger, who described FM as "a key element in the BBC's strategy for an increased presence in the African continent".

The second part of the BBC's expansion strategy - the partnerships with local broadcasters - is also going well, with about a dozen independent FM stations in West Africa already re-broadcasting BBC programmes on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis.

New audience figures for Ghana, for example, show that in the past two years, the BBC's audience has climbed by about half-a-million since Joy FM in the capital, Accra, began rebroadcasting the corporation's English-language programmes.

For the BBC, there's a special thrill that so many of its re-broadcasters are in the heartland of French-speaking Africa and who have turned to London as well as Paris for their international French-language news.

The newly-opened door to the BBC in French Africa is thought to be due, in part, to a disenchantment with the way France has responded to the various crises and wars that have wracked its former colonies.

It is not just in Francophone Africa that listeners are being attracting to the BBC World Service.

Two FM stations - Radio Nova in Cape Verde and Bombolom FM in Guinea Bissau - are re-broadcasting the BBC's Portuguese-language output.

And some stations also re-broadcast the BBC's programmes in Hausa, Swahili and English.

Barry Langridge, the BBC World Service's Regional Head for Africa, finds the interest in English-language programmes in Francophone Africa particularly significant.

"We have found that many listeners want to learn English because they know it can be used just about everywhere in the world and so many employers now see a good knowledge of English as a job requirement," he said.

But the BBC's increasing use of FM radio demonstrates that every silver lining has a cloud.

While the benefits include a dramatically-enlarged audience at a low cost - FM is the cheapest form of broadcasting available - there is also an associated element of unpredictability.

Unlike shortwave broadcasts, FM relays and re-broadcasts are vulnerable to interruption during times of crisis - just when the audiences most need the BBC's independent news coverage.

A clear demonstration of this came during the recent fighting in Brazzaville when the BBC relay there suddenly ceased operating.

The signal is now back again and BBC has yet to establish exactly what happened.

The BBC World Service's Rebroadcasting Manager for Africa, Michel Lobelle, says the answer may have been nothing more sinister than the generator running out of fuel, but it underlined the ease with which a terrestrial transmitter could be taken off air.

Langridge makes no attempt to hide the dangers, but he still believes the risks are worth it.

"The FM stations are bringing in huge new audiences for the BBC, and despite the Brazzaville experience, there is evidence that once we establish a hold on an audience, governments are hesitant about cutting us off," he said.

The spread of BBC FM broadcasting in Africa brings with it a need for a new approach to the style and sound of BBC Afrique.

For a start, Langridge wants to recruit more French-speaking correspondents and presenters with African accents and good local knowledge.

"In contrast to shortwaves, which make it obvious that the signal is coming great distances, FM makes the broadcasters seem closer to the audience.

"So we want to make our broadcasts more a part of the local communities by, for example, providing a greater level of detail and language quality," Langridge said.

At the same time, Langridge is keen to meet requests for training from his department's re-broadcasting partners.

The main demands are for training in broadcast journalism, production, engineering and management, and he feels that the BBC has a responsibility to give the maximum possible help to those stations which have shown such faith in the World Service.

The continuing importance of radio in much of Africa is stressed by Michel Lobelle.

"Radio is still the medium of Africa because radios can be run on batteries, and there are also the clockwork radios that have recently come on the market.

"Despite the growth of satellite television, TV is mostly limited to the well-off minority in the big cities with a continuous electricity supply," Lobelle said.

Langridge and Lobelle recognise that the spread of the BBC message through FM broadcasting is still in its relative infancy in Africa.

They are determined "to see the map filled in" with the BBC available on FM frequencies in every important city in the continent.

High on the target list has been Nairobi and the big cities of Nigeria.

A Nairobi relay now seems certain later this year following the recent announcement by the Kenyan President, Daniel Arap Moi, that he is granting FM frequencies to the BBC not just in the Kenyan capital, but also Mombasa.

And what of the BBC on FM for Nigeria?

"Nigeria already provides the World Service with its largest individual audience for its English-language programmes, and we would dearly love to see this audience able to pick up BBC programmes in the best possible quality, Langridge said.

"We hope it won't be too long before the country's political and military leaders lift their opposition to our service."