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)
