LT> NB> Sports.....YUK! But I can see your point. Broadcasting sports might
LT> NB> bring in  a bigger audience. I personally would like to see more 
usic
LT> NB> programs.  That's might be another indication of the problems with
LT> NB> shortwave....too  much news/propoganda and not enough real
LT> NB> entertainment. It's possible to  tell other countries about your
LT> NB> culture while still entertaining them. But  an hour long dissertation
LT> NB> on copper-wire production will turn folks off in a  hurry.
LT>I agree. News and current affairs is all very well, and some countries
LT>have a much better idea of world news than others, but there is a limit
LT>as to how many different ways an item can be reported.
There's also a matter of news networking, as CNN has shown that the
transmission of breaking news is faster (and better) using the
audiovisual in-color-and-clear medium of television as relayed by
satellites, as opposed to the time-honored RTTY-then-telephone
oft-garbled teletype services once used by AP and Reuters.  CNN has
managed to surpass in-depth quality/quantity that once was the BBC's
bragging rights for decades.
LT>Radio Moscow, for example, had an extremly good jazz programme during
LT>the 1970s. The BBC World Service was a good mix of general entertainment
LT>- music, drama, panel games, etc - as well as news, but these days you
LT>can have three hours of solid news. This is too much! These aren't the
LT>only examples; the general attituide everywhere is to bring in more
LT>chat.
News is always the cheapest program to produce as long as you're quoting
somebody else's source.  Even what was once "the major networks" won't
staff a full news department like they used to; it costs big money to do
that, and ya can't keep stockholders happy with a large-overhead
operation cutting into dividends.  From a government broadcaster's point
of view, with the cutting of public resources, the news department would
be the most expensive item to hit the chopping block first.
Sports, on the other hand, is looking for all the outlets possible
because there's an actual immediate return for the expenditure in terms
of marketing to fans.
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