BBC Asian Network to be axed according to the Times

[chweetgurl]

Its been confirmed by BBC and official now Asian network and Radio 6 will be closed down by 2011

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8544150.stm

Its a blow for our campaign but there would be petitions and staff action since there would be 600 job losses as well! dont know whats store in future!
Hopefully BBC change thier mind

[saffron]

Worth looking at the blog on the front of our forum...Ive just listened to Mr Thompson from the BBC...he is saying that there will be a consultation process with the community....well, time to orgaanise ourselves this year.

[chweetgurl]

Yes Saffron we need to organise ourselves,watched bobby friction on channel 4 in an interview along with mark thompson neither bobby friction nor radio 6 seemed convincing as much mark thompson on his idea of axing the channels!

[a.c.]

You are right Saffron and Chweetgurl. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get recognition as a distinct community among the BBC's audience.

We need to organise not just ourselves, but as many other like-minded organisations as we can gather to stand up and be counted.

In my opinion, there is no way the BBC will return to giving Asian Network £12m a year to reach 300,000 listeners. They will split the service down and spread it across other platforms, and we need to get representation for OUR community on one of those platforms.

We need to study the text of the BBC Trust statement and position our campaign within that framework. Here is the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/march/strategic_review.shtml

[chweetgurl]

Thank you for the link AC
Where do we start since our previous proposal didnt get through do we approach BBC main network?

[saffron]

Ive been listening to the asian network about the processes involved and understand that::

1. They are saying that one of the proposals is to have a number of stations across the country..in the major cities like London Manchester  etc... instead of one national station.

2. There is the oneline feedback on the proposals...which I think everyone on here individually can support... should if possible complete,to make the impact...this is what we  probably need to co ordinate...in a big way.
 numbers maybe  the deciding ,point no doubt, rather than' need' and obvious  issues  ac has raised.

3.There appears to be  large support from within the asian community to maintain the programme as it is...thats the view you have from what is being allowed expression on the station...is there a way we can phone in, our members phone in, the opportunties to text and phone in... are there on all the staions...opportunites to raise mixed relationships on their various true story inputs etc...we could make this work for ourselves through united effort .

[monome]

Nihal's show is usually pretty open to input from listeners, i always keep my eye on it to see if the the up and coming topics to be discussed could relate to mixed relationships.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/nihal/

[chweetgurl]

Thanks for the link Monome its an good find, we will try and contact the show to bring up the topic 

[saffron]

Weve been on several times, I have seen Nihal progress in his thinking, but Id like to see him involve us in a debate on the programme, give us a chance to speak as an organisation...on just tag on to another discussion.

[monome]

I listen to the show regularly, nihal is a good chair, but sometimes he let's his opinions dictate the discussion too much. This often suprises me, as we're from the same hometown which has a distinctly small Asian population and most of my Asian friends growing up were very westernised as their parents had conciously tried to remove the selves from Asian communities

Are we to assume nihals wife is Asian? Iv looked online and can't find out.

Sorry for drifting slightly off-topic.

[chweetgurl]

No Monome you are definetly on the right track, Its important we take all aspects into consideration.I have heard few of his shows its mainly on news that makes headlines have heard a bit of publicity of Ashiana but that furthest they get to.
But we still keep trying 

[saffron]

Monome

Yes, Im a regular listener too, have been for the last 2 plus years....Nihal has improved over time with his views about 'not going against the culture' as he would say in previous discussions, and 'respecting elders wishes'... however I believe that he is pressurized by his perception of the listening audiance, he is not from punjabi background,he is from Shri Lanka, and many listeners on asian network hail from the punjab and south Indian communities, he loves this music and culture,and feels I believe...and its my view hearing him talk about these things...that he has to somehow protect what he perceives as the majority audience.

Like many radio station personalities, they are keen to be seen as doing the right thing. ...but learning that the right thing is not always what people out there need.

There are times that he tries to give young peoples views across the airwaves...I spoke with him once and he accepted that culture is transitional if we like it or not, identified this with forms of music! He has debated mixed relationships regularly on asain network.

He is married to a shriLankhan I understand, he talks aften about his wife and his young child.

The experiences of many indians outside the punjabi culture...ie Shri Lankhans and many others is very different to how how punjabis for instance experience life with their communities here. For instance your point about more westernized communities is a good one, because many of those communities did what they could to 'fit in'..which says how much these parents wanted the best for their children and didn't want to feel different. Well thats one point of view on the matter.