ARLA/CLUSTER: Radio Vaticano vai reduzir as emissões para a Europa e Americas

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Vatican Radio: New Communications Strategies

Announcing Vatican Radio’s intention to reduce its Short and Medium
Wave transmissions to most of Europe and the Americas, starting July
1st, the Director General, Fr Federico Lombardi, today spoke of what
he called, 'A new chapter in the history of Vatican Radio' as it
evolves 'from Short Waves to new communications strategies'.

Here is the full text of his comments.

“After celebrating its 80th birthday last year, Vatican Radio is ready
to open a new chapter in its history by committing its message of
service to the Gospel and the Church to new communication
technologies.

Vatican Radio’s 40 different language programmes can currently be
received via satellite and the internet, and are rebroadcast by around
a thousand local radio stations on FM or Medium Wave in over 80
countries around the world.

They are also available live on five web channels, on demand and in
podcast, from Vatican Radio’s website at www.vaticanradio.va

Written reports and texts on the website represent 40 languages in 13
different alphabets and provide a wealth of information. Daily RSS
feeds and newsletters are sent to subscribers in a variety of
languages, including Chinese, Hindi and Tamil, aside from European
languages.

Close collaboration between Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television
Centre has led to the development of on-line video services and an
innovative instrument called the “Vatican Player”, which offers sound
and images of Papal events, live and on demand, texts and written
reports related to those events, and a permanent link to the Pope’s
Agenda of public activities. The Vatican Player allows websites all
over the world to receive and redistribute images, sound and text
concerning the Pope and the Holy See, on a regular basis.

The 24-hour “Vatican Radio Live” channel has a strong audience on FM
in the Rome area and on DAB and DAB+ in most of Italy, and encourages
ongoing dialogue between life and culture in Italy and the Catholic
Church in the country.

Webcasting and satellite transmissions, along with rebroadcasting by
local, regional and national radio stations, guarantee the widest
possible outreach to Vatican Radio’s programming and services. Which
is why Vatican Radio believes the time has come to reduce its reliance
on traditional technologies, like Short and Medium Wave broadcasts,
and to develop its resources in new directions.

On July 1st, Short and Medium Wave broadcasts from Vatican Radio’s
Santa Maria di Galeria Transmission Centre, to most of Europe and the
Americas, will be suspended. These areas of the world are already well
served by Vatican Radio’s local rebroadcasting partners and by
widespread internet access to its services and language programming.

The reduction of Short and Medium Wave broadcasts to these areas
accounts for about 50% of the Centre’s transmission time and will
allow Vatican Radio to restructure the Centre according to more
innovative technological criteria. Short Wave broadcasts will be
further reduced over the next few years – but not at the expense of
those poor, needy and suffering parts of the world (like Africa, the
Middle East and Asia) which have no alternative means of receiving
news of the Church and the voice of the Pope.

Over the next few days, Vatican Radio’s language programmes will be
informing their listeners of these changes, indicating alternative
ways by which traditional Short and Medium Wave users can listen and
benefit from Vatican Radio’s services.

Vatican Radio’s international Short and Medium Wave broadcasts have
made a priceless contribution to the history of the Church, especially
in 20th century Europe where they were a source of strength and
encouragement for nations oppressed by war and totalitarian regimes.
As this unique service is gradually phased out, making way for new
communications technologies, it is important to thank those who
dedicated their hearts and minds to it for so long – and for the good
of so many.

http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-radio-new-communications-
strategies


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The Gulf Times adds:

Hundreds of thousands of euros will be saved in energy consumption
alone, as the giant antennas used for transmissions use a vast amount
of electricity.

The commission in charge of monitoring Vatican finances had warned the
communication services on several occasions that it would have to cut
costs.

The radio will have cut the number of employees down from 400 to 340
by 2013 in a gradual reduction of staff numbers begun around 10 years
ago.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=511879&version=1&template_id=39&parent_id=21

Fonte: Mike Terry f