The Cornwall Lecture 2001: From Polzeath to Lilongwe - how global
communications are becoming local in the digital age
Truro,
19 November 2001
Printable version
When I was invited to
give this year's Cornwall Lecture I was delighted for personal
as well as professional reasons.
Cornwall is an important
place to me 聳 and I know how much you have to be proud of: The
beauty of your environment; the creativity, strength and pioneering
spirit of your people.
Sir John Banham, Michael
Galsworthy and Keith Staite at In Pursuit of Excellence had no need
to convince me, or indeed my family, about Cornwall's attractions.
My wife Hilary has been
staying here every year since she was a kid. (As she is not here I can
tell you that is for more than 40 years). Now we and the children take
a holiday in Polzeath, every year 聳 rain or shine!
So having another excuse
to visit Cornwall this year is a great pleasure and it is an honour
to be invited to give the 2001 Cornwall Lecture.
Moreover, as head of
the world's leading international broadcasting service, it's
a privilege to be here in Cornwall as we approach the centenary of a
truly historic event that took place just down the road, and which changed
the world of communications forever.
Professionally, I have
taken a particularly close interest in the progress of 主播大秀 Radio Cornwall
since my previous job was director of 主播大秀 regional broadcasting.
Cornwall is a jewel
in the 主播大秀's regional crown, with the biggest share of the radio
audience of any service in the county. A hundred and forty four thousand
people tune into 主播大秀 Radio Cornwall every week; 35% of the population.
That's one of the very best performances across the whole of local
radio.
An important reason for
that success is the way the station celebrates the Cornish identity
and the local roots of its listeners.
Exciting developments
are taking place at the station, and one by-product will be to communicate
more effectively about Cornwall to audiences not just here, but throughout
the UK and indeed around the world. I'll say more about that later.
Which brings me to the
theme of this year's Cornwall Lecture: communications. It is a
big theme and a very topical one. And appropriately for the Cornwall
Lecture, it is an issue of huge importance for the Cornish economy.
Never has the technology
of communications been changing more rapidly. I want to review some
of those developments this evening.
A lot of what I have
to say comes from my perspective as a broadcaster 聳 and with world
events of the last two months uppermost in our minds, I think it's
important to reflect on the vital role of international communications
during the present crisis.
As for the economic aspects
of communications, I cannot pretend to have all the answers for Cornish
businesses but I want to consider some of the issues that affect us
all.
Cornwall has played a
historic part in the technological development of communications, and
I want to celebrate that too.
Not just Marconi's
first transatlantic radio transmission, of which more in a moment. Cornwall
was the location for the first overseas mail service 聳 the Falmouth
Packet Ship Service. The reception of satellite communications at Goonhilly.
And the landing and onward distribution of high capacity cables at Porthcurno
and Sennen.
Let me say first of
all that in the aftermath of September 11th one thing has become crystal
clear: the need for the world to communicate has never been greater.
There has never been
a greater need to understand how other people see the world, and to
listen to what other people have to say.
There has never been
a greater need for different communities throughout the world to understand
one another's point of view. Connection and engagement on a global
scale.
At 主播大秀 World Service,
we are acutely aware of the responsibility that places on all our broadcasters.
Not least those who are working flat out to bring the news to people
in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and the Arab world in their own languages.
They uphold the World Service's traditional values of impartiality,
independence, accuracy and balance that are the foundation of the trust
placed in us by listeners.
I do not believe it
is an overstatement to say that our success matters to people throughout
the world, including the people of the UK and indeed here in Cornwall.
If we use the communications
technology now at our disposal wisely, we can break down boundaries
between people more effectively than ever before.
We hear all the time
about globalisation. But the wonderful thing about today's communications
technology is that it can be global and local at the same time.
We may not have seen
the end of history that was being so confidently predicted 10 years
ago as the cold war drew to a close. But the end of geography? In a
sense, yes. In communications terms, physical location is becoming more
blurred.
Through digital technology,
you can listen to a local radio station on the other side of the world.
A small business in Cornwall can do business in every continent at the
click of a mouse. And that's just the start.
For Cornwall, whose geographical
location and transport links have so often held it back, these are profound
changes indeed. Today the world is closer to you than ever before.
Broadband links 聳
and I know broadband is a sensitive point here in Cornwall 聳 will
change the way we do business. Before looking at all these issues in
more detail, I wanted to tell you about two personal experiences that
opened my eyes to the impact the latest developments in communications
are already having. They gave me the title for this lecture 聳 From
Polzeath to Lilongwe.
In 1998 I was on holiday
at Easter with my family at the Atlantic House Hotel in Polzeath. It
was the weekend of the signing of the Good Friday agreement. My professional
responsibilities included 主播大秀 Northern Ireland and I was desperately
trying to get hold of the controller of 主播大秀 Northern Ireland on a mobile
phone to be briefed on the latest developments. I couldn't get
a signal and I well remember how I was forced to use a phone box down
the road.
Today in that same hotel
I can now listen to Radio Ulster just as if I was sitting in Belfast.
With an internet connection, it's all there through 主播大秀i at .
And of course I can do the same anywhere in the world.
Earlier this year I
was in Malawi for the launch of 主播大秀 World Service's new FM frequency
in the capital Lilongwe. In the morning I met President Bakili Muluzi
who told me that he listens every morning and evening to our flagship
programmes for Africa: Network Africa and Focus on Africa.
Later that day I met
a boatman on the Shire River who said he had been listening to the World
Service since he was six. Finally being able to hear the 主播大秀 on FM was,
he told me, the best thing that had happened to him this year.
What struck me was how
an international broadcaster like the 主播大秀 was effectively a local broadcaster
there in Malawi.
The development of international
communications has made this possible. Today, signals are beamed via
satellite from London and rebroadcast locally on FM. Internet connections
that provide high quality audio and video as well as text mean we can
see and hear what the world has to say at the click of a mouse.
Technology is changing
faster today than ever. But the history of all these developments can
be traced back to a day almost exactly 100 years ago 聳 and to a
place just a few miles from Truro.
That place, of course,
was Poldhu cove at Mullion. The date was the 12th of December 1901.
And this is what history in the making sounded like. (Audio clip)
Across the Atlantic in
Newfoundland, radio's founding father, Guglielmo Marconi, waited
to hear the signal, transmitted all the way from Poldhu.
That was the moment when
international communications, as we know it today, really began.
It had been a huge gamble
on the part of Marconi and his backers. Some eminent scientists argued
that transmissions could not possibly work over such a distance because
of the curvature of the earth.
They were wrong; the
ionosphere, a layer of charged particles of the upper atmosphere, reflects
electromagnetic signals. That is how short wave radio works. But how
was Marconi to know? The ionosphere had not yet been discovered.
He also had to reckon
with unpredictable weather. And not just the weather here in Cornwall
- where gales blew down the original 200 foot aerial masts at Poldhu.
In Newfoundland, the balloon holding the aerial aloft was also blown
away. The next day so was a kite.
But you can't change
the course of history without being prepared for a disaster or two.
A second kite was launched
with the aerial attached, and at last the signal from Poldhu could be
heard clearly by Marconi and his assistant Kemp. This is how he recalled
the moment, later in his life: (Audio clip: Guglielmo Marconi)
How right he was.
It is great for Cornwall
that the anniversary is being marked by celebrations on both sides of
the Atlantic. The new visitors' centre at Poldhu managed by the
National Trust and part funded by Marconi PLC will be a lasting attraction.
Radio Cornwall is teaming
up with the National Trust, the Poldhu Radio Museum and the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation to cover the recreation of that first transatlantic
transmission, and to broadcast the Queen's message on the day.
The 37 other 主播大秀 local radio stations will be able to link with a Radio
Cornwall reporter at Poldhu for live coverage. And there will be a Radio
Cornwall reporter in Newfoundland providing radio interviews, comment
and reports from the other side of the Atlantic.
He will also be supplying
material for the global audience visiting the new website, 主播大秀i Cornwall,
which will be going live at www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall, exactly 100 years
after those first radio broadcasts. Radio Cornwall listeners are involved
too - they've been sending in their favourite radio memories for
broadcast on December 12. And there will be a special one-hour documentary
marking the anniversary which is under production at 主播大秀 Radio Cornwall
for the Christmas schedules.
Moreover the World Service
itself will be broadcasting its own special programme around the world
on December 28th 聳 "Marconi Centenary" 聳 celebrating
that groundbreaking day. So the 主播大秀 locally and across the world will
certainly be marking this historic moment in a fitting way.
Marconi was a man with
a vision 聳 but perhaps even he could not have foreseen the impact
his new communications technology would have.
It is ironic in this
centenary year that the share price of the company that bears his name
should have collapsed so sharply, and that Marconi has been headline
news around the world for a very different reason.
Right next to the World
Service studios at Bush House is a plaque on a wall marking the spot
where Marconi's London radio station 2LO was based, and where the
fledgling 主播大秀 began broadcasting in 1922.
The 主播大秀's international
broadcasts started 10 years later. In the first transmission, Director-General
Sir John Reith dedicated the service 聭to the best interests of
mankind'.
Today the World Service
broadcasts in 43 languages and has more listeners than ever before in
its history 聳 153 million a week.
In the past two months
we can only guess at how listening has grown among some of our audiences
聳 in Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East, for example.
We have expanded our
output in Arabic, Pashto, Persian and Urdu, and boosted our transmissions
with a powerful new medium wave frequency.
Even before the latest
events, Taliban controlled Afghanistan had no television and no national
newspapers. Radio is the main medium of communication and we, the 主播大秀
World Service, are it.
This is the most familiar
signature tune to Afghan listeners. (Audio clip)
Comprehensive audience
surveys are difficult to carry out in Afghanistan but some limited survey
work was done just over a year ago, among male heads of household. It
indicated that some 72 per cent of Pashto language speakers and some
62 per cent of Persian speakers in Afghanistan listened daily to the
主播大秀 in Pashto and Persian.
Those 主播大秀 services are
the main source of news 聳 for the Taliban leader Mullah Omar to
Afghan families in the refugee camps.
For the World Service,
what matters more than ever during a time of conflict is its independence,
impartiality, accuracy and balance.
The Taliban know this.
Listeners in Afghanistan
don't just hear Jack Straw, Tony Blair and Colin Powell.
Following the first air
strikes, Taliban spokesmen have been giving their response regularly
to the Pashto and Persian services, which we broadcast to Afghan listeners.
Many Afghans describe
the 主播大秀 as the sixth prayer. Just as their five daily prayers are made
at set times, so is the 主播大秀 transmission. Everybody who has access to
a radio gets together and listens to the 主播大秀 to find out what is happening.
The Pashto and Persian
services are receiving many messages from listeners 聳 one appeared
recently on the fax machine from Kabul. Just four words: 聭主播大秀 聳
more, more, more.'
The 主播大秀 is seen as a
main stay of communication, not simply a global broadcaster. A social
anthropologist who wrote his PhD on the impact of our Pashto radio soap
New 主播大秀, New Life says that people would often tell him that they thought
the 主播大秀 was a village in Afghanistan.
And that soap opera,
modelled on The Archers, deals specifically with local issues: how to
avoid landmines, where to get medical care 聳 and how to survive
as a refugee.
But it's not just
deprived audiences who want a wider perspective on world events. In
the wake of the 11th September attacks, our partner stations on America's
public radio network in New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco,
Los Angeles and other US towns and cities took direct feeds of our news
programmes, many on a rolling basis.
A special edition of
our interactive Talking Point programme 聳 available online as well
as on radio 聳 attracted over 35,000 emails from all over the world.
Traffic to our award-winning World Service Online site increased nine-fold
in the 24 hours following the attack.
The international TV
channel 主播大秀 World was made available to an estimated additional 300
million viewers in the week following the attacks. Available in its
entirety across the US for the first time, it was taken by over 130
public television stations across the US. One American viewer emailed
to say he loves 主播大秀 World because 聭it provides no speculation,
no sensationalism, no bull 聳 just the facts'.
One issue has become
clearer still as a result of these events. It is the importance of responding
swiftly to changes in communications technology and audience need.
Sometimes that may involve
difficult decisions about how to deploy finite resources. At World Service,
we have made savings in the most developed broadcasting markets, where
short wave is being replaced by FM rebroadcasting partnerships and listening
via the internet. But that has enabled us to move resources to less
developed regions where short wave and medium wave transmissions provide
an information lifeline.
In different ways, those
same decisions apply to every business organisation, large and small.
It is a question of allocating resources as effectively as you can to
match the technology at your disposal to customer needs and demand.
If you don't do
it, somebody else will move in and steal your market.
Digital technology has
undoubtedly come of age. Now the hype over the internet revolution is
behind us, the real benefits to businesses and to broadcasters are shining
through.
Dot.com speculation
may have lost a fortune but prudent investment is paying off.
For the World Service,
it means that people who could never receive our radio transmissions
in the 42 languages can now listen to live output, or catch that programme
they particularly want to hear, at a time when it suits them, anywhere
in the world.
If you are an Arabic
listener in America, a Chinese student in Canada or a Tamil speaker
here in Truro, you can hear the latest news and access all kinds of
information in your own language.
And we were very proud
to win this year's Webby Award 聳 the internet 聭Oscar'
聳 for the best radio website in the world.
This is what you see
when you log on to our award winning Arabic website, .
You can listen to live
output or a programme of your choice on demand. Read the latest news
reports or archive information, and watch video clips. Have your say
by joining in the online discussion. Check the latest weather forecasts.
And much more.
When I was in Sydney
last year visiting our Olympic Games production team, I climbed in a
taxi, and the driver was listening to World Service in English, crystal
clear on FM being broadcast on ABC's News Radio. Fantastic, I said,
where are you from? I am from Mogadishu, he told me. A Somali exile.
I told him I was delighted he was a World Service listener but it was
a pity he couldn't hear the 主播大秀's Somali Service which is
hugely popular back in his homeland. "No, no, no", he said,
"every night my friends now come round to my flat and we all click
on and listen to the 主播大秀 Somali Service online."
.
Now the worldwide Cornish
diaspora 聳 outnumbering those of you in Cornwall, I'm told
聳 can also keep in touch through the internet. The communities
in Australia, North America and even Africa who can trace their roots
here. And everyone else who has spent some time in Cornwall and has
the place in their blood.
has been online for the past year. In fact you
can even see what the weather is like via the live webcam on the roof
of the studio in Truro 聳 although I understand that when this service
was launched in September last year, it promptly rained every day for
the next 104 days!
Now the 主播大秀 is about
to launch a new upgraded internet service for Cornwall 主播大秀i Cornwall.
And although its licence fee funding means that we are not primarily
aiming at an international audience 聳 it's primarily for you,
the people of Cornwall and licence payers across the UK, 聳 we've
already had requests for more online content from lovers of Cornwall
who have left these shores.
A Lieutenant Commander
from the United States Navy, who spent three years assigned to RAF St
Mawgan, recently emailed from California. He didn't miss the weather,
he wrote, but he did miss the environment, of which Radio Cornwall was
a big part. When would he be able to listen to the station on the internet,
he wanted to know?
Well the good news is
that the 主播大秀 in Cornwall is about to make the latest news reports and
other local community information available in audio for internet listeners.
That includes a weekly
bulletin in Cornish, and Cornish language lessons are going online too.
Here's just a sample
from a programme broadcast on 主播大秀 Radio Cornwall earlier this month.
(Audio clip in Cornish)
And for those who don't
know 聳 shame on you! 聳 that means (English translation).
Again the web allows
us to serve much more specialised audiences than we can with radio.
And now Cornish speakers, or anyone who just wants to hear how the language
sounds, or learn a few words, will be able to join in, anywhere in the
world.
And when world events
dominate the headlines, people who care about Cornwall will be able
to find out what is happening here and how you are affected. Because
there is so often a Cornish connection.
As I am sure many of
you know, Morgan Stanley's head of security at the World Trade
Centre, Rick Rescorla, was a Cornishman from Hayle. He was one of those
who stayed to evacuate the building and never got out.
主播大秀 Radio Cornwall knew
about him pretty early on: their weatherman Chris Stumbles, was his
second cousin. They had a very powerful and emotional interview with
his wife. Hearing that interview will have meant a lot to listeners
here.
On the day of the attack,
many people contacted 主播大秀 Radio Cornwall hoping to find out if their
relatives were safe. One couple's son had seen the planes crashing
into the World Trade Centre and wanted to tell his friends that he was
OK.
Cornwall brings out
that sense of community. And effective communications can build on that
sense of common purpose and strength.
You only have to look
at the response to Radio Cornwall's Sunrise Appeal to raise funds
for the clinical oncology unit at Treliske. It has been phenomenal 聳
拢100,000 was raised in the first month alone, and the total sent
into the radio station now stands at (拢322,000). The latest idea
is the radio Christmas card. Send in the money you would have spent
on cards and postage and say hello to your friends and loved ones on
the radio instead.
A campaign like that
shows the power of communication at local level and the impact it can
have in changing people's lives in a practical way.
The significance of
new communications technology is that it allows us to multiply this
impact and target communities and individuals much more effectively.
For media users, the
internet unlocks a whole new world of information tailored to you as
an individual.
You can listen to a
programme when you want
You can have your say
to a global audience.
When Nelson Mandela
and his wife Graca Machel took part in a World Service Talking Point
programme recently on the plight of children around the world and children's
rights, the first question came from a student in the south west of
England.
On the net, you can
access more detailed information on a topic that interests you. If you've
been watching David Attenborough's Blue Planet series and want
to know more, you can dive into 主播大秀i's Nature site for all kinds
of interactive learning.
Visit the bottom of
the sea for the Blue Planet Challenge. Or go deeper for learning courses
specially devised for the series.
This is the start of
a whole new interactive approach to learning based on TV and radio programmes.
Interactivity offers
the same advantages to businesses. Customers can access your service
whenever they want, find out more about what you have to offer and place
their order, anytime, anywhere in the world.
Many highly publicised
dot.coms may have come and gone, but the pace of growth in internet
access is still beating all expectations.
Already around 430 million
people worldwide have internet access. We estimate this will grow to
1.1 billion users by 2005/06. In more than 20 countries, more than a
third of the population are now online.
And for the first time,
the majority of internet users are now non-English speakers and that
proportion of non English speakers on the net will grow over time. Chinese
is growing fast 聳 although Cornish still has some catching up to
do!
In terms of mobile technology,
I don't think we should be fooled by the current slowdown in the
mobile phone business. Our latest long-term forecasts indicate an increase
from one billion users this year to 2.25 billion in 2005.
We've all got used
to text messaging on our mobiles 聳 or at least our kids have. Now
we are moving to internet-connected phones with text browsing and email,
and the next generation of 3G phones will receive short video clips.
Broadband is a key issue
for both broadcasters and businesses. Full broadband 聳 and by that
I mean working at speeds of 2 megabits per second and upwards 聳
opens the door to television quality video over the internet. Interactive
business online will have come of age.
Recent press speculation
has suggested that the new fear of flying among business executives
could well be broadband's sought-after 聭killer application'.
Video conferencing delivered through these high speed internet links
will at last provide a genuine alternative to face-to-face meetings.
Bad news for the airlines
聳 but good news for more geographically isolated places. If they
are connected to broadband, that is.
By last December a worldwide
total of almost 10 million subscribers had broadband access at home,
and that number is expected to double by the end of this year. Three
times as many had broadband access at work. By 2005 there will be around
100 million subscribers according to current projections.
The Government has said
it wants the UK to be the most extensive and competitive broadband market
in the G7 by the same year, but we have got quite a long way to go.
And while London may
stand a chance of achieving the target of becoming 聭the broadband
capital of the world', where will that leave Truro, Penzance 聳
or indeed Polzeath?
In fact the whole of
the UK should look to Hull (another part of the country at the end of
the railway!) to see what broadband has to offer.
It was the first city
in the UK to offer a broadband TV service to anyone with a telephone.
So the 主播大秀 is making Hull a testbed for the next generation of interactive
news, information and education services.
We're also providing
ICT and multimedia training for local people and linking with local
schools and adult education initiatives.The aim is to move the 主播大秀 from
being a broadcaster to being an actor in local life.
It would be great one
day to do the same for Cornwall.
It must be frustrating
to know that the main fibre-optic cables that form the backbone for
broadband international connections come ashore in Sennen and Porthcurno
and head straight off to Bristol and London 聳 bypassing homes here.
I gather that salt has been rubbed into local wounds by digging up the
road to install the cables and repeater stations that boost the signals.
I know how much business
development organisations in Cornwall have been doing to press this
issue and bring forward the date when Cornwall will have full access
to this vital economic resource.
The 10 year strategy
published by Cornwall Enterprise highlights the need for good quality
ICT infrastructure, particularly in rural areas and the Isles of Scilly.
The report commissioned
by the Objective 1 taskforce on ICT warns: 聭At a time when global
e-business is set to take off and internet connectivity is growing exponentially,
there is a real risk that Cornwall will fall behind the core regions,
where all the digital action is'.
But 聳 the report
adds, and it is a big but 聳 聭it doesn't have to be this
way'
If you are going to
attract new businesses and support existing ones, there is no time to
lose.
It's vital to encourage
forward-looking businesses that are connected to global markets. That
must be a way to raise average earnings in Cornwall closer to the national
level.
And here's a global
perspective on average earnings, incidentally: in Lilongwe in Malawi,
the average annual income is 拢100. Probably less if you are a
boatman, somewhat more if you are the President.
The economics are a
lot better in Polzeath.
And in the new economic
map of the world, the natural attractions of Cornwall, your environment
and heritage, should become even greater assets.
Geographical isolation
will become less of an issue. Lifestyle choice will become increasingly
important when it comes to deciding where to locate your business.
The Red Book published
by In Pursuit of Excellence makes this point strongly 聳 that Cornwall
can play to its strengths as a great place to live and work.
The Renewable Energy
Office for Cornwall and the commercial Earth Energy systems being developed
by Geoscience reflect a progressive, environmental image.
Of course, the Eden
project is a superb example of how you can generate international interest
and express Cornwall's creativity and care for the global environment
聳 I visited the site last Easter and was knocked out by its excellence.
It precisely expresses
this whole idea of global understanding local, and local connecting
to global: a world of plants, ecosystems and environments inside a disused
crater in the heart of Cornwall.
The world coming to
Cornwall, in fact.
With access to the latest
communications technology, more and more businesses can do the same
thing. The technology takes you to the world, and brings the world to
you, without threatening your unique environment.
From my perspective
as a broadcaster, I am constantly faced with decisions about how best
to deploy a range of delivery technologies with finite resources. There
is no simple answer, but in summing up here are four key factors which
I believe could be just as relevant to many organisations here in Cornwall.
First 聳 think how
you can use the capacity of new communications technology such as the
internet to deepen individual relationships with users. Provide exactly
what they need on a local basis in the context of what is important
to them and how they live their lives.
Think local when you
think global 聳 and global when you think local.
Communication really
is now a two-way process.
Second, recognise that
communications technology is changing faster than ever. Monitor developments
and respond swiftly to make the most of new opportunities.
Third 聳 try to
ensure Cornwall has access to the most appropriate and leading edge
communications technologies as quickly as possible, and that will include
in the future full broadband access.
And finally 聳 keep
communicating the distinctive message about Cornwall. For me as head
of the 主播大秀's international news services, you're always conscious
that it's a very crowded broadcasting marketplace in nearly all
areas of the world. For the World Service to be a leader, to be vibrant,
it has to stand out, it has to provide something special, of real value,
to be distinctive. So, shout about what makes this place so special,
such a great place to live and work, your special expertise in the environment
and sustainable development and so much more.
I hope we can play our
part in communicating not just at a local level but globally through
the 主播大秀's new internet services in Cornwall.
If I could highlight
one ingredient that we all need, it would be some of Marconi's
courage and vision. What a leap of faith that was, waiting on the other
side of the Atlantic to hear the signal coming all the way from Cornwall,
100 years ago. That really was the beginning of international communications
as we know it today.
Cornwall has a unique
place in that history and in the future of communications.
I'd like to give
the last word to one of your global admirers, who makes a key point
for Cornwall about the new digital age. He is that same US Navy Lieutenant
Commander who is so keen to hear Radio Cornwall on the internet.
Don't worry, he
wrote to us 聳 the internet is the perfect compromise:
'It may deliver Cornwall
to the rest of the world but it allows Cornwall to keep the rest of
the world at arm's length.'
I'm sure that everyone
who wants Cornwall to prosper and loves the place the way it
is, will second that.
It's a great privilege
and pleasure to be with you here this evening.
Thank you.
