Dear Sir,

I have not had the pleasure of meeting Heather Conyers, but I have to say that her letter to the Editor in The Royal Gazette on Saturday certainly resonated with me. I do not wish to be unkind, but I take her point that broadcasting in Bermuda — in fact, universally — leaves much to be desired.

Last Sunday, as a dedicated viewer of the CBS Sunday Morning programme, I comforted myself in front of the television to watch. I was greeted with a blank screen. Suspecting that it was a temporary error, I waited — only to be greeted by three local commercials, then another blank screen. This went on for more than an hour of switching channels, and by the time I returned to CBS at 11.05am, the last 25 minutes of the programme was airing. No apology from the station that it was experiencing technical difficulties. No comment at all on the dead air.

The question begs: who is in charge? Do the advertisers not see these matters and express their concerns?

It would appear that management cares little about local programming, as the only local presentation these days is the news. No more drive-home programmes on current affairs. No panel discussions on political matters — Kim Swan, Glenn Blakeney, The Captain, David Lopes, Shelly Thunder being the exceptions — just a slew of same old ear-shattering sounds masquerading as music on all stations that compels one to tune in to Moody Radio for respite.

In the days of Walt Statskow, Quinton Edness, Monty Sheppard and Kenneth Defontes, someone on duty at the station would be chewed out at the slightest blip in broadcasting, and the matter was promptly corrected. That was the norm when broadcasting was “managed”.

I have worked on three broadcasting stations in Bermuda, all of which aired newscasts on holidays. Admittedly, the casts were not earth-shattering, since little “news” occurred on holidays, but there were human interest stories that informed and entertained viewers and listeners, and as a result recognised advertisers’ support. It also demonstrated that broadcasting outlets paid keen attention to their product.

There are many local stories out there waiting to be aired, but the public will never see or hear them unless news people rise from their hind quarters and use their sources to research and reveal these stories.

Management is the key, and I will wager that the likes of Heather Conyers, and many others would be more than happy if broadcasting presented programming with finite details that demonstrated that they were attuned to what went out over the airwaves.

CHARLES WEBBE

Smith’s