Mar
23
BBC Enlace signs off for good
The BBC announced a few days ago that it was shutting down its Spanish podcast and news forum called BBC Enlace. For the past three years the BBC has produced an interactive news podcast in Spanish where the topics were suggested by listeners. It was an excellent podcast that routinely featured Spanish speakers, from all walks of life and all parts of the globe, giving their opinions on a wide range of topics, from politics to fashion. If you never visited BBC Enlace you missed out on using an excellent online Spanish-language resource.
Fortunately, you can still find an archive of BBC Enlace podcasts dating back to 2006 here.
The cancellation of the program seems rather sudden and rushed. No detailed reason was given for the termination other than the typical “internal restructuring” comment. It’s clear that the BBC didn’t want to have a long good-bye because they gave the public only a week’s notice of the plans to shut the program down. Certainly not enough time for BBC Enlace fans to mount a global protest. It’s unfortunate that this decision was made because the BBC is one of the few global media companies that has the clout, credibility and cash to provide this type of programming. I’m going to miss it.
Were you a regular listener of BBC Enlace? Did you have a favorite episode? What’s your reaction to the cancellation?
March 24th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Never heard of it, but might check out the last ones (maybe there’s a possibility for someone to share some episodes?).
I found it weird, however, to read today that the BBC is launching an Arabic channel this year… Why abandon something like this, and try to access something else instead which has to prove itself first?
March 26th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I’d like to believe that there was room for both. After all, the Spanish-speaking and Arabic-speaking populations are huge and diverse. They are two separate markets and it’s unfortunate that there aren’t enough resources (or sufficient will?) to provide news products for both. I guess from the vantage point of the BBC, the Middle East has greater geopolitical importance for the current state of world affairs than Latin America.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Hm, now I see the BBC Mundo words. Does this mean that they’re taking down this aswell? If so, I AM sad, because I always loved BBC Mundo.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I have never listened to the program, just BBC Mundo news in Spanish, but it sounds like it was great. Has anyone kept some episodes that they could share?
Rick.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
@Rmss, No, I don’t think BBC Mundo is going away, which is BBC world news in Spanish, just the Enlace project, which was considered an interactive project since it allowed regular folks to interact with one another, via a forum, and with the BBC on different topics. Each BBC Enlace podcast came from ideas suggested by listeners. That’s what made the show distinctive and unique among news podcasts. People could email an idea they wanted to see covered in the program and then BBC producers would line up a couple of experts to talk about the subject and interweave their report with recorded audio of regular people giving their opinions.
@Rick, I have about 10 episodes on my external hard drive. I wonder if the BBC would track me down and sue me if I passed them along to a couple hundred “friends”?
I’ll send you a private email.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I went back and checked and now I see that a few years worth of BBC Enlace podcasts are available. I’m not sure how I missed seeing the archive section when I last visited the web site. Or maybe the BBC added this in recent days? Who knows. Anyway, you can find all the episodes here, dating back to 2006:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/forums/enlace/default.stm
All BBC Enlace episodes have been erased from iTunes, so the link above is the only place to find them.
March 31st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Pues escuchaba a BBC Enlace todos los dias a traves de iTunes y de veras lo voy a extrañar mucho. Fue bien interesante y a la vez me ayudaba bastante con el aprendizaje.
April 8th, 2008 at 6:05 am
It made me really sad when they started downsizing everything (I certainly miss my Cienca al Dia), but the upshot is that I’ve substantially widened my Spanish internet resources since then. Hence, my discovery of your fantastic blog!
April 9th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Hi Agnes,
Thanks for commenting and for dropping by. Hope you become a regular here.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I’m heartsick to learn that BBC Enlace has been terminated. I listen to the show on podcast and so am slightly behind on the news. If the problem is money, I wish they would call for subscribers and listeners to become members. It was a wonderful program.
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Yes, Connie, it’s disappointing but I doubt money was an issue. It was probably something else that their internal market research told them. But I really don’t know. I’m just speculating. The good news is that the BBC does have other audio programs in Spanish.
Here’s the link to the BBC Mundo Radio program in podcast form:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/mh/