Digital Broadcasters | Afghanistan | BBC in Full Promotional Mode

Digital Broadcasters Vendor News has learned that the BBC World Service is launching its first major media campaign to promote its Pashto and Dari language radio programming across its Afghanistan terrestrial broadcast network.

BBC World Service radio reach includes 17 FM frequencies in key towns across Afghanistan, including the capital, Kabul 89.0FM and 101.6FM (in Dari and Pashto), Mazar-e-Sharif 89.0FM (Dari), Jalalabad 89.0FM (Pashto), Herat 89.2FM (Dari), Kandahar 90.0FM (Pashto) and Ghazni 88.3FM (Pashto). It is worthy to note that BBC programming is also re-broadcast via partnerships with two local media providers, Internews and Equal Access and their local radio stations. The BBC World Service advertising campaign during November and December promotes the seven city stations using billboards, TV, radio and print with the assistance of the Kabul-based, full service agency, Aina - Darya Communications.

Alan Booth, Controller, Marketing, Communications & Audiences, BBC World Service commented that as Afghanistan continues to develop, the BBC is keen to consolidate its position in the country's modern media scene.

Booth added that a recent survey in the rural and urban areas of five provinces of Afghanistan suggested that the BBC in Pashto and Dari is one of the most popular international broadcasters reaching almost 70% of the population in those areas.

[A reminder from Digital Broadcasters Vendor News Asia that the BBC World Service radio output is financed directly by grants from the British Government in pursuit of its Foreign Policy aims and objectives. Yet the service remains editorially independent according to the BBC Charter. ]