Tuesday, February 1, 2011

AWIL Listener Letters of Support

The campaign is still going with some interesting developments in the planning.

In the meantime please read below letters from one of A World in Londons regular listeners Stephen Ashmore - published with kind permission!
Letter One to David Robey:
Dear Mr Robey, I am writing to you about your decision to axe 'A World in London' in favour of yet another phone in program. I & my partner are both disabled and virtually house-bound. We are both avid listeners of 'A.W.I.L', it helps us to keep in touch with what is happening within the diverse ethnic cultures in and around London. Over the last few years this program has in our opinion gone from strength to strength. The high calibre of guests has kept us informed and entertained.

We implore you to revise & reverse your decision to axe what we believe  is a flag ship program for your radio station. There is nowhere else for us to go to listen to culturally diverse music that is specific to the diverse ethnic communities in and around London. In our opinion DJ Ritu has taken up the baton of the late (& great) Charlie Gillett & taken this program to new heights. 

We are not from an ethnic background, however many of our friends are & this program opens up it's listeners to all the many & varied communities in & around London & helps us to understand their culture & music. In our humble opinion it fosters understanding & inclusion whatever your cultural & ethnic background. The music DJ Ritu plays & the guests have helped to expand our limited horizons.

       I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this email, we do hope you will reverse your decision, this program is a lifeline into the 'world' around us in which, because of our disabilities we cannot physically join in. It will be a sad day for Londoners if the plug is pulled on DJ Ritu's excellent program........
Yours Sincerely
             Stephen J Ashmore 
 


Letter Two to Roger Bolton:
Dear Mr Bolton, I am so glad to see the return of your excellent program. I have no one else to turn to. Radio London boss Mr David Robey has completely ruined my life by removing A World in London & DJ Ritu from the Radio London's schedule & replacing it with a "youf" orientated phone-in program presented??? by an Asian married couple who were the STARS????!!???? of a reality??Whose?? TV show. We managed to listen to seven minutes of the first program till we had to turn off the radio & go & stick pins in our eyes to lesson the pain & trauma.

         I have written to Mr David Robey twice & received one reply. They are below, the contents of which will be self-explanatory. I implore you to take up this cause on my partner's & my behalf. We both have MS and Mr Robey's decision to axe DJ Ritu's wonderful cross-cultural music program, has had a detrimental effect on our health (boo hiss!!!!) We now feel unconnected to the world music scene in London (double boo hiss). I also feel that in the light of The Human Planet, The Music Planet & the Olympics in 2012  that Mr Robey has shot BBC Radio London in the foot.

I thank you in advance for reading my complaint & I look forward to your hopefully positive response. Thank you also for an excellent program, keep up the good work you do for us listeners of Radio 4. You & your program are a credit to the BBC...         
Yours sincerely,
Stephen J Ashmore