The Channel | 2003 | September

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AIB Interview
Simon Spanswick
AIB Chief Executive
KS: Simon, how did the AIB come about?
SS: The AIB was formed in 1996 after a
number of international broadcasters became
concerned that there was no organisation that
specifically addressed their needs. International
broadcasting faces a different range of issues
to those of domestic radio and television and
the senior management felt that the best way
forward was to support a trade body that could
serve their particular interests, whether it was
promotional activityormarket intelligence. The
AIB started in a small way, initially focused on
international radiooperators, but in the past four
years has broadened its horizons significantly,
covering television, satellite,manufacturers and
service providers.
KS: How did you come to be involved in
broadcasting?
SS: I had been interested in broadcasting since
mychildhood–oneofmyearliest ambitionswas
tobe a televisioncontinuityannouncer (or “voice
behind the clock” as I remember describing it as
an eight-year old). Then came an interest in
international broadcasting, spurred on, bizarrely,
by a copy of MoscowNews. My parents brought
a copy of the paper from an exhibition they’d
been to and leafing through it I stumbled across
thefrequenciesforRadioMoscow.Knowingthat
the radio in the kitchen had short wave, I tried
tuning in. There was an initial thrill with
discovering I could listen to broadcasts fromafar
and I began to explore the dial, findingmore and
more interesting stations to listen to.
I decided that I wanted to have a career in
broadcasting, although my first job was in a
bank. However, I started contributing as a
freelance to the Waveguide programme on
BBC World Service. This delved into the
world of international broadcasting, dealing
with everything from sunspot numbers to
reviews of new radio receivers. Then I was
offered a job with BBC Monitoring and so I
left the world of finance for broadcasting!
KS: You were at the BBC for more than
ten years. What responsibilities did you
have at the organisation?
SS: I spent a little under two years at
Monitoring – which listens to and watches the
world’s radio and television broadcasts –
before moving to Corporate Affairs. In 1991
I joined the World Service’s small team that
was preparing for the 1992 World
Administrative Radio Conference, orWARC.
At WARC, fundamental decisions are taken
on the allocation of frequencies and the BBC’s
mission was to ensure that there was no
reduction in the short wave broadcasting
bands, and at the same time that new
frequencies were allocated for direct satellite
sound broadcasting. All member countries of
the International Telecommunication Union
squeezed their delegations into a rather too-
small conference centre outside Malaga in
southern Spain in February to thrash out
hundreds of different frequency issues. It was
my introduction first-hand to international
politics, because although it sounds as though
frequency allocation is straightforward and
technical, it’s not. Countries collaborate over
some issues to ensure other groupings’
ambitions are thwarted, and then they all
change side over a different range of
problems. The behind-the-scenes meetings in
corridors and over coffee were some of the
most interesting things to observe!
After WARC, I moved to the team of six
people working on the BBC World Service
funding document that has to be submitted to
Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office
every three years. Our group had to research
andwrite the effective business plan forWorld
Service, covering everything from
programme output planned for the three years
to prioritising target areas, from transmission
to audience research, marketing to personnel.
I managed to keep on broadcasting, too, as I’d
become the full-time presenter of Waveguide
andwe expanded the programme both in length
and the range of subjects so that it covered the
whole of the broadcast media.
KS: And after the BBC?
SS: I joinedWorld Radio Network as Director
of Corporate Affairs. WRN repackages
international radio programmes from around
the world onto 24 hour-a-day networks, and
provides transmission services to broadcasters.
I worked on raising the company’s profile both
in the UK and abroad and on bringing together
collaborative projects. We developed a
successful application to the European
Commission for funding to launch a pan-
European radio network. We also brought
together Britain’s Roke Manor Research,
Loughborough University and Roberts Radio
in a joint project to develop the world’s first
portable DAB digital radio receiver and work
on low-bit rate audio over DAB. This was part-
funded by Britain’s Department of Trade and
Industry. In 2000, I was appointed launch
director of a start-up that launched London’s
second DAB digital radio multiplex, looking
after everything from contracts with
transmission and content companies to
marketing via on air advertisements to outdoor
poster sites!
KS: What are the key differences between
commercial andpublic serive broadcasting?
SS: These two sectors have quite markedly
different characteristics. Public broadcasting
has, on the whole, remarkably good funding
that allows more time to be spent on getting
things right, and making the very best
programmes. Commercial broadcasting has
far tighter budgets, but the luxury of freedom
frommany of the restraints that public service
broadcasting has to endure.
KS: You’ve been leading the AIB full-time
for a couple of years now.Why do you think
the industry needs the AIB when there is
such a range of other trade associations?
SS: As I explained earlier, the needs of
international broadcasters and the industries
that support it are distinct from national
broadcasters. Very often budgets are different
– international broadcasters have much less
money to play with than their domestic
cousins – and so that immediately creates a
pressure. However, working together in an
organisation like the AIB allows the pooling
of resources. We provide market intelligence
to members that specifically focuses on the
issues facing international broadcasting. We
represent members – and I’m particularly
thinking of our broadcaster members here –
at events which they otherwise couldn’t afford
to attend. And we lobby on their behalf.
KS: You’ve mentioned broadcasters a lot.
What about the other categories of
membership? How do they benefit?
SS: We have members across every sector
of the industry, from giants like SES-Astra
through to small manufacturing concerns
such as You/Com. Each of these
organisations has different needs, but at the
same time they have similar needs. Every
AIB member wants to know what’s going
on across the sector and we provide that
intelligence and information. Most members
want to be able to get easy, high-level access
to other member organisations and being part
of theAIB “club” makes that straightforward.
Everyone working at the AIB recognises the
different needs of different members and
works hard to make sure that the right service
is provided to the right category.
HRH the Duke of Edinburgh visiting a BBC
event in 1994, hosted by Simon Spanswick
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