Archives Training for Kyrgyzstan National Broadcast Corporation
25-10-2004 (Paris)
Kyrgyz Radio is proud to hold tape recordings in its "Gold Fund", dating back 50 years
© AIBD
Managers and staff of the archives and technical departments of the National Broadcast Corporation of the Kyrgyz Republic (SNBC) were earlier this month trained in modern methods and technologies of sound archiving in order to support SNBC in its move to preserve its sound archive also for the next 50 years.
The workshop, that was held from 27 September to 1 October 2004 in Bishkek, was organized by the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) under the project “Improving Radio Programme Production through the Digitalization of Radio Archives”, which is funded by UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).
The seminar presented state of the art methods to convert tape recordings to digital formats, so that they will be available to the radio producers and the public also in decades to come.
The SNBC holds more than 10 000 hours of sound recordings in its archives, with unique examples of the Kyrgyz oral and musical heritage. Out of these 175 hours of the most important recordings, dating back till the 1950's, are kept under special protection and are referred to as the "Gold Fund".
However, all of the recordings are stored on analogue magnetic tapes and are therefore highly endangered. Not only that magnetic tapes are fragile recording media, which tend to disintegrate over the years, also the rapid development of technology, which has made analogue tape recorders almost obsolete, will leave the radio station without suitable players in a not too far future.
AIBD's consultant, Karl Lippe, pointed out that not only the sound recordings but also the archive's cataloging system have to be modernized. "The catalogue and the sound recordings are equally important and one is useless without the other", he stressed. During the workshop he outlined the technologies and systems, which are available today for the modern and safe storage of the catalogue data as well as of digital audio recordings.
In his closing remarks SNBC Vice-president Kubatbek Talypov emphasized the management's dedication to preserve and upgrade the sound archive.
The seminar presented state of the art methods to convert tape recordings to digital formats, so that they will be available to the radio producers and the public also in decades to come.
The SNBC holds more than 10 000 hours of sound recordings in its archives, with unique examples of the Kyrgyz oral and musical heritage. Out of these 175 hours of the most important recordings, dating back till the 1950's, are kept under special protection and are referred to as the "Gold Fund".
However, all of the recordings are stored on analogue magnetic tapes and are therefore highly endangered. Not only that magnetic tapes are fragile recording media, which tend to disintegrate over the years, also the rapid development of technology, which has made analogue tape recorders almost obsolete, will leave the radio station without suitable players in a not too far future.
AIBD's consultant, Karl Lippe, pointed out that not only the sound recordings but also the archive's cataloging system have to be modernized. "The catalogue and the sound recordings are equally important and one is useless without the other", he stressed. During the workshop he outlined the technologies and systems, which are available today for the modern and safe storage of the catalogue data as well as of digital audio recordings.
In his closing remarks SNBC Vice-president Kubatbek Talypov emphasized the management's dedication to preserve and upgrade the sound archive.
A group of 14 managers, archivists and technicians participated in the workshop© AIBD
Related themes/countries
· Kyrgyzstan
· Memory of the World: News archives 2004
· 2004
· Training of Media Professionals: News Archives 2004
· Public Service Broadcasting: News Archives 2004
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- UNESCO
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