Today is the 29th of April, 2011. It’s the last programme of Ukrainian BBC service. The first one was broadcast on the 1st of June, 1992.
London calling! The Ukrainian BBC Service.
The Ukrainian BBC service is on air. It is 7pm in London, and 9pm in Kiev. The next half-hour you’ll be listening about world events, information from Ukraine, business and cultural news and many others. You’re with the BBC Ukrainian Service.
We send you greetings from London. This is the first radio programme from BBC Ukrainian. We are on the frequencies 9585 and 11760. We hope you’ll listen to us on middle wave and FM. It’s raining today in London. Nothing special. And the special thing is that it’s the first Ukrainian broadcasting from the headquarters of BBC World Service. The people, who make these programmes, will do it honest-minded and interesting. And now is our first programme. You’ll learn the following: The Prime Minister of Great Britain John Major was interviewed by our Ukrainian service. We also interviewed the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchyk “The relationships with Britain are very important for Ukraine…” And that’s not all. Today the priest Father Lunev will tell us about Ukrainian programme.
It’s good that we’re not on television. And you didn’t see all of us, members of BBC, who had been working for BBC for a long time, laughing at our voices that were so funny then…
Frankly speaking, the opening of the BBC Ukrainian Service was a difficult and serious task. The first head of Ukrainian editorial staff was Elizabeth Robson. I asked her: Was it easy to persuade the direction of BBC to open the programme in Ukrainian language? At the time everybody thought that people, who live in Ukraine, speak Russian, understand Russian. The Russian BBC service had been on-air for 10 years already. It was one of the biggest sections of the BBC World Service. It was very difficult to persuade management to create Ukrainian BBC Service.
“Everything was opening up because of Gorbachev’s politics of Glasnost. Ukraine was trying to become an independent country. The state sovereignty was proclaimed. And they were the additional arguments to start broadcasting in the Ukrainian language. Before that the logic was as follows: All these countries are the parts of USSR, the state language is Russian and everybody knows it. So let us leave the other languages for Americans – radio “Freedom”, the radio “Europe”. Besides, it’s very expensive to open additional services. And the BBC didn’t want to spend money. In 1990, Douglas Hart, the Foreign Secretary, visited the headquarters of BBC World Service. I told him about the importance of establishing the Ukrainian service. He didn’t give me an answer. Probably he had the traditional point of view “if there is a Russian service, who needs a Ukrainian one.” After the Soviet Union collapsed, particularly, but even before that, when the republics began to declare independence, it was obvious that the old Empire had been ruined forever. The BBC had to expand the number of languages by creating new services. It’s clear why Ukraine, being one of the biggest countries of the Soviet Union, got priority. The money was found. And by the time the Soviet Union collapsed (in December 1991) we were preparing to broadcast programmes in Ukrainian. We started to hire the workers.
At that time the British government had doubts whether they should open a Ukrainian service. And what about Ukraine? You visited Ukraine several times then. What was reaction there?
“The contrast couldn’t be greater. It was an extraordinary experience. Ukraine was on the wave of national enthusiasm at that time. They realised that Ukraine was becoming an independent and self-reliant country. New opportunities were opening for mass media. And many things were new for us. It was for the first time, when we hired people from Ukraine, we could make contracts with radio services, whether they were state or commercial. The ministry of communication helped us with transmitters. And that was really great. We felt as if we create something new, something important for the people.”
Elizabeth Robson was the first head of Ukrainian BBC Service. Later, Oleksij Sologubeko took control of the service. He was one of the first journalists to work – and still does – for the BBC Ukrainian Service in London’s Bush House. Before he came to Britain he worked at radio “Kyiv” and “Inshomova”. He graduated from a British university. So this position was no coincidence for him. Together with Elizabeth Robson he visited 10 Downing Street, the residence of British Prime Minister. They interviewed John Major. I asked Oleksij Sologubenko to share his memories.
“It had a symbolical meaning as it was the first programme in Ukrainian. The Ukrainian language was spoken in Bush house for the first time! Our first programme included two interviews: with John Major, who was the Prime Minister at that time and with Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine. So, two leaders sent greetings to Ukrainian-speaking audience, the audience of a new BBC Ukrainian Service. The programme lasted one hour. And I promised the audience, that our programmes would be honest. I think they’ve been honest over the last 19 years.”
In your opinion, are 19 years enough to take a strong position on the market? Is it fair that you won’t be broadcasting anymore? Does everything depend on time, modern equipment or is it just a matter of financing?
“Of course it depends on financing. Many other language services are being cut. And unfortunately the Ukrainian service is no exception. Speaking about Ukrainian broadcasting in general, we’ll use new means of mass media. I think Ukraine will soon start using broadband and high-speed Internet. Because of many reasons, Ukraine was not among the leading countries if compared with Turkey, Russia or the countries of Western Europe, where the influence of broadband Internet is strong. It is a matter of time, I hope everything will change. And Internet users will have an opportunity to get our information as cheaply as possible. Speaking about the reputation on the market, I should say, that one could work for years to build up a reputation, but destroy it in just one minute. Working with other radio stations, our partners, we had built a strong reputation. We had many partners. Now our partner is “Era”. I’m happy to have such a partner. And of course hundreds of thousands, millions of our listeners make our reputation. I hope it wasn’t stained.”
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Oleksij Sologubenko mentioned hundreds of thousands of listeners. Some of them took up our invitation to share their impressions and emotions today, in this final BBC Ukrainian Service transmission. I’ll read some comments:
“I like your station and I’m sorry for you. I’ll miss you. You’re the best. Mikola from Lutzk.”
“Thank you for your work. It was the best journalist’s manual for me. Sergij from Donezk.”
“The day is rich on events. I wish you luck. Serzh.” Thank you very much. We wish you luck too.
“Dear BBC members, I love you so much. I can’t imagine my life without your programmes. This is beep beep…Mikola.” His emotions are too expressive!
“All countries broadcast the BBC. Let everybody see the truth! Be, please, with me, my BBC!” Not signed. Nice verse!
“BBC Ukrainian, you’re the best in our media, because your journalists are the best! Thank you. Lutzk loves you. A student”
And here is an interesting comment from Vechaslav, Kyiv: “BBC was a pig, that tried to find dirt everywhere and it squealed. But Russophobes failed to turn the people of Ukraine into zombies!” Yes, Vechaslav, we didn’t work hard at this problem. We’ll try to do it via the Internet.
“We respect you, love you, miss you. We hope you’ll come back. I have the Internet, but I can’t take my computer everywhere with me like a radio.”- Volodimir writes.
Oleg, 23, from Kyiv writes: “Wonderful BBC radio, I listen to you every morning during breakfast. My Dad has been listening to you since the times you were jammed. I feel sorry you won’t be on air anymore. As if I say good bye to my good friend, whom I’ll miss. I wish you good luck. You were the best. Truly yours, Oleg from Kyiv…and my Dad” Thank you, Oleg, and your Dad.
I’m remembering our first service heads, Elizabeth Robson and Oleksij Sologubenko, and about their first interview with John Major, who was the Prime Minister then. I’m thinking about the low-quality interview with Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine. You heard part of his speech earlier. It was of low quality as if it was recorded over the phone. In fact, he was interviewed by Mikola Veresen, one of the first staff correspondents. He worked in Ukraine and was one of the most famous Ukrainian journalists of that time. Mikola interviewed the president not over the phone, but directly in person. Mikola Veresen is on the line now. Good evening, Mikola.
“Good evening, Fidel.”
So, tell us about your first interview with Leonid Kravchuk. Tell us about your memories of working for the BBC. You were a Ukrainian star and then turned to an international star!
“I don’t remember everything. It was long time ago. I interviewed Leonid Kravchuk several times. And I don’t remember every interview. Speaking about the status of a star, I should say I didn’t feel it. There were no stars in Ukraine at that time. I worked for 10 years. And now I won’t work, because there won’t be a Ukrainian service. It’s unpleasant. Frankly speaking, I’ll miss you. It’s not just because I took part in it. It’s better for any country to have the BBC, rather than not having it. There was a time when the BBC meant democracy. Everything has changed now. As far as I’ve understood, the lack of financing is the reason of closing. I’ll miss you. BBC sets an international standard of journalism. So, this is bad news. It was unpleasant news for me. On the one hand I’m happy to speak to you now, on the other hand I’m so sorry that we won’t be able to speak to you on air again.”
Mikola, thank you very much. The situation is very unpleasant for us too. We won’t be on air but some of our colleagues will work on the multimedia site bbcukrainian.com. It offers you not just usual articles and reports; it also offers news, galleries, video material and forums where you can discuss different events and express your thoughts. It’s an active multimedia site – bbcukrainian.com. One of our listeners is on the line now. Good evening. This is our last broadcast. Introduce yourself and talk to us.
“Good evening.”
Good evening.
“I’m Robert from Kiev. Thank you for giving the opportunity to share my opinion. I’m happy to speak after Mikola Veresen. I respect him. And, by the way, nobody speaks about this: Nobody should compare opera and ballet, music and painting. Internet is Internet, radio is radio. It’s a real spiritual communication. Every correspondent has their own charm. It’s a spiritual unity. Ukraine is in a difficult situation now. In my opinion, we, Ukrainians, need encouragement like the BBC has provided us. I’m 52. I remember, when I was a little boy, I was falling asleep, listening to the buzz of a radio set. My grandfather listened to the Polish BBC Service. And when I heard the buzz of the radio set I imagined as if correspondents were in the plane.”
In fact, the radio broadcasting was jammed.
“Yes, it’s true.”
Thank you, Robert. By the way, many listeners share your point of view, especially those who adjusted to BBC like my parents…
“There are different kinds of art, and no-one should compare music with painting, ballet with opera. They are different. Internet is Internet, and radio is broadcasting.” With radio, you feel the waves that surround you. Internet is a totally different thing. You can’t sit at the screen and listen to the radio…”
Absolutely. And a radio set costs less than a computer. And not every person can afford it…
“Yes, yes, These things are different. I’m an optimist. I think BBC services will return within 3 years, at least on the territory of CIS. Maybe one of them will be Ukrainian.”
Thank you very much, Robert. There is another listener on line now. He was with us for many years, being one of the most faithful listeners. His name is David Livshiz. He is from Kharkov. Good evening, David. We’re pleased to hear you.
“Good evening, sir Fidel and everyone who is in the studio now. I’ve sent you an SMS today that instead of Ukrainian BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) there will be Ukrainian BIC (British Internet Corporation)!”
(Laughing) That’s true. But, you see, that’s the matter of time…
“What Mr Cameron is doing now is worth than a criminal. It’s a mistake. The day is very sad. As if your friend is dying in your hands. Thank you for everything. And I want to say some words to you. I’m use the air for my own purpose…”
Use it, use it…!
“I want you to send greetings to your wonderful parents.”
Of course… I’ll do it. David, I think you can do it yourself. I’m sure my parents are listening to the last programme now. They hear your greetings and send you greetings too. Thank you. Svetlana Pirkova sends you greetings too. She is next to me now. And she wants to tell you something. Svetlana…
Good evening, Sir David.
“Good evening, Svetlana.”
I was very pleased to meet you during the “Book Manuscripts 2010” ceremony. I don’t know whether the ceremony will take place again or not, but your review of the novel written by Oksana Zpushko was excellent. We were happy to see you. I hope to see you again. And now I want to read a passage from an interesting poem ”Thank you, Panove” by Feodor Makovchuk. It was written in 1958, when the creation of Ukrainian BBC service was mentioned for the first time. So, here is the verse by Feodor Makovchuk: ‘We live in the world, work, study, sing nice songs, build plants and mines, Palaces of Culture; we sow the fields, are fond of sport. And we don’t think that a lack of something, that’s not a trifle; it’s important. And our life is not a life without it, success is not success. We believed that everything was good… but no! What do we have a lack of? The BBC programmes in Ukrainian! That’s the answer.’ It turned out, that we haven’t realized yet the benefit of the truth. I can compare it with a fountain that splashes from the BBC English-language services. We ironically call it Baba BBC-ha (BBC Dame). How slow we are! I am thankful to our curators from the English-Ukrainian organisation. Thank you, kind gentlemen. We couldn’t imagine that far away, on the Foggy Albion, there is such an honest institution. It was 1958. I’ve just remembered a magazine “Perez” and those enemy-dogs, whose lies poisoned the whole Soviet Union. Over these 19 years we were talking on different topics and I hope you were listening to us…
…and loved us. Thank you, Svetlana Pirkova. She is one of the initiators of the contest “Book of the Year”, indispensable hostess of this contest. It became very popular and traditional. We’ll lose our programme and Svetlana Pirkova, but I hope the contest will stay.
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There are many guests in my studio now. They are not just guests. They are my friends, my colleagues. One of them is Natalka Makevchuk Skofenko. At the beginning of the programme you heard a fragment of the first programme that was broadcast on the 1st of June, 1992. The news was presented by Natalka. She is next to me now. Natalka, I should say, that I started my work at the BBC later than you. And I learnt from you, from your experience. I had no such experience. You were the hostess of the first programme and I have the honour to be the host of the last programme. I’m very glad to see you. I’m glad you’re not crying, because I’m about to cry. Say something.
“Life goes on. You shouldn’t cry, although I understand that the day is sad. By the way, the first programme was broadcast from this studio, studio number 7. This is a lucky studio. The day is sad for us, but today is the wedding of the British royal family. Millions of people are gathered to watch it…”
Instead of listening the last programme of Ukrainian BBC service?!
“Ukrainian BBC service told you the speciality of the wedding. A wedding is a symbol of hope and future. And, by the way, the Queen wore yellow-blue clothes today. It’s symbolical! Perhaps she knew that Ukrainian BBC service is about to be closed…”
And who will tell us about divorce?
“So, life goes on. Everybody listened to BBC, and now they’ll watch it on the Internet. Life goes on!”
Thank you, Natalka.
One of my colleagues (though we are not working together now) is next to me now. Her name is Olga Bitko. She was the hostess of the BBC Ukrainian service. We were the hosts of the same programmes. Olya visited Brazil; she was in the Amazon; she made many interesting reports from Nigeria. She makes many interesting reports for the English-language radio services now. Several days ago she made a project on Chernobyl. She interviewed people who live there. Olya, tell us about this project.
“Well, that was a so-called overwhelming experience for me; a kind of thing that changes your views. I spoke to old people, who are in their late 80s. I thought I would see a picture of scare and depression…Nothing of that kind! We visited one old woman. Her name is Maria. She is 88. She lives in one village, Ladizhichi, all alone. We brought her some peppers. She looked at the peppers and asked: ‘Can I plant the pepper?’ I said: ‘The pepper is from the supermarket, it won’t grow.’ And she said: ‘You know, daughter,’ – everybody called me daughter there – ‘the spring will come and I’ll plant it.’ Then she showed me a marvellous linen bag; she embroiders it in a traditional Ukrainian pattern. And then she said: ‘I’m glad to speak to you , but it’s high time to make a fire in my oven.’ So, she has plans for the future. There is no depression there…”
Unlike here, in our studio. Some of us are depressed. One of our listeners is on the line now. He is not just a listener. This person worked in London at the beginning of 1990s, when the BBC first started broadcasting in Ukrainian. He is a former ambassador of Ukraine to Britain. His name is Sergij Komesarenko. He is our listener and friend. Good evening, Mr Ambassador. You’re on air with the BBC.
“Good evening. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I’m speaking to you now, on the other hand it’s very sad that this programme is the last one. I am working in the National Academy of Sciences now; and many of my colleagues have signed an appeal to the Prime Minister. We asked him not to close the Ukrainian service. Unfortunately, it still happened. I was very glad to hear the voices of Elizabeth Robson, Skofenko, Sologubenko. They are people I’d been working since 1992 until 1998. They often visited us. And I visited Bush house.”
Thank you very much. The title Ambassador keeps forever. Sergij Komesarenko works at the National Academy of Sciences now. He was a participant of our programme. A listener from Donezk is on line now. Good evening. You’re on line with BBC.
“Hello. My name is Ganna. I’ve just heard the information about your closing. I’m very sorry that you won’t broadcast anymore. The Internet is not accessible for me. I haven’t got a computer. I’m so sorry you’re leaving.”
We’re sorry too. Thank you for the warm words. It was a difficult decision both for the BBC managers, and for the members of British Parliament. In fact, everything depends on money. And…
“Yes, I understand. It is sad there won’t be nice writers and famous politicians on air anymore. I’ll miss my favourite programmes in Ukrainian. I wish you luck.”
We wish you luck too. Thank you for the worm words. Best regards. We hope you’ll find an appropriate Ukrainian radio station, if you don’t buy a computer. I’m sure you find something interesting, not as interesting as the BBC of course!
I’d like my colleagues to say a few words. One of them is Irina Taranyk. Together we started the programme ‘Novini shogodini’ (News every hour). It was one of the most difficult programmes. We tried to tell the news every hour, sometimes every half an hour. The news lasted 5 minutes. We didn’t repeat the same information; we tried to tell something new. Irina?
“We started many programmes together. We had a lot of night shifts. We were tired but tried to work with inspiration. Do you remember the phrase ‘to cut a tail’? It means to make news shorter if it was too long. Radio is a very intimate medium. I think we’ll miss communication with our audience. We don’t talk to a microphone; we talk to a real person in a lively voice. I’ve been working for the Internet site half a year already. And I don’t feel the energy I felt while working at the radio station. This day is sad. Our listeners are able to find the truth from other sources now. I think 19 years were enough for our listeners to learn how to make the distinction, listening to the information from the national channels, private and commercial radio stations. Our listeners have a skill to interpret the information. They won’t hear Svetlana Pirkova’s jokes anymore. Fidel Pavlenko is so sad. I hope our listeners won’t hear us crying on air. It’s bereavement for us. I wish you luck. Thank you for being with us.”
Thank you, Irina. And I want to talk about my private business now. I think I can allow it to myself today. Katerina Henkulova is next to me now. She left Ukrainian BBC service one year ago. She came to us today. Katya, I’m preparing to live without BBC. Is this transformation painful or not?
“There is no painless transformation. It’s always difficult to leave such an organisation. I want to look into the future. I’m trying to be an optimist as is Natalka. One of the main things, the BBC Ukrainian service has done, is collaboration with Ukrainian radio stations. They are our partners. One of them is ‘Era FM’. We’ve done a lot of mutual programmes and projects. For example, ‘Koleso Pitan’ (the Wheel of Questions), ‘Era Zhinki’ (Woman’s Hour). Everything we’ve done is not only our merit; we’ve done it with the help of our partners.”
Thank, you, Katerina Henkulova.
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Another listener is on the line now. Good evening. You’re on the final programme of Ukrainian BBC service. Introduce yourself, please.
“I’m Vitalij from Kiev.”
Greetings from London.
“I wish you creative success for your special, intelligent, analytical, creative work. Thank you for this opportunity to share my opinions on BBC radio, beginning with Askold Radzinski, who agreed with me: ‘Vitalij, Ukraine needs Scientific Zoology.’ I wish you luck…”
(Laughing) And you didn’t pay for it. You were on air several times and we didn’t take money from you. Is that true?!
“It is! Thank you, very much. I wish you luck…”
Thank you very much, Vitalij. We wish you luck.
And now I’d like to read some messages from you:
“Thank you for your programme, thank you for being with us. We wish you luck. I hope you’ll come back. Tetyana from Zaporozhe”
“BBC is being closed. The school in Gvozdivki is closed. It’s very sad.”
“Vasil from Fastiv, Kiev region. I liked to listen to you. I’ll communicate with you via the Internet.” He is an optimist. We have one user already! Vasil, open our site as many times as possible. Look through the news. It will give us a lot of ‘clicks’ and we’ll be popular! So the site won’t be closed! We’ll rely on Vasil!
Speaking about the Internet, the last head of Ukrainian BBC service, Machek Bernard Reschinsky, told us about his future plans:
“When the cheerfulness fades up, we’ll work more quickly, cheaper and better. That’s my dream. I think everything will be good. Our service won’t disappear, our service lives on, it will continue its work. Unfortunately, we’ve had to make some people redundant. I’ve said goodbye to many people during these 20 years. And it won’t last the whole life. I know we’ll have contacts. I think everything will be in a different way, everything will be good. There will be a site – bbcukrainian.com. We had been working with radio, while the site was an additional content to our work. We’ll be without radio now. Our friends are working on the site. Our audience will find us there. They can find our interviews and analyses there. By saying “our” I mean the BBC. It will be something different. Radio is communicating with audience. It is warm and intimate. We’ll try to do our best to keep this atmosphere. We wanted to show our country in a global context. And now we’re planning to show the world, world events for Ukraine’s benefit. If we speak about events in Libya or some other events there will be a part of Ukraine there, because Ukrainians are everywhere all over the word. One of the main things is not to be framed only by Ukrainian events. We have access to the wide BBC World Service, to their treasures: video, scripts. And our task is to share these treasures with Ukraine. It’s wonderful. It means that we’re not competitors. Nobody else has access to these treasures.”
The head of BBC Ukrainian speaking about future plans for the service. He told us about the advantages of the Internet, about multimedia and more.
There is a listener on the line now. He is our true listener, our former colleague. He’ll tell us if there is life after the BBC. He is one of the famous Ukrainian television anchormen, Andrij Kylikov. Andrij, you’re live on-air.
“In my opinion, there is life before the BBC, during the BBC and after the BBC. BBC Ukrainian is a unique example of quality. It had success on the market, when it was supposed to have failure. In 1992, when we started our work, we wanted to know who would listen to it, because not everybody in Ukraine knows the Ukrainian language. But the service was of a really high quality. Soon the transmitters appeared. BBC was an example of skilled journalism in the Southern and Western parts of the country. It showed the principals of real journalism. I think its importance will be saved. We remember your voices, your programmes. I think your website will have significance too. I should say that even in a very sad situation there is always a way out; a way with good prospects. It’s a pity that many interesting programmes won’t be broadcast any more.”
As Saint Exupery said, ‘it means somebody needs it’. Thank you very much. I don’t want to finish on a sad note. Andrij said about the product of a high quality that the BBC Ukrainian service offered to you. I can’t say the same about the phone communication with Symmi, the city, where Oleg Kylikov is now. Sorry for this. Now I must ask our editor, Rostislav Hotin, to speak. I learnt many things connected with journalism through him. He interviewed many outstanding Ukrainian and world-famous politicians. But he was behind the scenes. He planned and prepared the programmes. And we were just the stars of the air.
“I want to say thanks to our partners, our Ukrainian radio stations, our key partner radio ‘Era FM’. We were together for many years. We have the biggest network of Ukrainian correspondents in the world. I’d like to send greetings to our correspondents: from Sofia to Tallinn, from Washington to Berlin; Johannesburg, from Beijing to Riga and Rome. We were together for years. I’m thankful to them. I should say the BBC service from Kyiv made a great contribution to our service. I’ll miss you; and I hope we don’t say you “farewell”, we say you “see you later”.
Thank you, Rostislav Hotin, the editor of BBC Ukrainian service. He mentioned our team from Kyiv. They are gathered in the BBC studio in Kyiv now. My colleague from London is next to me now. And there, in Kyiv, is another skilful editor, Svetlana Dorosh. She is Evgenij Klichko’s colleague. She is one of the youngest hostesses, who have been presenting the morning programmes to you for the last 2 years. She is very energetic and optimistic. She is in London now. We’ll ask our colleague from Kyiv to speak. Svetlana.
“At last… I thought you wouldn’t give me to speak!”
Did you really thing I would allow you to speak a lot during our last programme?!
“I thought you wouldn’t give us the microphone! I’m not alone here. My colleagues from Kyiv are next to me now. We were waiting for this moment; we were discussing, that we would have strange feelings on Monday. We won’t prepare radio programmes. We don’t know these feelings yet. And I think, even those people, who haven’t been working with us many years, will feel the same. They won’t make the programmes. I want to say about our partners too. You’ve already mentioned ‘Era FM’. Many other Ukrainian radio stations supported us too. They are: ‘Lvivska Hvilya’ (Lviv Wave), ‘Zahidnij Polus’ (Western Pole) from Frankivsk, ‘Glas Odessi’ (Odessa’s Voice), ‘Vasha Hvilya’ (Your Wave) from Poltava, ‘Assol’ from Simferopol and ‘Zhitomirska Hvilya’ (Zhitomir’s Wave).”
And what about ‘Velikij Lyg’ (Great Meadow) from Zaporozhe? And what about my friend Yakiv Brinza? I’m sure he is listening to us now. I’m thankful to him. I travelled to Zaporozhe on business several times. He helped me a lot like many other retransmitters.
“I should say we have many partners. The stations appeared and disappeared. It depends on time and politics. I mentioned those, which were for years with us… till the last minute… till today. I think we shouldn’t be sad. New things replace old things. Maybe after the closing of our service, there will be time, when informational intellectual speech will replace foreign broadcasters…”
We’re entertainment radio…
“We are entertainment intellectual radio. And we’ll find investors, who understand that it’s worth financing. And we want to say, “We stay with you!!!” (Chink of champagne glasses)
Have you got champagne?!
“Do you want the truth?”
Let me have the truth…
“Yes, we have champagne!”
Our royal correspondent Natalka Mokevchuk Skofenko says: ‘Say that we’re drinking “Prince William champagne” – what about your champagne? Is it ‘Sovetskoe’ (Soviet)?
“No!”
Ah-hah, you’re rich!
In fact, there is so little time left. I’d like to read your messages, but for the past 16 years I’ve never seen so many messages… more than 150… and they still coming… from the whole of Ukraine!
(Sighs) Well, everything will be good. There are 15 of us in the studio. I’d like to introduce everybody but we’re out of time. BBC Ukrainian service has been with you over these 19 years. We’ll be with you on the Internet – bbcukrainian.com. But we won’t be on-air anymore.
Good night.
