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18.
Mr Clarke said that although there was no formal evidence of the audience for the Service, feedback indicated it had firmly established its reputation in both North and South during the Vietnam War and had retained it since. There was considerable anecdotal evidence of listening to the Service by senior officials and others in all parts of the country.
Mr Rawlinson referred to the Post's comment that the present 15 minute dawn slot was of marginal value and should be increased to half an hour. Mr Clarke agreed that half an hour would be considerably more effective, but would have resource implications as at least one additional person would be required. Mr Rawlinson asked whether the additional material could not perhaps be found by repeats, of which there were none at present. Mr Clarke agreed this might be an option, but the ideal for a half hour dawn. transmission was news plus current affairs and a repeat current affairs slot would essentially be "yesterday's news". Mr Witherow pointed out that it was particulary difficult to recruit Vietnamese nationals. The US snapped up all the best educated ones. Mr Thomas suggested the BBC might try among those in the camps in Hong Kong. Mr Beaney mentioned the Post's request for transcripts of Vietnamese Service output. Mr Udell said this was out of the question unless the transcripts were paid for. No English translations of broadcasts in Vietnamese were made, nor was there the manpower to undertake additional tasks without payment. Mr Green said that it might be possible to help the Post out to a limited extent by providing relevant transcripts of Far Eastern Service topical talks in English (which are already passed weekly by BBC to Information Department). In answer to a question, Mr Clarke confirmed that the Far Eastern Topical Talks Unit not only provided material for the weekly 15 minute "Dateline East Asia" programme for WS in English but also provided topical talks in English for all the Far Eastern Service vernaculars to translate and use as required.
OTHER POINTS
19. Reverting to the subject of 15 minute slots, Mr Green recalled that Mr Udell had said these were often of marginal use. Might there be a case for a review of all such slots? Mr Udell replied that his comments about the value of 15 minute slots was not necessarily true in all cases. In Europe for example there was a a continued case for short, snappy dawn bulletins. There was also the problem of transmitter time. Fitting all the vernaculars in at dawn was not easy.
Mr Rawlinson noted that staff costs of the Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese Services had increased by about
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