Great Scorria Broadcasting Corporation
The Great Scorria Broadcasting Corporation was a Scorrian government body founded in October 1964 that overlooked the radio stations of the country and, from 1974, television. Created following a government act in 1963 that promoted the union of all radio stations, it was proved to be inefficient and was split up into two enterprises: Television Great Scorria and Radio Great Scorria in 1980.
History[edit | edit source]
Radio arrived fairly late in the day to Great Scorria, although experiments have been carried out since 1941 as part of a truce between the independent region and the remaining Michillian, Nashlandian and Reitannan possessions.
The independent region switched on its formal radio service in March 1948 - under a special government service known as Radio National. Two years later, a second service called Radio Center began operating. Unlike Radio National, it was a commercial service, yet it was controlled by the government.
In 1957, the government-run Radio National initiated the Second Program, and later Radio Center was split into Great Scorrian Radio and Radio Four. In 1962, GSR was renamed National Commercial Network (NCN).
The management of the radio services was very unequal. Since all radio stations were owned by or had links to the government, the only logical thing to do was to create a larger broadcasting corporation in the vein of the NBS and the NNB. A law was passed in September 1963, twelve months later, the GSBC was founded, maintaining the names of the radio networks.
The GSBC started television operations in 1974.
In January 1979, the government announced that it was going to discontinue the GSBC and separate it in two business units, Radio Great Scorria and Television Great Scorria.
On February 29, 1980, the GSBC made its final broadcast, as by law the former entity had to shut down before midnight. The final broadcast of GSBC Television ended at 23:30 that night, after the final news bulletin (read live by Ernest Gilmore, who was sacked but returned to TVGS in October) was followed by an epilogue. Executives treated the epilogue, the last as GSBC Television, as if it were the last ever to be broadcast by television, because the general atmosphere during the final months of the GSBC was rather grim, as most of its staff would believe that the new corporations would disrespect the GSBC's principles. The epilogue was followed, as usual, by the former national anthem and in a final twist planned for days, a colored recreation of the ending scene of On the Beach, featuring shots of empty Great Scorrian streets, and in the change of music, the Salvation Army banner (styled "there is still time left, brother") over the GSBC Radio House. As the music stopped, the GSBC building shots were followed by a signal saying "FAREWELL GSBC, FAREWELL CIVILIZATION". Many people who saw the shutdown thought that it was also the end of civilization - people sent letters to the press and the successor broadcasters in the days that followed.
Only a small number of former GSBC staff joined RGS and TVGS. Out of a combined staff of 216 in Kimberly, only 20 applied.
Aftermath[edit | edit source]
Potential reformation[edit | edit source]
A 2019 white paper suggested that the GSBC would be reformed, by the merger of RGS and TVGS (as well as GSITV). The pandemic likely prevented it from happening, however the separate radio and television entities were suffering.
After a public consultation in March 2022, a potential reformed GSBC will be operational by July 2023. The name GSBC hasn't been defined. Already, there is criticism of the new entity.
