4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 13 June 2016
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
There was a ban on television in Bhutan for decades because of fears it would ruin the country's traditional way of life. But in June 1999 the tiny Himalayan kingdom finally broadcast its first TV programme. Ashley Byrne has spoken to two people who remember the day well
Photo: The capital of Bhutan,Thimpu)
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | Hello and thank you for downloading Witness from the BBC World Service with me Ashley Byrne. |
0:04.8 | Today we're going back to 1999 and the moment when the Tiny Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan |
0:10.3 | got its own television station for the first time. |
0:13.0 | The first time |
0:16.0 | That is the |
0:18.0 | television gillerim |
0:20.0 | situated between India and China just east of Nepal, but TAN measures its citizens prosperity |
0:26.6 | by how happy rather than how productive they are, and is often characterized as having a slow |
0:32.2 | laid back in traditional Buddhist way of life. |
0:36.2 | It had resisted TV for almost the whole of the 20th century, but all that changed in June 1999. |
0:43.0 | I remember we had an early supper that was a supper that day and the whole family gathered around we were anxious and at the same time |
0:54.9 | very excited to see Bhutan's television being launched. We put on the |
1:00.8 | television that television started, so the image started coming out very slowly. |
1:07.0 | And the first thing that came on was the National Anthem of Bhutan. |
1:11.0 | And I remember my whole family clapping. |
1:17.0 | The authorities in Bhutan had banned TV out of a fear it would damage their |
1:22.2 | delicate social structure and gentle way of life. |
1:25.0 | But it was finding its way into the capital Tim Poole during big international sporting moments. |
1:31.0 | Dow Penja was a school boy growing up in Bhutan in the 80s and 90s and remembers this well. |
1:38.0 | The only place that you could watch television was diplomatic establishments or some of the embassies or units of India which would have |
1:46.8 | offices here and they were allowed. |
1:48.6 | I remember going to watch the World Cup in those places. My cousin, he sneaked me in with him. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.