Preserving radio archives

The report Auditor's Biting Report On Voice Of The Mediterranean (July 6) brought to mind that radio station's rich and varied archival materials.

Recorded over a span of nearly two decades from the late 1980s to 2003, these should be preserved, catalogued and made publicly accessible, preferably at the National Archives in Rabat.

Given the dearth of accessible audiovisual footage in television and radio, starting with the current state of affairs at PBS, care should be taken not to lose the Voice of the Mediterranean's recorded broadcasts.

As one of its regular contributors and interviewers for many years, together with several other qualified and committed contributors who rendered valuable public service, I would recall major international events such as the Bush-Gorbachev "end of the Cold War" encounter in 1989, or the later "peaceful settlement of disputes" conference, both of which I happen to have covered myself, in addition to scores of chat shows with writers, artists, performers and opinion leaders.

One series I personally cherish concerns the interviews with emigrants attending our January 2001 convention at the Emigrants Commission, conducted in various languages, the more so as some of those elderly interviewees, such as for example Frank Asphar in New York and Ivan Magri-Overend in London, have since passed away. These offer unique insights of Maltese diaspora experiences from Africa to America to Australia, and Europe too, in the 20th century.

Once these recordings are traced and identified, which should not be too difficult, Friends of the Archives or some such organisation should be commissioned to sort them out and have them catalogued, using any professional consultancy that may be required, before the tapes come to any harm.

As I had noted in the inaugural lecture on our national archives at Santo Spirito some years ago, there is no future without a past.

This bears repeating because, for various reasons, those entrusted by politicians or other authorities to scrutinise and to decide may not always appreciate or indeed wish to encourage instructive, creative and necessary initiatives in this important field of communications.

That is, if a collective memory is to survive, and a nation with it.