BBC Broadcasts Worldwide from Spokane
A team from BBC News will broadcast their program Newsday live from Spokane on Thursday, July 10 from 7-10 p.m. Spokane Public Radio will carry the broadcast live on KSFC 91.1 FM.
The broadcast features a series of stories about one of Spokane's newest immigrant families on their journey from a Rwandan refugee camp to their new life in America. Newsday co-anchor Alan Kasujja, a journalist from Uganda, met the family in the camp where they lived with no electricity or water.
"Relocating to the heart of the west is quite an incredible journey," said producer and journalist Ben Allen. "We thought it would be fantastic to zoom on one family and follow that journey. We started at a camp in rural Rwanda, set on a beautiful hill but really poor, appalling conditions."
The broadcast will include interviews with some of those involved with helping the family settle in the Inland Northwest, including Mark Kadel, the director of World Relief Spokane. Kadel says the agency helps more than 600 immigrants arrive in Spokane every year. The Garland Alliance Church also has featured heavily in the resettling process, with members tutoring the family members in English, and assisting in the errands that are commonplace to Americans.
The BBC had an opportunity to capture additional tutoring provided by Gonzaga University. The family members are part of the school’sLanguage Camp with other individuals of various ages and nationalities.
Kasujja, who became a Ugandan household name hosting that country's version of the game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," has spent the past several days in Spokane preparing these reports. He co-anchors the entire three-hour program remotely while being connected via satellite and internet to the rest of the show's producers in London.
The program can be heard on July 10 between 7-10 p.m. Pacific Time on KSFC 91.9 in Spokane, 92.1 FM in portions of Northern Idaho, and 88.9 FM near Omak. Online, KSFC can be streamed online.
The show will also stream online live at the BBC World Service's site. Due to the program's World Cup coverage, which is rights-restricted, the entire program might not be available on demand afterwards.