RSGB Centenary - a PR Opportunity Lost?

Sitting next to my radio this afternoon, I casually glanced at the latest edition of RadCom across the table.  It reminds me in the corner, on the cover, that 2013 has been the centenary year for the RSGB.

Last week, I was delighted to see a really positive spin put on the hobby by the enthusiastic members of the Chorley and District Amateur Radio Society in aid of a nicely-presented BBC news item.

It is a great pity to say that the Chorley lot seem to have gained massively more publicity in a few hours than the RSGB has managed all year.

Sticking 'RSGB centenary' into Google search (17/11/13) brought up the following depressing message:

Your search - rsgb centenary - did not match any news results. 

That really takes some doing in today's news-skimming electronic world.  For sure, I've not seen any ham-related items in the newspapers I read or the radio stations I listen to.  The only result I found in the entire labyrinth of the internet was under "RSGB 100 years", which came up with a solitary item reported in the Redditch Advertiser, a free rag with a circulation of 39,000 according to industry sources.

This is a very clear reminder to the RSGB Central Apparatchik that patting insiders on the back and getting mates of insiders to pat you on the back is not a successful way to bring radio to the masses.

I have no doubt at all that the general public have a latent interest in radio, provided it is presented to them in the right way.  The success of popular science programmes proves that.  Bringing in the Queen's representative in full military regalia is not really what we want to see, and it clearly hasn't been of any interest to the mass media, if Google's results are anything to go by.

So, once more, the RSGB has wasted an entire year by patently failing to launch a successful and highly-visible media campaign.  As a result, it has wasted a good opportunity to attract new interest and new members.  Gold-plated Morse keys and name badges do not - read again - do not attract anyone into the hobby.

Morse alienated potential new members for decades.  In its centenary year, the RSGB promoted itself with, amongst other things, a gold-plated, erm, Morse key (the owner of the key is not related in any way to this article.)

In addition, it continues to try and cover the damaging cracks caused to the society by endlessly presenting the National Radio Centre as a wise use of its members' money.  It wasn't, isn't, and never will be.

One day, the Board Members might just get the message that they are not doing their job properly.  Too much time has been spent trying to persuade the muppets that pay the annual sub that the bad old days have long gone.  They haven't.  For 2013, the all-new Board has miserably failed to present the hobby to the public that have yet to discover amateur radio.  That, my radio friends, is a tragedy when you remind yourself, once more, that the age profile increases in step with each passing year.