The National Broadcasting Network (NBN) officially closed its operations on Friday, January 14. The hard-nosed HR consultant may say that this is the harsh reality of economic unprofitability, but most of the citizens say otherwise – they mourn the loss of a national icon.

NBN was the first experiment in local broadcasting coming on the heels of independence in 1962. It was very successful for many years until it began to face serious competition from other media networks together with allegations of poor administration and outdated equipment.

Many people interviewed about NBN's closure, including persons who worked at NBN producing different programmes, felt we were losing a national icon.

Some might say this is pure nostalgia which is condemned in the Bible as not life-giving, the classic example being Lot 's wife who was warned not to look back and was turned into a pillar of salt when she did (Gen 19:26 ).

The same teaching appears in the New Testament when the angels rebuke the disciples for being overly nostalgic: “ They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing beside them and they said: ‘Why are you Galileans standing here looking into the sky?' ” (Acts 1: 10-11)

NBN's closure, however, is more than nostalgia. As some have said despite its shortcomings, it was “We TV” or “We ting”. Under the impact of globalisation national boundaries have lost much of their sovereign status and consequently much of their identities. This is particularly so for us in the Caribbean where identity had to be formed as part of the post-independence political mission.

DECENT NATIONAL DEBATE

This identity for young Caribbean nations is still being formed only to be assailed by the forces of globalisation, which encourage us to exchange our emerging identity for a North-American one. It is here that NBN could have made a more decisive impact.

This requires not just sponsors but sponsors with a sense of nationalism; sponsors not only willing to defend their own economic turf, but willing to preserve our cultural heritage.

As if to foreshadow NBN's demise, the nation witnessed around the same time the passing of cultural icons Lord Blakie and Frankie Fancis; at present the legendary pan tuner Bertie Marshall is seriously ill. A national radio station with proper sponsorship could keep the memories of these legends alive and so preserve our cultural heritage.

We urgently need this so that young newscasters would no more add insult to injury, referring to Lord Blakie as Lord “Blackie” on more than one occasion. A state-sponsored broadcasting network must also encourage decent national debate of the kind we used to see on Issues Live under Tony Fraser and not the decadent gladiatorial exchange we hear on radio which edifies no one, least of all young people.

We hope that this is not the last chapter in the NBN saga. We hope that the network can resume functioning at a later date with the specific intention of presenting the news without fear of favour, shaping national consciousness and preserving our rich local culture.

Since no other network has a wide outreach to the poor in remote areas as NBN had, we look forward to a new, more efficient NBN whose outreach to the remote rural areas will remind us that we must keep our rural citizens centre-stage in this age of global communication.