Tag Archives: Broadcasters

Are industry bodies the secret sauce for some broadcasting markets?

(Source: RadioInfo via William Lee)

Radio Tomorrow with James Cridland

I’m writing this in London, where the doors are (as I type) just about to open for Next Radio, the radio conference that I run here with my friend Matt Deegan. It’s a positive radio conference with an uplifting feel.

Go to a radio conference in the US or Canada, and there won’t be very many smiling faces. There’s a general feeling in the US and Canada that radio is managing decline. But in other countries, radio is behaving differently.

The UK commercial industry has grown, over the past year, by 5.2%. It’s now a US $887m market.

Australian commercial radio has grown too – over the past year, metro stations growing 3.8% to a US $573m market (and there’s more from the regions, too).

Commercial radio in Finland is growing, too. Their figures are harder to decipher, but July grew by 6.6% over June; and June grew by 17% over May. The market’s comparatively small at about US $93m – but it’s doing better than the UK if you bear in mind Finland’s small population.

These aren’t the stories you hear from the US and Canada; and I’m often asked why.

It’s not an easy answer.

[…]In the UK, commercial radio has an effective industry body, Radiocentre. They promote the medium to agencies, lobby government, and sing radio’s praises. They’re really very good at it.

In Australia, commercial radio, too, has an effective industry body. It’s called Commercial Radio Australia, and they, too, promote the medium to agencies, lobby government, and sing radio’s praises. They’re tenacious and efficient.

And in Finland, their industry body is Radio Media. They lobby government, promote the medium to agencies, and market radio as well: to great effect.[…]

Click here to view the full article at RadioInfo.

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New Zealand broadcaster aims to put you to sleep

Photo by Rafal Jedrzejek

(Source: The Guardian via Larry W)

Insomniacs across the world give the nod to John Watson, who has ambient music producers queueing up to feature on his channel

John Watson is the first to admit that his DJ skills put people to sleep. Luckily for him, that is the point.

For the past four years Watson, who lives in the tiny New Zealand township of Te Aroha, has been broadcasting to the world. But instead of seeking an engaged listenership, Watson wants those who tune into his station to literally fall asleep. And they do.

People from as far away as Afghanistan, Israel, Russia, Hungary, Taiwan and Puerto Rico log on to Watson’s station Sleep Radio. Someone in Prague has been listening for three days straight.

The idea of a radio station that sends listeners to sleep came to Watson after he had a heart attack 10 years ago. Following five coronary artery bypasses he began to suffer from chronic depression and insomnia.

“I never used to have trouble going to sleep but now I was lying awake watching the sun rise and feeling like a zombie,” he said.[…]

Click here to continue reading the full article at The Guardian online.

Click here to to check out Sleep Radio’s website and listen to their streaming audio.

Listen to Sleep Radio via TuneIn Radio by clicking here or via the embedded player below:

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Radio Caroline: AM service to open on Friday, December 22

(Source: Southgate ARC via Mike Terry)

Radio Caroline AM service to open

Weather and technology permitting, our programmes on 648 kHz will commence originating from the Ross Revenge at 7.00 AM on Friday 22nd December.

The changed schedule for the day will be :

7am    Johnny Lewis
9am    Top Fifteen
10am   Ray Clark – with the official launch at midday.
2pm    Kevin Turner
5pm    Resume normal programmes

No doubt Bob Lawrence, Martin Fisher and Jerry Wright will personalise their evening shows to mark the day.

Of course we are delighted to have found and secured what must be the best possible AM transmission site for our service. We thank Cobra Mist Ltd for this facility whilst noting that this is a private site which cannot at this time be visited.

So, another date for the Radio Caroline calendar of events and the inevitable question. Where do we go from here?

Radio Caroline

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ITU Monitoring Programme: 2.85 to 28 MHz

Fullscreen capture 10142015 42958 PM

I’m having difficulty remembering who sent me a link to the ITU Monitoring Programme, but I am most grateful.

What is the monitoring programme? Here’s the description from the ITU website:

“The objective of this monitoring programme is to identify stations whose emissions in bands between 2 850 kHz and 28 000 kHz are not in conformity with the RR and to provide administrations that do not have monitoring facilities with information for frequency management purposes.

?The Bureau prepares a publication containing spectrum monitoring information in the frequency bands between 2 850 kHz and 28 000 kHz submitted by administrations in accordance with BR Circular-letter CR/159 of 9 May 2001.”

The data can be downloaded in spreadsheet format, organized by monitoring date. It’s an amazing amount of information–a decent survey of what can be found on the bands.

Click here to view the list of spreadsheets.

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List of Private US Shortwave Stations since 1962

SX-99-DialMany thanks to Swedish DXer and SWLing Post reader, Lennart Weirell, who writes:

“Late last year I compiled a list of private shortwave stations in USA from 1962 and a graph over the stations from 1982, when the increase of stations started after the FCC had lifted the ban to issue licenses for private radio stations in 1973. I also consulted Glenn Hauser during the process. I myself have 35 out of the 42 different calls verified.

This list was first presented in the Swedish bulletin, Shortwave Bulletin (SWB), in November last year and I thought that maybe it could be of interest for the readers of SWLing Post.”

Lennart has kindly shared a printable PDF of the private broadcaster list (click here to download). I have also pasted an image of the list below, for quick reference.

ListOfPrivateUSShortwaveStations

Again, many thanks, Lennart!

Check out the Shortwave Bulletin (SWB) by clicking here.

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Can you identify this shortwave broadcasting site?

Today, I had the fortune of spending a great deal of time at this impressive shortwave broadcasting site. No doubt, many of you have heard it.  Can you guess the name of the station?

MysterySW-site-LT

(Matt and Doug: you are excluded from this guessing game)

Stay tuned, of course:  more photos (and a full tour) to come…!

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Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station: re-dedication videos

Last week, we noted the upcoming re-dedication of the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station and the significance of this particular broadcasting location.

Videos of the event have now been posted on the BBG Watch website, including this one, which features the original dedication of the site in 1963:

Local CBS affiliate, Channel 9, provided raw video feeds from the event, which are also posted.  Of particular note is the footage of Governor Victor Ashe’s speech and the tour of the station.

Victor Ashe:

Station tour:

As I previously mentioned, in December 2012, I had the honor of receiving a five-hour tour of the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station. Following that marvelous tour, I  wrote a piece for the March 2012 issue of the Monitoring Times in which I describe the day’s experiences; the article has already received many kind comments (thanks!) and continues to draw interest to the station. I think this may be one of the best articles I’ve ever written, and the clear reason for this was my sheer delight in the tour, a dream come true for me.  Moreover, I had early information about the re-dedication of the site, and was immensely pleased that  those who work there should receive such well-deserved accolades.

BTW:  While I have a busy travel schedule this summer, I intend to publish some items of interest in my absence that I’ve been saving for the purpose. This will include the article I wrote for the MT–the full, un-cut version–along with dozens of hi-res photos from the site. It’s quite long, thus will be posted in manageable sections; each post will be tagged: VOA Greenville. Keep an eye open for those!

But if you just can’t wait, you can always download an electronic version of the March issue on the MT’s website.  Hope you enjoy it…!

And to our good friends at VOA Greenville:  thanks again, and congratulations!

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