Tag Archives: RA Cuts

Radio Australia propagation map and revised schedule

RA-PropMapSpeaking of the Radio Australia shortwave service reductions, I just received RA’s new propagation map (above) and schedule (below). Click images to enlarge.

RadioAustralia-RevisedSchedule

My source also sent a few RA internal notes/points regarding services, feeds and transmitters:

Radio Australia

  • Babcock ended 14th January.
  • Brandon last broadcast 31st January.
  • Shepparton reduced schedule from 1st February. 3 transmitters only.
  • RAS 1 is Pacific Satellite Feed
  • RAS 2 is Asia Satellite Feed
  • RAW 5 is Asia Web Feed
  • RAW 6 is Pacific Web Feed

Reminder – preferred backup domestic source is Classic FM, not Radio National.
[…]Radio Australia News ex N05 will be the SERN bed news 0600-1800 Monday-Friday.

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Radio Australia closes shortwave service to Asia

Radio-Australia-BannerMany thanks to SWLing Post reader, David, who passes along this announcement from Radio Australia via Pacific Beat:

On Sunday, Radio Australia’s shortwave signal to Asia will be turned off, another result the ABC says of recent government funding cuts.

Shortwave broadcasting into the Pacific will continue, but signal strenth outside Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji may be degraded.

Alex Oliver from the Lowy Institute has contributed evidence to Australian parliamentary inquiries and committees on foreign affairs, defence and trade for many years.

So does she view the switch off as a big step back from international broadcasting by Australia, or simply the retirement of some old technology.

Presenter: Adam Connors

Speaker: Alex Oliver from the Lowy Institute

Listen to audio of the full interview by clicking here.

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Revised B14 Radio Australia schedule

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

I just received the revised B14 RA schedule (above–click to enlarge) which shows the reduction of broadcasts this year. The Brandon, QLD transmission facility has been closed and Radio Australia has also moth-balled the newest Continental transmitters at Shepparton.

For comparison click here for the current English HF schedule (PDF).

For what it’s worth, I’m still grateful to see that RA will continue their broadcasts on 9,580 kHz–a staple frequency in my part of the world.

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Cuts to Radio Australia shortwave broadcasts

Radio-Australia-Banner

(Source: WRTH Facebook Page via contributor, Mauno Ritola)

“According to information from Radio Australia, there will be a drastic cut to their shortwave schedule starting 1st February 2015.

Only these transmissions from Shepparton will remain to the Pacific:

  • 2100-0900 UTC on 15240, 15415, and 17840 kHz
  • 0900-2100 UTC on 6080, 6150, and 9580 kHz

Their web site hasn’t yet been updated:
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/

Radio Australia is a staple news source for many in the Pacific islands. Fortunately, RA plans to maintain shortwave services 24 hours per day via the frequencies above. I’m happy to see that 9580 kHz–which is a morning blowtorch signal into  much of North America–will still be transmitted.

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The Straits Times: “Western radio broadcasters tuning out”

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Richard Cuff, for sharing this article from The Straits Times which interviews our friend Victor Goonetilleke. This is one of the first articles I’ve seen in the international press which gives a listener’s perspective on recent cuts to shortwave broadcasting.

Analog Radio Dial(Source: The Straits Times)

For 67-year-old Victor Goonetilleke, sitting with his headphones on in his house in the lush green Sri Lankan countryside, June 30 was the end of an era.

Voice of America’s (VOA) short-wave broadcasts to Asia abruptly went off the air, raising howls of protest from many of the US government-funded broadcaster’s listeners across the region.

But as the broadcasts had already been greatly diminished, this was not a surprise. The big Western radio broadcasters have gradually ceded the political “soft power” space they once dominated to a new heavyweight: China Radio International (CRI).

In recent years, Radio Canada International and Radio Netherlands Worldwide have shut down while the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and VOA have cut back on their range of languages and hours of programming. Now, the VOA has left Asia.

Mr Goonetilleke is not just an avid radio listener. He professionally monitors radio frequencies for the VOA. He is also a former veteran radio correspondent with Radio Netherlands for 24 years in an era when short-wave radio broadcasts from the likes of the BBC, VOA, Radio Netherlands, and Deutsche Welle were often lifelines to other worlds for hundreds of millions especially in times of conflict and misery.

The BBC now broadcasts in 29 languages across the planet, down from a peak of 69 in the 1970s. CRI broadcasts in 65, up from a reported 43 in 2006. Some programmes are run by local FM stations.

These days, Mr Goonetilleke can listen to four hours of CRI broadcasts in Sinhala and Tamil daily, compared with 30 minutes each on BBC.

CRI’s Tamil language broadcast is one of its oldest, run by fluent Tamil speaker Zhu Juanhua, a Shanghai native better known by her tens of thousands of listeners as Kalaiarasi.

According to the CRI website, it has 3,165 listener clubs around the planet, including CRI netizens’ clubs.

[Continue reading…]

 

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“The Gutting of Radio Australia”

ABC-Radio-Australia(Source: Inside Story)

We’re sitting on the grass in the village of Matangi on the island of Futuna. This is one of the more isolated communities in Vanuatu, a small group of houses on a small island at the southeastern extreme of the archipelago.

“We rely a lot on Radio Australia when there’s a cyclone coming,” says Miranda, a member of the island’s Community Disaster Committee. “We have no telephone on this side of the island and we often can’t hear Radio Vanuatu.”

As Australia debates budgets, debt and deficits, we rarely hear the views of communities affected by planned cuts. Whether it’s the size of the aid budget or the resourcing of the international services of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, or ABC, our neighbours have little input into decisions that affect their lives.

The latest blow is the planned redundancy of eighty staff from ABC International following the Abbott government’s decision to take Australia Network television away from the ABC. Revoking the $250 million TV contract – with just ninety days’ notice – has had an impact well beyond television. Given the integration of TV, radio and online services within ABC International, the decision affects not only Australia Network but also the other international services providing crucial information to the islands region.

Continue reading at: http://inside.org.au/the-gutting-of-radio-australia/#sthash.4cwXhev9.dpuf

View other posts related to Radio Australia cuts by bookmarking the tag RA Cuts.

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ABC Radio staff memo outlines cuts to external service

ABC-Radio-AustraliaMany thanks to SWLing Post reader, Jonathan Marks, who has posted a letter by Michael Mason (Acting Director of ABC Radio) to the staff of ABC. Mason’s letter outlines changes to Radio Australia’s external service. His key points:

  • Radio Australia will continue to broadcast a 24/7 schedule built on a deeper collaboration with ABC News and ABC Radio and through collaboration with SBS.
  • Pacific Beat continues, as do RA’s hourly news bulletins.
  • Radio Australia will work with colleagues in ABC Radio and ABC News to identify and deliver a sustainable and engaging English program service that will appeal to our International audiences.
  • Language services in Tok Pisin, Khmer and Burmese will be delivered through a mix of reduced original content coupled with translated ABC content and content from SBS. The model for the French language service remains under consideration.
  • Asia Pacific and Asia Review will cease production as will the Mornings program.
  • Shortwave transmission of RA remains unchanged for the time being.

Read the full letter on Jonathan’s website, Critical Distance.

Follow news about the cuts to Radio Australia by bookmarking the tag: RA Cuts

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