Tag Archives: Shortwave Broadcasters

The Italian Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) halts shortwave broadcasting

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Ralf Bender, who notes that the following announcement has been posted on the IBC website:

In addition, the IBC posted the following note on their Facebook page:

IBC – ITALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION
www.ibcradio.webs.com
With great regret we announce the closure of our shortwave transmissions starting today, 31 December 2018. The reasons are economic, organizational and not least also the bad coverage of our signal in Italy lately. However, we plan to return with you as soon as possible.
To all HNY!

Thank you for the tip, Ralf, although this news sounds ominous. I hope the IBC can resolve their issues and return to the air.

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WINB to add new transmitter

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Benn Kobb (AK4AV), who notes:

This routine FCC HF announcement indicates that it has received an application from WINB.

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1213/DOC-348229A1.pdf

According to Ms. Ghavami, the FCC’s engineer on HF broadcast matters, the application is to add a transmitter to the existing station, for which a new construction permit is required.

Thanks for the tip, Benn!

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Christopher seeks title of shortwave broadcaster’s book

HalliDial

SWLing Post reader, Christopher Brennen, writes:

I’m wondering if you or the wider community can help?

I remember a few years ago (at least 16 or 17) receiving a book about a SW religious station. I’m not sure, but the title “Towers of Power” or similar comes to mind.

I thought it was from or about Family Radio, so I contacted them to inquire. They kindly replied and noted that they knew of no such book.

I’ve looked everywhere for another copy, but without knowing the exact title, the author or which broadcaster it concerned, I have no idea where to look. I am certain I am not imagining it! Could you or anyone help me to track this book down?

Regards,
Christopher Brennen

Thanks for your message, Christopher.  Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with a book that matches your description.

Post Readers: If you can help Christopher track down this book, please comment on this post.

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China Radio International increasing Turkish content

(Source: Today’s Zaman)

“I’ve sometimes been challenged trying to find exactly the right word to translate from Turkish into Chinese,” recalled Wenjun Liu, a 37-year-old reporter working at the Turkish Broadcast Service of China Radio International (CRI) in Beijing.

 “Thank God, we have Turkish native speakers working here to rush to our aid,” she added.

Like many Chinese nationals who were assigned to work at the Turkish service, Liu has assumed a Turkish name for herself — “Damla.” She works at the world news desk and was working on a story about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s visit to Iran in late March. Like many of her colleagues, Damla is a graduate of Beijing Foreign Studies University, a foreign language and international studies university in China.

CRI has been broadcasting in Turkish since October 1957 using the shortwave frequency. It has a one-hour-long program every day, repeated four times during the day in different time slots. It uses Internet broadband to spread the word and has also used local FM stations in ?stanbul and Ankara to reach its audience since 2010. With unprecedented growing ties recently with Turkey, China is set to promote its culture in many areas, including broadcasting more Turkish content on the CRI.

Yongmin Xia, the director of the Turkish service, revealed to Sunday’s Zaman that the CRI has decided to boost its presence in Turkey. Going by the Turkish name Murat, Xia said the CRI has chosen ?stanbul, the largest city in Turkey, to launch a radio station. “We are going to start with five people and hope to reach 15 in this service in ?stanbul,” he said, adding that the stronger presence would help develop bilateral relations further.

“Our common values are more than the differences between the Turkish and Chinese peoples,” he emphasized, pointing to a strong adherence to traditional values in both cultures. “Turks and Chinese share similar traits such as hospitality and warmth in human relations,” he added.

There is no easy way to rate how popular the Turkish service at the CRI is since it airs in shortwave, but the managers at the CRI say they have some idea by looking at regular mail, e-mails and website impressions. “Our Turkish website has 600,000 clicks on a monthly basis,” Xia explained. Overall, the CRI received more than 3 million letters from overseas listeners in 2011.

Read the full article here.

Though CRI has an enormous broadcasting presence around the globe (and it keeps growing), I would certainly question the listenership numbers based on the methods they use to quantify them. If by 600,000 monthly website “clicks,” they mean “hits,” their numbers may be overly generous. Many of “hits” are associated with search engine and other bots that routinely crawl the web. A more telling number would be either web page views or unique visitors.

Frankly, the 3 million letters from overseas listeners is also hard to believe, though I do imagine they receive a hefty amount of correspondence.

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Radio Exterior de Espana will be celebrating its 70th anniversary March 15

(Source: Chrissy Brand)

An email below from Radio Exterior de Espana that they have asked me to share.
Please try and take part. Tune in on:

9665kHz 19.00-20.00 UTC English Monday to Fridays)

6125kHz 22.00-23.00 UTC English (Saturday and Sundays)

==================================

Dear Listener

On March 15th, Radio Exterior will be celebrating its 70th anniversary and we would love you to take part in the festivities. If you are interested in sharing your experience as a listener of the English language shortwave broadcasts, by letter or phone,- we would call you- please let us know as soon as possible.

We´ll be dedicating our March 15th broadcast to the anniversary and would like to reserve a special section to listeners — your impressions and memories as well as the importance shortwave listening, in general, has had in your life.

Please send us a note and, if appropriate, your phone number and general time availablity.

Thank you … many times over,
Alison, Frank and Justin of the English Language Broadcasts of REE
Corporación RTVE – http://www.rtve.es/

http://www.rtve.es/radio/radio-exterior/

[email protected]

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Hear WTWW’s new transmitter – 22:00 UTC on 9,990 kHz

Here’s your chance to catch the first broadcast of the new shortwave transmitter installed at WTWW in Nashville, Tennessee. Ted Randall will be hosting a show called, “This is Only A Test.” Here’s the press release:

(Source: Ted Randall)

It is not very often that you can hear a new HF shortwave radio station sign on the air. WTWW, a new International Shortwave Radio facility just outside of Nashville, TN is launching a new transmitter this Saturday with a broadcast we are calling ‘This Is Only A Test’ starting at 4 pm Central Standard Time. This is a 100,000 watt transmitter running into a full size rhombic antenna.

This is a global radio event with radios being tuned in all over the world.

The QSO Radio Show has requested that we could air this broadcast as a amateur radio event to promote amateur radio along with shortwave listening. Why? Well, the shortwave listening audience is huge.
The typical shortwave radio listener is a great potential candidate for amateur radio.

There are more than 1.5 billion shortwave receivers in use worldwide, the BBC estimates that at any given moment, over 200 million sets are tuned to shortwave broadcasts.

This is the second time WTWW has allowed us to conduct this kind of broadcast on a powerful new shortwave facility.

The purpose of this broadcast is to demonstrate HF communications and to put radio amateurs on the air to a worldwide audience to tell their story.

This is not a commercial venture in any way.

So spread the word to all of your amateur radio friends and call us on Saturday on “This Is Only A Test” and talk to the world about Amateur Radio!

Thanks and 73
Ted Randall
QSO Radio Show
http://www.qsoradioshow.com

YOU ARE INVITED TO SHARE THE MAGIC OF HF BROADCASTING AND AMATEUR RADIO TO A WORLD WIDE LISTENING AUDIENCE.
YOU ARE INVITED TO CALL IN AND SHARE WITH A HUGE GLOBAL RADIO AUDIENCE.
WHAT YOU LOVE ABOUT AMATEUR RADIO
YOUR FAVORITE MODES KHZ
YOUR LOCAL AMATEUR RADIO CLUB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
YOUR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN AMATEUR RADIO THIS SATURDAY Feb 11 at 4 PM CENTRAL

FROM 4 – 6 PM / 2200 – 2400 UTC THE FREQUENCY IS 9990

6 – 10 PM / 2400 – 0400 UTC THE FREQUENCY IS 5085 KHZ

THE CALL IN NUMBER IS 615-547-9520

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The Voice of America turns 70

(Source: Diplomatic Courier)

“The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth.” – William Harlan Hale; February 1, 1942

Such began the first broadcast of a small team of dedicated men transmitting live from a claustrophobic New York City studio into Nazi Germany.  Their group had no name, although their first broadcast was titled Stimmen aus Amerika—Voices from America. The equipment they used was borrowed.  They had no direction as to what they would broadcast, except the truth.  At that moment, the United States stepped into a role as guardian of the power of ideas and honest messenger of information to all corners of the world.

From the very beginning, the Voice of America has held at its core the mission to present to the world the policies and culture of the United States, while reporting on global news events accurately, clearly, and objectively.  It has been one of the U.S.’s most effective public relations initiatives. All around the world, the Voice of America is highly respected as an honest and fair messenger, and in many places, as the only comprehensive source of news free from propaganda.  From Nazi Germany to Communist Eastern Europe to Kim Jong Il’s North Korea, VOA has often been the only connection to the outside world that people of repressive regimes have. […]

Today, VOA broadcasts through the Internet, television, and a network of AM, FM, and shortwave radio signals. The approximately 1500 hours of programs per week include features on American culture, learning English, international news, discussion programs, and regionally focused programs to address the needs of the local populations.  VOA broadcasts in 43 languages, televising programs in 26 of those, and reaches 141 million people weekly. All this makes VOA one of the largest multimedia news organizations in the world.

Read the full story at the Diplomatic Courier website.

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