Radio Waves: EWTN to End Shortwave Service, Silver Lake FM Pirate KBLT, and NBC 100 Years Ago

Original NBC Chimes. Photo taken at the NCRTV museum

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia, Dan Van Hoy, and Tracy Wood for the following tips:


EWTN Global Catholic Television Network: Catholic News, TV, Radio | EWTN (EWTN Global Catholic Television Network)

IRONDALE, Ala. — EWTN Global Catholic Network announced today the end of its shortwave radio service, WEWN, after 34 years of operation. The decision, approved by EWTN’s Board of Governors, will take effect Oct. 31, 2026.

Launched on Dec. 28, 1992, WEWN was EWTN’s first radio service, offering Catholic programming to national and international listeners in geographic regions where access to other forms of media was often limited. It also served as a catalyst for EWTN’s expansion into international television operations beginning in 1995. Since then, EWTN’s 11 global television channels and numerous regional channels have reached audiences in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN Radio has grown to become an extensive network with over 600 AM/FM stations worldwide as well as satellite and digital platforms.

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’40 Watts From Nowhere’: How a Feisty Pirate Radio Station Stormed the Airwaves in 1990s Silver Lake With Help From the Red Hot Chili Peppers and More (Variety)

The 1990s were a very different time — especially in Silver Lake, California — once a fertile neighborhood of artists and musicians and now a pricey hot spot. Three decades ago, the indie music scene was flourishing with homegrown acts like Beck and Rilo Kiley, based around clubs like Spaceland and the Garage.

And for more than two heady years, music lovers within a mile or two of the Sunset Junction area could groove to the wildly eclectic sounds of KBLT, a pirate radio station that operated from 1995 to 1998.

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When NBC Radio Began 100 Years Ago – Radio World (Radio World)

The first broadcast of the National Broadcasting Company was heard on Nov. 15, 1926. Author John Schneider tells how it came about.

In the early years of the 20th century, the infant technology of radio was envisioned as a method of point-to-point communications. The transmission of one-to-many (i.e., broadcasting) was not yet envisioned.

Worldwide, the British Marconi Company dominated the technology through its control of key patents. Its subsidiary, American Marconi, operated key relay stations in the U.S. and controlled most land and sea radio communications.

After World War I, the U.S. Navy and federal government worried that wireless communication was in the hands of a foreign-owned company. As a solution, the government essentially forced American Marconi to sell its U.S. assets and patents to General Electric.

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Mark Spots Radios in the Korean Zombie Film Peninsula

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who writes:

I spotted this collection of radios being used by survivors of a zombie outbreak in the Korean movie Peninsula.

A follow-on from ‘Train to Busan’, the survivors are in contact with the outside world using the foreground radio, which apparently needs batteries that are in short supply. Strange that the one in the background doesn’t have the same problem!

RNEI’s Halloween Special 2026

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Roseanna, with Radio Northern Europe International, who shares the following announcement:

Hei alle,

This weekend (Saturday the 31st of October 2026) Radio Northern Europe International invites all of you to tune into a rather spooky broadcast at 2000 UTC on 1467kHz medium wave (500kW) & with a bonus 30 minutes afterwards (2030-2100UTC) on 6070kHz short wave (10kW).

Mamma will be entertaining you with a recognisably traditional start to the show, before travelling through the playful & surreal, and into genuinely thought-provoking, and even unsettling genres in this Halloween Special Show.

Click here to read the full announcement at RNEI.

Dan Visits the Great Lakes Museum in Kingston, Ontario

by Dan Greenall

While visiting friends this past weekend in Kingston, Ontario, my wife and I paid a visit to the Great Lakes Museum where we had the good fortune to tour the S S Keewatin, a Titanic-era passenger ship that served the Great Lakes between 1908 and 1965. It is now a floating museum and permanently docked in Kingston.

One of the first stops on our 1.5-hour tour was at the original wireless station, call sign VGMC, which originally began as VGC. I snapped a few quick photos before being whisked away past the amateur radio station that has been set up and occasionally goes on the air, call sign VA3VGC.

The call sign commemorates the ship’s original maritime radio call signs, which the SS Keewatin used starting around 1911 with its Marconi wireless equipment. A couple more photos were hastily taken, as the tour moved quickly along. Additional information about the equipment that is on display here can be found at: https://greatlakesmuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/VA3VGC_Photo-Gallery-compressed.pdf

Later on, while viewing some of the passenger cabins aboard the Keewatin, I spotted an old issue of Electronics Illustrated from October 1959 lying on a bed.

You can read a copy here: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics-Illustrated/Electronics-Illustrated-1959-10.pdf

I would encourage anyone visiting the Kingston, Ontario area to take a tour of the S S Keewatin. I suspect there are other Museum Ships out there with a Wireless station set up and would be interested to hear about any of these.

73

Dan Greenall, Ontario, Canada

Radio Waves: Wartime Radio Hub Linked to Scharnhorst Up For Sale, Thousands protest in Prague, and CAB Joins Radio Ready Auto Coalition

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia and Dennis Dura for the following tips:


Wartime radio hub linked to sinking of German battleship Scharnhorst selling for almost £500k (BBC)

One of Britain’s key wartime radio stations is up for sale for nearly half a million pounds.

Criggion Radio Station in Powys was used not only to transmit messages to warships and submarines during World War Two and the Cold War, but to connect Britain to the world before satellite communication.

Part of the station, named Shortwave A, is now on the market for £495,000 – though neither the original radio equipment nor the station’s distinctive 600ft (182.9m) towers remain.

Robert Pearce, a retired Royal Air Force radio engineer who owns another part of the former station, said: “It’s very, very sad we’ve lost it. We were the absolute leaders in technology.”

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Thousands protest in Prague against plans to abolish public media fees (Radio Prague International)

Thousands of people gathered in Prague’s Old Town Square on Sunday afternoon to protest against plans to abolish television and radio licence fees and transfer funding for Czech Television (?T) and Czech Radio (?Ro) to the state budget.

The demonstration, titled Hands Off the Media, was organised by the Million Moments for Democracy association.

Around 4,000 people gathered in central Brno on Saturday to show their support for public service media.

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Canada’s CAB Joins the Radio Ready Auto Coalition – Radio World (Radio World)

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters is now the latest industry group to join Radio Ready, the coalition advocating for the prominence of terrestrial radio in connected car dashboards.

CAB joins 40 Radio Ready members representing approximately 10,000 radio stations worldwide, a Tuesday announcement said.

The move follows the addition of the U.S.-based National Association of Broadcasters in July, as Radio World reported, expanding the coalition’s North American representation.

Radio Ready hopes to build momentum as automakers consider radio’s presence within vehicle dashboards.

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