Shortwave Memories — Who’s Out There?

by Karl D. Forth

I can remember very early in my shortwave listening wondering how many people were tuned in to a particular broadcast at the same time I was. I was listening to Radio Portugal on a warm evening in June 1971 when I first had this thought. How many others in North America were listening to Radio Portugal, the Voice of The West, and their evening English service at 9 p.m. CDT in the summer of 1971?

The BBC, Radio Canada International, and Radio Nederland probably had a decent audience. And Radio Moscow and Radio Havana Cuba always drew some curious listeners.

What about a smaller broadcaster with an English transmission to North America? How many were listening to any international shortwave broadcaster?

How many were watching Gunsmoke or Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In compared to a feature on Portuguese oilseed production and chestnut exports?

There was no Arbitron ratings book as there was for AM and FM stations in the United States, but it’s fun to think about having a listening diary for shortwave stations, sent not to ARB’s headquarters in Beltsville, Maryland, but somewhere like Geneva, Switzerland, for tabulation.

The stations themselves didn’t know either, but they made audience estimates based on listener mail. Some stations that you may have listened to only a few times and wrote to get a QSL continued to send schedules for years after, counting you as a regular listener. When seeking funding, the stations pointed out that they sent schedules to 5,000 listeners, for example, every few months. (I’m looking at you, RAI.)

I’ve also read stories of shortwave schedules still coming to the house of parents of the listener many years after the listener moved away and started a separate life. (He or she probably picked up the schedules when they visited Mom and Dad, I figure.) Today, I’m still asking the same questions about how many are listening. The stations remaining on shortwave are, too. I’ve read some of the estimates for a major broadcaster’s over-the-air and digital audience that seem extremely optimistic.

Karl D. Forth has been interested in radio and DXing for more than 50 years. This story was included in the book Radio Nights and Distant Signals.

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Sharp SG-220 all-in-one stereo system

A Special QSL Card: Remembering the BBC and Deutsche Welle DRM Partnership

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Many thanks to SWling Post contributor, Paul Jamet, who hares the following article and notes:

I enjoyed this beautifully illustrated article: Snail Mail QSLs – A Few Stories from a Bygone Era

I’m also taking up the invitation to share a memorable QSL card of my own.

I’ve received hundreds of QSL cards by snail mail. After some hesitation, I’ve chosen a QSL card that I received quickly (in 6 days) but which reflects a time when two very important international radio stations were strong believers in Digital Radio Mondial (DRM):

Testimony of a Joint BBC / DW DRM Programme for Europe

by Paul Jamet

My most memorable QSL card bears witness to the collaboration between the BBC World Service (BBC-WS) and Deutsche Welle (DW). These two broadcasters launched a major radio project in the late 2000s: a joint shortwave transmission in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), aimed at providing a high-quality digital service for Europe.

The BBC and DW established a partnership to pool their transmission capabilities and deliver a single digital stream (in English) across Europe. Transmission sites located in Sines (Portugal), Woofferton (United Kingdom), and Moosbrunn (Austria) were used to ensure broadcasting from 06:00 local time until midnight.

This is why I invested around €300 in purchasing a DiWave 100 receiver to listen to this programme, broadcast using a technology that both broadcasters were intensively testing at the time. The AFS function—Alternative Frequency Switching or Signalling—allowed the receiver to automatically follow frequency changes throughout the day without any manual intervention. The programme originated alternately from Berlin or London, on one or more frequencies transmitted from the sites mentioned above.

This QSL card, along with the screenshot from the DiWave 100 that enabled me to obtain it, stands as evidence of a broken dream [mainly due to the rise of streaming, but also the lack of DRM receivers].

The BBC and DW eventually abandoned the project. In terms of digital broadcasting, DAB+—a technology stemming from the European Eureka project—has become dominant across Europe. Today, the BBC World Service, and especially Radio Romania International, continue to broadcast daily to Europe. TDF (Télédiffusion de France) is conducting trials on various frequencies from its Issoudun transmission centre.

Today, I still believe in DRM. This technology uses HF bands and makes it possible to cover vast areas with a single transmitter, while offering significantly improved listening conditions and additional services such as text transmission (Journaline), images, and emergency warning messages (EWF technology).

References :

DW And BBC Join Forces On DRM
https://www.drm.org/dw-and-bbc-join-forces-on-drm/
EWF – Emergency Warning Functionality
https://www.drm.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/DRM-EWF-Emergency-Warning-Overview-v2.pdf
NAUTEL – DRM
https://www.nautel.com/products/digital-radio/drm/

“The Secret Listeners”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David, who writes:

Hello Thomas.

This might be of interest to other subscribers who fall into the intersection of a Venn diagram where radio types meet military historians.

Kind regards

David

Thank you, David! We actually shared this video last year, but it’s such a good one, I thought it’d be worth reposting.

90 Years of Radio Prague: Founded to Fight Nazi Propaganda

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David Iurescia for sharing the first installment of a fascinating look at how Radio Prague became a powerful weapon against Nazi propaganda in the years leading up to World War II.