Radio Australia’s Saturday Night Country is a part of my Saturday morning

Felicity Urquhart, host of ABC's Saturday Night Country. (photo: ABC)

Even though it’s well over 9,800 miles (15,800 kilometers) and many time zones from where I live, I listen to Radio Australia’s Shepparton broadcast site perhaps more than any other on the shortwave bands. For decades, it has beamed a broad and booming signal into North America on 9,580 kHz every morning. Well, I say “morning” here in the southeastern US, but in Australia, it’s their (or, for our Aussie readers, your) evening.

One show Radio Australia broadcasts that’s popular across the globe is ABC’s Saturday Night Country. Felicity Urquhart hosts the program, which showcases the best in Australian country and, indeed, country music worldwide. She knows her stuff, too–not only is she a talented host, but also an accomplished country music star in her own right. (What’s more–see above–she’s got “a face for radio”–? Try television:  she’s very photogenic.)

What I love about Saturday Night Country is that there’s lots of music, but also excellent interviews as Felicity chats with well-known and upcoming stars. Since the Radio Australia shortwave signal out of Shepparton is always so strong coming into the US, the audio fidelity is often on par with local AM (MW) stations.

I listen to the show many Saturday mornings, and I’m not even that big a fan of country music. And I’m not alone; several of you have written asking when I’d write a post about Saturday Night Country. For our readers, I’ve done one better:  check two hours out the latest show for yourself in the recording of ABC below (or click here for the mp3). The broadcast begins with a news segment at the top of the hour; if you like, fast-forward to 4:30 for the beginning of SNC:

Incidentally, I used making this recording as an excuse to test one of the newest receivers on my bench, the WinRadio Excalibur. Its recording functionality is perhaps the best in the SDR world–and, I’ve got to say, I’m most impressed with it. Out of the chunk of spectrum I recorded, I was also able to hear RCI’s Sackville site broadcasting All In a Weekend on 9,625 kHz. In the past, these two have had conflicting schedules between 8:00-9:00 local, but with the Excalibur’s three individual receivers, I can record one while listening to the other–or better yet, record both, and track down yet another station!

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4 thoughts on “Radio Australia’s Saturday Night Country is a part of my Saturday morning

  1. mike harlan

    I just bought a used Grundig s350 shortwave radio.I live in Houston, Texas so most of the shortwave is either religion or spanish language programs here.Imagine my surprise to hear radio Australia’s program “Saturday night country” with Felicity interviewing a brother/sister group named Kaylynn’s rain is believe.It was my time,7:25 am saturday Oct.13,2012 on 9,578 to 9,581 khz.

    Reply
    1. Thomas Post author

      Mike, you’ve just discover one of the treasures on shortwave radio. In North America, we’re quite fortunate to receive a strong Radio Australia every morning on 9,580 kHz. Saturday Night Country is one of my favorite shows–Felicity is not only an amazing host, but an accomplished musician in her own right. RA also has a great Jazz show Wednesday mornings (our time). Their news is top-notch too.

      You’ll hear more as you tune around the bands. Another favorite of mine is Voice of Greece (9,420 kHz most evenings)–occasionally, they broadcast amazing mixes of Greek music. It’ll sound great on that s350’s speaker.

      Keep in touch!

      -Thomas

      Reply
  2. Phil K7TTI

    I do the same here in Arizona. It’s a great program and reception here is, for the most part, very good.

    Reply

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