I’m very pleased to have just received the 6th edition of John Figliozzi’s Worldwide Listening Guide (WWLG). This is the latest updated version of the guide I reviewed last year.
As I said then, you may want a copy of the WWLG in your shack–and, may I suggest, next to your computer or wi-fi radio.
SWLing Post readers know that I’m a huge fan of the Word Radio TV Handbook (WRTH)–it’s my go-to guide for radio frequencies–and Figliozzi’s Worldwide Listening Guide is my helpful companion for programming and for content.
Figliozzi exhaustively curates more than 4,000 programs, indexing their airing times, stations, days of broadcast, program types, frequencies, and web addresses. He also sorts the programs by genre: from arts, culture, and history; to music, sports, and more. In fact, he has a well-thought-out directory of at least forty genres–this directory has helped me locate programming about which I would otherwise have never known. Want to find jazz and blues programming, or shows focusing on sports? This book’s got you covered. Frankly, I’m not sure how Figliozzi manages to curate such a vast assortment of programming, but I’m happy he does, and that he offers it for our benefit!
Figliozzi even dedicates a section of his book to “The Big Six” English language broadcasters–namely, NPR, BBC, CBC, ABC, RTE and RNZ. These networks are widely regarded as the best in the business, with audience numbers to back this claim. The WWLG dedicates several pages to describing the structure and programming diversity of each, with listening tips and more.
I’ve always liked the WWLG, and it has become a permanent reference book in my shack, alongside my trusty WRTH. There is a surprising amount of information packed into this slim, spiral-bound book…enough to keep even a seasoned DXer contented for years.
The 6th edition of Worldwide Listening Guide can be purchased here:
I reviewed the 5th edition on my YouTube channel a few months ago. The one thing I did not like about this book is that the various tables were not crossed referenced to other tables. For instance, there is a great table called “Classified Program Lists” which indexes the programs by types but it does not give the frequency of the stations so you have to manually search for the station information to find its frequency. Is this different in the new version. Also, I could not find anyway to contact the author to make this comment. I probably just did not look hard enough.
Another Tom
Good comment, Tom. I’ll make a note to share with John Figliozzi. He’s all about improving his publication.
-(yet another) Thomas 🙂
Ok, thanks. If he could fix that one problem it would be an excellent resource.
Thanks for your efforts,
Tom too
Now if I can get the CAPTCHA >/b>correct.