This morning, I was able to catch the first thirteen minutes of Radio Thailand‘s English language service on 9,390 kHz shortwave. I was curious if RT would mention the Thailand military coup or at least broadcast a sanctioned message from the military authorities. Yet I heard no mention of the coup whatsoever. And why not? Yesterday, General Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered all domestic TV and radio outlets to halt normal broadcasting and only include content the military provides.
I was only able to record the first 13 minutes of the RT evening news as we had a powerful thunderstorm that forced me to unplug my external antenna. You’ll note the static crashes in the recording.
The format sounds like a typical RT broadcast, save the lack of national news; instead, the hosts jump straight into global news, mentioning Nigeria, the Philippians, and the economy. Here’s the recording:
As a contrast, here is a recording SRAA contributor, Frank, made of Radio Thailand on May 14th, prior to the coup:
It will be interesting to hear how the nature and content of RT’s news changes with time while the country is under martial law.
I was disappointed not to heard the news about coup d’etat in my country from shortwave radio, Rdio Thailand. Because all domestic broadcasts were take controlledl. I only listened from coup speaker. I have to listen to international SW.
I’m afraid I have lost all trust in Radio Thailand as a new source if they don’t mention a word of what’s going on in the country. They lead with Nigeria, when the rest of the world is leading with Bangkok. But why struggle with shortwave? http://www.hsk9.org/fm88.html