Thailand’s army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, declared a coup today (Thursday, May 22), and detained key party leaders while suspending the constitution in “a bid to restore order” after nearly six months of ant-government protests.
General Prayuth Chan-ocha has also ordered all domestic TV and radio outlets to halt normal broadcasting and only include content the military provides until further notice. Only yesterday, a group of Thai media bodies accused the Peace and Order Maintaining Command (POMC) of violating the constitution when the POMC banned 14 satellite TV outlets. Now that the constitution is suspended, I suppose it is no longer an obstacle.
I’m curious if Radio Thailand will be on the air today–if so, I assume broadcasts will contain military sanctioned content. I would encourage you to tune to Radio Thailand and, if possible, even record a broadcast to archive if they are indeed on the air.
The following is Radio Thailand‘s English broadcast schedule per Shortwave.am:
- 9390 kHz, 1230-1300 UTC, Target: Oceania
- 9390 kHz, 1400-1430 UTC, Target: Oceania
- 9390 kHz, 1900-2000 UTC, Target: Europe
- 9390 kHz, 2030-2045 UTC, Target: Europe
- 15590 kHz, 0000-0030 UTC, Target: Eastern North America
- 15590 kHz, 0030-0100 UTC, Target: Western North America
- 15590 kHz, 0200-0230 UTC, Target: Eastern North America
- 17640 kHz, 0530-0600 UTC, Target: Europe
Thailand is no stranger to full-blown military coups; this is their twelfth since 1932. I’ll be following this story closely as events unfold.
Sorry, here is the URL:
Military coup in Thailand – Radio Thailand on 9390khz Time:1930z Date 22052014
73s
Hi,
Here is a recording of radio Thailand I did yesterday May 22nd in Switzerland.
Content: Patriotic songs and voice announcements:
73s
When the BBC World Service cut the Thai language service the excuse they gave the government was that Thailand is now a democracy. When they did this I laughed. Thailand is in no way shape or form a democracy. I spend a number of weeks in the country every year. They block news websites and there is lots of censorship. They can have an election, but then they protest against the winner. In Southeast Asia Thailand is one of 4 countries considered Banana Republics and they are dong a good job living up to that name.
Thanks for all of the reports. I’ll see if I can hear them on 15,590 kHz in a few hours. I did see a carrier on 9,390 earlier, but couldn’t hear any audio. If I hear the patriotic music, I’ll try to record the full broadcast.
Cheers,
Thomas
Update: I could hear a carrier and a faint voice on 15,590, but nothing intelligible. Anyone else have luck?
-Thomas
Have heard through a Facebook group that HSK9 is broadcasting non-stop music, interspersed with some announcements in Thai. Foreign stuff seems indeed to be off-air for now.
Posted the above message to a Facebook group: am advised that HSK9 is broadcasing non-stop music interspersed with occasional announcements in Thai. Foreign languages seem to be off-air for now.
HSK9 Radio Thailand broadcast for English to Europe 2030 – 2045hrs UTC on 9390khz did not air this evening. I usually get it with no problem here in Bristol, England.
It’s 19:15 UTC here in Switzerland, Radio Thailand International is now broadcasting patriotic songs on 9390khz with intermittent male announcements in Thai. Foreign languages schedules really seem suspended now…
Philippe
I’m also listening to what looks like patriotic music on 9390 kHz. I’m in Catalonia (Spain).