My recording booth at Radio-Canada/CBC Québec City
Hi, folks! If you just heard me on NPR’s Weekend Edition regarding the NIST Budget cuts to WWV, WWVH, and WWVB, welcome, and stick around! This is where the SWLing Post (and other projects we work on, such as the Shortwave Archive, the Radio Spectrum Archive, and the non-profit, Ears to Our World) serve up all things shortwave. Here, we discuss both the fun (and importance) of this cool old-school medium that, remarkably enough, still has relevance even in our internet-interconnected world.
And for our regular Post readers: on Thursday afternoon, I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Scott Simon of NPR via Radio Canada/CBC in Québec City, QC, Canada. More on that to come.
The show (with the SWLing Post bit) aired just this morning. You can click here to listen via NPR’s website, or via the embedded player below:
I feel especially chuffed that NPR would give the topic of WWV some exposure. This piece wasn’t so much a call to action as simply building awareness of what the shutdown of our national pacemaker––in the form of WWVB time station––might mean to the average person who has a self-setting wall clock, or watch (most of us do). (Even at NPR, they’ll be asking, Now, where did we store that stepladder?)
Or what it might mean to the shortwaves themselves, which we in North America may appreciate a source of nostalgia or entertainment––and, yes, handy for keeping time––we have to recognize that there are still pockets of our world, especially in remote, rural, and/or war-torn regions, where shortwave radio is especially vital.
So, something that belongs to all of us––yet another example of a global source of information––may soon be taken away. If you disagree with this proposal, I urge you to contact your local representatives, and sign this White House petition.
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Switzerland, Finland and many other countries discontinued this kind of service and nothing happened.Others are switching to new technologies.
Good job, Thomas. This is how to get the word out to people who would otherwise have no idea when their formerly radio-set clocks start to drift. Thanks for the heads-up on all this; wrote my congressthings and signed the White House petition last week, after reading about it here.
Looks like the government won’t even give you the time of day anymore.
73, Dave
N2DS
Kudos, and I agree with all of the above. There is so much more to WWV stations than just time – Congress needs to be made aware. You did a great job!! Cheers!
Good interview Thomas you sounded confident. Radio interviews can be nerve wracking.
Great job, Thomas!
Just heard your interview on NPR. Didn’t know your site existed which is great ‘cuz I’ve been thinking about a short wave radio for years but never got one ‘cuz I didn’t know where to start. Now I do.
And don’t worry, I will contact my congresspeople and make myself heard. I have about 6 clocks that rely on those stations to set themselves.
Since I bought a few of those clocks at Costco, I suggest people contact them and have them apply pressure to congress as well. Since they have money (and zillions of customers who bought these clocks and weather stations), they’ll get attention.
The CBC WWV interview was great…interviewer was literate
and you waxed eloquent while doing a superb job of representing
our beloved hobby.
Usually these things are a media dum-dum and a geek.
Not this time…congrats on a fine job!
Thank you for representing the hobby of shortwave listening so well. Not only on the issue of the potential closure of WWV, but also by pointing out some of the most fascinating aspects of this great avocation. Well done, sir.
Les Rayburn, N1LF