Yesterday afternoon, I spent a few hours sorting through old radio books and magazines. I discovered this issue of Monitoring Times from September 1993:
It was the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks yesterday so this cover image, and especially the feature headlines, caught my attention. Of course, this feature referenced February 26, 1993, when a bomb exploded in a parking garage of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City.
It won’t hurt to note that individual issues of MT from 1982-2013 can be viewed at American Radio History along with hundreds of radio/television related publications. https://worldradiohistory.com/Monitoring-Times.htm
A valuable website. I miss MT but thankful for the SWL Post! D.
I do miss the old MT , but find the Spectrum Monitor full of interesting articles on hardware, and the areas that many listeners follow; SWL, Utilities, etc. They have run some well written articles on SDR’s.
That was a very prophetic cover.
I really liked MT, even more so than Pop Comm (I got both). I too get The Spectrum Monitor and it’s almost as good (yet , being virtual, will NEVER be as good as a physical magazine).
Can you imagine running across a 20 yr old soft copy in the future and taking the time to open it (if you even could!).
(Disclaimer: I’m nothing to do with TSM.)
MT did vanish, it does have a pretty decent sucsessor – The Spectrum Monitor. I find it helps my MT Jones a great deal. Go google it, take a good look. Electronic only but, in my opinion, well worth it.
I’ve looked at a few issues of TSM and while it’s not bad, but my major interest these days is ham radio. I subscribe to QST and, while it’s also available online, I prefer the printed version. It’s been a while, but I’ll give it another look and try it fir a year. Thank you. I had forgotten about TSM.
I second the recommendation for The Spectrum Monitor! It took me way too long to learn of its existence, but I’ve been a subscriber ever since. Many of the same people who wrote for MT continue to write for TSM.
I also really enjoyed monitoring times. There is really nothing decent that replaced it. When I was a young teen in the ‘60s I was really fascinated by radio and was an avid SWL. Had QSL cards from about 100 countries before I became a ham and started getting QSL cards from a different source. Of course, all cards back then were on paper and sent by mail. LOTW is just not the same. I still listened to foreign SW stations for a few years, but that tapered off to virtually nothing once I went off to college. It really was the golden age of SWLing and sunspot numbers were really high.
Had a subscription to MT back in the 90’s from a friend who got me interested. I miss MT myself. Found it a some bookstores for a while until I heard it was discontinued. I discovered shortwave as an early teen in the late 70’s. BBC was a big deal back then with the Cold War. My grandmother had a portable radio with shortwave that got me hooked. Finally got a Radio Shack receiver sometime in the 90’s. Death of Princess Diana was a big story on the Beeb. Now in 2021 found a DX 160 at a local hamfest. Still some good stuff on shortwave.
I still love that MT logo! Would love to have a t-shirt or hat with it.
Had a subscription to MT back in the 90’s from a friend who got me interested. I miss MT myself. Found it a some bookstores for a while until I heard it was discontinued. I discovered shortwave as an early teen in the late 70’s. BBC was a big deal back then with the Cold War. My grandmother had a portable radio with shortwave that got me hooked. Finally got a Radio Shack receiver sometime in the 90’s. Death of Princess Diana was a big story on the Beeb. Now in 2021 found a DX 160 at a local hamfest. Still some good stuff on shortwave.
I still prefer a newspaper or magazine in my hand rather than facing the barrage of online pop -up ads that permeate today’s websites. For an SWL’er in the golden age of shortwave radio (cold war thru the 90’s) the Monitoring Times was a welcome necessity . I miss it to this day.
My XYL was working in NYC and called me at work when this happened. Unfortunately it was a harbinger of things to come.
Back issues of Monitoring Times are a great source of reading entertainment. Looking at the old advertisements from long-gone vendors brings back fond memories. Thanks for the post Thomas.