Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio
Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Paul, Dennis Dura, Richard Cuff, and Bake Timmons for the following tips:
Voice of America station in CNMI announces closure (Saipan Tribune)
The U.S. Agency for Global Media has announced that it will be closing its Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station in the CNMI after decades in operation.
The station broadcasts the Voice of America transmission to Asia.
In a letter form USAGM’s William S. Martin, director of operations and stations division, a big change is taking place at the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station.
“The change is a discontinuation of all shortwave radio transmissions at our Saipan and Tinian sites, the first step in closing the station,” he said.
According to Martin, on June 26, the USAGM—an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and other U.S. funded international civilian broadcasters—announced it was closing REKTS, its two shortwave radio transmission sites, on Saipan and Tinian.
[…]”While shortwave radio was an effective and popular way for people in media-deprived countries to access international news and information during WWII and the Cold War, Martin says shortwave use has fallen dramatically almost everywhere since the invention of the internet and the fall of Soviet Union in the 1990s. [Continue reading…]
WCBS 880 signing off after nearly 60 years, ESPN New York to take its place (lohud)
WCBS 880 AM, one of New York’s leading news radio channels for nearly 60 years, will be replaced with ESPN New York on Aug. 26, as 1010 WINS becomes the main radio station for real-time news coverage in the New York metro area.
Audacy, the parent company for both WCBS 880 and 1010 WINS, announced the agreement with Good Karma Brands, a sports media network, on Aug. 12. The station 880 AM will become the new home of ESPN New York and will use the call letters WHSQ-AM, pending FCC approval.[Continue reading…]
Hams Stepping up in Bangladesh (BBC Newsroom)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bake Timmons, who writes:
Hams are stepping up right now in a very busy place — Dhaka, Bangladesh.
I heard ham radio mentioned this morning on this morning’s broadcast of the BBC program “The Newsroom”. A volunteer traffic coordinator and ham described (18:55 in the podcast linked below) how every traffic hub is now connected w/ amateur radio in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh, in response to the absence of police, who have withdrawn from their normal duties after the ousting of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The story begins about 17:21 into the podcast at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172zbqdkb748vg
The First New Long Wave Radio Station Of This Millennium (Hackaday)
The decline of AM broadcast radio is a slow but inexorable process over much of the world, but for regions outside America there’s another parallel story happening a few hundred kilohertz further down the spectrum. The long wave band sits around the 200kHz mark and has traditionally carried national-level programming due to its increased range. Like AM it’s in decline due to competition from FM, digital, and online services, and one by one the stations that once crowded this band are going quiet. In the middle of all this it’s a surprise then to find a new long wave station in the works in the 2020s, bucking all contemporary broadcasting trends. Arctic 252 is based in Finland with programming intended to be heard across the Arctic region and aims to start testing in September. [Continue reading…]
Click here to check out Arctic 252’s website.
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880 was the mainstay of news, weather and sports in the NY-Metro area. Most don’t realize though that prior to going all-news it was a typical radio station with radio hosts, talk shows, etc. WCBS was the first radio station I received when using a “Rocket” crystal radio back in the late ’50’s. Jack Sterling was a radio show host back then.
1010 WINS and WCBS 880 were THE place to go when driving through traffic in the NyC region. Before Google Maps and Waze, the only options were these two stations and WOR 710 for realtime traffic reports. WOR was king initially because it had its own helicopter with Freddie Feldman telling us which lane to use on the Triboro. When they went away, WINS and WCBS were the only source. Cruising down the BRP on the last leg to visit family in the region, the tunes would go off and one of these two stations always helped me navigate the home stretch.
The article only mentions their FM stations, perhaps the AM is already gone. As a SWL in Maine, I could still pick up those two on MW band 59-plus. Another chapter ends…
73s
It’s somewhat ironic that the linked article regarding USAGM closures is geoblocked – cannot be accessed in the EU due to “legal reasons”. Apart from that, the decision is short-sighted because unfortunetely, the number of “media-deprived” countries does not seem like it’s going to decrease. For instance, the Russian and Belarusian govermnents are blocking VoA and Radio Liberty (also an USAGM-operated station) websites and the encroachment on the internet access is progressing – YouTube slowdowns being the latest example. The USAGM has done nothing that would allow their message to be heard via the only form of broadcast that is immune to government censorship, which is shortwave radio, despite having two perfectly-suited and fully operational relay stations in Germany. Radio Liberty used to have shortwave programming to Russia and Belarus until 2016, but now these stations are used only for programmes aimed at Caucasus and Afghanistan. Since then, RL has remained with a single mediumwave outlet in Lithuania that operates for barely few hours in the evening and has limited coverage. There’s nothing stopping them from reinstating shortwave to Belarus and Russia apart from the apparent management’s contempt for broadcast radio. They should realise that they are tasked with getting the US message through such still-existing “iron curtains” and the only mean to do it in a way which is accessible to people without the technical expertise required to bypass internet blockades is shortwave radio.
I will be interested in hearing Finland on the air if possible. My relatives are from Lapinlahti.
The consolidation of broadcast stations under very large corporate ownership is a travesty and allowed to continue by the FCC/Govt. for far too long. Not a new complaint but it is sad to see WCBS 880 go the way of the “dodo” as so many other popular stations and their programing in the past.
I can’t understand why they would use 252KHZ because Algeria is transmitting on 252. There are plenty of free frequencies for long wave. Why don’t they use one of those?
When RTÉ the Irish broadcaster was transmitting on 252 KH at full tilt it was transmitting about 500 kW and they used to get signal reports as far away as Brazil. Those were the days when the station was called Atlantic 252 in the 1990s.
@Mark: They are planning for 252 kHz because that is the channel the ITU allocated to Finland. You cannot simply use the channel you like. They are trying to get permission for using a free longwave channel in the future. I read on their website “We will begin testing in October.” Or are they already on the air?
Regards
Harald DL1AX
Plus, with only 1kw, they won’t get far enough to interfere too much with Algeria.