Dan Revisits Radio Japan: A Half-Century Later

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares:


Running into an old friend

Hi Thomas

I was doing some random tuning on shortwave this evening using the KiwiSDR at VK2ATZ in New South Wales, Australia, when I came upon a repeating music box-like tune on 13705 kHz that I thought had a familiar sound to it. It was like running into someone who you hadn’t seen in many years and trying to place where you knew them from. Yes, the sound was a bit different, perhaps even a little slower (age does that ?), but then it came to me, could it be Radio Japan, the overseas service of NHK? A quick check at Short-Wave.info revealed this was indeed NHK World Radio.

It felt like I had found an old friend, one that I knew from my high school days over a half century ago. Still recognizable after all those years, and it felt good to know that they are still around.

Attached are two recordings:

Radio Japan, interval signal and bilingual ID, as heard in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada on 9505 kHz in 1970:

NHK World Radio, interval signal and sign on in Thai on 13705 kHz, January 23, 2025 at 2300Z (via VK2ATZ KiwiSDR):

73

Dan Greenall
London, Ontario, Canada

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5 thoughts on “Dan Revisits Radio Japan: A Half-Century Later

  1. Paul

    You did well to recognise Radio Japan from the interval signal, the Japanese National Anthem was the indicator for me. Plus the opening announcements of course.

    Reply

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