Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Amy Barry for sharing this tip.
WNYC’s On the Media recently aired an episode titled The Power of Shortwave Radio—and What Gets Lost with Voice of America? Reporter Katie Thornton explores shortwave’s historic role in connecting the world, its continuing importance where the internet cannot reach, and the implications of VOA’s decline.
In the second half of the program, host Micah Loewinger sits down with Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to discuss the network’s role in countries lacking a free press and her own nine-month detention in Russia. Bay Fang, president of Radio Free Asia, also weighs in on why the shutdown of RFA will further diminish press freedom in Asia.
Up until recently NPR didn’t even know or care that shortwave radio exists..
There have been occasional programs about shortwave, including its use in research, such as this one:
“Kids can talk to Santa through Christmas Eve thanks to shortwave radio”
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/23/1263339266/radio-santa-claus-christmas-carol-antarctica