Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David Iurescia for the tip:
Working with commercial broadcasters, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Persian service Radio Farda has resumed shortwave broadcasts aimed at Iran, providing an alternative to state-controlled media amid an ongoing internet blackout imposed by the Iranian government. The return to shortwave is intended to help listeners inside the country continue receiving independent news and vital information at a time when digital access is restricted. Read more here: https://about.rferl.org/article/radio-farda-returns-to-shortwave-bypassing-irans-digital-blackout/
This propaganda station is every evening on 1548 kHz, providing a mixture of TV audio, interviews and the usual “Donald Trump has said…” promotionals. Heavily fading all the time as we know it from Shortwave. Sometimes an IRIB network in the back, sometimes a fire alert jammer and sometimes humming noise.
There is no ID given of either “VOA” or “Radio Farda”. Only the frequency is announced in Persian language among hillarious, pathetic and martyrious jingles on the bottom (!) of each hour as Iran has a +2.5 hours time shift. It sounds like the Allmighty himself.
I wonder who is providing this signal and presenting the programme content as VOA had closed and all the staff had been fired due to financial cuts regarding the governmental shutdown. So where does the (new) content come from? Who are the speakers voices we can hear? Who is paying for the electricity of this output? Where does the transmitter location come from as all former masts eg. on the Sao Tome station had been dismantled?
Can anybody tell me, what’s the actual name of this strange radio station?
These kind of ‘special’ returns do not make sense to me. I mean, it’s obviously good that they’re back on the radio waves, but how the general public is supposed to know that they’re there if they’ve been going off and on randomly? Even on this website, it was reported that “Radio Farda is back on the air as of June 20, 2025”, so it’s clear that since then, it has been taken off the air again, giving at least two flips of the switch in a single year.
If these kind of services are to be considered as a reliable (not only in terms of news coverage, but even availability), they should be available regularly, not only at times when a certain decisionmaker sees it fit. Turning the radio stations off, then back on, then off again makes them anything BUT reliable. They should be on the air regularly, obviously not whole day round, but even once or twice daily for an hour. The regular listeners, not only enthusiasts tracking down all these ever-changing schedules, should know that they are always there and they can be counted on in cases of disasters, political turmoils etc.
Otherwise these ‘returns’ are little more than publicity stunts, done for the purpose of virtue signalling, lacking the necessary pre-conditions to make a real impact.
A present day situation that should give pause to 100% reliance on the “internet”.
Le onde corte si rilevano sempre insostituibili ed efficaci, i detrattori di queste bande dovrebbero riflettere circa la loro utilità. Sembra che sia stato riattivato il canale a onde medie 1548 KHz dal Quwait 600KW ma è comparso subito dopo un disturbo sui 1547KHz dall: Iran, a frequenza variabile. Notizia da mediumeave.info.
Carlo from Italy.