Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Ralph Perry, who shares, in his latest Substack post, a look back at how shortwave radio helped shape his life—sparking a lifelong curiosity about the wider world, influencing his career path, and ultimately leading to experiences far beyond the radio dial. As he notes, it’s his “how I got here” story and, in many ways, an ode to the power of radio to connect us with places, people, and possibilities we might never have imagined.
You can read Ralph’s full post here:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-195360796
SWL mid 1950’s. Then radio op USAF late 1950s. TDY Pacific. Communication State Dept. Foreign Service embassies. Radio amateur. Age 86 still pounding brass.
Thanks for posting this, Thomas!
For all my radio buddies who might be wondering who this “Chet Nairene” guy is, that is the nom de plume I decided to use a decade ago upon starting to scratch my fiction-writing itch.
I didn’t want to have to hold anything back so, in order to protect REAL people out there in Asia from embarassment or concern (“Is that awful person ME?”), I tried to sever ties between my fiction and SE Asia reality by using the Chet Nairene moniker.
Backstory: It’s an homage to my parents, a construct from their names, Chet and Irene.
Cheers, 73, and keep on listening . . .
Ralph
I became actice as an SWL in the 1970s and 80s. Truly, it was amazing. Literally 100s of stations on every band. Glory time for SWLs.
I discovered shortwave radio in the 1970s through an old Philips vacuum-tube tabletop set from the sixties. While it was hardly a ‘DX beast’—lacking even a bandspread dial—it managed to pull in a bewildering multitude of voices, sounds, and perspectives across the long, medium, and shortwave bands. Those broadcasts profoundly altered my worldview; together, they formed a sonic landscape where conflicting ideologies and political aspirations collided. It’s no wonder I grew to appreciate broadcasters like the BBC and Radio Netherlands; they favored objective reporting over the loaded language and factual inaccuracies common in other parts of the world. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that for my generation, 1970s radio had an impact comparable to what the internet would have on youth three decades later.