Bob Padula at Warrandyte State Park, near Melbourne, Australia
I recently discovered that Bob Padula, long-time shortwave radio enthusiast and publisher of The Australian DX Report, has an online project entitled The History of Shortwave Radio In Australia. It’s a thorough and informative read and is available free of charge.
The large RCI sign that has long stood beside the Trans-Canada Highway in Sackville, New Brunswick. (Click to enlarge.)
Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to receive an extensive tour of the Radio Canada International transmitter site in Sackville, New Brunswick.
Of course, in light of the extensive cuts looming over this facility, the visit was bittersweet. It was an honor to see the transmitters and antennae I’ve listened to since I was eight years old, when I began listening to shortwave. But more impressive, still, are the people behind the scenes: despite a gloomy outlook, the site is busy and even humming due to their dedicated professionalism. The staff actively maintains the transmitters, antennae, and grounds, and it shows–the equipment, building and even floors are immaculate, demonstrating a palpable pride in a remarkable and still very useful site. I thank them all, and wish them well…
Soon to come: I’m writing a much more extensive post, outlining the tour and all that I learned. I took hundreds of photos in an effort to photo-document the site.
Stay tuned! Until then, here are a few teaser images:
The Sackville offices and transmitter building. I enjoyed a complete photo tour of this building, covering every hallway and office. (Click to enlarge.)
The new control station–completed only recently–allows for full remote operation of the site via the internet. (Click to enlarge.)
Shown above: the Harris transmitter, which almost exclusively carries the North Quebec service on 9,625 kHz. One of their oldest transmitters. (Click to enlarge.)
The right side of this double curtain antenna is used for transmissions to North Quebec on 9,625 kHz. (Click to enlarge.)
Yes, they use their RCI 4×4 truck all the time. The Sackville site is located on a marsh and experiences various challenging weather conditions. (Click to enlarge.)
The main floor, gleaming as ever. (Click to enlarge.)
When I post an article with the full tour and photos, search for the tag: Sackville
(Image: New Zealand Herald)
(Source: Radio Australia)
The Fiji Freedom and Democracy Movement in Australia has leased half an hour a week on the World Radio Network, a shortwave broadcaster, to get its anti-government message across.
Tui Savu, from the Australia-based Fiji Freedom and Democracy Movement told Pacific Beat that they have received positive feedback about the new program’s impact.
“We have had two test broadcasts and we have had our contacts report from all over Fiji. The contacts are coming back that it is being received loud and clear,” he said.
“Fijians, the way they have been raised, is that whatever comes through the media, they take it as gospel. So we are wanting to show an alternative, the other side.”
“The reason why we went for the radio is because the internet is only limited. This is a heart and mind campaign, directed at Fijians staying in the villages and rural areas. These are the people whose only source of information is through the radio.”
At present the program is for just 30 minutes broadcast only in Fijian. But Mr Savo says there are plans to eventually increase the program to one hour and address different groups within Fiji.
“Information is power, and that is why the Government has monopolised the media in Fiji, both the print and the spoken media,” he said.
” They know very well that if people start listening to the truth and to the other versions of what is truly happening in Fiji, then the people will be able to make up their own decisions.”
Clandestine stations often use shortwave radio as a means to broadcast into countries where local radio stations are either government controlled or banned from criticizing the ruling party. Indeed, a few years ago, Radio Australia increased their shortwave offerings in Fiji after being banned from broadcasting within the country.
Tagged: Why Shortwave Radio
My Tecsun PL-380 and Eagle Creek pack
SWLing Post reader, Alan, commented on our “most durable radios for travel” post:
You should include the Tecsun PL-380 [on] the list. It is an excellent tuner with good selectivity. The ETM feature was made for a traveler. The radio is cheap enough that it won’t bother you if you lose it or break it.
I have to say, I agree! In fact, I travel with the PL-380 quite often. It has become my back-up radio when I make field recordings (my primary portable for field is the Sony ICF-SW7600GR).
Eagle Creek pack with contents: Tecsun PL-380, Zoom H1 recorder, earphones, audio cables, external antenna, spare batteries and Kindle. Click to enlarge.
In fact, I have a small Eagle Creek bag with a shoulder strap that holds my field recording kit and other electronic “necessities:” Tecsun PL-380
active antenna (which I use primarily in hotel rooms with inoperable windows). To help you visualize, check out the photo on the right. It’s my grab-and-go bag.
This South African traveler, Paul Ash, will never travel without his shortwave radio again. It has taken him around the world and he has taken it around the world:
(Source: The Times Live)
[…]Some time in the 1980s, my ma gave me a Sony shortwave radio, nine shortwave bands in a box the size of a deck of cards. It was the equivalent of a permanent round-the-world air ticket. Night after night, I hopped frequencies, roaming with the Voice of America, the BBC’s World Service – the mother lode – sometimes the Dutch (when I could find them), and, occasionally, Radio Moscow. So, the Russians were real!
There were no radio plays here, to be sure, but drama – and propaganda – on a grand scale. One night, instead of swotting for the next day’s exam, I listened to the Berlin Wall come down, utterly transported from a summer night in Jo’burg to cheering with Berliners as they helped topple the concrete barrier in an orgy of tearful happiness.
When I started travelling, the radio came with me for entertainment and as an alarm – I figured if there was trouble brewing in whichever dodgy part of the world I was in, it would be the BBC who got wind of it first.
The little radio has been to Vietnam and Kenya, France and Senegal. It filled lonely nights while I roamed America like a freight-hopping bum. It survived a long kayak expedition up Lake Malawi and gave me and my cameraman a passable diversion during an ill-advised summer fortnight in the rotten Hotel Zambeze in Tete, the worst city in Mozambique, if not the world.
Last year, I ditched the radio in favour of a smartphone for a short trip to Poland. The bill for five days of roaming was R2500 without a single moment of entertainment. Never again.
Now the little Sony has fresh batteries and the shortwave frequencies are copied on the back of a business card. No charger, no roaming hassles and free to air. E-mail can wait. I’ll send a couple of postcards instead.[…]
Read the full article at The Times Live.
If you’re thinking about buying a shortwave radio for travel, check out our recommendations for the best travel radios.
Media Network, which covered international broadcasting developments, recently ended a 30-year run on RNW. In the first three articles of this series, Andy Sennitt recalled some of the highlights, and in this final part he looks at how international broadcasting might develop in the next ten years.
Below, I am posting the full article from the RNW website. I don’t typically do this, but I would certainly hate for this post to be deleted from the RNW site at some point in the future. I think Andy has great insight into the future of shortwave radio and his comments about international broadcasting are most valid (and, indeed, reflect my own).
Andy, we will miss you in Media Network, but wish you the best in your early retirement.
(Source: RNW)
Part four: the future
RNW headquarters in Hilversum, Netherlands (photo coutesty: RNW)
The first decade of this millennium saw a significant number of international radio broadcasters disappear from the air. For shortwave listeners, it was a decade of doom and gloom as station after station announced that they were ending or reducing their shortwave transmissions.
Hobby clubs which a few decades earlier had complained that international broadcasters were using too many shortwave frequencies were now begging them not to go off the air. I expect this pattern to continue during the next decade, though there will still be a significant amount of shortwave broadcasting to regions such as Africa, South Asia and parts of Latin America.
Shortwave broadcasts to Europe will be mostly from private, low budget stations and to North America from the various private US stations that carry mainly religious or right-wing talk programmes. Major international broadcasters such as the BBC, the Voice of America and its sister stations etc. will continue to have a significant presence, but their languages and targets will be more closely tied to current political developments and/or press freedom issues. There will be very little room for ‘legacy’ services, so in general jobs in international broadcasting will be far less secure than they once were.
China
An exception to this general rule is China, which continues to broadcast in more languages than any other country. Reliable sources with inside information have told me that the reach of some of these services is very small, and that China Radio International is very good at inflating numbers, for example by counting all the spam messages it receives as genuine emails from listeners. Another CRI strategy is to buy airtime on struggling AM stations in the West, although China does not so far offer reciprocal arrangements to Western broadcasters in China.
China also operates several international TV services, and an expanded range of such services from other countries seems certain. In recent months I’ve seen news of several more countries that intend to start TV broadcasts, and some of those already on the air plan to add more languages. The problem is that TV is a lot more expensive to produce than radio. The money has to come from somewhere, and especially in tough times for the economy the radio services usually suffer.
The French connection
It will be interesting to see what happens in France, where the international radio and TV services have been merged into a single organization. If the two can work together effectively, it could prove to be a successful merger that might inspire others to follow suit. I’m thinking of the international services of such countries as Russia, China and Iran, where the radio and TV services rarely mention each other’s existence, as if they are in competition with each other.
I wonder how long it will before we see a TV version of the radio services provided by WRN. When WRN started, it gave international broadcasters a chance to reach a new audience who didn’t listen to shortwave radio, and provided existing listeners with an alternative way of hearing their favourite international stations with better audio quality. Now there are a significant number of international TV channels, but they’re scattered across many different satellites, so only a satellite enthusiast with a large steerable dish and an expensive receiver is likely to see a significant number of them. A WRN-type service, with a variety of TV stations sharing the same transponder, might be a way to make some of the output available to a wider audience.
Websites & apps
In the meantime, the websites of international broadcasters will have to try harder to make people aware of their radio and/or TV programmes, and how to tune them in. It seems ridiculous that some large broadcasters with a staff of hundreds cannot get their act together to produce an accurate schedule of their output. Some only manage to update their schedule weeks after it has gone into effect. Others give the job of compiling the schedule to someone who doesn’t have a clue about technical matters, and then they don’t bother to check it before publication. Sometimes errors and typos are never corrected.
I expect to see more apps from international broadcasters for the various mobile and handheld platforms. These will increase the chances of getting content to the younger generation, to whom conventional radio listening is considered old-fashioned. But the content has to be suitable, and I hope that international broadcasters will recognise the need to have young people on their staff who understand how to serve this generation. Too much international broadcasting content is still produced with the over 50s in mind.
Time warp
International broadcasters must accept that in general they are far less significant than they once were. For example, since 1947 RNW has had a Dutch service whose reach was high amongst its target group of Dutch expats. But since the advent of the internet, the information that RNW used to provide can be found on numerous websites, and the USP (unique selling point) of RNW’s Dutch service is no longer valid. Hence the painful decision to close it.
I have the impression that many of the people who have made a career out of international broadcasting have in effect entered a time warp, and they have failed to realise how much has changed in the world outside. I recall taking part in an experimental phone-in at RNW in the 1980s, and the newsreader told me that he’d been reading the news for 30 years and that was the first time he’d ever seen or heard any audience reaction.
I once met an experienced BBC World Service producer who admitted that he had never heard BBCWS on shortwave. I decided that I couldn’t – and indeed shouldn’t – work in the strategy department unless I had some regular contact with the audience, so that’s why I’ve also been working part-time on the English website.
Drops in the ocean
Those international services that survive to the end of the current decade will be the ones that can face up to the challenge of creating content that their potential audience wants, making sure that the content is distributed on appropriate platforms, and letting people know about it. They’ll have to work a lot harder to stand out from the crowd. Instead of being big fish in a small pond as they were on shortwave, they’re tiny drops in the internet ocean. I wish them success. International broadcasting has been my life for nearly 40 years, and it has given me friends around the world. Now I’m off to make some around here.
(Source: Ventura County Star)
Shortwave listening like a fishing expedition
Trading clicks for turns, clarity for static … and really loving itIt starts with a high-pitched squeal followed by a burst of static.
[…]We’re living in the richest time the world has ever known when it comes to the availability of information from around the globe. But much of it arrives filtered – downsized into sound bites and a few seconds of video carefully selected and massaged by an editor. Almost everything you see and read has been interpreted and edited by professionals.
But when I spin the dial on my shortwave I travel to the source. Perhaps it’s the voice of an airline captain over the Atlantic reporting his position to an operator in New York. Or I may happen on music from a country I couldn’t even begin to spell. At other times I’ll come across news broadcasts from around the world — news that is told with the built-in biases and prejudices of the originating country. It’s all unfiltered, all coming to me as it happens. It’s such a random smorgasbord of information that there would be no way to duplicate it with a television or computer.
Unlike TV or the Web, shortwave listening is a lot like fishing. You never know what you’ll catch. Those who try it for the first time often find satisfaction and even excitement as they troll these waters and make their own catches for the first time.
