(Update 18 August 2011)
Digging back through our archives, I found this video post from February. If you aren’t familiar with the history of the VOA Bethany site, this is a must see.
Thanks to Kim Elliott for bringing to my attention.
I just discovered (via PRI’s The World Technology Podcast) a 2010 radio documentary about lifelong radio designer and repairman, Gerry Wells.
If you haven’t heard it before, I suggest you drop what you’re doing and give it a listen below. This is the most charming radio doc I’ve ever heard out of the BBC World Service.
For archival purposes, I have a full copy of the radio doc available for download by clicking here.
Again, a special thanks to Clark Boyd with PRI’s The World for bringing this to my attention.
Jocelyne Sambira
In many countries ravaged by war and violent conflict, radio is sometimes the only way of getting information. In most of these regions, there is little or no infra- structure and when people are on the run, it is sometimes the only link to the world they have left behind.
This inspiring article written by journalist, Jocelyne Sambira for we_magazine shows how radio broadcasts and journalism, in general, bring listeners clarity in the midst of chaos.
Thank you to Radio World for publishing this:
A teacher with an ETOW radio in Bor County, Southern Sudan. Courtesy Project Education Sudan
For as long as I can remember I’ve been passionate about radio.
From my earliest childhood memories in the 1980s during those final fading days of the Cold War — of my dad tuning in WWV in Fort Collins, Colo., on his dad’s vintage RCA 6K3; of falling asleep listening to my then-old-fashioned AM transistor radio; and of drinking in all those mysterious DX stations I heard over shortwave and medium-wave … I was the sort of kid (a throwback to a former generation, one might say) who couldn’t get enough of radio.
In those days when cable TV and video games and the first PCs upstaged and supplanted radio in nearly every American household, even in the blue collar town in which I grew up, it was nonetheless radio that captured my imagination, and taught me early on that everyone has a story. Radio taught me, too, that each voice is different in his or her consideration of what’s meaningful or newsworthy. I learned to understand or at least appreciate the diverse perspectives I heard in my vicarious radio journeys, and from these sprang my own opinions, hopes, beliefs. Radio became my teacher—a teacher who gave me, in my formative years, a global perspective.
I would have to say that radio has shaped my life. I suppose that’s why radio recently has become a mission for me…
…Today, I am the founder and director of Ears to Our World, a grassroots charitable organization with a simple objective: distributing self-powered world-band radios to schools and communities in the third world, so that kids, not to mention those who teach them, can learn about their world, too.
I want others –– children and young people, especially –– who lack reliable access to information, to have the world of radio within their reach.
Click here to read the full article.
More links:
I like Bob’s contemporary take on radio listening. Embrace old and new technologies:
Here’s the thing. I have radios that pick up FM, AM and short wave signals, but I also have an IP, or internet radio, that picks up signals that are broadcast from various sources. So while I’m cooking in my suburban Maryland kitchen, I can listen to WFUV originating from the Bronx, or The Current from Minneapolis or KEXP in Seattle. These are traditional radio signals but they are no longer bound by geography. Before finishing the meal I whipped up, I could also potentially hear a homemade folk music show from Norway, some classical Hindi music, a tech show and so much more.
Links:
Over the past weeks, many of you may have noticed that the website for Passport To World Band Radio, Passband.com (note: no hyperlinking here), has closed shop. This, of course, following the death of every SWLer’s favorite guide, the Passport To World Band Radio. If this is new to you, read some of our previous posts about this.
As I pointed out in previous posts, do not despair! There are alternatives for finding shortwave radio schedules. For starters, consider purchasing the World Radio and TV Handbook. If you’re looking for online sources of schedules, also consider some alternatives I listed on SWLing.com’s Resource page.
Passband.com was a great source for news in the world of shortwave radio. I (humbly) believe our blog, the SWLing Post, is as well. Consider subscribing to our RSS feed. Also, check our Blogroll links (right navigation column) for other great radio websites.
We also offer shortwave radio reviews in simple form on our main site and also in (this) blog portion of our website.
At SWLing.com we are also active advocates for shortwave radio–we frequently make our opinions about how vital radio is throughout the world known to international broadcasters and we give you the opportunity to do the same.
Remember, you’re not alone and shortwave radio is not dead. Indeed, it’s quite an active lifeline to many communities around our small planet.
Happy listening!
(Source: New Zealand Herald)
In a move inspired by pirate radio stations of the 1960s, political activists in the South Pacific are planning to position a Dutch-registered merchant vessel in international waters off the coast of Fiji to defy censors in the military dictatorship.
Opponents of the coup leader and self-appointed Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, hope to have the station broadcasting news and interviews by the end of next month to circumvent draconian media laws imposed on press, radio and television.
Since taking power in a military coup in December 2006, Fiji’s strongman has slowly eaten away at the country’s democratic freedoms, installing newsroom censors and cracking down on foreign media ownership.
Newspapers and radio stations now have to be 90 per cent locally owned, a stipulation that will almost certainly see the closure of the 140-year-old Fiji Times.
The popular title, which has been owned by News Ltd since 1987, has been emasculated since the censors moved in to demand the removal of any anti-government stories.
With most of the population too poor to access the internet or satellite television, most Fijians rely on the press and transistor radios for their news. That is why Usaia Waqatairewa of the Fiji Democracy Movement has opted for pirate broadcasting.
Now exiled in Australia, he plans to stream live programming to the ship from a Sydney newsroom and rebroadcast the material from a transmitter on the AM waveband.
“The basic purpose is to inform the public of what’s really happening in Fiji so they can make an informed decision about whether to support Bainimarama or not,” he said.
Even the phones no longer guarantee confidentiality since the Government ordered mobile and landline users to register all their personal details. One local carrier, Vodafone, is also demanding that customers provide a left-hand thumb print and PIN, which the user would normally keep secret.
The head of the Justice Ministry, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, claims the compulsory registration of all phones is the result of a spate of bomb threats and bogus calls. Critics suggest it is more to do with the interim Government wanting to create a database of callers whose views do not correspond with the regime’s.
Telephone paranoia even extends to some tourists. A German businessman who used his satellite phone in a restaurant recently was reported to the police, who promptly raided his hotel room. He left the country in disgust shortly afterwards.
So far, such stories have not damaged tourism, which is one of the few Fijian industries still booming. A devalued currency and a strong Australian dollar have made Fiji a bargain destination for overseas holidaymakers.
But while the tourists are still heading to Fiji, businesses are pulling out. Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has sold its Fijian arm, and Qantas is trying to sell its 46 per cent stake in Fiji’s national airline, Air Pacific. Despite these economic warning signals, Commodore Bainimarama remains determined to do things his way. He has promised to go to the country in 2014 but as he has repeatedly postponed his general election plans, few believe he will keep his word.
And if an application for a loan of more than $700 million from the IMF fails, “the country’s economic outlook will be shocking”, says Anthony Bergin of the Australian Strategic Policy Unit.
CRACKDOWN LEADS TO POVERTY AND FEAR
Fiji has had four coups in the past two decades and is facing an economic crisis that threatens to bring more instability to the 800,000 people who inhabit this sprawling archipelago.
And there are concerns about human rights as Commodore Frank Bainimarama cracks down on those who oppose his dictatorship.
In a rare interview aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last month, the military leader said “we’ll need to shut some people up” before the country can return to democracy. “I don’t trust the people,” declared the Prime Minister, adding that he was none too happy about politicians or the judiciary, either.
After silencing the powerful Methodist Church and the chiefs who are the traditional rulers of this fiercely patriotic nation, Commodore Bainimarama sacked many judges.
Suspended from the Commonwealth, Fiji risks becoming a pariah in the region.
The Prime Minister also recently expelled Australia’s acting high commissioner to Fiji.
The reforms he talks about strike at the heart of Fiji’s racially divided society. For many years, about half the population was of Indian origin, descendants of indentured labourers brought to Fiji in the 19th century to help in the sugar industry. Faced with eviction from their farms after their leases expired, thousands of Indians have sought refuge overseas while many of those unable to leave have ended up in squatter camps.
When Commodore Bainimarama seized power he promised a fairer society, with legislation designed to protect the interests of the Indian community. But unemployment, poverty and fear have created a society whose people are often too scared to talk.
– Independent
By Roger Maynard
NOTE: We’ve been following the story in Fiji for more than a year now as it is a prime example of how important shortwave radio is to people who live in a country that restricts local media. Check out our previous posts about the situation in Fiji.
