Category Archives: Broadcasters

WRTH 2016: I’m glad I stopped by the post office

WRTH-2016

I just brought home my copy of WRTH 2016 from the post office. I didn’t expect it to arrive so soon from the UK, so I’m very much looking forward to reading through it over the next few days. It’s a special volume, too: WRTH’s 70th anniversary edition!

I’m also honored to have a feature article and two reviews in this particular edition.

You can order your copy from Amazon or Universal Radio here in the US, from Radio HF in Canada. Otherwise, consider ordering directly from WRTH online.

I’ll post an overview of WRTH 2016 in the coming days.

Download the 1923 “first Wireless Christmas” edition of The Radio Times

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RadioTimes1923

(Source: BBC Genome Blog via Mike Barraclough)

The much-loved Christmas edition of the Radio Times made its first appearance in 1923.

It was all very different to today’s multi-channel, on-demand world. There was only radio, and London station 2LO had a meagre five-and-a-half hours of programmes on Christmas Day.

But to some extent, the first Christmas issue set many traditions which have prevailed for decades in various guises. The cover was a warm splash of colour and very festive in tone, while the publication’s austere masthead was festooned with snow and holly.

John Reith, who went on to become the BBC’s first director general, was given the first page to deliver a message to listeners, in which he deliberated the meaning of Christmas and then inevitably talked about the joy of broadcasting and the “first Wireless Christmas”.

“The loud speaker is such a convenient entertainer,” he wrote. “He doesn’t feel hurt if a cracker is pulled in the middle of a song, or offended if the fun grows riotous during his performance”.

While Reith was keen to talk up the virtues of broadcasting, the magazine was packed with adverts for radio sets and cartoons about the joys of consuming radio programmes.

But Christmas is all about giving, and we’d like to offer you the chance to download the first Christmas issue. It’s a fascinating document and we hope you will enjoy it. Happy Christmas fromBBC Genome!

Download a PDF version of the 1923 Christmas Radio Times by clicking on this link

BBG Watch: BBG hit with $400M employee contractors suit

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(Source: BBG Watch via Dan Robinson)

A $400 million class action lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims against the Broadcasting Board of Governors over personnel and contracting practices overseen by top agency officials in recent years. The plaintiffs, several Voice of America (VOA) workers, allege that the U.S. government-funded, international news broadcaster’s Board of Governors denied proper pay and benefits to VOA employees intentionally misclassified as independent contractors by agency officials, Law360 website reported.

As reported by Law360, plaintiffs in the latest class action lawsuit allege that the Broadcasting Board of Governors has implemented a system of using “Purchase Order Vendors” (POVs) “for services indistinguishable from those of direct employees, to avoid a 30 percent budget increase from providing the lawful wages, paid leave, workers compensation, and tax contributions the workers are owed.”

“The BBG put the plaintiffs and class members on purchase orders so it could extract their faithful service to the United States while avoiding payment of the more substantial compensation that is owed to federal employees,” the complaint states.[…]

Continue reading on the BBG Watch website…

Berlin group distributes tiny radio transmitters for Syria

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In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 21, 2015, Philipp Hochleichter of the MICT (Media in Cooperation and Transmission) organization talks behind Pocket FM Radio Transmitters in Berlin, Germany. As part of the Syrian radio networking project, MICT has designed small modular FM transmitters. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

(Source: Yahoo News via Dan Robinson)

BERLIN (AP) — On the top floor of an old brick building in the heart of Berlin, a group of journalists and tech enthusiasts are working to spur the Syrian media revolution.

Their weapon is an unassuming black case the size of a shoebox that allows opposition radio stations in Syria to transmit inside hostile territory.

Dubbed PocketFM, the device is basically a low-powered radio transmitter. Coupled with a satellite dish to receive new programs, a car battery for power and a one-meter (three-foot) antenna, it can broadcast FM radio within a 5-kilometer (3-mile) radius.

That’s enough to cover a town or a city district, said Philipp Hochleichter, who oversees development of the device for the Berlin-based nonprofit organization Media in Cooperation and Transition.

The group has been training journalists in conflict zones for more than a decade and often relies on FM radio to reach populations in far-flung areas that don’t have access to the Internet or smartphones. But when the group realized that shifting front lines and the brutal treatment of journalists meant operating large broadcast antenna could become too cumbersome or risky, it developed PocketFM.

Continue reading on Yahoo News…

Castro wants an end to US broadcasts directed at Cuba

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Havana, Cuba (Photo: Wikimedia)

(Source: VOA News)

Cuban President Raul Castro is urging the U.S. government to stop radio and television broadcasts that Cuba considers harmful, while also saying that his government is willing to keep improving relations with the United States.

In a speech broadcast on state television Friday, Castro said that his government will “continue insisting that to reach normalized relations, it is imperative that the United States government eliminate all of these policies from the past.”

He noted that the U.S. government continues to broadcast to Cuba, including transmissions of Radio Marti and TV Marti, despite Cuba’s objections. Radio Marti and TV Marti are overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is also the parent organization of the Voice of America.

Castro also criticized U.S. immigration policy that allows Cuban migrants to live in the United States if they reach U.S. territory.

“A preferential migration policy continues to be applied to Cuban citizens, which is evidenced by the enforcement of the wet foot/dry foot policy, the Medical Professional Parole Program and the Cuban Adjustment Act, which encourage an illegal, unsafe, disorderly and irregular migration, foment human smuggling and other related crimes, and create problems to other countries,” Castro said.

Continue reading on VOA News online…

Ukraine to launch radio station for troops

Bill recommends WBCQ

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bill (W8LV), who writes:

I hope the SWLing Audience out there is familiar with WBCQ, and owner Allan’s Show: Allan Weiner Worldwide. It is broadcast on WBCQ 7.490 every Friday at 8 PM EST. It’s a Free Form Show with an email and call in number.

Allan talks about anything that crosses his mind, and of course that includes radio with every show. All of the shows are also archived at www.wbcq.com, as are many of the other offerings of WBCQ.

I also want to mention that Former Pirate JP Ferraro has a show there called Shortwave Saturday Night.

There are also many other shows, both live and archived on the WBCQ website! Ham radio, Marion’s Attic with the old cylinder records, etc…

And, the merriment of Former NYC Pirate Johnny P. Lightning is heard on WBCQ every other Sunday from 8PM EST till 11PM, frequently with a pre-show that starts at 7:30PM. John also takes emails and calls. You can also catch John’s Show: Radio New York International, a.k.a. A Little Bit of Radio Everything Radio Extravaganzo live encores, with archived ALBORE
shows at the 11L Network site:
www.johnlightning.com

These are real radio people, folks. And WBCQ is such a wonderful station, currently broadcasting on three frequencies from Monticello, Maine.

I hope you tune in!

Bill, you’re right: WBCQ is an amazing independent shortwave broadcaster! WBCQ staff are all true die-hard shortwave listeners as well. A great bunch. I also tune to the shows you mentioned above–another one I love is beHAVior Night on WBCQ every Friday at 5:00 PM EST.

Thanks again, Bill!