Category Archives: Broadcasters

Radio Canada International 70th Anniversary was bittersweet for some

The transmitter building of Radio Canada International, Sackville, NB.

The transmitter building of Radio Canada International, Sackville, NB (June, 2012).

RCI Action

We recently noted that Radio Canada International (RCI) celebrated its 70th year anniversary.  While it was certainly an amazing milestone–dating back to WWII–it was a bittersweet celebration for some. Check out this article on the RCI Action blog:

“The flood of wonderful memories, fueled by the old and not so old photos of Radio Canada International’s 70 years, is now, as I write this, suddenly mixed with regret, lost opportunities, and missing colleagues.

In a way I dreaded this anniversary, not knowing how to deal with this important milestone.

RCI has survived all these years since its first broadcast on February 25, 1945, as Canada’s Voice to the World. But now, almost three years after an 80% budget cut that took us off shortwave radio, cutting us off from our listeners, how do you celebrate? How do you not look with some exasperation, regretfully, wistfully, at how little people, even colleagues, know about RCI’s proud achievements, and its path-breaking innovations?

The contradictions of how some viewed us and the reality is almost too much to bear. People say we used outdated technology, weren’t moving with the times, and no longer needed to explain Canada to the world.

Yet none of this is true.”

[Continue reading on RCI Action…]

Sheldon Harvey

My good friend, and host of the International Radio Report, Sheldon Harvey was interviewed  by Lynn Desjardins of Radio Canada International regarding Radio Canada International’s 70th anniversary. Here is a link to the story and the audio of the interview now accessible through RCI’s webpage

Amanda Dawn Christie

Amanda Dawn Christie

Amanda Dawn Christie

On a similar note, you might check out this interview between Wojtek Gwiazda and film marker, Amanda Dawn Christie. Amanda is making a documentary film about the destruction of the RCI Sackville transmitter site.

Click here to listen to the full interview via Radio Canada International online.

Check out Amanda’s short video of several towers as they were taken down:

Shortwave Shindig Rebroadcast: March 7, 2015

ShindigLogoWhiteI’ve just learned via @shortwaveology that the Shortwave Shindig will be rebroadcast on Saturday March 7, 2015 from 10:00-11:00 PM EST (that’s Sunday from 0300-0400 UTC) via WRMI on 7,570 khz.

Those of you who tuned into the live show last Friday noted that the audio dropped out at times–this was due to a flaky Internet connection at the hotel where the ‘Shindig was held. You will hear the full show, without interruption, in this rebroadcast.

I plan to record this show, but would certainly appreciate other recordings as well to add to the archive. On that note, a few of you have sent recordings of the original broadcast (thank you!)–I will post those as soon as I’ve caught up with work, post-‘Fest!

Leaving so soon? The BBG may lose their new CEO, Andy Lack

Jeff Shell, Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, congratulates Andy Lack after swearing him in as the first ever CEO of U.S. international media. (Image Source: BBG Press Release)

Jeff Shell, Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, congratulates Andy Lack after swearing him in as the first ever CEO of U.S. international media. (Image Source: BBG Press Release)

Many thanks to Dan Robinson, who shared links to several news stories that propose Andrew Lack may be leaving the CEO position of the Broadcasting Board of Governors to return to NBC.

Here’s a clip from the Washington Post:

Former NBC news president and former Bloomberg Media chairman Andy Lack, who was brought in to fix the perennially troubled U.S. international media operations, is leaving after just six weeks on the job.

[…] Lack is in negotiations with NBC News to return to a top job there, according to report Tuesday in Variety, the entertainment news publication, dashing the hopes of State Department and BBG officials who wanted the high-powered media executive to energize U.S. overseas media operations.

The negotiations were spurred, Variety noted, by the crisis set off at NBC News by the Brian Williams debacle and suspension.

So rather than right the ship at BBG — he had talked about growing the operation, not cutting it — Lack is apparently going off to right the other ship.”

[Read the full article on the Washington Post website.]

Indeed, this story was featured in the following news sources:

If Andy does make the move, we’ll post an update.

Reception of the Shortwave Shindig

ShindigLogoWhiteThanks to so many of you who tweeted, commented and sent messages with live reception reports of the Shortwave Shindig! Despite a little technical difficulty with our Internet connection, which dropped the audio stream to WRMI for a few minutes, the show was quite a success.

And many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Chris Freitas, in Memphis, Tennessee, who writes:

This is audio from Shortwave Shindig at 9 pm Central time at the SWL Winterfest at Plymouth Meeting, PA on 2/27/15. It was transmitted via WRMI on 7570 khz & received in Memphis on Tecsun PL-660. As you can hear, it came in very well.

Reception reports from the east coast of the US, all the way to west coast were most positive. It’s amazing how well WRMI covers the continent.

Speaking of WRMI, we would like to extend a big thanks to Jeff White for extending the Shindig air time–what a great fellow you are, Jeff!