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Among the many victims of Hurricane Irma in September was the transmitter/antenna farm of Radio Miami International, WRMI in Okeechobee, located on a cattle ranch 40 miles inland from Port St. Lucie on Florida’s Atlantic coast.
On Sunday Sept. 10, Irma’s roaring winds tore across the flat plains housing WRMI’s 23 antenna systems, comprising a total of 68 towers — the largest commercial shortwave radio transmission site in the United States. The hurricane-force winds snapped one of WRMI’s towers in half, leaving the torn metal lattice dangling suspended in the transmission lines. A second tower was bent in half like a paperclip. Many transmission lines radiating from WRMI’s central 16,000-square-foot transmitter building to the arrays also were knocked down along with the telephone poles that supported them.
The post-Irma scene looked as if a drunken giant had wandered across the cattle ranch and tripped repeatedly, taking down whatever he had stumbled across.[…]
(Source: Elena Enache and Cristina Mateescu via email)
Dear listener,
On 5th November, Radio Romania International will be broadcasting its annual “Listener’s Day” programme in which we ask you, the listeners, what you think of the hot topics of the day. And this year’s topic is: “Fake news and trust in the media”.
What’s your experience of fake news in your country? What, in your opinion, is the greatest danger posed by fake news in today’s society? Do you associate fake news more with social media, or is it also to be found in traditional media? Has the rise of fake news affected your trust in traditional news sources? And if so, what can be done about it?
Send us your views and experiences by replying to this email. Better still, send us your reply as an audio file and we will try to include it in the programme. This is your day, so it’s your voice that should be heard!
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Elena Enache and Cristina Mateescu, the hosts of the “Listener’s Day” programme
If you would like to send them your message or audio file, please use the following email address: [email protected]
You can also listen to RRI’s English language programming live over the internet using the same SW broadcast schedule given above. All you need to do is go to the “RRI Live!” section in the top-right of our website, choose channel “2” for English and then select your desired audio format (WMA, MP3 or ACC).
Listen to English language programming on demand via the RRI website
RRI broadcasts in English are also available for listening on demand via our website. The “On Demand” feature is located immediately below the “RRI Live!” section in the top-right of the RRI homepage. To listen again to a programme all you need to do is select the date of broadcast from the drop-down list and then click the desired programme. Our programmes become available for listening on demand two hours after the original broadcast.
RRI and social media
RRI can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Google+, Flickr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, SoundCloud and Instagram.
RRI via mobile phone in the US and on TuneIn
Did you know that if you’re in the US you can also listen to RRI broadcasts on your mobile phone? Our English language programmes are available both live and on demand via the following AudioNow “call-to-listen” phone number: 716.274.2526. Calling this number incurs no extra charge above the equivalent of a standard US mobile phone call.
Our programs are also available on TuneIn (Radio Romania International 1)
Radio Caroline, the latter-day incarnation of the famous shipboard pirate radio station that beamed rock music to the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, has obtained a license to operate permanently on 648 kHz at 1 kW ERP. A transmitter imported from Europe has been undergoing necessary modifications to suit the MW frequency, which falls between the 10-kHz-spaced AM Standard Broadcast Band frequencies in the US.[…]
One of the joys of running the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA) is that, over time, more and more people have become aware of it and submit recordings they’ve had in their private collections for decades.
Quite often, SRAA off-air recordings were originally made on reel-to-reel or cassette tapes which degrade with time. When SRAA contributors take the time to digitize these recordings, and share them via the SRAA, they put these collections in the hands of hundreds of archivists. We’re grateful each time we receive one of these shortwave or mediumwave/AM recordings.
You can imagine my excitement when I received the following message from one of our newest contributors, Colin Anderton:
“As a space flight nut, I have many recordings from the 1970s from Radio Moscow. They used to broadcast on the medium wave, and I used to record the news bulletins during some of the space flights. In particular, there was a period between December 1977 and March 1978 when Soviet cosmonauts first lived aboard the Salyut 6 space station. I recorded each days’ news reports on the flights, and also some additional items about them.”
Colin’s recordings are amazing. Here’s a sample from December 10, 1977:
We’ve started publishing Colin’s recordings on the archive at regular intervals.
Interestingly, I discovered that Colin also has a website dedicated to NASA highlight recordings from the space age. Several months ago, he spent a considerable amount of time making the public domain series more listenable–removing voice-actuated recorder noises, tape clicks, etc.
Colin has made his collection of re-engineered NASA recordings free to download on his website. If you download and enjoy his recordings, consider dropping him a donation. If you’re into spaceflight like I am, you’ll certainly enjoy this collection:
Hurricane Damages Giant Radio Telescope—Why It Matters” at National Geographic, written by the daughter of Frank Drake, pioneer SETI investigator:
Scientists and ham radio operators have confirmed that the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico—arguably the world’s most iconic radio telescope, which has a dish stretching a thousand feet across—has come through Hurricane Maria mostly intact, but with some significant damage.
More importantly, the observatory’s staff sheltering on-site are safe, and the facility is in good enough condition to potentially serve as a local center for the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, reports Arecibo deputy director Joan Schmelz.
Because of its deep water well and generator, the observatory has been a place for those in nearby towns to gather, shower, and cook after past hurricanes. It also has an on-site helicopter landing pad, so making sure the facility is safe in general is not just of scientific importance, but is also relevant for local relief efforts.
News about the facility has been primarily coming from Arecibo telescope operator Ángel Vazquez, who managed to get to the site and start communicating via short-wave radio in the early evening of September 21.
According to initial reports, the hurricane damaged a smaller, 12-meter dish and it caused substantial damage to the main dish, including about 20 surface tiles that were knocked loose.
Also because of the storm, a 96-foot line feed antenna—which helps focus, receive, and transmit radio waves—broke in half and fell about 500 feet into the huge dish below, puncturing it in several places, says Pennsylvania State University’s Jim Breakall, who talked with Vazquez.[…]
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) – News anchorman Luis Penchi has slept about three hours a night since Hurricane Maria turned his radio station into one of the few sources of public information on this battered island.
Working more than 25 hours straight during the height of the devastating storm, the lay Franciscan friar and grandfather has emerged as a light in the darkness for Puerto Rican listeners trapped in a virtual telecommunications blackout.
The powerful storm knocked out electricity, internet, television and cell service for the U.S. territory’s 3.4 million people. When other radio stations went dark, WAPA 680 kept plugging, delivering a 24-hour stream of news, advice, messages and pleas for assistance from listeners desperate to connect with loved ones.
Barefoot and wearing shorts and a wooden crucifix at the San Juan station on Wednesday, the bright-eyed Penchi credited retro technology for helping WAPA power through the maelstrom, along with some divine intervention.
“I believe it was an act of God. This is the chosen station,” the 62-year-old said with laugh.
In the days and hours since the storm broke, the Spanish-language station has become a cornerstone of news, sending out bulletins across the devastated U.S. territory about relief efforts, road conditions and missing people. In the words of one of its owners, Carmen Blanco, WAPA turned into the unofficial “voice of the government” about the hurricane.
[…]Inside are echoes of an earlier age that for now is the norm in Puerto Rico. With power limited to the station’s generator, there is no air conditioning. Electronic frills have been reduced to the minimum. At the reception area, a woman wrote messages for broadcast on a typewriter.
Anchor Penchi credits such old-school resourcefulness for the station’s durability. He said WAPA stayed on the air because it had maintained its old analogue broadcasting capacity alongside its digital equipment.
Payam Heydari, an expert in radio technology at the University of California, Irvine, said basic analogue equipment tends to provide robust transmission over long distances. In comparison, he said, digital technology is highly dependent on electricity to power the relays needed to carry a signal.
“Therefore as soon as power goes down, so do the relays” on a digital signal, Heydari said.[…]
