Category Archives: Clandestine

Sean’s A15 Season International Broadcasting Statistics

Many thanks to Sean Gilbert, International Editor at the World Radio TV Handbook, who is kindly sharing some international broadcasting statistics with us again. These statistics were originally posted on the WRTH Facebook group:

Seasonal Language Output Comparison

[F]or the top 19 languages used in international (and Domestic SW) broadcasting. There are 10 seasons worth of data to compare. In those 10 seasons, we have seen an overall drop of 33%, the biggest casualties being Farsi, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, English & Indonesian. Tibetan is usually fairly stable with it’s output being pretty constant over the past 9 seasons – this season, however sees a huge increase in output (+69%), mainly due to the USA hiking output of the language this season. In sheer numbers of data lines (which is how this table has always been generated), English is the biggest casualty, dropping 104 transmission periods per week.

Click to enlarge.

A transmission period is based on the following data structure:
Shown below are 2 “transmission periods” for WWCR and 1 for WWRB. 2 in English and 1 in Spanish. These transmission periods cover a weeks worth of output on that frequency at that time for that broadcaster.

WWCR 1630-2100 English wcr 100 NAm,Eu,NAf daily 15825
WWCR 2100-2200 Spanish wcr 100 NAm,Eu,NAf daily 15825
WWRB 0100-0400 English wrb 100 NAm daily 3195

So a transmission period could, in reality, be from 5 minutes on a single day to 24 hours, daily, depending on the broadcaster. There are nearly 5000 of these entries in our database for this season (When I started at WRTH back in 2000, there were over 10000 entries). Of these 5000 entries, over 3600 are taken up by just 19 languages. The other 1400 entries share somewhere in the region of 200 languages/dialects and combinations! Although this doesn’t show how many hours a particular language has decreased by, it does show the ongoing trend in International broadcasting by radio.

A15 International Broadcasting Season Facts

There are 191 schedules listed in the International Radio and COTB (Clandestine & Other Targeted Broadcasts) section of the WRTH A15 schedules file.

Who uses the most frequencies? CRI, with a whopping 279 frequencies in use. The next largest station, by frequency use is (probably quite surprising to many of you) Voice of the Iranian Republic of Iran (VOIRI) with 140 (that is half the amount of CRI!). Next is VOA with 126; then RFA at 112; BBC at 110 then Sound of Hope Radio International with 84 and All India Radio at 67.

Below is a list of the ‘Top 20’ broadcasters in terms of frequency usage. If you were to do a study of actual transmitted time, the list would look rather different. I will shortly post a table showing the top languages, by use, and what has changed over the past 10 broadcasting seasons.

CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL (CRI): 279 frequencies
VOICE OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN (VOIRI): 140 frequencies
BBG – VOICE OF AMERICA (VOA): 126 frequencies
BBG – RADIO FREE ASIA (RFA): 112 frequencies
BBC WORLD SERVICE: 110 frequencies
SOUND OF HOPE RADIO INTERNATIONAL: 84 frequencies
ALL INDIA RADIO (AIR): 67 frequencies
RADIO ROMANIA INTERNATIONAL (RRI): 56 frequencies
AWR ASIA/PACIFIC: 52 frequencies
RADIO JAPAN (NHK WORLD): 49 frequencies
VOICE OF TURKEY (VOT): 43 frequencies
RADIO TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL (RTI): 41 frequencies
BBG – RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY (RFE/RL): 33 frequencies
KBS WORLD RADIO: 32 frequencies
SAUDI INTERNATIONAL RADIO: 32 frequencies
AWR AFRICA/EUROPE: 30 frequencies
VATICAN RADIO: 29 frequencies
RADIO CAIRO 29: frequencies
VOICE OF KOREA (VOK): 27 frequencies
FEBC PHILIPPINES: 26 frequencies

63 broadcasters, or so, use just a single frequency.

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Sudan: a “failure to block Radio Dabanga”

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(Source: Radio Dabanga via Andy Sennitt)

The Sudanese Minister of Information has admitted that attempts by the Sudanese government to prevent broadcasts by Radio Dabanga have failed.

Minister Ahmed Bilal was speaking in the Council of States on Tuesday. He pointed out the need “to create a number of radio stations to attract listeners and compete with Radio Dabanga, which incites the people”.

The Minister was facing harsh criticism of the State media from Members including Abdul Jabbar Abdul Karim. Karim accused the state media of not highlighting the facts and lacking integrity and credibility, acknowledging that Radio Dabanga and the Alrakubh website are the most popular news sources for citizens.

[…]Radio Dabanga broadcasts to Sudan from neighbouring countries via shortwave. The Sudanese censors have tried repeatedly to jam the signal, to little avail.

In May, a report to the Sudanese parliament acknowledged that that the majority of the people in Darfur and Kordofan prefer Radio Dabanga to any national broadcasting station.

MP Abdallah Ali Masar, former Media Minister, and currently chairman of the Transport Committee, commented by saying that his wife listens to Radio Dabanga “day and night. Every day, when I come home, I find her listening to Radio Dabanga.”

Read the full article on Radio Dabanga’s website.

[Bravo, Radio Dabanga!]

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Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) to end shortwave broadcasts

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Hat tip to SWLing Post reader, Jonathan Marks, for sharing this news item:

(Source: Burma News International)

At the end of October, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) will stop producing its ethnic language radio program after 21 years of broadcasting, a decision revealed yesterday during a meeting of staff members from DVB’s Ethnic Groups’ Program.

“Because there are more and more magazines and journals [being distributed] in the country, the audience [listening through] short-wave radio has become smaller. We broadcast the news at six in the morning and nine in the evening, but at those times the audience has demonstrated a preference for newspapers and journals instead of waiting for us,” said DVB editor U Khin Maung Soe.

According to a US-based group which collects data on short-wave radio audiences in Burma, the DVB’s short-wave radio programs only attract 2% of the Burmese exile radio station audience, the smallest percentage among the four exile stations.

Due to such small audience numbers, DVB donors have suggested that the organization stop broadcasting radio programs and produce TV media programs instead. However, changing from radio to TV broadcasting may pose challenges and difficulties for those in charge of the DVB’s Ethnic Groups’ Program.

[…]The DVB’s current ethnic language radio program is broadcast in Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, Mon, Rakhine, and Shan languages.

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) launched the DVB Burmese Program in Oslo, Norway and also broadcasts from Oslo. For its part, the DVB Ethnic Language Program was founded by ethnic armed groups on July 19, 1993 at the Karen Nation Union’s former Marnepalaw headquarters.

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SW Radio Africa lost donor support

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According to Radio VOP, SW Radio Africa’s closure is due to a loss of donor support. Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Richard Cuff, for the tip:

(Source: Radio VOP)

“London-based SW Radio Africa has been forced to cease broadcasting after losing donor support.

SW Radio Africa, a non-profit station which broadcasts daily into Zimbabwe on shortwave, is winding up it operations on August 10.

Gerry Jackson, SW Radio Africa founder and editor, confirmed the impeding closure of the radio station which used to air daily between 6 and 9pm Zimbabwean time.

[…]The radio station was set up by a group of Zimbabwean journalists and started airing on December 19, 2001. The North London-based independent radio station had gathered a growing number of listeners, with its existence infuriating the Zimbabwean government.

[…]Staff at the radio station said they were disappointed that donor withdrawal had led to the downfall of the radio station.”

Read the full news item at Radio VOP.

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SW Radio Africa to close down August 10

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Only a few weeks ago we mentioned that the clandestine station, SW Radio Africa, stopped broadcasting via shortwave. It appears now that SWRA will completely close down:

(Source: Shortwave Radio Africa via Richard Cuff)

“It is with regret that SW Radio Africa announces that it is closing down. We recently stopped our shortwave transmissions but have continued to provide broadcasts via our website and other formats, but these too will cease.

We’d like to thank the organisations and individuals who have supported us for the past 13 years and the contributors to our programs who have given so willingly of their time and expertise.

In particular we’d like to thank our listeners, who have shared their lives, hopes and dreams and helped us to tell the story of Zimbabwe’s sad decline to the world.

We hope that one day Zimbabwe finally has a government who understands that its sole responsibility is to ensure a safe, healthy, prosperous life for every man, woman and child in the country.

Our first broadcast was on 19th December 2001.
Our last broadcast will be on 10th August 2014.

It’s been a privilege.

Gerry Jackson
Founder/Editor
4th August 2014”

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VOA and RFA via homemade radios in North Korea

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Anil, for sharing this article regarding the importance and inspiration radio provides to many North Koreans. This comes from our favorite North Korea independent news site, NK News.

Here’s a quote from the article from a North Korean defector known as “Park”:

“I have been listening to the North Korea Reform Radio and other outside radios since 13 years ago,” he said.

Using this homemade radio, Park could access VOA, RFA, NKRR, VOP, RFC and ONK over the past five years.

“Frankly, the ideological education in North Korea is so strong that many people including myself could not believe the content of the outside world radio,” he said of his first experience listening with the device. “I was once certain that this radio signal was sent by someone who was trying to deceive us.

“But this radio played strong role in motivating me to escape North Korea. My friends and I used to regularly listened to NKRR and other radio programs inside the underground hideout.

“Many told me to quit listening to those radio signals and start making money for myself, but with the help of this radio, I finally decided to escape the North.”

Read the full article, including a description and photos of Park’s homemade radio at NK News.

In addition, note that North Korea is the theme of this year’s San Fransisco Hackathon.

To follow other posts about North Korea, please note the tag: North Korea

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SWRA to end shortwave broadcasts

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Zimbabwe ranks 135 out of a possible 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index.

The clandestine station, Shortwave Radio Africa, announced today that it will end shortwave radio broadcasts to Zimbabwe. As we’ve posted before, Zimbabwe is a country that does not exactly embrace free press. Indeed, Mugabe has even been known to order the confiscation of self-powered shortwave radios from citizens.

I have a hunch this closure is due to financial constraints. I’ve pasted SWRA’s announcement below:

SWRA shortwave broadcasts to end

Gerry Jackson
SW Radio Africa
17th July 2014

It is with regret that SW Radio Africa announces that after 13 years, our shortwave broadcasts are to end on Friday 18th July.

You have welcomed us into your homes since our first shortwave broadcast on 19th December 2001.

Our broadcasts will continue on our website, via Channel Zim through TV decoders, and by various other forms of new media.

We know how much these shortwave broadcasts have meant to our listeners in more remote areas who have so little access to news and information, and we sincerely regret that we will no longer be able to provide this service.

We would like to thank our listeners who have been such loyal supporters for so many years and also for their willingness to share the stories of their lives with us on our Callback program. This has allowed people all over the world to have a better understanding of the many crises that Zimbabweans continue to face.

We can only hope that one day, sooner rather than later, there is real media freedom that allows Zimbabweans, wherever they are in the country, easy access to what is a basic human right – freedom of information and expression.

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