Category Archives: International Broadcasting

Radio Romania International to broadcast programs in Ukrainian

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Andrea Bornino, who shares the following news via National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine. Please note that this following has been translated from Ukrainian to English via Google Translate. Click here for the original.

Radio Romania will broadcast programs and newscasts in Ukrainian

Radio Romania will broadcast news and special programs on its national, regional stations and on international frequencies in Ukrainian. The initiative will facilitate access to information for Ukrainians who have temporarily relocated or are passing through Romania due to Russian aggression.

Radio Romania stressed that in the difficult international situation caused by the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the radio provides real-time listeners in Romania with proven news, paying special attention to Ukrainian-language broadcasts.

The stations of Radio Romania , covering the border areas – Radio Sigit , Radio Iasi and Radio Constanta , as well as Radio Chisinau , broadcast daily 3 news programs from the International Radio Romania in Ukrainian under the following program:

- Constanta and Iasi – 9:00, 14:00 and 18:00;
- Sigit – 6:00, 11:00 and 14:00;
- Chisinau – 10:00, 15:00 and 20:00.

Radio Sigit broadcasts a special program from Monday to Friday for 40 minutes a day, providing relevant information and messages from Ukrainian citizens who have crossed the border with Romania, as well as messages received by phone and other relevant information.

To these should be added regular regional programs in Ukrainian:

- Radio Cluj – 20 minutes a week, Sunday, 7:00 – 7:20;
- Timisoara Radio – 1 hour per week, Sunday, 18:00 – 19:00;
- Radio Resita – 30 minutes a week, Monday, 20:15 – 20:45;
- Radio Iasi – 30 minutes a week, Thursday, 20:30 – 21:00.

Radio Constanta also plans to include information in Ukrainian in its daily newscasts in cooperation with the Ukrainian community in Tulcea. Audio news in Ukrainian and text in Romanian are also adopted by the Rador news agency under the heading “Ukraine – News in Ukrainian – War in Ukraine” .

International Radio Romania broadcasts shortwave, live broadcasts on the Internet, on the website www.rri.ro and on Soundcloud. Three programs in Ukrainian – at 18:00, 20:00 and 22:00, 26 minutes a day – focusing on the current situation in Ukraine, as well as the Romanian communities in Ukraine and the Ukrainian communities in Romania. Broadcasts of RRI (International Radio Romania) in Ukrainian can be listened to on request on the RRI website and on Soundcloud. The on- air content is available online at the link .

Earlier, Radio Romania launched a broadcast of Ukrainian Radio on its websites Radio Romania and Rador . And the Romanian public broadcaster TVR has started broadcasting a special program for temporary migrants from Ukraine, received via satellite from Ukrainian public and commercial TV channels. Such an initiative will help Ukrainians in crisis to receive informational support.

It will be recalled that Ukrainian Radio can be listened to in the FM and AM bands throughout the country . Due to the expansion of mid-wave broadcasting, the Ukrainian Radio signal covers most of the territory of Ukraine, including small settlements, which do not reach the signal of existing FM transmitters.

All channels of the Public Radio have switched to the transmission of the Ukrainian Radio signal, they can be listened to in the mobile application suspilne.radio and on the website ukr.radio .

Click here to read the original article.

Radio Waves: Station of National Resistance, CEPT Suspends Russia/Belarus, ABC Pacific Expansion, Live Ukraine News Stream, and Mali Bans French Radio & TV

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to the SWLing Post contributors who share the following tips:

Ukraine’s radio station of national resistance (The New Yorker)

High up in the Carpathian Mountains, two Kyiv broadcasters keep the signal alive.

Recently, at a closed ski resort in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, Roman Davydov leaned into a microphone and announced the latest news from the war. Kryvyi Rih, in southern Ukraine, was being attacked; a U.S. journalist had been shot; and the British Foreign Secretary had announced new sanctions on Russian oligarchs in London. Davydov, who is forty-three, with dark hair and an oft-furrowed brow, is the voice of Kraina FM, an independent radio station that, after Russian bombing began in Kyiv, relocated to an undisclosed location. (The staff of Kraina FM asked me not to identify the village, for security reasons.) Outside Davydov’s improvised booth, a corner office lent to Kraina FM by a local accountant, an odd sense of normalcy reigned. Beyond the ski-rental shop, where a cluster of sandbags had been piled, a man in a blue jacket and ski goggles operated a small lift for a children’s slope in the bright sunshine.

The area, which is several hours south of Lviv, has become a shelter for displaced people, Bogdan Bolkhovetsky, Davydov’s colleague, told me. Bolkhovetsky, Kraina FM’s station general manager, said that he and Davydov had arrived in the village “by pure chance.” The west of the country is full of refugees, and there are few places for families to stay as they make their way toward the borders of Europe. “We found this place because it was the only place vacant,” Bolkhovetsky said. They arrived in the evening on February 27th; just days later they were setting up the station in a sloped-ceilinged, wood-panelled space that barely fit their two desks. They acquired laptops and a mixer from the supply of aid making its way from the rest of Europe to Ukraine. “We called our friends in Austria and they were so quick,” Bolkhovetsky said. “Guys we’ve never met just sent us the equipment, and a friend of ours brought this equipment in. I mean, they brought us these German laptops and the mixing console and we’ve never seen these people before.” [Continue reading…]

Russia and Belarus suspended from CEPT membership (CEPT via Southgate ARC)

On March 17 the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications (CEPT) announced the indefinite suspension of Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine

The CEPT announcement said:

Outcome of the written procedure with the CEPT Assembly regarding suspension of the Russian Federation and Belarus from CEPT Membership.

Based on a request from a number of CEPT members, the CEPT Presidency carried out a written procedure, in accordance with the CEPT Arrangement, on the proposal to suspend indefinitely and with immediate effect the memberships of the Russian Federation and Belarus in the CEPT.

Thirty-four responses were received to the CEPT Assembly letter in support of the proposal and one abstention.

Based on the above, the CEPT Assembly has therefore decided: Continue reading →

Vatican Radio insreases shortwave news broadcasts to Ukraine & Russia

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia LW4DAF, who shares a link to the following announcement from Vatican Radio:

Vatican Radio increases shortwave broadcasts to Ukraine and Russia

From next Monday the Pope’s radio station will expand its Ukrainian and Russian programmes. The increase of shortwave frequencies aims to empower the Radio’s outreach in its mission to communicate the Gospel message and to “read” current events through this perspective.

By Vatican News

From Monday, 21 March, Vatican Radio will increase its shortwave broadcasts to Ukraine and Russia. In addition to the two daily broadcasts (afternoon and evening) in the two languages, the morning programmes to Moscow and Kyiv will last twenty minutes longer.

“The decision,” Massimiliano Menichetti, head of Vatican Radio Vatican News explains, “was taken with the agreement of the entire management team of the Dicastery for Communication, at this time when war is raging, in order to better respond to our mission: to bring hope, the Pope’s words and the reading of facts through the light of the Gospel to the whole world.”

In these past weeks, he added, thanks to a network of direct contacts that support the work of our reporters, we are trying to give comfort to those who are suffering and to ensure timely information.

The frequencies of Vatican Radio, the pages and posts of Vatican News in 51 languages (including English and Italian in sign language) aim to not leave anyone alone, even in the awareness of the power of prayer”.

Vatican Radio’s new shortwave broadcasts

Until 26 March

Russian, CET 06:00-06:20, UTC 05:00-05:20, 7260 kHz, 9715 kHz
Ukrainian, CET 06:20-06:40, UTC 05:20-05:40, 7260 kHz, 9715 kHz

From Sunday, 27 March

Russian, CET 07:00-07:20, UTC 05:00-05:20, 7260 kHz, 9705 kHz
Ukrainian, CET 06:40-07:00,UTC 04:40-05:00, 7260 kHz, 9705 kHz

Click here to read this announcement at Vatican Radio.

RFE/RL Opens Offices In Latvia & Lithuania

As War Transforms Media Landscape in Europe, RFE/RL Opens Offices In Latvia, Lithuania

WASHINGTON—Following the forced suspension of RFE/RL operations in Russia on March 6, RFE/RL is pleased to announce the opening of news bureaus in Riga, Latvia and Vilnius, Lithuania. These offices will house teams from RFE/RL’s Russia and Belarus services and the 24/7 Current Time global digital and TV network, and also provide a base for new investigative journalism projects and digital innovation hubs.

Said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly, “These new bureaus will allow RFE/RL to continue to engage with our audiences in Russia and Belarus, despite those government’s best efforts to silence independent journalism. RFE/RL will expand its already-successful efforts to reach Russian and Belarusian audiences with the relevant news they seek, and desperately need. We are grateful to the Latvian and Lithuanian governments for their commitment to press freedom and their support for vulnerable journalists who have had to seek safe haven outside their home countries.”

In Riga, RFE/RL plans to establish a multimedia hub that will host Russian Service and Current Time staff displaced from Russia. The Latvian capital will also house a new, Russian-language investigative journalism unit and a digital innovation hub designed to counter disinformation and develop strategies to circumvent online censorship across delivery platforms. The Vilnius news bureau will primarily host displaced Belarus Service journalists forced to flee after the flawed 2020 elections, as well as a new reporting team being set up by Current Time to serve the needs of the network’s Russian-speaking audiences in Belarus.

RFE/RL’s impact during the first two weeks of Russia’s war on Ukraine demonstrates the appetite within Russia and Belarus for a credible, uncensored alternative to Kremlin media about the full scope of the conflict. Between February 24 and March 16, the number of views of RFE/RL videos on YouTube from Russia tripled to nearly 238 million, while the number of visits, page views, and unique visitors to its websites from Russia rose by 34 percent, 51 percent, and 53 percent respectively. As for Belarus, the number of RFE/RL videos viewed via YouTube from inside the country quadrupled (to 22.4 million), and the number of visits (+158%), page views (+148%), and unique visitors (+110) to RFE/RL websites from Belarus has also increased dramatically.

RFE/RL deeply appreciates the support of the governments of Latvia and Lithuania for RFE/RL’s mission and for the establishment of these new bureaus. The people of Latvia and Lithuania have for decades been enthusiastic consumers of RFE/RL programming—both of RFE/RL’s Latvian and Lithuanian services that operated from 1975 to 2004, and more recently of Current Time programming. RFE/RL President Fly visited Vilnius and Riga this past January, in part to attend the Lithuanian premiere of the award-winning, Current Time-commissioned film “Mr. Landsbergis,” about Lithuania’s struggle to restore its independence.

RFE/RL’s Russian Service is a multiplatform alternative to Russian state-controlled media, providing audiences in the Russian Federation with informed and accurate news, analysis, and opinion. The Russian Service’s websites, including its regional reporting units Siberia.Realities and North.Realities, earned a monthly average of 12.7 million visits and 20.6 million page views in 2021, while 297 million Russian Service videos were viewed on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Current Time is a 24/7 Russian-language digital and TV network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, that caters to Russian-speakers worldwide. In addition to reporting uncensored news, it is the largest provider of independent, Russian-language films to its audiences. Despite rising pressure on Current Time from the Russian government, Current Time videos were viewed over 1.3 billion times on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021.

Labeled an “extremist organization” by the Belarus government, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service provides independent news and analysis to Belarusian audiences in their own language, relying on social media platforms such as Telegram, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as mirror sites and an updated news app to circumvent pervasive Internet blockages and access disruptions.

About RFE/RL
RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Click here to read this announcement at RFE/RL.

CBS Miami features WRMI and the “Shortwaves for Freedom” campaign

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following article from CBS Miami:

Shortwave Radio Signal From Florida Cow Pasture Reaches Russia Carrying Latest News (CBS Miami)

Click here to view on YouTube.

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A massive shortwave radio antenna sits in a cow pasture north of Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida.

“We have 14, 100,000-watt transmitters and 23 antennas beaming to all parts of the world,” said Jeff White, the general manager of Miami-based WRMI.

The multi-signal station is said to be one of the largest shortwave radio operations in the world.

WRMI stands for Radio Miami International and worldwide coverage means it can easily send signals into Ukraine and Russia.

Shortwave is old school technology, think of World War II or the Cold War, as American-produced news beamed behind the iron curtain. Now, during the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has shut down journalism as we know it.

Kate Neiswender, one of the guiding lights behind funding news programming for Russian audiences, said, “they were going to pass a law making journalism essentially illegal, facing a 15-year criminal penalty.”

Neiswender and fellow former journalists formed a fundraiser to beam news into Russia, where state-controlled media, at best, does not tell the true story of the invasion and many Russian citizens have no clue about the severity of the invasion.

“This is a journalistic pursuit more than anything else,” said Neiswender. [Continue reading at CBS Miami…]

Click here to read our previous post about Shortwaves for Freedom and contribute to the campaign here.

Radio Waves: Colorado Inmate Radio, Experimental Radio News 4, BBC World Service to Ukraine, DIY Radio, and When the World Tuned to Shortwave

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Inmate-produced radio station streams beyond prison walls (NBC News)

Inside Wire, available 24/7 to incarcerated people in Colorado and to online listeners around the world, is said to offer a chance for prisoners and those they harmed to heal.

LIMON, Colo. — Herbert Alexander stares at the sound waves jumping on the computer screen in front of him, his shaved head partially covered by headphones. He’s editing a short audio feature on incarcerated fathers, a subject with which he is intimately familiar.

His two sons will soon hear his voice and his story because Alexander, 46, an inmate at Limon Correctional Facility, is preparing a segment for Inside Wire: Colorado Prison Radio, billed as the first radio station to be produced inside a prison and available to the world outside.

Other radio stations created in prisons generally air only within the walls of their lockups, but Inside Wire, which premiered March 1, reaches all 21 prisons in the state and beyond, online and by app, making the first of its kind in the country, organizers said.

“In spaces where isolation continues, this medium can cut through that,” said Ryan Conarro, general manager and program director of Inside Wire and creative producer for the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative, which oversees the program in partnership with the Colorado Department of Corrections. [Continue reading at NBC…]

Experimental Radio News 4 (Experimental Radio News)

This issue of ERN includes novel aeronautical experiments, life-detecting radars and non-wearable health monitoring, the latest on those mysterious shortwave trading stations and more.

Click here to read a wide variety of topics in Experimental Radio News 4.

BBC World Service resurrects shortwave broadcasts in war-torn Ukraine (TPR)

The BBC has resurrected an old school way of broadcasting in order to reach people in the crisis area of Ukraine: Shortwave radio. What is shortwave, and why has the BBC decided to begin using it again? Continue reading →

Radio Waves: RNZ & TVNZ Merging, Tech Keeping Ukrainians in Touch, Solar Storms Documentary, and Aspidistra

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

RNZ and TVNZ to merge (RadioInfo)

New Zealand’s Minister for Broadcasting and Media Kris Faafoi has announced the government’s decision to create a new public media entity by merging RNZ and TVNZ.

According to Faafoi, ensuring New Zealanders continue to have access to reliable, trusted, independent information and local content sits at the heart of the decision.

“The public media sector is extremely important to New Zealanders in providing them with high quality, independent, timely and relevant media content,” Faafoi said.

“But we know the media landscape is changing and the sector is having to adapt to increased competition, changing audience demands and ways of accessing media, falling revenue, and new and emerging digital platforms. We need public media which is responsive to these changes and can flourish.

“RNZ and TVNZ are each trying to adjust to the challenges, but our current public media system, and the legislation it’s based on, is focused on radio and television.

“New Zealanders are among some of the most adaptive audiences when it comes to accessing content in different ways; like their phones rather than television and radio, and from internet-based platforms. We must be sure our public media can adapt to those audience changes, as well as other challenges that media will face in the future.”

“The new public media entity will be built on the best of both RNZ and TVNZ, which will initially become subsidiaries of the new organisation. It will continue to provide what existing audiences value, such as RNZ Concert, as well as better reaching those groups who aren’t currently well served; such as our various ethnic communities and cultures,” Faafoi said[…]

Technologies old and new keep Ukrainians in touch with the world (The Economist)

Battery radios and satellite internet both have jobs to do

In communist Eastern Europe a shortwave radio was a vital piece of equipment for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the censors. Stations such as the bbc World Service, Radio Free Europe and Voice of America broadcast news, entertainment and rock-and-roll across the Iron Curtain.

After the cold war ended, shortwave radios gave way to television and the internet, and the broadcasts were wound down. But on March 3rd, in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the bbc announced their return. The World Service has begun nightly news broadcasts into Ukraine and parts of Russia (see map). Continue reading →