Category Archives: International Broadcasting

All India Radio: Prasar Bharati seeks proposal to phase out shortwave broadcasting

All India Radio (AIR) Headquarters in Dehli, India. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

(Source: The Hindu)

by Sobhana K. Nair

Prasar Bharati has asked it to come up with a proposal to phase out SW transmitters

If Prasar Bharati [India’s largest public broadcasting agency] has its way, All India Radio will have to stop all global short wave transmissions — eighty years after it began international broadcasting in 1939. AIR is resisting the move arguing that it will curtail its global reach.

There are about 46 short wave transmitters that run both domestic and external services. Out of these, 28 are used for the external services alone. Barring three transmitters that were recently installed, all the others will have to be shut down over the next six-months. The external services are broadcast to 150 countries in 13 Indian languages and 15 foreign languages.

Prasar Bharati had written to the AIR in May third week asking it to come up with a proposal to phase out the short wave transmitters.

‘Whimsical’

A high-ranking AIR official called it a whimsical decision. “There will be a huge implication on external services. The short wave is the only effective way to reach to any part of the world. FM and other modes don’t work. Even live streaming on web can’t be complete substitute to this due to varied penetration of internet connectivity. Any country that wants to scuttle Indian radio can just shut down our web channel.”

Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati denied that discontinuing short wave will impact global outreach. He said there would be fresh investments in expanding in DD India, AIR World Service and Prasar Bharati’s Gobal Digital Platform. “Going forward, AIR world service will be primarily a digital service which will leverage FM and Medium Wave capabilities where available and short wave in a limited way for strategic purposes. We will also explore hiring airtime in transmitters outside India on a need basis where feasible,” he told The Hindu.

China has recently started buying air time on Nepalese radio channels for its programmes. India too may soon follow suit.

Limited audience

A study on short wave transmitters conducted by the Prasar Bharati had revealed that shutting down these transmitters would save the AIR nearly ?60-70 crore. The majority of the transmitters were nearly 25 years old and obsolete. “Short Wave, as a mode of transmission, has very limited audience, which is further dwindling with time. The short wave network will be rationalised so we are able to invest more in content and in newer ways of broadcasting, like Internet streaming, digital radio and in future satellite radio. We will, however, preserve a limited set of short wave for strategic purposes and national interest,” Mr. Vempati added.[…]

Click here to read the full article at The Hindu.

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Mali shortwave relay site back on the air with CRI

(Source: Radio World)

China Radio International Recommits to Africa

Mali relay site near Bamako is back on air diffusing China Radio’s shortwave signal. The site carries CRI’s shortwave broadcasts for more than 20 frequency hours a day to Africa. The move has also benefited Mali’s own shortwave transmissions, which were reportedly suffering from weak signals and poor modulation. “The reactivation of the facility is in contrast to the shuttering of other shortwave sites on the continent, such as the Sentech facility in Meyerton, South Africa,” writes Hans Johnson.

Click here to read the full article at Radio World.

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Independent review says U.S.-funded broadcaster failing to spread fair and balanced news

(Source: Washington Post via Mark Fahey)

A U.S. agency that is supposed to broadcast objective Spanish-language news programs into Cuba fails to meet basic standards of journalistic fairness[…] The review of [Radio] Martí content, conducted by Spanish-speaking academics and former journalists and released Tuesday, found the news organization routinely allows “almost any criticism of the Cuban government and its leaders” on the air. The effect, the report concluded, is that the station has sometimes resembled anti-communist propaganda and has failed to be a broker of fair and unbiased broadcast journalism, as is mandated by Congress.

John F. Lansing, the chief executive of the station’s parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said the review did not find that the biased coverage had been directed by any political appointee of the Trump administration. Rather, he said, the failures flow from a “broken culture” at Martí, which has relied on Cuban dissidents as on-air personalities and on a small group of anti-communist organizations as sources for some content.

“I know it’s tempting to make an assumption about the Trump administration, particularly given the terms that have been used about the press, but I can tell you unequivocally that there has been no influence by the Trump administration,” said Lansing, a holdover from the Obama administration. Rather, he said, the report reveals “a lack of basic journalist standards across the board.”[…]

Read the full article on the Washington Post.

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Photo Tour: The Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station

Yesterday, I posted a photo and asked if you guess where I was when I took the shot.

Those of you who guessed the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station (formerly, “VOA Site B”) near Greenville, North Carolina, were absolutely correct!

My buddy, John Figliozzi, gave a presentation about NASWA and the Winter SWL Fest at the NASB (National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters) which was held in the Raleigh area, May 9th and 10th. Due to a conflict, I was not able to attend the NASB meeting this year, but I did arrive at the conference hotel late Thursday where I met a handful of attendees. I had previously invited John to join me on the station tour, and he was quite happy to do so!

Macon Dail (WB4PMQ), the transmitting station’s Gold Medal award-winning Chief Engineer, made time to give us a tour Friday, May 10, 2019.

And now, on to the photo tour of this remarkable facility.  My inclination is to caption each photo…but I know if I attempt this, I won’t post this gallery for several months!  Instead, I’ll roughly divide the photos by the various sections of the site. Note, however, that there are more than one hundred photos in this detailed post––to decrease its length, some of the photos have been placed in clickable thumbnail galleries. Those of you who receive the SWLing Post as an email digest, I would strongly encourage you to view this post directly on our website, so all of the gallery images will appear.

Enjoy!

Station entrance, lobby, and library

The Front Lobby

In this photo, Macon is showing John one of the notebooks, which is chock-full of reception reports from listeners. This notebook, as you can see, is prominently displayed in the front lobby.

We found our friend Rich D’Angelo in the stack of reception reports.

In a mezzanine above the control room, there is a space that houses a library, a presentation/classroom area, and even a small workout/fitness room.

View into the control room from the mezzanine.

Control room

     

Transmitters

 

Tubes glowing in the active GE transmitter!

Very high voltage in this power room for the GE transmitters.

Installing new transmitters

Macon and his team are in the process of installing modern transmitters sent from other IBB sites. As you might imagine, this is a tedious process, and requires highly-skilled technicians.

 

 

Power

Antenna switching bay and feed lines

In this photo, we’re looking straight down a 50 kW feed line in conduit which leads to the switching bay. Normally, this would not be accessible, but this line is being built for a new transmitter.

The antenna switching bay is truly massive…

Antenna farm

View from the observation tower

Wow, what a tour…

John and I enjoyed our in-depth tour of the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station! The staff, as always, were incredibly welcoming and accommodating.

I believe this was my fourth tour; nonetheless, I still discovered new things, and it’s no wonder. The staff of the station are constantly upgrading, updating, and tweaking the performance of their equipment. This is the reason their signals are always full-fidelity and crystal-clear on the air.

I’m simply amazed by all they accomplish.  Keeping this station running is certainly a labor of love.

Of course, this won’t be my last visit to the station.  I fully intend to return, if not later this year, at least next, to check out the new transmitters in operation.  Stay tuned! To this active VOA station.

Click here to read an article about my first visit to the Murrow Transmitting Station.


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RFI: “The power of radio during British-mandated Palestine”

Radio engineer Moshe Rubin transmits the special broadcast during the opening of the Palestine Broadcasting Service, Ramallah, March 30, 1936. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, via RFI

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan Roe, who writes:

There is an interesting article/podcast by R France Int
entitled “The power of radio during British-mandated Palestine”.

“On 30 March 1936, the British High Commissioner of Palestine, Arthur
Wauchope, inaugurated the Palestinian Broadcasting Service, the PBS. It
was the second broadcaster to be established in the Middle East, after
Radio Cairo in 1934, and featured programmes in Arabic, Hebrew and English.

It covered the region of Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, as well
as parts of Egypt. The new transmitter was in Ramallah and the
broadcasting offices were in Jerusalem.”

Full article and pictures at:

http://en.rfi.fr/middle-east/20190329-power-radio-during-british-mandated-palestine

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this with us, Alan!

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Radio World: “Australia Still Has Shortwave Voices”

(Source: Radio World via Michael Bird)

HANS JOHNSON ? APR 23, 2019

SYDNEY — Radio Australia shortwave services may be dead, but the medium is alive and well on the continent.

Reach Beyond Australia is on shortwave, but with its Christian programming largely in foreign languages, it really isn’t seen as representing Australia on the shortwaves. But there are other private Australian stations that are broadcasting and more are planned.

And while these stations are not a replacement for Radio Australia’s international transmissions or the defunct (for the moment) Australian Broadcasting Corp. domestic service, they do have various goals and share certain characteristics.[…]

4KZ is a shortwave relay of an Innisfail, Queensland, medium-wave station with the same call sign. It is part of the NQ Radio network. 4KZ plays a variety of music and is heavily involved in the community. The shortwave serves remote areas of north Queensland. “We are planning a 90-or 120-meter service for evenings local time, from station 4AM in Mareeba,” explained Al Kirton, NQ Radio’s general manager.

Unique Radio has been on three years and currently broadcasts from Gunnedah in New South Wales. Its owner, Tim Gaylor, has a background in community radio. “We like a station to inform people about alternative subject matters not currently on mainstream media,” he said. Unique Radio also plans to add a night frequency in the 90-meter band.

There are also future stations in the works from New South Wales.[…]

Click here to read the full article at Radio World.

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Radio Tamazuj introduces English news via shortwave

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jochen, who shares this announcement via Radio Tamazuj:

Radio Tamazuj launches English news bulletin

The independent broadcaster Radio Tamazuj has launched its English news bulletin today to help expand its listenership in South Sudan and Sudan.

Broadcasting daily in colloquial Arabic and Juba Arabic from 6:30-7:30 a.m. [3:30 – 4:30 UTC] and 5:30-6:30 p.m., [2:30 – 3:30 UTC] Radio Tamazuj focuses on providing listeners with uncensored news and programmes.

Morning frequencies are 7315 on the 41 meter band and 11650 on the 25 meter band. Evening frequencies are 15150 on the 19 meter band and 15400 on the 19 meter band.

Enjoy listening to our English news every Tuesday and Friday on shortwave frequency. Also, enjoy listening to us on our social media handles on Facebook Live @tamazuj and on Twitter @RadioTamazuj from 18: 00 hrs every Tuesday and Friday.

Listen to today’s English news:

Many thanks for the tip, Jochen! Click here to read this news item on Radio Tamazuj.

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