Category Archives: Music

Special two hour DRM broadcast today at 12:00 UTC

According to the DRM Consortium, there will be a special two hour DRM broadcast today (April 18) starting at 12:00 UTC:

Special DRM transmission tomorrow 18th April from Spaceline during DRM GA at 1200-1400UTC on 11600kHz. From Kostinbrod, Bulgaria with antenna directed at 260 degrees. The content will be from Mighty KBC.

Note that this broadcast starts less than two hours from time of posting. Please comment if you log this broadcast!

WUNC on Jazz: “America’s Coolest Weapon During The Cold War”

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(Source: WUNC’s The State of Things via Kim Elliott)

During the Cold War, the U.S. Department of State sent jazz musicians around the world to sell the American way of life. This initiative took place in the 1950s, during segregation and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Jazz was gaining popularity on the international stage partly because of a Voice of America program hosted by Willis Conover, and partly because jazz musicians, like Louis Armstrong, played international tours.

The U.S. government took note of this popularity and decided to send musicians as representatives of the country, even as those representatives didn’t have the full benefits of the freedom they were touting. Many of these multi-racial, multi-gender groups were not allowed to perform within the boundaries of the United States due to Jim Crow.

Host Frank Stasio talks to Hugo Berkeley, director of the new documentary “The Jazz Ambassadors: The Untold Story of America’s Coolest Weapon in the Cold War.” Historian Adriane Lentz-Smith joins the conversation to put the story of the jazz ambassadors into context. Lentz-Smith is a professor of history at Duke University who served as an advisor to the documentary. She’s also the author of “Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I” (Harvard University Press/2011). “The Jazz Ambassadors” screens at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham on Sunday, April 8.[…]

Click here to read interview highlights and listen to the full interview on WUNC.

Jazz From The Left: A slight schedule change

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Many thanks to Raoul with Jazz From The Left, who writes:

My program, Jazz from the Left, continues on WRMI. With a slight schedule change.

From Jeff White:

“We now have Jazz from the Left on at 0000 UTC Wednesday on 7730 kHz, and at 0100 UTC Thursday on 5850, 9395 and 9455 kHz.”

By the way, for fans of jazz on shortwave radio, I recently found dozens and dozens of air checks of Willis Conover playing jazz on the VOA. These are all excellent quality recordings from the 1950’s through 1970’s [at the University of North Texas Library]. Click here to browse the recordings. Enjoy!

Thank you, Raoul! Your show is excellent–the new time on WRMI has been noted in my calendar. And thanks for mentioning the UNT archive–it is indeed a superb collection (click here to read an archived post).

Alan Roe’s updated B17 season guide to music on shortwave

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

I have now updated my Music on Shortwave listing for the B17 season, and attached version 2.0.

Alan, thanks so much for keeping this excellent guide updated each broadcast season and for sharing it here with the community!

Click here to download Alan Roe’s B17 Shortwave Music Guide version 2.0 (PDF).

Alan Roe’s B17 season guide to music on shortwave

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

I have now compiled my Music on Shortwave listing for B17. Extracts listing music programmes in English language transmissions have been listed in BDXC-UK Communication and in NASWA Journal. I now attach a consolidated version listing a selection of music programmes in a variety of language transmissions. If of interest, please go ahead and post it on your excellent SWLing site.

Alan, thanks so much for keeping this excellent guide updated each broadcast season and for sharing it here with the community! When people claim that there’s nothing to listen to on shortwave, I often send them a link to your excellent guide!

Click here to download Alan Roe’s B17 Shortwave Music Guide (PDF).

Good Times Bad Times: Luke’s nighttime listening rewarded

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Luke Perry, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Just [wanted to share] a little bit of shortwave good luck that I had when tuned to 3925 kHz. That is the frequency for Radio Nikkei 1 if I am not mistaken. They have a similar frequency that I can usually get at about the same time in 3945, but from my location in the Pacific Northwest the former usually comes in better until about 13:00 UTC or so.

To any SWL listeners on the west coast can tell you, there are not a whole lot of choices anymore for the listeners who like the exotic DX catches, whereas 20 years ago you had many choices like Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Radio Vladivostok on 5015 kHz that was a special station for Russian boats at sea, etc. These stations all played exotic and sometimes even current music, not to mention lots of ‘oldies’ and classics.

So I am left with the few that are left and I usually tune in late at night as the static lulls me to sleep.

Last night, I was listening to 3925 kHz at about 12:00 UTC or so and I got quite the surprise. Usually when I tune in at about 2:30 AM my time they are playing classical music or some other relaxing music. I think their sister station on 3945 kHz plays more of the current music and I believe that they even have a special hour or more that they play newish music. When I first tuned in it was their typical show where they start with about an hour or so of relaxing music and then the announcers come in with news, talk, or whatever? Truthfully, I don’t speak Japanese so I really can’t say! I do remember reading somewhere though that they broadcast horse races on that channel and sometimes it does sound like that.

But last night I still hadn’t fallen asleep for whatever reason so I kept hitting the ‘Sleep’ button on my trusty Panasonic RF-9000. After the announcers talked for a bit they played a few hard rock songs back to back. Quite a few of them but a couple that I remember off of the top of my head were “Smoke On the Water” and “I Remember You” by Skid Row. That kind of stuff and this went on for a good half hour or so uninterrupted so my ears were perked up at this point. What came next really blew me away and really made my staying up worthwhile.

They first started off with Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times”, and then proceeded to play the whole first Led Zeppelin album straight through! No interruptions and they went straight from Side A to Side B with only a moment pause. After that, they started in on Led Zeppelin III but after “Immigrant Song” the signal was really fading bad but I could still make out that it was the might Zeppelin. It kind of reminded me of old pirate radio stations on shortwave or even FM radio in the 70’s when they would play whole album sides.

So anyway, just a quick update on that station and for people who have given up on finding good programming on shortwave radio…it is still out there, but it takes a bit more time to find nowadays.

Thank you for sharing your listening experience, Luke! Yes, shortwave is still a medium for this sort of serendipity–a space where you can listen to broadcasts that are free of commercial breaks. I image Led Zeppelin must have sounded pretty amazing on that Panny RF-9000!