Category Archives: Nostalgia

Pirate Radio Recordings: Radio Casablanca

Confession time: one of my favorite pirate radio stations is Radio Casablanca.

Why?

For one thing the format is WWII-era music. When I hear Radio Casablanca, I close my eyes and imagine what it must have been like to hear the great bands of the era over the shortwaves…

Radio nostalgia at its best.

The signal strength is always sufficient to be heard in relatively good fidelity here in my radio room, but not so strong as to detract from the perceived distance. I believe the recording you’ll hear below could very well mimic broadcasts over shortwave, heard across borders during WWII as well as listened to on classic console radios in people’s living rooms and front parlors.

When my buddy Mark Coady posted that he was listening to Radio Casablanca Tuesday night on 6940 kHz AM, I immediately rushed outside to hook up my antenna, and started rolling. I didn’t want to miss even one more minute (I came across Mark’s post about twenty minutes into the broadcast). Though regional storms produced some static pops and crashes, overall fidelity is decent. You will hear the filter and side-band sync being adjusted at times as I attempted to eliminate adjacent noises–which, in the end, are all a part of the listening experience.

Click here to download an MP3 of the recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Either way, prepare to go (or at least, send your ears) back in time…

Using a 1938 Philco receiver to decode a digital VOA Radiogram

1944 “Chart of Electromagnetic Radiations”

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Hat tip to Dennis Walter for sending me a link to this beautiful circa 1944 “Chart of Electromagnetic Radiations” by W.M Welch Scientific Company. According to Flickr user llnl photos, it was found, “tucked away in the back of an unused office years ago, but now hangs framed in a high-traffic hallway populated by Lawrence Livermore engineers.”

Being a big fan of vintage maps and technical illustrations, I would love to dedicate a wall of my radio room to this chart.

Click on the photo above to enlarge this image to 1600 × 1113.

You can download the original, high resolution image by visiting llnl photos’ Flickr page.

Jonathan remembers Radio Netherlands Worldwide one year on

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RNW’s final broadcast schedule (Source: Jonathan Marks)

A few days ago, former RNW employee, Jonathan Marks, was sorting out some papers in his office when something “spooky” happened:

“one sheet [of paper] fell out of a pile and onto the floor. It was the page of the last day of transmission from Radio Netherlands, English department.”

“What was weird was that this happened exactly one year ago to the day they pulled the switch. It was 2253 local time on a Friday when Jonathan Groubert, above, made the last announcement from Continuity Studio 4.”

Jonathan’s full post on his blog, Critical Distance, has some fantastic photos, notes, an interview and recording from the final moments of RNW’s final shortwave broadcast. Click here to read his post.

Jonathan’s post reminded me that one year ago, I was on a six week vacation with my family in the Canadian Maritimes. I listened to and recorded all of the final RNW shortwave broadcasts in an off-grid cabin on the eastern coast of lovely Prince Edward Island. An SWLing memory I will never forget. You can listen to these field recordings and read my post, “RNW says farewell in style” via this link.

Seeking 1970s era recordings of Radio Australia

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The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive

Yesterday, I received a message from Sam, via the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. He writes:

Nice website! I’ve been looking (and listening) through it for the last hour or so. Nice!

I see you have some Radio Australia recordings and was wondering if you have any older ones? I’ve been trying for a couple of years now to find a recording of the top of the hour from Radio Australia in the mid 1970s. I was a youngster then and used to rush home from school to hear the station – I grew up in Northern Ireland and used to be able to get Radio Australia from around 1530 local time until maybe 1800 local, depending on the conditions. One thing I remember about it was the time “pips”, which included a pip at 10 seconds to the hour, which I had never heard before (or anywhere else since). I’d love to hear this again along with the theme to the news which came on the hour – I’ve found out that it was called Majestic Fanfare, but the version played on 70s Radio Australia is different to that played now and in every recording I’ve heard. Seems they changed the recording they used during the 80s. Even the ABC and Radio Australia can’t help as I’ve contacted them, so I’m trying every avenue which comes along.

I know it’s probably way before your oldest recording but heck, I had to ask! 😉

Many thanks.

If you happen to have 1970s era recordings of Radio Australia that you would like to share with Sam (and the world), please contact me and I would be happy to upload them to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

Thanks for your inquiry, Sam!

Check out the AFRTS Archive

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Many shortwave listeners are familiar with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS); we’ve mentioned them before and the wide variety of programming they offer via several transmission sites.

I recently discovered the AFRTS Archive, an excellent blog that posts archived audio and memories from the AFRTS. The AFRTS Archive is actively updated and chock-full of nostalgia.

It’s Memorial Day here in the States and found this a fitting time to dig through the AFRTS Archive.

Of course, you can still listen to the AFRTS on shortwave–here are the frequencies:

AFN/AFRTS Shortwave Frequencies (note: all broadcasts are in USB)

Diego Garcia:
- 12,579 kHz daytime
- 4,319 kHz nighttime
Guam:
- 13,362 kHz daytime
- 5,765 kHz nighttime

Switzerland In Sound comes with a familiar voice

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The host of Switzerland in Sound, Bob Zanotti.

For any of you who listened to Swiss Radio International (SRI) on shortwave radio, you’ll no doubt know the name of long-time radio presenter Bob Zanotti. For me, his deep, rich voice was synonymous with SRI.

What you may not know is that Zanotti hosts his own website called Switzerland In Sound. It is chock-full of up-to-date Swiss information, news (Tina Turner became Swiss?), interviews, thoughts, musings and a wealth of vintage recordings from SRI.

If you were a fan of The Swiss Shortwave Merry-Go-Round, you’ll be pleased to discover the many recordings he has of The Two Bobs (Bob Zanotti and Bob Thomann).