I transformed this photo I took of the large slewable curtain antenna at the Edward R. Murrow Transmitter Site into the iTunes cover art for the new Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.
SWLing Post Readers,
I am very happy to announce a project to share and archive our shortwave radio recordings: The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.
Many of you probably already know that I believe archiving our shortwave radio broadcasts is vital now. Many broadcasters are leaving the air, and many target areas are being removed altogether. Meanwhile, over the past two years there have been new broadcasters coming on the air, often doing test transmissions before beginning broadcasting in earnest. These, too, are significant in radio history.
I have already populated the site with more than eighty recordings, most of which I’ve posted here over the past two years. I still have thirty or more to add. Already in the archive: Radio Bulgaria (now silent), Radio Netherlands Worldwide, The BBC WS special broadcast of the Diamond Jubilee, and a very interesting Vatican Radio broadcast announcing the selection of the new pope.
If you subscribe to the SW Radio Audio Archive’s podcast, you’ll be able to see and download the entire existing collection and new recordings as they are added.
To make this project work, we need your participation! You can help in two ways:
- Share your shortwave radio recordings! Simply create an Archive.org account, upload your recording, and share the link with us (we have a nifty web form for submissions). Full details are available on this page.
- Simply subscribe to the podcast, download the recordings…and save them. By doing this, you’ll be making an archived copy of all of the recordings. Here are two ways to subscribe to the podcast:
Donations and radio-related, commercial sponsorships are also welcome.
On the site, we state that “Multiple archives in multiple storage locations ensure the integrity of this collection over time.” This is very true of all archives: the more forms of back up, the better. Especially since archive-quality digital storage does not yet exist. Safety and integrity come with redundancy.
Remember, this project is a collective, community effort, so I hope you will consider sharing your recordings with the rest of the world!
Feel free to share this post and the site http://shortwavearchive.com via social media, your radio groups and message boards. Thank you!
You may remember The State We’re In (TSWI) from Radio Netherlands Worldwide and how sad I was to hear TSWI was cancelled in the wake of RNW’s cuts last year.
