RNW headquarters in Hilversum, Netherlands (photo coutesty: RNW)
Media Network, which covered international broadcasting developments at Radio Netherlands, recently ended a 30-year run on RNW. In a series of four articles, Andy Sennitt mentions some of the highlights, and then looks ahead to how international broadcasting might develop in the next ten years.
Part 1 is now available on RNW’s website. Part 2 will be published on May 1st 2012. This read is definitely worth your time.
1938: The Gernsback Radio Newspaper (Photo: Smithsonian Magazine)
(Source: Smithsonian Magazine)
The introduction of broadcast radio caused some in the newspaper industry to fear that newspapers would soon become a thing of the past. After all, who would read the news when you could just turn on the radio for real-time updates?
Newspapers had even more to fear in 1938 when radio thought it might compete with them in the deadtree business as well.
The May, 1938 issue of Hugo Gernsback‘s Short Wave and Television magazine included an article titled “Radio to Print News Right In Your Home.” The article described a method of delivering newspapers that was being tested and (provided it didn’t interfere with regular radio broadcasts) would soon be used as a futuristic news-delivery method.
[…]This invention of a wireless fax, as it were, was credited to W.G. H. Finch and used radio spectrum that was otherwise unused during the late-night hours when most Americans were sleeping. The FCC granted a special license for these transmissions to occur between midnight and 6am, though it would seem that a noisy printing device in your house cranking away in the middle of the night might have been the fatal flaw in their system. It wasn’t exactly a fast delivery either, as the article notes that it takes “a few hours” for the machine to produce your wireless fax newspaper.
The full article, is a must-read.
Fascinating to realize that even in the infancy of wireless, newspapers already felt threatened by new technology. Goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
David Goren, Shortwaveology author and producer for Jazz at Lincoln Center, released a JazzStories Podcast today featuring VOA broadcaster, Willis Conover. Willis Conover is a noted name in both Jazz music and international broadcasting. His characteristic deep and articulate voice guided many shortwave listeners behind the iron curtain, into the realm of Jazz music.
Here is the description of the podcast from Jazz at Lincoln Center:
During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the United States had a secret weapon: Willis Conover’s “Jazz Hour,” carried on the shortwave radio signals of The Voice of America across Russia and Eastern Europe:. Starting in 1955 and running for over forty years, ‘Jazz Hour’ nurtured generations of jazz musicians who grew up under the restrictions of Communism. On this edition of Jazz Stories we hear Willis Conover and two outstanding jazz musicians, Czech bassist George Mraz and Russian trumpeter Valery Ponomarev – both of whom learned about jazz from his broadcasts.
You can preview this podcast on the Jazz at Lincoln Center podcast page (look under “Jazz and the Cold War”) or simply subscribe and download it on iTunes.
Enjoy this very witty and accurate take on the history of the BBC World Service:
Adam Long of the Reduced Shakespeare Company wrote this, the Reduced History of the BBC World Service, to celebrate the World Service’s 80th anniversary. It was a special commission for the BBC Newshour debate on the future of global broadcasting broadcast 29th February.
BBC World Service - Bush House
(Source: BBC World Service)
BBC World Service brings you a special day of programming on 29 February to celebrate 80 years of international radio broadcasting.
We’ll begin the day with a live broadcast of the daily news meeting– which usually takes place behind closed doors – a meeting of all the language service and English news heads who decide the day’s news agenda.
Other highlights include an audience with naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough; writer VS Naipaul will be talking about his time at BBC World Service with the Caribbean service and music producer William Orbit will be guest editing our arts programme, The Strand.
Listen out for topics such as entrepreneurship in Africa, the future of international broadcasting, and the amazing abilities of an athlete’s body.
Throughout the day, you’ll be able to watch video clips of guests and staff around our current headquarters, Bush House.
We’ll also be asking you to put questions to guests and BBC World Service staff via clickFacebook, so join us if you can.
clickFor full details of Bush House Inside Out, check out the schedule.
I just stumbled upon this fascinating history of the CIA Foreign Broadcast Information Service and thought SWLing Post readers might enjoy browsing it as well. This is a history of the early, pre-CIA, years of the Foreign Broadcast Information Service. It was published with a classification of “Confidential” in 1969 and fully released to the public by the CIA’s Historical Declassification Division in 2009.
Click here to go to the CIA website, or download each chapter via links below:
Ken Reitz, Features Editor for Monitoring Times magazine, has published a new eBook called, “Profiles in Amateur Radio.” It features stories and biographies from a lengthy list of radio personalities/figures (including yours truly!). A common theme in many of these personal radio histories is an interest in amateur radio that was built on a foundation of shortwave radio listening.
PRESS RELEASE
February 3, 2012
Profiles in Amateur Radio
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
A new Kindle e-book now available at the link below
“Profiles in Amateur Radio” is a collection of nineteen articles taken from the First Person Radio series that appeared over the last three years in Monitoring Times, a national monthly magazine about all things radio, now in its 32nd year. It’s a three part look at the inspirational life stories as told in the words of those on whom shortwave and amateur radio has had a lifelong impact. The book is edited by Ken Reitz KS4ZR, a freelance writer since 1988, Features Editor for Monitoring Times, and author of the Communications and Beginner’s Corner columns which appear monthly in the magazine.
Profiles in Amateur Radio Table of Contents