Catch the BBC’s annual broadcast to the British Antarctic Survey Team

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Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey's new base (Source: BBC)

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey’s new base (Source: BBC)

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the 41 scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team.

The BBC will play music requests and send special messages to the team of 41. It’s guaranteed to be quirky, nostalgic and certainly DX worth catching.

The British Antarctic Survey celebrates today (their longest, darkest winter day) with the same enthusiasm as Christmas. The BBC noted:

The base commanders rise early to cook breakfast for their staff, presents are exchanged, there are sports and even, weather permitting, a mad streak in the snow! Feasting continues before they gather round a shortwave set to listen to the traditional broadcast packed with greetings from their family and friends back home together with music requests and messages from the British Antarctic Survey and a few celebrities. Finally the Antarctic horror movie The Thing is screened. For those who know the plot, perhaps it is just as well there are no longer sledge dogs in Antarctica…

The great part? You too can catch the broadcast if you’re in the right part of the world to hear it.  I’ll attempt to record either the Ascension Island or Woofferton broadcast myself, if conditions make it possible.

The program will air today, June 21, 2013 at 21:30 UTC on the following frequencies:

  • 7,350 kHz; Ascension; 207°
  • 9,890 kHz; Woofferton; 182°
  • 5,965 kHz; Dhabayya; 203°

Many thanks to Sheldon Harvey for the reminder and for especially confirming the broadcast time.  Even though this event happens on the same day each year (ironically on my birthday) I often forget to catch it myself.

Please submit your recordings of this broadcast to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

RNW’s “The State We’re In” wins honors at New York Festivals, albiet posthumously

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The-State-Were-In-TeamI’m not at all surprised that one of my favorite radio radio programs, The State We’re In, won both a gold metal and a grand prize at the New York Festivals for “The Benghazi Blogger” and a silver metal for “The Oliver Twist of Kabul.”

Sadly, the State We’re In is no more.  It went out of production late last year after the RNW budget cuts.

The good news is that much of TSWI’s archives are still available on the RNW website.

As I’ve said before, TSWI is one of the best radio documentary programs I’ve ever heard. I held out hope that somehow they would procure funding to continue. I still hope that they’ll find a way to get back on the air (or online) someday.

Here’s the press release from RNW:

(Source: RNW)

Radio Netherlands Worldwide has won four major prizes at the 2013 New York Festivals: International Radio Awards. It won a gold medal and a Grand Prize Award for an interview entitled “The Benghazi Blogger”. 

In 2011, blogger and journalist with the pseudonym ‘Mohamed’ posted a picture of Gaddafi’s troops coming into Benghazi on his Facebook page. Soon after, he was arrested, detained, tortured and sexually assaulted. After his release, he was diagnosed as HIV+.  Yet he was too ashamed to tell his family or friends. He kept silent even after his family arranged for him to get engaged. He’s now receiving medical treatment, thanks to one of the story producers at Radio Netherlands. Yet the blogger who risked everything to tell the truth to power is still living with his secret. “The Benghazi Blogger” won the Grand Award for being the top-ranked piece out of approximately 300 entries from 30 countries.

RNW also won a silver medal for an interview called “The Oliver Twist of Kabul”. The piece then went on to win a special award, again a silver medal, in a competition adjudicated by the U.N. This second award is called the UNDPI (United Nations Department of Public Information). It features a thirteen-year old boy who sells maps on the streets of Kabul to support himself and his mother. His charming salesmanship inspired some clients to sponsor his education – his favourite book: Charles Dickens’s “Oliver Twist”.

Both interviews were originally produced for the RNW program, The State We’re In, which went out of production in November 2012.

WYFR to close June 30, 2013

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(Photo source: QRZ.com)

(Photo source: QRZ.com)

Shortwave Central has posted a message from Dan Elyea of WYFR announcing its closure on June 30, 2013:

(Source: Shortwave Central)

We regretfully inform you that the final day of operation for WYFR will be June 30, 2013.

This station descended from W1XAL (an experimental class license assigned in 1927). In 1939 the call letters were changed to WRUL, and then changed to WNYW in 1966.

Initially, broadcasts came from Boston. In 1936 the station moved to Scituate, Massachusetts.

On October 20, 1973 Family Stations, Inc. took ownership of the station using the call letters WYFR. (FSI had been buying airtime from WNYW starting in January of 1972.) At that time, the station sported four transmitters and nine reversible rhombic antennas.

Construction started in Florida in 1976. On November 23, 1977 the first transmission from Okeechobee went on the air.

For several years WYFR operated simultaneously from Scituate and from Okeechobee. The last broadcast from Scituate took place on November 16, 1979.

The Okeechobee site eventually grew to 14 transmitters and 23 antennas. And now we’ve gone full cycle.

Good listening to all, and 73,

Dan Elyea

Court orders Greek National TV and Radio, ERT to reopen

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(Photo source: AP / Petros Giannakouris)

(Photo source: AP / Petros Giannakouris)

Though the Voice of Greece has only been off the air very little, this court order will allow them to legally broadcast again:

(Source: Reuters)

A Greek court ruled that shuttered state broadcaster ERT must reopen immediately, a court official said on Monday, offering the squabbling ruling coalition a way out of a political crisis over the station’s abrupt closure.

The ruling – which ordered ERT switched back on until a restructured public broadcaster is launched – came six day[s] after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras took it off air in the name of austerity and public sector layoffs to please foreign lenders.

The ruling appeared to vindicate Samaras’s stance that a leaner, cheaper public broadcaster must be set up but also allowed for ERT’s immediate reopening as his coalition partners had demanded, offering all three a way out of an impasse that had raised the specter of snap polls.

“It appears that the interim decision of the top administrative court gives the three leaders an opportunity to find a face-saving formula,” said Theodore Couloumbis of the ELIAMEP think-tank.

A live feed of ERT – whose journalists have continued broadcasting over the Internet in defiance of orders – showed workers breaking into applause on hearing the court ruling. ERT’s Symphony Orchestra began an outdoor concert outside its headquarters, playing an old news jingle to cheering supporters.

“I’ve been here seven nights and this is the first time I’ve seen people smile,” said Eleni Hrona, an ERT reporter outside the headquarters.[…]

Read the full story at Reuters. Many thanks to Zach for the tip!

New product: the ShouYu SY-X5 shortwave radio

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The ShouYu SY-X5

The ShouYu SY-X5

[Update: Check out our review of the SY-X5 by clicking here.]

Thanks to Paul, I just found out about the ShouYu SY-X5: a new analog DSP-based shortwave radio with built-in MP3 player. Like the Degen DE321, DE32, Kchibo KK-9803 and the recently released Tecsun R-2010D, the SY-X5 has a mechanical tuning mechanism powered by a Silicon Labs DSP chip.

I just purchased the ShouYu SY-X5 from this seller on eBay. The total cost was $27 US including shipping from Hong Kong. There are other sellers offering the SY-X5 on eBay, but their prices are almost double (with shipping from the US).

At a low price of $27 US, my expectations will be adjusted accordingly. My hopes are somewhat higher for the Tecsun R-2010D as Tecsun tends to do a better implementation of DSP chips than their competitors. Since I’ll be receiving both units within days of each other–and I still have the DE321 and DE32–I will certainly compare them.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: Voice of Turkey

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Gezi protest in Ankara (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Gezi protest in Ankara (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

A few days ago, I posted a recording of the Voice of Turkey that noticeably lacked coverage of the Gezi Park protests.

Friday, I recorded VOT’s English language broadcast and was surprised to find that they actually mentioned the protests (admittedly, without it’s due weight) in several news items. I’m very curious how future VOT broadcasts will cover news of yesterday’s riots in Istanbul as police cleared crowds of protesters with water cannons and tear gas.

Click here to download the full recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below: