While some shortwave broadcasters are leaving the China market, one expands

(Source: The Epoch Times)

“While BBC is canceling its Mandarin broadcasts in April 2011 and Voice of America (VOA) its Mandarin and Cantonese broadcasts in October 2011, Sound of Hope Radio (SOH) Network announced that they will be expanding short-wave broadcasting to China to meet the demands of its Chinese audience”

Read full story in The Epoch Times

Radio Documentary: The Wireless World of Gerry Wells

I just discovered (via PRI’s The World Technology Podcast) a 2010 radio documentary about lifelong radio designer and repairman, Gerry Wells.

If you haven’t heard it before, I suggest you drop what you’re doing and give it a listen below. This is the most charming radio doc I’ve ever heard out of the BBC World Service.

Audio Player

For archival purposes, I have a full copy of the radio doc available for download by clicking here.

Again, a special thanks to Clark Boyd with PRI’s The World for bringing this to my attention.

Our New Shortwave Radio Index

The Shortwave Radio Index contains over one hundred shortwave radios currently in production.

We’re delighted to announce a new website in the SWLing.com family: The Shortwave Radio Index (SWRI).

The SWRI is a comprehensive database featuring all known shortwave radios available on the market today. Each post contains a photo of the receiver, links to retailers, links to reviews, specifications, and a brief summary of the featured radio’s capabilities. What’s more, each radio is tagged and categorized so that it is easy to find and compare to similar models.

Keep in mind, the SWRI is a work in progress; as new models appear on the market, we will be adding them.  If you become aware of a review or retailer not included in our database, please contact us to share this information.

Happy browsing!

The new RFspace NetSDR–limited availability Feburary 10

The RFspace NetSDR wideband receiver

The new RFspace NetSDR has been announced on the RFspace website and Universal Radio is already accepting orders. According to RFSpace, they will have limited availability on February 10th 2011.

Based on the NetSDR’s specs, it appears that this will be a very robust and high-performance SDR. RFspace is touting that it’s fully plug and play and designed to be integrated with your home network and the internet.

We will post all updates about the NetSDR here and on our new Shortwave Radio Index website  (click here for the RFspace NetSDR entry).  When available, we will also link to relevant reviews in the SWRI entry.

RNW adding more shortwave broadcasts to Egypt

Radio Netherlands Worldwide has announced that it is increasing shortwave and satellite broadcasts into Europe after Egyptian authorities shut down internet and mobile services.

The new shortwave times/frequencies are:

  • 0600-0700 UTC on 9830 kHz
  • 1600-1700 UTC on 5955 kHz + 9750 kHz
  • 1730-1830 UTC on 11615 kHz + 11655 kHz

For the full story, please read RNW Media Networks’ post.

BBC World Service budget cut by 20%

The BBC Bush house

This is a sad week for fans and listeners of the BBC World Service.

According to news reports, the British Foreign Office has cut BBC’s World Service budget by 20%, resulting in sweeping reductions in their shortwave service. As many as 650 jobs will be lost by 2014 and cancellation of shortwave service in five languages and several countries. It appears they are cutting SW service to China, Cuba and the Balkans, instead relying on mobile phone & internet access (note that according to Keith Perron, the BBCWS Chinese site has been blocked for 10 years and in Cuba less than 1% of the population have access to the internet).

My real fear is that listeners who rely on the BBC WS via shortwave–those who live in rural, impoverished countries, for example–will have no voice to express the loss of a lifeline of information to them. It’s quite easy for us to forget that the internet and mobile technologies have not yet penetrated these “markets” and that shortwave radio is the most effective and affordable means to receive high-quality news and information.

As The Guardian put it, the BBC WS will be “eclipsed” by Voice of America. I certainly hope that the VOA can give its markets better service stability.

More on the BBC World Service cuts:

Thanks to Kim Elliot, Keith Perron and BernieS for their commentary.