Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist, Carlos Latuff, who shares his radio log art of a BBC World Service broadcast to Ukraine and Russia in English.
Carlos notes:
BBC, 5875 kHz, listened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, March 19, 2022, 21h32 (UTC).
Part of news bulletin: Russian missiles hit military base in Ukraine, killing soldiers.
BBC announced it’s broadcasting news to war-ravaged Ukraine and parts of Russia…in English!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following video which shows how connecting an external antenna to the HDR-747 extends reception range down to longwave:
Click here to view on YouTube.
Thanks for the tip, Dan!
Note: Dennis adds that the antenna used in this video can be found here.
(Source: Radio Poland)
Public broadcaster Polish Radio is on Thursday launching a new weekly programme for Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion and their compatriots residing permanently in Poland.
The hour-long broadcast will be delivered in Ukrainian, airing every Thursday at 7 p.m. on Polish Radio’s mobile app, web player and DAB+ platform, the public broadcaster’s IAR news agency reported.
Listeners will hear advice on where to find help, how to apply for assistance available to refugees, and how to obtain information about their loved ones, according to IAR.
Also, the programme will feature news on how the Polish government, local authorities and charities are working to support refugees from Ukraine, and on Poland’s efforts to facilitate Ukraine’s entry into the European Union and the NATO alliance, IAR reported.
The weekly broadcast is prepared and hosted by journalists from Polish Radio’s External Service, also known as Radio Poland.
‘Countering Putin’s false narrative’
“The priority is to counter the Putin regime’s false narrative,” said Radio Poland’s Director Andrzej Ryba?t.
He added: “We’ll be reporting at length on Polish-Ukrainian relations, as well as the policies of the European Union and NATO. In addition, Ukrainians who had been forced to flee their country will hear about what is happening in the places they had had to abandon as a result of the Russian aggression.”
As the programme develops, it is also set to feature Polish-language courses for Ukrainians seeking shelter in Poland, and items on Ukrainian music and culture, IAR reported.
Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, Polish Radio has been airing news bulletins in Ukrainian on several of its channels, as well as launching a 24-hour live audio and video stream about the war on Youtube.
It is also broadcasting the signal of Ukrainian Radio on its web player and DAB+ platform so that the people escaping the Russian attack can listen to programming in their native tongue, executives said.
Poland on Thursday reported it had admitted nearly 2 million refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR
Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
An abiding memory for a teen fascinated by electronics and radio in the 1970s and 1980s is the proliferation of propaganda stations that covered the shortwave spectrum. Some of them were slightly surreal such as Albania’s Radio Tirana which would proudly inform 1980s Western Europe that every village in the country now possessed a telephone, but most stations were the more mainstream ideological gladiating of Voice of America and Radio Moscow.
It’s a long-gone era as the Cold War is a distant memory and citizens East and West get their info from the Internet, but perhaps there’s an echo of those times following the invasion of the Ukraine. With most external news agencies thrown out of Russia and their websites blocked, international broadcasters are launching new shortwave services to get the news through. Owning a shortwave radio in Russia may once again be a subversive activity. Let’s build one! [Continue reading…]
(By Ed Ryan) When was the last time your station gave away a slick looking radio as a promotion (batteries included)? How many more echo dots will radio stations keep giving away before they realize they may be pushing listeners to find something else to listen to?
In a teaser for Edison Research’s upcoming Infinite Dial presentation at Podcast Movement’s Evolutions next week, the research firm reported that the number of Americans who say they do not have a single radio in their home continues to rise.
In the 2020 Infinite Dial, performed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, just under one-in-three Americans age 12 and older reported not having a single radio in their home, according to Edison. In 2022, that number is now 39%.
Fourteen years ago, only 4% of respondents said they had no radios at home. Continue reading
Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, March 20 & 26, 2022:
Episode 260 presents a belated reaction to the recent change to daylight savings time with an hour of songs dedicated to time.
The transmissions take place:
1.Sunday 2200-2300 UTC (6:00PM -7:00PM EDT) on WBCQ The Planet 7490 kHz from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
2.The Sunday that follows 0300-0400 UTC (Saturday 11:00pm-12:00am EDT in the Americas) on WBCQ’s Radio Angela service to the Americas and Europe on 4790 kHz
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/UncleBillsMeltingPot/
Our V-Kontakte page is https://vk.com/fromtheisleofmusic
Our Patreon page is https://www.patreon.com/tilford
WBCQ Concert Hall, March 20, 2022
This episode presents the conclusion of the opera Bizet’s Carmen and some shorter works to fill the remainder of the program.
The broadcast takes place:
Monday 0200-0400 UTC (Sunday 10pm-12am EDT in the Americas) on WBCQ’s Radio Angela service to the Americas and Europe on 4790 kHz
From the Isle of Music, March 21 & 25, 2022
This week special guest Hugo Cruz helps us present an exciting new Cuban jazz release by his group Caminos, Punto de Partida
The broadcasts take place:
1. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 kHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EDT in the US).
2. For North America and Europe the following Saturday 0300-0400 UTC (11:00pm-12:00am EDT Friday) on the Radio Angela service of WBCQ, 4790 kHz from Monticello, ME, USA.
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/fromtheisleofmusic/
Our V-Kontakte page is https://vk.com/fromtheisleofmusic
Our Patreon page is https://www.patreon.com/tilford
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia LW4DAF, who shares a link to the following announcement from Vatican Radio:
From next Monday the Pope’s radio station will expand its Ukrainian and Russian programmes. The increase of shortwave frequencies aims to empower the Radio’s outreach in its mission to communicate the Gospel message and to “read” current events through this perspective.
By Vatican News
From Monday, 21 March, Vatican Radio will increase its shortwave broadcasts to Ukraine and Russia. In addition to the two daily broadcasts (afternoon and evening) in the two languages, the morning programmes to Moscow and Kyiv will last twenty minutes longer.
“The decision,” Massimiliano Menichetti, head of Vatican Radio Vatican News explains, “was taken with the agreement of the entire management team of the Dicastery for Communication, at this time when war is raging, in order to better respond to our mission: to bring hope, the Pope’s words and the reading of facts through the light of the Gospel to the whole world.”
In these past weeks, he added, thanks to a network of direct contacts that support the work of our reporters, we are trying to give comfort to those who are suffering and to ensure timely information.
The frequencies of Vatican Radio, the pages and posts of Vatican News in 51 languages (including English and Italian in sign language) aim to not leave anyone alone, even in the awareness of the power of prayer”.
Vatican Radio’s new shortwave broadcasts
Until 26 March
From Sunday, 27 March
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Eric Jon Magnuson, who shares a link to the following press release from RFE/RL:
WASHINGTON—Following the forced suspension of RFE/RL operations in Russia on March 6, RFE/RL is pleased to announce the opening of news bureaus in Riga, Latvia and Vilnius, Lithuania. These offices will house teams from RFE/RL’s Russia and Belarus services and the 24/7 Current Time global digital and TV network, and also provide a base for new investigative journalism projects and digital innovation hubs.
Said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly, “These new bureaus will allow RFE/RL to continue to engage with our audiences in Russia and Belarus, despite those government’s best efforts to silence independent journalism. RFE/RL will expand its already-successful efforts to reach Russian and Belarusian audiences with the relevant news they seek, and desperately need. We are grateful to the Latvian and Lithuanian governments for their commitment to press freedom and their support for vulnerable journalists who have had to seek safe haven outside their home countries.”
In Riga, RFE/RL plans to establish a multimedia hub that will host Russian Service and Current Time staff displaced from Russia. The Latvian capital will also house a new, Russian-language investigative journalism unit and a digital innovation hub designed to counter disinformation and develop strategies to circumvent online censorship across delivery platforms. The Vilnius news bureau will primarily host displaced Belarus Service journalists forced to flee after the flawed 2020 elections, as well as a new reporting team being set up by Current Time to serve the needs of the network’s Russian-speaking audiences in Belarus.
RFE/RL’s impact during the first two weeks of Russia’s war on Ukraine demonstrates the appetite within Russia and Belarus for a credible, uncensored alternative to Kremlin media about the full scope of the conflict. Between February 24 and March 16, the number of views of RFE/RL videos on YouTube from Russia tripled to nearly 238 million, while the number of visits, page views, and unique visitors to its websites from Russia rose by 34 percent, 51 percent, and 53 percent respectively. As for Belarus, the number of RFE/RL videos viewed via YouTube from inside the country quadrupled (to 22.4 million), and the number of visits (+158%), page views (+148%), and unique visitors (+110) to RFE/RL websites from Belarus has also increased dramatically.
RFE/RL deeply appreciates the support of the governments of Latvia and Lithuania for RFE/RL’s mission and for the establishment of these new bureaus. The people of Latvia and Lithuania have for decades been enthusiastic consumers of RFE/RL programming—both of RFE/RL’s Latvian and Lithuanian services that operated from 1975 to 2004, and more recently of Current Time programming. RFE/RL President Fly visited Vilnius and Riga this past January, in part to attend the Lithuanian premiere of the award-winning, Current Time-commissioned film “Mr. Landsbergis,” about Lithuania’s struggle to restore its independence.
RFE/RL’s Russian Service is a multiplatform alternative to Russian state-controlled media, providing audiences in the Russian Federation with informed and accurate news, analysis, and opinion. The Russian Service’s websites, including its regional reporting units Siberia.Realities and North.Realities, earned a monthly average of 12.7 million visits and 20.6 million page views in 2021, while 297 million Russian Service videos were viewed on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Current Time is a 24/7 Russian-language digital and TV network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, that caters to Russian-speakers worldwide. In addition to reporting uncensored news, it is the largest provider of independent, Russian-language films to its audiences. Despite rising pressure on Current Time from the Russian government, Current Time videos were viewed over 1.3 billion times on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021.
Labeled an “extremist organization” by the Belarus government, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service provides independent news and analysis to Belarusian audiences in their own language, relying on social media platforms such as Telegram, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as mirror sites and an updated news app to circumvent pervasive Internet blockages and access disruptions.
About RFE/RL
RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.