Pope Leo XIV Visits Vatican Radio’s Shortwave Center at Santa Maria di Galeria

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Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post contributors who shared the following news via Vatican News on Facebook. Below you’ll find an English translation and the original in Italian (note that all photos are courtesy of Vatican News):

This morning, June 19, #PopeLeoXIV visited Santa Maria di Galeria, in the extraterritorial area where the shortwave Radio Center of #VaticanRadio, Dicastery for Communication, is located. He met with the staff, with whom he stayed and conversed ?, visited the transmitter hall designed by architect Pier Luigi Nervi, and sat in the control room for the shortwave broadcasts.

The Pope inquired about the functioning of the antennas, the broadcasts, and the digital disaster recovery system, and celebrated with the staff ? his 43rd anniversary of priesthood, which falls today.

The Pontiff emphasized how, during his missionary work in Latin America and Africa, it was invaluable to be able to receive the shortwave broadcasts of Vatican Radio, which reach places where few stations are able to, and he reaffirmed the missionary value of communication.

The Radio Center was inaugurated by Pope Pius XII in 1957.

The last visit by a Pope to the Radio Center and the area of Santa Maria di Galeria was in 1991, when John Paul II went there.

[Original version in Italian]

Questa mattina, 19 giugno, #PapaLeoneXIV è andato in visita a Santa Maria di Galeria, nella zona extraterritoriale dove sorge il Centro Radio in onda corta della #RadioVaticana, Dicastero per la Comunicazione. Ha incontrato il personale, con cui si è trattenuto in conversazione, ha visitato la sala trasmettitori progettata dall’architetto Pier Luigi Nervi e si è seduto nella sala di controllo per le trasmissioni in onda corta.

Il Papa si è informato sul funzionamento delle antenne, delle trasmissioni e del sistema di digital disaster recovery, e con il personale ha celebrato con un piccolo rinfresco il suo 43° anniversario di sacerdozio, che cade oggi.

Il Pontefice ha sottolineato come durante il suo lavoro missionario in America Latina e Africa sia stato prezioso poter ricevere le trasmissioni in onde corte della Radio Vaticana, che raggiungono luoghi dove poche emittenti riescono ad arrivare, e ha riaffermato il valore missionario della comunicazione.

Il Centro Radio è stato inaugurato da Papa Pio XII nel 1957.

L’ultima visita di un Papa al Centro Radio e alla zona di Santa Maria di Galeria risale al 1991, anno in cui vi si recò Giovanni Paolo II.

Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast 2025 – 70th Anniversary Edition: Tune in Saturday, June 21, 2025

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Each year, we look forward to one of the most unique traditions in the world of shortwave radio: the BBC’s Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast—a special program beamed to a handful of overwintering scientists and support staff at British Antarctic research stations.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the broadcast, and it promises to be a particularly memorable one. Hosted by Cerys Matthews, the program features personal messages from friends and family back home, as well as music requests from those wintering in Antarctica.

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

SWLing Post readers around the globe regularly tune in and make off-air recordings of this remarkable broadcast, sharing reception reports and recordings from every corner of the planet. It’s one of our favorite annual traditions!

SWling Post contributor Richard Langley, noted that a test broadcast last Saturday (20:30 UTC) used the following frequencies:

5960 kHz – UAE
9575 kHz – Ascension
13810 kHz – Woofferton

UPDATE (19 June 2025) – Richard adds the following:

According to the British DX Club:
“Saturday 21 June 2025: at 1832-1900 and 2130-2200 UTC.

BBC World Service annual mid-winter broadcast to Antarctica for British Antarctic Survey staff working at UK bases on Antarctica’s midwinter’s day.

Shortwave schedule 2130-2200 UTC on 5960 UAE, 9575 Ascension Island, 12065 Woofferton (UK), 13810 Woofferton (UK).

A slightly shorter version will be carried the same day from 1832-1900 UTC on BBC World Service English streams online as well as via DAB in the UK.”

Frequencies will likely be posted on this page for the official broadcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct7zyv

As always, we’ll post an article here on Saturday as the broadcast begins, where you can share your own reception reports, audio clips, and impressions in the comments section—just as we’ve done in years past.

Stay tuned—once the official frequencies are confirmed, we’ll post them here as well.

Happy DXing, and let’s celebrate midwinter together—wherever you are in the world!

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Reports and Recordings of CGTN Radio (China) and Kyodo News (Japan)

Kyodo News Radiofax

Kyodo News Morning Edition, radiofax received in Porto Alegre, June 16, 16970 kHz (USB):

Iranian oil facilities attacked, missiles fired into northern Israel
Two Democratic state legislators shot, one dead, ‘politically motivated’
Agriculture Minister (of Japan) announces review of rice statistics
Trump aims to show power as he holds first military parade in 34 years in US capital
Former French president Sarkozy stripped of top French medal after conviction
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro dies at age 95

Frank’s Collection of Classic Receiver Notes

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Frank, who recently shared a blog post he put together outlining some well-known shortwave receiver models and their background. It’s a curated list with brief summaries and links for those interested in the history of these classic rigs.

You can check it out here.

More rotations (per minute) around the earth

Radio KWID and the War in the Pacific

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Jerome van der Linden, who writes:

For my bedtime reading I have recently been going through a book (“Radar Yarns”) which contains lots of stories, many of them humorous, about Australians that were involved in setting up radar stations during WWII around the coast of Australia as well as New Guinea.

There has been a mention of the guys in one location listening to the BBC, and of them sometimes having a shortwave radio where they once listened to Tokyo Rose. But I came across a sentence which made me wonder, and I thought someone in the SWLing post community might be able to throw some light on it: “According to an announcement on Radio KWID, San Francisco, it was a great victory for the American forces. It was broadcast as part of the 4th July celebrations in 1943 that Woodlark and the Trobriand Islands (which includes Kiriwina) had been captured with ‘little or no resistance’”.

So, I had originally asked Thomas to raise a post on this as I had not heard of KWID in my 65 odd years of SW listening, but then….a couple of days later – while watching some TV with the wife – I was doing some googling on my phone, and came across an article published in 2008 by Radio World: https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/a-voice-across-the-pacific-kwid-amp-kwix. This has answered my own question!

I recommend all those who are part of the SWLing Post Community and who have an interest in the history of SW broadcasting should read the above article, you will get a lot more from that than if I were to quote parts of it. It was apparently written by Dr Adrian M Peterson who used to feature on Media Network occasionally (Radio Netherlands, Jonathan Marks). It would seem that KWID was one of the founding stations / transmitters of the Voice of America, and it was well heard in the Pacific, which explains why it was mentioned in the book I was reading. There was also one sentence in the article that caught my eye: “the physical size of both transmitters was the same at 68 feet long”. Can you imagine that?!

Then lastly, I’ve learned an amazing coincidence: Dr Adrian M Peterson was born in South Australia, in 1931: that’s my home state in Australia!

Jerome van der Linden

Fascinating, Jerome! Thank you for sharing this!

Iran State TV Bombed as USAGM Scrambles to Recall VOA Staff

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Ed, who writes:

Hi Thomas,

Some SWLing Post readers may be interested in seeing video of a television studio of Iranian State broadcaster Iran News Network being bombed during a live broadcast.

Click here to read the story via the AP.

Many SWLing Post readers know that radio and TV broadcast facilities are typically attacked in wartime by opposing military forces to ‘control the airwaves’ and influence public opinion. It will be interesting to see if/when the Israeli military starts clandestine broadcasts into Iran.

Reportedly U.S. Agency for Global Media’s (USAGM) is seeking to re-hire many workers it recently fired in a mass USAGM purge, now that the U.S. needs to broadcast into Middle East conflict zones and influence public opinion using Alhurra TV, Radio Sawa, and VOA.

-Ed