Radio Waves: Israeli and Palestinian Radio Reach, Vatican Radio While in Captivity, and the Voice of Nigeria

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia and Richard Cuff for the following tips:

Reaching hostages and prisoners, through Israeli and Palestinian radio (NPR)

TEL AVIV, Israel, and RAMALLAH, West Bank — Thousands of Israeli and Palestinian families know nothing about the fate of their relatives — Israelis held captive in Gaza and Palestinians jailed in Israel — during the Israel-Hamas war.

No phone calls. No letters. Just a few short Hamas hostage videos and limited lawyers’ visits to Israeli prisons. Even as diplomats try to reach a cease-fire deal for their release, it is an ongoing source of anguish for the families.

So Israeli and Palestinian radio stations are broadcasting their voices, hoping their loved ones hear them.

Some have.

“People tell you, ‘If she listens to you right now, what would you say? What would you want her to hear?’ And I always feel like, OK, no way she can hear me,” says Gil Dickman, whose cousin’s wife was a captive in Gaza. “But it turns out that, thanks to the fact that radio is such an analog platform, it was possible.” [Continue reading at NPR…]

Fr. Lohre: ‘Vatican Radio made me feel part of Church during captivity’ (Vatican Radio)

By Devin Watkins & John Baptist Tumusiime

“My captivity was a time which God gave to me to renew my strength, to renew my faith in order to be of any use to people afterwards.”

Fr. Hans-Joachim Lohre, MAfr, was on his way to celebrate Mass on the feast of Christ the King in 2022, in Bamako, when armed men pulled up behind his car, told him he was under arrest, and dragged him into their vehicle.

“This was a question of some seconds only,” he recounted. The men then drove him for a few hours into the bush, where he was handed to jihadists.

“When I was handed over to the jihadists,” he said. “The man on my right said, ‘Do not be afraid; we are the good ones. We are from Al-Qaeda. We are not like the Islamic State who killed people like this. You have nothing to fear from us.’”

Thus began the German-born missionary’s year-long ordeal at the hands of Islamic militants in the deserts of Mali. [Continue reading at Vatican Radio…]

Book Review: International Broadcasting and its Contested Role in Australian Statecraft (Australian Institute of International Affairs)

As a middle power in an increasingly volatile and contested region, Geoff Heriot argues that Australian Governments need to be more strategic about their approach to international broadcasting. This is if they are to effectively tackle contemporary diplomatic and security challenges.

Geoff Heriot is a veteran of Australian journalism, and his recent book covers Australia’s late 20th century international broadcasting efforts and the role of Radio Australia in Australia’s statecraft. His is a timely and important intervention, for in bringing light to this aspect of the nation’s media history, Heriot also speaks deftly to the pressing security concerns facing Australia today. At a time when the importance of the Indo-Pacific region to Australia’s security is becoming increasingly apparent, Heriot urges Australian governments to recognise the opportunities inherent in the discursive power of its international broadcasting service.

Throughout his well-argued and persuasive work, based on what he describes as a “late career” doctoral project, Heriot makes the case that international broadcasting offers Australia the opportunity to use its soft power more strategically in the region. He argues that international broadcasting possesses “discursive power” and this power provides Australia the chance to both model the nation’s democratic values and, perhaps more importantly, to ensure that “its strategic narrative forms part of the regional discourse.” However, he maintains that successive Australian governments have little understood the strategic purpose of, and opportunities offered by, its international broadcasting service. This has not only led to a cycle of investment and disinvestment in Radio Australia, but a lack of the long-term planning and focus that is required to ensure Australia possesses the kind of technically capable, trusted, and culturally sensitive broadcasting service required in times of crisis or need. As Heriot has claimed elsewhere, “The cardinal rule when seeking to project the values and interests of our imagined community, the democratic nation-state, is to play the long game and do so with constancy.” [Continue reading…]

A hundred days of resilience, transformation and hope at VON, By Jibrin Baba Ndace (Premium Times)

Beyond the tangible structures and facilities, the true heartbeat of VON lay within its people.

In the hushed corridors of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), a narrative of change and renewed hope unfolded under the warm embrace of the October sun when I was appointed Director-General/CEO of the media agency by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) on 20 October, 2023, marking the beginning of a transformative journey within the Nigerian international broadcasting corporation.

The handover ceremony from my predecessor, Mr Osita Okechukwu, was more than a ceremonial passing of the baton. Stepping into leadership on 23 October, 2023, the canvas of change began to take shape during my attendance of AFRICAST 2023 in Lagos. It was during this visit that I paid a visit to the Broadcasting House in Ikoyi and the Ikorodu Transmitting Station, which serve as poignant reminders of untapped potential, urging a commitment to revitalisation.

Returning to the heart of VON, the Corporate Headquarters in Abuja, told its own story — a tale woven with threads of promise and challenge. The deplorable state of infrastructure in Lagos reverberated through the echoing hallways of Abuja, creating a stark reality that demands immediate attention and a resolute commitment to transformation. [Continue reading…]

Do you enjoy the SWLing Post?

Please consider supporting us via Patreon or our Coffee Fund!

Your support makes articles like this one possible. Thank you!

Spread the radio love

“The Intercept Watch”

4 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Meara who writes:

Thomas: I found this in an old radio magazine. SWLPost is on The Intercept Watch!

Radio. July 1934

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio/30s/Radio-1934-07.pdf

73 Bill

How cool! Thank you for sharing, Bill!

Spread the radio love

LRA 36 Shortwave Broadcasts: Temporarily Off The Air

4 Replies

Many thanks to SWLig Post contributor, Adrian Korol, who shares the following announcement from Horacio Nigro:

Dear Colleagues,

Alejandro Petrecca (Chief of the LRA1 Transmitter Plant) and Claudio García (technical operator of Radio Nacional El Bolsón and amateur radio operator with previous experience at LRA 36) finally arrived at Joint Antarctic Base Esperanza today. Their mission is to perform maintenance and optimization work on the audio chain, install a new console, and place the FM antenna and the tower that will be used for the new LRA 36 shortwave transmitter.

Upon arrival, they discovered that the output stage of the Collins HF 80 transmitter, which is used to transmit LRA 36 programs on 15476 kHz, was burned out. They also found that the tower sections for the shortwave antenna and the audio console had not yet arrived at the base.

LRA 36 broadcast regularly until January 13. Then, Juan Benavente, the architect of many if not all of LRA 36’s achievements in recent years, was unfairly recalled. With Benavente’s departure, the radio was left in the hands of unqualified people, which is evident by the fact that the transmitter burned out the day after Benavente returned.

The causes of the fire are being investigated, but it is possible that it was due to the incompetence of those who remained at the base. Juan and Nicole Valdebenito (operator) know the sequences necessary to start up the transmitter by heart, but this was not the case with those who came after them.

There are many issues surrounding this matter, but it would be very important to spread this news among colleagues around the world.

At this time, Petrecca and García are installing the FM antenna for local coverage.

It is estimated that the new Studio Console and audio distributor donated by Trialcom, thanks to a personal effort by Juan Benavente, will arrive at Joint Antarctic Base Esperanza by the end of next week.

The output board of the transmitter is also being sent to replace the burned one and keep it in operation during February.

If Juan Benavente had been coordinating, none of these situations would have occurred. Unfortunately, political favors promoted by the previous administration left LRA 36 abandoned in its most important mission, which is shortwave transmission.

JUAN BENAVENTE must return to LRA 36 as soon as possible to sustain the radio until the arrival of the donated new transmitter.

I estimate that if they agree and the planets align, we could resume LRA 36 shortwave broadcasts before the end of February.

Thank you for spreading the above information.

From Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay

Spread the radio love

Kyodo News Radiofax: Japan Navigational Warnings

Don Moore’s Photo Album: Costa Rica (Part Two)

3 Replies

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Don Moore–noted author, traveler, and DXer–for the latest installment of his Photo Album guest post series:

Don Moore’s Photo Album: Costa Rica (Part Two)

by Don Moore

It’s been three months since the last time I put together one of these pieces because I was busy finishing my book, Tales of a Vagabond DXer [Note: SWLing Post Amazon affiliate link]. You may have seen the announcement about it here a few weeks ago. This series should appear more regularly in 2024 as I plan to concentrate on small writing projects for a while!

Back in August, we looked at five Costa Rican shortwave stations that I visited in 1990. This time I’m going to feature just one station, but a station with a very interesting story. My book has an updated and rewritten version of the article I wrote about it for Monitoring Times magazine in the early 1990s. But the book doesn’t have many photos as adding those significantly increases the price. So, here are the pictures and a little bit about the station.

This seven-and-a-half-watt transmitter was the first transmitter for TI4NRH, the first shortwave broadcast station in Latin America. It was built by Amando Céspedes Marín in Heredia, Costa Rica in 1928. Don Amando operated a small medium wave station and hoped that by using shortwave he could reach listeners in all of Costa Rica. Instead, he gained an audience all around the world. His little TI4NRH became one of the most popular radio stations for shortwave listeners throughout the 1930s until he shut it down at the beginning of World War Two. This portrait of Don Amando was made around that time.

I remembered reading about TI4NRH in an old-timer’s article, so while I was in Costa Rica I went to Heredia hoping to find someone who could tell me where the station had operated from. I wanted to get a picture of the building. Instead, I found that everything was still there in the dimly lit backroom of the family house. (The pictures are grainy as the room was very dark.) Don Amando had passed away in 1976 but his never-married daughter, Lydylia, still lived there and treated the room as a shrine to her departed father.

The Céspedes family house was on a side street a few blocks south of the main plaza in Heredia. The radio station was located in the middle section, behind the white door.

Plaque on the front door commemorating the building as the birthplace of radio in Costa Rica.

Financial support from listeners helped TI4NRH buy new transmitters and raise power. This 300-watt transmitter was the last one used.

Radio amateurs in the USA and Canada raised money to buy and ship this antenna tower to TI4NRH in the late 1930s.

Nothing was removed after the station closed down but the space became a storage room for the family. This is how it looked in June 1990.

The bottom of that original 7 ½ watt transmitter. Unfortunately, the photo came out very dark in the dimly lit room.

The walls were covered with yellowing 1930s amateur radio QSL cards.

This letter written by Arthur Kopf, an American working in the Panama Canal Zone, was the first report received by TI4NRH. That made it the first reception report ever written to a Latin American shortwave broadcast station.

Don Amando’s daughter Lydylia was the guardian of her father’s legacy.

A view showing the house and neighboring antenna tower.

TI4NRH was only a hobby for Don Amando. He made a living by operating a print shop and photography studio. With financial support from the Zenith Corporation, he published a monthly radio magazine (primarily in Spanish) for several years in the 1930s.

In 1928, Philadelphia DXer Charles Schroeder became the first North American DXer to log a Latin American SWBC station when he heard TI4NRH. He not only got a QSL for his reception, TI4NRH sent him a beautiful chair made out of Costa Rican tropical hard woods. The chair was sent in pieces with instructions for assembly and arrived in just twelve days. Mr. Schroeder passed away in 1956, but in 2005 I heard from Schroeder’s daughter, who still had the chair. She sent these photos.

Finding TI4NRH was like finding an unknown time capsule. It was one of the biggest highlights of both my DX career and my travels. And I always hoped to return. In the late 1990s I learned that Lydylia had passed away and that one of her nephews had moved into the house. Sometime around 2010 the antenna tower had become unsafe so the family had it torn down and sold for scrap. However, other than donating a few items to the city museum (something Lydylia had refused to do), the family continued to hold on to Don Amando’s legacy. In 2017, a group of Costa Rican radio amateurs visited the house and published their photos, which were much better than my old ones.

I would like to say that everything is still there for the next visiting DXers to see. But in looking for links to include in this piece I came across some very sad news. The house was demolished in July 2021. Apparently the next generation of the family (Don Amando’s great-grandchildren) had no interest in maintaining the old house and Costa Rica doesn’t have a good program to preserve historical sites. So the city of Heredia had the house torn down. The news article I found (which was very critical of the destruction) didn’t even know what had happened to the station memorabilia that had been in the house. So, unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending.

Thank you, friends…

20 Replies

Thank you to all of the notes of support and kindness I’ve received during my mother’s Hospice care and after her passing.

Mom’s memorial service was yesterday; and while it was a somber day, it was brightened by this large, beautiful floral arrangement that arrived at the church where the service was held: