Tag Archives: David Goren

Shortwave Shindig Interval Signal Sign On

Broadcasting a live performance of the Shortwave Shindig at the 2015 Winter SWL Fest.

Many thanks to SWling Post contributor David Goren, who recently uploaded the Shortwave Shindig interval signal slideshow to his YouTube channel. David notes:

For the past 22 years or so, I’ve helmed the Shortwave Shindig, a long form listening session celebrating the art, history and culture of Shortwave Radio. This takes place in suburban Philadelphia at the annual Shortwave Listener’s Fest (which just marked it’s 39th year), sponsored by the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA). Our opening gambit for the evening is to play an Interval Signal medley. Interval Signals are short samples of music often incorporating a country’s national anthem, folkloric music, even bird calls…as an aid for tuning in the station prior to the official sign-on. Our resident musical genius Chris Johnson takes the Shindig’s anthem, the country gospel tune “Turn Your Radio On” and morphs it into classic Interval Signals from the golden era of Shortwave Radio broadcasting (including The Voice of America, Radio Tehran, Radio Kiev, Radio Norway, Radio Canada, Radio Australia and many more.) This year I added a slide show with a smattering of Shortwave Radio related graphics. I present it here for your listening and viewing pleasure. Kudos also to Jeff Murray for designing the ultra-snazzy Shortwave Shindig logo.

Click here to view/listen via YouTube.

Winter SWL Fest 2026: “Meet the Archivist” Recording

I wasn’t able to attend the Winter SWL Fest this past weekend due to my travel schedule. As in years past, my good friend David Goren invited me to record a “Meet the Archivist” segment for his annual Shortwave Shindig live event.

Unfortunately, there were some technical difficulties this year, and the segment wasn’t able to be played during the live event. However, David recently shared a SoundCloud link with me, and I’m happy to pass it along here on the SWLing Post.

It’s always a lot of fun to be part of this—many thanks to David for including me again!

Feel free to listen to the embedded recording below:

World Radio Day: Kentucky’s Real People Radio

A new documentary from the BBC, produced by SWLing Post friend and contributor David Goren and presented by Maria Margaronis, is now available to listen to online.

Kentucky’s Real People Radio, from The Documentary Podcast, visits WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a small community radio station known locally as “Possum Radio,” which serves coalfield communities in Appalachia and now faces an uncertain future amid potential cuts to public funding. The programme explores why community stations like WMMT matter more than ever, providing trusted local information, emergency alerts, and a rare platform for voices often unheard in national media.

You can listen to the full documentary, with embedded audio, on BBC Sounds here:
https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0n0g9f2

Update: If you don’t have a BBC account and can’t access the recording above, they also make the recording available via this link, which I’ll also embed below:

BBC Sunday Feature: Leo Sarkisian, The Music Man for Africa

Many thanks to SWLing Post friend and contributor David Goren, who produced this wonderful BBC Sunday Feature documentary, The Music Man for Africa.

The program explores the remarkable life of Leo Sarkisian, the legendary Voice of America broadcaster who spent decades traveling across Africa (and beyond) with a massive tape recorder, documenting traditional music and sharing it with the world through Music Time in Africa.

You can listen via the BBC here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002przx

If the BBC is geofenced in your part of the world, you can also listen via SoundCloud here (note that it may require a SoundCloud free account to listen):

Katie Thornton’s New Series Investigates the Influence of Shortwave Radio

Award-winning journalist Katie Thornton has launched a new season of the Peabody-winning podcast, The Divided Dial, produced by On the Media and WNYC Studios. In this season, Katie focuses on shortwave radio—a medium that is near and dear to our hearts.

In Episode 1, “Fishing In The Night”, Thornton explores the international ambitions and shadowy past of shortwave broadcasting. The episode features our friend and resident Shortwaveologist, David Goren, who shares rich insights on the cultural and political influence of the shortwave dial.

Listen & Follow the Series:

World Radio Day 2025: Celebrating Nuxalk Radio’s Mission to Revive Language and Culture

This World Radio Day, we celebrate the power of community radio with World Wide Waves ’25: Whispers in the Air, a moving documentary presented by Maria Margaronis and produced by our friend David Goren.

 

This BBC World Service feature highlights Nuxalk Radio, a small yet powerful station broadcasting from a trailer in Bella Coola, British Columbia. For the past decade, this station has been a beacon of cultural revival, helping the Nuxalk people reclaim their language and identity after decades of suppression. Through bilingual weather forecasts, recordings of elders, and new music blending ancient and modern sounds, Nuxalk Radio is not just preserving the past—it’s building a bridge to the future. Don’t miss this inspiring story of resilience and the enduring power of radio.

Listen now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct7mch

Radio Documentary: World Wide Waves ’24

World Wide Waves ’24 – The Documentary (BBC World Service)

Radio can be a lifeline for women: a place to speak out in safety; a place to find their voices. We hear from women taking to the air and making waves in the cracks left by the Taliban in Afghanistan; in Fiji’s scattered archipelago threatened by climate change; in the migrant farmworker community of the Yakima Valley in North America’s Pacific north-west; and in the Ecuadorean Amazon, where indigenous women are coming together to save their land from pollution and destruction by oil companies. A feast of women’s voices from around the world: open, brave, joyful, and full of life and music.

Click here to listen to World Wide Waves ’24 on the BBC website.