Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following news from KBS:
Due to a technical issue, KBS WORLD Radio’s English Service will make an inevitable adjustment in the shortwave frequency and time as follows as of January 1, 2024. We ask for your kind understanding. Please send your listener feedback to English Service via email, snail mail, website and social media as always. Thank you.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following press release from Radio New Zealand:
Released at 2:34 pm on 12 December 2023
RNZ has powered down for the last time its 34-year-old shortwave Thompson transmitter, known as “Transmitter 1”, one of two shortwave transmitters that deliver analogue and digital radio broadcasts to the Pacific.
It is part of the preparation for the installation of a new Swiss-made Ampegon shortwave transmitter at its Rangitaiki site.
This project is a milestone for RNZ. For the past 75 years, it has been using shortwave radio to broadcast to the vast Pacific region. Replacing the old transmitter marks a significant step in futureproofing of the service.
Transmitter 1, the 100-kilowatt Thompson unit, was installed just outside of Taup? in 1989, just in time for the Commonweath Games held in Auckland in 1990. Only capable of transmitting in analogue, servicing Transmitter 1 has become an increasingly challenging task with many of the parts for the transmitter now obsolete.
Its replacement, an Ampegon shortwave transmitter capable of both digital and analogue transmission is currently being shipped to New Zealand after being built in Ampegon’s Switzerland factory. However, before the new transmitter can be installed, Transmitter 1 needs to be decommissioned with any useful parts kept as spares.
RNZ’s Transmission Engineer Specialist Steve White said the challenge for the switchover is having an existing transmission building that limits space.
“It will take around four weeks to completely dismantle Transmitter 1 which was built into the building so it’s not just a case of unplugging it and wheeling it out. We need to isolate the transmitter from the main switchboard as well as drain the fluids that help cool the transmitter before breaking it into parts.”
The new Ampegon transmitter will arrive in January and take an estimated six weeks to install, six weeks to commission and a further period of training. At this stage it is expected the transmitter will be operational from 1 May 2024.
When Transmitter 1 is replaced, there will be two transmitters capable of both analogue and digital transmissions, ensuring a complete backup should one of the transmitters stop working.
In the meantime, RNZ Pacific Manager Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor said they were making sure all of RNZ’s Pacific partners were aware of the alternative ways to access RNZ content.
“While digital transmissions will continue, the decommissioning of Transmitter 1 will mean the analogue service will be reduced during the transition period. However, RNZ can still be heard via satellite, and we will be working with our partners in the Pacific on the alternative options of downloading or livestreaming through our website. RNZ Pacific also has an important role during Cyclone season, delivering critical information to the region and this will be prioritised during this period of single transmitter operation.”
RNZ Chief Executive and Editor in Chief Paul Thompson said the importance of the service for the region cannot be underestimated in terms of the content provided.
“Our voice reaches and is welcomed in all parts of the Pacific. During the Tonga eruption, when the undersea cable was cut, RNZ Pacific short wave was a lifeline source of information,” he said.
RNZ’s Charter includes the provision of an international service to the South Pacific in both English and Pacific languages. As part of Budget 2022, the Government announced $4.4m dollars capital funding for a new transmitter for RNZ Pacific.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following item from Radio Canada International:
Public broadcaster says most cuts will take effect over the coming year
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada announced Monday that it plans to cut about 10 per cent of its workforce and axe some programming to cope with a potential $125 million budget shortfall.
In a news release, the public broadcaster said it plans on cutting 600 union and non-union positions across the entire organization. The corporation said about 200 vacant positions will be eliminated on top of that.
CBC and Radio-Canada, the French-language arm, will each be cutting in the range of 250 jobs, while the rest of the cuts will come from the technology and infrastructure department and other corporate divisions, said the corporation.
CBC spokesperson Leon Mar said some of the cuts will begin immediately but most will take effect over the coming year.
CBC/Radio-Canada — which received around $1.3 billion in public funding in the 2022-2023 fiscal year — also announced Monday it will reduce its English and French programming budgets for the next fiscal year and cut about $40 million from independent production commissions and program acquisitions.
Mar said that will mean fewer new television series and fewer episodes for existing shows.
The corporation said earlier this year it had begun cutting $25 million through measures such as limiting travel, sponsorships and marketing, and delaying technology initiatives.
The public broadcaster blamed its budget issues on rising production costs, declining television advertising revenue and fierce competition from the digital giants.
CBC/Radio-Canada said it’s also grappling with forecast reductions to its parliamentary funding beginning in the next fiscal year. A fund to help the public broadcaster offset revenue losses during the pandemic is also ending, it said. The fund supplied the CBC with $21 million a year for two years.
We understand how concerning this is to the people affected and to the Canadians who depend on our programs and services. We will have more details in the months ahead, but we are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of these measures, said CBC/Radio-Canada president Catherine Tait in a prepared statement. [Continue reading…]
Radio Exterior de España transmits its programming on Short Wave from its broadcasting center in Noblejas (Toledo). Source: RTVE
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following announcement from Radio Exterior de España (originally in Spanish):
We inform you that the next few days December 4-5 Radio Exterior de España will be forced to suspend its shortwave broadcasts.
The reason: a cut in the electricity supply, beyond our control, which will affect the shortwave emitting center that Radio Exterior has in the town of Noblejas. The break is due to work that the Unión Fenosa company has to do in the electrical substation from that Toledo municipality and that will affect our facilities.
Consequently, shortwave emission will be suspended next Monday, December 4 and will last until Wednesday, December 6, which will be when the signal resumes.
We apologize for this incident, completely unrelated to the will of Radio Exterior de España.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following announcement from Radio Romania International:
Time for RRI’s annual survey of its listeners and Internet and social media users to find out the 2023 Personality of the Year.
RRI is again holding its annual survey of its listeners and Internet and social media users to find out the 2023 Personality of the Year.
And this has been no easy year, with Russia’s war in Ukraine continuing, energy prices rocketing, many parts of the world suffering food shortages, and not least, with global warming causing what was probably the hottest year on record. On top of all this came the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.
In this difficult year, which international public figure, in your opinion, has had the strongest positive impact on the world? And why? RRI will designate its Personality of the Year based on your nominations, which you can submit, together with a short justification, by posting directly on our website in a comment to this article, at www.rri.ro, by email at engl@rri.ro, on our Facebook page, on Instagram, WhatsApp, at 0040.744.312.650 (text or audio) or by fax at 0040.21.319.05.62.
We will announce the RRI Personality of the Year on-air and online on Monday, 1st January 2024.
We are looking forward to receiving your nominations, so please, get in touch!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following article originally published on the Radio Slovakia International website:
Our 2023 edition of QSL cards are all united within the main motto “30 years of Slovakia – 30 years of RSI”. The photos depict important buildings in the Slovak capital, Bratislava.
Building of the National Council of the Slovak Republic
Building of the Government Office of the Slovak Republic
Residence of the President of the Slovak Republic
Bratislava Castle
Slovak Radio Building
Building of the National Bank of Slovakia
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following item from Radio Romania International:
Sunday, the 6th of November 2022, is Listeners’ Day on Radio Romania International
Dear friends, Sunday, the 6th of November 2022, will be Listeners’ Day on Radio Romania International, celebrated a week after the Romanian Radio Day marked on the 1st of November.
2022 will go down in history and, equally, in the collective memory, as a very special year, but not like the year when the whole world emerged out of the pandemic, as most of us would have expected.
On the morning of February 24, the old continent was shattered by an armed conflict, after almost 80 years of peace. Large-scale propaganda and disinformation campaigns, meant to create chaos and confusion, have also become part of the confrontation.
The information warfare is not a new kind of reality. However, its effects have become more visible than ever against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, because the war has brought a real explosion of fake news and disinformation with it.
In this year’s edition of Listeners’ Day on RRI we ask you what sources of information about the war in Ukraine are the most reliable for you? How can you identify fake news from real news? How vulnerable you think you are to disinformation? Have you removed from your list the sources of information proven to be spreading fake news and disinform the public? Which is the role that public radio, and an international radio station in particular, plays in your life during this period of time?
We are looking forward to receiving your answers, which will be included in our show on the 6th of November! You can email them to us, at engl@rri.ro, post them on Facebook or send them as a comment to this article on RRI’s website at www.rri.ro. If you like, you can also send us pre-recorded answers via WhatsApp, at +40744312650, or you can send us your telephone number so we can call you from the studio and record your opinions. Thank you!