{"id":10377,"date":"2014-07-27T21:19:51","date_gmt":"2014-07-28T01:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=10377"},"modified":"2014-07-27T21:19:51","modified_gmt":"2014-07-28T01:19:51","slug":"the-straits-times-western-radio-broadcasters-tuning-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/the-straits-times-western-radio-broadcasters-tuning-out\/","title":{"rendered":"The Straits Times: “Western radio broadcasters tuning out”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader, Richard Cuff, for sharing this article from The Straits Times<\/a> which interviews our friend Victor Goonetilleke. This is one of the first articles I’ve seen in the international press which gives a\u00a0listener’s perspective\u00a0on recent cuts to shortwave broadcasting.<\/p>\n

\"Analog<\/a>(Source: The Straits Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n

For 67-year-old Victor Goonetilleke, sitting with his headphones on in his house in the lush green Sri Lankan countryside, June 30 was the end of an era.<\/p>\n

Voice of America’s (VOA) short-wave broadcasts to Asia abruptly went off the air, raising howls of protest from many of the US government-funded broadcaster’s listeners across the region.<\/p>\n

But as the broadcasts had already been greatly diminished, this was not a surprise. The big Western radio broadcasters have gradually ceded the political “soft power” space they once dominated to a new heavyweight: China Radio International (CRI).<\/p>\n

In recent years, Radio Canada International and Radio Netherlands Worldwide have shut down while the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and VOA have cut back on their range of languages and hours of programming. Now, the VOA has left Asia.<\/p>\n

Mr Goonetilleke is not just an avid radio listener. He professionally monitors radio frequencies for the VOA. He is also a former veteran radio correspondent with Radio Netherlands for 24 years in an era when short-wave radio broadcasts from the likes of the BBC, VOA, Radio Netherlands, and Deutsche Welle were often lifelines to other worlds for hundreds of millions especially in times of conflict and misery.<\/p>\n

The BBC now broadcasts in 29 languages across the planet, down from a peak of 69 in the 1970s. CRI broadcasts in 65, up from a reported 43 in 2006. Some programmes are run by local FM stations.<\/p>\n

These days, Mr Goonetilleke can listen to four hours of CRI broadcasts in Sinhala and Tamil daily, compared with 30 minutes each on BBC.<\/p>\n

CRI’s Tamil language broadcast is one of its oldest, run by fluent Tamil speaker Zhu Juanhua, a Shanghai native better known by her tens of thousands of listeners as Kalaiarasi.<\/p>\n

According to the CRI website, it has 3,165 listener clubs around the planet, including CRI netizens’ clubs.<\/p>\n

[Continue reading…<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Richard Cuff, for sharing this article from The Straits Times which interviews our friend Victor Goonetilleke. This is one of the first articles I’ve seen in the international press which gives a\u00a0listener’s perspective\u00a0on recent cuts to shortwave broadcasting. (Source: The Straits Times) For 67-year-old Victor Goonetilleke, sitting with his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,3,43],"tags":[1438,141,429,3114,4082,3141,402,84],"class_list":["post-10377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-bbc-cuts","tag-china-radio-international","tag-cri","tag-ra-cuts","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-victor-goonetilleke","tag-voa-cuts","tag-why-shortwave-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2Hn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10446,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/victor-goonetilleke-the-joy-of-dxing\/","url_meta":{"origin":10377,"position":0},"title":"Victor Goonetilleke: The joy of DXing","author":"Thomas","date":"August 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Goonetilleke has kindly shared a passage he recently posted to Facebook. Victor pretty much sums up why I still listen to the shortwaves: \"For almost four score and 5 I enjoyed shortwave radio. Yes I was a DXer, and a dedicated listener. The thousands of hours of broadcasts I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SX-99-Dial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12954,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/victors-detailed-handwritten-qsl-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":10377,"position":1},"title":"Victor’s detailed handwritten QSL Card","author":"Thomas","date":"April 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Noted DXer, Victor Goonetilleke, recently posted this circa 1971 QSL on Facebook and has kindly allowed me to share it here on the SWLing Post: Victor comments: \"The Glory Days of Short Wave Radio. Can you imagine someone hand writing all this today?\" Indeed! I'm very impressed with the detail\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Victor-QSL","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Victor-QSL-1024x721.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Victor-QSL-1024x721.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Victor-QSL-1024x721.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22591,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/photos-from-the-final-danish-shortwave-club-international-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":10377,"position":2},"title":"Photos from the final Danish Shortwave Club International meeting","author":"Thomas","date":"December 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jonathan Marks, who shares the following photos he snapped during the final meeting of the DSWCI meeting (click images to enlarge): Thank you for sharing these photos, Jonathan. It's sad to see an institution like the DSWCI come to an end--especially because clubs like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anker Petersen kicks off the final DSCWI meeting of all.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/4Y3A7505-1024x639.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/4Y3A7505-1024x639.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/4Y3A7505-1024x639.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23366,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/drm-tests-from-ktwr-guam-through-january-13\/","url_meta":{"origin":10377,"position":3},"title":"DRM tests from KTWR Guam through January 13","author":"Thomas","date":"January 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source:\u00a0?Victor Goonetilleke via the WRTH Facebook page) We have the DRM test in place for 9 \u2013 13 Jan 2017. Please pass thisonto those you know who may be able to send in reports.Details are here below. DRM test broadcast form KTWR Guam Date 9 \u2013 13 January 2017 Time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DRM"","block_context":{"text":"DRM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/drm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/drmlogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8604,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/2014-wrth-a-look-inside\/","url_meta":{"origin":10377,"position":4},"title":"2014 WRTH: A look inside","author":"Thomas","date":"January 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I received my copy of the 2014 World Radio and TV Handbook (WRTH) directly from the publisher a few days ago, just prior to a 24 hour power outage. As many SWLing Post readers know, I always look forward to receiving this staple radio reference guide each year. While other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"wrth-2014","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/wrth-2014.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5719,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/trevor-baylis-in-the-vintage-vault\/","url_meta":{"origin":10377,"position":5},"title":"Trevor Baylis in the Vintage Vault","author":"Thomas","date":"February 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week, I posted an article about wind-up (clockwork) radio inventor, Trevor Baylis. I recently discovered a 1995 episode of RNW's Media Network, which featured Baylis--and the clockwork radio--in the context of inventions that would carry us\u00a0beyond\u00a0the new millenium: (Source: Media Network Vintage Vault) Remember Trevor Baylis and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RNW-MediaNetwork","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/RNW-MediaNetwork-300x287.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}