{"id":12642,"date":"2015-03-14T08:21:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-14T12:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=12642"},"modified":"2015-03-14T08:21:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T12:21:49","slug":"when-held-captive-radio-provides-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/when-held-captive-radio-provides-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"When held captive, radio provides escape"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Analog<\/a>Many thanks to Any Sennitt who shares a link to this article by Telegraph journalist,\u00a0Colin Freeman.<\/a><\/p>\n

(Source: The Telegraph<\/a> via Andy Sennitt)<\/p>\n

Along with the glaciers of the Arctic and the sand dunes of the Sahara, northern Somalia is one of the loneliest, most godforsaken places I\u2019ve ever visited as a foreign correspondent. You can wander its Arizona-like landscape for days without seeing another soul, and when I was held hostage there in 2008, I could see why so many British troops posted to Somalia after the Second World War committed suicide through loneliness.<\/p>\n

That I did not succumb to the same urge is thanks to many factors \u2013 one being the good cheer of the photographer held captive alongside me, another being the Telegraph\u2019s heroic efforts in securing our release.<\/p>\n

But during the six weeks we spent held at gunpoint in a cave, one thing that stemmed the despair was the tiny, battery-operated radio that our kidnappers sometimes lent us. On the short wave channel we could get a faint BBC World Service signal, and while it was often fuzzy as it bounced round the cave\u2019s walls, it was better than yet another game on our chess set made from cigarette foil.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m pleased to hear that this lifeline is now being extended to inmates of another, much larger prison \u2013 the 25 million citizens of North Korea, who are denied access to any outside media by their leader, Kim Jong-un. As the Telegraph disclosed on Thursday, the World Service is to plan a new North Korea channel, giving the country\u2019s brain-washed citizens a much-needed alternative to the relentless propaganda of the world\u2019s last Stalinist regime.<\/p>\n

[Continue reading at The Telegraph…<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to Any Sennitt who shares a link to this article by Telegraph journalist,\u00a0Colin Freeman. (Source: The Telegraph via Andy Sennitt) Along with the glaciers of the Arctic and the sand dunes of the Sahara, northern Somalia is one of the loneliest, most godforsaken places I\u2019ve ever visited as a foreign correspondent. You can […]<\/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":[3,43],"tags":[3691,1871,474,4082,3690],"class_list":["post-12642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-colin-freeman","tag-dprk","tag-north-korea","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-the-telegraph"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-3hU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3499,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/andy-sennitt-the-media-network-years-the-noughties\/","url_meta":{"origin":12642,"position":0},"title":"Andy Sennitt: The Media Network years – the noughties","author":"Thomas","date":"May 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Media Network, which covered international broadcasting developments at Radio Netherlands,\u00a0recently ended a 30-year run on RNW. In a series of four articles,\u00a0Andy Sennitt mentions some of the highlights, and then looks ahead to\u00a0how international broadcasting might develop in the next ten years. Part 3 of this series, \"The Media Network\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/RNW.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":50591,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/video-jonathan-marks-and-andy-sennitt-on-amsterdam-radio-day-in-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":12642,"position":1},"title":"Video: Jonathan Marks and Andy Sennitt on Amsterdam Radio Day in 2011","author":"Thomas","date":"November 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Barraclough, who shares the following: [Here's a video] link to Jonathan Marks and Andy Sennitt talking about Media Network at the Amsterdam Radio Day in 2011, a meeting I attended. Those annual events were mostly panels about offshore radio: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=odjyD3TaUYc Thank you so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/RNW-Hilver.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/RNW-Hilver.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/RNW-Hilver.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3443,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/andy-sennitt-the-media-network-years-the-1990s\/","url_meta":{"origin":12642,"position":2},"title":"Andy Sennitt: The Media Network years the 1990s","author":"Thomas","date":"May 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Media Network, which covered international broadcasting developments at Radio Netherlands,\u00a0recently ended a 30-year run on RNW. In a series of four articles,\u00a0Andy Sennitt mentions some of the highlights, and then looks ahead to\u00a0how international broadcasting might develop in the next ten years. Part 2 of this series, \"The Media Network\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/RNW.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3396,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/andy-sennitt-looking-back-at-30-years-of-media-network\/","url_meta":{"origin":12642,"position":3},"title":"Andy Sennitt: Looking back at 30 years of Media Network","author":"Thomas","date":"April 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Media Network, which covered international broadcasting developments at Radio Netherlands,\u00a0recently ended a 30-year run on RNW. In a series of four articles,\u00a0Andy Sennitt mentions some of the highlights, and then looks ahead to\u00a0how international broadcasting might develop in the next ten years. Part 1 is now available on RNW's website.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/RNW-Hilver-300x152.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":675,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/radio-world-whatever-happened-to-shortwave-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":12642,"position":4},"title":"Radio World: Whatever Happened to Shortwave Radio?","author":"Thomas","date":"March 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"For all its transmission expense and audio problems, analog shortwave radio has one clear advantage over the Internet and domestic radio\/TV: It cannot be easily blocked \u2014 even when states try to disrupt its signals using jamming transmitters. This is one of the best articles I've read recently about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/swdial.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24749,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/former-radio-caroline-dj-strives-to-become-leader-of-seborga-italy\/","url_meta":{"origin":12642,"position":5},"title":"Former Radio Caroline DJ strives to become leader of Seborga, Italy","author":"Thomas","date":"March 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The Telegraph via Andy Sennitt) A British-born DJ from Crawley is vying to become the ruler of a tiny self-declared principality in Italy, an honour that would earn him the enviable title \u201cHis Tremendousness\u201d. Mark Dezzani hopes to become the Prince of Seborga, a village overlooking the Italian Riviera\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SeborgaItaly.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SeborgaItaly.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SeborgaItaly.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12642","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=12642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}