{"id":2958,"date":"2012-03-12T15:59:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T19:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=2958"},"modified":"2012-03-12T16:03:11","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T20:03:11","slug":"radio-st-helena-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/radio-st-helena-closing\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio St. Helena to go off the air"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Though this news effects a relatively small number of people on the remote island of St. Helena<\/a>, it is sad to those of us who enjoyed the annual challenge of catching \u00a0the weak signal of Radio St. Helena on shortwave. In truth, for technical reasons, they have missed recent annual broadcasts<\/a>. Still, it was a fun event. Would be nice if an annual shortwave transmission or amateur radio special event could be scheduled to take its place.<\/p>\n

(Source: RNW Media Network<\/a>)<\/p>\n

One of the remotest islands on earth, St Helena in the South Atlantic, will experience big changes in its media this year. Radio St Helena, which operates on 1548 kHz mediumwave and for some years broadcast a special once-a-year programme on shortwave via a transmitter of Cable and Wireless, will be closing down. Its parent company, St Helena News Media Services, is being dissolved, and the final edition of its newspaper the\u00a0St Helena Herald<\/em>\u00a0was published on 9 March 2012.<\/p>\n

In its place, a new government-funded company called the St Helena Broadcasting Corporation (SHBC) has been set up, and will operate three FM radio stations on the island, one of which will be a relay of the BBC World Service. The intention is that SHBC will become self-sustainable within three years. It officially became operational in February, and will also publish a weekly newspaper to replace the\u00a0Herald<\/em>. The first edition will be published later this month, but the radio stations are not expected to go on air until the summer. Until then, Radio St Helena will continue operating.<\/p>\n

The other current station on the island,\u00a0Saint FM<\/a>\u00a0that started operating in 2005, was invited to become part of the new organisation, but station manager Mike Olsson subsequently pulled out of discussions. Saint FM provides a 24-hour community service on FM, and is also broadcast on Ascension Island, the Falkland Islands and Tristan da Cunha. Its internet stream enables Saints around the world to keep in touch with their families on the island. Former Radio St Helena station manager Tony Leo can be heard on Saint FM every Wednesday at 1500-1700 UTC. Saint FM also publishes a weekly newspaper, the St Helena Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The resident population of St Helena, who are entitled to hold UK passports but have no automatic right of residence in the UK, is currently just over 4,000, but this is being boosted by the arrival of personnel from the company building the island\u2019s first airport, which is due to open in 2015. It\u2019s expected that the number of tourists per year will rise from the current level of under 1,000 to 30-50,000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though this news effects a relatively small number of people on the remote island of St. Helena, it is sad to those of us who enjoyed the annual challenge of catching \u00a0the weak signal of Radio St. Helena on shortwave. In truth, for technical reasons, they have missed recent annual broadcasts. Still, it was a […]<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,3],"tags":[137,138,971],"class_list":["post-2958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-news","tag-radio-st-helena","tag-radio-st-helena-day","tag-radio-st-helena-day-2012"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-LI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":351,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/radio-st-helena-day-november-14th-2009\/","url_meta":{"origin":2958,"position":0},"title":"Radio St. Helena Day – November 14th, 2009","author":"Thomas","date":"October 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio St. Helena has announced that their annual Radio St. Helena Day will be held on November 14th, 2009. If you would like to try your shortwave listening skills, this is a fun event indeed. DXers around the world try to tune into the annual broadcast and snag St. Helena's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sthelenalogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/sthelenalogo.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14241,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/shortwave-radio-recordings-radio-st-helena\/","url_meta":{"origin":2958,"position":1},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: Radio St. Helena","author":"Thomas","date":"July 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Brian Smith, who\u00a0shares the following recording of Radio St. Helena Day 2006 and\u00a0notes: \"Beginning in 1990, Radio St. Helena was known for transmitting an international shortwave radio broadcast only once a year -- and sometimes not even that -- on a frequency of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"radiosthelena","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/radiosthelena.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23253,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/lennart-reflects-on-radio-st-helena-day-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":2958,"position":2},"title":"Lennart reflects on Radio St. Helena Day history","author":"Thomas","date":"January 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Lennart Weirell, who shares the following: Some Radio St. Helena History The idea to put St. Helena on the shortwave map came up in conjunction with the preparations for the Nordic Championships in DX-ing in 1990 arranged by Stora Tuna DX-klubb. The two Swedish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Radio-Dial-2-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Radio-Dial-2-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Radio-Dial-2-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30665,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/01\/dw-documentary-about-the-south-atlantic-island-of-st-helena\/","url_meta":{"origin":2958,"position":3},"title":"DW Documentary about the South Atlantic island of St. Helena","author":"Thomas","date":"January 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many of you likely know I'm fascinated by remote islands and communities--especially the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. If you've been an SWL for a few decades you likely also remember the very popular Radio St. Helena day! We've posted several articles about it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/St-Helena-QSL-front-1998-1024x624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/St-Helena-QSL-front-1998-1024x624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/St-Helena-QSL-front-1998-1024x624.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/radio-st-helena-day-2010-has-been-cancelled\/","url_meta":{"origin":2958,"position":4},"title":"Radio St. Helena Day 2010 has been cancelled","author":"Thomas","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately, Radio St. Helena Day has been canceled for 2010. The following message was received last night from the Radio St. Helena crew: RSH << RSD 2010 Cancelled >> 10 September 2010 ============ Radio St. Helena sincerely regrets to have to inform radio listeners everywhere that Radio St. Helena Day\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/sthelenalogo.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14445,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/pauls-radio-st-helena-day-announcements\/","url_meta":{"origin":2958,"position":5},"title":"Paul’s Radio St. Helena Day announcements","author":"Thomas","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Paul Walker, who writes: I am a radio personality here in the USA as well as a SW and MW DX'er. I appeared on the 11092.5 USB during Radio Saint Helena Day 2009 and have several short recordings, which are attached. That's my voice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"radiosthelena","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/radiosthelena.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958","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=2958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}