{"id":35392,"date":"2018-12-31T16:13:29","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T20:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=35392"},"modified":"2018-12-31T16:42:46","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T20:42:46","slug":"from-the-archives-radio-australia-rings-in-the-millennium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/from-the-archives-radio-australia-rings-in-the-millennium\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Archives: Radio Australia rings in the millennium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear SWLing Post Reader,<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s New Year’s Eve and as I do each year, I’ve been spending time on the radio tuning around the bands–crossing borders and time\/date zones at will. Most broadcasters spend this day going over events of the year, playing music and looking back. Some even have an in-house on-air party of sorts when they slip into the new year. It’s always fun.<\/em><\/p>\n

I remember very fondly the full day I spent at the radio as we entered the year 2000. I wrote a post about this and published a recording several years ago. I decided it was time to pull that post from the archives and put it on the front page once again. I hope you enjoy it. <\/em><\/p>\n

Since this post was first published, Radio Australia has gone off the air of course, so I find recordings like this even more meaningful.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s wishing you and yours an amazing New Year! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

-Thomas<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Radio Australia rings in the millennium<\/h1>\n

\"Source:<\/a>Yesterday\u2013New Year’s Eve, 2014\u2013I spent some time listening to a few broadcasters as the new year passed through their time zones. While I missed hearing Radio New Zealand International (the first to welcome the New Year on the air), I did manage to catch Radio Australia, and the New Year was celebrated with no fanfare; one program merely ran into the next, and there was a brief mention of 2014’s arrival in the headline news.<\/p>\n

Oh, but it wasn’t that way when we moved into the year 2000…<\/p>\n

Rewind 14 years<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Back in December of 1999, before setting off to visit family for the New Year, I had a sudden notion: I decided it would be fun\u2013and a bit novel\u2013to record radio broadcasters as each moved into the new millennium. As we were packing the car to travel, I changed my mind about using my Grundig Yacht Boy 400 to accomplish this fairly ambitious, round-the-world listening\/recording endeavor; instead, I grabbed my ham radio transceiver, an Icom IC-735, and packed it, along with a hefty 12-volt power supply. While my IC-735 lacked AM filters (at the time) it had much better sensitivity than the YB400, especially when hooked up to a decent antenna. I also had the foresight to take along a few odds and ends, including a mechanical antenna tuner and a spool of long wire.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Icom IC-735<\/p><\/div>\n

To record the broadcast, I used my trusty Aiwa AM F70 MiniDisk recorder\u2013remember those? Upon arrival at our extended family’s home, they\u00a0kindly permitted me to erect a long wire antenna in a sloping configuration in their yard. It did a fine job netting the airwaves.\u00a0The MiniDisk recorder recorded brilliantly, allowing me to monitor levels and even edit afterward.<\/p>\n

As a result, I spent New Year’s Eve 2000 recording station after station as the earth turned. \u00a0It was great fun, and meanwhile had very little impact on our family celebrations as I simply left the recorder running for long periods of time.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

My trusty Aiwa AM F70 MiniDisk recorder.<\/p><\/div>\n

While I have yet to dissect the many hours of recordings, if memory serves, I think I managed to record Radio New Zealand International, Voice of Russia, Radio France International, NHK, Voice of America, and Radio Canada International as each rang in 2000. The IC-735 performed quite well, save a lack of bandwidth filters, as I only really had two\u2013very wide, and very narrow.<\/p>\n

So, for your New Year’s Day listening pleasure: \u00a0I hope you’ll enjoy, as much as I did, \u00a0listening to Radio Australia ring in the new millennium yet again. In the news items, you’ll hear that Russian President Boris Yeltson has handed the reigns over to Vladimir Putin, and remarks about the (lack of) problems resulting from\u00a0the infamous Y2K<\/a>\u00a0threat.<\/p>\n

Click here to download the recording as an MP3<\/a>, or simply listen below:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/archive.org\/download\/RadioAustraliaNewYearsEve19992000\/RadioAustralia-NewYearsEve-1999-2000.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear SWLing Post Reader, It’s New Year’s Eve and as I do each year, I’ve been spending time on the radio tuning around the bands–crossing borders and time\/date zones at will. Most broadcasters spend this day going over events of the year, playing music and looking back. Some even have an in-house on-air party of […]<\/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":[368],"class_list":["post-35392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-radio-australia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-9cQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20573,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/radio-australia-off-the-air-this-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":35392,"position":0},"title":"Radio Australia off the air this week","author":"Thomas","date":"August 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Mike Nikolich (N9OVQ), who writes: Radio Australia has been off the air all week. My buddy Ron Howard in California contacted reception.advice@abc.net.au\u00a0regarding this issue, and received this response: \"Thank you for your recent correspondence with regards to the\u00a0Radio Australia Broadcasts on Shortwave Radio in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Australia.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Australia.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20655,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/radio-australia-outage-response-from-abc-reception-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":35392,"position":1},"title":"Radio Australia outage: Response from ABC Reception Advice","author":"Thomas","date":"August 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I just received the following message from ABC Reception Advice after inquiring about Radio Australia being off the air. I'm sure many of you also received the same message: Thank you for your recent correspondence with regards to the Radio Australia Broadcasts on Shortwave Radio in the SW Pacific. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ABC-Logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ABC-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51048,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/radio-waves-life-changing-song-on-radio-australia-nz-voices-in-the-air-nist-test-signal-on-wwv-wwvh-and-1980s-nyc-offshore-pirates\/","url_meta":{"origin":35392,"position":2},"title":"Radio Waves: Life-Changing Song on Radio Australia, NZ Voices in the Air, NIST Test Signal on WWV\/WWVH, and 1980s NYC Offshore Pirates","author":"Thomas","date":"December 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0readers.\u00a0 To that end:\u00a0Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s Radio Waves, a\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\/2019\/05\/VOA-Site-B-76-of-170.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/VOA-Site-B-76-of-170.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/VOA-Site-B-76-of-170.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/VOA-Site-B-76-of-170.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23635,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/january-29-edition-of-awr-wavescan-to-focus-on-radio-australia\/","url_meta":{"origin":35392,"position":3},"title":"January 29 edition of AWR Wavescan to focus on Radio Australia","author":"Thomas","date":"January 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom Ally, who shares this note from WRMI: The January 29 edition of Wavescan (which will begin to air on January 29 and will be repeated several times over the following week) will be a special program about Radio Australia, which will be ending\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\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zenith-Dial-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60216,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/bob-shares-a-1968-off-air-recording-of-radio-australia\/","url_meta":{"origin":35392,"position":4},"title":"Bob shares a 1968 off-air recording of Radio Australia","author":"Thomas","date":"July 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bob Purse, owner and curator of the excellent\u00a0Inches Per Second audio archive and blog, who recently posted a 1968 recording of Radio Australia. This recording is in the queue to be published on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, but I thought I'd share 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\/2021\/12\/Tape-Reel-Original-Photo-by-Maxim-Kostenko-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Tape-Reel-Original-Photo-by-Maxim-Kostenko-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Tape-Reel-Original-Photo-by-Maxim-Kostenko-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Tape-Reel-Original-Photo-by-Maxim-Kostenko-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Tape-Reel-Original-Photo-by-Maxim-Kostenko-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64223,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/australia-solved-remote-learning-seventy-years-ago-with-shortwave-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":35392,"position":5},"title":"Australia Solved Remote Learning Seventy Years Ago\u2014with Shortwave Radio!","author":"Thomas","date":"October 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David Iurescia for sharing the following article about one of my favorite topics, which we've covered in the past. Long before Zoom classrooms or remote-learning platforms existed, Australia was already teaching across the outback via radio. This article from Education Daily explores how the\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\/2018\/06\/School-of-the-air.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35392","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=35392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}