{"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":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9503\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"625\" height=\"117\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-300x56.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-100x18.jpg 100w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial.jpg 1544w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Dear SWLing Post Reader,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>It&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s Eve and as I do each year, I&#8217;ve been spending time on the radio tuning around the bands&#8211;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&#8217;s always fun.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>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<p><em>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<p><strong><em>Here&#8217;s wishing you and yours an amazing New Year! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>-Thomas<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h1>Radio Australia rings in the millennium<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8453\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398.jpg\" alt=\"Source: Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"800\" height=\"421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398.jpg 800w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/800px-OperaSydney-Fuegos2006-342289398-100x52.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a>Yesterday\u2013New Year&#8217;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&#8217;s arrival in the headline news.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, but it wasn&#8217;t that way when we moved into the year 2000&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Rewind 14 years<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>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<div id=\"attachment_8455\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ic735.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8455\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8455\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ic735-300x162.jpg\" alt=\"The Icom IC-735\" width=\"300\" height=\"162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ic735-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ic735-100x54.jpg 100w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/ic735.jpg 544w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8455\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Icom IC-735<\/p><\/div>\n<p>To record the broadcast, I used my trusty Aiwa AM F70 MiniDisk recorder\u2013remember those? Upon arrival at our extended family&#8217;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<p>As a result, I spent New Year&#8217;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<div id=\"attachment_8452\" style=\"width: 264px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/photo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8452\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8452 \" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/photo-254x300.jpg\" alt=\"My trusty Aiwa \" width=\"254\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/photo-254x300.jpg 254w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/photo-84x100.jpg 84w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/photo.jpg 465w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8452\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My trusty Aiwa AM F70 MiniDisk recorder.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>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<p>So, for your New Year&#8217;s Day listening pleasure: \u00a0I hope you&#8217;ll enjoy, as much as I did, \u00a0listening to Radio Australia ring in the new millennium yet again. In the news items, you&#8217;ll hear that Russian President Boris Yeltson has handed the reigns over to Vladimir Putin, and remarks about the (lack of) problems resulting from\u00a0<a title=\"What was Y2K?\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Year_2000_problem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the infamous Y2K<\/a>\u00a0threat.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/download\/RadioAustraliaNewYearsEve19992000\/RadioAustralia-NewYearsEve-1999-2000.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to download the recording as an MP3<\/a>, or simply listen below:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-35392-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/download\/RadioAustraliaNewYearsEve19992000\/RadioAustralia-NewYearsEve-1999-2000.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/download\/RadioAustraliaNewYearsEve19992000\/RadioAustralia-NewYearsEve-1999-2000.mp3\">https:\/\/archive.org\/download\/RadioAustraliaNewYearsEve19992000\/RadioAustralia-NewYearsEve-1999-2000.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear SWLing Post Reader, It&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s Eve and as I do each year, I&#8217;ve been spending time on the radio tuning around the bands&#8211;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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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_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 &quot;International Broadcasting&quot;","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 &quot;International Broadcasting&quot;","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 &quot;International Broadcasting&quot;","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 &quot;News&quot;","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 &quot;News&quot;","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":20675,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/latest-update-regarding-radio-australia-outage\/","url_meta":{"origin":35392,"position":5},"title":"Latest Update regarding Radio Australia outage","author":"Thomas","date":"August 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Goren, who shares this latest update from ABC Reception advice: Thank you for your email. We are working towards restoring the services this coming Friday at 9am Sydney time. Kind Regards, ABC Reception Advice A number of Post readers received this same message\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Broadcasters&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Radio-Australia-Banner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Radio-Australia-Banner.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_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}]}}