{"id":40449,"date":"2019-11-04T06:31:08","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T10:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=40449"},"modified":"2019-11-04T06:31:08","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T10:31:08","slug":"when-the-world-got-its-news-from-shortwave-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/11\/when-the-world-got-its-news-from-shortwave-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"“When the world got its news from shortwave radio”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following article from SwissInfo.ch<\/a>. Make sure you visit SwissInfo.ch<\/a> to listen to their embedded recordings:<\/p>\n

\n

What did SWI swissinfo.ch sound like for the first seven decades of its existence? The short answer: a radio station.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the mid-1930s to 2004, Switzerland\u2019s international service was Swiss Radio International (SRI). The first few decades of SRI\u2019s existence were the heyday of shortwave \u2013 it was often the only way of getting news directly from other countries.<\/p>\n

A brief history of SRI, the predecessor of swissinfo.ch, helps explain why you hear what you do in the video above.<\/p>\n

What began as the Swiss Short Wave Service in 1935, would grow from broadcasting programmes in German, French, Italian and English to include other European languages and Arabic, and eventually change its name to Swiss Radio International.<\/p>\n

The international service was considered a voice of neutrality during times of war, first during\u00a0World War II<\/a>, followed by the decades of the Cold War and up to and including the first war in the Gulf in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

This decade would mark the beginning of the end for Switzerland\u2019s shortwave broadcasts. Shortwave transmitters gave way to relaying programmes via satellite, and this, in turn, would give way to the internet when the service\u00a0went online in 1999 as SRI\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

In 2004, the\u00a0plug was pulled<\/a>\u00a0for good on SRI as part of budget cuts, but not swissinfo.ch. Now producing exclusively online, the international service extended its linguistic reach by adding Russian, Japanese and Chinese, and publishing more video and audio reports.<\/p>\n

Journalists working in swissinfo.ch\u2019s current ten languages collaborate closely to set the editorial agenda, providing the necessary context in their stories so they are understood wherever they are read, seen, or heard in the world.<\/p>\n

Project \u2018The Sounds of…\u2019<\/h2>\n

This article is part of the project “The Sounds of…” produced with our partner media organisations\u00a0<\/span>Polskie Radio<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Radio Canada International<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Radio Romania International<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Radio Prague International<\/a>.\u00a0Further videos have been produced by journalists at these outlets, to\u00a0give an insight into their work in these countries.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Click here to view the full article and listen to the recordings at SwissInfo.ch.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following article from SwissInfo.ch. Make sure you visit SwissInfo.ch to listen to their embedded recordings: What did SWI swissinfo.ch sound like for the first seven decades of its existence? The short answer: a radio station.\u00a0 From the mid-1930s to 2004, Switzerland\u2019s international service was […]<\/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":[3,305,288,43],"tags":[5875,1350,8108,1352],"class_list":["post-40449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-radio-history","category-shortwave-radio","tag-dennis-dura","tag-swiss-short-wave-service","tag-swissinfo","tag-switzerland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-awp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13629,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/switzerlands-international-voice-in-a-changing-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":40449,"position":0},"title":"“Switzerland\u2019s international voice in a changing world”","author":"Thomas","date":"June 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to my buddy, Rob Wagner, for passing along yet another great article with archived sound clips from Swiss Radio International. Click here to read Switzerland\u2019s international voice in a changing world. \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Photo: SwissInfo.ch)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/SwissShortWave.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4376,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/swiss-short-wave-service-archives-now-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":40449,"position":1},"title":"Swiss Short Wave Service archives now online","author":"Thomas","date":"September 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: swissinfo.ch) During the Second World War, Switzerland\u2019s fledgling short wave radio service was essential to its attempts to communicate its policies and actions to an external audience made up of both foreign governments and the Swiss abroad. The archives of the Short Wave Service (SWS), founded in 1935, have\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\/2012\/09\/SwissShortWave.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47074,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/swissinfo-shares-a-holiday-recording-from-their-archives\/","url_meta":{"origin":40449,"position":2},"title":"SwissInfo shares a holiday recording from their archives","author":"Thomas","date":"December 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following note from SwissInfo.ch: Since you're no doubt wondering what Christmas sounds like in Switzerland's four national languages, we've dusted off an old radio interview, produced in 1975 by the Swiss Short-wave Service, later Swiss Radio International and\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\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/switzerland-e1609337972639.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13489,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/researchers-uncovering-swiss-radio-internationals-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":40449,"position":3},"title":"Researchers uncovering Swiss Radio International’s past","author":"Thomas","date":"June 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"SWLing Post reader, David Freeborough, writes: I thought you might be interested in this podcast on Swiss Radio International: http:\/\/www.swissinfo.ch\/eng\/multimedia\/podcast_the-radio-station-that-gave-switzerland-a-global-voice\/41476934 Fascinating! Many thanks, David. You can listen to the podcast on SwissInfo.ch, or simply use the embedded player below: http:\/\/media-d.swissinfo.ch\/audios\/2015\/06\/08\/Epod_2015_06_05-41476934.mp3","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Zentralbahn Interregio train following the Lake Brienz shoreline, near Niederried. (Image source: Kabelleger \/ David Gubler via Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/640px-ZB_Interregio_mit_HGe_101_bei_Niederried.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/640px-ZB_Interregio_mit_HGe_101_bei_Niederried.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/640px-ZB_Interregio_mit_HGe_101_bei_Niederried.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61530,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/sbc-pulls-the-plug-on-fm-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":40449,"position":4},"title":"SBC pulls the plug on FM radio","author":"Thomas","date":"January 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia, who shares the following news item via SwissInfo.ch: Swiss Broadcasting Corporation pulls plug on FM radio (SwissInfo.ch) The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) switched off outdated analogue FM transmitters at 11:59pm on New Year's Eve. Connections to around 850 ultra-shortwave transmitters throughout Switzerland\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital Audio Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"Digital Audio Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/digital-audio-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Digitech-AR-1780-RDS-FM-Info.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39402,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/when-switzerland-broadcast-esperanto-around-europe\/","url_meta":{"origin":40449,"position":5},"title":"“When Switzerland broadcast Esperanto around Europe”","author":"Thomas","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares this article from swissinfo.ch regarding the history of the Esperanto language service of SWI. The following is an excerpt: Esperanto Esperanto (literally \u201cone who hopes\u201d) was the brainchild of Polish Jewish ophthalmologist Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, who published his first\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\/07\/Boat-Anchor-Dial-2-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Boat-Anchor-Dial-2-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Boat-Anchor-Dial-2-1024x678.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40449","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=40449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}