{"id":52073,"date":"2022-03-06T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-06T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=52073"},"modified":"2022-03-04T18:07:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T22:07:25","slug":"how-voas-communications-world-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/how-voas-communications-world-started\/","title":{"rendered":"How VOA’s Communications World Started"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post<\/em>\u00a0contributor,\u00a0Dan Robinson<\/a>, for the following guest post:<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

Dan Robinson<\/p><\/div>\n

How VOA’s Communications World Started<\/h1>\n

by Dan Robinson<\/strong><\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> This exclusive is being published simultaneously with the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA) journal in its March 2022 edition.<\/p>\n

Voice of America recently observed its 80th birthday. Readers may recall that in the mid-1980’s into the 2000s, VOA broadcast a program about communications, but which was in fact designed specifically for shortwave listeners.<\/p>\n

Communications World as it was known owed its existence to my efforts in the late 1970’s and into the early 1980’s to persuade VOA managers to put such a program on the air, The story is told in detail here for the first time.<\/p>\n

In a SWL career that began in the late 1960’s, I was an enthusiastic consumer of DX programs broadcast by stations at the time, from Radio Netherlands to HCJB and others. I always wondered why VOA wasn’t among them, and I was determined to make some progress on this.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>First steps came in 1975 as I was attending The American University and began making contacts at VOA in downtown Washington, DC. This would become a multi-year effort to induce VOA to re-start a DX’ing program. I say \u201cre-start\u201d because I would later learn that VOA once had such a program, but aimed at radio amateurs.<\/p>\n

These early efforts included at one point a meeting with the head of a major think tank on K Street in Washington. I can only imagine their reaction when two college age kids (I was accompanied by ace DX’er Taylor \u201cPitt\u201d McNeil) arrived seeking help in selling a federal agency on a hobbyist show.<\/p>\n

I never learned whether anything came from that meeting. In my final two college years, I interned with ABC News, where I observed network operations, including the evening news with Frank Reynolds, and also interned with local station WASH-FM.<\/p>\n

By 1979, my contacts at VOA had led me to part-time work in its English to Africa, Worldwide English, and central news divisions. In 1980, I was formally sworn in as a full-time VOA news writer. My objective was to become a VOA foreign correspondent, which I would achieve in 1983. But putting VOA back on the board, so to speak, with a SWL program remained high on my priority list.<\/p>\n

A pilot for the show needed to be produced. It needed a name. What came to mind was something containing the word communications, to have wider appeal. So, there it was: the VOA Communications Magazine.<\/p>\n

My time in VOA’s central news operation included work on all three shifts over 24 hours. On the side, I set about putting together a script for VOA Communications Magazine \u2013 conceptualizing what elements would go into it. By 1983 \u2013 just before I departed for Nairobi as VOA’s new East Africa correspondent \u2013 we were ready to record the pilot.<\/p>\n

The show began by recognizing World Communications Year, and a message noting that we would cover SW hobby news, international broadcasting developments, satellites and computers, news about receivers and antennas, along with letters from listeners.<\/p>\n

WRNO New Orleans had gone on the air on shortwave. I thought that would make an interesting segment. Shortwave broadcasting had not yet started its downward slide. Stations remained on the air in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Transmitter manufacturers still had customers. New stations were coming on air.<\/p>\n

I served as host of the Communications Magazine pilot. Bob Arnold, who was doing science reporting for VOA at the time, voiced a roundup of broadcasting news. Included were some of my personal recordings, including Voice of Kenya and Radio Mozambique.<\/p>\n

In the news, Kenya was reported planning international broadcasting (we now know this never happened). Ghana was expanding domestic radio. The U.S. was helping Liberia expand rural radio. We noted ELBC and ELWA, and played a recording of ELWA.<\/p>\n

Iran was installing what were expected to be the world’s most powerful transmitters. There was news from Singapore, and a recording of Radio Singapore. Malaysia planned two 500 kw transmitters. I noted existing domestic Malaysian stations, and included a recording of Radio Malaysia Sarawak.<\/p>\n

Arnold reported on the explosion of the production, distribution and storage of information, including an interview with Wilson Dizard, then with Georgetown University.<\/p>\n

Dipping into the mailbag I read letters and reception reports from VOA listeners in Denmark, Sweden (one of whom used a Grundig 3400 receiver), Australia (who used a Panasonic RF-2800), and Japan (who used a Kenwood R-1000).<\/p>\n

My interview with Joseph Costello of WRNO concluded the pilot, and began with a recording I had made of a WRNO test transmission. Costello pointed to \u201ca couple of thousand pieces of mail per month,\u201d and surprising response from New Zealand and Australia, though WRNO’s signal was beamed northward.<\/p>\n

Private shortwave stations were granted to reflect the culture and lifestyle of the United States, Costello said. By partially simulcasting WRNO-FM, listeners heard about life in New Orleans, with coverage of the Jazz and Heritage Festival, and progress reports on Mardi Gras. WRNO was considering a morning Spanish service beamed to central and south America<\/p>\n

Doug Flodin of Drake-Chenault discussed the purpose of KYOI. And we reported on other shortwave broadcasters preparing to go to air, including Radio Miami International, and KNLS from Alaska.<\/p>\n

Based on my pilot for VOA Communications Magazine, VOA green lighted what would become Communications World, hosted first by Gene Reich, who later would join Worldspace, the satellite radio pioneer that filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and later by Kim Elliott.<\/p>\n

This is the first time I have told the in depth story of how Communications World came into being, which likely never would have existed had it not been for my efforts to bring this kind of program to Voice of America. The full 1983 pilot for Communications World is available on the Internet Archive and below:<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/archive.org\/download\/original-1983-pilot-voa-communications-world_202203\/Original%2B1983%2BPilot-VOA%2BCommunications%2BWorld.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor,\u00a0Dan Robinson, for the following guest post: How VOA’s Communications World Started by Dan Robinson NOTE: This exclusive is being published simultaneously with the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA) journal in its March 2022 edition. Voice of America recently observed its 80th birthday. Readers may recall that in the mid-1980’s into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[2635,4342,4082,9692,9693,182],"class_list":["post-52073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-dan-robinson","tag-guest-posts","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-voa-communications-world","tag-voa-history","tag-voice-of-america"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-dxT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10119,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/what-if-shortwave-radio-had-been-invented-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":52073,"position":0},"title":"What if shortwave radio had been invented today?","author":"Thomas","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"SWLing Post reader, Walt, comments on the recent cuts to VOA's shortwave radio service: \"Having spent many years as a VOA Foreign Service Officer and radio engineer, I can personally attest to the effectiveness of shortwave broadcasting and it's ability to reach oppressed people around the world. The \"new\" technologies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SX-99-Dial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1137,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/voa-criticized-for-dropping-mandarin-service-to-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":52073,"position":1},"title":"VOA criticized for dropping Mandarin service to China","author":"Thomas","date":"May 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I just noticed this article from the VOA website regarding criticism it recently received from the Heritage Foundation for shutting down VOA's Mandarin language shortwave radio service to China. It's may be once in a blue moon when I agree with a Washington think tank, but in this case, the\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\/2009\/11\/a999voalogo_2050081722-26491.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10081,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/sweeping-cuts-to-voa-rfe-and-rfa-shortwave-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":52073,"position":2},"title":"Sweeping cuts to VOA, RFE and RFA shortwave services","author":"Thomas","date":"June 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunate news from the Voice of America: Congress has approved major\u00a0cuts to US international broadcasting over shortwave. Thanks to Dan Robinson for sharing this significant\u00a0news. Dan writes: This news emerging from VOA late Friday: VOA to end shortwave broadcasts in English and several language services Monday. Received this late Friday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Voice_of_America_Headquarters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Voice_of_America_Headquarters.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9422,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/draft-bill-outlines-major-changes-to-bbg-and-us-international-broadcasting\/","url_meta":{"origin":52073,"position":3},"title":"Draft bill outlines major changes to BBG and US International Broadcasting","author":"Thomas","date":"April 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to Dan Robinson who shares this post on the BBG Watch which outlines major changes to US International Broadcasting. The draft bill, originating in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is known as the United States International Communications Reform Act of 2014. The bill outlines: \"the creation of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BBG-Logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/BBG-Logo-300x207.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8922,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/voa-capitol-hill-correspondent-dan-robinson-retires\/","url_meta":{"origin":52073,"position":4},"title":"VOA White House Correspondent Dan Robinson Retires","author":"Thomas","date":"March 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Noted Voice of America reporter, Dan Robinson, retired on Friday, February 28, 2014 after 35 years of service to the international broadcaster and listeners around the world. Many of us are fortunate to know Dan: not only is he highly respected as a correspondent, but he is also an avid\u00a0shortwave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DanRobinson-WhiteHouse","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/DanRobinson-WhiteHouse.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/DanRobinson-WhiteHouse.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/DanRobinson-WhiteHouse.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/DanRobinson-WhiteHouse.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10156,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/ny-times-journalists-at-odds-with-union-over-voas-role\/","url_meta":{"origin":52073,"position":5},"title":"NY Times: Journalists “at Odds With Union” over VOA’s role","author":"Thomas","date":"July 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0New York Times, in a \u00a0recent article, describes\u00a0a growing\u00a0split between the VOA Union (American Federation of Government Employees Local 1812) and VOA journalists over the proposed changes to the VOA mission (via H.R. 4490), which would make it an active voice of American policy. (Many thanks to SWLing Post reader,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"nytLogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/nytLogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52073","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=52073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}