{"id":62732,"date":"2025-04-28T19:14:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T23:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=62732"},"modified":"2025-04-28T19:14:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T23:14:22","slug":"blackout-in-europe-portable-radios-deliver-news-ree-falls-silent-during-outage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/blackout-in-europe-portable-radios-deliver-news-ree-falls-silent-during-outage\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackout in Europe: Portable Radios Deliver News \u2014 REE Falls Silent During Outage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Digitech-AR1780-FM-Mono.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28844\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Digitech-AR1780-FM-Mono.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"712\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Digitech-AR1780-FM-Mono.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Digitech-AR1780-FM-Mono-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Digitech-AR1780-FM-Mono-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Digitech-AR1780-FM-Mono-1024x570.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Digitech-AR1780-FM-Mono-624x347.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/a>Today, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/live\/c9wpq8xrvd9t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">parts of Spain, Portugal, and France experienced widespread power outages<\/a>, knocking out electricity, internet, and mobile networks for hours.<\/p>\n<p>One BBC article captured a personal account of how radio became a vital lifeline. SWLing Post contributor Bal\u00e1zs Kov\u00e1cs shared this note from the BBC Live Update:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-28-at-18.09.45.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62733\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-28-at-18.09.45.png\" alt=\"\u2018Wind-up radio has been our source of information\u2019\nPublished at 13:58 BST\nVanessa Buschschl\u00fcter, Latin America and Caribbean digital editor\n\nPensioners Siegfried and Christine, who have been living on the outskirts of Madrid for the past 17 years after moving there from the US, say an old wind-up radio was their only source of information when the power cut happened.\n\nThe couple had bought the radio for emergencies when they lived in the US state of Virginia, where lengthy power cuts are more frequent.\n\nWith the internet, phone coverage and mobile reception all down in their area, they dug out the hand-cranked device, which enabled them to tune into Spanish radio stations.\n\n\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for the radio, we\u2019d struggle to find out what\u2019s happening. I think there may be a run on battery-operated radios as soon as the shops reopen.\u201d\" width=\"680\" height=\"606\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-28-at-18.09.45.png 680w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-28-at-18.09.45-300x267.png 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-28-at-18.09.45-624x556.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a friend of our family living in Barcelona reported that her Sony ICF-SW100 proved invaluable during the blackout.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-62734\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1542\" height=\"2048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out.jpeg 1542w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out-226x300.jpeg 226w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out-771x1024.jpeg 771w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out-768x1020.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out-1157x1536.jpeg 1157w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Sony-SW100-Barcelona-Black-Out-624x829.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1542px) 100vw, 1542px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While phone and internet services were unavailable, her SW100 kept her connected to critical news and updates.<\/p>\n<p>In another update, our friend Carlos Latuff noted that Radio Exterior de Espa\u00f1a \u2014 Spain\u2019s external broadcaster \u2014 was off the air on shortwave frequencies, likely due to the blackout.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos shared this video from Porto Alegre at 20:26 UTC:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zfB-6rmbmKg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/zfB-6rmbmKg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to view on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n<h1>Closing Thoughts&#8230;<\/h1>\n<p>I\u2019ll keep this simple: <strong>When the grid goes down and the internet disappears, local radio often endures.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Millions of us have experienced this first hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, parts of Spain, Portugal, and France experienced widespread power outages, knocking out electricity, internet, and mobile networks for hours. One BBC article captured a personal account of how radio became a vital lifeline. SWLing Post contributor Bal\u00e1zs Kov\u00e1cs shared this note from the BBC Live Update: Meanwhile, a friend of our family living in [&hellip;]<\/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":[3781,3,43],"tags":[8043,10791,955,102],"class_list":["post-62732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fm","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-carlos-latuff","tag-europe-blackout","tag-radio-exterior-de-espana","tag-why-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-gjO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62736,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/europe-blackout-carlos-illustrated-radio-listening-report-and-numerous-posts-praising-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":62732,"position":0},"title":"Europe Blackout: Carlos\u2019 Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Numerous Posts Praising Radio","author":"Thomas","date":"April 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor and noted political cartoonist,\u00a0Carlos Latuff, who shares\u00a0illustrated radio listening report of a recent Radio La Red broadcast. Carlos notes: Massive blackout in Spain, Radio La Red, Argentina, 910 kHz AM: Part of Radio La Red news bulletin (In Spanish) about the massive blackout in Spain. Listened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Lared-Europe-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Lared-Europe-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Lared-Europe-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Lared-Europe-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Lared-Europe-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65178,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/radio-farda-returns-to-shortwave-to-bypass-irans-digital-blackout\/","url_meta":{"origin":62732,"position":1},"title":"Radio Farda Returns to Shortwave to Bypass Iran\u2019s Digital Blackout","author":"Thomas","date":"January 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor David Iurescia for the tip: Working with commercial broadcasters, Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty\u2019s Persian service Radio Farda has resumed shortwave broadcasts aimed at Iran, providing an alternative to state-controlled media amid an ongoing internet blackout imposed by the Iranian government. The return to shortwave\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\/2026\/01\/RadioFarda.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/RadioFarda.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/RadioFarda.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/RadioFarda.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62740,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/pedros-report-from-madrid-during-the-blackout\/","url_meta":{"origin":62732,"position":2},"title":"Pedro&#8217;s Report from Madrid During the Blackout","author":"Thomas","date":"April 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In the comments section of this recent post about the massive blackout in Europe, SWLing Post contributor Pedro Moreno shared an insightful firsthand account from Madrid. He captured the value of radio during a communications outage so effectively that I wanted to give it more visibility by highlighting it in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Tecsun-H-501x-Front-Buttons-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Tecsun-H-501x-Front-Buttons-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Tecsun-H-501x-Front-Buttons-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Tecsun-H-501x-Front-Buttons-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Tecsun-H-501x-Front-Buttons-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Tecsun-H-501x-Front-Buttons-1.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39039,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/bbcs-shortwave-service-to-kashmir-an-important-lifeline\/","url_meta":{"origin":62732,"position":3},"title":"BBC&#8217;s Shortwave Service to Kashmir: &#8220;an important lifeline&#8221;","author":"Thomas","date":"August 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: CNN Business) London (CNN Business) As a communications blackout continues in Kashmir, the BBC is using one of the only ways to reach listeners in the Indian-controlled state: shortwave radio. The BBC is extending its Hindi radio output by 30 minutes, launching a 15-minute daily program in Urdu, and\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\/2017\/07\/Allied-2682-Dial-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Allied-2682-Dial-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Allied-2682-Dial-1024x678.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62742,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/carlos-illustrated-radio-listening-report-and-recording-of-radio-nacional-de-espana-april-29-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":62732,"position":4},"title":"Carlos\u2019 Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Radio Nacional de Espa\u00f1a (April 29, 2025)","author":"Thomas","date":"April 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor and noted political cartoonist,\u00a0Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report of a special Radio Nacional de Espa\u00f1a broadcast. Note that the Spanish version of this post follows the English version: This illustrated radio listening report was particularly special to me. It's a radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Nacional-de-Espana-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Nacional-de-Espana-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Nacional-de-Espana-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Nacional-de-Espana-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Latuff-Radio-Nacional-de-Espana-Blackout-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55178,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/bbc-radio-4-lights-out-call-signs\/","url_meta":{"origin":62732,"position":5},"title":"BBC Radio 4 &#8211; Lights Out: Call Signs","author":"Thomas","date":"December 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My dear friend and SWLing Post community member, Volodymyr Gurtovy (US7IGN), has been featured in another brilliant documentary on BBC Radio 4 called Call Signs. This documentary was produced by the talented Cicely Fell with Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio 4. Note that Cicely also produced a BBC Radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ham Radio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vlad-Radio-Dial-Kiev-Ukraine-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vlad-Radio-Dial-Kiev-Ukraine-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vlad-Radio-Dial-Kiev-Ukraine-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Vlad-Radio-Dial-Kiev-Ukraine-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62732","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=62732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62735,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62732\/revisions\/62735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}