{"id":65359,"date":"2026-02-15T07:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=65359"},"modified":"2026-02-15T07:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:37:15","slug":"bobs-radio-corner-where-are-the-broadcasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/bobs-radio-corner-where-are-the-broadcasters\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob’s Radio Corner: Where are the Broadcasters?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Source: NASA<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Where are the Broadcasters?<\/h1>\n

As posed by Bob Colegrove<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whenever I ask myself that question, I can\u2019t help thinking of a couple analogies.\u00a0 Let me explain one.\u00a0 In the mid-80s, there were three contenders for the home computing market: IBM, Apple, and Commodore.\u00a0 There were others, but those were the main ones.\u00a0 It was not uncommon for entrepreneurs to rent out halls and host fairs at which vendors for all three platforms would display the latest peripherals and software.\u00a0 The IBM PC was incompatible with the Apple IIe; each, in turn, was incompatible with the Commodore 64.\u00a0 Most of the software came at premium prices.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 I was told that developers had to recoup their cost from the existing group of owners of each specific platform.\u00a0 Being the early days of home computing, these groups were relatively small, and consequently, this determined the cost of software.\u00a0 This situation was euphemistically known as the \u201cinstalled base\u201d ? an existing population of users who owned computers for the targeted software.<\/p>\n

Applying this to radio, is there an installed base to warrant more international shortwave broadcasting?\u00a0 From all appearances, there are more shortwave radios being marketed now than I can ever recall.\u00a0 I searched for \u201cshortwave radios\u201d on Amazon, hoping to get a reasonable model count, but soon gave up.<\/p>\n

Without getting into the politics of the issue, the Chinese are the dominant player in shortwave use today.\u00a0 They are making most of the shortwave radios and doing most of the shortwave broadcasting.\u00a0 The targeted audience is both domestic and international.\u00a0 The radios they make are marketed around the world, apparently quite successfully.\u00a0 An AI inquiry on the Internet can\u2019t put a number on it, but states that there has been a resurgence of interest in shortwave, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global conflicts.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it reasonable to assume there is now a sizeable installed base of potential shortwave listeners?<\/p>\n

If I may be allowed one more analogy, in 1950 the physicist Enrico Fermi asked the cosmic question, “But where is everybody?”\u00a0 He was referring to the scope of the universe, the real probability that there are enough other habitable planets such that some others should support life.\u00a0 His paradox is that we have not yet heard from anyone else.<\/p>\n

Again, translating this to radio, given the proliferation of shortwave radios and listeners, where are all the broadcasters?\u00a0 Hasn\u2019t the quality, performance, reasonable cost, and availability of shortwave radios been the seed to start the resurgence of shortwave broadcasting?<\/p>\n

The well-worn argument is that times have changed.\u00a0 We now have the Internet and cell phones to instantaneously bring us an incomparable mass of information and entertainment, all of this on demand. Why contend with noise, interference and weak signals?\u00a0 Why wait for desired content to be available on a certain day at a certain hour?\u00a0 Further, and just as important, public broadcasting is costly in terms of production and delivery.\u00a0 To put a face on it, shortwave radio does not permit one to fasten a $200 GoPro to the front of his bicycle, video his ride, post it on YouTube, and garner thousands of likes.<\/p>\n

All of that is strong poison.\u00a0 On the other hand, radio waves are an immutable form of electromagnetic radiation.\u00a0 The medium is not going away.\u00a0 With a high degree of certainty, it will eventually be repurposed, possibly in digital form or with some method of modulation which is yet unknown.\u00a0 The content may be commercial, military, private, or public.\u00a0 Someone is going to figure out a way to use it.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, why can\u2019t we use it just the way it is?\u00a0 One advantage of radio is real-time broadcasting \u2013 talk radio, spontaneous news reporting, and emergency information.\u00a0 While this is possible on the Internet, its implementation has been tangential.\u00a0 For example, I can go for a live cab ride with a truck driver, watch trains run around Horseshoe Curve, or listen to a techno-specialist field viewer questions \u2013 all live it\u2019s true, but still not quite the same thing.\u00a0 Perhaps it is just a matter of time for the Internet to catch up.<\/p>\n

The Internet is better for drawing maps and ordering products for home delivery.\u00a0 Ultimately, however, it fails to engage the imagination.\u00a0 Instead, the world is presented to us in vivid color leaving no detail in question.\u00a0 With radio, the listener\u2019s faculties are permitted much wider freedom.\u00a0 One is allowed to color between the lines, \u201ca fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Even the fading or hollow aural echo of a distant shortwave signal can stimulate further vision. That is radio\u2019s ace in the hole.\u00a0 It just needs the initiative of one visionary to give the ball a push and start it rolling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where are the Broadcasters? As posed by Bob Colegrove Whenever I ask myself that question, I can\u2019t help thinking of a couple analogies.\u00a0 Let me explain one.\u00a0 In the mid-80s, there were three contenders for the home computing market: IBM, Apple, and Commodore.\u00a0 There were others, but those were the main ones.\u00a0 It was not […]<\/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":[960,3,43],"tags":[10732,4111,4082,4655],"class_list":["post-65359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-broadcasting","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-bobs-radio-corner","tag-international-broadcasting","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-why-shortwave"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-h0b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3697,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/bob-padulas-history-of-australian-shortwave-broadcasting\/","url_meta":{"origin":65359,"position":0},"title":"Bob Padula’s history of Australian shortwave broadcasting","author":"Thomas","date":"July 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently discovered that Bob Padula, long-time shortwave radio enthusiast and publisher of The Australian DX Report, has an online project entitled\u00a0The History of Shortwave Radio In Australia. It's a thorough and informative read and is available free of charge. Check it out on Bob's website.","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\/06\/BobPadula-WarrandytePoundBend-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":64316,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/bobs-radio-corner-shortwave-multiplex\/","url_meta":{"origin":65359,"position":1},"title":"Bob’s Radio Corner: Shortwave Multiplex?","author":"Thomas","date":"October 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Reported by Bob Colegrove Incurable DXers are always looking for new challenges.\u00a0 So it was, I recently did some scanning between 42 and 45 meters (~6600 to 7000 kHz).\u00a0 Trenton Military on 6754 kHz and the MARS net on 6913 kHz are regulars here, as are a selection of pirates\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\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Fig.-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10569,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/radio-world-international-broadcasters-reconsider-shortwave\/","url_meta":{"origin":65359,"position":2},"title":"Radio World: International Broadcasters Reconsider Shortwave","author":"Thomas","date":"August 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out this article from Radio World which addresses\u00a0the state\u00a0of shortwave radio broadcasting. Jeff White of WRMI and Kim Elliott of the VOA are both interviewed. Elliott even speaks about the virtues of the VOA Radiogram experiments which have had success circumventing shortwave radio jamming (broadcasts which were completely omitted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sackville-radio-towers-li","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sackville-radio-towers-li.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sackville-radio-towers-li.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Sackville-radio-towers-li.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3404,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/shortwave-offers-the-most-physical-resistance-to-interdiction-of-any-medium-available-to-international-broadcasting\/","url_meta":{"origin":65359,"position":3},"title":"Shortwave offers “the most physical resistance to interdiction of any medium available to international broadcasting”","author":"Thomas","date":"April 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently read the following comments by\u00a0Kim Andrew Elliott regarding the Broadcasting Board of\u00a0Governors' strategic move away from shortwave radio. I think Kim is spot-on: As a shortwave listener for nearly a half-century, I am saddened to see the reduction of shortwave broadcasting, especially by US international broadcasters. As an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"VOA transmitter site in Greenville, NC","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/VOAgreenville-300x171.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18535,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/curating-a-list-of-endangered-shortwave-stations\/","url_meta":{"origin":65359,"position":4},"title":"Curating a list of endangered shortwave stations","author":"Thomas","date":"April 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, my friend and fellow archivist,\u00a0London Shortwave, and I engaged in a\u00a0discussion about creating a curated list of \"endangered\" shortwave radio stations. The idea being we could use such a list to focus our efforts and those of the archiving community on recording\u00a0broadcasters that were most likely to disappear in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RCI-Sackville-2012","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/RCI-Sackville-2012-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/RCI-Sackville-2012-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/RCI-Sackville-2012-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7956,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/radio-700-brings-international-broadcasters-back-to-shortwave\/","url_meta":{"origin":65359,"position":5},"title":"Radio 700 brings international broadcasters back to shortwave","author":"Thomas","date":"November 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Knut, who recently informed me that the German language services of Radio Slovakia International, Radio Prague, Radio Ukraine International and the Polish Radio External Service are being relayed on shortwave radio, via Radio 700 in Euskirchen, Germany. All broadcasts are on 3985 kHz and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Radio-700-Logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Radio-700-Logo.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\/65359","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=65359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65363,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65359\/revisions\/65363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}