{"id":882,"date":"2010-10-15T00:55:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T00:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=882"},"modified":"2010-10-15T00:55:30","modified_gmt":"2010-10-15T00:55:30","slug":"in-an-internet-world-radio-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/in-an-internet-world-radio-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"In an Internet World, Radio Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thank you to Radio World for publishing this:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_883\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/radioLives2_1006.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-883\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-883 \" title=\"radioLives2_1006\" src=\"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/radioLives2_1006-300x247.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/radioLives2_1006-300x247.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/radioLives2_1006.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-883\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A teacher with an ETOW radio in Bor County, Southern Sudan. Courtesy Project Education Sudan <\/p><\/div>\n<p>For as long as I can remember I\u2019ve been passionate about radio.<\/p>\n<p>From my earliest childhood memories in the 1980s during those final fading days of the Cold War \u2014 of my dad tuning in WWV in Fort Collins, Colo., on his dad\u2019s vintage RCA 6K3; of falling asleep listening to my then-old-fashioned AM transistor radio; and of drinking in all those mysterious DX stations I heard over shortwave and medium-wave \u2026 I was the sort of kid (a throwback to a former generation, one might say) who couldn\u2019t get enough of radio.<\/p>\n<p>In those days when cable TV and video games and the first PCs upstaged and supplanted radio in nearly every American household, even in the blue collar town in which I grew up, it was nonetheless radio that captured my imagination, and taught me early on that everyone has a story. Radio taught me, too, that each voice is different in his or her consideration of what\u2019s meaningful or newsworthy. I learned to understand or at least appreciate the diverse perspectives I heard in my vicarious radio journeys, and from these sprang my own opinions, hopes, beliefs. Radio became my teacher\u2014a teacher who gave me, in my formative years, a global perspective.<\/p>\n<p>I would have to say that radio has shaped my life. I suppose that\u2019s why radio recently has become a mission for me&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;Today, I am the founder and director of Ears to Our World, a grassroots charitable organization with a simple objective: distributing self-powered world-band radios to schools and communities in the third world, so that kids, not to mention those who teach them, can learn about their world, too.<\/p>\n<p>I want others \u2013\u2013 children and young people, especially \u2013\u2013 who lack reliable access to information, to have the world of radio within their reach.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Radio World Online\" href=\"http:\/\/www.radioworld.com\/article\/107810\">Click here to read the full article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>More links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Ears To Our World\" href=\"http:\/\/earstoourworld.org\">Ears To Our World website<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"WSJ Magazine\" href=\"http:\/\/magazine.wsj.com\/hunter\/donate\/tuning-in\/\">WSJ Mag article on Ears TO Our World<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.radioworld.com\/article\/107810\">Radio World Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thank you to Radio World for publishing this: For as long as I can remember I\u2019ve been passionate about radio. From my earliest childhood memories in the 1980s during those final fading days of the Cold War \u2014 of my dad tuning in WWV in Fort Collins, Colo., on his dad\u2019s vintage RCA 6K3; of [&hellip;]<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,3,5],"tags":[178,218,316,4082,317,84],"class_list":["post-882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-news","category-swlers","tag-ears-to-our-world","tag-etow","tag-radio-world-online","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-thomas-witherspoon","tag-why-shortwave-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-ee","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5365,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/three-things-you-can-do-to-honor-world-radio-day-2013\/","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":0},"title":"Three things you can do to honor World Radio Day 2013","author":"Thomas","date":"February 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"From my previous posts today you'll already know it's UNESCO World Radio Day--a day to celebrate the relevance of radio in the 21st century.\u00a0Here are some ideas of how you can celebrate and make a difference with radio: Send a shortwave radio, care of Ears To Our World. You can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Current Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DSCN2988wtmk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/DSCN2988wtmk-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2749,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/today-is-world-radio-day-support-a-cause-via-shortwave-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":1},"title":"Today is World Radio Day:  Support a Cause via Shortwave Radio","author":"Thomas","date":"February 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Shortwave Radio Listeners may occasionally feel that their hobby is a passive one--one of simply listening. I'm here to tell you that it is not. SWLers are among the more enlightened of media hobbyists, and here's why: 1) they tend to be intensely curious about the world, 2) they tend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Current Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DSCN2988wtmk.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DSCN2988wtmk.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DSCN2988wtmk.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5218,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/ears-to-our-world-giving-the-gift-of-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":2},"title":"Ears To Our World: Giving the gift of radio","author":"Thomas","date":"December 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This holiday season, you might consider giving a charitable donation to Ears To Our World.\u00a0A one time donation of $40 US can help a community through the power of shortwave radio. Many readers may know that\u00a0I'm quite involved with ETOW. We recently published this article showing the impact of one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Doulek's Association of Disabled People, Cameroon (Photo: ETOW)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Cameroon5-300x225.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7321,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/shortwave-listening-swling-how-did-you-get-your-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":3},"title":"Shortwave Listening (SWLing): How did you get your start?","author":"Thomas","date":"October 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I love hearing stories about how shortwave radio listeners and ham radio operators got interested in the hobby. I'll tell you about my experience, but I would enjoy hearing yours either in the comments section or by sending me an email. In the coming months, I will select stories to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Analog Radio Dial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/swdial.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14152,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/roberts-new-radio-blog\/","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":4},"title":"Robert&#8217;s new radio blog","author":"Thomas","date":"July 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"SWLing Post reader, Robert Gulley (AK3Q), has just informed me that he's started a radio blog on\u00a0ak3q.com. \u00a0Robert notes: \"One of the recurring themes will be on the importance and relevance of shortwave radio, and nothing denotes this more than your work with Ears To Our World. [...]Also, if interested\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"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":1632,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/how-to-celebrate-national-radio-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":882,"position":5},"title":"How to celebrate National Radio Day","author":"Thomas","date":"August 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"August 20th is National Radio Day, a day for celebrating the invention of radio and this amazing 110+ year old communications medium, still so vital to information access throughout our world. Those of you who still believe in the relevance of radio, please consider giving the gift of radio by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Current Events&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/earstoourworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Haiti_HHF1.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\/882","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=882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}