WWV changes announcement format: July 1, 1971

Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Brian D. Smith, recently contacted me; I was enthused when he described the recording he was sharing:

"This recording captures the last 5 minutes of WWV’s old format (giving the time every 5 minutes) and the first 5 minutes of the new format (giving the time every 1 minute), which took place on July 1, 1971 UTC.

Apologies for the less-than-stellar audio quality, but I recorded this as a 15-year-old fledgling SWL with limited knowledge of audio recording techniques. So I simply placed the microphone from my cassette tape recorder next to the speaker on the receiver and hit the record button. The signal quality wasn’t the greatest, either — lots of QSB and QRM — but I still managed to get what I was going for.

The resulting recording has accompanied me everywhere since then, preserved only on its original cassette, until 2008, when I finally decided it was time to learn how to transfer it onto my hard drive, burn it onto a CD and stop having to rely on the integrity of 37-year-old audio tape.

Even as a teenager, I regarded the WWV changeover as historic, and felt I should attempt to record it for posterity. Consider yourself posterity!"

Brian received this broadcast on 10 MHz care of a Hallicrafters S-108, with random length of wire attached to the back of the receiver serving as an antenna. Location was Franklin, Indiana.

As Brian mentions, the audio quality is a little rough, but this is still quite a treasure of a recording!

Click here to download as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Pijin: March 11, 2015

The remaining 3 hours and 20 minutes of the special overnight broadcast during the cyclone.  Ends with the "Morning Devotion".  Transmitted at 10 kw from Honiara.  Received in Sydney, Australia, with a Grundig S450DLX and an indoor homebrew broomstick antenna.

Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Pijin: March 11, 2015

Continuing the special extended coverage of Tropical Cyclone Pam and its effect on the Solomons.  Transmitted at 10 kw from Honiara.  Received in Sydney, Australia, using a Grundig S450DLX and an indoor homebrew broomstick antenna.

Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Pijin: March 11, 2015

Special coverage of Tropical Cyclone Pam and the damage it has caused in the Solomons.  They usually sign off at 1200 and resume at 1900 but they stayed on all night to cover the cyclone.   Transmitted at 10 kw from Honiara.  Received in Sydney, Australia, using a Degen DE1103 and 40' longwire.

Radio Vilnius 1990-1991 (1st Recording): March 28/29, 1990 and April 3, 1990

Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Richard Langley, has digitized a set of historic off-air recordings documenting the independence of Lithuania through Radio Vilinus.

We will feature Richard's full description and comments in this first post and recording.  Subsequent posts will describe each individual recording of the set. 

Many thanks to Richard for this archived archived audio:

Radio Vilnius 1990-1991

On 11 March 1990, Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to declare its independence. The Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to the Lithuanian authorities to renounce independence or suffer the consequences.

On 17 March 1990, Lithuania rejected the demand and the Soviet Union responded by applying economic sanctions and occupied parts of Vilnius, the capital city. In January 1991, the Soviets launched a larger scale operation against Lithuania. On 11 January, Soviet military units seized several building in Vilnius and elsewhere. On 12 January, civilians congregated outside some strategically important buildings such as those of the Supreme Council (the Seimas Palace), the Radio and Television Committee, the Vilnius TV Tower, and the main telephone exchange in an attempt to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Soviet military. In the early hours of 13 January, tanks and soldiers attacked the TV tower. Fourteen Lithuanians and one Russian soldier died.

Subsequently, Soviet forces surrounded and entered the Radio and Television Committee building and forced the TV station off the air. Shortly thereafter, a small TV studio in Kaunas was used to resume TV transmissions and put out a call for help. Radio transmissions were also affected. Although Soviet forces were in the vicinity of the Supreme Council building, they retreated instead of attacking. The occupation and military raids continued for several months following the attacks.

Subsequent Lithuanian-Russian negotiations resulted in the signing of a treaty on 31 January. A referendum on independence held on 9 February overwhelmingly supported the full and total independence of Lithuania. Other republics of the Soviet Union declared their independence and following the resignation speech by Mikhail Gorbachev on 25 December, the Soviet Union was dissolved the next day. The last Russian troops left Lithuania on 31 August 1993.

Radio Vilnius, the external service of Lithuanian Radio, transmitted news about events in Lithuania and the other Baltic republics even at the height of the Soviet attacks. The broadcasts were made, in part, using transmitters elsewhere in the Soviet Union. However, there was a temporary interruption in these broadcasts after the occupation of the Radio and TV Centre by Soviet troops early in the morning of 13 January. They resumed on 25 January.

Radio Nederland’s “Media Network” programs of 20 January 1991 and 14 January 1992 featured reports on Radio Vilnius and the Soviet occupation. The sound files of these programs are available on the Web (“Media Network Vintage Vault“).

I have six recordings of Radio Vilnius English Service shortwave broadcasts between March 1990 and January 1991. These were received in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada, using a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around the listening room.

Recording 1 (30 minutes):

28 March 1990, 22:00 UTC, 11770 kHz (00m:00s – 00m:55s)

Strong signal. Interval signal (IS) and station identification (ID) but the transmission was cut off in mid-sentence: “This is Radio Vilnius. Hello and welcome to our daily broad” All that could be heard faintly on this frequency then was Radio Liberty in Russian (“Govorit Radio Svoboda”). Initially could hear nothing on Radio Vilnius parallel frequencies until about four minutes into the broadcast when a very faint signal on 12060 kHz could be heard (not recorded).

29 March 1990, 22:00 UTC, 12060 kHz (00m:55s – 02m:04s)

Weak signal. IS, station identification, and first part of “News About Lithuania.” Radio teletype interference. Checked other frequencies.

3 April 1990, 22:00 UTC, 17665 kHz (02m:06s – 30m:02s)

Improved signal. Receiver briefly switched to other frequencies to check quality during the recording. IS, ID, “News About Lithuania,” report on the occupation of the Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office on Friday night (30 March), music, sports news, “Lithuanian by Radio.”

Radio Berlin International, final episode: October 2, 1990

Many thanks to Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Richard Langley, who writes:

[The following is a] recording of the penultimate English broadcast from Radio Berlin International (RBI) and the last broadcast in the particular time slot. It was also the last broadcast of the popular DX program DX-tra.

RBI ceased broadcasting at the end of the day on 2 October 1990, the day before German reunification took place.

In addition to the final episode of DX-tra, the recording features the news (in progress as the recording starts a minute or two after 00:45), Commentary, RBI Press Review, and Spotlight on Sport. There are several “goodbye” songs including “The Final Countdown” by the Swedish hard rock band Europe, and “Goodbye Blue Sky” by Pink Floyd and some announcer goodbye comments like “the voice of the disappearing German Democratic Republic,” “that was it,” and “the last day of the good old GDR.”

The 45-minute recording ends with the familiar RBI interval signal and, at 01:30 UTC, the first part of the German-language transmission, also the last in its time slot.

This recording was made in Hanwell, NB, Canada, with a Sony ICF-7600D receiver and supplied wire antenna draped around Richard’s home office. This recording begins around 0045 UTC, October 2, 1990 on a frequency of 9,730 kHz.

Click here to download this recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

Radio Moscow: 25 December 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation speech

One of the advantages of hosting a contributor-driven shortwave radio audio archive, is receiving off-air recordings of defining moments in our world history. This is certainly one of them.

SRAA contributor, Richard Langley, writes:

"I've started to convert some of my old cassette shortwave recordings to mp3 files. I've uncovered a box of about 25 tapes with recordings mostly from 1990 and 1991. This was an interesting era for shortwave. There was the reunification of Germany, the breakups of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and then the First Gulf War. I monitored some of these events using my venerable Sony ICF-7600D receiver with the supplied wire antenna draped around my home office. I bought this receiver during a trip to Hong Kong (and the P.R.C.) in 1985. It was my first decent shortwave radio and I still have it but it has since been joined by several other receivers.

[...]

[The following] is a recording of President Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation speech as broadcast live by the World Service of Radio Moscow. As the announcer says, "a moment of history in the making." It begins at about the three-minute mark of the recording (at 17:00 UTC). The speech is followed by a program of classical music (filler), the News in Brief at 17:30 UTC, followed by part of the program "Africa as We See It."

Click here to download this recording of Radio Moscow World Service from December 25, 1991 on 17,670 kHz, beginning at 1657 UTC. 

BBC World Service: 2014 World Cup Final, Part 1 (pre-game and first half)

For your listening pleasure: Part 1--pre-game and first half--of the 2014 FIFA World Cup via the BBC World Service. 

This recording was made on Sunday, July 13, 2014 starting around 18:30 UTC on 13,660 kHz. The broadcast originates from the BBC Wooferton (UK) transmitter site.

Part 2 (second half) and Part 3 (extra time and post-game) are also available on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

BBC World Service: 2014 World Cup Final, Part 2 (second half)

For your listening pleasure: Part 2--the second half--of the 2014 FIFA World Cup via the BBC World Service. 

This recording was made on Sunday, July 13, 2014 starting around 20:00 UTC on 11,810 kHz. The broadcast originates from the BBC relay on Ascension Island.

Part 1 (pre-game and first half) and Part 3 (extra time and post-game) are also available on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

BBC World Service: 2014 World Cup Final, Part 3 (extra time & post game)

For your listening pleasure: Part 3--extra time and post-game analysis--of the 2014 FIFA World Cup via the BBC World Service.

This recording was made on Sunday, July 13, 2014 starting around 21:00 UTC on 11,810 kHz. The broadcast originates from the BBC relay on Ascension Island.

Part 1 (pre-game and first half) and Part 2 (second half) are also available on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

ABC Far North, Emergency Broadcast Service: April 11, 2014

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Mark Fahey, who has shared this special recording: a shortwave relay of the ABC Far North radio service. Mark explains:

"ABC Radio (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Far North (Queensland, Australia) Emergency Broadcast Service during the period that Severe Tropical Cyclone was making landfall in Australia's Far North Queensland region. This capture of the shortwave broadcast was made near Sydney, Australia on 6.15MHz at 2119 Queensland Time (1119 UTC) on the 11th April 2014. The broadcast was being transmitted via a re-purposed Radio Australia transmitter in Shepperton, Victoria.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Ita is a tropical cyclone that crossed the coast of Queensland, Australia on 11 April 2014. The system was first identified over the Solomon Islands as a tropical low on 1 April 2014, and gradually moved westward, eventually reaching cyclone intensity on 5 April. On 10 April, Ita intensified rapidly into a powerful Category 5 system on the Australian Scale, but it weakened significantly in the hours immediately precedinglandfall the following day. At the time of landfall at Cape Flattery at 12 April 22:00 (UTC+10), Dvorak intensity was approximately T5.0, consistent with a weak Category 4 system, and considerably lower than T6.5 observed when the system was at maximal intensity. Meteorologists noted the system had, at such time, developed a secondary eyewall which weakened the inner eyewall; as a result, the system was considerably less powerful than various intensity scales predicted. Ita's impact on terrain was attenuated accordingly."

Click here to download this recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below. Please subscribe to our podcast to receive future recordings automatically.

The Shortwave Shindig: March 15, 2014

Every year at the Winter SWL Fest in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, radio producer David Goren hostsThe Shortwave Shindig, a live event that celebrates the art and culture of long distance listening. This year, for the first time, the Shortwave Shindig was broadcast live on shortwave. The Shindig signed on for one hour at 10:00 ET (02:00 UTC) on 7,570 kHz via WRMI's new Okeechobee facility. 

Last week, I asked readers on my blog, The SWLing Post, if they could record the Shortwave Shindig.  I received two shortwave recordings and one FM recording--I will add others to this post as they arrive.

Matthew Williams took this photo of his TS-590S and Grundig G3 while recording the Shortwave Shindig.

Our first recording comes from Matthew Williams who recorded the show on his Kenwood TS-590 with an 80 meter doublet antenna in New Paltz, NY:

Ed McCorry made the following recording at his home in Willow Spring, NC. He used an ICOM R-75 with a 120 ft. longwire antenna:

"The Professor" recorded this FM broadcast from inside the hotel where the Winter SWL Fest was held. Evidently, an in-house pirate radio FM station was relaying the broadcast:

Radio Australia: circa 1969

Radio Australia's Shepparton transmission site (Photo: ABC)

Many thanks to David Firth, who is kindly sharing shortwave radio recordings he made on reel-to-reel recording equipment in the late 1960s. Firth is uncovering and digitizing these off air recordings as time allows and, thanks to his generosity, we will be posting these recordings on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.

The following is a recording of Radio Australia, which Firth recorded in 1969.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:

RTÉ Radio broadcast of GAA finals

Sunday afternoon--one week ago--I was at home to catch a bit of the GAA finals via RTÉ on 17,725 kHz, starting around 15:00 UTC.

I enjoy hearing sporting events broadcast over shortwave–perhaps it’s my imagination filling in the gaps from the live coverage or the washy sound of the crowds roaring.  Regardless, RTÉ has a long-standing track record of broadcasting the GAA finals on every medium possible.

As I listened to the live broadcast, Sunday, I read Norman Freeman’s account of listening to the GAA finals from a ship in the Indian Ocean, back in 1956. He writes:

“Almost 50 years ago, listening to the All-Ireland by radio was uncertain and frustrating.

In 1956, RTÉ knew how much the All-Ireland meant to the Irish diaspora. Arrangements were made with the authorities in the then French Congo to have the match rebroadcast the following evening, on the powerful short-wave transmitter in Brazzaville.

The time and frequencies were published in the Irish newspapers. This information was sent by letter to the Irish on oil rigs off the coast of Borneo, to round-the-year painters on Brooklyn Bridge, and to missionaries within sight of Mount Kilimanjaro.

I had noted the time and frequencies before I was sent out to Mumbai to join my first ship, the Amra, as second radio officer. The hurling final was between two giants, Cork and Wexford.”
[Continue reading...]

While Freeman doesn’t miss the uncertainty and fickle nature of shortwave radio as the messenger of his favorite sporting event, his look back is certainly nostalgic. After all, Radio Brazzaville transported Freeman and his boss back to Ireland for the length of the game. And to RTÉ’s credit, they continue to broadcast to the Irish diaspora on shortwave radio, if only for this event. 

If you would like to hear my recording of the GAA Finals, click here to download the MP3 recording, or simply listen via the embedded player below: 

RNW: The Happy Station Show, 26 July 1992

 (Source: happystationshow.blogspot.com)

Jan Oversteen sends us this recording of the Happy Station Show and comments:

"Part of the Happy Station Show from July 26, 1992. This is the broadcast in where Tom Meijer announced that Pete Meijers is going to take over the program."

Thank you for sharing this recording, Jan!  If you would like to share recordings, simply submit a recording with this form.

BBC World Service's broadcast to the 2013 British Antarctic Survey

Halley VI: The British Antarctic Survey's new base (Source: BBC)

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special program to the forty one scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team; the show containsmusic requests and, most notably, personal messages from back home to the team of forty one. 

The British Antarctic Survey celebrates today (their longest, darkest winter day) with the same enthusiasm as Christmas. The BBC noted:

The base commanders rise early to cook breakfast for their staff, presents are exchanged, there are sports and even, weather permitting, a mad streak in the snow! Feasting continues before they gather round a shortwave set to listen to the traditional broadcast packed with greetings from their family and friends back home together with music requests and messages from the British Antarctic Survey and a few celebrities. Finally the Antarctic horror movie The Thing is screened. For those who know the plot, perhaps it is just as well there are no longer sledge dogs in Antarctica...

Here is the recording of the BBC World Service's thirty minute broadcast to the British Antarctic Survey. I was able to receive a relatively strong signal at 21:30 UTC on 9,890 kHz from the World Service's Wooferton transmission site.

Click here to download the full recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below: 

Myke shares 2012 season of ShortWaveMusic

Myke, over at ShortWaveMusic, has made his entire 2012 season of ShortWaveMusic freely downloadable on SoundCloud. This series was recorded from December 31, 2011 – January 16, 2012 throughout the West African country of Mali. The series contains some remarkable field recordings taken from both the shortwave and medium wave bands.

Note that Myke's ShortWaveMusic series and travels are supported by Kickstarter donors. I don't know where Myke's travels will take him next year, but when the time comes we will post an announcement along with a link for supporters.

Now put on your headphones, close your eyes and you will be transported to Mali:

For full SoundCloud features, click here for the 2012 series on SoundCloud.

Shortwaveology #2 now on SoundCloud

Radio producer and shortwave radio artist, David Goren, has recently posted his 2008 production of Shortwaveology #2 on Soundcloud. If you like the sonic texture of the shortwaves, you'll love this recording:

Perhaps if we badger David enough--say, on his Facebook page, or on his Soundcloud feed--he'll produce Shortwaveology #3? Hey, it's worth a try!

Wait a minute.  You haven't heard Shortwaveology #1? Take a listen:

In the spirit of full disclosure, David's a good friend. That is, he will be, until he figures out that I'm asking readers to heckle him into producing another installment of his ongoing work, Shortwaveology. Oh, what the heck; friends come along every day, Shortwave installments don't.  Let's hound him! (Whatcha waiting for, David?)

Radio Exterior de Espana rings in 2013 with a dance music marathon

For a broadcaster that was rumored to be extinguished last year, REE sure knows how to ring in the new year. I managed to record hours of their live broadcast over the 31 and 49 meter bands. The first recording starts at 00:00 UTC (Jan, 1st 2013) on 9.535 MHz following a few seconds of the REE interval signal.  I then moved my spectrum recording lower in the band and was able to hear them on 6.125 MHz despite very strong adjacent signals. I recorded over three hours on 6.123 MHz before starting a new recording for the remaining 2 hours of their broadcast.

You can also listen to the recordings in the embedded player below (though they are listen in reverse order, chronologically):

The Mighty KBC

Once again, The Mighty KBC broadcast a two hour mix of music to the world on 9,500 kHz. Fortunately, I was able to record the entire broadcast--you can listen below. The KBC signal and audio out of their transmitter in Bulgaria were both excellent. There was very noticeable interference from the clandestine station, Radio Republica, who broadcasts at the same time (00:00-01:57 UTC) on 9,490 kHz.  According to my spectrum display, Republica's signal had a bandwidth of 20 kHz!  At times, I had to narrow my receiver filter to about 6.6 kHz and use a USB sync mode  to keep KBC's broadcast clear.  Still, you can certainly hear some of the noise from Radio Republica in the recording.

Since Radio Republica is broadcast from the US, I'm curious if listeners in other parts of the world (or other parts of North America) had the same problem. If so, please comment!  I'll pass this along to KBC.

You can download the entire broadcast as an mp3 by clicking here, or simply listen in the embedded player below: