PYONGYANG METRO STATION (ORIGINAL SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
Many thanks to SWAA contributor, Frank, for this recording of the Voice of Korea's English language service.
Frank recorded this broadcast of VOK from his home in Europe on May 15, 2014, on 11,645 kHz, starting at 16:00 UTC, using a Kenwood R-5000 receiver and a Wellbrook ALA 1530+ antenna.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Many thanks to SWAA contributor, Frank, for this recording of the Voice of Korea's English language service.
Frank recorded this broadcast of VOK from his home in Europe on March 27, 2014, on 7,570 kHz, starting at 21:00 UTC, using a Kenwood R-5000 receiver and a Wellbrook ALA 1530+ antenna.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
The Tower of Juche Idea statue, Pyongyang, North Korea (Photo: Martyn Williams).
Many thanks to SWAA contributor, Frank, for this recording of the Voice of Korea's English language service. Incidentally, you may have noticed that Frank is a very regular contributor here on the SWAA, and we are most grateful for his excellent recordings.
Frank recorded this broadcast of VOK from his home in Europe on February 14, 2014, on 7,570 kHz, starting at 15:00 UTC, using a Kenwood R-5000 receiver and a Wellbrook ALA 1530+ antenna.
Note that VOK mentions the "Shining Star Day": a celebration of the late Kim Jong Il's 72nd birthday. Click here for a VOR report on Shining Star Day.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
Of course, the Voice of Korea is all about broadcasting hard-core propaganda--a type of broadcast I find incredibly fascinating. But let there be no mistake, to live in the DPRK is to live under one of the world's most oppressive regimes. If you want to hear a moving, inspirational story about one North Korean woman's escape from the DPRK, click here to view Hyeonseo Lee's: My escape from North Korea, a TED Talk.
Pyongyang Metro Station (Original Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Many thanks to SWAA contributor, Frank, for this recording of theVoice of Korea's English language service.
Frank recorded this broadcast from his home in Europe on November 13, 2013, on 11,645 kHz, starting at 16:00 UTC, using a Kenwood R-5000 receiver and a Wellbrook ALA 1530+ antenna.
Click here to download the recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded player below:
One of the countries dominating the headlines of global news lately is North Korea. As Kim Jong-un raises tensions and rattles his nuclear saber, the rest of the world is attempting to determine if this is a egotistical show of power for the benefit of all observers (as with previous leaders) or if there is real intention behind the rhetoric. Just this morning Pyongyang has warned that Tokyo would be a primary strike target if war were to break out, or if their test missile is downed; they've even moved their missile launch pad into position.
Regardless of outcome of these provocations, I know that the bulk of the North Korean population will suffer. North Korean mainstream "news" consists of images of military parades in the immaculate capital city of Pyongyang; but the reality is that most of the population live in rural North Korea, which is subject to severe food shortages and extreme poverty.
We know North Korea is a country that carefully controls and manipulates their media internally; they also broadcast the same flavor of propaganda externally on shortwave radio via the Voice of Korea.
As shortwave radio listeners, we have the distinct advantage of being able to listen directly to the case of North Korea. We can actually hear (and analyze for ourselves) the North Korea propaganda directly from the source. Note that it's not uncommon for the Voice of Korea to unexpectedly go off air, likely due to power shortages: this fact is much more suggestive of the of general conditions in the country than the "news" itself.
Depending on where you live in the world, your ability to hear the (relatively weak) Voice of Korea will vary. If you live in the Asia/Pacific region, the station is very audible.
Yesterday morning at 10:00 UTC, I recorded an hour of their English broadcast to South America on 11.71 MHz. You can download an mp3 of the recording by clicking here, or simply listen via the embedded player below.
Below, you'll also find the current broadcast schedule for the Voice of Korea English service courtesy of North Korea Tech:
For a full schedule of the Voice of Korea, please visit this page on North Korea Tech.
SWLing Post reader, Chris Johnson, recently sent me a message confessing his love of travel combined with shortwave radio listening. When he told me about his enviable plans to travel to the tiny islands of Truk Lagoon in the Federated States of Micronesia--and to record some of the broadcasts he heard--I asked if he would allow me to share his recordings on the Post. Fortunately for us, he agreed!
Below are two of his recordings, the first from the Voice of Mongolia, the second from the Voice of Korea. Both happen to be very difficult stations to catch here in eastern North America. His comments follow each recording:
Voice of Mongolia Shortwave Broadcast to Asia and Europe. Using a Sony ICF-SW7600G with a whip antenna. Recorded on 29 January 2013 at 1030z on 12085 khz from the Blue Lagoon Resort, Truk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia. The broadcast interval signal begins at 1:35
Voice of Korea; Recorded on a Sony ICF-SW7600G using a whip antenna. 7 February 2013 on 15100 khz at 0500z Location; Puka Beach, Boracay Island, Philippines. The program was scheduled for 60 minutes but due to the frequent power outages in the DPRK, the program ceased at approximately 52 minutes.
Thanks, Chris!
The Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA) is a collection of shortwave radio recordings that you can download or listen to as a podcast. The collection grows every day and includes both historic recordings and current recordings from the shortwave radio spectrum.
The goal of this site is for shortwave radio enthusiast to have a place to store, archive and share their radio recordings with the world.
Click here to learn how to contribute and archive recordings.
​Subscribe to the archive on iTunes,
You can subscribe to the archive with any podcasting application by subscribing to our RSS feed. Simply right click and copy this RSS feed url, then paste it into your podcasting application's subscribe box.
