Image source: Gary Deacon
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Sarah Boucher, who shares the following recording and notes:
ZD8VR Volcano Radio 1602 AM Closedown 5 May 1979/AFRTS Accession Island Sign Off
Gary Deacon recorded [this audio]. It has end of jazz show, sign off announcement, station ID and incomplete GSTQ by local gender neutral band.
Receiver and antenna: 1950's Siera domestic valve receiver and 20 metre longwire antenna.
Recording by Gary Deacon
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Timothy Land, who shares the following recording of the final broadcast of PJB/Trans World Radio in Bonaire. Timothy included the following notes:
Date of recording: 6/30/1993
Starting time: Approximately 00:00 UTC
Frequency: 9.535 MHz
Reception location: Kingsport, Tennessee, USA
Receiver and antenna: Magnavox AE3805 with telescoping antenna
In February 2019, the South Africa-based company, Sentech, announced that they would close the Meyerton Transmitting Station effective March 31, 2019. Channel Africa used the Meyerton site for all of their shortwave broadcasts, so the closure meant and end to Channel Africa’s shortwave service. At time of posting, there is no news of other relay stations taking over the Channel Africa service.
The following two hour five minute recording of Channel Africa was made on Friday, March 29, 2019 starting about 1558 UTC on 15235 kHz.
The first hour (1600 - 1657 UTC) is Channel Africa’s French Language service.
The second hour (1700 - 1757) is Channel Africa’s English language service.
After the transmitter carrier dropped at the end of the English Language service broadcast, it did come back on for a brief period of time relaying a few minutes of what I believe may have been the program, “Chinyanja-Nkhani Ndi Zochitika Mu Africa.” I assume this was simply a mistake on the part of the station. I did leave this archived recording.
This recording was made using a WinRadio Excalibur SDR receiver connected to a large horizontal delta loop antenna. The receiver location was North Carolina, USA. Enjoy:
Final farewell from the crew of BFBS Malta in 1979. L-R Standing Peter Attrill (Snr Engineer), Paul Zammit (Labourer), Hector Frendo (Chief Clerk), Tony Farrugia (Technician), Richard Astbury (Station Controller), John Crabtree (Programme Organiser), Terry Magri (Technician), Les Austin (Librarian); Sitting are; Judy Edmonds (Volunteer), Eileen Curmi (Typist), Isabel Darmenia (Assistant Librarian), Diane Clark and Linda Miller (Volunteers). Source: Source: RAF LUQA REMEMBERED
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Sarah Boucher, who shares the following recording (believed to be an FM off-air recording) and notes:
Recorded by John Bruno, Richard Astbury was the last announcer to speak from Floriana, followed by the Evening Hymn and Last Post, an instrumental version of L-Innu Malti and a church choir sings God Save The Queen, accompanied by a Church Organ and a Military Band. The final program was the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, won by the host nation Israel. The studios of BFBS Malta are still around as of 2018 as for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. This occurred on the final Saturday of March in the seventies because of the withdrawal of British troops ordered by President Anton Buttigieg.
From the radio history archives - Ian McFarland of Radio Canada International - this is the final show of the DX Digest from March 24, 1991 - in its entirety! This was recorded in Manitoba by legendary DXer and SWL Shawn Axelrod (who may soon be joining us on the DXer.ca team!) This is a one of a kind recording - and we release it the very day Shawn, Ian McFarland and I got together for lunch in Duncan, British Columbia! Happy listening!
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Andrea Borgnino, who shares the following off-air recording clips of the final shortwave broadcasts from Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI):
15380 kHz 6:30 pm UTC 30 September 2007 - Program for North America in Italian:
15380 kHz 18:40 UTC 30 September 2007 - Announcement of short wave broadcasts ending.
Many thanks to all of the SRAA contributors who have shared their recordings of the final moments of Radio Australia. Below, you'll find a number of recordings from around the world.
If you have a recording you would like to share, please submit it to us and we'll add your recording.
The first SRAA contributor, Mark Fahey, lives near Sydney, Australia. Mark recorded the shortwave service and RA satellite feed simultaneously. Mark shares the following recordings and notes:
Recording 1
This is RA’s final few minutes on shortwave – it was recorded on 17840kHz.
The file picks up the regular program ending, then into a Promo for RA “Pacific Beat” (a Pacific current affairs program), then the classic RA Interval Signal then the transmitter clicks off and the void is heard.
Recording 2
The file starts at exactly the same time as the first file, but in this example we are monitoring the Network Feed from Intelsat 18 at 180.0 degrees east (above the equator right on the international date line). This satellite feed is the way Radio Australia gets to the network of FM Transmitters they have scatted around the Pacific Region (which is why they feel they don’t need shortwave anymore for – most populated areas of Radio Australia’s target area now is covered by a network of Radio Australia FM transmitters).
Ian P notes:
Recorded from A Global Tuner in Broome, WA, Australia
Receiver: Icom PCR-1000 Antenna: Discone
Last 30 Minutes Of Radio Australia On Short Wave
Phil Brennan writes:
I managed to catch the last 45 seconds of the NT ABC broadcast on 5025 kHz. Unfortunately it's from my phone and not of great quality, but it may be the only recording of it given the time of day and propagation conditions.
Click here to view on YouTube.
Dan Hawkins writes:
I set up the 909X (also my favorite travel radio) on a chair in a backyard and ran the little ANT-60 reel-up antenna up to a pear tree. This is a recording of Radio Australia Pacific Service on 17840 kHz that includes the last top of the hour newscast at midnight, 1-31-2017 UTC. It includes promos, an ID and a news story on the shortwave closure. Less than a hour later there was no more RA on shortwave. RA came in very well for northern California on several frequencies. Conditions were fantastic for this one considering the 7,800 mile transmission distance. Birds and traffic are also heard in this hand-held field recording. I didn’t bring the tripod. I’ll miss Radio Australia, but I still have excellent reception of RNZI.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Sarah Boucher, who submits this final sign-off of Radio St. Helena on 1548 kHz and notes:
Closedown begins with the last few seconds of love is everywhere by caught in the act (1995).
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Sarah Boucher, for the following recording of Radio St. Helena's final sign-off on FM. This was recorded at 1600 local on December 21, 2012 on 96 MHz FM.
The Amateur Astronomer host: Troy Riedel
Troy Riedel received a unique Christmas gift this year from his son: a one hour block of broadcast time on WBCQ (5,110 kHz). Within a few days, Troy solicited questions and produced a radio show based on his favorite hobby: Amateur Astronomy. He had his show prepared well in advance of the December 30th broadcast time. Most impressive!
Read the full story behind Troy's broadcast on the SWLing Post.
This broadcast of The Amateur Astronomer was recorded in North Carolina on December 30, 2015 starting at 19:57 EST ( December 31, 2015 at 00:57 UTC) on WBCQ 5,110 kHz:
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Richard Langley, for sharing this beautiful QSL card from the early days of the DW Kigali relay station.
Yesterday, Deutsche Welle transmitted its final broadcast from the Kigali, Rwanda relay station. Since I’ve only had moderate luck hearing the Kigali site the past few days–especially on 31 meters–I fired up the TitanSDR Pro (which is still currently under review) and set it to record all three final afternoon broadcasts from Kigali on 12,005, 15,275 and 17,800 kHz
Kigali produced a very strong signal on 17,800 kHz. The TitanSDR recorded the full broadcast, starting with one minute of the transmitter tuning, then one hour of DW’s French language service, followed by one hour of DW’s Hausa language service…then the transmitter went silent.
The recording begins around 1659 UTC on March 28, 2015 on 17,800 kHz:
QSL courtesy of @UKDXer
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Rajdeep Das for this recording of Radio Canada International's final shortwave radio broadcast. This recording was made on June 24, 2012 beginning at 1550 UTC on 11,675 kHz.
Listeners will note that the broadcast ends abruptly during the mailbag program--obviously the transmitters were turned off prematurely.
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