The Voice of America Jazz Hour: Circa 1980

VOA SiTE B Curtain Antenna Array Near Greenville, North Carolina

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, who shares the following recording and notes from his excellent website Inches Per Second:

Here are two more [shortwave recordings], which I recently came across. These are both segments of episodes of "The Voice of America Jazz Hour", circa 1980, each of which features live recordings of Jazz performers in concert in Europe. I suspect that the recordings shared within this programming might be quite rare, if in fact these tapes were made for VOA and not generally broadcast or released elsewhere. However, it could also be that these performances are actually from released albums, or at least that these performances were later released. By some weird coincidence, these two segments are both 35-36 minutes, even though the show original ran an hour.

The styles of jazz performance heard here are not at all similar the styles within jazz that 1I prefer, and I therefore know nothing about these performers nor have I tried to research them or these performances. But perhaps some of you out there have a taste for this, and I don't ever want to limit this site to things that I want to hear. If anyone has information to share about these recordings, by all means, do, and I'll pass it along.

WTWW (The Voice of Freedom): April 25, 2022

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bryce Belcher, who shares the following recording and notes:

Broadcaster: WTWW “The Voice of Freedom”

Date of recording: 4/25/2022

Starting time: 23:13 UTC

Frequency: 5.085 MHz

Reception location: Columbus Ohio

Receiver and antenna: My Tecsun PL880 with just the telescopic antenna

Notes: My recording of WTWW, the voice of freedom on 5085 MHz from April 25, 2022. The reception was pretty good here in Columbus in this recording. With just the telescopic antenna the station comes in pretty good.

KSKO Paul Walker's Christmas Special: December 23, 2022

The following recording of Paul Walker's Christmas Special on KSKO was recorded on a live relay from Space Line Bulgaria on 5900 kHz on Friday, December 24, 2022 starting around 00:10 UTC.

This recording was made on the U Twente WebSDR in the Netherlands.

Radio Cidade Oldies: April 26, 2022

Av. Paulista Consolação, São Paulo (Photo by Gabriel Ramos)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Paul Walker, who shares the following recording of Radio Cidade Oldies made on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, at 0405UTC on 10215kHz. Note that this is weak signal DXing as Paul’s reception location was McGrath, Alaska.

Pop Shop Radio: September 12, 2020

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Anthony Pavick, who shares the following recording and notes:

Edition 1 of Pop Shop Radio as broadcast by Channel 292 in Rohrbach Waal in Germany on 6070 kHz at 1600 UTC to 1700 UTC  on 12 September 2020.

This was a rebroadcast of a show first broadcast on  9 September 2020 at 1800 UTC on same station and frequency.

This recording is 'as received' via the WebSDR at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, and as such has all the wonderful static and interference you'd expect.

Show is produced in British Columbia in Canada.

Radio Canada International "Music Shop" clip: circa 1981

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Pete Polanyk, who shares the following short clip and notes:

A very spooky thing happened to me earlier. I was going through some old punk cassettes […] and on the B side of one of them was some shortwave recording from 1981! I haven't been through it all in any detail yet but here's a couple of minutes of Radio Canada International from 1981:

KUSW Worldwide Radio: December 26, 1987

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Gavaras, who shares the folowing recording and notes:

KUSW Shortwave from Salt Lake City, Utah recorded on December 26, 1987 received at 2040 UTC on 17715 kHz. Includes rock music, national commercials, newscast, frequency schedule and announcements by John Florence. Ends with something similar to an interval signal. Music and commercials are scoped.

Broadcaster: WUSW Worldwide Radio

Date of recording: 12/26/1987

Starting time: 2040 UTC

Frequency: 17.715 MHz

RX location: Minnetonka, MN

Receiver and antenna: ICOM R71A with longwire

WRNO: Early 1980s

WRNO was the U.S. shortwave station founded by Joseph Costello III as described here and went on the air in February 1982 as a commercial international broadcaster. Another recording can be found in the archive but this is one of the earliest recordings of the station after it first went on the air.

As described by Wikipedia, WRNO was the first privately owned shortwave station licensed in several years at the time of its approval by the FCC: “Before Costello's efforts, there were only three non-governmental American shortwave broadcasters on the air; by the end of the decade, that number had increased to sixteen.[2]  WRNO shortwave had a rock music format, branded as the "World Rock of New Orleans" and operating from noon to midnight (GMT-6) daily. Originally a separate broadcast from the FM station, eventually WRNO turned to simulcasting WRNO-FM, which also had a rock music format. During the early 1990s WRNO turned to leasing airtime to religious and political commentators (for a time, it was the shortwave home of Rush Limbaugh's program) until a damaged transmitter forced the station off the air for several years.” In 2001 the station was purchased by Good News World Outreach, a non-profit religious broadcaster.” This article in SWLing Post shows the transmitter of WRNO as of 2009.

A bit of shortwave trivia not widely known — Joseph Costello appeared in the first pilot of “Communications World” the VOA program for shortwave listeners originated by Dan Robinson, who went on to be a foreign correspondent, congressional reporter, and chief White House correspondent for VOA through the 1980’s, 1990s and 2000s.

Voice of Greece: March 21, 2020

The following recording of the Voice of Greece was made on March 21, 2020 starting around 22:45 UTC on 9.420 MHz. This recording was made with a WinRadio Excalibur and skyloop antenna. Reception location: Asheville, North Carolina, USA.

Hobart Radio International via WRMI: January 26, 2020

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Zach Rutledge, who shares the following recording and notes:

This broadcast includes a news segment on the aftermath of the wildfires in Australia, as well as music from Hot Chip and Men At Work. Plus, in place of Jordan's World Of Radio, they play a track from a Monty Python album. This broadcast highlights the higher than average fidelity of WRMI's transmitter on 5850 kHz, and was recorded with an ~8 kHz wide audio bandwidth for improved fidelity.

Broadcaster: Hobart Radio International (via WRMI Okeechobee, Florida)

Date of recording: 1/26/2020

Starting time: 0830

Frequency: 5.850

Reception location: Baldwin County, Alabama, USA

Receiver and antenna: SDRPlay RSP-1, SDRUno, W6LVP active loop antenna

Super Rock KYOI: March 11, 1986

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Mark Nelson, who shares the following recording and notes:

Super Rock KYOI was a short-wave radio station located at Saipan island in the Pacific region from 1982 to 1989. The station broadcast rock and pop music to China, Japan, USSR, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. This recording includes rock music, IDs, and address. It was originally recorded to cassette tape using a Sony ICF6500W receiver. My location was Minot, North Dakota.

Starting time: 1425

Frequency: 11.900

Receiver location: Minot, North Dakota, USA

Receiver and antenna: Sony ICF6500W with random wire

Alt Universe Top 40 (via Channel 292): June 29, 2019

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, John McMullan, who shares the following recording and notes:

Shortwave aircheck of ALT UNIVERSE TOP 40, recorded from its broadcast on Channel 292, 7440 kHz on June 29, 2019.

Date of recording: 6/29/2019

Starting time: 11:00 UTC

Frequency: 7.440

Your location: USA

Receiver and antenna: WEBsdr (The Netherlands)

Notes: Mild static from the beginning and throughout. Fades and digital skips periodically.

CFZM: July 28, 2019

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:

Last night I took advantage of a clear Saturday night to head out to my favorite "dark sky" astronomy site south of Bourbon, Indiana to do some stargazing. I took my 5" telescope along with my favorite "accessory", my newly cleaned, aligned and recapped RF-2200. While waiting for sunset and darkness I recorded one hour of The Mighty KBC's Giant Jukebox and followed that up with a recording of three hours of Toronto's CFZM "Zoomer Radio and their weekly program Saturday Night Bandstand. While not SWBC, listening to Zoomer is a great way to spend a Saturday night under the stars. There is some fading and a strange growling noise which I believe was caused by having my digital recorder too close to the radio. Also some thunderstorm static can be heard from storms which popped up near the end of the recording. Both recordings were made with either the RF-2200's whip antenna for KBC or the internal ferrite swivel antenna for CFZM. Enjoy!

Broadcaster: CFZM

Date of recording: 7/28/2019

Starting time: 0210

Frequency: 740 kHz

Location: Bourbon, IN

The Mighty KBC: July 28, 2019

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who shares the following recording and notes:

Last night I took advantage of a clear Saturday night to head out to my favorite "dark sky" astronomy site south of Bourbon, Indiana to do some stargazing. I took my 5" telescope along with my favorite "accessory", my newly cleaned, aligned and recapped RF-2200. While waiting for sunset and darkness I recorded one hour of The Mighty KBC's Giant Jukebox and followed that up with a recording of three hours of Toronto's CFZM "Zoomer Radio and their weekly program Saturday Night Bandstand. While not SWBC, listening to Zoomer is a great way to spend a Saturday night under the stars. There is some fading and a strange growling noise which I believe was caused by having my digital recorder too close to the radio. Also some thunderstorm static can be heard from storms which popped up near the end of the recording. Both recordings were made with either the RF-2200's whip antenna for KBC or the internal ferrite swivel antenna for CFZM. Enjoy!

Broadcaster: The Mighty KBC

Date of recording: 7/28/2019

Starting time: 0100

Frequency: 9.925

Location: Bourbon, IN

Radio New Zealand International (Part 2): July 7, 2007

The following recording was made by the late Michael Pool (The Professor) on July 7, 2007 with a Degen DE1103 in NYC. This recording (Part 1) was included in a post he had written on his blog, The Radio Kitchen. Click here to read this post in the SWLing Post Radio Kitchen Archive.

Here’s a description of this recording, written by The Professor. Note that the first recording was posted separately on the SRAA:

“[P]art two of this recording begins with the flip of the the tape. At the onset of this archive the interview is aborted in mid-sentence and a female announcer formally announces that Radio New Zealand International is closing on this frequency. After twice insisting that I “re-tune to six-zero-nine-five kilohertz in the forty-nine meter band” (followed by a clipped “This is New Zealand”), it all sounds so damn official that I felt compelled to follow the instructions. Although I knew that just because RNZI was booming in on 31 meters didn’t necessarily mean it would come in so strong (or might even be heard) on the 49 meter band.

You hear RNZI’s interval signal (the call of the New Zealand Bellbird) after the station ID, and then the signal at 9165kHz goes dead. I then put the tape deck on pause and punch up 6095 kHz on the Degen and release the pause button. And there it was! The call of the Bellbird is quite clear there as well, although a nearby signal is chewing on the edges of the reception a bit.

Whoever is running the board down there in the South Pacific was a little sloppy that night. After the interval signal the board-op starts to pot up the interview again (which is still running on one of the channels). But the mistake is corrected in a fraction of second, and it’s the news with Phil O’Brien. The lead story, a nationwide “Drunk Drive Blitz” the night before had netted over two-hundred inebriated kiwis on the highways down there. And an update on the aftermath of an unprecedented swarm of tornados that ravaged the North Island a couple of nights earlier.

After the news, it’s the beginning of a program I can barely believe I’m hearing in 2007. A faux flapper-era theme song launches a “nostalgia packed selection of favorites” that will saturate the skies of Oceania for the next four hours. While I love a lotta old music, the whole idea of “nostalgia” can get a little silly. Although I must say that old Joe Franklin used to pull it off with some charm on WOR here in New York City before he gave up the show a few years back. It’s really an approach to radio that’s all but dead here in the states. But apparently not in New Zealand.”

This recording was made on July 7, 2007 on 9615 kHz, then 6095 kHz, starting around 0658 UTC:

Radio Educación XEPPM-OC (Cultura México Señal Internacional): April 6, 2019

Mexico City, Mexico (Photo by Jezael Melgoza @jezael)

For your listening pleasure: Radio Educación (XEPPM) from Mexico City. This recording was made on April 6, 2019 starting around 0058 UTC on 6,185 kHz. The receiver used was a WinRadio Excalibur hooked to a large horizontal delta loop antenna—the recording was made in North Carolina, USA.

This recording includes music and news—all in Spanish. Enjoy:

Radio Educación XEPPM-OC (Cultura México Señal Internacional): April 1, 2019

For your listening pleasure: Radio Educación (XEPPM) from Mexico City. This recording was made on April 1, 2019 starting around 0125 UTC on 6185 kHz. The receiver used was a WinRadio Excalibur hooked to a large horizontal delta loop antenna—the recording was made in North Carolina, USA.

Although XEPPM’s 1,000 watt signal often makes it into North America, it’s rare that it’s so clear and conditions are so quiet. Their jazz selection on this date was excellent. Enjoy:

Voice of Greece: March 26, 2019

For your listening pleasure: The Voice of Greece recorded on March 26, 2019 starting at 22:50 UTC on 9.42 MHz. The receiver was a WinRadio Excalibur SDR and the antenna a large horizontal delta loop. This was received and recorded in North Carolina, USA.

WINB (Unique Radio): November 3, 2018

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Ian Pillar, who shares the following recording and notes:

A recording of Unique Radio via the facilities of WINB 9265 KHz Red Lion Pennsylvania USA @ 1200 -1240 HRS UTC with programming from Hobart Radio International . I do get a decent WINB signal from time to time which is surprising considering as the main beam hits Eastern Australia and New Zealand and I am on the other side of the country.

I received a very nice email from Tim Gaynor of Unique Radio confirming my reception

Receiver and antenna: Tecsun PL l 380 with a longwire

Radio Tahiti (music): unknown date

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Mark Pettifor, who writes:

One of the great things about DXing and SWLing is the variety of music one can hear. One of my favorite stations to listen to on shortwave for “exotic music” was Radio Tahiti, Papeete, French Polynesia, when they were still on shortwave.

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe something happened to the transmitter, and they never got back on SW. They were on mediumwave through December of 2016 (738 kHz); now they are on FM only. (Maybe us hobbyists should start a funding website to put them back on shortwave!)

Many a Saturday night I would turn on the DX-160 (my first SW rig) and let it warm up for a while, before tuning in 15170 to see how band conditions were. If the band was good, I’d get ready to record through the air. Once I started recording, I’d often leave the room and shut the door, because having three brothers around meant the possibilities were high for having “extraneous interference” on my recordings.

Saturday evenings were a good time to tune in, because of a music program that aired with a good selection of island music. The program had an announcer who spoke in the island vernacular (Tahitian?), and when that program ended they switched to French.

Here is a 30-min recording of Radio Tahiti on 15170 kHz from a while ago, most likely around one of the solar maxima of either 1980 or 1991. I’m leaning toward the 1980 cycle. My apologies for not being able to be more specific than that. I kept terrible records of my recordings. This would be recorded either with the DX-160 or a DX-302. Apologies too for the jump in volume at around the 2:37 mark.

So close your eyes, imagine you are lying in a hammock on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific, with a warm breeze off the ocean and your favorite cooled beverage nearby, listening to some of the best island music anywhere.