VOA Communications World: July 1, 1995

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

VOA Communications World 7/1/1995

VOA's Communications World presented by Kim Andrew Elliott. Topics discussed included:

- Report on WCCO-TV (Minneapolis, MN) running a modified newscast on another local TV station (KLGT-TV) at the same time and interviews Brian Lambert of the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper. Plus, discussion on radio competition in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area.
- Plans of America's public radio broadcasters to distribute programming in Europe
- Radio of-demand and its potential for domestic and international broadcasting
- Interview with VOA's Southeast Asia correspondent, Dan Robinson, about broadcasting in Thailand

Broadcaster: Voice of America

Date of recording: 7/1/1995

Starting time: Unknown

Frequency: Unknown

Receiver location: Orono, MN

Receiver and antenna: ICOM R71A, Longwire

Voice of the Revolution/Guinea - Funeral Observances for Kwame Nkrumah: 1972

by Dan Robinson

In 1972, the Voice of the Revolution, Guinea’s national radio carried the funeral ceremony for Francis Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president after independence. Quoting from the history: “Nkrumah was born in the Gold Coast (later Ghana) in 1909 and was educated there before going to the United States in 1935 where he attended Lincoln University and later, the University of Pennsylvania. Nkrumah spent 10 years in the U.S., and later went to England to study at the London School of Economics. At the same time, he intensified his political activities for the independence of his homeland, which he led to full nationhood on March 6,1957. He was toppled in 1966 in a coup by army officers and remained in exile in neighboring Guinea until his death in April 1972 in Bucharest, Romania, where he had gone for medical treatment.

As reported by AFP from Accra: “The body of Kwame Nkrumah was flown back here today in a special Guinean Air Force plane. The military government or declared all flags to be flown at half‐staff until the former President is buried in Nkroful, a village 190 miles southwest of here where he was born on Sept. 1, 1909.

Return of the pan‐African leader's body to Ghana marks the culmination of protracted negotiations between the governing National Redemption Council here and President Sékou Touré of Guinea. Mr. Nkrumah died on April 27 in Rumania, where he was receiving medical treatment, and his body was taken to Guinea.

At first, President Touré refused Ghanaian requests for the body and gave Mr. Nkrumah a state funeral in Conakry, the Guinean capital. The Ghanaian had spent most of the years of his exile in Conakry, following his overthrow in 1966 in Ghana's first military coup. He was given the symbolic title of Co‐President of Guinea by President Touré.

Radio Conakry, also known as The Voice of the Revolution, was frequently heard by listeners around the world, usually on its shortwave frequencies including 9,650 kHz and 7,125 kHz. Nkrumah had used the station to make speeches from Guinea to the people of Ghana in 1966.

In this recording, made in Pennsylvania in 1972, you hear part of what appears to be a funeral observance held in Conakry, mostly in French but some English. Radio Conakry remained on shortwave into the 2000s, but later was intermittent. After repairs to its transmitter, it returned to shortwave in 2016 and was still being heard as of early 2021, though at weaker levels than before, and mostly in European locations.

Radio Tawantinsuyo (Peru): 1970s

Old QSL from Radio Tawantinsuyo, Cuzco, Peru

Thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Robinson for these notes and audio of Radio Tawantinsuyo, Cuzco, Peru

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Rising early in the morning was a regular activity of DX’ers who wanted to hear the more difficult stations from Latin America that used to fill the shortwave bands. One of those was Radio Tawantinsuyo, located in Cuzco, Peru. The station was on 6,175 khz in the 49 meter band but was more often heard on variable frequencies as low as 6,173 khz. This recording of the station sign on brings back so many memories for DX’ers who focused on South America.

Radio Kahuzi (Democratic Republic of Congo): 2019-2020

Thanks to SRAA contributor Dan Robinson for these notes and audio of Radio Kahuzi

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Radio Kahuzi, a U.S.-funded religious station located in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo has been heard by DX’ers in a number of countries since the mid-2000’s and had been in operation since the 1990s. It was founded by U.S. evangelist Richard McDonald and his wife Kathleen, and was most easily heard via Europe-based SDRs, signing off at anywhere between 1800 and 1830 UTC.

In 2019, the station began to be heard more frequently on its 6,210.20 khz frequency — but was impacted by frequent power outages in the national electricity company of the DRC. In 2020, Radio Kahuzi was still being heard by DX’ers using European SDR sites, with certain locations such as Switzerland, UK, and Sweden bringing the best signals. I did a number of comparison videos showing reception of Kahuzi at these various locations. Interestingly, propagation conditions were such that Kahuzi’s signal had a very rapid rise from about 1700 UTC through to its sign off time around 1800 to 1830 UTC, and was often mistaken by some listeners as a European pirate signal in the 48 meter band.

In February 2020, Richard McDonald reported that power had been increased from 500 to 750 watts with reception in Bukavu 1/4 to 1/2 stronger, adding that they hoped the 750 watt level could be maintained “unless problems develop.” He also said the station had just installed a new digital studio.

In April 2020, McDonald reported problems with lightning strikes in the area with intermittent power issues. McDonald noted that the station had been hoping to begin distance education as the COVID-19 situation was beginning to have impacts: “We are the only radio that can reach all the 8 territories and local schools.”

As of mid-May 2020, Radio Kahuzi remained off the air as DX’ers held out hope that Kahuzi would return to the air. In an email, Richard McDonald reported “complications” regarding the power schedule of the regional power company saying he was hoping RK can get back on the air “between 8 AM to 7 PM”. Here is one of the best recordings of Radio Kahuzi, which took place using the SDR site in Ticino, Switzerland — the station has a unique sign off, playing an instrumental version of a Bluegrass song.

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.

Emisora Regional dos Azores: 1970s

In the 1970’s shortwave listeners were surprised by the appearance in the 60 meter band of a station that seemed to be a re-activation of Portugal’s station in the Azores islands. The frequency was 4,865 khz and the signal was quite strong as heard on the east coast of North America. What everyone thought was actually a broadcast from the Azores turned out to be — NOT. According to Jerry Berg, in his On the Shortwaves 1945 to turned out to be none other than Radiodifusao Portuguesa with transmissions on the old frequency of Azores from years before. What a disappointment for country hunters! Anyway, here is a recording of what we all thought was Azores direct, made in the 1970s. You can hear the full ID by the announcer toward the end followed by the Portuguese national anthem.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Spanish Sahara (Radio Sahara): 1973

On the top-10 list of DX targets in the 1970s was Spanish Sahara, the broadcast service transmitting from Aaiun in what was then Spanish-ruled Sahara in West Africa. Verification cards and letters were sent to lucky listeners around the world who were able to hear the transmissions which were a mixture of local programs and material from the Spanish national radio. Frequencies on shortwave: 7,230 khz listed as 10 KW and 4,626 khz which was a SSB frequency listed a 5 kilowatts, described as a service for Aaiun and Villa Cisneros, now called Dakhla, about 330 miles south along the coast from Aaiun.

My reception of Radio Sahara was on a Hammarlund HQ-180 receiver, which due to its superb filtering and vernier tuning capability I used to hear numerous African stations. According to the QSL letter received from Radio Sahara, and signed by Amparo Martin, their programming was from “0645 to 01 horas” making this one of the few African stations with a very late (or early in the morning) sign on for listeners in the eastern U.S. (the other being Radio Gambia).

In this recording you hear music to about the 1 minute 10 mark, then station identification by a male announcer “Musica para ellos. Radio Sahara de la red de emisoras [network of stations] de Radio Nacional de Espana” and since Spain was still under the rule of dictator Francisco Franco at the time, this was heard after an military march: “Viva Franco, Viva el Sahara, Viva Espana” followed by what I believe was the Spanish national anthem.

Another frequency for Radio Sahara was 11,805 khz. In 1975, the station sent out a more traditional QSL card (see below). The history that followed saw Spain withdrawing troops from the region on January 12, 1976, and ending its presence in the territory February 26, 1976. Morocco immediately claimed sovereignty over the territory and for years a guerilla war dragged on (1975 to 1991) between the Polisario Front and Moroccan forces. This Wikipedia entry explains the complexities of the situation in what is today called a “partially recognized de facto sovereign state.”

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Voice of Kenya: Circa 1975

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Africa was a treasure trove of stations broadcasting on shortwave. Prime time for listening was late afternoon (especially during the winter DX season) and the 0300 to 0700 UTC range. For stations in East Africa and the Indian Ocean, evening hours presented an ideal time but did not mean that these were easy catches. One evening in 1975, propagation conditions were such that listeners on the East coast of North America suddenly heard East African stations at what sounded like a local level. One of them was Voice of Kenya. The signal was so remarkable on 4,915 khz that it rivaled signals from some Latin American stations that were still on the air in the 0300 to 0400 UTC range. This was the National Service in Swahili. Other VOK frequencies were more challenging, such as the listed 41 meter band frequency and one in 31 meters. Even more difficult, was the 4885 frequency for the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. That station eluded many DX’ers and verifications of the Mombasa station are among the rarest from the continent of Africa. Here is Voice of Kenya as heard in Pennslvania in 1975:

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Emisora da Guine Portuguesa (Portuguese Guinea - Guinea Bissau): 1972

This was the classic aerogram style QSL received by many DX’ers who heard Emisora da Guinea (or Guine as it was spelled by the station) Portuguesa. One of the hardest DX catches for North American listeners, the station’s main frequency was, as this verification notes, 5,041 khz. But for a brief period in 1972, DX’ers were amazed to find that this rare African station was putting out a harmonic and being heard at strong levels on 5041 x 2 = 10,082 khz. Some of us were pinching ourselves to make sure we weren’t dreaming, but yes, this was Portuguese Guinea. What’s more, the station was actually one of the more consistent verifiers of reception reports, and sent out this beautiful folding QSL complete with fantastic local stamps.

You may notice that no mention is made by the station of its harmonic frequency that allowed so many of us to hear this small country in the west of Africa. Here’s the recording, Emisora da Guinea Bissau, made on a HQ-180 in Pennsylvania, on the frequency of 10,082 khz a harmonic of 5,041 khz, the station’s main frequency. You will hear in this recording a variety of other interesting sounds, including interference from a local amateur radio operator whose signal was coming in at 10 mHz, the sound of an old dial-up phone, and the clunk of the HQ-180’s selectivity switch as I changed bandwidths from time to time.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Radio Zambia: 1973

Regardless of when one started in the radio listening hobby, we all like to look back at certain reception experiences — they bring back vivid memories, of what we were doing when we heard certain countries and stations, what the seasons were, even what the weather was like. For me, hearing Zambia for the first time is still one of those special memories. In the early 1970’s, I had graduated from my starter radios to a Hammarlund HQ-180 and a Drake SPR-4. These two receivers would stay with me for many years and brought me the bulk of countries are heard on shortwave.

In the 70’s some African countries actually had international services — aside from Radio RSA (South Africa) which had a well-known and powerful overseas broadcast structure, others included Mali, Zambia, Uganda, etc. One excellent article about broadcasting from Zambia can be found here. Zambia was always quite difficult to hear in its 60 meter band frequency 4,910 khz, but one day I was amazed when I heard — in the 16 meter band no less — what sounded like an African station in the middle of English news Indeed, it was “Radio Zambia, broadcasting from Lusaka” and “Zambia Broadcasting Services, this is the general service of Radio Zambia, broadcasting from Lusaka.” The frequency, as the QSL card above states, was 17,895 khz the 16 meter band, far from the lower frequencies I was used to focusing on for Africa. So, here is audio from that reception, on a HQ-180, in the winter of 1973.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Radio Free America: 1973

Radio Free America broadcast for about 10 hours in 1973 from this converted WWII minesweeper

Radio Free America was a religious pirate station that was on the air for a day on September 19th, 1973 from a converted WWII minesweeper located about 12 miles off Cape May, New Jersey. The founder and operator was Carl McIntire whose WXUR in Media, PA was shut down by the FCC.

As described in this article the broadcasts lasted only about 10 hours due to technical difficulties, but there was time enough for a number of listeners along the U.S. east coast to hear the station on 1160 khz mediumwave. And although this item isn’t technically about shortwave, there were reports that McIntire intended to re-start his station on shortwave, but a review of the historical record doesn’t turn up any mention of that happening..

A longer article in 2014 (upated in 2019) describes the history of Radio Free America and McIntire’s battles with the FCC and notes that he was a pioneer of pirate radio as well as a controversial religious figure. Wikipedia on McIntire has some other interesting history, including “in the 1970s when McIntire organized a half dozen pro-Vietnam War "Victory Marches" in Washington, D.C. The march of October 3, 1970 was supposed to have featured South Vietnamese vice-president Nguyen Cao Ky, but the Nixon administration ensured that Ky would not be present.”

It’s unknown how many other recordings of Radio Free America exist in the surviving radio listening community in 2020. My recording was made, as I recall, on a Hammarlund HQ-180A tube receiver which I used for years as my main DXing receiver and which also had a reputation as a superb mediumwave receiver.

It’s difficult to make out all of the details clearly, but McIntire can be heard with an opening ID at approximately 1 minute 42 into this recording as he says: “Radio Free America, out in the North Atlantic…goes on the air. It’s now 12:24, September 19th, 1973….at 1160 on the dial….this is Carl McIntire….” There is an even clearer ID at about the 3 minute 30 second mark when he goes on to talk about “the right to free speech” and “free radio” and says “this is Carl McIntire speaking to you from the North Atlantic, Radio Free America just on the air [for] two minutes..”

There is even more great stuff later, at around the 30 minute mark, when McIntire notes that “NBC Cameramen” are due on the ship, and talks about the ship being anchored “just outside the 12 mile limit…we’re going to cruise off Atlantic City, on up to Asbury Park, Ocean Grove in that area, and we will cruise back down along the Delaware coast, and the eastern shore, so we can get a big strong signal if it’s necessary into the Washington, DC area. If the FCC is listening I say to these men in that commission, gentlemen fear God. . . that is my pray to you….all we want is the kind of liberty that the Constitution gives us..”

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Khmer Rouge Radio - Circa 1992-1993

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge (the name for the Communist Party of Cambodia) seized power in Phnom Penh establishing what was called Democratic Kampuchea. It was estimated that at least 90% of the foreign aid to the Khmer Rouge came from China. In June 1975, Pol Pot and other officials of the Khmer Rouge met with Mao Zedong in Beijing, receiving Mao's approval and advice; in addition, Mao also taught Pot his "Theory of Continuing Revolution under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. What occurred under the Khmer Rouge is now a part of history — one of the worst genocides that the world has ever known. The Khmer Rouge were overthrown by the military of Vietnam in 1979, with many key Khmer Rouge officials fleeing fled to Thailand. But for many years, a Soviet Union and Vietnam-supported government in Phnom Penh held Cambodia's United Nations seat, right up until the point in 1993, when elections were held under a United Nations peackeeping effort (UNTAC) which included disarming of the various factions in Cambodia leading to a democratic election.

As part of my reporting in the 1990’s as VOA’s Southeast Asia correspondent, I covered the run-up to that election. Shortwave radio played a key role at the time — Khmer Rouge Radio continued to broadcast, somewhere in the 5 mhz range — and its English language programs were monitored by news agencies and government monitoring organizations. An excellent history of what I call Khmer Rouge Radio can be found here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/137455.stm

In this broadcast, KR Radio continued to challenge the legitimacy of UNTAC, saying the international community was attempting to “wash its hands” of the Cambodian problem. This broadcast was after the 1993 election, recorded in Phnom Penh where I was on one of my numerous trips covering the Cambodian story. At one point after the election, I traveled from Thailand along the Thai-Cambodia border where many refugees from Cambodia, including from the Khmer Rouge, ended up in camps. There are not many recordings of Khmer Rouge Radio — which was actually called Voice of the Great National Union Front of Cambodia (VGNUFC) — in English in existence — this is one of them. Of course, in later years a former Khmer Rouge batallion commander, Hun Sen, would rule Cambodia from 1985 — he remains in power today and in 2013 attempted to ban foreign broadcasts in Khmer — media freedoms continue to be suppressed to this day.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Radio Republik Indonesia (Pontianak) Circa 1990s

DXing Indonesia, with its former network of hundreds of regional and local stations, became a passion for many shortwave DX’ers. The shortwave bands used to be filled with these stations and in North America reception of the hardest-to-hear stations was always a challenge, even with the best receivers of the day. While some Indonesian regional stations had fairly powerful transmitters, many of the really small ones had power of only a few hundred watts or even less and QSL cards and verification letters from these stations are among the cherished items in QSL collections.

These recordings of one of the RRI regional stations, at Pontianak, was made from Bangkok, Thailand during a 5 year period when I lived in the Thai capital while Southeast Asia correspondent for Voice of America. This reception was on a Drake R8, made with an approximately 20 foot longwire antenna. The frequency I recall was 3,976 khz but this station had also been on the air at various times on 3,345 and 3,995 khz as well as 3,915 khz at one point

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Radio Myanmar: Circa 1990s

Radio Myanmar QSL

Another country and station that was considered among the rarest catches for DX’ers in North America and elsewhere was Myanmar, the current name for Burma. 5,040 khz was the frequency many us finally heard Burma on, and this was as difficult as some of the other challenging countries in the southeast Asia region, even in the days when solar conditions were favorable. When the mail arrived one day and I saw that classic BBS QSL card I was thrilled, to say the least. In later years, the BBS became Radio Myanmar and there was an updated color QSL card sent to listeners. Even now, in 2020 with shortwave on its way out, it’s quite amazing that Myanmar remains audible on SW. In the 1990s, as part of my work for Voice of America, I began traveling to Myanmar/Burma regularly — at least until I was placed on a ban list by the then military government due to my reporting for VOA. On one of those trips, I made this recording of Radio Myanmar, on a SONY ICF-SW1 receiver during a reporting trip in the capital, Yangon (Rangoon).

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording

Radio Singapore International circa 1990s

For DX’ers in the 1960’s and 1970s a key listening objective was Radio Singapore. The frequency many of us heard the station on was 5,010 khz which was always a challenge in early mornings on the east coast of North America but nevertheless was heard frequently. The QSL card I received for that frequency is still one of my most cherished. But in the 1990’s Singapore was more easily heard via its new international service, Radio Singapore International. While I was working for Voice of America as its Southeast Asia correspondent, I used a Drake R8 to monitor regional broadcasts. This recording of RSI was made on that radio from my Bangkok listening location (I do not recall the frequency) using a longwire that was hanging out our apartment building in the very crowded and noisy Thai capital (also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Singapore_International)

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording:

Voice and King of Hope WORD/KING - Lebanon: Circa 1980s

This recording of Voice and King of Hope WORD/KING was made in the 1980’s when the station was on shortwave in the 48 meter band at 6,215 kHz. This was the High Adventures station operating from the area known as “Free Lebanon” https://bit.ly/2zqsGOd Among the interesting things in this 15 minute recording, a weather forecast for the Free Lebanon area (at the end of the recording, just before a Billy Joel song), a commercial for an American eye specialist offering free eyeglasses, and a pre-recorded jingle “WORD”. The announcer also gives a mediumwave frequency of 945 kHz. Local time of this broadcast was before 7 AM Lebanon time. ID: “You are listening to WORD and KING, that’s High Adventures the Voice and King of Hope for the Middle East here in the Valley of the Springs in beautiful free Lebanon, on AM and shortwave.” Also, mention of the Maronite town of Marjayoun.

The signal from KING/WORD had that typical sound that we all remember from the time when propagation and solar conditions permitted reception of hundreds of stations still on shortwave. This reception was on either a HQ-180A or Drake SPR-4, two receivers I was using at the time and which I still have in my shack today.

To hear this nearly 15 minute recording of WORD/KING of Hope Lebanon…

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording and notes:

Radio Nacional de Venezuela: October 11, 2004

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following recording and writes:

With the news over the past few years, and especially over the last few weeks, of the rapid decline of Venezuela, it’s interesting to recall that there was a day when that country was a powerhouse on the shortwave band, with numerous private radio stations that SWL’s around the world could hear in the 90, 60, 49, 31, and 19 meter bands.

There was also a brief attempt to put Venezuela on the map as an international broadcaster, with Radio Nacional de Venezuela which was audible at good signal levels.

Our thanks to Dan for this 45 minute recording from 2004 when Radio Nacional de Venezuela was on the air (October 11, 2004 starting around 20:20 UTC):

Radio Trans Mundial (final shortwave broadcast and English transcript): August, 08 2018

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following notes about the final transmission of Radio Trans Mundial (RTM).

Dan writes:

FYI — I am monitoring Radio Transmundial via [the PY2BS KiwiSDR in] Brazil. They are in the midst of a final discussion in Portuguese between two announcers, mentioning advances/changes in technology, Internet, etc. that are forcing the station off the air. Many mentions of shortwave.

See attachments…..audio files are of studio discussion in Portuguese about their decision to end SW….then another file going right up until 1900 UTC or thereabouts when they went off.

At about the 9:36 mark in the 1st audio file announcer introduces a technical person (sounded like someone from TWR, but also mentioned was “director of communications”) to begin a discussion about their decision to end shortwave — that discussion lasts until about the 34:30 mark when they go into full IDs.

Second audio file you can hear Zanzibar gradually fading up and dominating the frequency, then in the clear after Transmundial goes off 11,735.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Fabiano Barufaldi, who kindly volunteered to translate the conversation between the RTM Director of Communication and the Director of Studios and Technical Affairs in this final shortwave broadcast of Radio Trans Mundial (RTM).

<– BEGINNING OF TRANSCRIPT –>

Hello Dear Listeners! It’s 2:46pm.

With us are André Castilho, our director of communication and also Samuel Marcos, director of studios and technical affairs, live.

Good morning all. It’s a pleasure to be in front of such important microphones in the history of Brazilian gospel radio.

First of all, I’d like clarify that we’re not the founders of Radio Transmundial, which was founded in 1970 in Brazil, initially transmitting from Bonaire in the Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, covering the entire Brazil’s territory in shortwave and mediumwave, reaching most of South America. They decided to discontinue the shortwave operation in the early 1990’s; they have recently resumed the 440KW power transmission from Bonaire, now with better quality, reaching the Amazon region and even listeners in the southern Brazil in MW 800kHz.

When the Trans World Radio (TWR) shut down its shortwave transmission, the Radio Transmundial (RTM) decided to invest in shortwave in the 1990s acquiring a transmission site in Santa Maria – RS, Southern Brazil, in three shortwave frequencies, covering up to 80% of the Brazilian territory. Recently, the Bonaire site increased the MW transmission power, reaching a greater territory share.

Talking about the 1990’s, a new, powerful transmitter was acquired for the Brazilian Santa Maria site, we always have been praised because of the quality of the transmissions. Our site was built with great diligence and care, mainly by Mr. Walter Wilke, who did excellent work during 20 years of dedication to our shortwave site, with the best equipment and sound, using three shortwave frequencies during these years that are now coming to an end.

That’s sad news, we’re not happy to say that but it’s an important, necessary announcement that the RTM shortwave transmissions are being shut down this midnight. We had ended the 31 meters transmission, now we’re ending the 25 meters, 49 meters also, and we are so sorry about that.

We have been asked by our listeners the reason, and it’s important to notice that this decision wasn’t made yesterday. We’ve been studying this matter since at least an year ago, considering the reach and audience and, of course, the financial aspects of it. The RTM has been keeping the shortwave transmission site and the equipment in excellent codition and, until now, Lord has provided the financial ways to maintain the operation but considering the low audience, the return of Bonaire to shortwave in high power, and elevated power expenses; all those factors contributed to take the decision some time ago of ending the operations – a decision that was matured – and now comes the time that we are finally shutting down the shortwave transmissions.

The summary of our decisions was that the audience was too low so it was not being worth to keep such expensive shortwave structure. To give our listeners a rough idea, when we increased the power (50kW to 25 meters, 10kw to 31 meters and 7.5kW to 49 meters) we had to hire a custom, special grid with the local power company – and that costs!! We are a non-profit organization, funded by voluntary donations, so we need to be very careful with our budget. It’s sad to say that, because we love the radio, but the audience was very low, not being worth expending that amount of money.

We are living a new tech era, so we as a mass media organization must be care about of our own survival, that’s why we took that decision and also because we’re experiencing over the years great increase in audience through the internet and by the local affiliates network as well.

Still talking about costs, our transmission equipment is nearly 20 years old, although it was bought brand new and being well kept by Mr. Wilke, it’s an old equipment that demands expensive maintenance because it’s imported equipment running on valves. To give you listeners and idea, a burnt valve had to be recently replaced and costed nearly 5,300 USD, so that give us an idea of how expensive is to keep that, beside the monthly power costs.

We have brainstormed on how to reach poor, isolated communities (Indian, forest people) with no access to new technologies for example by providing them our content stored in memory cards – we received reports of missionaries, social workers assuring that this is being welcomed. We’re also working to increase partnership with local stations to relay our content.

…[now they list some of the local affiliates currently relaying content throughout the Brazilian territory]…

There is a reason for us to be ending the shortwave transmissions on this particular day (August 8, 2018) – this is because our shortwave broadcasting license is expiring today, so due to the reasons explained above and also because the government’s bureaucracy, we are not going to renew it.

We are sorry for the listeners who have in the radio the only way of getting our content, the DXrs as well, but that’s a cost vs audience matter.

We’re having an average of 50,000 unique listeners over the Internet, some others through local affiliates, so we have to be responsible with our budget and focus on getting return over the investment, providing accountability to the donors.

[… now they explain how to listen over the station website or from the mobile app.. “ask your nephew how to do it LOL :-)” ]

[the host greets them by the detailed explanation on how the broadcast license process works, the costs and bureaucracy]

We thank our listeners for the support, care and understanding. We’ve been passionate shortwave listeners forever and that’s probably the reason why we do this for a living today.

New technologies arise in an incredible speed in these days–getting cheaper too, enabling more people to benefit from them.

Some people understand that in a near future the technologies will be unified and we will end on having a single media device for all content (TV, radio, internet, communications, etc), mostly cheap or even for free.

That will not be a happy day…that’s a sad day instead – we’d like to continue with shortwave broadcasting but we’re getting empathy and understanding from most of our listeners – we’re not stopping, the RTM keeps on going.

Thank you all for understanding and for your care; keep following us over the Internet, we’ll also be broadcasting every hour the list of local affiliates network.

Access our website at: https://www.transmundial.com.br/

… now they play the station’s identification jingle

… resuming the regular programming…

< END OF TRANSCRIPT >

Thank you, Fabiano, for taking the time to write up this excellent translation. This commentary was insightful and without your help, I would have never been able to understand or appreciate it.

And thank you, Dan, for making and sharing these historic off-air recordings.

Israel Radio and Radio Cairo: 1973 Yom Kippur War

Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal on October 7 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Many thanks to Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Dan Robinson, who submits two recordings: Israel Radio and Radio Cairo, both made during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Dan comments:

These recordings of Israel Radio, and Radio Cairo were made during the 1973 Yom Kippur war. A lot of history here -- you hear a newscast from Jerusalem, mentions of King Hussein, President Nixon, and others. This was a time when shortwave radio could actually bring you information that was not immediately available, as it is today in 2014 via the Internet and news alerts.

Click on the recording title below to download each recording as an MP3, or simply listen via the embedded players.

Israel Radio:

Radio Cairo:

Yemen Radio (Aden): circa 1970s

Many thanks to Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Dan Robinson, who submits this short recording of Yemen Radio, Aden.

Dan comments:

Yemen was once two countries -- North and South -- with separate shortwave stations in Sanaa, and in Aden.   The country united in 1990, but before that for many years the separate capitals were represented on shortwave, with Aden using the 60 meter frequency of 5.060 MHz.  It was tough to hear.   This recording was made in the 1970's -- you will hear the station ID by a male announcer.

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