Radio Riyadh: April 24, 2016

Radio Riyadh recorded in London, UK on April 24, 2016 at 2100 UTC on the frequency of 9555 kHz using a FunCube Dongle Pro+ SDR, SDR# software, Lowe PR-150 preselector and a DX Engineering NCC-1 phaser connected to two Wellbrook ALA1530S+ antennas (positioned indoors) to mitigate severe local man-made interference. The transmitter has a power rating of 500 kW and is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The transmission is directed north-westwards (295°) towards the Maghreb region of Africa.

Brief programme summary kindly provided by @K7al_L3afta:

  • Start of the recording: News, followed by music
  • 22m 00s: a program called "Arabic Aether" that compiles segments from Arabic radio stations
  • 51m 15s: the signal is interrupted when the presenter announces the next program's name
  • 57m 40s: later, at the end of it, the program's title is repeated: "A Heart's Swing". A romantic Arabic poetry program.
  • 60m 00s: Weekly Sunday program called "Najdi Air" or "The Air of Najd" (Najd is a Saudi city). Talk and music show discussing various topics each week and people call to give their opinion and insight. The topic in the recording is "Organising work priorities".

Voice of Saudi Arabia, test transmission: circa 1970s

Many thanks to Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Dan Robinson, who submits this 1970s era recording of the Voice of Saudi Arabia on the 25 meter band. As with many of Dan's contributions, this broadcast was received from his home in Levittown, Pennsylvania, USA, using a Hammarlund HQ-180C.

Dan comments:

Saudi Arabia obtained new transmitters in the 1970's and was widely heard with test transmissions before going on the air with full programming. This transmission was heard on a number of frequencies. Saudi Arabia is today, in 2014, still on the air on shortwave, one of the last of the Middle East countries still using this method of transmission.

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