Radio Thailand: May 22, 2014 (day of 2014 Thai coup d'état)

Thailand coup: Chang Phueak Gate Chiang (Photo: Takeway)

Many thanks to contributors Frank and Ayar who submitted recordings of Radio Thailand made on May 22, 2014: the first broadcast of Radio Thailand after the Thai coup d'état. 

Instead of broadcasting the English language service at the scheduled time, Radio Thailand broadcast patriotic songs and announcements in Thai. Several have confirmed that this was the same content heard on domestic news sources throughout Thailand. 

From Europe, Frank submits the first recording from the 19:00 UTC broadcast on 9,390 kHz:

Ayar (HB9EVW) submits this 19:30 UTC recording of Radio Thailand on 9,390KHz. His recording was made in Switzerland using a JRC-525 receiver with a 40m wire dipole antenna:

Radio Thailand: May 23, 2014 (day after 2014 military coup)

This morning, I was able to catch the first thirteen minutes of Radio Thailand's English language service on 9,390 kHz shortwave. I was curious if RT would mention the Thailand military coup or at least broadcast a sanctioned message from the military authorities. Yet I heard no mention of the coup whatsoever. And why not? Yesterday, General Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered all domestic TV and radio outlets to halt normal broadcasting and only include content the military provides. 

I was only able to record the first 13 minutes of the RT evening news as we had a powerful thunderstorm that forced me to unplug my external antenna. You'll note the static crashes in the recording.  

The format sounds like a typical RT broadcast, save the lack of national news; instead, the hosts jump straight into global news, mentioning Nigeria, the Philippians, and the economy. Here's the recording:

As a contrast, here is a recording SRAA contributor, Frank, made of Radio Thailand on May 14th, prior to the coup:

It will be interesting to hear how the nature and content of RT's news changes with time while the country is under martial law.