Voice of America (and other broadcasters): May 1976

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Brian D. Smith, W9IND, who notes:

This recording of shortwave radio broadcasts by Voice of America and other stations was made in mid-May 1976. A newscast reference to a Nebraska presidential primary several days earlier (May 11) provides a solid clue to the approximate recording date.

I recovered this recording from a cassette. At the time I was a 19-year-old shortwave radio enthusiast living near Indianapolis, and most likely I made this recording in hopes of preserving information that would help me obtain a QSL (verification) card from the station.

The longest story on this Voice of America broadcast focuses on the 1976 presidential primary elections and whether they're worth the time and cost. Shorter recordings of other shortwave stations appear before and after the VOA broadcast -- I was obviously doing some dial spinning on my Hallicrafters S-108 receiver. And my recording "technique" was nothing more than setting the cassette microphone next to the radio speaker.

The 40-year-old cassette broke when I first tried to transfer the recording to my computer, so I fixed it with my tried-and-true "broke teenager" method: Scotch tape, scissors and a blank cassette that I cut and spliced to the old tape.