Adventures In Amplitude Modulation - Part 3

Very few Americans listen to shortwave radio these days. Except for a brief popularity of including shortwave bands on late 70's and early 80's boomboxes, almost no general purpose radios sold in America receive shortwave. If you’re interested in hearing shortwave radio you need to go out and purchase a special receiver just for that purpose. However, before the rise of the FM band in the 1960's, shortwave was a standard feature on many everyday radios in the U.S. Around the world shortwave radio remains a viable and important part of the media landscape. In some African countries almost every home has a shortwave receiver of some kind. And in many European and Asian countries well over half of the homes have a radio with shortwave band coverage.

Before satellite communications and the internet, the only way regular folks could hear broadcasts from around the world was shortwave radio. While AM (or medium wave) broadcasts reach a radius of hundreds of miles at night by bouncing of the ionosphere, with shortwave the effect is greatly increased and signals may travel thousands of miles, and even around the world. It's not all that difficult to pick up international broadcasts from Australia and New Zealand here in the U.S.

Unfortunately, most of the shortwave stations now operating in the United States are Christian propaganda outlets (although some do feature some non-religious broadcasting on their schedules). However internationally, shortwave remains an important source for news, information and cultural features. Many countries (including the U.S.) have state run international radio networks that broadcast in many languages. And although there are fewer than there used to be, many are still operating powerful transmitters that can be heard broadcasting English language programs that reach North America..

While in future posts in this series I may talk about some of the more obscure and annoying broadcasts out there (as well as a possible disscussion or two about the receivers themselves), this post will just include the audio from a few stations I picked up Christmas night twisting the knob on my Sony ICF-7600A up in the Hudson Valley. I wouldn’t call any of this DXing. Except for The Voice of Russia, all the radio I've archived here originated from the North American region. For example, the Chinese and Japanese programs captured here were broadcast from relay transmitters located in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Almost any shortwave radio worth anything (away from noisy electronics and city RF) should be able to copy these stations late at night here on the east coast. These broadcasts were received after 11 p.m. locally on the 49 meter band (5.9 to 6.2 MHz), which along with the 41 meter band (7.1 to 7.35 MHz) are usually the busiest shortwave bands at night.

So, if you listen to these MP3 samples, you get an idea what it might have been like if you had turned to your shortwave the other night for your media intake, instead of cable TV or the internet. What’s left out? All the damn Bible bangers spewing ignorance and fables across the dial. When they're not humorous, it’s just plain sad.

1. China Radio International (download MP3 here)
The host (Paul James) is a Canadian. It’s not uncommon for international broadcasters to hire native speakers for their foreign language service. It’s “People in the Know,” a news-magazine program featuring some reflection here on the Bali bombings and the anniversary of the tsunami catastrophe one year ago.

In general, CRI broadcasts are almost always quite cheerful. You NEVER hear anything critical of the Chinese government or their policies on CRI. And although there is some criticism of the U.S. from time to time, it’s nothing like the cold war days when the international broadcasters of the west and the communist countries would incessantly criticize “the enemy” (each other). It was more exciting...

2. NHK Radio Japan 1 (download MP3 here)
The news– more on the anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami. And there was a major train derailment in Japan. Apparently North Korea has been abducting Japanese folks to cause trouble and make some money, and Japan is not happy about it. And for the first time in a long time, the economy in Japan is looking up.

3. Radio Habana Cuba (download MP3 here)
Here, the cold war continues. The absurd and decades old U.S. government animosity toward Cuba makes every day at Radio Habana Cuba another day of heavy criticism of American policy. The Iraq War and the inhumanity of the Bush Administration gives them plenty to talk about. Here you hear Radio Habana get their kicks in, denouncing the recent revelations regarding the NSA spying on American citizens and the U.S. torturing “enemy combatants” on Cuban soil at Guantanamo. Special guest star in this recording– Fidel Castro.

4. Voice of America 1 (download MP3 here)
It’s the home team. The is a VOA broadcast aimed at English speakers in Africa, where it’s morning. Unlike any other country, the U.S. sponsored radio network is not allowed to broadcast directly to American citizens. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t eavesdrop on what we’re beaming overseas.

It’s news and weather. African weather. The news– looking back at the hurricane disasters on the Gulf Coast on the U.S. There’s a promo for a show called “Only in America” where they might talk about such typically American topics like “fast food” or “grizzly bears.” Sounds a like a damn cute program.

What you’re hearing is how America presents itself to ordinary Africans, at least ones who speak English.

5. Voice of Russia (download MP3 here)
Back during the cold war, when this was “Radio Moscow,” it was so much more fun. Like China, Russia’s shortwave broadcasts are much friendlier these days. In this recording you get the heartwarming reflections of a cosmonaut, talking about what it’s like to hang out and fool around inside a space station.

6. NHK Radio Japan 2 (download MP3 here)
A Japanese professor talking about how you can turn your television into a super-duper internet device-- one to many to many communications. Will the future be a communication wonderland, or an information maelstrom? As if cell phones hadn’t already caused enough problems.

7. Voice of America 2 (download MP3 here)
A snippet of official U.S. propaganda, a short bio of Harry Truman, a bit about Kwanza and then “Daybreak Africa” a thirty minute BBC/NPR-like news magazine on issues and politics of the African continent. The bumper music is a bit more lively than NPR.

If these samples of shortwave interest you, but you don’t have a shortwave radio, you might want to check out “The Shortwave Report.” It’s a half-hour weekly radio show that compiles news and features from major shortwave broadcasts around the world. You can download them right here. It’s a nice service.

Part one and two of this series can be found with these links.

Thanks for listening.

Comments

[JLP]

Sweet. I didn't think anybody but me still listened to shortwave. The Christian propaganda stations were, I have to say, playing some lovely Christmas music, anyway.

[nh dave]

Loving these posts professor. It is funny, I drove to my grandmothers in way way way upstate NY (from NH) and other than spinning through the dials hoping to find something good like every other year, I brought along my laptop. I am blessed (or cursed) with a job that requires me to have internet access all the time. So I have a cell modem, basically a cell phone for the computer.

Amazingly enough I listened to Doug and Monica on friday during the entire 6 hour drive. Lost my connection twice but the 40k ogg stream sure did sound great.

So it is kinda the inverse of what you are doing, while driving across a bunch of states (where I could have enjoyed the local 'color') I carried live FMU with me.

Would get XM or Sirus in a heartbeat if they had FMU. I am an ex-NY'er and really miss being able to listen to FMU over the air.

But keep up the posts! There sure are some strange stations out there to enjoy. My local right wing talk channel was playing some piped in Disney 'christmas around the world' horrible show on christmas day... Ugh...

-Dave

[Alex Pym]

Bravo... excellent post! I would of slammed Radio Habana Cuba for their propaganda. Remember it was Cuban government that shot down AMERICAN planes. The US government may have animosity but the Cuban government has hate!

[toober]

Well, a Soviet controlled Cuban government operating Soviet built SAMs run by the Soviets, targetting a non-Soviet spy plane...

ANYWAYS...shortwave is a real jungle, but I must say it is not as fun as it used to be. The propaganda now is too religious, although there still are some Cold War tensions out there.

Some of the interesting shortwave artifacts are now gone (or almost). Some were just plain annoying, like the Soviet OTH (over the horizon) radars, but some were cool, like listening in on some of the jamming stations swoop down on a broadcast like a bunch of hyenas.

Will

[M.G.]

Please keep these coming!!!

[listener colin in Toronto]

Thanks for the post and the mp3s. When I was a kid my older cousin had a shortwave and I remember joining him as he tuning in these strange voices from faraway lands. The only program I can actually recall was one of readings of Marx or other manifestos that were completely over my head at the time, but to know that someone in a booth around the world was reading for our enjoyment (?) was thrilling for a ten year old. It would ignite daydreams of James Bond/From Russia WIth Love scenerios.

[Tim McDonough]

I received a shortwave receiver for Christmas and I must say I'm kind of disappointed. Even late at night I get mostly the Christian stuff or Spanish language stations.

[Dale Hazelton]

I agree that shortwave has gotten pretty boring. I basically listen to WBCQ out of Maine or the ham operators doing their morning or evening nets on lower sideband. I LOVE the spin that Raidio Habana Cuba puts on American blunders...one of my favorites was their coverage of Janet Reno's "kidnapping of Elian Gozalez". You gotta love this stuff. I like to scan the band with an old Telefunken Bajazzo for activity, then listen with a Grundig Satellit 700. It bores my wife to tears. Is "Bamboo Pipes and Jade Bells" still on Radio Taipei?

[jacob shank]

I love to listen to shortwave radio! I think it's just as facinating as it was in the 80's! I hope shortwave stays around for a long time.