The first broadcast of the North American Edition of “Radio Monitors International”, known affectionately as RMI, took place on Sunday September 30, 1984 from Radio Clarin in the Dominican Republic. The 25th anniversary of this important DX event occurred, unnoticed and unheralded, in September 2009.Here we are now, in September 2010, just one year later. However, let us pause in the onward progress of our scheduling in “Wavescan”, and give honor to the 25th anniversary linking “Wavescan” with Radio Miami International WRMI.
The story of shortwave station WRMI traces its earliest origins to the year 1983, when Jeff White, in collaboration with several others, formed the shortwave broadcasting entity, Radio Earth in suburban Chicago. In those days, the programming fostered by Radio Earth was on the air shortwave from Radio Clarin in the Dominican Republic and on several of the shortwave stations that were on the air in the United States at the time, as well as from Radio Milano International in Italy.
Radio Earth gave way to Radio Discovery at 1 kW in the Dominican Republic in 1986; and this scheduling was subsequently on the air, again from several of the American shortwave stations.Then it was in 1989 that the commercial radio broadcasting organization, Radio Miami International, was formed. The 50 kW Wilkinson shortwave transmitter from Radio Clarin was procured and installed at a new facility on the northern edge of suburban Miami. The first test broadcasts from the re-furbished shortwave transmitter, WRMI, were noted on air in March 1992, and regular broadcasting began a little over two years later, at 0100 UTC on Tuesday June 14, 1994.
Now, we cross over to the story of DX programming from Adventist World Radio. During the past 38 years, AWR has been on the air with somewhere around a dozen different DX programs in four different languages; English, French, Italian & Spanish. The grand tally of all of these DX broadcasts is approaching 4,000 editions.
The longest running AWR DX program began as “Radio Monitors International” in 1975, and 20 years later it was re-named “Wavescan”. The original broadcasts of “Radio Monitors International” were on the air on shortwave, mediumwave and FM from the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in Colombo Sri Lanka, and reception reports were received from more than 100 countries. The studio production of the old “Radio Monitors International” began in the SLBC studios in Torrington Square Colombo but a few months later, production was transferred to the Poona studios of Adventist World Radio in India.
In 1984, negotiations between AWR & Radio Earth began, and a modified version of the Asian program was prepared for broadcast in North America. The first broadcast of the new North American Edition of “Radio Monitors International” was heard from Radio Clarin in the Dominican Republic on the said date, September 30, 1984. For a while, this program was also on the air from shortwave station KCBI in Dallas Texas, and also in the European service of Radio Milano International in Italy.
During the short era of Radio Discovery, “Radio Monitors International” was also included in the regular scheduling from the American shortwave stations WRNO & WHRI, and perhaps from a few others as well.
A new revived edition of “Radio Monitors International” was introduced on New Years Day 1995 under the new title, “Wavescan”. Initially, this program was produced at several different locations, including WRMI in Miami, though production was soon afterwards centralized at the AWR studios located at Whitegates, opposite the senior Adventist college at Newbold, some 35 miles west of central London in England. In addition to the AWR network and station WRMI, this program was also heard in the South Pacific via the shortwave station ZLXA at Levin in New Zealand.
At the beginning of January 2006, production of “Wavescan” was transferred from England to the AWR studios on the island of Singapore out in Asia. Three years later again, production of “Wavescan” was transferred from the AWR studios in Singapore to the commercial studios of Radio Miami International WRMI in Miami Florida.
It should be noted also that a Spanish version of “Wavescan” was translated from the English version at WRMI and it was on the air as “La Onda Mundial” from WRMI, and also from the Adventist stations in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, as well as from station HRJA in Honduras. This Spanish version of “Wavescan” was on the air for a period of more than 1½ years beginning in early January 1997.
These days, the AWR DX program, “Wavescan”, is researched and written in Indianapolis, Indiana, its is produced in the suburban studios of Radio Miami International WRMI in Florida, it is uploaded to satellite for distribution, and it is broadcast by several stations in the AWR network, as well as by shortwave station WRMI in Florida.
And so, on this occasion, we remember with gratitude, the 26 years of mutual association between Radio Earth/Radio Discovery/WRMI and the AWR DX programs, “Radio Monitors International/Wavescan”. We can remember also, that numerous QSL cards, uncounted in their totality, have been issued by all of the radio organizations mentioned today in this, our special 25th anniversary feature today.
(AWR Wavescan NWS83/Adrian Peterson)
QSLs: Radio Earth via Santo Domingo
Radio Discovery via Santo Domingo 'The Voice of the Caribbean'
Teak Publishing Archives Collection