Hello friends,
This was a week of bad news about shortwave broadcasting. The US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has closed its relay stations at Saipan and Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands (used mainly for Radio Free Asia) and at São Tomé (used for VOA broadcasts to Africa).
USAGM has not yet announced these closures on its website, but the news was reported by the Saipan Tribune. The newspaper quoted William S. Martin, USAGM's director of operations and stations division, who notes shortwave use has fallen dramatically almost everywhere since the invention of the internet.
The Saipan station dates back to KYOI, a commercial rock music station directed to Japan, 1982-1989. The Herald Broadcasting division of the Christian Science Monitor Syndicate operated the station 1989-1998. Radio Free Asia purchased the facility in 1998, and it became part of the USAGM shortwave transmitting network.
Part of the Shortwave Radiogram concept is that more and more countries are finding more and more ways to block internet content. Text via shortwave can be a workaround that completely sidesteps the internet. But this becomes less possible when fewer transmitting facilities are available.
A video of last week's Shortwave Radiogram (program 365) is provided by Scott in Ontario (Wednesday 1330 UTC). The audio archive is maintained by Mark in the UK. Analysis is provided by Roger in Germany.
Here is the lineup for Shortwave Radiogram, program 366, 15-22 August 2024, in MFSK modes as noted:
1:39 MFSK32: Program preview
2:43 MFSK32: Defending potatoes
6:04 MFSK64: NASA to launch 8 science balloons from New Mexico
10:22 MFSK64: This week's images
28:14 MFSK32: Closing announcements
Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net
And visit http://swradiogram.net
Twitter: @SWRadiogram or https://twitter.com/swradiogram
(visit during the weekend to see listeners’ results)
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/567099476753304
Shortwave Radiogram Gateway Wiki: https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Shortwave_Radiogram_Gateway
(Kim Elliott)