Jan 2024 PAL now available

 

Pacific - Asian Log (PAL Guide) January. 2024 issue, now available at https://www.radioheritage.com/pacific-asian-log-pal-guide-january-2024-update/

Hello everyone: 

The January 2024 edition of the Pacific Asian Log (PAL) is now available. It can be downloaded from the Radioheritage website https://www.radioheritage.com/ (click on either of the links on the home page). Members of the IRCA groups.io list can also download the PAL from the files page https://groups.io/g/IRCA/files/Station%20Lists%20and%20References/PAL%20January%202024.pdf  

As usual, many changes and updates have been incorporated into this latest edition.  They include new web links, updated station listings, and some minor organization and presentation tweaks 

Comments and updates from users are welcome and encouraged.  They can be sent to portzerbt@gmail.com. 

First issued in 2001, The PAL lists medium-wave and domestic shortwave broadcasting stations in southern and eastern Asia and the Pacific.   It lists about 4500 stations in over 50 countries, with frequencies, call signs, locations, power, networks, websites, streaming audio,  schedules, languages, formats, networks, and other information. 

(Bruce Portzer) 

New multi-media Papua New Guinea radio feature

A new multi-media feature about Papua New Guinea Radio in 2011 has been released by the Radio Heritage Foundation at www.radioheritage.com .

The new feature includes reviews of major Papua New Guinea radio websites, updates on the new radio licensing laws, how increased cell-phone coverage is opening up a rapidly growing youth market and some little known facts about contemporary broadcasting in this South West Pacific nation.

Based on a recent documentary broadcast on Radio New Zealand International, this new feature includes original research, photos of broadcasters, shortwave and FM studios and facilities, a downloadable audio version of the documentary, and a YouTube presentation combining audio, text and images.

Few readers comprehend that Port Moresby, the national capital, now has a population approaching 350,000 people, a freeway system, a booming construction of high rise office and residential buildings, and that local radio listeners have some 15 separate radio brands to choose from along the FM dial....and even sponsored drivetime radio shows with local radio personalities.

Commercial radio brands such as FM100, Nau FM, Yumi FM and new arrivals, are expanding rapidly across the mountainous country, using the cell-phone infrastructure networks that are exploding on the back of a major natural gas, oil and mineral resources boom. Radio station profits grew by 30% in 2010 and a new national media framework is bringing modern communications and FM radio to the most remote villages.

The Kundu network with its dated shortwave radio stations, competing religious radio stations tangling the airwaves, new commercial stations, and a large base of local record studios churning out local popular music that feeds the playlists of Radio Morobe, Wantok Radio, Tribe FM and a growing number of other stations...this is just part of todays radio story.

Use the fully up to date guides to contemporary AM and shortwave radio stations in Papua New Guinea - free access to our PAL Radio Guides is always available at www.radioheritage.com.

Use our Google Search to find more features about broadcasting in Papua New Guinea, including the AFRS Jungle Network, the Australian AAAS stations and much more.
(Radio Heritage/NZ)

Radio Heritage Newsletter

Newsletter # 26
June 2010
Hello everyone

Welcome to our latest update on what's happening, our first in a few months now

Since we started this project, we've been encouraged and delighted by the global response from many thousands who share our vision to celebrate radio heritage and its connections with popular culture and nostalgia....and to step in and save ephemera and other radio related artifacts....see our latest success story later on in this newsletter!

Celebrating Popular Culture
New right now, Radio in Papua New Guinea, a documentary you'll find at http://www.rnzi.com/ (Mailbox audio for June 14) Diamonds of the Dial the story of 75 year old heritage radio calls in Australia.

Updated editions of the famous PAL Radio Guides for the entire Asia-Pacific region, new radio book reviews and other content you'll find now at http://www.radioheritage.net/ .

Use the Google Search button to dig out stories about stations, people and places you're interested about.

AM Radio gets airplay in the popular press
Thanks to Bill Hester, one of our supporters, here's a link http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/124955-am-gold-82/PO to an article written by Canadian Jay Somerset at http://www.popmatters.com/ .

It's about 'The Day the [AM] Music Died' - a well researched look at how oldies music just sounds different on AM radio, and how new artists and the decline in talk radio may just be combining to bring back music to the AM radio dial.

Actually, Radio World magazine in the USA, http://www.radioworld.com/ has an ongoing series of features about AM radio which we highly recommend reading, and in their latest June 16 edition (available free online) you'll also read 'QSL From Long Ago And Far Away' [page 4] and Keep the Heritage Alive, (page 33), two items about the Radio Heritage Foundation and the value of keeping old radio ephemera.

There's also a nice feature by James O'Neale in the same issue [page 34] called, I Remember the Power of Night-Time Radio, which remembers the 50kW clear channel signals that covered the US radio dial, a theme we'll be exploring ourselves at www.radioheritage.net shortly with a nice feature from the afore-mentioned Bill Hester.

We'd also like to thank all of you who continue to send in photos, stories, magazine and newspaper articles and more, such as those from Phillipa Downie whose Dad helped establish commercial radio in New Zealand and then went on to be the first manager of 2AP in Apia, Samoa.

Keep digging these gems out and send them on to us to share!

Constant Calls in a World of Fads, Fashions and FM
Talking of gems, you'll enjoy one of our recent features, Diamonds of the Dial, which looks at the 40 Australian heritage AM stations that have broadcast with the same callsign for at least 75 years!

It's also miraculous to find 40 station owners willing to keep their original station callsigns instead of flipping calls for the latest fad or fashion!

The same exercise for Californian AM radio stations found only about 5 or 6 that met the same criteria...75 years on the air with the same callsign, amongst them KFI and KNX both in Los Angeles and KXO El Centro.

FM is getting older by the day
Of course heritage isn't just restricted to AM radio, there's also FM which has now been around for some 70 years in the USA, and even 60 years in Australia (if we include the long forgotten early ABC-FM broadcasts from the 1950's)

One from the Yes! Success Files
Explaining the cultural value of radio heritage has its challenges. The University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand recently decided to auction off the original pioneer transmitter used in the first AM broadcast in the country just to clear space (and no doubt to make a few dollars), luckily the public outcry from local citizens and organizations such as the Radio Heritage Foundation led to a very rapid retreat from the idea. We're pleased they followed our advice to lease the equipment to a local museum instead.

It's one of a growing number of success stories we're quietly chalking up behind the scenes, and if you'd like to volunteer some time to protect items of radio heritage in your community, drop us a line and tell us more about what you'd like to keep safe for future generations.

Thanks for your donations
The worldwide financial crisis has been having a tough impact on our finances and therefore our ability to get more content online.

Last year we raised US$3500 in donations, paid 20% of our bills and put in 2000 plus hours of unpaid time on our work, so we really need your words of encouragement, annual supporter donations (US$10 or more), and sponsorship or partnership of specific projects, such as meeting operating costs, funding some of those unpaid hours, and more features and articles at http://www.radioheritage.net/

Will you help?

You can donate online right now, and also choose some of the radio books and CD's we've got available, buy your books, music and magazines through our online Amazon store and support our Google Ad advertisers.

I really recommend Keith Richardson's book and CD package (Never a Dull Moment) for a highly entertaining inside story about early Top 20 radio in the Pacific and great tales from behind the mike. I talked with Keith just today and his health is not so good and he also tells me he's down to just a few copies of his book left, so don't leave it too late to get your copy from us.

In the meantime, thanks for your ongoing support and do visit http://www.radioheritage.net/ to refresh your radio memories!

Warm regards
David Ricquish
Chairman
(Rachel Baughn, MT)

New on Radio New Zealand International

RNZI Airs New Radio Heritage Documentary
Australia's Radio Heritage

Join us from Monday March 8 2010 when we air our new radio heritage documentary about Australia's radio heritage on Radio New Zealand International's [RNZI] Mailbox program.

Interviews with original 1930's broadcasters, country radio stories and popular radio serials feature in this look back at the foundations of Australia's powerful commercial radio industry.

You can listen directly via shortwave or audio on demand [for the following month] with full details of broadcast frequencies and times in your area and audio download at http://www.rnzi.com/ .

You'll hear former 3UL Warragul broadcaster Max Taylor talking about the early days and introducing popular country radio announcer Vern Haycroft.

Excerpts from 'When A Girl Marries' and 'Fred & Maggie Everybody' - two of the most popular radio serials of the 1930's and 1940's.....music from the long running 'Blue Hills' serial.....

What did monumental stone masons, early radio technicians and slabs of marble have in common? Listen to Max Gibson and find out some fascinating facts, as well as an introduction to the founder of 3FB...one of the early experimental stations that grew into a full commercial station.

Join David Ricquish of the Radio Heritage Foundation for this audio and heritage tour deep into Australia's radio heritage.

You'll find many online stories about the Long Lost Australian Radio Stars, their stations, their radio clubs and much more at the global website of the Radio Heritage Foundation - http://www.radioheritage.net/.

We highly recommend 'Changing Stations - The Story of Australian Commercial Radio' a new book exploring the history of these many stations and personalities and currently available now for worldwide shipping from our website http://www.radioheritage.net/ .

Use our free Pacific Asian Log Radio Guides for full details of AM, FM and SW broadcasters from around the entire region including Australia, easy to search and easy to use.

RNZI's Mailbox program from Monday March 8 2010 via shortwave and audio on demand with full times and schedules at www.rnzi.com now.
(Radio Heritage/HCDX)

New Radio New Zealand Int'l Radio Heritage Documentary

Join us from June 15 2009 when the Radio Heritage Foundation airs a,new radio heritage documentary on the Radio New Zealand International [RNZI] Mailbox program.

You can listen via shortwave or audio on demand [for the following month] with full details of frequencies and times and audio download at www.rnzi.com.

The program celebrates 55 years since the original Fiji BroadcastingCommission signed on the air for the first time on July 1 1954.

>From VPD on shortwave and ZJV on mediumwave since 1936, Fiji has enjoyed one of the most sophisticated radio broadcasting markets in the Pacific. In World War II an American Armed Forces Radio station [WVUT] also broadcast from Nadi, home of the main airport in the islands.

The [then] New Zealand Broadcasting Service was heavily involved with the establishment of the Fiji Broadcasting Commission. It supplied almost the entire expatriate staff on secondment from New Zealand commercial and non-commercial stations, carried out the technical work across the islands, built the broadcasting house, and provided good guidance for the new independent public broadcaster.

In fact, on the opening night on July 1 1954, the new FBC chairman spoke what have turned out to be highly prophetic words:

"This broadcasting service will certainly provide entertainment, but it will not be the government's idea of what should divert us. It will offer programs of information and enlightenment, but these programs will not be the government's conception of what we should hear."

In the light of recent events in Fiji where the media no longer enjoys such freedoms, it's interesting to note that such a warning was being sounded those 55 years ago.

At the time, Fiji was a British Crown Colony, and this was a new experiment for the colonial authorities.

The rest of the opening celebrations for the FBC included Fijian choirs, Indian music clubs, the Fiji Infantry Regiment Band, pianists, violinists and even the Suva Group Theater.

For a timely look back at the birth of free public broadcasting in Fiji those 55 years ago, as well as some fabulous Fijian music, visit www.rnzi.com today and download the audio from the June 15 edition of Mailbox.

Join David Ricquish of the Radio Heritage Foundation on this journey back to Suva on the night of July 1 1954, and also hear more excerpts from the opening speeches, and the song that ended that very first FBC broadcast.

This new radio heritage documentary on RNZI complements existing stories about early radio ZJV in Fiji online today at www.radioheritage.net . A new article on 55 Years of the Fij Broadcasting Commission will be online shortly.
(Radio Heritage Foundation/HCDX)

Chance to win a World Radio TV Handbook 2009

In case you overlooked or never received our earlier invitations to enter this new competition from the Radio Heritage Foundation, here it is! It closes on February 14, so if you haven't sent your entry in yet, now's the time to do so!

If you've already entered, then thanks and good luck!

Please accept this personal invitation to visit http://www.radioheritage.net/ and enter our Art of Radio Hawaii competition. Friends, family and colleagues are also welcome to enter, so please tell everyone!

To celebrate Hawaii's 50 years of statehood in 2009, the Radio Heritage Foundation [www.radioheritage.net] is running a new competition open worldwide.

It's on-line exhibition 'Art of Radio Hawaii' features great art work of letterheads and logos from Hawaiian AM radio stations since the 1930's, and is already amongst the most popular content at http://www.radioheritage.net/.

To enter the competition, simply visit the 'Art of Radio Hawaii' exhibition before February 14 2009, and send an email to info@radioheritage.net headed 'Art of Radio Hawaii Competition' with the answer to this question:

What is the callsign of the Hawaiian AM radio station that began broadcasts in 1957 from the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikiki?

You'll see the art work for this station logo in the exhibition, along with many others in a nostalgic tour of the island state's radio dial.

The prize is a brand new copy of the 2009 World Radio TV Handbook that also contains a full list of all 32 AM and 57 FM radio stations on air in Hawaii today. It also includes many website details, so you can listen in to your favorite Hawaiian radio stations wherever you live in the world!

Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Entries are only by email and must be received by February 14 2009. As a condition of entry, your email address will be added to a mailing list to receive newsletters and other mailings from the Radio Heritage Foundation.

The Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization that connects radio heritage and popular culture across the Pacific. It's volunteer based and welcomes donations of time, skills, memorabilia and funds to continue its projects.
(Mike Barraclough,UK/worlddxclub)

Somoan Public Radio Sale

Media Release
Radio Heritage Foundation
http://www.radioheritage.net/

Samoan Public Radio Sale

The script of our recent [RNZI Mailbox, January 21, 2008] radio documentary on the future of public radio in Samoa and reflections on past experience of privatization in the Cook Islands and American Samoa is now online at www.radioheritage.net.

Plans to sell the SBC's AM, FM and TV stations have been heralded for some 20 years, and, finally, in the station's 60th anniversary year, privatization seems likely.

"Samoan Radio Sale" considers the state of SBC, its competition on the Apia airwaves, and similarities with the contemporary radio dials in Pago Pago and Avarua. It also looks at the importance of maintaining the expensive but vital AM transmitters for cyclone and
other natural disasters.

With the arrival of bright and breezy public radio from Radio Australia on the FM dial in both Apia and Avarua in recent months, perhaps local public radio in Samoa and other islands is now being replaced by free radio services coming from outside the region.

The Pacific Plan suggests that new radio services are needed across the region as part of a digital future. The BBC, Radio France International, China Radio International and Radio Australia all
provide free public radio via local FM outlets in more and more islands as discussed in the article at http://www.radioheritage.net/.

Radio broadcasting across the entire region is fragile in many ways, and whether the sale of Samoa's SBC to private commercial operators will highlight this fragility even more in the coming months remains to be seen.

Public, commercial and community broadcasters together face major technology, content, economic viability, media freedom and audience challenges, similar to those facing stations in Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.

"Samoan Radio Sale" is one of a series of articles about contemporary radio issues across the region being released by the Radio Heritage Foundation during the coming months.

A Pacific Radio Conference organized by the Radio Heritage Foundation to consider the challenges ahead is in preliminary planning. This will be held in Wellington, New Zealand on September 28-30 2008.

You can listen to a podcast of the documentary by visiting Radio New Zealand International www.rnzi.com, and click on the audio for the Mailbox program for January 21 2008.

[The Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization operated entirely by volunteers. It carries out research and publishing into connected aspects of radio heritage and popular culture across the entire Pacific region. Contact details are at http://www.radioheritage.net/. Media contact: David Ricquish, Chairman. Email: info@radioheritage.net . Requests for permission to reprint the article are welcomed.]

(Source: Radio Heritage Foundation)

Pacific Asian Log available online

The latest database and PDF editions of Bruce portzer's shortwave Pacific Asian Log are now online at: http://www.radioheritage.net/ . All the latest changes, new stations, new format and much more. Thousands of shortwave radio stations covering the entire Asian Pacific region. Access remains complimnetary 24/7 for worldwide users.

This is the most comprehensive listing freely available anywhere online, it contains over 23, 000 entires.
(Source: NASWA Notes, Rich D'Angelo/NASWA Journal Jan. 2008)