It’s nice to hear some good news amid all the battles over the future of college radio. After a very public protest over a rumored sell-off, the University of Otago student radio station Radio One 91FM in Dunedin, New Zealand announced today that the station will not be sold. Back in July, the student association […]
Archive | International
Missing persons: how postwar Japan used radio to save itself
I am reading John W. Dower’s wonderful book, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. One of the tome’s many virtues is that it reminds us how crucial radio was to Japan’s reconstruction process. Close to three million people were dead and many Japanese cities almost completely destroyed when Emperor Hirohito went […]
Dutch government to slash Radio Netherlands Worldwide, focus on regions needing “free speech”
As part of a government austerity program, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced plans to make significant cuts in the budget of shortwave broadcaster Radio Netherlands Worldwide. RNW has been relied upon by both Dutch expatriates and other listeners around the world for a unique take on world events, in addition to news from […]
7 Days of Radio Silence as College Radio Station in Dunedin Protests Possible Sale
Fans of the University of Otago student radio station Radio One 91FM in New Zealand were greeted with silence today as the station began a week-long on-air protest against a proposed station sale. It’s a pretty bold move to take one’s station off the air in protest and I’m guessing that it will have an […]
Libyan rebels broadcast free radio to the cities of Misurata and Benghazi
It has been a while since I’ve written about radio in Libya. The popular revolt in that country started back in February, and there were reports that opposition protestors were taking over radio stations in regions where the central government was losing control. Some four months later the uprisings and struggle against Muammar Qaddafi are […]
NPR crunches its Israel/Palestine conflict story numbers
NPR has released an exhaustive audit of its Israel/Palestine dispute coverage for the first quarter of this year. Since NPR doesn’t do public audits of its environmental, mobile phone, or country music coverage, I’m guessing that the review reflects the fact that anything you write about the Israel/Palestine subject is grist for the protest mill […]
The brief run of Pachindau People’s Radio in Zimbabwe
Kanyi Pamukwendengwe a Rusitu villager in Zimbabwe writes in the South Africa Mail & Guradian about the brief run of Pachindau People’s Radio, an unlicensed shortwave station that broadcast from Chimanimani in Eastern Zimbabwe. As Pamukwendengwe explains, the inspiration for the station came from the fact that the state-run stations in Harare could not be […]
Vietnam cracks down on Falun Gong pirate radio
The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders says that the Chinese government has “successfully pressured” Vietnam to arrest two Falun Gong members who operated an unauthorized short wave station out of that country. “The organization is worried by this latest evidence of Chinese influence over its Asian neighbors in matters concerning media freedom, and urges the […]
Radio Caroline Pursuing a Legit License
On the heels of Radio Caroline’s 47th birthday last week, the New York Times published a story reporting on the outfit’s attempt to garner an actual license to broadcast in the UK. Caroline is pursuing 531 KHz on the mediumwave band (known as AM in the US) which was recently vacated by the BBC. While […]
How the CIA used radio in the 1954 Guatemala coup
I am reading Tim Weiner’s disturbing history of the CIA, Legacy of Ashes. The tome portrays the agency as a dysfunctional outfit which often failed to achieve its goals. When the CIA did get something done in its formative years, it was usually a dastardly deed, accomplished by a combination of brute force, bribery, and […]