An interesting piece in the Toronto Star laments the recent cuts to Radio Canada International. And the protest comes from an American—Thomas Witherspoon, who staffs Ears to our World. The non-profit sets up short wave band radio networks in developing areas. “Sadly, many Canadians must not be aware of RCI, or of its valiant but […]
It’s been over a year since I’ve profiled a Radio Obsessive for Radio Survivor and I’m glad to say that I couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn more about DJ Frederick and his Paper Radio ‘zine. According to the Paper Radio blog, “Paper Radio is about shortwave listening, free radio, community radio, DIY media and […]
Jason Scott is an archivist and historian of computer and internet history behind such great projects as textfiles.com, which preserves the wonders of the pre-web internet, as well as documentaries on pre-internet BBSs (bulletin-board systems) and text adventure games. Appropriately enough, he now works at the Internet Archive, and while catching up on his blog […]
Today Radio Survivor contributor Bob Mason and I were taking a stroll through Holly Park in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. Suddenly we ran into Art, who had set up a complete amateur radio setup on a park bench and table. The following brief interview ensued:
Anyone who has spent some quality time scanning the shortwave radio bands has likely come upon what are known as numbers stations. To the uninitiated the stations air what the name describes, someone reading of a sequence of numbers. They can be in any language, but most commonly are in English, Spanish or Russian. They […]
I was listening to NPR this morning as I got ready for work and during the headlines at the top of the hour heard a short story about communities preparing for Hurricane Irene. It featured a quick actuality from a sheriff in South Carolina saying that a battery operated radio will be a vital tool […]
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 […]
When the Egyptian government shut down internet access over a week ago in order to compromise the opposition movement’s ability to communicate there were several press reports that ham radio operators were stepping in to fill the information void. On the surface it seems a very credible story. Amateur radio operators have stepped in to […]
Radios make great gifts, especially for someone who is dedicated listener. Whether your favorite listener is into all-news, NPR, talk, college, community, music or even shortwave, a nice radio can really enhance the listening experience. I own and use all of the radios I’m recommending here, so my comments on each one come from actual […]
Numbers stations have been part of radio lore for decades. If you’ve ever listened to much shortwave radio at some point you would have come across an unidentified station broadcasting only a person reading off numbers, like an endless lotto feed: “21 99 36….” Sometimes this is in English, and often in Spanish or other […]
