The Radio Kitchen

Lately as I’ve been roaming the web looking for a news and punditry, a quote made famous in the old Godfather movies (and actually a translation from an ancient Chinese warrior) shows up again and again: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

While the more complex wisdom behind this adage is really beyond the argument of this post, the main point is accurate enough. You should keep an eye and an ear on your enemies (Or on those who are chosen to be your enemies.) And if you live in America, there’s no doubt which government our rogue executive branch has targeted as our nemesis– The Islamic Republic of Iran.

You’d think the U.S. would have its hands full occupying Iraq and Afghanistan under more than hostile circumstances. And the fact that a few thousand Americans lives (and exponentially more local innocents) have been lost in our savage efforts to maintain order in those countries might put the brakes on pending plans to destroy another nation. And if the whole idea sounds absolutely insane, it should. But that hasn’t stopped Cheney & Bush before. According to the most recent article (in a series) written by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, another onslaught of shock and awe (on Iran this time) is shockingly likely in the next few months. According to Hersh, there’s already plenty of super-secret undercover cross border mischief to get the mess in Iran warmed up and ready for our fireworks. The potential of literally setting the world on fire before or just after the next election here is quite real.

Sounding the alarm, Seymour Hersh has been making the rounds on the talk show circuit lately, and appeared on Air America’s Ring of Fire last week in an interview with Robert Kennedy Jr. Have a listen.

Seymour Hersh on Ring of Fire 07-05-08  18:14

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The United States has a big propaganda presence on both medium and short wave frequencies in Iran, with "Radio Farda" where American-made "information" is stuffed between hits for the kids (for a country where 70% of the population is under 30) for seven and a half hours each day– programming described in a staff memo at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty regarding the launch of the service: "a combination of popular Persian and Western songs aimed at attracting young Iranians to Farda’s news products." There’s also some semblance of a Persian service of Voice of America that’s still broadcasting for the Iranian grownups as well as VOA satellite TV service that’s attracted an audience (despite the fact that receiving satellite television is illegal there).

On the other hand, Iran has a much more difficult time attracting young Americans (or any Americans) to their official "news products." Last year, they started their own satelitte TV service in English for the U.S., it seems doubtful that its getting much viewership stateside. If you don’t have a dish (or can’t get it on yours), your not going to see much of "Sahar English TV." I’ve yet to see any videos show up on the web or Usenet, and their website is pretty minimal. The fact is, right now for most of us (outside of text gleaned from the web) the only viable media outreach from Iran that we can experience in English and unfiltered by U.S. media and the government is via shortwave. It’s a daily hour they call "The Voice of Justice."

It’s not uncommon to hear aging shortwave listeners bemoan the "old days" when the cold war made the hobby more exciting (I plead guilty…). Part of the reason is that back then we still lived a relatively bigger world (unlike today’s tightly networked reality) and intercepting communiques from overseas was a more exotic experience. And although there was no law against it, there was always a little thrill of the taboo– tuning in voices from behind the "iron curtain." And unless you sent away for a program guide or something, nobody in our government would be any the wiser of your listening habits.

Now in the age of Bush, instead of the iron curtain we have the hyperbole of the "axis of evil" (Iran, Iraq and North Korea) and John Bolton‘s "beyond the axis of evil" trio (Syria, Libya and Cuba). And I almost forgot Condi Rice and her "outposts of tyranny" and Dick Cheney‘s "Funky Four + 1"… (actually I made that last one up), but you get the idea. Since 2000, we’ve been governed by an administration that needs enemies, just like the in the good old days. And when it comes to making enemies, it’s one of the few ways the Bush regime is unquestionably proficient.

While almost any American with a shortwave radio ought to be able to pick up the English service of nearby Radio Habana Cuba at night, the broadcasts from the other "enemy" countries aren’t so easy to hear. In fact, the only official enemy nation I’ve been able to hear in English on shortwave in recent years has been Iran. And often the reception has been problematic at best. However, when I’ve been away from my Brooklyn RF noise nest I’ve been able to pick up their hour of English language programming on the 31 meter band at 9495kHz. When I recently spent a weekend at the Jersey shore I heard some dramatic old-fashioned propaganda that sounded remarkably like the old school cold war histrionics that we’ve all missed. However, a small error on my part (forgetting to release the pause button on the recorder) voided my chance to capture that little bit of theater to share with you.

Then I was passing along my tale of woe to fellow shortwave enthusiast David Goren (who happens to have better equipment and a better listening location than I), and he offered to record one of Iran’s next broadcasts to the U.S.A. and sent over a recording. And now, I can share the hour he recorded with you, here.

Iran’s Voice of Justice 9595kHz  0130 UTC  58:33

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I know the audio is shady at the beginning of this clip, but it drastically improves if you’re patient. And for starters, you can tell Iran isn’t any ordinary country. Kind of like Baptist dry counties in the American south, the whole country of Iran is a theocracy with democratic elements. After the comforting intro music the a few verses of the Qur’an are sung, and then spoken in English:

In the name of God, the most gracious, the most compassionate. Therefore declare openly what you are bidden and turn aside from the polytheists. Surely we will suffice you against the scoffers. Those who set up another god with Allah; so they shall soon know. And surely We know that your breast straightens at what they say; Therefore celebrate the praise of your Lord, and be of those who make obeisance. And serve your Lord until there comes to you that which is certain.

I can’t tell you what that I actually means, but as a nonbeliever almost any quote from scripture read aloud with conviction can easily give me pause and make me a little uneasy. With sacred text, you may be free to take what you want from it, but you always have a sense there’s some political message intended when a particular passage is passed along by a group of believers. It always feels kind of personal. (Hmmm, I don’t think I’m a polytheist, but I have been a scoffer…)

But in the end this bit of sober Islamic text is less threatening than most Christian mumbo-jumbo I come across. The point is, although a number of Mideast states call themselves "Islamic Republics," but Iran is more serious about it than most. More than any other major state on Earth today, Iran is a theocracy– a state under the rule of (the alleged earthly representatives of) a supreme being. You don’t see much of that kind of governance today, but in ancient times it wasn’t out of the ordinary. And there’s plenty of strange people in far right Christian circles who are friends of the Bush regime would like to turn the U.S.A. into a theocracy.

And while I think that’s a really bad idea for this country, just because a nation happens to run their affairs that way it doesn’t inspire me to advocate killing people or overthrowing governments. But others disagree (like this spoiled little objectivist boy-man, just look at his picture on the right). But it’s not kooky American theorists driving the issue, It’s the spiteful U.S. neocons worked into a lather by Israel and their super-bully American lobby (AIPAC) who are practically demanding that the U.S. attack Iran. And who’s surprised that the executive cyborg Dick Cheney has a big hard on to roar through Zarathustra’s old stomping grounds with American bodies, weaponry and hardware.

So, combine all this war talk with a couple of messy U.S. occupations next door and American’s previous misbehavior on the Persian Peninsula, you’ve got all the makings of a paranoid nation. And their shortwave broadcast to America, "The Voice of Justice," is where you can hear all about it.

When I’m able to listen to shortwave in a favorable location in the early evening, the nightly English hour from Iran is high on my list of broadcasts to seek out. Since 2003 (the year the U.S. invaded Iraq), Iran has produced two English language programs a day, one for America and one for the rest of the world. The "Voice of Justice" is for our ears. When there was only one English language broadcast, I recall more features on Islam and Iranian culture. I assume the other IRIB English broadcast is similar. But the VOJ is all business, hard core political business. The cultural and religious stuff has been pushed aside to make way for opinion and news regarding Iran’s relationship with the "Big Satan" and the "Little Satan," as well as the warfare that may engender. And as always, reports on American military and foreign policy blunders throughout the Middle East.

Here the news leads with an old story. Twenty years ago to the day (July 3, 1988) US forces blew a civilian airliner (Iran Air Flight 655) out of the sky, taking the lives of almost three hundred people (including 66 children). It happened in the middle of a melee near the end of the Iran-Iraq war, and the U.S. government has always maintained that it was an accident (although we ended up paying out over sixty million in compensation for the tragedy), but they’ve never bought that idea in Iran. Ahmadinejad says it testifies to America’s "inhuman actions."

Most of the content of the first half of this broadcast is news and official Iranian government views on world issues, ending with their usual interview of a western expert/pundit who offers opinions with which Iran agrees. This evening it’s Dean Baker, a lefty economist trying to make sense of McCain’s confusing tax policies. The second half is a carefully coordinated cavalcade of western opinion represented and rehashed for dramatic political effect. If you care to follow along at home, you can find some of the op-ed pieces discussed and amply quoted by clicking here, here, here or here.

The last time I wrote about Iran’s English broadcast they had a live audio stream up and running. But from what I can tell, that’s no longer the case. On the IRIB English language home page they actually have a podcast link, but I fed it into my aggregator a week ago and it seems to be a dead feed. I don’t know why. Despite the sundry glories of the world wide web the only way you can actually hear from the governments of our country’s arch-enemies (like Iran and Cuba) is to use a shortwave radio.

It seems ridiculous that I feel like I should say this (but we live in stupid times), but I’m not a fan of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or the Castro brothers. And I’d rather live here in America, and think in general we have a far better system of government, but… I’m far more concerned about an American government that is ready and willing to attack and occupy other nations and the freaky minority of people in the media and out on the public highways who are willing to encourage and support the mass murder, hatred, mayhem and despair that wars bring upon the world. Even after almost seven years of this kind of bloodthirst on display, I still find it shocking and depressing that it seems to have no end. International conflict has always made the shortwave hobby more interesting, but in this era where you would think people would finally know better. And then you realize that you inhabit and support the nation (or one of the nations) who are making the world so much worse, so quickly and so often.

It makes you want to snatch up the pasty-faced objectivist boy-man and all the haunted and owlish neocon chickenhawks and drop the whole bunch of them into a horrific and hopeless skirmish full of IED‘s and human bombs and let them all try to swim out of the gore, to try to crawl their way back up the pearled shores of Barbara Bush’s saggy breast up onto those craggy Republican cheeks. And then to find hero’s welcome in the cool marble confines of her beautiful mind. Or something like that. (Imagine the smell in there– at first a strong floral covering odor, and then…).

I wish Bill Hicks was still around. While The Voice of Justice is almost as critical of the Bush dynasty, it sure ain’t funny.

This year I got lucky. It hasn’t happened since my parents bought me one of those flip-top multi-band portables in the early 1970′s, but this year I actually got a great radio for Christmas. I was the merry recipient of a little black Grundig G5. I already knew this was a sweet receiver before I turned it on. Not just because I’ve read plenty of swell reviews, but also because I basically already have one. But now that I’ve gotten my hands the G5 itself, I can see that’s not really true. While this Grundig basically has the same electronic guts (and reception potential) as the Degen 1103 I purchased almost two years ago, the G5 is really a different animal. And in short order, it’s already become my radio of choice. I like it. And just to share the wealth, here’s a tasty bit of reception recorded just a few hours after I unwrapped this little beast.

Radio Bulgaria 9700kHz 12-26-07  0131 UTC  23:05

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By my measure, the glorious minor-key wonders of these songs is reason enough to own a shortwave radio– just to be able to capture a bit of exotic music from an exotic faraway overseas transmitter. Okay, maybe the transmitter isn’t exotic, but you catch my drift. And while there is just a little fading here and there, there is no drift in this reception, as these 31 meter radio waves bounce over 4500 miles and across the Atlantic to my new portable. I believe the announcer is speaking French, but it hardly matters. This music is haunting and rich and seeped in electrical atmospherics of the planet. It’s Earth flavored.  

The exuberant manufacturing boom in China has also provided a real revolution in shortwave radio product development. The 1103 radios (and the improved G5/E5 versions) are just a couple chapters in the canon of new and compelling Chinese world band radios coming to market. The Degen (or Kaito) 1103 is best known in radio circles for blowing minds and frustrating others with its awkward interface, although almost everyone acknowledges that the receiver is a good value. Generally available for eighty to a hundred bucks, the 1103′s are damn sensitive and selective (with dual conversion to cut back on wayward images). And it scans the dial almost as gracefully as an analog set, moving through the frequencies in 1kHz steps with NO muting and very little chuffing. And perhaps the near analog scanning capability of this radio may have led to one of the oddities of its design. Most of the LCD screen is of the 1103 is filled with a pseudo-analog multi-band display, much like you see on less expensive non-digital receivers. It’s the same trick Sony tried in the 1980′s with the ICF-7600 & 7700. While it’s kind of entertaining and somewhat informative, the fake display is not very accurate (the motion of the LCD "needle" is jumpy and very un-analog), and there’s not much room for much information other than  the frequency. And all the text is quite small to make room for the imitation analog entertainment.

But the biggest complaint has been contrary ergonomics of operating  the radio itself. The worst of it is the lack of a dedicated volume control. Before you can adjust the audio level you have to push a button, which briefly turns the tuning knob into the volume control. Likewise, when listening you have to press a "time" button to briefly change the frequency display into a digital clock. Add to that the abnormal straight line format of the frequency input number buttons, and the fact that you can’t see the frequency and the time at the same time, and it all adds up to a quirky little radio. Yet I was quite pleased with mine and got used to the eccentricities.

But I gotta tell ya, after playing with the G5 for an hour or so I was clearly impressed. Side by side with the 1103 the reception seemed on SW and AM seemed about exactly the same, but there was even less chuffing when zipping through the frequencies. And when I was really looking for something to listen to, everything happened more quickly. It made me realize that with the 1103 I really did have to pause to think when I would punch up a frequency or change the volume. It’s just a smoother operation. But when I had to choose between these two radios, the E5/G5 was almost twice the price of the 1103. And it is NOT twice as nice. But it is better and a little bit more fun. However, the E5/G5 can now be found for a little over a hundred bucks. And it’s well worth that.

Now if you’re keeping score, you may have noticed that so far I’ve been talking about two different radios (that are very similar) and they both have slightly different brand names. Well, there’s now three companies main companies that are manufacturing this new wave of portable shortwave receivers (Tecsun, Degen and Redsun) but through the idiosyncrasies of trade and profit they end up with another brand name before they wind up on American store shelves. They become Kaito radios, or Eton or Grundig or something else. While the original Chinese branded radios aren’t generally sold on the web either, there’s a loophole of sorts that’s allowed a handful of dealers in China to sell them on ebay. And from what I can tell, they must be selling thousands. They all follow the same basic formula. All their auctions are "buy it now" (fixed price, no bidding), and including the somewhat expensive shipping from China still about twenty to thirty percent cheaper. And from what I’ve seen, all these Chinese sellers have excellent ratings on ebay. I assume there’s some risk, and I accept that as part of the bargain I guess. But I’ve never had any trouble.

However the biggest distributor or these Chinese radios in the states, the Eton Corporation, has been troubled by all these alien radios crossing the border to compete with their re-branded versions. So behind the scenes they seem to have worked out some "arrangements" with their Chinese affiliates. A couple of years ago some key Chinese radios that were popular on ebay suddenly were labeled with Chinese text, not in English as they had been. And some new models (or re-models), like the E5/G5, seem to have gone straight to market in North America and Europe with no versions branded by the actual manufacturer even going on sale in China. Another reason people might have been getting the Tecsun version of these radios is that in China they’ve been selling them in bright colors– red, yellow, blue, etc. Now Eton is getting splashy with the colored plastic too. Some of their new crank up survival radios (made by Tecsun) now come in all sorts of fancy shades.

And you know, bravo to Eton for their marketing schemes, for the most part. But sometimes it gets a little silly. Like calling the Grundig S350 (or the Tecsun BCL-2000) a "retro field radio" and carrying on about its "rugged body and military-style controls.” It’s freakin’ plastic for chrissake. And military style? It all sounds like a brainstorming session gone wrong. I noticed a picture of a G5 box which also described it as a "field radio." What does that mean? It makes me think of a war utensil, a camouflaged walkie-talkie or something. While this is silly, my biggest complaint is that Eton has gone so far as to actually rebrand their own rebranded radios. Why? For example my christmas present, that Grundig G5 was originally called an Eton E5. It’s just a different color than the E5, with a different logo. And both of them remain on the market. They did the same thing with the S350DL. It was originally a Grundig radio. Now it’s either a Grundig or an Eton S350DL. Using separate brand names for regional distribution is one thing, but it seems to me that the only good reason to multi-brand an item within a given market should be to differentiate an alternate feature set in some way, not a slight change in the way it looks.

But the good news is this– thanks to these Chinese radio companies and their distributor cohorts, old crackly shortwave gadgets are still alive in this era of small and fantastic gadgetry. While serious DXers and big radio enthusiasts always have new toys and new technology (showing up in seductive trade publication ads), because they consistently are willing to pay for it.  But for shortwave dabblers and casual listeners like me (and perhaps you), the array of more affordable radios had grown quite stale through the 1990′s. In that time a number of companies had gotten out of the shortwave business, and others (like Sony) were discontinuing models left and right, and weren’t coming out with anything really new. Much like the boring car designs of the 1990′s, the layout and functionality of the shortwave radios on the market was pretty universal and grey and boring. Unfortunately, I started to get an itch to start fooling around with shortwave listening again during those dark days.

I decided I needed to go out and buy a radio of some substance. Over, the years usually had a boombox around the house with shortwave reception, or a cheap Radio Shack (Sangean rebrand) portable in a drawer somewhere. But I’ve always looked longingly at the more expensive portables on the high shelf with their tempting green screens and scientifically accurate digital readouts, and wondered what it would be like to harness such power. So, this time I decided I was going to blow some real dough (relatively speaking) and get serious and invest in a digital shortwave receiver. In retrospect, I didn’t have all that much money to play with. But after some research my choice seemed to be between the Sony ICF-SW7600GR and the Sangean ATS-505. Fiscal realities led me to the 505. The cheapest of the two.

I should have saved up for the Sony.

A couple years later, the shortwave portable scene began to get back some of the cool factor that had always been its birthright  There’s something about a small and discrete global radio that appeals to the "boy secret agent" in a lotta guys. I suspect there were contributing factors– like the passing renewed interest in world radio after the 9-11 events, combined with our ongoing lover affair with small complex gadgets. In 2002 and 2003 a number of innovative and powerful SW radios went on sale. Radios like the Degen/Kaito 1102 & 1103, and the Tecsun BCL-2000/Grundig S350 were all groundbreaking for their price, and these and other SW radios that China starting to make were user-friendly for bandscanning– combining the best elements of analog and digital tuning. And all of these sets could be found for a hundred dollars or less. Casual shortwave listener/consumers like me could get a little giddy. And since that time, more interesting SW radios in that price range have gone on sale. And the prices are dropping.  

And what was kind of amazing to me, is that for next to nothing ($25 or so) you can actually get a real global radio made in China, that is just about the same size as an old transistor radio. And they’re not just feeble cheap toys. For example, I bought something called a Tecsun R-912, from China on ebay. It’s a multi-band analog cheapy that exists with a quite a number of model names that have slight design and color variations. In the U.S., the same little bad boy is called a WRX911. While this is a no-frills radio with a tiny speaker and a cheap thumb-wheel tuner, you get all the major shortwave broadcasters on it and it’s not a bad DX machine on AM as well. I’ve walked around the neighborhood with mine listening to stations as far away as Africa and Asia in my headphones. If I could send one thing back in time to me when I was a kid, it would be this little cheap and global radio wonder.

I’ve been remiss in offering up another bandscan since I kicked off this blog a couple months ago. So, here’s another. When I go about trying to choose a tuning session to present and discuss here, I like to offer one that features some compelling English language content, a few interesting overseas broadcasts and hopefully not too much RF noise and interference. However, this particular scan is noisy, there’s no great DX catches and the content is kind of ridiculous. But as I was recording this, I couldn’t help thinking about how strange human beings really are. Shortwave listening can do that.

Because I live in a very RF polluted environment, I do most of my shortwave listening and DXing when I get out of town. And while there was less radio noise than home at the cabin in the Catskill Mountains where I recorded this, it was still less than ideal. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving, and after a meal of leftovers I set up my little recording setup and started roaming around the bands.

I will say one thing about shortwave radio– if you want to hear thoughtful opinions on current events and learn more about the world we live in, then you can find all that and more from broadcasts originating from places like Europe, Asia and Africa. But if you’re more interested in listening to religious intolerance, ignorant diatribes and the kind of entertainment only mental illness can provide, then tuning into one of the many shortwave transmissions originating from the United States will certainly suffice.

Besides the Voice of America (the U.S. international service) there’s a couple dozen or so privately owned shortwave stations in the states, many with multiple transmitters. I believe that all but two of these are owned and operated by Christian organizations. Most are brokered outfits– selling chunks of time to churches, groups and preachers to scold and beg and talk about the bible. And to be fair, as shortwave listening in America has declined so drastically these days, Christian programmers and their listeners are by far the most viable financial resource for these stations. WBCQ in Maine, with their handful of SW frequencies have heroically cobbled together a creative and entertaining secular programming and cool music shows on their schedules (mostly on the weekend on 7415kHz), but the bulk of their on-air roster is the same holy-roller nonsense you hear on most U.S. shortwave stations.

Here’s a little sample from WBCQ’s weekend lineup. This was recorded not long before the bandscan I’m posting here. It’s nine minutes of a relatively new program on WBCQ– Bluegrass State of Mind, hosted by your buddy "Hawkeye" Danny Haller. I’ve never heard this show before, but this guy sounds great and the music’s mighty fine.

WBCQ – Bluegrass State of Mind 11-23-07  23:35 UTC

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Besides WBCQ, there’s not much on U.S. shortwave that ain’t about Jesus. There’s a few DX shows and Glenn Hauser’s "World of Radio," on a number of stations, but the only other format that gets any real traction on American shortwave radio are the paranoia and patriotism talk shows. There’s quite a number of these programs. And although they come in a variety of flavors, the’re generally populist conspiracy based presentations invoking fear and vigilance. Some of these programs come from a distinctly Christian perspective. Some do not. However, none of them are anti-Christian. That wouldn’t be a good business model for shortwave broadcasting in America.

Like the first bandscan I posted here, this is another amble through the 49 meter band– which is as close as shortwave gets to the reception dependability of the AM (medium wave) band here in the states. From around 5800 to 6300kHz, there’s almost always a lot of activity after dark. I rarely get anything farther than western Europe on this band. But it’s very popular for the Asian and European state broadcasters who relay their programming to North America via Canada and the Caribbean. But most significantly, it’s the most popular band for the sideshow barking of the evangelists, doomsayers and hellfire merchants of American shortwave radio.

49 Meter Band part 1 – Catskill Mountains, NY 11-24-07  00:17 UTC

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5755 – KAIJ – Texas, USA – Radio Liberty

5810 – EWTN Alabama

5810 – WHRI – World Harvest Radio

And what fresh hell is this? I guess this is one of the reasons I keep listening to shortwave– to hear bizarre America in all of it’s glory. This is as twisted as anything I’ve come on the radio in quite a while. Imagine you’ve picked up a preppy freshly scrubbed hooker, and once you get her up in the room all she wants to do is talk about "the father." That’s kind of what this sounds like. 

49 Meter Band part 2 – Catskill Mountains, NY 11-24-07  00:39 UTC

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6000 – Radio Habana Cuba

Sitting right in the middle of the popular 49 meter band with the round figure of six-oh-oh-oh, RHC has one of the most easily remembered frequencies in shortwave. From the eastern US, it’s always there at night. Usually clear. I believe they switch their English service on and off with their 6060 signal, and I’m never sure how that works. But here it’s Español, and a booming actuality of some man, from somewhere, saying something. And then I turn the station.

6005 – NHK Japan

6020 – Radio China International

The female announcer is all jazzed up over the upcoming “high-level” Olympics Games in Beijing. And she’s not just worked up about the opening ceremonies and all those athletic performances, but apparently the security work and favorable press commentary promises to be very “high-level” too. All in all, they’re expecting a “high level Olympics with distinguishing features.” Me too. As well as a few distinguishing health events once some international athletes get their lungs full of the high level of Chinese toxins floating around.

6030 – Radio Marti

6040 – Radio China International

6060 – Radio Habana Cuba

It’s Cuba, with worse than usual reception. But it’s a sonically interesting bit– Spanish announcer with odd-sounding Asian music splatter from another station (Do you hear some Yoko-style yodeling in there too?). Even if it doesn’t mean all that much, it’s rich aural eccentricities like this that keep shortwave radio interesting, as well as the psychodrama and the international reception possibilities.

6085 – Family Radio

That’s it for this bandscan. I promise the next hike up the dial will be another shortwave band, or perhaps a medium wave journey. These two chunks were not every thing I picked up on 49 meters, but is everything that seemed worth sharing. Believe me, you’re not missing much. And if you don’t usually turn the knobs on a shortwave set, let me assure you that the reception isn’t always as problematic and buzz-ridden as you hear in these archives. Then again, it can be much worse.

You don’t have to listen to the 49 meter band to know that the U.S.A. has a strange and superstitious dark side. But some of the crap you come across on that band sure does drive the point home. And sadly, shortwave signals still travel far beyond our borders. And this is what we broadcast to the world– our preoccupations with personal sins and lots of crackpot dogma. And thankfully, a little bluegrass.

From my casual and primitive DXing experience, many powerful shortwave stations from around the world can be picked up from Eastern North America, as long as the signal doesn’t originate from anywhere directly blocked by the massive mountains of the top three quarters of the North American Continental Divide. In other words, with a booming transmitter from the closer sections of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South America are the most likely catches from overseas. Deeper into these zones and continents (and Asia in general) are difficult terrain for DXing rewards from here. That said, with my limited portable equipment I’ve been able to pick up signals from at least three of the major broadcasters from the Southern Orient– India, Australia and New Zealand. I’ve always assumed that these signals ride skywaves over the lower mountains of the Southwest and Central America. But I’m no expert.

I do know that all the overseas states located directly west of the tall Rockies who are serious about reaching US citizens via shortwave rent relay transmitter time from Canada, as well as sites in the Carribean and Europe). In fact, if you happen to come across international broadcasts  from Vietnam, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan or Thailand on shortwave in Eastern North America, you’re probably hearing a relayed transmission from several hundred miles away. But the recording I’m offering here is of reception from from far across the world. Considering the distance travelled, the reception here is fairly healthy. A little hairy, but practical. And there’s no local RF noise getting in the way. You really can hear the details it if you pay attention.

Radio New Zealand International pt 1 – 9615kHz – 07-07-07 0644 UTC 15:05

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This first bit is an interview with Canadian chemist and author Penny LeCouteur discussing her book about molecules that have changed the world. Of note here– the legacy of how James Cook and ascorbic acid made the south seas safe for European explorers and colonists.

Then the cassette came to an abrupt stop, and the part two of this recording begins with the flip of the the tape. At the onset of this archive the interview is aborted in mid-sentence and a female announcer formally announces that Radio New Zealand International is closing on this frequency. After twice insisting that I “re-tune to six-zero-nine-five kilohertz in the forty-nine meter band” (followed by a clipped “This is New Zealand”), it all sounds so damn official that I felt compelled to follow the instructions. Although I knew that just because RNZI was booming in on 31 meters didn’t necessarily mean it would come in so strong (or might even be heard) on the 49 meter band.

After the news, it’s the beginning of a program I can barely believe I’m hearing in 2007. A faux flapper-era theme song launches a “nostalgia packed selection of favorites” that will saturate the skies of Oceania for the next four hours. While I love a lotta old music, the whole idea of “nostalgia” can get a little silly. Although I must say that old Joe Franklin used to pull it off with some charm on WOR here in New York City before he gave up the show a few years back. It’s really an approach to radio that’s all but dead here in the states. But apparently not in New Zealand.

As you’ll hear if you brave through this chunk of pulsing and buzzy DX radio, there are a couple of corny numbers to wade through. But I gotta tell you, that sitting outside in the middle of the night with an artifact-drenched AM signal from the other side of the world filling my headphones, it felt reassuringly twentieth-century. Maybe you’ll hear what I mean. And the Paul Robeson and Mills Brothers seemed quite appropriate.

I guess a little nostalgia isn’t so bad.

In my listening experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that Radio Netherlands consistently has the most thoughtful and professional English language content available on shortwave today. But you have to remember I’m stuck way out here in North America, the land shortwave radio forgot. The truth is, if you operate a shortwave radio in this continent, and are (sadly) limited to the English language, many of the world’s major content providers have decided that you are irrelevant (or at least there’s not enough of you to be relevant. Of course, it wasn’t always this way.

The political acrimony of the cold war provided a golden age for shortwave listening around the world. Yet, in the unfolding era of post 9-11 global chaos and corruption  (when we really could use it) shortwave radio has just become another media source where Americans are likely to get less international news and opinion. On the other hand, many of our old cold war enemies (Russia, China, Vietnam, etc) continue to beam lots of English language programming this way. But more and more of our traditional (and powerful) allies just don’t bother. Most significantly, two excellent English language global news sources have turned their backs on us. First the BBC World Service cut us off in July of 2001, then Deutsche Welle shut down shortwave transmissions to North America a couple of years later. And these are just the most notable of many cutbacks depriving North American SW listeners of dependable frequencies since the 1990′s. And in case you’re wondering, you can occasionally hear the official U.S. shortwave service (VOA) in the states, but there’s actually a law on the books that prevents them from trying very hard to reach American ears. But from what I’ve heard from VOA over the last few years, we’re not missing much…

There’s not much mystery as to why all this is happening. Old lo-fi radio hasn’t been really popular here for decades. Since the 1980′s shortwave bands have become non-existent on standard consumer radios, and if you’re determined to listen to shortwave you have to go out buy a special receiver just for that purpose. And more significantly, new and powerful methods of listening to the world have come along– satellite broadcasting and internet audio options.  

And for years, international radio giants like BBC and DW have been piggybacking segments of their English language content on North American (mostly FM) public stations as well. Not that long ago, WNYC in New York experimented with running the World Radio Network overnight, and like so much programming I’ve enjoyed on that station, it’s gone. Based in Britian, WRN aggregates all sorts of national radio content from around the world and offers a whole slew of programming packages grouped by language and/or targeted global region. It’s a quite a project. And it’s not a service– It’s a business. Taking a look at their website, it looks like WRN has become a real high-tech behemoth of international broadcasting since I last listened. While some stations in North America must be running their content (I found no list of affiliates on their site), their full schedule in English for North America has its own channel with Sirius Satellite Radio. At least for now, a model like this seems like the future of state-sponsored broadcasting. And if you want to get a regular dose of international news and opinion without all the fading, RF noise, and propagation issues, I’d say signing up for Sirius to receive WRN might be a good way to go.

But for now, I still prefer the difficulty, noise, and unpredictability of the old technology. It’s free and a little more mysterious. As far as I know, there aren’t any pirates or clandestine broadcasters on satellite yet. And I don’t think Iran, or Albania or North Korea are going to be included in their packages anytime soon. You get what I mean. And if Dick Cheney (or some other dictator) really does suceed in setting world on fire and high-tech telecommunication networks are damaged, hacked or shut down, your battery powered SW portable could be the only way to access information from beyond our borders.

In all honesty, outside of old-tech holdouts like me and culty-religious and “patriot” types, there’s not a lotta of interest in shortwave in these parts. Yet, Radio Netherlands continues to provide us service, and I say thank you. Considering that English is not the native to old Holland, it’s pretty amazing the range and depth of the programming you hear on RN. I’ve heard a number of poignant and compelling documentary features on Radio Netherlands, and plenty of cultural programming in general (and NOT just about the Netherlands or Europe). Impressive.

And to wind this up, I have a clip.

Radio Netherlands – Echoes – 04-09-07.mp3

So begins the first substantive post here at The Radio Kitchen. Welcome! This blog takes flight from my previous writing on the WFMU blog, specifically my “Adventures in Amplitude Modulation” series which featured AM & shortwave bandscans and airchecks, along with discussions of the content reception. Often, these audio captures were from DXing sessions, creeping along the dial looking for faraway broadcasts. And that’s what I’m serving up in this first post. 

This is a bandscan in three parts, trolling through the 49 meter band from the coast of Virginia last spring. I’m using my scanning toy of choice lately, a Degen 1103 portable receiver. It’s an able and relatively inexpensive Chinese portable, also available as the Kaito 1103 here in the states. The two or three times I’ve been able to get out of the city for a few days this year, I’ve brought the Degen and a couple other radios and recorded quite a bit of broadcasting. Some of which will become audio content here at The Radio Kitchen.

While the 49 meter band (5800 to 6300 kHz) isn’t the most popular shortwave broadcast band, it is the place where you’re most likely to pick up quite a number of signals at night, at least here in the eastern U.S. Somebody new to shortwave radio could be easily discouraged by the paucity of signals on many of the designated bands, especially during the day. However, if you’re rarely able to receive many stations on the 49 meter band at night, then you’re probably working with a lousy (or defective) radio. 

In searching for a bandscan to premier on the blog, I tried to find one with a lot of varied content and ended up choosing this one. In retrospect, quite a bit of the audio of this scan is a bit sub-par. But that’s part of the fun, both with this blog and DXing in general. As you venture to push the limits of radio reception you have to be willing to brave some weak signals and interference. I think that’s why you don’t find online audio accompanying DX logs on the web in general. It’s not pleasant listening. My compromise in posting DX bandscans has been to opt for the ones that generally have better audio quality. And I do what I can to digitally clarify the sound as well.

Nothing really cosmic occurs during this radio excursion, but there is stations you might find on the 49 meter band around 11 p.m. EDT. And if you’re a newcomer to shortwave, it’s important to note that the vast majority of shortwave broadcasting in the U.S. is Christian propaganda of some kind. And when you consider the fact that shortwave listening is far more popular in other countries, it’s kind of sad that the vast majority of programming we export on these bands consists of dogmatic diatribes and proselytizing.

Unlike most media programming, there is no foolproof source for identifying shortwave broadcasts. Schedules and frequencies change all the time, often without notice. In sorting out the reception in this bandscan I referred to both the “Passport to World Radio,” and the frequency lookup page at HFRadio.org. When I’m unable to discern the reception through those sources I often do an advanced Google search of the frequency on Glenn Hauser’s excellent “World of Radio” site. Another option is searching “rec.radio.shortwave” on Google Groups. And sometimes I can’t precisely confirm the reception anywhere, but I make a good guess considering all the evidence. If I make a mistake, I’d really appreciate a correction (send me an email), which I’ll note here.

49 Meter Band pt 1 – 5950 to 5875kHz 04-09-07 0258 UTC 

(download)

5950 – Radio Taiwan International (via WYFR in Okeechobee, FL)

It’s the end of Taiwan’s English language broadcast for North America, relayed from one of Family Radio’s Florida transmitters. Very clear and loud. International broadcasters in Western Asia who are serious about reaching the eastern two-thirds of America typically relay their English language (and Spanish as well) from some location in around eastern North America. The most popular relay location is Radio Canada’s transmitting complex in Sackville, New Brunswick. And some beam in from Europe as well. In my experience, it seems that the Rocky Mountains provide a formidable hurdle for radio waves coming my way on the east coast or the midwest. On the other hand, I suppose European broadcasts are a more difficult catch on the west coast. And unfortunately, it’s what prevents me from listening on North Korean’s English language broadcasts.

I think this is the first time I’ve noticed Christian shortwave superpower Family Radio renting out their equipment to anyone (possibly heathens!). I’ve often wondered how they afford all that electricity.

5960 – NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, Japan)

5965 – Radio Exterior de Espana (Spain)

5975 – Voice of Turkey

It’s English language news from Turkey. The signal’s not bad and the interference is moderate, but the reception here is an odd combination of clarity and muddle. The Voice of Turkey comes in just before the three minute mark in this archive, and continues until the end for about twelve minutes.

It take some effort to listen all the details in this reception, but you can certainly sort out the spirit of the newscast. The barrage of bad news from neighboring countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran provide the majority of the events discussed. A sad litany of bombings and attacks dominate the news, along with associated political intrigue. There’s also some mention of Turkey’s pursuit of European Union membership, which has been a consistent topic (with much cheerleading in favor of their inclusion in the union) on Turkey’s English language programming for a while now. They want it bad.

The news is followed by a lightweight news magazine featuring pop culture info bits from around the world. Love the cheesy cinematic bumper music.

49 Meter Band pt 2 – 6000 to 6100kHz 04-09-07 0313 UTC 

(download)

6000 – Radio Habana Cuba

A sweet Cuban love song, with harmonic noises.

6005 – BBC (From Ascension Island in the South Atlantic)

6020 – China Radio International (from Sackville, Canada)

Clear and crisp Chinese programming.

6025 – Radio Budapest (faint Russian w/CRI on top?)

6040 – Vatican Radio (Sackville, Canada)

It’s the Catholic HQ, relayed from New Brunswick. Just the very end of some Easter thing. And then there’s their interval music and the turn of the station. Good reception. Happy Easter from Popeland!

6050 – HCJB (Equador)

It’s a Jesus ditty in Spanish I suppose. Reception okay.

6060 – Radio Habana Cuba

6065 – WYFR (Family Radio) – Florida, USA

It’s the Hallelujah Chorus. It’s Easter. It’s Family Radio.

6075 – Deutsche Welle (Germany)

6090 – Carribean Beacon

It’s Melissa Scott, the most celebrated widow in televangelism. While impossible to explain her late husband in a few sentences, I’ll just say that he was kind of the John Huston of broadcast evangelism– a crusty, profane, and ultimately esoteric old goat who commanded respect and lived life to the fullest. Did I mention he was a little kooky?

Gene Scott was an incredibly unique and strange religious broadcaster who’s first claim to national fame was via his California based syndicated TV show in the late 70′s and 80′s. An irreverent maverick on the televangelism scene, Scott was a seriously educated (able to read and interpret untranslated original biblical text) and a deep oddball scholar (willing to entertain all sorts of off-the-wall theories and perspectives). A true self-made man, Scott built a religious media empire through his surly and passionate on-air fundraising techniques. To get a flavor of the Gene Scott at his peak, check out a 1980 Werner Herzog documentary (“God’s Angry Man”) online. You can find torrent downloads, or at least YouTube edits from it, if you do a little searching around.

Although he passed away in 2005, until recently his website didn’t reveal that fact. Although I hadn’t been paying a lot attention, in my routine scanning of the shortwave bands after his demise I would occasionally come across his widow carrying on his rambling esoteric preaching style on his frequencies, but usually it was a recording of old fellah carrying on as if nothing had happened. And then I for quite a while, I didn’t hear Melissa Scott at all, just her late husband rallying his flock from beyond the grave. I don’t remember where I read it, but I seem to recall reading that there are literally tens of thousands of hours of Mr. Scott in the can over at his LA headquarters. Sometimes you hear the onry middle-aged preacher captured in Herzog’s film, other times you’d get a taste of the croaky rumbling and mumbling characteristic of his latter days. To my ears, his meandering preaching was a bit  boring and difficult to follow. Occasionally, it was intriguing. An exegesis on the apostles could drift into a conversation of the pyramids, extraterrestrials, or his beloved race horses. (To get a flavor of Scott, just, check out his old site pictured above, which his widow has taken offline.) He was a deep kind of guy. And more than any other media minister I can remember, old Gene was really a man’s man. And it wasn’t much of a shock for me when I found out that his purportedly brainy and obviously ambitious widow previously had a rather successful career in adult entertainment. In the movies she performed under the pseudonym Barbie Bridges. Now she’s found herself as the owner and figurehead of a far-fetched media ministry created by someone old enough to be her grandfather. It must be an interesting life.

In his heyday, Scott used to pull in a million a month through his brute charisma It’s easy to understand how she opted to continue Gene’s money machine on autopilot for over a year, running reruns of her late husband almost exclusively. From my experience in sampling the shortwave broadcasts from Scott’s empire this year, it seems that she’s been going live (or at least creating new broadcasts) to bolster revenue, and bring the ministry up to the post-Gene Scott era. The website has drastically changed, and now focuses on Mrs. Scott (with a small page on her late husband) and has far less features. It will be interesting to see if she can keep it up, and make the oddball media juggernaut of Dr. Gene her own. Or turn it into something else.

6100 – Radio China International?

49 Meter Band pt 3 – 6140 to 6180kHz 04-09-07 0336 UTC 

(download)

6140 – Radio Habana Cuba

Noisy and Spanish. A broadcast aimed at Central America.

6150 – Carribean Beacon

6165 – Radio Netherlands

6175 – Voice of Vietnam

6180 – Radio Habana Cuba