Posted on 07/04/2016 9:24:15 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
Way back in the early 70s, my mother's youngest brother (who was a seasonal worker for the US Army Corps of Engineers), as was his habit, brought his car over to our house while he was away on "the boat" (as we all called it). But this time he left something else . . . an very plain-looking, ordinary radio.
Back in those days FM was still fairly exotic. AM was still king, and that's where most of the music and regular radio programming was. This little radio happened to have both AM and FM. But it had a third option--something labeled "SW."
I had no idea what this "SW" was at the time, so naturally I began listening. At first all I got was noise. Then I noticed some of the noise was decidedly atypical for radio static. There were Morse code signals, muffled voices (I found out later they were hams), things that sounded like a constant roar (we assumed these were the "motors" of ships and planes) as well as what most people know as "woodpeckers."
This was all very interesting, but it certainly didn't seem to have any entertainment value. Then before long, I noticed that at night, I started picking up stations (though nowhere near as clear as the other two bands). And what stations!
The first was station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes in Quito, Ecuador (a Protestant missionary station). Then came the Voice of America . . . Radio Canada International . . . BBC World Service . . . and then I discovered the really exotic stuff--Radio Moscow . . . Radio Havana Cuba . . . Swiss Radio International . . . Deutsche Welle . . . Radio Nederland Wereldemroep . . . Swiss Radio International . . .
Yes . . . I had, quite by accident, stumbled upon the wonderful world of international broadcasting!
In those days most adults had lived through World War II and I had of course heard of Tokyo Rose. Here was the same thing! Not only did I get to listen to the government radio of exotic foreign countries, but I had a whole half a world of "bad guys" to listen to, just like the grown ups had thirty years before!
Naturally I gave names to the various Commie announcers. The two most common English language announcers on Radio Moscow I named Moscow Mildred and Leningrad Larry. Radio Havana Cuba had three: Havana Hannah, Santiago Sam, and Cuba Clyde. It was all so magical.
And there was something else as well . . . that wonderful time signal broadcast continuously from the National Bureau of Standards in Fort Collins, Colorado--an obsessive-compulsive's dream!
Then after I graduated from high school I decided I wanted a better radio. I found one in a mail order catalogue . . . a ten band beauty with two short wave bands. Homina-homina-homina!!! I enjoyed that radio so much over the decades. I kept it by my bed so I could listen to it at any time, though of course it was portable. The only problem was that two short wave bands, like the one I had access to previously, wasn't enough. It didn't have the whole spectrum. There were stations out there I couldn't get or couldn't find. Plus my beloved time signal immigrated across the band and at times disappeared completely.
I dreamed of a humongous digital receiving set that could get everything, even the broadcasts of Irish anarchists on a ship at sea whose broadcaster had to be turned off intermittently to keep it from melting down. Well, I was poor and couldn't afford the coveted Grundigs or any such thing. It was just me and my ten band for thirty years (and the old analogue dial slipped a lot and at times couldn't even access everything it should have).
Before going further, I would like to reminisce just a little bit about those stations and those broadcasts.
Voice of America was important to me because I could actually listen to exotic foreign languages I had only read of before, languages my parents had never heard spoken in their lives. There would be the "ding" at the top (or bottom) of the hour followed by a voice saying "This is the Voice of America; the following program is in [fill in the blank]." Wow.
And straight out of World War II was AFRTS, the American Forces Radio and Television Service.
Deutsche Welle was important because it represented a country that not too long ago had been an enemy, but was now an ally. I really enjoyed their 65 minute programs, especially the feature with Larry Wayne, Deutsche Welle's answer to Paul Harvey. And at the end of each of his programs he would always close by saying "with regards from Jezzy, the Cat What Am!" Unfortunately they eventually cut back to just twenty minutes and Larry Wayne and Jezzy were gone.
Sunday nights meant "Happy Station" on Radio Nederland hosted by the redoubtable Tom Meijer. "Happy Station" had begun way back in 1928 with Eddie Startz and was one of the oldest and longest-lasting programs in broadcasting history.
Albania was one of the most isolated and repressive countries on the world under the heel of the unlamented Enver Hoxha (the only country to actually make the worship of G-d a crime), but their signal came in loud and clear. I recall one time the announcer chirping that in Albania "the socialist spring is blooming with all the colors of the rainbow."
HCJB and Family Radio WYFR often carried the old gospel dramatic program "Unshackled." Does anyone else remember that? HCJB also had a program called "The Cracker Barrel" where they read viewer mail.
And of course for many years I was a regular listener (especially on Shabbat and holidays) of Qol Yisra'el, the Voice of Israel.
My QSL card collection (which I still have) is small, but I was very proud of it. I got cards from Qol Yisra'el, HCJB, Radio Nederland's "Family Radio," the Voice of Turkey, Radio Japan, Radio Australia (famous for having gone completely broke at one time), the Voice of Spain, Deutsche Welle, and various other stations (I'm sure I've forgotten several). I had two rules though: I never sent for a card to a Communist or an Arab station.
Other Communist stations I picked up other than those I have mentioned included Radio Peking (yes, that was actually its name at the time), Radio Prague, Radio Sofia, Radio Budapest, Radio Kiev, and Radio Vilnius. I never did find Radio Berlin International (the East German station). One time I actually picked up Qaddafi's Radio Jamahiriya ("the voice of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya") for a few days.
Other exotic stations I picked up were the Voice of Spain, Swiss Radio International, RAI (Italy), Radio Japan, Portugal, the Voice of Turkey, Radio Cairo, Radio RSA (South Africa from Johannesburg), the Voice of Free China (via WYFR in Okeechobee, Florida), and the Pinochet-era Voice of Chile (great music!).
In the early years of this millennium I finally achieved my dream of getting a digital short wave receiver that actually had the entire short wave spectrum on it. Unfortunately, the Internet was already cutting into international shortwave broadcasting as the medium by which governments propagandized each other.
What brought this whole post on was the fact that half a year ago I noticed that my valiant little digital radio was giving forth distorted sounds. It had been around a long time, so I guess it certainly had the right. I tried to find someone who could fix it, but the regular repairman had gone out of business and the people at the local ham club (no, I'm not a member) said that the little radio's time had come and gone. I knew I had to have another one, so I just last month ordered and received its replacement. It's the exact same model it is replacing, which is the cheapest model to cover the entire shortwave spectrum. Unfortunately, international broadcasting on shortwave is now only a shadow of its former self. Even that old stand-by HCJB closed down years ago to be replaced by a series of local AM stations.
Radio Canada International and Swiss Radio International are Internet-only. BBC and Deutsche Welle no longer broadcast to North America. Radio Moscow went out of existence twenty-three years ago. The Cold War is over everywhere except domestically. It's almost all over. I can't even find VOA on the radio any more, much less AFRTS.
A few stations remain. Radio Havana Cuba and China Radio International keep perking on. I can now pick up Radio Hanoi. I even got the Czech Republic the other night. Radio Australia, the station that became famous for going broke, is still around. I got the Voice of Turkey as well as Greece, though Greece is always in Greek.
Nowadays shortwave is primarily the home of religious stations and Alex Jones conspiracy types. The first shortwave station I picked up on my new radio was someone in a thick African (I think) accent claiming that the Jesuits run the CIA. But even so, without a shortwave receiving set available to me, my life is simply not complete. Especially since I can now pick up my beloved time signal and practically any time of the night or day, no matter where it migrates to!
Well . . . these are simply my nostalgic musings about the golden age of Cold War shortwave radio brought about by my having to get a new set. I hope maybe a few of you who had the same experience will consider sharing your experiences as well. -_-
I wasn't even born then!
Ah yes, those beloved old interval signals (see the YouTube links above). I really liked Radio Nederland's, though I believe Portugal had a very pretty one as well.
And oh yes, the South African birdsong!
Thanks. We’re on the top floor of a four-story apt. building, and have had best results with our little radio by clipping the wire antenna that it came with to a drainpipe off our balcony ;-)
But I want to put a round-the-room antenna near the bedroom ceiling, for night time listening.
-JT
I wonder if he was my "Leningrad Larry?"
I really enjoyed your nusings on SW radio.
When I was in college in the mid 60’s , I used to listen avidly to Willis Conover on the Voice of America as he played and talked (VERY KNOWLEDGABLY!!) about Jazz!
I was introduced over 5 years to various artists from Armstrong, Louis, to Zentner, Zi. What a wonderful world opened up to me! I would listen to the transmittal from Columbo, Ceylon (as it was called in those days).
If Mr Conover (I can not think of the Professor without great respect, admiration and love) featured Ella Fitzgerald, I would try and pick up the re broadcast again from Monrovia, Liberia, and then one more time from South Carolina about dawn my time in India.
Many years later I was fortunate to come to the USA, and got to see the artists I had listened to over my scratchy SW radio; Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughn, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis.
My most treasured recollections are a concert with Old Blue Eyes ( 4th row seats), and a meeting with Ella Fitzgerald after a concert in Dallas, and a phone conversation with a very gracious Mr Conover shortly before his death.
All thanks to SW radio, Mr Conover, and the VOA.
I now live close to Denton, TX, and listen to KNTU on 88.1 FM from the Univ of North Texas all day long. This is as close to heaven as I hope to get!
Thanks for re-kindling my memories!
Sir (or Madam): You have my props and respect!
Yes, the day is coming. They will register guns first. Then communications equipment.
I hate to think what VOA broadcasts to the world today!
"While you capitalist American pigs are starving in the streets! Mwa-ha!!!"
Right? Naw, they were never quite that crude back during the time that I listened.
Yeah . . . a big lefty who later toured America with Phil Donahue (who made him look like a "reactionary"). I used to hear him too.
I have a somewhat similar story. My first radio (the little one from my uncle) would improve in quality when I took a copper wire and attached it to the antenna. The other end of the wire went through the wall to our old TV aerial.
Thank you for that information!
I used to wait anxiously for the latest Popular Electronics, which had the schedules and frequencies of the Shortwave broadcasts to North America.
If such is the case then the most self-actualized people in the world are children.
I discovered SW listening during the late 1960s and progressed through several better radios until buying an Allied SX-190 (http://www.dxing.com/rx/ax190.htm) from Radio Shack in 1972. I still have that radio but seldom use it - there isn’t much that is interesting to hear anymore. Sadly, the Internet has all but killed SWL. I probably logged English broadcasts from 40 foreign countries.
I enjoyed listening to the rabid communist stations, they were all pretty extreme like North Korea today. It gave me a sense of just how dangerous the outside world really was. Radio Tirana (Albania) was probably the weirdest. I have fond memories hearing the Red Chinese screaming against “American imperialists and their running dogs”. I also was thrilled to hear the heroic production figures of Pipe Factory #47, or whatever.
Before I understood how different radio frequencies affected propagation, I used to wonder why there wasn’t such a thing as SW television. At least with the Internet I can now see video from around the world.
I once built a SW crystal radio that would pull in the BBC and a couple other high powered stations. I’m a bit too deaf to do that stunt now.
Way back, before Glenn Beck really lost it, he said he was the GM or PM of WPGC. Until he got fired for drinking.
My "best" LW/MW/SW radio is the Ten-Tec 320. Here's a review of the DRM-ready version.
The conversion to DRM is simple, but I haven't bothered.
What was the really nice thing were the 3rd party apps that would control the radio. Specifically, a db that could import the quarterly, but delayed by a month list of scheduled programming, then sort on say English, active, and click on the station.
Saved a lot of time running around to find the favorite stations as they changed frequencies with Earth's orbit.
One of the most popular programs in the entire world . . . the opening piano of Ellington's Take the A Train followed by that smooth voice saying "time for . . . jazz."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.