Souvenir Programme: Official Opening of 2ZB
On Wednesday, 28th of April, 1937 the Hon. F. Jones, M.P., Postmaster-General and Acting Minister for Broadcasting, officially opened Station 2ZB in Wellington, New Zealand.
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The Samoan Earthquakes and the Early Radio Scene in American Samoa
American Samoa is a small group of small islands in the exotic South Pacific with a total land area of only 76.8 square miles, a little more than the area of Washington DC. There are five main islands, and two coral atolls, with a population of 45,000, most of whom are bilingual in both Samoan and English.
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ARAMCO Radio in Saudi Arabia and BFBS radio programming in Nepal
The earliest beginnings for ARAMCO Radio in Dhahran Saudi Arabia can be traced back to the late 1930s when the Arabian American Oil Company played music over a set of loud speakers that were installed at a company swimming pool. The Arabian American Oil Company was established in 1933 and with its exponential growth it has become the largest and most valuable commercial company in the world.
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Nepal Earthquake: The Current Radio Scene in Nepal
The current radio scene in Nepal indicates that the most significant form of radio coverage in Nepal is achieved by more than 500 FM stations; government owned, commercial, and community stations. Programming is on the air in a multitude of local and regional languages, and also in English, Hindi and Urdu for wide area coverage. Off air relays in several languages from the BBC in London are also heard on some FM stations.
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The Collection of Adinei Brochi PY2ADN
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX-LU9EFO), travels to the city of Americana, in the interior of Sao Paulo, to meet his colleague Adinei Brochi (PY2ADN), owner of one of the private collections of the most important radio transmitters in Brazil.
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Waves of Liberty / Adéu Liberty
YouTube video featuring Radio Liberty and the former transmitter site at Platja de Pals, Spain.
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Early Music Recordings from ZJV Suva
Some early recordings of Fijian music made by station ZJV Suva.
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Two Lochs Radio
Britain's smallest commercial radio station and community broadcaster for the Gairloch and Loch Ewe areas of Wester Ross, Scotland, on 106 and 106.6 FM.
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Radio Six at Sixty
On 6th June 1963, a group of schoolchildren gathered in the attic of a house on the Ardrossan seafront in Ayrshire to launch their very own radio station. Cobbled together with tins, clockwork gramophones, and lots of wire, the opening day’s programmes were line fed to a radio receiver two floors down. But it was a start and, against the odds, the station survived in a variety of forms and today can be heard 24/7 on the internet.
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DW Turns 70
To mark their 70th anniversary German broadcaster DW (Deutsche Welle) published this video report on their website.
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A Tour of Asia's Oldest Radio Station
A tour of Asia's oldest radio station, which introduced Sri Lanka and India to Elvis Presley, is a journey through broadcast history.
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MediaWorks Launches Channel X
New Zealand's MediaWorks has launched a new music-only network "Channel X" to replace the former talk-format "Today FM"
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No All India Radio, Only Akashvani Henceforth Says Govt Diktat
All India Radio is going off air. It is being replaced by Akashvani. The next radio bulletin that you listen to in English on the government-run service will begin with the announcement, "This is Akashvani" in place of "This is All India Radio".
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Rádio Universitária – Goiânia, Brazil
Martin Butera continues his fascinating visits to radio stations and this time shows us one of the most important university radio stations in Brazil. A station that transmits in the AM band and with its 20 KW, it has been able to be heard by different DXers in 5 continents.
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Radio Alhara: No Limits
Radio Alhara was launched in 2020 as a way for five friends to stay in touch during the coronavirus lockdowns. It was initially broadcast from Bethlehem, Ramallah and Amman but now you’ll hear presenters and DJs from around the world.
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American Shortwave Stations on the Air in 1926
During the year 1926, a total of five American shortwave broadcasting stations were on the air, though generally with relay programming from the mediumwave parent station, as was the case back then.
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Interview with Gustavo de Faria Franco
Martin Butera (PT2ZDX – LU9EFO), visited LABRE (Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Radio Emissão), to interview the new Vice President and Treasurer of IARU region 2.
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Radio Weddings
Gleason Golden Wedding Interview
On six previous occasions here in Wavescan, we have presented interesting information about Radio Weddings, weddings that were broadcast live over a radio broadcasting station. Down there in Jacksonville Florida, Wendy Heape came across some of the information about our presentations of Radio Weddings, and she made contact.
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Bird Calls on Radio
Adrian Peterson takes a look (and listen) to some more bird calls that have featured on radio stations around the globe.
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Ocean Island
Back in the year 1908, just eight years after Marconi inaugurated his first permanent wireless station in England, the Pacific Phosphate Company announced that they hoped a wireless station could be installed on Ocean Island. During the following year (1909), another announcement indicated that the wireless station would be capable of long distant transmission. In addition, the specific location on Ocean Island for the projected station would need to be approved by a Wireless Engineer, they said.
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American Shortwave Stations – 1928
At the beginning of the year 1928, there were six international shortwave stations on the air in the United States.
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Recent Radio Developments in Europe and Africa
Recent radio news in four different countries, two in Europe and two in Africa, indicate a positive direction for mediumwave and shortwave broadcasting, rather than a negative.
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Return to Guadeloupe: The Radio Scene on outlier islands
We return to the radio scene on Guadeloupe, and in particular to the radio scene on the other nearby islands that form part of the this French overseas department in the Caribbean.
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Whale Stranding at King Island and the Local Radio Scene
Adrian Peterson takes a look at the history and local radio scene on King Island, off the northern coast of Tasmania, Australia.
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VOA Voyager: Three Mobile VOA Stations in the United States
On three separate occasions, VOA, the Voice of America, has commissioned a mobile radio station for use within the United States. On each occasion, the intent was to obtain information and recordings about lifestyle and events throughout the nation for inclusion in their worldwide English and foreign language programming.
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Today FM Closes
MediaWorks, parent company of Today FM, has pulled the plug on its New Zealand-wide talk-back radio network.
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The Sun, Radio Propagation and the Brasilia Planetarium
Martin Butera takes a look at how the sun impacts radio propagation, with a bonus photo-tour of the Brasilia Planetarium.
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Return to Guadeloupe
Adrian Peterson returns to the French island of Guadeloupe which is shaped like the wings of a butterfly that is flying towards the northwest. That island is located between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and we examine the early communication radio scene and their almost three quarter century of mediumwave radio history.
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Tasmanian Whales Stranded Again, and Four Mediumwave Stations
Adrian Peterson presents another story of two more mediumwave stations on the island of Tasmania; two double commercial stations (7UV & 7AD and 7DY & 7SD) in country areas to the north of the island.
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Hurricane Fiona and the Early Shortwave Scene on Guadeloupe
Adrian Peterson takes a look at Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean, and its early radio history.
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Radio Revolution
In 2006 Citylife paid a visit to the contrasting faces of radio, the hugely popular Morning Crew at ZM and the niche carved out by World FM in Tawa and Massey University’s Munt FM.
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The Saga of Radio Antwerpen
During the 1920s and 1930s, a multitude of small radio broadcasting stations (some formal though most were informal), took to the air throughout Belgium, rather like what was happening in many other countries throughout the world. The stations in Belgium were installed in private homes, business locations, church buildings, and even out in the fields; wherever was convenient.
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The Radio Scene at the End of the Highway
Cooktown Part 2
This is our second topic on the radio scene at Cooktown at the end of the highway in Cape York Peninsula, at the far north of coastal Queensland in Australia. Unexpectedly, Cooktown was the second largest town in Queensland at the height of the nearby gold rush in the 1880s. Back then, the state capital Brisbane had a population of 50,000 and Cooktown had a population of 30,000.
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Coffee and Radio – with Ivan Dias
Today Coffee and Radio brings you an interview with DXer Ivan Dias.
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Dario Monferini – RIP
Italian DXer Daro Monferini has died after a long illness. The death of Dario Monferini has come as a shock to those involved in shortwave radio. Blogs announced the passing of Dario on the morning of October 17, 2022, after the news was spread rapidly via social media. Dario was a well-known DXer worldwide whose contribution to the hobby is well-documented.
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Disney AFRS Poster
In 2022 Susan Knisley found this in a cabin in Athol, ID. She sent it to us and we added it to our collection of Long Lost Radio History Images.
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The Story of the American Forces Network (AFN)
The Big Picture
Enjoy this YouTube video which recently came to our attention thanks to a posting on the World of Radio (WOR) mailing list by Horacio Nigro.
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Inside the Green and Yellow Contest
Our correspondent in Brazil, for RHF Martin Butera PT2ZDX/LU9EFO, had access to PT2CVA, the official broadcaster of the famous Brazilian "Verde Amarelo" contest, organized by the Brazilian army communications school.
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Empneusi FM, Syros
Syros – about four hours ferry ride from Athens – is a tranquil island known as the Cinderella of the Cyclades. Today, the island is home to Empneusi FM, a radio station dedicated to the broadcasting of traditional Greek music and the coverage of local events.
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3XY and the Falling Door
Back on April 19, 1944, there was a military parade through the downtown streets of Melbourne city with soldiers marching, a musical band from the Royal Air Force playing, and aircraft flying in formation overhead. A prominent announcer from radio station 3XY, Alwyn Kurts, was in one of the accompanying aircraft and he was describing for listeners what he was observing in the parade on the city streets below.
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Radio Dunedin at 100
In 2022 New Zealand radio station "Radio Dunedin" celebrates 100 years of broadcasting. The station was launched in late 1922, becoming the first radio station in New Zealand.
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A tour of ZW5B
One of the largest DX contest stations in South America
Our columnist in South America, Martín Butera, presents us with an interesting tour of this impressive South American contest station. With more than 10 towers and large stacked single band yagis, this is one of the most consistent calls in global and national contests.
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Coffee and Radio - with Denis Zoqbi
Martin Butera chats with Denis Zoqbi, born in the capital of Sao Paulo, one of the most influential Dxers in Brazil.
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For Decades, Lonewolf Has Supported "The Voice of the Arctic"
Pierre Lonewolf's career journey that led him to Kotzebue, Alaska in the early 1980s included a stop in a very large California metropolis, where he realized big-city living just wasn't for him.
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The Radio Scene at the End of the Highway
The July (2022) issue of the Australian DX News presents an interesting story about plans for an amateur DXpediton to the Grassy Hill Lighthouse overlooking the small northern town of Cooktown, at the end of the highway in far northern Queensland. This readable feature article reminds us that there have been three different eras associated with the radio scene in Cooktown.
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Radio Tirana's Kiwi Connection
During 2022 several articles appeared in New Zealand media looking at a New Zealand woman who worked as an announcer for Albania's Radio Tirana English service during the Communist era. We take a look at some of them here in this feature.
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American Radio Stations in New Zealand
Additional interesting information about American radio stations in New Zealand, back during the World War 2 era, and also subsequently.
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American Radio Stations in New Zealand: The 1ZM Story
During the Pacific War in the middle of last century, American forces poured into the South Pacific by the million, with multitudes coming into Auckland also, for Rest & Refreshment and also as a staging area before transferring into the islands to the north. In prewar days, the American army officer Major Purnell H. Gould had been employed at radio station WFBR in Baltimore MD, and he was subsequently appointed as the regional commander for American forces entertainment radio stations in the Pacific.
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Return to the Radio Scene in Bulgaria
We present the story about the huge radio broadcasting station that was erected at Vakarel back in the era before the beginning of World War 2. Vakarel is a small town some 25 miles south east of the national capital Sophia with a population of less than two thousand.
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AIR Kurseong Celebrates 60 Years
The Kurseong station of All India Radio Radio is located at an altitude of 4800 feet and it was inaugurated by the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Dr. B. Gopala Reddy in June 1962. Since then AIR Kurseong has taken a programming relay from other AIR radio broadcasting stations, and it also fosters the development of local talent in order to preserve the rich cultural values and traditions of the region.
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A Look Inside CBC/Radio-Canada's New Broadcast Center
The new Maison de Radio-Canada in Montréal is the headquarters for the French-language network of Canada's national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada.
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Radio Station 2CM
The Very First Radio Broadcasting Station in Australia
According to radio historians, the very first radio broadcasting license in Australia was awarded to Charles Maclurcan due to his regular Sunday evening broadcasts over experimental amateur station 2CM. The program content for each weekly broadcast was published in a radio magazine in advance, and each program was avidly followed by anywhere up to 5,000 listeners each week.
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PBS in the Philippines on Shortwave
During its more than three quarters of a century of on air shortwave service, PBS, the Philippine Broadcasting Service has always been quite tenuous, even at its very best. Radio Philippinas, the shortwave service of the Voice of the Philippines, has at times been dependent upon borrowed facilities and donated equipment, sometimes quite old, and sometimes no longer reliable.
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Lighthouse Radio in Australia
The second lighthouse in the waters of South Australia was constructed on Althorpe Island in 1879, and in 1925, the appointed lighthouse manger took his own informal amateur radio equipment ashore with him. He communicated with mediumwave broadcasting station 5CL in Adelaide, and conveyed his appreciation for the broadcast of their radio programming...
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The Radio Scene During the 1937 Ohio River Flood
The 1937 water flooding in the city of Cincinnati Ohio is described as the worst natural disaster ever in the lengthy 175 year history of the city. On January 5, 1937 water levels along the Ohio River began to rise, and local populations were becoming alarmed.
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Special Report on Brazil's First WebSDR Public Reception Station
Martin Butera reports on Brazil's first major WebSDR installation by William G. Schauff (PY2GN)
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New QSL Collection added
Dean Hunt, from Auckland, New Zealand, has recently donated a small collection of QSL cards and other memorabilia from his time as a listening enthusiast in the mid-1970s
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Coffee and Radio – with Thiago Pereira Machado
Martin Butera chats with Brazilian DXer and plane spotter Thiago Pereira Machado.
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One Hundred Years of Radio in Manitoba, Canada
Early Mediumwave Radio
During the month of April (2022), the Canadian province of Manitoba is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the introduction of official radio broadcasting in their territory.
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Radio broadcasting still crucial in Sarawak
According to Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) Sarawak Radio Section principal assistant director Marrill Chunggat, radio services in Sarawak continue to play an important role in reaching out to the masses. "This is especially in the rural areas that have yet to have digital accessibility, but can be reached through receptions of bands, waves or radio frequency transmissions either via shortwave (SW) or frequency modulation (FM)," he told The Borneo Post.
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AIR's Station At 9,000 Feet Along LoC In Kashmir Broadcasts Programs For People Living Across Border
Surrounded by the barbed wires, dense deodar trees and Pir Panchal mountains in the backdrop, this is the All India Radio (AIR) Srinagar's Radio Station which has been set up close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Rustum area of J&K's Uri sector.
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Legacy remains of WSY, Alabama's first radio station
One hundred years ago this year, on April 24, 1922, Alabama Power hit the airwaves with the state's first operating radio station. WSY (an acronym for "We Serve You") began broadcasting from rented space in a building on Powell Avenue in Birmingham.
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Marajó Island Amazonian DX Camp, Brazil 2019
Reports of 1st DX-Camp 15.61 Crew Radio Listeners' Marajó Island – Amazon Rainforest Northern Brazil – November 15, 16, 17 and 18, 2019 – Ivan Dias da Silva Junior & Martin Butera
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Radio Woodville Nearly 25 Years Old
Radio Woodville in Woodville near Palmerston North will be 25 years old on the 1st June 2023. As their 25th anniversary approaches we take a look back at their first 20 years on-air.
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Coffee and Radio – with Carlos Latuff
Martin Butera chats with Brazilian radio listener and political cartoonist Carlos Latuff.
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News Radio WHAM 1180/Rochester Celebrates 100 Years
iHeartMedia Rochester celebrates the 100th anniversary of News Radio WHAM 1180. As the longest surviving radio outlet in Rochester, NY, WHAM debuted on July 11, 1922, under the call letters WHQ.
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