The serious flaw in this is that shortwave stations, by FCC regulation, can
not target a domestic audience. They are required to use directional
antennas beamed outside the country and advertising that is only in the
interest of a domestic entity is prohibited.

"Sidchase3" wrote in message
news:20040121100637.17062.00000521@mb- It's my opinion that what shortwave
lacks so desperately is good domestic
programming. By this I don't mean the FM or AM style programming that
saturates the commercial bands. WBCQ is the only secular shortwave station
and
it begins to approach the idea because it offers true variety of thought.
Yes,
there's alot of "juvenilia" boredom there and some people are just
overboard in
their political opinions but the freshness and openess makes the station
unique.

I think domestic shortwave will be successfull when those with strong
viewpoints realize that shortwave is a cost effective way to get news and
views
out on a continent wide scale. It would allow those groups the ability to
own
the means of propagation without having to worry that the "parent
corporation"
was going to cut them off for fear of making waves politically or
socially.
Political correctness would take a back seat.

And no it doesn't mean that the air would be full of programs by the Aryan
nations, etc. though they certainly would have their share. There are all
sorts
of groups both left and right that would have a say. Some would be NGO's,
some
academic, etc. Even the internet is not a solution for this access problem
since the means of propagation (i.e. the ISP) could always refuse access
to the
particular group if they stirred up too much controversy. Corporations
don't
like that.

The problem is getting a sufficient number of receivers into peoples
hands. In
an ideal world there would be a $40 to $80 receiver capable of digital
reception and of interfacing with a computer. This would allow the
dissemination of text as well as audio.

Anyway, something to think about.

-Bill