Shortwave is, to our dismay, on the way out. Anyone
who uses as hope the fact that some areas of the world
are still in "need" of shortwave is ignoring the great
potential of internet and satellite for reaching these
same places. Stations are not going to continue to
pay to support shortwave transmission means just
to reach the remotest folks in villages in Africa and
Asia simply because these people are still "thirsting"
for free and objective information. After all, solar
powered internet is already a reality in many places,
as is solar and other alternative powered sat TV.
Hard for many of us (including those of us working in
international broadcasting) to swallow, but it's the
truth...

From: "Mark S. Holden"
Reply-To:
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 00:19:15 -0400
Subject: Shortwave's decline over past five years

tommyknocker wrote:

I was just thinking about this today. Has anybody noticed that shortwave
radio has really declined over the past five years or so? We've lost BBC
and Deutsche Welle transmissions to North America, we've lost several
smaller European broadcasters entirely, other stations have drastically
cut back. Are transmitting facilities really going on the blink so soon
after the end of the cold war? Or has everybody jumped on the BBC's
bandwagon and concluded that satellite and internet broadcasting has
replaced shortwave? Any thoughts?


I'm not happy when I hear another major broadcaster is going to cut back
or stop broadcasting to the USA, but I think shortwave will be around
for a very long time.

In certain parts of the world, internet connections are scarce. Some
parts of the USA don't have affordable access to high speed connections.

While the internet is competition in some respects, it's also a great
resource for information to help you get more enjoyment out of the SW
hobby.

It may just be positive thinking, but it seems we've had somewhat of an
uptick in the number of pirate stations over the last couple years.

The other thing to consider is back when the hobby started, the number
of signals was probably a small fraction of what we have to choose from
today.

Of course one thing you can do to help promote the hobby is get the
better radios you're not using into the hands of kids.