Michael wrote:


"Mike Terry" wrote in message
...
Shortwave is actually experiencing a resurgence. It's strange but true, so
what do we base our findings on?

Mainly on the research carried out by the Mighty Merlin Communications,
they
that operate transmitters across the World on behalf of the BBC. This is
what they had to say:

"Shortwave radio listeners are growing globally, with shortwave
penetration
at its highest in the developing countries. That is not to say that
shortwave is not having an impact in the Western world. Recent surveys
revealed that 97% of regular business travellers listened to international
shortwave." This increase in the shortwave audience, according to Merlin,
is
"spelt out dramatically by just one factory in China that is frantically
producing 300,000 shortwave radio sets per month just to support demand.
Grundig in America report growth each year on their sales of shortwave
receivers. There are at least 600 million shortwave radio sets worldwide."

In France, according to a Merlin survey, 70% of households with radio have
access to shortwave. In Slovakia, the figure is 77%. "What is most
interesting," according to Merlin, "is the growth over the last 10 years
in
shortwave usage by business travellers, diplomats, aid workers and others
who move about the world as a result of their jobs.

This change has occurred because of the portability of new sets and the
simplicity of their use. Modern synthesized sets, which have the facility
of
actually entering the precise frequency number, made shortwave easy for
everyone.

People learned to pre-tune their sets, forgetting about kHz, MHz and
wavebands. The new sets went in pockets, handbags and briefcases. Now sets
weigh as little as 220 grams and are easily available and affordable."

Teledifusion de France, which operates Radio France International's
extensive shortwave transmitter network,
says that "an estimated 2.5 billion people tune in to programmes broadcast
on shortwave, and about a billion receivers pick up shortwave
transmissions.
At any given moment, over 200 million receivers are tuned in to shortwave
broadcasts.

Shortwave remains the only means of reaching a broad audience anywhere in
the world, via a simple portable radio that can be bought for around $25.
Listeners include expatriates, business travellers, tourists, or simply
people who want to hear programmes in a language other than their own or
who
want to open a new window on the world.

It doesn't matter where you are in the World, with shortwave you can
always
be in touch with Europa Radio International and you can't do that with the
Internet or Sky satellite can you? There's always someone who will want to
use the PC or watch the latest episode of the Simpsons. So get yourself a
decent receiver, preferably with digital readout, check out our front page
for the next transmission dates and times and come over and join us,
there's
a whole New World to explore.

Write to us c/o PO Box 299, Kent CT5 2YA, UK
E-mail to

http://www.europaradiointernational.co.uk/shortwave.htm


OUTSTANDING POST !!!!!

This is a good reason for me to get a new radio to add to my collection :-)
In addition... I've always felt that sw was the most severely undermarketed
medium out there. Given the economy of sw air time costs, I cant help
thinking how many people out there with a message or a statement to make
would buy air time to put out their content if only they had an idea of how
cheap and easy it is to do so. You'd could have everything from some jearky
guy's sports talk show to garage rock bands airing their music on sw as an
alternative way to have their work heard by lots of people. The inevitable
accompaniment of that increased demand would be more transmitters going up.
Once the public got wind of all these funn exciting and off beat things to
hear, no doubt, listenership would go up. Once again.. I've always been
ASTOUNDED that sw is so underused and undermarketed. I dont get it.

Michael

WRMI sold airtime to practically anybody to say or do practically
anything for $1 a minute five years ago. I don't know if that's still
the case, but in 2000, as an experiment, I emailed WRMI about doing a
thirty minute program every Sunday night. Yes, they had two slots
available, and they were only $30 a week. What a deal! It's too bad that
WBCQ, which was set up to provide exactly the sort of service that
you're talking about, was forced to rely on endless tapes of Bill
Cooper's Hour Of The Time to pay the bills. I should note that virtually
all of the SW station shutdowns have been the result of either a)
services for expats going to the internet, such as the Swiss, or b)
terminally stupid management, such as the BBC, which has made other
extremely dumb decisions (in the BBC's case, slashing popular programs
on UK TV). The VOA is another case of terminal idiocy and overreliance
on FM and satellite. Just wait until a Radio Sawa FM transmitter in Iraq
is captured by insurgents and starts pumping out jihad instead, and
you'll have a lot of suits in DC scratching their heads and wondering
how THAT could happen. And then there's Nepal, where the BBC found that
its precious FM relay was broadcasting government propaganda all of a
sudden. Li, this newsgroup's Commie baiter, posted an article about how
people in Beijing were coughing up mucho yuan (the equivalent of $20) in
order to hear criticism of the CCP on SW. Just wait until they get their
hands on the antijamming antenna.


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