lsmyer wrote:

Remember the CB craze of the 1970s? It became insanely popular for a while
with a very wide audience, but then the sunspot cycle created horrible
conditions, and the faddists went somewhere else. The CB survived, though,
and even in these days of GPS and satellite and internet, there's still
nothing better for truckers and other interstate drivers than the old
familiar CB. I listen to channel 19 all the time, and it's just as busy as
ever before. CB is not about to go anywhere.

Neither is shortwave. I think shortwave is in a decline, but I think it will
survive and even flourish over the next few decades. I don't know who will
be on the SW band in 10 years, but I'm sure someone will be smart enough to
realize what a powerful medium radio can be.

The idiots at BBC and DW and VOA may deepsix their SW operations, but in
places like Africa SW is STILL the best way to reach rural audiences,
most of whom live on $1 a day yet who have SW radios. Also, SW is the
best way to get around media censorship. Look at Zimbabwe, where the
opposition has taken to SW in order to get anti Mugabe messages to the
public. In places where local media is heavily censored, SW can get the
opposition's message out to a wide audience. There is a lot of
clandestine SW to China, not only RFA but private operations like Sound
of Hope. And of course there will always be the preachers, who don't
have the money or local market share necessary for local media but who
can turn a profit on SW. The new Radio Wantok from Papua New Guinea that
has been discussed here mostly broadcasts tapes of American right wing
commentators, from reports I've read, but the locals still consider it a
community station.


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