David Eduardo wrote:
wrote in message ...
I guess this guy has never been to a less developed country where SW is
the only radio you can receive

I guess not. Hell, I live right here in NYC and at night the shortwave
bands are bursting at the seams.

And very little of it is of relevance to rural residents in the Third World,
such as Latin America. Which is why it is almost as difficult to find an SW
receiver at retail there as it is in the USA.

A shortwave broadcast is "relevant" to anyone who's interested in
listening to it, regardless of culture. It might be hard to find SW
receivers, but it sure isn't hard to find stuff on shortwave. Like I
said, at night the bands are bursting at the seams.

Steve

David Eduardo wrote:

Very little of interst to rural residents in Latin America can be found on
SW. First, such folk are generally only Spanish or indigenous language
speakers (such as the Quechua and Aymar=E1 and Guaran=ED speakers of the =
Andean
zone and Paraguay. Second, rural residents are very poor, wtih annual
incomes of less than $600 on the average, where a SW receiver is generally
not an option.

They might have one radio per village, or something. I remember seeing
pictures
of rural folks all gathered around the radio, listening. But that was
years ago, though...

In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Eduardo" wrote:

wrote in message
...
I guess this guy has never been to a less developed country where
SW is the only radio you can receive

I guess not. Hell, I live right here in NYC and at night the
shortwave bands are bursting at the seams.

And very little of it is of relevance to rural residents in the Third
World, such as Latin America. Which is why it is almost as difficult
to find an SW receiver at retail there as it is in the USA.

Your view is just to extreme. There is plenty on SW of relevance to
people in central and south America. How can world events not be?

Very little of interst to rural residents in Latin America can be found on
SW. First, such folk are generally only Spanish or indigenous language
speakers (such as the Quechua and Aymará and Guaraní speakers of the Andean
zone and Paraguay. Second, rural residents are very poor, wtih annual
incomes of less than $600 on the average, where a SW receiver is generally
not an option. Third, international broadcasts have very little that affects
local life in rural Latin America, and nothing to do with the cultures of
those areas.

Even in metro areas, there is very little if any use of SW. In the 60´s, I
pored over radio audience research in Quito and Guayaquil, and in the late
70´s in a variety (over 12) of other countries. In some cases, like Quito
and Guayaquil, in 60,000 interfiews in late 1968, not one mention of any SW
station was made! At that time, Ecuador had over 100 SW stations, most of
which are gone now... I wonder why? Based on that, I cancelled a licence I
had as I realized running a SW transmitter only benefitted the Empresa
Eléctrica Quito, S.A.

You might want to reevaluate your attitude as it is downright dour.

Dour? No. realistic? Yes. There is a reason why more than 2/3 of Latin
America´s SW stations have disappeared in the last 30 or so years.

Your attitude about the future of SW in a Usenet SW radio hobbyist news
group is gloomy and unfriendly where enthusiasm about the hobby is the
norm and you stubbornly extend some economic study on the commercial
viability of a SW station you made to mean any use of SW in south
America is a wast of time. Dour? You bet. Realistic? No way.

I hear many broadcasts in spanish where the listing show SA as the
target. I guess nobody is listening to any of them.

Off the top of my head:
I have heard news about the world bank loans to South American countries
and other news about the economies of those countries.
I have heard about South American politics.
I have heard stories about the coffee growers in South America.
I hear broadcasts to South America on religion, to many really!
I have heard about the rain forest destruction and the changes in the
lives of the people living there.
I have heard about weather related news about storms and damage they
cause.

I have been to both coasts on Mexico and saw short wave radios around.
Mexicans I spoke to knew what SW was. I'm afraid all I can offer is my
experience on the pacific coast of Mexico and the Yucatan on the
atlantic side to your more extensive travels in central and South
America but at least the people in those places knew what SW meant.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California