Only if it happens in January 2021 rather than January 2025. By the latter date, the courts will have been completely remade and the laws will be uniformly interpreted the way the administration wants and there will be no way for decades to change that.
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What’s behind Trump’s fresh push to wrest control of Voice of America
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
- Start date
Only if it happens in January 2021 rather than January 2025. By the latter date, the courts will have been completely remade and the laws will be uniformly interpreted the way the administration wants and there will be no way for decades to change that.
K
kenglish
Guest
I'm not sure the average US citizen understands how important this is.
KSL.com has regurgitated the AP story twice in the past few days, but shows no comments either time. I responded to both, mentioning the mission of the VOA and other BIB entities. I stated the Arch Madsen must be rolling over in his grave, over the thought of it. My comments were rejected both times.
I guess the kids that run the website don't know who Arch was, or what he stood for.
KSL.com has regurgitated the AP story twice in the past few days, but shows no comments either time. I responded to both, mentioning the mission of the VOA and other BIB entities. I stated the Arch Madsen must be rolling over in his grave, over the thought of it. My comments were rejected both times.
I guess the kids that run the website don't know who Arch was, or what he stood for.
If that. Not counting hams who dabble in SWLing, there are probably less than 100,000 people who own shortwave radios, plus maybe a few thousand who listen online.
I think there are around 300K hams now, but probably the majority of them are inactive. I would hazard a guess that your 100K SWL figure is somewhere in the ballpark.
Then there is the issue as to who overseas really pays attention to the VOA. It's not like they don't have their own local media for news and entertainment. And there is a lot of other international competition (RT, BBC, etc.) as well.
Some seem to think Trump has set the taking over of the VOA as a priority. Does he even know what the VOA is? And what would be the point? It's not going to win him votes, or benefit him in any other way, either personally or politicially.
Evern back in the day, who was actually listening to VOA overseas or to Radio Bucharest in the US, let alone Radio Moscow or Radio Havana Cuba. Maybe activists. "The U.S. Imperialists are criminally oppressing the people of ________________ (insert beleaguered 3rd world country)'. Moscow was on every other frequency but what did they gain? Did anyone listen other than hobbyists and diplomats?
As of June 5, there are 762,718 licensed hams of all classes. Half are Technician Class.
https://www.eham.net/community/smf/index.php/topic,70322.msg1182937.html#new
VOA is a pale shadow of its former self. It broadcasts mainly to Africa and Asia, with the African Service as the majority of the English-language broadcasts. Greenville NC is the last remaining VOA site in the US.
I doubt Trump can spell "VOA," but he wouldn't be the first President to skew it to his point of view.
The VOA's editorial content is always announced as being the "viewpoint of the United States government," which in practical terms means the President. But some Presidents have been more active than others. Before Trump, Nixon was probably the worst, at least after WW2 ended.
As far as I was concerned, the Warsaw Pact nations' broadcasters were little more than comedy relief, although some did broadcast interesting cultural shows about their countries, keeping politics to a minimum.
But there was a reason why the Soviet Union and its satellite countries jammed the VOA, BBC, Radio Free Europe, and the like: Their citizens most certainly did attempt to listen to radio from our side. The major jamming didn't end until the late '80s, when the Warsaw Pact collapsed. I believe Iran still jams foreign stations, as does China.
Sometimes they coincide, most times they don't. But I'm pretty sure the president gets more instant gratification from Twitter.
Cuba jams Radio Marti and a select show on WRMI
China jams Some Radio Free Asia and Radio Taiwain International stuff. I think they jam North Korea too.
South Korea jams north Korea
North Korea jams south Korea (NK and SK jam each other on am, fm, sw and tv)
Iran jammed one of the AM frequencies of I think Radio Farda, a VOA outlet. Theyve jammed some others b ut not many.
I think the Saudi Broadcasting authority jams some people.
K
kenglish
Guest
Remember, these stations are not just shortwave. Many are on Medium Wave, and their feeds are also available via satellite, and can be received on dishes in places like Iran, where people build them from flattened oil cans.
To show how even Congressmen don't have a clue...
I recall a story of a US Congressman who questioned the budget request for nine Range Rovers for the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He demanded to know why they couldn't take a cab like everyone else.
He didn't realize that the BBG was a department of government, not some group of bureaucrats, and the vehicles were for getting around huge transmitter sites where there are no roads or trails. Hopefully someone gave him a tour, someplace hot and sandy.
To show how even Congressmen don't have a clue...
I recall a story of a US Congressman who questioned the budget request for nine Range Rovers for the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He demanded to know why they couldn't take a cab like everyone else.
He didn't realize that the BBG was a department of government, not some group of bureaucrats, and the vehicles were for getting around huge transmitter sites where there are no roads or trails. Hopefully someone gave him a tour, someplace hot and sandy.
There is a question of who listens to shortwave at all, and there has been for half a century now.
Back around 1970 when I was running stations in Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca and several other Ecuadorian markets as a subscriber I saw the raw data for all radio station mentions in the ratings for all the major markets. This was done via coincidental in-home interviews, where people were asked what they were listening to at the time as well as after 8 PM the evening before.
Out of over 50,000 interviews in three main markets representing more than half of the nation's population, there was not a single mention of VOA. Not one.
And that was back when shortwave still got listening, but that listening was mostly to stations in Ecuador that did national news coverage or had interesting personalities. And that faded in the next decade as more and more smaller towns and rural areas got local stations.
And American tourists visiting third world nations or American businessmen stationed there.
As an American who lived in Latin America for 30 years and worked there for another 20, I found the VOA to be always dull, always having a tone of superiority. It was not entertaining. Ever.
I never knew anyone who thought differently.
The good news is that there is another alternative foreign broadcasting service that's paid for by US taxpayers and it's called the Armed Forces Radio & Television Service. It carries some commercial and non-commercial broadcast networks, and local programming from soldiers. It likely has more credibility than VOA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Forces_Network
It's also more entertaining. There used to be an AFRTS base station in San Juan at Ft. Buchanan on 1040 AM (it closed when WOSO went on the air in around 1975). It actually got a small showing in the local ratings which was interesting as at about 50 watts it did not cover much of the market... and none at night.
Other than a couple of SSB transmissions, the AFRTS shortwave network has been dead for decades.
The purge has begun. New CEO Michael Pack has fired the heads of all VOA services and replaced them with Trump appointees:
https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...eo-fires-heads-of-radio-free-europe-radio-lib
https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...eo-fires-heads-of-radio-free-europe-radio-lib
Some they haven't announced the replacements yet. Word is.. right wing political commentator Sebastian Gorka, will be running VOA.
What is now AFN (formerly AFRTS) had their last shortwave transmitter only go off the air about a decade ago, maybe slightly less.. ive been DXing shortwave fot6-7 years and i think it went off sometime in that time frame. They have no more AFRTS on SW/HF.. and only a few AM transmitters left.. a few in SE Asia, i think one in turkey and im not sure any left in europe.
K
kenglish
Guest
From Kim Andrew Elliott:
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-h...errer=https://www.google.com&_tf=From %1$s
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-h...errer=https://www.google.com&_tf=From %1$s
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