US Domestic Shortwave

[CTListener]

I was part of the Happy Station Show's pen pal club.

I was in the Radio Canada Shortwave Club and Radio Budapest Shortwave Club, also got the Sweden Calling DXers bulletin mailed to me weekly for a while.

 

[Kelly A]

Many if not most of the shows that were not news broadcasts were also offered on tape to local radio stations in nations that had private radio stations. I recall, after refusing that stuff over and over from the local USIS office in Ecuador, getting a call from the U.S. Ambassador asking to run some of the shows, resulting in my polite but firm refusal and a statement that Top 40 stations don't run talk shows from any source.

They still do that. They call them "affiliated stations". The programs are delivered to stations via expensive satellite time or FTP. I suspect many of the stations take the money but never run the programming. As I recall, there was no process at VOA that would actually confirm the programming aired. The whole point is optics to Congress: "The Blah Blah Jazz Hour is carried on X-many stations and heard by over a zillion listeners around the globe!"
Yeah, right...

 

[davideduardo]

They still do that. They call them "affiliated stations". The programs are delivered to stations via expensive satellite time or FTP. I suspect many of the stations take the money but never run the programming. As I recall, there was no process at VOA that would actually confirm the programming aired. The whole point is optics to Congress: "The Blah Blah Jazz Hour is carried on X-many stations and heard by over a zillion listeners around the globe!"
Yeah, right...

I know in Ecuador "way back then" many stations accepted the USIS programs on tape. They never ran them. They got free 7" reels of tape.

 

[Mitch Brewer]

I didn't have a SW radio as a kid but I did have my trusty AM transistor radio. I remember staying up after I was supposed to be asleep tuning in Nashville, Chicago, NY and many other places, sometimes Canada! It was funny how I might not know what station it was but I could tell where it was from by the music they played. I got into SW in my 20's but rarely listened to regular stations. Numbers stations were my favorites. I could listen to them for hours, it seemed so cool to me that they could send their weird code all over the world.

 

[kenglish]

I was part of the Happy Station Show's pen pal club.

I listened to the Happy Station show for years, when Tom Myer was host. I think Eddy Startz retired just after I got in to shortwave, so I may not have heard him very much.
Where were some of the pen pals from?

 

[CTListener]

In addition to "The Happy Station," Radio Nederland also had a show called "His and Hers" -- an hour of chit-chat and music with a cheerful married couple. The Dutch shortwave service went out of its way to create an upbeat, lighthearted atmosphere on air. I'll bet it was a favorite of many SWLs back then.

 

[TomásEstefan]

I of course didn't win the contest (first prize was a trip to the USSR) but my package was the "thanks for entering" consolation, I guess. I do remember Joe Adamov...now I have the "Moscow Mailbag" theme running through my head...

I listened to Radio Moscow as well to hear Joe Adamov and even more to hear Vladimir Posner's regular commentaries which I thought were fascinating...My poor mother thought I was studying to be a Communist! It didn't matter to her that I also listened daily to the news on Radio Nederland a wonderful station that I preferred over the VOA, because I thought the VOA was boring!

 

[TomásEstefan]

I listened to the Happy Station show for years, when Tom Myer was host. I think Eddy Startz retired just after I got in to shortwave, so I may not have heard him very much.
Where were some of the pen pals from?

I thought Tom Meyer was entertaining and a cool dude but I don't think he knew a lot about American entertainment. I remember listening with amusement to his on the air conversation with himself about whether to pronounce Henry Mancini's name: Man- CEE-NEE or Man CHEE-NEE he opted for Man CHEE-NEE because after all its an Italian name.

 

[TomásEstefan]

In addition to "The Happy Station," Radio Nederland also had a show called "His and Hers" -- an hour of chit-chat and music with a cheerful married couple. The Dutch shortwave service went out of its way to create an upbeat, lighthearted atmosphere on air. I'll bet it was a favorite of many SWLs back then.

They were the Cowans, a Dutch-Canadian couple. Her name was "Dodie" but his name escapes me...somebody please tell me who it was! I can't remember Mr. Cowans first name but they were both bilingual and freqently read the news in Dutch

 

[Mediafrog+]

I listened to the Happy Station show for years, when Tom Myer was host. I think Eddy Startz retired just after I got in to shortwave, so I may not have heard him very much.

Eddie Startz, who originated the Happy Station show on PCJ in the late 1920's, retired from Radio Netherlands at the end of 1969. Tom Meyer (or Thom Meijer in its Dutch form) took over at the beginning of 1970. Startz died in 1976; Meyer is still living, last I heard.

The two did both the English and Spanish versions of the show. I think Meyer is also fluent in French and German.

 

[Mediafrog+]

They were the Cowans, a Dutch-Canadian couple. Her name was "Dodie" but his name escapes me...somebody please tell me who it was! I can't remember Mr. Cowans first name but they were both bilingual and freqently read the news in Dutch

They were Jerry and Dody Cowan. The "His and Hers" request show they hosted was hugely popular amongst shortwave listeners in the 1960's and 70's. Jerry also had one of the finest voices ever bounced off the ionosphere. Both were involved with numerous other programs produced by RNW.

Sadly, the couple divorced in the early 1990's, many years after the end of His and Hers, and after they had both left RNW. During an interview Dody gave about ten years ago, she admitted that she had struggled with what could be regarded as suppressed PTSD due to her childhood experiences as a young Jewish girl in Nazi occupied Holland, and that affected the marriage towards the end.

Dody died in 2013. Last I heard Jerry is still alive and retired in western Canada.

 

[gr8oldies]

Same here regarding the Red broadcasters, QSLed every one I heard, from Albania to Yugoslavia. The only European that eluded me was Poland.

I won a letter-writing contest on Radio Canada International, and quizzes on Radio Bucharest and Austrian Radio. My prizes were, in order, three Canadian record albums, a colorful kerchief, and a board game about the United Nations that I never played because everything in it was written in German.

I won Procol Harum's "Live In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra" (which brought us the single "Conquistador") with some other CBC production singles from RCI.I think that's all swag-wise.

 

[gr8oldies]

Eddie Startz, who originated the Happy Station show on PCJ in the late 1920's, retired from Radio Netherlands at the end of 1969. Tom Meyer (or Thom Meijer in its Dutch form) took over at the beginning of 1970. Startz died in 1976; Meyer is still living, last I heard.

The two did both the English and Spanish versions of the show. I think Meyer is also fluent in French and German.

True, Tom did the Shortwave "H" (Hilversum) show where he spoke in more of a British-type accent, The "B" show, where he spoke with more of American accent and usage, and a special bilingual show where he spoke in more mellow tones on 800 (Radio Nederland leased time on PJB early on the evening), as well as the Spanish show. I think he appeared on the Happy Station revival with Keith Perron.

 

[CTListener]

We old SWLs probably need to be cut loose from this thread -- which, after all, is supposed to be about American domestic SW -- and relocated to the DXing/Ham forum with a different subject line. Any way this can be done, Frank/David, or is it OK to continue discussing international shortwave here?

 

[Mediafrog+]

True, Tom did the Shortwave "H" (Hilversum) show where he spoke in more of a British-type accent, The "B" show, where he spoke with more of American accent and usage,

The "H" show was often done live, directed to Europe and Africa. The "B" show beamed elsewhere was normally prerecorded, though there were occasional live productions.

and a special bilingual show where he spoke in more mellow tones on 800 (Radio Nederland leased time on PJB early on the evening)

That was "Happy Station 100" which ran, well, 100 minutes, occupying both the Spanish and English 50 minute slots on 800 kHz from Bonaire. I frequently heard this version as the 500kw TWR/PJB signal made it into Texas.

 

[Marcos_C]

I listened to the Happy Station show for years, when Tom [Meijer] was host. I think Eddy Startz retired just after I got in to shortwave, so I may not have heard him very much.
Where were some of the pen pals from?

I had pen pals from various places, but the most memorable ones were from Jamaica and South Africa.

 

[TomásEstefan]

They were Jerry and Dody Cowan. The "His and Hers" request show they hosted was hugely popular amongst shortwave listeners in the 1960's and 70's. Jerry also had one of the finest voices ever bounced off the ionosphere. Both were involved with numerous other programs produced by RNW.

Sadly, the couple divorced in the early 1990's, many years after the end of His and Hers, and after they had both left RNW. During an interview Dody gave about ten years ago, she admitted that she had struggled with what could be regarded as suppressed PTSD due to her childhood experiences as a young Jewish girl in Nazi occupied Holland, and that affected the marriage towards the end.

Dody died in 2013. Last I heard Jerry is still alive and retired in western Canada.

Thank you for refreshing my memory! And I agree with you Jerry Cowan probably did have one of the finest broadcast voices imaginable. I hope he is in good health and doing well!

 

[gr8oldies]

Thank you for refreshing my memory! And I agree with you Jerry Cowan probably did have one of the finest broadcast voices imaginable. I hope he is in good health and doing well!

Bruce Parsons was another RNW name, and he had a show on Saturdays featuring new music (just excerpts). Bruce went back to the US and owned stations in Jupiter, FL; I heard about his passing awhile back.

I also listened to "Records 'Round the World'" on the BBC World Service. Only way I had to keep tabs on what was charting in the UK and Europe.

 

[Radig]

We old SWLs probably need to be cut loose from this thread -- which, after all, is supposed to be about American domestic SW -- and relocated to the DXing/Ham forum with a different subject line.

All the activity on this thread actually indicates that there is a lot of interest in American domestic shortwave, even though officially there is no such thing. It appears that the primary way to fund such a domestic broadcaster, should it be permitted by the FCC, would be to have the program suppliers pay the transmitter operator for air time, as is currently done with WRMI, WWCR, WBCQ and the German stations.

Old SWL's want to listen to "Old SWL" programming, just like Boomers need to listen to stations with oldie formats!

To make it affordable start with low power, and make it regional. As an example, the CFRX transmitter located in Toronto comfortably covers several hundred miles, on 6070 kHz, during daytime with 1 KW to a 50-foot vertical antenna! Nighttime coverage is, of course, greater.

 

[davideduardo]

It appears that the primary way to fund such a domestic broadcaster, should it be permitted by the FCC, would be to have the program suppliers pay the transmitter operator for air time, as is currently done with WRMI, WWCR, WBCQ and the German stations.

That is how most domestic SW stations sustain themselves. The days of organizations wanting a SW facility to reach international audiences in the Western Hemisphere are long over.

To make it affordable start with low power, and make it regional. As an example, the CFRX transmitter located in Toronto comfortably covers several hundred miles, on 6070 kHz, during daytime with 1 KW to a 50-foot vertical antenna! Nighttime coverage is, of course, greater.

There, for all practical purposes, are no receivers available