But they can change the platform emphasis. As previously mentioned, whatever you think of the current right wing MAGA movement you have to agree they are very savvy about using modern and effective platforms to spread their message. And that doesn’t include shortwave.
Yes. I fully apologize for the last sentence in my previous post. I'm obviously very angry and upset about what is happening today. I will go away for a while and try to calm down.
VOA is already very active on various social media platforms. Actually, I find the continued emphasis on shortwave in this thread rather out-of-touch when shortwave represents a small fraction of VOA's output in the current day. Nowhere do I get the sense that VOA still believes shortwave is a primary means of reaching audiences.
www.insidevoa.com
The shortwave discussion isn’t “out of touch” but is pointing out that the various USAGM services continue to have a significant shortwave presence despite recent cuts. The thinking is that most, if not all of that SW distribution is about to be eliminated in favor of online/social media/podcast platforms.
Correct, because people are "suddenly" realizing that shortwave has absolutely no practical purpose today.
And it has been dead for about two decades at least. In nations where domestic SW was used, it started dying off in the 70's, in fact.
I just looked up the info (linked by another poster here) on just VOA's Bambara service to Mali and they state that they have several FMs in the largest cities. So apparently it is done, although a different way -- probably by paying stations to air the programming.
Now this is an interesting line of research. Mali's telecommunications licensing authority shows that the BBC, VOA, and Medi1Radio are licensed international operators within the country. Unfortunately, it's hard to find any other details because copies of these licenses don't seem to be online. The BBC does have FM stations within the country like VOA does.
www.hac.ml
apnews.com
If the purpose of the VOA is to bring "truth" or the American perspective to other nations, how is renting a local station serve any purpose in a nation where that station can be closed instantly at the whim of a government that does not support the United States?
It gets the message out while it's on the air there, that's the point. Syndicated commercial radio programs don't just fold up completely if they get removed from a station. They find another station in a market if they can. So it could be with the VOA.
But if the local government removes it from one station, no other station would take it. And the really big question of "why" a station would take VOA programming other is still at the top of the list. Only a very bad station with no ratings and no revenue would do this, and, thus, nobody would be listening.
The problem is that the VOA was significantly based on the idea that shortwave could relay "our" message to totalitarian states where there was no freedom of expression. In that sort of nation, the VOA can not rent local FMs and the internet will likely be blocked.
And that attitude is similar to the ancient treatment of the mentally ill: lock them in a padded room and let them yell all the want. A message without a medium is just that.
One Flew Over The VOA Shortwave Station
BINGO! Couldn't agree more Andy.
True, but some countries have FM's close to borders with other countries where it could still be used. Radio Ndarason has FM's ringing the Lake Chad region, with some FM's that can be heard across borders of all four countries bordering the lake region. And there's MW as well. Most FM radios have MW on them.
I'm not sure China could be considered an enemy, but it's definitely an adversary, and they jam our signals. And they're a one party rule state.
Radio Ndarason also uses shortwave. Their website includes shortwave and FM frequencies, but the SW info is out of date: Radio Ndarason International
VOA is on FM in many African cities, as are the BBC and RFI. One weird thing about the BBC World Service websites recently is that there no longer appears to be easily accessible links to their shortwave frequencies webpage. It still exists (and I’ve had it bookmarked for many years) but you have to otherwise do an online search for it. Easy to find the webstreams and podcasts, though.
