KVOH closing down?

[SomeRadioGuy]

WRNO might be next to go; has been reported with sporadic operation lately. And WEWN is down to one transmitter on a single daytime frequency.

My question with WRMI and other U.S. shortwave operations is that some of the owner/operators of these stations are getting up there in age. How much longer will they want to deal with aging equipment and increased operational costs, and is there another generation willing to keep a dying medium going?

WRNO has been off the air for a bit more than a week. I can hear them up here in alaska nightly and theyve been gone somewhere about 1 to 2 weeks.

 

[boombox4]

Last I heard KVOH was some time last week, a guy was playing a lot of Benny Goodman. Sounded pretty cool.

They were on nearly every weekend night about six months / a year or so ago... But then those broadcasts diminished.... The electricity costs skyrocketed apparently, and SW or no SW, religious broadcasting in general is not exactly flush with money, with EMF seemingly the most glaring exception.

One prominent preacher on SW seems to spend most of the night time broadcasts talking about money. So a lot of ministries seem to be hurting. A few national preachers have died or otherwise stopped broadcasting on AM like they used to. The local religious protestant AMer seems to have a few slots that change frequently, with a lot of local preachers, moreso than 10 or 20 years ago.

 

[ercjncpr]

Reports popping up on shortwave forums that KVOH in Rancho Simi, California has pulled the plug. Apparently operational costs became unsustainable. No confirmation yet from parent Voice of Hope.

Not a surprise; the station had recently cut back on its already modest transmission schedule due to soaring electricity costs; also dealing with a vintage transmitter. All part of the continuing demise of shortwave broadcasting; WTWW likely gone as well…who’s next?

I think that old timers such as WRMI and WBCQ will remain because of decades of experience and knowledge of international broadcasting. Most of the rest are of questionable longevity, IMHO

 

[david]

I used to tune in to George Otis Jr.'s original broadcast outlets: The Voice of Hope radio (1979-1985) and then Middle East Television (early 1980s) - both in Southern Lebanon. At the time his outlets provided some precious rare American content within the Middle East broadcast landscape. Israel had but one television station at the time. Jordan had two (one of which, Channel 6) was dedicated to foreign language programming.

I never stayed for the religious components of the broadcast schedule, but appreciated the entertainment elements. Example: Middle East Television pretty much introduced WWF wrestling to Israel and that programming became very popular in the country.