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R. Romania Intl. ending SW to North America?

C

CTListener

A post on the Facebook group "Shortwave Radio Listeners Club" says Radio Romania International is ending its English shortwave service to North America. The poster provides no source, and the audio accompanying the post doesn't indicate a final transmission, so I don't know how credible this report is. Google is no help. I believe RRI is the last European government broadcaster with a shortwave service to North America, so this is significant news if true.

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Nothing about this on the RRI website, and no reports on shortwave forums I check. Transmissions to North America are still listed on the RRI frequencies page: Frequencies - Radio Romania International

RRI cut its shortwave output a couple of years ago to one frequency per target area, due to soaring electricity costs. They’ve also been reported as dealing with transmitter problems. The current Continental Electronics units were installed in 2008 and should have quite a few years of service life remaining.

From personal listening I have frequently found the West Coast North America beam missing for significant stretches of time.

The overall Radio Romania public broadcaster recently appointed a new Director General who may have plans to slash costs and modernize the organization, so shortwave cuts or elimination would not be a surprise.

You are essentially correct that RRI is the last European broadcaster beaming to North America in English. However Radio Exterior de España has an hour in English on Wednesdays only, inserted into their Spanish language programming.
 
I found the Facebook posting in question here, and we can put this in the false alarm category. Someone had posted a video of the last minute or so of a RRI English language broadcast to North America, and worded the description poorly.

It won’t surprise me in the least if and when RRI drops shortwave, but the news of its demise is premature.
 


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