Radio silence grows in Venezuela as government shutters at least 50 stations

[Mikey Radio]

Radio silence grows in Venezuela as government shutters dozens of stations​

Radio silence grows in Venezuela as government shutters dozens of stations

In July officials from Venezuela's telecommunications regulator entered the Moda 105.1 FM radio station, in the northwestern state of Cojedes, accompanied by members of the national guard and demanding to see all the station's licensing.

www.reuters.com

In July officials from Venezuela's telecommunications regulator entered the Moda 105.1 FM radio station, in the northwestern state of Cojedes, accompanied by members of the national guard and demanding to see all the station's licensing.
Hours later they stopped it broadcasting - making Moda one of at least 50 stations in Venezuela's interior which have been closed so far this year by the Conatel regulator because it says they lack valid licenses.
The accelerated closures are a new step in efforts by the government of President Nicolas Maduro to control information and give state media hegemony over communications.

More than 15 stations have been closed during October alone, nearly double the nine shuttered in all of last year, said Carlos Correa, director of the free speech NGO Espacio Publico.
"They are closing spaces where people can debate," Correa said. "There are no spaces for what would be... opposition media, opinion, criticism of the work of mayors and governors."

 

[davideduardo]

Where this is seen the most is on AM, where most of the news and talk stations operated. The current list of operating AM stations is such that 3 out of every 4 formerly existing stations are now gone, and some cities and areas have no AM information station at all.

 

[Mikey Radio]

Not to make this thread about US politics (with apologies to the moderators), but what's happened in practice to these broadcasters in Venezuela, feels eerily similar to what was threatened by DJT during his time in office. SNL performed sketches criticizing him, members of his administration and his leadership, and he immediately said that show should be taken off the air. When networks were critical of him to any degree, he publicly threatened to revoke their licenses and shut them down. This news story shows what life and treatment of media and broadcasters looks like under a dictatorship. Luckily the US largely escaped from that unscathed. We were lucky - this time.

 

[boiseengineer]

We have Joe Biden’s ‘Ministry of Truth’ now.
The orange man had no chance in hell of legally following through with his threats. It's his signature bluster.

 

[boombox4]

Sad to see Venezuela in this condition. I wonder if this means there may be border stations that cater to the Venezuelan radio audience? Obviously the audience is there. And if they are AM listeners, AM from nearby Colombia and Bonaire could make it to some of the populated areas of the country.

 

[davideduardo]

Sad to see Venezuela in this condition. I wonder if this means there may be border stations that cater to the Venezuelan radio audience? Obviously the audience is there. And if they are AM listeners, AM from nearby Colombia and Bonaire could make it to some of the populated areas of the country.

Remember, Venezuela is a large country, about 50% bigger than Texas.

There are a few Colombian stations on the border near Cúcuta, Colombia, but not have more than 10 kw and at most will cover the nearby city of San Cristóbal, but nothing more. No Colombian station has any interest in programming towards Venezuela as there is no revenue to be had doing that

And in the Netherlands Antilles, other than Trans World Radio, AM is nearly all gone and none reach populated areas of Venezulela.

When I was interviewed to manage Venevision's radio division, it was shown that the build-out project to cover all Venezuela on AM required at least 30 station ranging from 10 kw to 100 kw. And even then, about 10% of the population would be missed.

 

[bigdonho]

There was a study done some years ago to see what the Marathon Relay Station that Radio Marti uses could do for Venezuela. For the life of me, I can't remember what its findings were. the Greenville Realy Station did have a direct beam for that region but I am not sure how viable shortwave still is.

 

[davideduardo]

There was a study done some years ago to see what the Marathon Relay Station that Radio Marti uses could do for Venezuela. For the life of me, I can't remember what its findings were. the Greenville Realy Station did have a direct beam for that region but I am not sure how viable shortwave still is.

It's too far from Venezuela to have daytime ground wave coverage even of the Venezuelan coastal areas and there is a huge land mass, Cuba, in the way. It's about 1,100 miles from the Keys to Caracas, and over 950 to Maracaibo.

Even with much higher power, you won't get daytime groundwave coverage from Marathon. At night, you'd need something in the 250 kw to 500 kw range, and it would, of course, be jammed. And the larger part of Venezuelan population centers are not on the coast so the effect of salt water conductivity is lost the minute a signal hits land.

Short wave, in Spanish speaking Latin America, has been essentially dead for three to four decades. I doubt any cars have SW, and no home or portable radio sold in the last 25 to 30 years would have had SW.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

I remember when I listened to Radio Tachira all the way in Cali. In the 1990s, on the shortwave. :-/ It's gone.
Radios are still sold with shortwave, but the band is pretty non-functional on these units. The new DSP makes even the MW difficult to tune, you have to be very precise with turning the knob:

 

[gr8oldies]

I remember when I listened to Radio Tachira all the way in Cali. In the 1990s, on the shortwave. :-/ It's gone.
Radios are still sold with shortwave, but the band is pretty non-functional on these units. The new DSP makes even the MW difficult to tune, you have to be very precise with turning the knob:

View attachment 4758

Radio Tachira I believe was a sister station to Ecos del Torbes.

 

[boiseengineer]

800 PJB Bonaire targets Venezuela (& S. America) at night with their directional array (when not pointing it at Cuba).
400 kW into the system.

 

[RadioFixerCLE]

800 PJB Bonaire targets Venezuela (& S. America) at night with their directional array (when not pointing it at Cuba).
400 kW into the system.

Not a sign of it in Cali, Colombia. But then again, in that city we have fairly high power stations on 780 (HJZG) and 820 (HJED) and it's a land-locked area in a mountain valley.

Probably can be heard on the north coasts of the country.