A previous thread regarding Canadian content included a few remarks (some of which I myself made) about World Radio Network.
World Radio Network (or WRN) is one of the gems of Sirius, in my opinion. It was one of the key reasons why I chose Sirius over XM; in fact, Sirius had a "leg up" over XM from "day one," in my book, when I found out Sirius would be carrying WRN.
Granted, my interest in WRN's content goes up and down like a yo-yo depending on the radio station, network or service whose programming WRN is rebroadcasting at the moment (and also on what is being offered by particular stations/networks at any given moment, of course). But, generally speaking, I like it. Radio Netherlands and Radio Australia are particularly good, in my opinion, and several others, including Radio Sweden, are of regular interest as well.
Incidentally, on its website, WRN describes itself as follows: "WRN's 24/7 English service for North America is a unique radio service that brings together programs from leading international public service broadcasters in Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, North and Latin America. The network majors on news – national, regional and international and because the programs on WRN come directly from the source, our coverage is unrivalled. In addition to providing a comprehensive, non-US perspective on news and current affairs, WRN reports on science and the arts, economics and finance, sports and history – in fact the whole of life is reflected on WRN." (See http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=50)
The main flaws, as I see it, are sins of omission: Radio Japan and Radio France Internationale might be the biggest, and (despite the blurb quoted above) there are no stations from Latin America (although WRN might have found there are "slim pickings" where English-language Latin American programming is concerned), and I'm sure there are others -- Radio Taiwan International, for example. Also, the German station/network Deutsche Welle's programming is only run once a day starting at 10 AM Eastern time (Saturdays excepted, when Deutsche Welle can also be found in an afternoon timeslot), and Radio Canada International's programming is hidden away in the awful (IMHO) 4:30 AM time slot Monday through Friday, although those might be minor or second-tier programs, for all I know. (Public Radio International, or PRI, another Sirius stream, does air the worthwhile Canadian news show "As It Happens" in another timeslot, and I just noticed that PRI runs Deutsche Welle's "Newslink-Plus" at 9 PM Eastern. Seemingly missing in action, though, is the Canadian news show "World At Six," which I'd like to hear somewhere on Sirius.)
I see the worrisome possibility that China Radio International and Vatican Radio could be propagandists where news is concerned (cultural features could be another, happier story; by the way, I'm not sure how fair what I just said was where Vatican Radio and the news is concerned, but at least I'm admitting that's where my bias is) and I haven't always been all that interested in some of the eastern European broadcasters (I'm not talking about Voice of Russia, though -- I wish that were in an additional time slot, BTW), although that's my loss and I know it.
But these are nitpicks, and in my opinion, World Radio Network is a great idea, generally well-executed.
One other thing I like about World Radio Network is that it tends to run tiny generalist world news summaries from FSN (who???) in Washington right before the top of the hour.
I think that the proposed Canadian additions, particularly CBC Radio One (which runs "World At Six" -- at guess what time slot -- among other promising shows), would be good stations to have and would complement World Radio Network and Public Radio International (not to mention BBC World Service News) well. I hope Sirius adds them to its US service. But to sacrifice World Radio Network (the idea did come up in the earlier Canadian thread here) for Canadian content would be a big step backwards - a travesty, if you will. And getting rid of Public Radio International wouldn't be that great of an idea either.
By the way, as I prepared to send this post to the board, I Googled FSN, found the website and discovered that it's Feature Story News. Looks like a good news service, offhand. It also looks like WRN is only "scratching the surface" where FSN is concerned. (See http://www.featurestorynews.com/pages/3/index.htm and related pages, such as http://www.featurestorynews.com/pages/5/index.htm and http://www.featurestorynews.com/pages/8/index.htm)
Also by the way, while I'm on the subject of web links, here are links to some relevant WRN and PRI schedules:
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/schedule.php?ScheduleID=2
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/schedule.php?ScheduleID=2&Show=weekend
http://www.pri.org/publicsite/listeners/sirius_schedule.html
World Radio Network (or WRN) is one of the gems of Sirius, in my opinion. It was one of the key reasons why I chose Sirius over XM; in fact, Sirius had a "leg up" over XM from "day one," in my book, when I found out Sirius would be carrying WRN.
Granted, my interest in WRN's content goes up and down like a yo-yo depending on the radio station, network or service whose programming WRN is rebroadcasting at the moment (and also on what is being offered by particular stations/networks at any given moment, of course). But, generally speaking, I like it. Radio Netherlands and Radio Australia are particularly good, in my opinion, and several others, including Radio Sweden, are of regular interest as well.
Incidentally, on its website, WRN describes itself as follows: "WRN's 24/7 English service for North America is a unique radio service that brings together programs from leading international public service broadcasters in Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, North and Latin America. The network majors on news – national, regional and international and because the programs on WRN come directly from the source, our coverage is unrivalled. In addition to providing a comprehensive, non-US perspective on news and current affairs, WRN reports on science and the arts, economics and finance, sports and history – in fact the whole of life is reflected on WRN." (See http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=50)
The main flaws, as I see it, are sins of omission: Radio Japan and Radio France Internationale might be the biggest, and (despite the blurb quoted above) there are no stations from Latin America (although WRN might have found there are "slim pickings" where English-language Latin American programming is concerned), and I'm sure there are others -- Radio Taiwan International, for example. Also, the German station/network Deutsche Welle's programming is only run once a day starting at 10 AM Eastern time (Saturdays excepted, when Deutsche Welle can also be found in an afternoon timeslot), and Radio Canada International's programming is hidden away in the awful (IMHO) 4:30 AM time slot Monday through Friday, although those might be minor or second-tier programs, for all I know. (Public Radio International, or PRI, another Sirius stream, does air the worthwhile Canadian news show "As It Happens" in another timeslot, and I just noticed that PRI runs Deutsche Welle's "Newslink-Plus" at 9 PM Eastern. Seemingly missing in action, though, is the Canadian news show "World At Six," which I'd like to hear somewhere on Sirius.)
I see the worrisome possibility that China Radio International and Vatican Radio could be propagandists where news is concerned (cultural features could be another, happier story; by the way, I'm not sure how fair what I just said was where Vatican Radio and the news is concerned, but at least I'm admitting that's where my bias is) and I haven't always been all that interested in some of the eastern European broadcasters (I'm not talking about Voice of Russia, though -- I wish that were in an additional time slot, BTW), although that's my loss and I know it.
But these are nitpicks, and in my opinion, World Radio Network is a great idea, generally well-executed.
One other thing I like about World Radio Network is that it tends to run tiny generalist world news summaries from FSN (who???) in Washington right before the top of the hour.
I think that the proposed Canadian additions, particularly CBC Radio One (which runs "World At Six" -- at guess what time slot -- among other promising shows), would be good stations to have and would complement World Radio Network and Public Radio International (not to mention BBC World Service News) well. I hope Sirius adds them to its US service. But to sacrifice World Radio Network (the idea did come up in the earlier Canadian thread here) for Canadian content would be a big step backwards - a travesty, if you will. And getting rid of Public Radio International wouldn't be that great of an idea either.
By the way, as I prepared to send this post to the board, I Googled FSN, found the website and discovered that it's Feature Story News. Looks like a good news service, offhand. It also looks like WRN is only "scratching the surface" where FSN is concerned. (See http://www.featurestorynews.com/pages/3/index.htm and related pages, such as http://www.featurestorynews.com/pages/5/index.htm and http://www.featurestorynews.com/pages/8/index.htm)
Also by the way, while I'm on the subject of web links, here are links to some relevant WRN and PRI schedules:
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/schedule.php?ScheduleID=2
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/schedule.php?ScheduleID=2&Show=weekend
http://www.pri.org/publicsite/listeners/sirius_schedule.html
