#shortwave broadcasting

[sohannabarberaesque]

Though this may be discussing an early phase of radio broadcasting such as saw itinerant ("portable") broadcasting stations operating sporadically, such may be considered as insight into the mobile shortwave radio station I imagine Honey and Sis (formerly of The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour, star-crossed though it was) operating--worldcasting, even (after Snagglepuss there!)--from a rebuilt GMC motorhome at 50 watts Effective Irradiated Power.

Uncle Ezra, eat your heart out!

[ccccallsigns-au]

Through the static, a listener...

Welcome to Callsigns.

This sacred space cast in static grey, silent as dead air, holds three. A trio of ids birthed from the frequency of their Psyche. They have already told their story once, but circumstance has come to stir them again.

A message has been received, encoded in numbers. Who is it for? How has it come? What does it mean?

Who will answer the call?

With the formal welcome aside, I'm pleased to introduce CCCCallsigns to the world. For anyone unaware or new, this is an AU somewhat loosely based on Chonny's Charming Chaos Compendium by Chonny Jash. Emphasis on loosely; these are my toys! The AU explores the concept of numbers stations and radio transmissions.

As for who I am? Shouldn't be a difficult guess~ This pinned post functions [...will function.] as the post directory and serve to put content more properly in order. Also here will be the main references for the Guys and maybe their items.

IN THIS AU: Heart -> Hertz (uses parentheses) Mind -> Morse [uses brackets] Soul -> Static {uses curly brackets} Transmission -> | USES VERTICAL BARS |

CURRENT REFERENCES::

POST DIRECTORY::

DIRECT PLOT EVENTS, IN VIEWING ORDER: [nothing here yet...]

WORLDBUILDING AND SUPPLEMENTARY WORK: #( hertz intro -> runtime (JAN 24, 25 - FEB 5, 25) #( hertz post-intro qna -> runtime (FEB 6, 25 - FEB 19, 25)

FUN THINGS: [nothing here yet...]

TAG DICTIONARY:: #ccccallsigns -> this blog's posts #{ ooc - out of callsigns -> this blog's other posts #{ shortwave -> AUDIO posts; music, radio, etc. #{ broadcast -> IMAGE posts; primarily art #{ transmission -> TEXT posts; writing or worldbuilding #callsigns!heart, #callsigns!mind, #callsigns!soul -> character tags

[ourladyofomega]

[kimandrewelliott]

VOA situation "grim," but RFE/RL gets EU money

My column in the June 2025 Journal of the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA) ...

The news about US international broadcasting is moving quickly, and most of it is bad. It’s like a tennis match between judges who rule in favor of Voice of America employees and the entities such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, with the ball crossing over to judges more sympathetic with President Trump’s decision-making authority, and then back. Events will overtake this column by the time you read it. I try to keep up at kaedotcom.bsky.social, which I think you can access without a Bluesky account.

David Folkenflik at NPR has been providing the most detailed reporting about Trump’s demolition of the entities under the US Agency for Global Media. His story on May 22 was under the headline “Voice of America's prospects appear grim after appeals court order.” (tinyurl.com/ypb8hp4m) An appeals court reversed an earlier ruling halting the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle VOA. Even Folkenflik confessed to being confused by the flurry of court decisions. (tinyurl.com/2293a74c)

As I type this (on May 30), Politico reports: “All remaining staff at Voice of America are expected to receive reduction-in-force notices this week, likely closing the book on the network founded 80-plus years ago to combat Nazi disinformation during World War II.” (tinyurl.com/22sz872e) This might be confirmed after I send this column in for NASWA publication. So stay tuned to kaedotcom.bsky.social.

Partial revival for VOA Mandarin. Persian, Dari, Pashto

It almost escaped my notice, but VOA has returned, with news-like web content in Mandarin, Persian, Dari and Pashto. You can see then by going to voanews.com, click on the languages icon in the upper right of the home page, then look for voachinese.com, ir.voanews.com, darivoa.com and pashtovoa.com. Use web-based translation services to see how they are reporting the news. Kari Lake, the acting head of US international broadcasting, canceled subscriptions to AP, Reuters and AFP, so much of the news of these four services comes from US government agency press releases. And one story borrowed heavily from a Fox News interview with HHS Secretary Kristi Noem. (tinyurl.com/29x2bqyu)

Former VOA press freedom reporter Liam Scott wrote at Poynter: “A small cohort of Voice of America staffers quietly returned to the Washington office in early May, where they have been tasked with covering the news at a tiny fraction of the agency’s previous capacity.

Instead of 49 languages, the congressionally funded but editorially independent news network is barely publishing in four. And instead of some 1,300 staffers, only about 30 are working.” (tinyurl.com/2bgz2d6d) According to three sources who spoke to Scott: “VOA’s central, English-language newsroom produces one TV package and a few articles each day, which are then translated and published by the four language services.”

I don’t know why these four languages were selected for partial revival. Did the State Department specify them for its geopolitical priorities? Or were these languages jotted on a napkin as a way to maintain the “statutory minimum” output promised by Kari Lake?

VOA Editorials are back

Meanwhile, English has also been restored at VOA, sort of. In last month’s column, I wrote that I was “surprised the VOA Editorials staff were not spared from the March 15 shutdown.” And, indeed, VOA Editorials were first VOA English output to return. The VOA Editorials have been around since the 1980s. They have annoyed VOA journalists by injecting a propaganda-type product into what was aspiring to be an independent news service. VOA management tried to separate the Editorials from the rest of VOA output with the statement “reflecting the views of the United States government” at the beginning and end of each. But listeners told me these “disclaimers” reminded them, daily, that VOA is a government operation. BBC World Service does not broadcast editorials and thus does not have a similar problem of perception.

You can read the VOA Editorials at editorials.voa.gov. They reflect the hard-edged nature of US foreign policy under the Trump Administration. And they seem to be directed to American audiences as well as those abroad. One recent Editorial quoted Trump at his West Point speech: “we’re focusing our military on its core mission, crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies, and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before.” (tinyurl.com/24sqkqmh) There, that should win hearts and minds.

EU funding for RFE/RL may not last

The news is better at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. On May 20, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas revealed that it would give $6.2 million to "support the vital work of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty." "It's short-term emergency funding designed as a safety net for the [network's] independent journalism," she added. (tinyurl.com/ywxmbq9c) That amount is only a temporary solution to keeping RFE/RL afloat after the Trump Administration withheld funds from its grant. Kallas, who listened to RFE during her youth in Estonia, “said that she hoped the 27 EU member states would also provide more funds to help Radio Free Europe in the long term.” (tinyurl.com/yo6gde4j)

Kari Lake responded to the EU move: "If Radio Free Europe is important for Europe, they can pay for it.” But compelling European nations, individually or collectively, to provide the funds will be much more difficult than maintaining the stream of US government money the flowed during friendlier administrations.

Radio Free Asia mostly silent

Things are no better at Radio Free Asia. According to an extensive CBC report about the station’s troubles: “Almost 90 per cent of U.S.-based RFA staff – nearly 400 people – have been laid off. Several dozen remain employed, as funding is still arriving in irregular spurts while the organization fights the cuts in court, arguing the president illegally undid funding already approved by Congress. Staff deemed most at-risk in their home countries are being kept on as long as possible while some money is still available.” (tinyurl.com/262n32te)

Could RFA get funding from Asian nations, just as RFE/RL did from the EU? This would probably be more difficult for RFA. Australia and New Zealand do not have especially deep pockets. Taiwan is busy with invasion fears. The other three piggy-bank countries, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, probably would not want to upset their delicate trade and diplomatic relations with China, Vietnam and other RFA target countries. The most likely scenario would be South Korean money for RFA’s Korean Service, as long as that service does not report on South Korean domestic affairs.

BBC Polish returns as AI-assisted BBC Polska

Briefly stepping away from US international broadcasting, this interesting development: BBC announced it will be adding a new Polish-language website to be called BBC Polska, to “deliver independent and impartial news” and “help counter a wave of disinformation in the region.” “BBC World Service, which will run the new Polish section, says content will be a mix of original journalism and ‘AI-assisted translation of curated BBC reporting’ from other parts of the corporation. Among the topics that will be covered are ‘ongoing wars and conflicts, health, climate change, and the cost of living’.” (tinyurl.com/23abe6el) AI-assisted? What could possibly go wrong?

So Polish domestic journalism is not up to the task? In my opinion, Poland’s international television channel TVP World does a pretty good job. But the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) found that Poland’s May election took place “in a ‘highly polarized political environment’ and media landscape that limited voters’ access to impartial information.” (tinyurl.com/28jgovtg)

With the new BBC Polska, and RFE/RL’s still surviving Hungarian section, Western international broadcasting is revisiting its old haunts in East Europe. BBC had a Polish service 1939-2005. RFE Hungarian operated 1950 to 1993, relaunching as Szabad Európa in 2020 “due to Hungary’s deteriorating and polarized media climate.”

See Kim’s projects: kaedotcom.bsky.social, mediafreedomusa.bsky.social and swradiogram.net

[sohannabarberaesque]

Now imagine Honey and Sis preparing to get things set up for another night or two of surprise shortwave worldcasting.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Broadcasting to shortwave fanatics around the world from some backcountry bayou of the sort bound to fascinate Scooby-Doo or the CB Bears, here's--

SIS, in her exuberant manner: So, fellow listeners of the shortwave audio radiance, let's just hope Honey as much as yours truly doesn't get caught up in Suspiciously Weird Doings of the class that are bound to attract Scooby-Doo's interest-- HONEY, trying to be rational about it: Uh, Sis, don't you think this whole Scooby-Doo vesch is obviously crossing the line into the hackneyed and the half-baked to the point of overdone? SIS, her jaw nearly dropping in disbelief: Honey ... perhaps you may be right for once.

[cbplus-radiocom]

Tecsun S-2200x radio ondes courtes

  Le Tecsun S-2200x est un récepteur radio transportable, essentiellement destiné aux amateurs d'ondes courtes.

Adapté pour l'écoute des bandes décamétriques utilisées par les radioamateurs ou celles de la radiodiffusion internationale, il reçoit l'ensemble des ondes courtes en AM et aussi en BLU. Il dispose aussi de la bande VHF aviation ainsi que des bandes classiques de radiodiffusion des ondes longues, moyennes ainsi que la FM en stéréo.

Version améliorée du S-2000, le S-2200x utilise une technologie moderne avec des circuits électroniques plus performants, notamment une triple conversion de fréquence couplée à un système numérique de démodulation de type DSP, pour une réception avec une meilleure sensibilité, une plus grande sélectivité et une réjection élevée des fréquences images.

Très grande capacité mémoire, accès direct aux bandes de radiodiffusion, clavier pour l'entrée directe de fréquence, horloge, antenne cadre orientable, grand haut-parleur pour une bonne sonorité, connectiques pour antennes extérieures, etc…

Plus de détails à propos du récepteur Tecsun S-2200x :

https://www.cbplus.com/cat/tecsun-2200x-p-1639.html

[sohannabarberaesque]

On the other hand, try not to be stunned to the point of a Fatal Heart Attack ensuing when, on twiddling the shortwave dial, Honey and Sis come along from the Inevitable Undisclosed Location with their mobile surprise shortwave worldcasting station transmitting at 50 watts Effective Irradiated Power ...

u dont like shortwave radio? bla bla bla?

[stadtfunk]

Farewell Radio360.eu

I’d recently noticed that my Radio360 podcast subscriptions hadn’t been updating and that I was missing a lot of recent episodes.

I had a look at the website and found that there was now a log-in page.

This morning I sent them an email asking if this was a temporary thing, or if the service had stopped.

A short while later I received an email back from Daniel, giving some rather sad news.

Hi Nick, Thanks for your message. I am afraid I have to inform you that we just have decided to end the project Radio360.eu after nearly 14 years. We decided to do this for multiple reasons, one being that most of the stations now have their own on-demand services and the fact we haven’t been able to update the site and system in the past few months as much as we should have been. Thanks for being one of our users / listeners and for expressing your interest again! All the best Daniel

This is indeed very sad news, but I’d like to say thank you to Daniel and the team for all the work they’ve put in to making this service. It’s brought me a lot of pleasure, listening to feeds from all over the world.

[sl33py-g4m3r]

analog or digital?

It's far too late to ever go back to analog television broadcasting; but just a quick question~~

which is better?

iirc and it's been like a decade or so since the swap to digital in the US at least; that analog might actually have been better.

cause, if there was a thunderstorm, you could still perhaps get sound even if the picture was static... or when the picture was messed up. it didn't glitch and hang on a syllable or something and loop indefinitely until the tv was turned off and back on again. or cut out to no signal entirely.

unfortunately that's all I remember from the days before the switch to digital tv channel broadcasting.

I'm of the (possibly? idk) naive belief that analog was superior to digital in some cases, this is one of them.

how is digital better than analog in this case or vice versa? curious whether digital tv broadcasts, or analog ones were/are better, and why.

probably a product of a bygone era at this point; but I miss the days of analog tv~~

I'm imagining people moving their antennas around trying to get stations far away if the weather permitted it, like you can with shortwave radio broadcasts.

[kimandrewelliott]

"The news may be bad"

This is Kim’s column in the January 2025 Journal of the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA) …

The news about VOA is very, very bad

The famous first words of the Voice of America in 1942: “The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth.” Now, the news about the Voice of America is bad. Very, very, very bad. As you no doubt have heard, President-elect Trump has “named” Kari Lake, Arizona (unsuccessful) politician and former TV anchorwoman, as the next director of VOA.

Not as if Trump has the authority to name VOA directors, although with a Republican majority in the Senate, that authority may be virtual. The CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, not yet nominated by Trump as of this writing, names the director VOA and the heads of the other entities, such as RFE/RL and Radio Free Asia. It may be a while before the Senate gets around to approval of the USAGM CEO, far down the pecking order of federal agencies. Then the bipartisan (4 GOP and 3 Democrats) International Broadcasting Advisory Board must approve the VOA and other entity heads.

The leadership appointed during the Biden Administration – USAGM CEO Amanda Bennett and VOA director Michael Abramowitz – will be able to coast for a couple of months, at least, unless they resign and let staff managers carry on in acting roles. Trump’s USAGM director will dutifully name Kari Lake as VOA director, unless she has moved on to other adventures. The four Republicans on the IBAB. if purely loyal to Trump, will approve Lake. If they have even a glimmer of respect for independent journalism (one Republican on the will be Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy sitting in his place at the IBAB meetings), they will ask the USAGM CEO to come up with another VOA director. This they would do because of Lake’s history of misinformation about Covid and election results (including her own) and her disdain for what she calls “fake news.”

Presidents chose VOA directors, until the 1990s

The CNN story about Kari Lake (tinyurl.com/29y3uxzf) starts: “Presidents don’t ordinarily pick the director of Voice of America.” Well, until the 1990s, Presidents often named VOA directors. In fact, VOA directors, in their biographies, would proclaim that they were appointed by President ______. Sometimes, if the President did not take an interest, the director of the parent U.S. Information Agency would select the VOA director.

With the creation of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, after the International Broadcasting Act of 1994, it became the purview of the BBG to name the heads of VOA and the other international broadcasting entities, such as RFE/RL. However, in 1996, President Bill Clinton named Evelyn Lieberman to be VOA director. Apparently, Clinton did not get the memo that according to the 1994 Act, the BBG was supposed to do this. The BBG quickly and deferentially named Lieberman as VOA director. (They ignored my suggestion that they take President Clinton to court to settle the issue.)

The idea of the BBG was that as new administrations come into power, there would be no sudden change of leadership of VOA and the other entities, thus no change of the editorial tone. Such continuity is essential to the establishment of credibility. That continuity ended when language tucked deeply in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 abolished the BBG and established a political (presidentially nominated and Senate approved) USAGM CEO. U.S. international broadcasting is no longer as independent as the public service broadcasting organizations in most Western nations.

“Chronicling American achievements”

Kari Lake said to CBS News, “I’m not there to make it Trump TV and MAGA TV.” But first, “I need to get in there and see what’s going on.” (tinyurl.com/2baozy75) On the social media platform X, Lake wrote, “Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide.” (tinyurl.com/2cb75msn) Chronicling achievements is more of a job for U.S. public diplomacy under the State Department, but, over the years, many VOA managers and staff – not so much the journalists – have been ambivalent about whether VOA should conduct independent journalism or promote U.S. policies. After all, the vaunted VOA Charter mentions both “consistently reliable and authoritative source of news” and “present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively.” And the dreadful USAGM mission statement (tinyurl.com/2cepme8r) does not contain the words “news” or “journalism,” but it does have “support freedom and democracy.” No wonder that even VOA’s own employees, and candidates for VOA director, and Presidents who select those directors, are confused.

“Your worst fricking nightmare.”

Commentators and observers are taking a dim view of potential Kari Lake leadership of VOA. Some of the most pointed criticism has come from pundits in her own state of Arizona. Lake going to VOA is “a relief here in Arizona, where we have for years been subjected to the unrelenting voice of Lake railing about stolen elections — never mind any actual evidence to back up her claims. … Kari Lake, the Voice of America. Just think about that,” wrote Laurie Roberts in the Arizona Republic. (tinyurl.com/298vvuuy)

Bill Goodykoontz, also writing in the Arizona Republic: “The VOA was founded in 1942, in part to counter anti-American propaganda. It’s disturbing to think that it could be used to spread MAGA propaganda. It’s also difficult to imagine a scenario as things stand now that it won’t be. In that regard — and only that regard — Lake is perfect for the job.” (tinyurl.com/2bkk5bnz)

In The Guardian, Andrew Gawthorpe opined that Lake’s “embrace of unhinged conspiracy theories around Covid-19 and the 2020 election suggest she has difficulty separating fact from fiction. Even more concerning is her attitude towards journalists, whom she has described as ‘monsters’ who ought to be ‘defunded’. In 2022, she told a gaggle of reporters that if she became governor of Arizona, she would be ‘your worst fricking nightmare.’ She also famously hates immigrants, whose work is essential to Voice of America’s mission.” (tinyurl.com/2yrgl3w8)

Chris Lehmann in The Nation: “Trump has appointed media-baiting attorney Brendan Carr to head the Federal Communications Commission and serial election-denialist Kari Lake to chair Voice of America. It’s not yet clear how far Trump apparatchiks will go in trashing whatever remains of a principled, independent media in the flailing American republic.” (tinyurl.com/2asvhvrs)

And, finally, Tim Miller, former spokesman for the Republican National Committee, describes how he was screamed at – and called a “piece of s—” – by Kari Lake at the recent pro-Trump AmFest in Arizona. “You would think that a person who went from local TV anchor, to failed gubernatorial candidate, to failed Senate candidate, to director of the Voice of America in a few short years—based on no actual accomplishments— would be … happy? … But instead it was wine night goes wrong on Bravo.” (tinyurl.com/246bhcxq)

There will be dark, and then, maybe, eventually, a dawn

This will give VOA staff something to ponder if they do eventually have to encounter Lake in the corridors of the Washington headquarters building. Whoever ends up as VOA director, USAGM CEO, and entity heads, may not be as bad a Lake, but they will probably be in the same general neighborhood of awfulness. Pro-Trump propaganda, not independent journalism, will be the product. The credibility of U.S. international broadcasting will fall to the level of the North American Service of Radio Moscow or, worse and more salacious, the RT of today. If a non-MAGA administration ever returns to Washington, the up-until-Trump components of U.S. international broadcasting will have to be dismantled and buried, with a new consolidated and rebranded corporation raised from the ashes.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Now imagine the sort of miniaturised 50-watt irradited power transmitter Honey and Sis have for their travelling surprise shortwave worldcaster in the form of a rebuilt GMC motorhome, worldcasting when least expected. Especially where transistors come into play.

Short Wave Transmitter -old style. Ok, the carrier comes from a PLL-Synthesizer to match modern stability standards. The whole thing works amazingly well...

[sohannabarberaesque]

Honey and Sis headcannon (shortwave worldcasting dept.)

Once the surprise worldcaster's theme tune ("Radio Ga-Ga" by Queen) fadeth out, Sis, as is more or less the more energetic of the duet, is bound to take the lead in getting the worldcast underway, eventually taking turns with Honey in their format of podcast-model quips and commentary without crossing over into (or is it unto?) hyperconservative prolefeeding. In essence, seeking to bring a more casual sort of radio back via shortwave, itself something of an endangered broadcasting form.

[kimandrewelliott]

In: Propaganda. Out: News.

This is Kim’s column in the December 2024 Journal of the North American Shortwave Association. Actual events have overtaken many of my predictions, which is usually the case …

Prediction: Most USAGM entities and services will be eliminated

In the second Trump administration, we can expect substantial changes to US international broadcasting. The entities of the US Agency for Global Media employ independent journalism, often to the annoyance of dictators who want to control information in their countries. Given Donald Trump’s disdain for independent journalism, and his fondness for dictators, it would not be surprising if the Trump administration zeroes out the budgets of USAGM and its entities. No more Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, etc.

There will be exceptions. Trump’s pick for Secretary of State Marco Rubio is Cuban American and largely owes his political career to anti-Castro Cuban Americans in Florida. Rubio will see to it that Radio Martí and its digital platform Martí Noticias are preserved. Over the years, the output of the Martís has varied from virulent anti-communist propaganda to a fairly straightforward news presentation, depending on who the director was, which generally depended on who the US president was. The Trump/Rubio Martís will probably be on the propaganda side of the continuum. Except for Cubans who are especially scornful of their communist regime, the Martís will not be very useful. For real news, Cubans will need to access – somehow, given the poor state of internet connectivity in Cuba – BBC Mundo or CNN en Español.

Could be good news for shortwave

The preservation of Radio Martí could be good news for shortwave. Radio Martí uses the USAGM (originally VOA) transmitting station near Greenville, North Carolina, to reach Cuba. This is necessary given restrictions on the internet and satellite TV reception in Cuba. The Greenville facility might therefore escape the red pencils of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

And on the subject of Spanish-language international broadcasting from the USA, the Trump administration might want to keep some capability to reach leftist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, etc, and to dissuade people in the rest of Latin America from electing governments that would be unfriendly to the United States and its corporations. The Trump administration may also want to have a media outlet to put the fear of God into anyone in Latin America thinking of entering the United States outside of the standard immigration procedures.

This Spanish-language output could be part of VOA, thus saving at least a small part of VOA. Or, if DOGE actually does its job, it would be part of the public diplomacy offices of the State Department. This mass communication from the United States would be for the purpose of persuading audiences to make certain political choices and not to enter the United States illegally. This, in theory, would be a job for public diplomacy and not for international broadcasting – at least not the international broadcasting that attracts audiences by providing credible news.

Broadcasts to Iran will stay. From Boise.

Another likely exception to the obliteration of USAGM would be broadcasts to Iran. Trump has a particular animosity towards the Tehran regime. His administration will probably want to use media to send unfriendly messages to Iran, and to convince its people to overthrow the “mullahs.” As with Cuba, US international broadcasting to Iran won’t be very useful for news. BBC Persian will be the go-to station for reliable information about Iran.

Currently, USAGM has two broadcasting services for Iran: VOA Persian and Radio Farda (part of RFE/RL). If DOGE is serious about reducing duplication, it will want to merge US broadcasts to Iran under one entity. VOA Persian has been a punching bag for Congressional Republicans due to thinly-documented accusations of pro-regime sympathies and management failures. So Radio Farda will probably be the survivor. Its name and mission will have to be revised to absorb VOA Persian television.

Farda Media (let’s call it) will be controlled by whichever Iranian-American faction donated the most money to the Trump campaign. Where will it be located? RFE/RL may be shut down by DOGE, or kicked out of Prague by a Czech government not on the same page as Trump’s foreign policy. Very likely, Farda Media will move to the home district, or state, of an influential member of Congress. Jim Risch of Idaho is the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. US broadcasting to Iran from studios in Boise? Makes complete sense.

VOA has never had a 24-hour English-language television news channel. The Trump administration might want to establish such a “news” channel somewhere in the bureaucracy, to praise and advocate for Trump, the Trump administration, and Trump policies. And while VOA was officially prohibited from disseminating its content domestically, this pro-Trump channel will be required to be distributed domestically. US cable, DTH satellite and IPTV platforms will carry the channel, or else.

RFE/RL Hungarian is the deadest duck

I’m predicting (don’t bet good money on any of my predictions) that most USAGM entities and language services will disappear. The one service that will disappear in a New York minute (is there a Budapest minute?) is RFE/RL Hungarian. RFE Hungarian was closed in 1993, after its Cold War mission, but revived in 2020 “because of a deteriorating and polarized media environment” in Hungary. The mutual admiration between Trump and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán is well documented. Orbán is displeased by any independent source of news about Hungary, so he will likely arrange with his friend in the White House to nix RFE/RL Hungarian.

Interestingly, in 1991, when the revival of RFE/RL Hungarian was proposed by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Richard Carlson, former VOA director (and father of Tucker) wrote in the conservative Washington Examiner that Kaptur’s campaign was “stupid and offensive.” Carlson mentioned, for whatever it was worth, that Kaptur “has never married.” He concluded: “Trump and Orban are strong personalities focused on protecting America for Americans and Hungary for Hungarians.” (tinyurl.com/2yj58f7l)

Among the other USAGM services likely for quick disposal would be the successful and influential VOA languages for Africa. Trump has referred to that region as “s—thole countries.” Most of RFE/RL’s language services are to Central Asia and the Caucasus. Trump has probably never heard of these countries and so would have no interest in broadcasting to them.

China? The Trump administration’s main interest in international media to China would be propaganda to support the trade war. Logically, this would be done by the public diplomacy offices of the State Department. Maybe, however, Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin Service would switch from news to pro-US advocacy (perhaps a secret desire of some at RFA) to fulfill this purpose.

Tucker Carlson at VOA?

If USAGM and its entities are not eliminated, who would lead them under the Trump administration? Michael Pack, who served briefly and controversially as USAGM CEO during the first Trump administration, could return to that role. Or he might want to continue his work nurturing conservative documentary makers. Robert Reilly, who was VOA director under Pack, is 78 and might prefer retirement to the minefield of managing VOA’s 50 language services (if they are preserved). Tucker Carlson, son of the aforementioned former VOA director Richard Carlson, might be tapped for VOA director. Other than a show on the new Trump international-but-really-domestic TV channel, he would probably serve in absentia, adding the position to his résumé while concentrating on more lucrative projects.

Best wishes for the holidays and the interesting new year 2025.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Imagine one of these managing to pick up on Honey and Sis rather suddenly on an otherwise predictable night ...

[sohannabarberaesque]

So why is it that I imagine Honey and Sis doing surprise shortwave radio worldcasts rather than podcasting, you may be asking here at this time?

Plenty:

To stimulate some fresh discussion and interest in shortwave radio, which seeme to be becoming an Endangered Species of late all the more as many national broadcasters have closed down or otherwise cut back on their shortwave radio services, mainly because of cost, declining listener numbers, aging transmitter equipment and Teh Innerwebz cutting into the audience.

To keep viable such otherwise fascinating characters in the Hanna-Barbera pantheon as otherwise appeared as bunraku puppets in the short-lived variety series The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour, as aired but four episodes in the spring of 1977 on NBC. Come to think of it, couldn't Honey and Sis have had possibilities?

What could be a more fascinating avenue in the 21st century media spectrum than an already-extant service (and yet endangered) like shortwave radio, especially when the worldcasts can be of the "surprise" sort, worldcasting from unpredictable locales on homebuilt transmitters of 50 watts Effective Irradiated Power and on likewise craft-built (and at once portable) antennae which can be easily installed and activated, imagining the signal reach as could be had from their base of operations such as a rebuilt GMC motorhome of mid-1970's vintage?

Is it just me, or do podcasts seem overrated in an age where shortwave radio seems to be in decline?