October 31, 2011. This date is on my agenda. At 22h UTC I’ll will be with my shortwave radio tuned in in the frequency of 17.820 khz to listen to the last broadcast of Deutsche Welle in German for my region, in the South of Brazil. After reducing to half the daily transmission time in its mother tongue in the current Summer program, the international German broadcaster will abandon completely the broadcasts in shortwave in German on next Winter program, from November 1.
As the DWs press release explains, “on November 1, 2011, DW will be discontinuing the shortwave broadcast for German, Russian, Farsi and Indonesian. For English, the shortwave broadcast will be limited to Africa. The broadcasting times for Chinese programming will be reduced from 120 minutes to 60 minutes”. The daily broadcasting time will be reduced from the current 260 hours to just 55. The relay station from Sines (Portugal) and Trincomale (Sri Lanka) will be closed. The services from other broadcasters won’t be demanded anymore, and all transmissions will be originated by the Kigali (Rwanda) relay station. The saved resources, promises DW, will be reinvested in the new strategy: offer more tv channels and make partnerships to offer content in FM. You can read the press release in this link.
It’s not exactly a simple issue, at least for lovers of shortwave. But no other branch is facing such a revolution in terms of technology and habits of customers as is communication. Although I really enjoy the emotion of tuning in a shortwave broadcast, imagining the long travel of the waves, I also have an internet radio, which provides me a very good experience. Who don’t like sound quality in stereo? But, I was thinking shortwave, internet streaming, as well as the podcasts, could coexist for some time more.
In fact, I’m much more worried about the reduction of content produced by the big traditional international stations. Good quality content is expensive, probably more than the energy for the shortwave transmitters. When the German content produced daily by DW was reduced to half, very good programs were discontinued. So, I’m not very optimistic about DWs promise of reinvesting the money saved by abandoning shortwave. It really doesn’t look like there will be more production of content for tv by DW, although the intention of greater synergy between ARD and ZDF is logical and, probably, positive.
I’ll finish this post with a recording from DW Radio in German, broadcasted from Cypress Creek, in South Carolina (USA). It has proportioned for years the best reception of the German programs here in the South of Brazil. The broadcast begins with the identification of World Harvest Radio, which relays the program for DW.
Record made on June 4, from 21h59, in the frequency of 17.820 khz.
As the DWs press release explains, “on November 1, 2011, DW will be discontinuing the shortwave broadcast for German, Russian, Farsi and Indonesian. For English, the shortwave broadcast will be limited to Africa. The broadcasting times for Chinese programming will be reduced from 120 minutes to 60 minutes”. The daily broadcasting time will be reduced from the current 260 hours to just 55. The relay station from Sines (Portugal) and Trincomale (Sri Lanka) will be closed. The services from other broadcasters won’t be demanded anymore, and all transmissions will be originated by the Kigali (Rwanda) relay station. The saved resources, promises DW, will be reinvested in the new strategy: offer more tv channels and make partnerships to offer content in FM. You can read the press release in this link.
It’s not exactly a simple issue, at least for lovers of shortwave. But no other branch is facing such a revolution in terms of technology and habits of customers as is communication. Although I really enjoy the emotion of tuning in a shortwave broadcast, imagining the long travel of the waves, I also have an internet radio, which provides me a very good experience. Who don’t like sound quality in stereo? But, I was thinking shortwave, internet streaming, as well as the podcasts, could coexist for some time more.
In fact, I’m much more worried about the reduction of content produced by the big traditional international stations. Good quality content is expensive, probably more than the energy for the shortwave transmitters. When the German content produced daily by DW was reduced to half, very good programs were discontinued. So, I’m not very optimistic about DWs promise of reinvesting the money saved by abandoning shortwave. It really doesn’t look like there will be more production of content for tv by DW, although the intention of greater synergy between ARD and ZDF is logical and, probably, positive.
I’ll finish this post with a recording from DW Radio in German, broadcasted from Cypress Creek, in South Carolina (USA). It has proportioned for years the best reception of the German programs here in the South of Brazil. The broadcast begins with the identification of World Harvest Radio, which relays the program for DW.
Record made on June 4, from 21h59, in the frequency of 17.820 khz.
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