Do you think we could fund a Liberal shortwave station?

[benburch]

If we could launch a commercial shortwave station to broadcast liberal and progressive content, we would be able to reach lots and lots of people of limited means and would have an alternative outlet to offer those who do not want to use satellite radio.

The far right have been broadcasting on shortwave for years.

We'd likely need to raise at least ten million in funding to make it happen.

Comments?

[whistle]

1. Who owns short wave radios and aren't short wave frequencies

...regulated just like all of the other bandwidths?

[benburch]

2. Lots of people own shortwaves.

Most never use the ones they own, though. Often it is part of a multi-band radio that they use only the TV and FM parts of.

And, yes, it is regulated, and we'd have to work within those regulations.

[whistle]

4. I own four radios, FM/am receiver on my home stereo, car radio...

...also with FM/AM band, a portable boom-box type radio with an FM/AM band and a small pocket radio which has an FM/AM band. None of these have shortwave, and that was not by design, it just seems to be what most receivers come equipped with today. I suppose I would have to go out of my way to make sure a radio I purchase has the shortwave band and pay a premium. Now in the 1904's and 1950's almost all radios came equipped with AM/SW and it was the FM band that was a premium purchase. How times have changed

[Wright Patman]

3. This station has a wide variety of programming

http://www.wbcq.com/

I would strongly encourage that everyone listen to the Johnny Lightning Show on Sunday nights from 8 to 12 ET at 7.415 MHz. It is not an overtly political show, but whenever he does express political viewpoints, they are anti-* and pro-humanity.

[thatgemguy]

5. WBCQ does broadcast many viewpoints

It might be easier to start by buying some time on a station like WBCQ to measure the effectiveness of the medium.

I think the rates for time on WBCQ are very reasonable as well.

Johnny Lightning's show on Sunday night is worth listing to.

[tomreedtoon]

6. Antique technology...

My dad used to listen to Radio Havana Cuba. He was an old World War II vet who got a thrill out of listening to something foreign and kind of offensive to him.

However, shortwave broadcasting is as obsolete as 78 RPM records. In most civilized countries people have standard broadcast media, or in really advanced ones, Internet streaming. The only reason for broadcasting on shortwave would be to impress really impoverished people that Americans aren't all Bush supporters. And while it would be nice to convince people in mud huts of this idea, is it really worth the expense and legal hassles?

[benburch]

7. No...

The purpose is to provide Liberal programming to those of us in the USA too poor to buy satellite radio. A shortwave radio can be had for very little and every Radio Shack in the land carries them. If there were a Liberal station, people would dig out their old radios or rush out to Radio Shack and buy one!

Wouldn't you?

If you could turn on a $60 radio (and you can find OK ones cheaper) and get Liberal programming 24/7, wouldn't that appeal to you?

[tomreedtoon]

8. Would I buy it? NO!!!

You seem to think that people are so desperate to listen to progressive radio, that they will spend their rent money for a crummy shortwave radio to listen to it. $60 could buy a lot of rent for poor people. People would rather pay $20 for an AM-FM portable with more useful news in their local area. (Really useful information is weather. They don't care who got shot last night; poor people know, because the person who was shot last night lived next door.)

And don't forget that shortwave radios are NOT portable. They require a good 60 feet of strong wire to be strung up to even HOPE to receive a signal. You don't walk around listening to a shortwave radio, and you sure as hell don't put one in your car. (Assuming you can even afford one, or the gas to run one.)

You guys are trying to solve a software problem (progressive content can't be heard) with a hardware solution (shortwave radio). Maybe you should start by figuring how to use the media that people REALLY listen to, and how to get control of it back into non-corporate hands. Yeah, it's a lot harder than spending a fortune for a transmitter that NO ONE will listen to, and patting yourself bloody on the back about doing it, but by working on regaining fairness in media, you'd have a solution that works.

This is NOT a Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "let's put on a show in my granddad's barn" type of problem.

I think you're searching for "alternate media" because you're afraid of confronting and calling out the rich and powerful people who have stolen America's media. You're trying to avoid them instead of facing them down. That is the cowardice that the right wing depends upon. That's what lost us the last two elections in a row.

[Montauk6]

9. Hasn't Internet streaming pretty much made shortwave obsolete?

As one who used to be "in the life," I used to DX for conspiracy stuff like the late William "the driver shot JFK with shellfish toxin darts" Cooper or wacked out religious shows like the late Dr. Gene Scott, Pastor Stair, Mother Angelica and Farrakhan wannabe Pastor Geno Jennings. Other shows, not so fringe, were more on the lines of Chuck Harder's "For The People," which called itself more populist.

I guess what I'm getting at is, since I've long ago checked my premises (to cop a shibboleth oft used by the Randroids), I've not really had much desire for DX'ing. PLUS, the Internet has so many outlets for getting truthful news out that it would seem that investing in shortwave franchises would be a bit of a boondoggle. I could be wrong.

I guess it depends on the target audience. If you're looking to convert the militia gang, don't hold your breath, they're probably sewed into their camouflage. If you're looking to balance what's going out via, say, Voice of America, which is targeted to people abroad, it's not necessary because they're already getting a better scoop from their own country's stations (remember, the whole world is probably more hip to what time it is than the average Joe American, sad to say).

But then again, that's just my 2 cents plain. By the way, your website, Mr. Burch, is THE example of why the Internet may have trumped shortwave. You're doing a phenomenal service to spreading out the message and more power to you. Awards wouldn't do justice in measuring your contribution to the American body politic. I salute you, sir!

[benburch]

10. No, not really.

I am thinking of the vast number of Americans who cannot afford computers and internet access. A shortwave is MUCH cheaper, and in the range of almost all Americans. (And heck, I'd start a fund to buy radios for those who were disadvantaged!)

[Montauk6]

14. Yeah but from my DX'ing days...

I recall GOOD, reliable unit are pretty big-ticket.

Granted this is circa 1994, maybe the prices for a sturdy Grundig or Philips have dropped considerably, I don't know.

[mongo]

11. This is off the top of my head - but as I remember

The FCC loosened regulations for low-power FM stations - for community broadcast purposes. This was mostly to allow churches to get around cumbersome regulations.

If there was a feed via internet or an 800 number and a campaign - I'm sure a lot of people would go for it.

A low power FM transmitter can be had for a few hundred dollars at the right swap meet.

on edit: maybe some folks who get AAR can call in and start promoting this.

[AmericanErrorist]

12. Part of the problem is the FCC

won't allow domestic Shortwave radio to be targeted to Americans. Otherwise it would be great to found a successor to the deceased Radio for Peace International...

[Armstead]

13. Could probably lease one

A lot of the right wing nutjobs and radio preachers lease transmitter time on stations like WWCR in Nashville.

I've often wondered why the left can't do the same. Some of them are pretty cheap to buy time on I believe. (And since Dr. Gene Scott died, there might be a big whole opening up in the market.)

Technically, being on a big Shortwave boomer is the next best thing to being on a big AM boomer. You can pick up strong shortwave stations as easily as a regular AM station on a cheap portable.

(They get over the legal limitations by saying they're broadcasting to Europe from the southern US.)

The closest thing to a progressive shortwave station is Radio for Peace International in Costa Rica. But they had a scungy signal, and then got booted off the air and involved in some legal battle with the University for Peace. (Oh the irony.)

http://www.rfpi.org/


However, the shortwave audience is small, so as far as reaching a broader audience it has its limitations.

But if a way to get cheap radios into the hands of specific groups of people, it could be a populist progressive alternative to sattelite radio.

[longship]

15. RFPI wants to return to SW band

Radio For Peace International stopped broadcasting SW when they were shut out of their own studios (in Costa Rica). They Webcast now but are trying to get back on the air.

See their Web site:

http://www.rfpi.org

[Lefty48197]

16. WDU

.

[Tace]

17. Benburch -- A Shortwave Broadcast Would Be International In Reach

Also -- Most folks take the internet, and even grid electricity, for granted. A shortwave broadcast would provide information to people the world over in the event of interruption of the internet, or power grids. In short, it could be an emergency backup system augmenting streaming internet and am/fm band transmissions.