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Programming Spotlight
John Figliozzi
johnfigliozzi@monitoringtimes.com
Here’s to New Beginnings
Awelcome aspect of the new year is that it
offers a timely opportunity for reflection
and renewal. And so it is with MT’s ef-
forts to inform you about international broadcasting
and the programs carried on it. You will note that
we’re taking a somewhat new tack beginning this
month. It’s an approach dictated both by experience
and necessity.
The task of assembling program listings from
international broadcasters has not changed all that
much from what it always has been. An apt analogy
would be the often frustrating effort that goes into
planning a family’s activities around the lives of
teenagers. Like teens, most broadcasters – if they
are planning ahead much at all – are not letting us in
those plans in advance. Certainly, they are not doing
so with magazine deadlines in mind. All too often,
in the time it takes to put such listings into print, it’s
either become stale or has even changed completely
by the time the magazine gets into your hands.
Frankly, there are better ways of delivering
comprehensive program listings today and that way is
the internet. With the help of the Association of North
American Radio Clubs (ANARC) and North American
Shortwave Association (NASWA), I maintain a
web site that provides, in a convenient, interactive and
more timely way, the very program listings that up to
now, have been part of MT’s Shortwave Guide. Go
to http://anarc.org/naswa/swlguide and try it out.
You see, a monthly magazine format is much
more suitable for providing background and perspective
on the changes that come faster and faster with
each passing day. That’s what we are going to be
providing more of in this column, which now grows
to better meet that objective. We’ll also be pointing
you toward many other useful sources for information
that has a limited “shelf life.”
We hope you like our new approach. As always,
you can help by letting us know your thoughts and
suggestions.
❖ With a New Year Theme
Last month, we gave you some suggestions for
listening on New Year’s Eve (see page 44) – namely,
by using your radio to ring in the new year hour by
hour around the world. But you should know that there
are some New Year’s Day traditions on shortwave that
can be expected to continue.
For the past few years, Kim Elliott of the VOA
has hosted a Talk to America phone-in fielding greetings,
comments and questions from around the world.
This actually airs on New Year’s Eve, December 31st,
after the 1600UT news until 1700, and you can try
the frequencies listed in the MT Shortwave Guide
or listen on the web from http://voanewsnow.com.
I wonder how many of the questions will deal with
the incredible, shrinking nature of the VOA? As they
say, stay tuned.
Deutsche Welle’s German Service traditionally
offers New Year’s Day concerts and musical
programs in genres ranging from classical to folk
and contemporary. DW’s English Service has a New
Year’s concert special as well. Consult The List is this
month’s column and the English frequency listings
in the MT Shortwave Guide for where to tune; but if
the ionosphere won’t cooperate, you can always try
http://dw-world.de.
Radio Canada International and the CBC
suspend regular schedules to give their listeners a
glimpse of how the regions of Canada and Canadians
celebrate. RCI and CBC North will carry this to you
on shortwave, but http://cbc.ca and http://rcinet.ca
are at the ready as well.
The BBC World Service offers programs that
give a retrospective on the past year in news, sports
and the arts. Several other stations, such as Radio
Netherlands, Radio Japan, Radio Sweden, China
Radio International and Radio Prague also give
the New Year a special treatment. Radio Prague, for
example, takes a humorous approach with specially
prepared skits and sometimes including a “blooper”
reel.
RNZI does its holiday thing – lots of music and
storytelling from its domestic counterpart, National
Radio. And Radio Australia, where summer vacation
and the Holiday Season combine to produce “the silly
season,” lots of special programming airs to replace
all the offerings that go on hiatus until the end of the
month.
❖ Radio Sweden Anew
Radio Sweden has always been counted among
the top echelon of international broadcasters. Mindful
perhaps of the fact that it is now the sole remaining
international broadcaster hailing from the Nordic
region, Radio Sweden has undergone a period of soulsearching
and emerged with a refreshed line-up. The
pace of the presentation has been quickened, retaining
old favorites and adding new segments that explore
history, geography, sci-tech, sport, personalities and
the intricacies of Swedish cooking.
“The daily editions offer a smorgasbord of
news and current affairs, science and technology,
lifestyle, and culture. We explore, debate, analyse
and give insight into the way Swedish society and
its people are changing to meet today’s challenges
and opportunities,” claims Radio Sweden’s web site
http://sr.se/rs.
Each weekday has been given a broad theme.
Monday’s focus is “culture.” The arts program Spectrum
airs on the first and third weeks of the month.
Tuesday’s leitmotiv is “knowledge” and that brings
the environmental program Earthscan, the medical
report Healthscan and the all things Swedish S-Files
on the first, second and third weeks respectively.
Wednesday is devoted to “real life,” which means
Sportscan the first week, Money Matters the second
and Nordic Lights the third. “Lifestyles” infuse
Thursdays with Cooking with Judi and Juan, a new
show devoted to Swedish cuisine, airing the first week
and the personality profile Close Up presented the
second. Friday’s theme is “Debate.” Where regular
features don’t air, special reports and programs
will.
On the weekends, Radio Sweden is now part
of the Network Europe team, whose reports will go
to air every Sunday. Saturdays rotate around SONO
(otherwise known as the youth lifestyles and music
show Sounds Nordic, documentaries from Studio 49,
the listener interactive In Touch with Stockholm and
the topical magazine Sweden Today, week to week
every month.
❖ RNMusic.NL begins Live!
Online
There was a time when classical music concerts
from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw were a staple of
the Radio Nederland shortwave schedule. In what
might be termed a “back to the future” move, Radio
Netherlands has started producing a special program
for the exclusively for “new media” Internet listeners
that tips its hat to the broadcaster’s traditional radio
roots.
Each week, the RNMusic.NL web site offers a
new program featuring highlights from Live! at the
Concertgebouw, a syndicated program for partner
stations produced by Radio Netherlands Music, a
division of Radio Netherlands, and distributed in
North America by WCLV/Seaway Productions. All
of the fantastic music, interviews and background
information that are part of the main program will
be featured in Live! Online, but in an abbreviated
format. Live! Online is hosted by Hans Haffmans,
the program’s regular presenter.
On-demand availability releases both producer
and listener from the “tyranny of the scheduler” so
program length has the freedom to vary from week
to week depending on the musical selections. Each
episode remains online for two weeks, providing both
last week’s program and the current week’s program
for listening. Live! Online can be heard in Real and
Windows Media formats.
It’s all available now at http://www2.rnw.
nl/mu/catalog/radioprograms/live_online.
❖ Briefly...
Radio Exterior de España broadcasts exten-
36 MONITORING TIMES January 2005