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| This picture tells the story. No more watts coming out of the Shepparton transmitters! |
RADIO AUSTRALIA - A POSSIBLE RETURN?
(I wrote this article for "The World of Shortwave Listening" column of The Spectrum Monitor magazine - April 2017 issue. Further details on this excellent publication is available at www.thespectrummonitor.com)
If you have been following the saga surrounding the closure of Radio Australia on shortwave over the past few months, you will already be aware that this once strong international broadcaster has now gone. But is this really the end? Could we see Radio Australia (RA) rise from the ashes?
Back on January 31, I had been given the green light to attend the final broadcast from RA’s Shepparton transmitters by the station manager, Steve Ashmore. My intention was to record the historic event through video and photographs. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the visit due to an ongoing illness. Making the round trip of 400 km (250 miles) in the one day was just not going to be possible. In addition, Steve reminded me that people with pacemakers were not allowed in the transmitter hall while the 100kW transmitters were in operation. Whoops! That also counted me out! So there would be no chance to record the official shut down, at a site that had been in operation for over 70 years.
So, I did the next best thing I could do – I made sure I was near a radio for that final transmission. You can view my January 31 video of the last two minutes of the broadcast on 17840 kHz: https://youtu.be/M8eJoTXf6Lw
Pacific Islands Unhappy
In its heyday of the 70s and the 80s, RA broadcasts were beamed to Europe, North America, Asia and other parts of the globe. But as successive governments cut funding to the ABC, RA became one of the main services to suffer. European and North American broadcasts disappeared, and even the Asian services were whittled away to nothing. In the end, the once popular world voice of Radio Australia concentrated purely on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.
Now that the service has ended, leaders of many Pacific Islands are concerned about the effects this decision will have on their local communities. Thousands of island communities are poor. Radio is an important lifeline for them. The region is regularly subjected to natural disaster such as tsunamis, cyclones and earthquakes. As was found two years in the cyclone that devastated Vanuatu, one of the first parts of infrastructure to be rendered useless were island communications. It was weeks and months before some outer islands in the Vanuatu group were reconnected with the outside world. Radio became that important lifeline.
The Pacific region and parts of Asia are also known for occasional civic disturbances. In recent decades, Fiji, Solomon Islands, East Timor, and Burma were just a few countries where national governments controlled, restricted and censored information. A freelance journalist in the Solomon Islands indicated that RA played an important part during the country’s ethnic crisis, especially when the local journalists felt threatened and the independence of the media was jeopardised. At those times, radio came to the fore by allowing listeners to keep in touch with events as they happened via shortwave radio. It is truly the only medium without borders! As an independent voice, RA was highly valued amongst listeners. An excellent article on this topic can be found online at The Conversation news site: https://theconversation.com/pacific-nations-lose-shortwave-radio-services-that-evade-dictators-and-warn-of-natural-disasters-70058
Radio New Zealand International is now the only large shortwave broadcaster in the Pacific. RNZI reports that Papua New Guinea MP Mr Ron Knight indicated the closure would affect 90 per cent of his people in the remote Manus Province who cannot receive FM radio. “For it (Radio Australia) to close down will deprive a lot of people of current affairs and news and the situation as day to day events unfold in and around the world and the Pacific region.” You can read the full article at http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/323492/dismay-in-melanesia-as-abc-ends-shortwave
Leaders of the many Pacific island nations have expressed considerable disquiet over this decision, and they have made representations to the Australian Federal Government Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Northern Territory Complications
As well as its closure of RA, the ABC also ceased its domestic Northern Territory Shortwave Service on January 31. Operating from three locations: Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine, this service in the 120 and 60 meter bands provided 24-hour radio contact to the very remotest parts of the Australian outback, to places where no FM or AM services were available. Cattle producers, truck drivers, travellers and tourism operators, remote homesteads, and even commercial fishermen operating off the far north coast of Australia have expressed concern about the dissolution of this long-time operation. For cattle drovers in outback camps who may be living in the bush away from home for several weeks at a time, the NT service was their only way of keeping in touch with the outside world.
ABC’s Impractical ‘Solutions’
The money saved by closing both the Pacific and Northern Territory shortwave services reportedly amounts to around US$3 million, although the ABC has been somewhat vague on the exact amount. The organization has indicated that some of the money saved would go into extending its DAB+ services in Darwin (NT) and Hobart (Tasmania) along with other digital radio improvements nationwide. As for the Pacific, ABC says that it will redirect some funds into FM distribution networks. Its solution is for listeners in remote outback regions to buy a VAST satellite system for their homes and fishing vessels, or stream ABC audio via the Internet.
It is clear that the ABC administration sitting in their air-conditioned Sydney offices have little understanding of the impractical nature of their suggestions. When your audience is spread over vast distances involving many hundreds of miles in both the remote Northern Territory and in far-flung Pacific Islands, offering FM and AM alternatives just won’t cut it. Telling listeners to simply log onto the Internet is futile when Internet services are not available or data costs are prohibitive. In it’s defence, the ABC claims that Pacific Islanders all have mobile phones, so streaming content shouldn’t be a problem. But try telling that to a poor family on a remote island in the Pacific or on a lonely cattle station where there is either no mobile telephone service or hideously expensive data costs. And, as one fisherman pointed out, with his boat always on the move over many hundreds of miles, he would need to constantly be readjusting his satellite dish in order to try and maintain reception.
Despite what some commentators and the ABC may say, mobile phone and Internet services in the Pacific Islands are still very much undeveloped. A case in point is Papua New Guinea where an extensive report by independent telecommunications researchers BuddeComm highlights the challenges of infrastructure and low income base. While recognizing that there is enormous potential for telecommunications in that market, the report points out that “this growth could be inhibited by the latent difficulties within the market, including the high cost of deploying infrastructure, the relatively low income base among potential subscribers, and the geographical dispersal of the population. As a result of these conditions PNG remains one of the least affordable mobile markets in the Pacific.”
The report goes on to say: “Network deployment costs are high in PNG due to the relatively low subscriber base, the impervious terrain, and the high proportion of the population living in rural areas. As a result, fixed telecom infrastructure is almost inexistent outside urban centres, leaving most of the population unserviced.” You can read the latest iteration (February 2017) of this report at https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Papua-New-Guinea-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses#
The Fight Begins
Regular shortwave listeners will remember that several years ago Radio Exterior de España attempted to switch off its shortwave transmitters permanently. After an outcry from Spanish nationals, the service was reintroduced three months later on a much smaller scale for Spanish merchant sailors around the world. And, the Voice of Greece looked like it was finished when that country’s government closed down the External Service back in June 2013. Later that year, the station began again in an “unofficial” capacity. It is now back with reduced daily services on 9420, 9935 and 11645 kHz.
So, there is a chance that both Radio Australia and the Northern Territory Shortwave Service will also return in some form. The ABC is an independent authority from the Australian Government, but its annual funding comes from government budgets. Theoretically, the ABC can do what it likes with the money it receives! But if strong enough representations are made to the Federal Government, then it is possible that legislation could be passed compelling the ABC to offer a shortwave service.
Two Northern Territory parliamentarians have been very proactive in raising the issues on behalf of their constituents. Other Members of Parliament (MPs) have also taken an interest in the cause, including one rather colorful leader of a minor party known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT). We also know that the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Hon. Julie Bishop, has been in discussions with the Pacific leaders of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji. She is anxious to continue developing strong ongoing relations with Australia’s Pacific neighbors.
On February 13, a bill was introduced into Federal Parliament, to be known as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (Restoring Shortwave Radio) Bill 2017. In summary, this bill seeks to amend the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 to: require the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to maintain three domestic shortwave transmission services for the Northern Territory that were operating up until 31 January 2017; and maintain an international shortwave radio transmission service for Papua New Guinea and parts of the Pacific. The Senate Estimates Committee has called in the ABC Management in to what can be described as a rather fiery meeting! The committee is required to report back on May 10.
It’s All In The Numbers
Some commentators have been referring to a figure of only 15 people complaining about the closure of the shortwave services. This number has been touted by ABC management and appears to be rather inaccurate! There have been many more complaints, including some from people I know personally. Has the ABC registered and counted all complaints? Furthermore, at the Senate meeting on February 28, the ABC Managing Director again claimed that only 15 complaints had been received. Yet the Committee revealed that it had received 52 submissions from various organisations and individuals concerned about the closure. The Committee is currently calling for further submissions, which can be found at: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Shortwaveradio
The wheels of government have a tendency to turn slowly. It could be some months off yet before Radio Australia is heard on shortwave again….if at all. Our fingers are crossed.
Big Listener Response
In the lead up to the big switch-off, and in the days immediately following RA’s demise on shortwave, SWL and DXing social media was full of listener comments regretting the decision and offering their recollections about how RA had impacted their lives over many years. An especially strong outcry came from North American listeners who recounted regularly tuning in to RA’s broadcasts to the U.S. It seemed that when RA did close the North American service to concentrate its limited funding on the Pacific and Asia, many U.S. listeners continued their listening habits. Probably the frequency most mentioned was the long-time 9580 kHz, an outlet that had been RA’s “home” for decades. Responses from listeners ranged from dismay and sadness to downright anger!
One U.S. radio enthusiast, Bob K6TR wrote to me and recalled:
“In 1985, I would get up early on Saturday mornings to listen to Radio Australia. At 4 am EST (US), RA would be broadcasting to the Pacific at 100kW. Even in that configuration RA was armchair copy with an S-7 signal. As propagation improved the signal strength would increase, S-8 by 5 am followed by S-9 at 6 am. At 7 am the boys in Shepparton would throw the Big Switch and redirect its transmission to the Western US. The switch over was awesome. RA would thunder in to the New York City metropolitan area at a signal strength of 25 to 30 db over S-9. It was hard to believe a radio signal so strong could be originating 8000 miles away. The signal on 9580 kHz would be going strong up till 11 am local time when they would shift their transmissions to higher frequencies to take advantage of improved propagation. In the evening the same process repeated itself on 15240 kHz.
“Over the years ABC and RA felt the budget axe. Decisions were made to reduce the transmission power to the US to 250 kW and then eliminate it all together. This really effected the East Coast in the early Morning hours but we could still hear RA's Broadcasts to the Pacific. RA was always a beacon of light regarding news coverage of Australia, Oceania and Asia. We rarely get any news from that region of the world from US media so RA was a lifeline we could hardly do without. The Internet coming of age spelled the end for shortwave. The Big Beacon Signals have been dropping slowly but steadily - the BBC, Radio Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands, Radio South Africa and Voice of Russia. It seems we should leave the message “to the last station shutting down, please turn off the lights when you sign off”. With Radio Australia passing into the ether it would appear that honor will likely fall to one of the Asian stations, most likely China Radio International. So to all the producers, on-air staff, technical staff and administrators that have filled our lives with news, sports and culture I say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Radio Australia will be missed dearly.” (Bob K6TR)
Further Reading:
Michelle Guthrie says it is not her job to lobby for ABC funding:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/28/michelle-guthrie-says-it-is-not-her-job-to-lobby-for-abc-funding
'Thousands' in Solomon Islands affected by ABC shortwave cut:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/323443/'thousands'-in-solomon-islands-affected-by-abc-shortwave-cut
Xenophon not happy about Radio Australia:
http://video.sheppnews.com.au/2017/02/02/72104/xenophon-not-happy-about-radio-australia
Workers upset by ABC's ditching of shortwave radio told to complain to Senate inquiry:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/workers-upset-by-abcs-ditching-of-shortwave-radio-told-to-complain-to-senate-inquiry
ABC shortwave service a lifeline for Aussie expats in PNG:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-31/abc-shortwave-service-a-lifeline-for-aussie-expats/8228440
If you have been following the saga surrounding the closure of Radio Australia on shortwave over the past few months, you will already be aware that this once strong international broadcaster has now gone. But is this really the end? Could we see Radio Australia (RA) rise from the ashes?
 |
| Moments before the big switch-off. |
So, I did the next best thing I could do – I made sure I was near a radio for that final transmission. You can view my January 31 video of the last two minutes of the broadcast on 17840 kHz: https://youtu.be/M8eJoTXf6Lw
Pacific Islands Unhappy
In its heyday of the 70s and the 80s, RA broadcasts were beamed to Europe, North America, Asia and other parts of the globe. But as successive governments cut funding to the ABC, RA became one of the main services to suffer. European and North American broadcasts disappeared, and even the Asian services were whittled away to nothing. In the end, the once popular world voice of Radio Australia concentrated purely on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.
 |
|
(Photo courtesy of Rex VK3OF)
|
Now that the service has ended, leaders of many Pacific Islands are concerned about the effects this decision will have on their local communities. Thousands of island communities are poor. Radio is an important lifeline for them. The region is regularly subjected to natural disaster such as tsunamis, cyclones and earthquakes. As was found two years in the cyclone that devastated Vanuatu, one of the first parts of infrastructure to be rendered useless were island communications. It was weeks and months before some outer islands in the Vanuatu group were reconnected with the outside world. Radio became that important lifeline.
The Pacific region and parts of Asia are also known for occasional civic disturbances. In recent decades, Fiji, Solomon Islands, East Timor, and Burma were just a few countries where national governments controlled, restricted and censored information. A freelance journalist in the Solomon Islands indicated that RA played an important part during the country’s ethnic crisis, especially when the local journalists felt threatened and the independence of the media was jeopardised. At those times, radio came to the fore by allowing listeners to keep in touch with events as they happened via shortwave radio. It is truly the only medium without borders! As an independent voice, RA was highly valued amongst listeners. An excellent article on this topic can be found online at The Conversation news site: https://theconversation.com/pacific-nations-lose-shortwave-radio-services-that-evade-dictators-and-warn-of-natural-disasters-70058
Radio New Zealand International is now the only large shortwave broadcaster in the Pacific. RNZI reports that Papua New Guinea MP Mr Ron Knight indicated the closure would affect 90 per cent of his people in the remote Manus Province who cannot receive FM radio. “For it (Radio Australia) to close down will deprive a lot of people of current affairs and news and the situation as day to day events unfold in and around the world and the Pacific region.” You can read the full article at http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/323492/dismay-in-melanesia-as-abc-ends-shortwave
Leaders of the many Pacific island nations have expressed considerable disquiet over this decision, and they have made representations to the Australian Federal Government Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Northern Territory Complications
As well as its closure of RA, the ABC also ceased its domestic Northern Territory Shortwave Service on January 31. Operating from three locations: Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine, this service in the 120 and 60 meter bands provided 24-hour radio contact to the very remotest parts of the Australian outback, to places where no FM or AM services were available. Cattle producers, truck drivers, travellers and tourism operators, remote homesteads, and even commercial fishermen operating off the far north coast of Australia have expressed concern about the dissolution of this long-time operation. For cattle drovers in outback camps who may be living in the bush away from home for several weeks at a time, the NT service was their only way of keeping in touch with the outside world.
On January 30, I documented a few minutes of the final evening of the ABC Darwin broadcasts from the transmitters at Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine. There are lots of station identification announcements, and even information on how to listen to ABC after shortwave was switched off. Unfortunately, much of the advice is of no use to listeners in the region! https://youtu.be/_jbhpe286RA
ABC’s Impractical ‘Solutions’
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| Transmitter No. 3 at Shepparton (Photo courtesy of Rex VK3OF) |
It is clear that the ABC administration sitting in their air-conditioned Sydney offices have little understanding of the impractical nature of their suggestions. When your audience is spread over vast distances involving many hundreds of miles in both the remote Northern Territory and in far-flung Pacific Islands, offering FM and AM alternatives just won’t cut it. Telling listeners to simply log onto the Internet is futile when Internet services are not available or data costs are prohibitive. In it’s defence, the ABC claims that Pacific Islanders all have mobile phones, so streaming content shouldn’t be a problem. But try telling that to a poor family on a remote island in the Pacific or on a lonely cattle station where there is either no mobile telephone service or hideously expensive data costs. And, as one fisherman pointed out, with his boat always on the move over many hundreds of miles, he would need to constantly be readjusting his satellite dish in order to try and maintain reception.
Despite what some commentators and the ABC may say, mobile phone and Internet services in the Pacific Islands are still very much undeveloped. A case in point is Papua New Guinea where an extensive report by independent telecommunications researchers BuddeComm highlights the challenges of infrastructure and low income base. While recognizing that there is enormous potential for telecommunications in that market, the report points out that “this growth could be inhibited by the latent difficulties within the market, including the high cost of deploying infrastructure, the relatively low income base among potential subscribers, and the geographical dispersal of the population. As a result of these conditions PNG remains one of the least affordable mobile markets in the Pacific.”
The report goes on to say: “Network deployment costs are high in PNG due to the relatively low subscriber base, the impervious terrain, and the high proportion of the population living in rural areas. As a result, fixed telecom infrastructure is almost inexistent outside urban centres, leaving most of the population unserviced.” You can read the latest iteration (February 2017) of this report at https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Papua-New-Guinea-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses#
The Fight Begins
Regular shortwave listeners will remember that several years ago Radio Exterior de España attempted to switch off its shortwave transmitters permanently. After an outcry from Spanish nationals, the service was reintroduced three months later on a much smaller scale for Spanish merchant sailors around the world. And, the Voice of Greece looked like it was finished when that country’s government closed down the External Service back in June 2013. Later that year, the station began again in an “unofficial” capacity. It is now back with reduced daily services on 9420, 9935 and 11645 kHz.
So, there is a chance that both Radio Australia and the Northern Territory Shortwave Service will also return in some form. The ABC is an independent authority from the Australian Government, but its annual funding comes from government budgets. Theoretically, the ABC can do what it likes with the money it receives! But if strong enough representations are made to the Federal Government, then it is possible that legislation could be passed compelling the ABC to offer a shortwave service.
Two Northern Territory parliamentarians have been very proactive in raising the issues on behalf of their constituents. Other Members of Parliament (MPs) have also taken an interest in the cause, including one rather colorful leader of a minor party known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT). We also know that the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Hon. Julie Bishop, has been in discussions with the Pacific leaders of Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji. She is anxious to continue developing strong ongoing relations with Australia’s Pacific neighbors.
On February 13, a bill was introduced into Federal Parliament, to be known as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (Restoring Shortwave Radio) Bill 2017. In summary, this bill seeks to amend the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 to: require the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to maintain three domestic shortwave transmission services for the Northern Territory that were operating up until 31 January 2017; and maintain an international shortwave radio transmission service for Papua New Guinea and parts of the Pacific. The Senate Estimates Committee has called in the ABC Management in to what can be described as a rather fiery meeting! The committee is required to report back on May 10.
It’s All In The Numbers
Some commentators have been referring to a figure of only 15 people complaining about the closure of the shortwave services. This number has been touted by ABC management and appears to be rather inaccurate! There have been many more complaints, including some from people I know personally. Has the ABC registered and counted all complaints? Furthermore, at the Senate meeting on February 28, the ABC Managing Director again claimed that only 15 complaints had been received. Yet the Committee revealed that it had received 52 submissions from various organisations and individuals concerned about the closure. The Committee is currently calling for further submissions, which can be found at: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Shortwaveradio
The wheels of government have a tendency to turn slowly. It could be some months off yet before Radio Australia is heard on shortwave again….if at all. Our fingers are crossed.
Big Listener Response
In the lead up to the big switch-off, and in the days immediately following RA’s demise on shortwave, SWL and DXing social media was full of listener comments regretting the decision and offering their recollections about how RA had impacted their lives over many years. An especially strong outcry came from North American listeners who recounted regularly tuning in to RA’s broadcasts to the U.S. It seemed that when RA did close the North American service to concentrate its limited funding on the Pacific and Asia, many U.S. listeners continued their listening habits. Probably the frequency most mentioned was the long-time 9580 kHz, an outlet that had been RA’s “home” for decades. Responses from listeners ranged from dismay and sadness to downright anger!
 |
|
At the Shepparton site, there is plenty of memorabilia. This photo is of the 50 kW RCA
transmitter, which was installed to increase broadcast capacity for the 1956 Olympic
Games, held in Melbourne. (Photo courtesy of Rex VK3OF)
|
One U.S. radio enthusiast, Bob K6TR wrote to me and recalled:
“In 1985, I would get up early on Saturday mornings to listen to Radio Australia. At 4 am EST (US), RA would be broadcasting to the Pacific at 100kW. Even in that configuration RA was armchair copy with an S-7 signal. As propagation improved the signal strength would increase, S-8 by 5 am followed by S-9 at 6 am. At 7 am the boys in Shepparton would throw the Big Switch and redirect its transmission to the Western US. The switch over was awesome. RA would thunder in to the New York City metropolitan area at a signal strength of 25 to 30 db over S-9. It was hard to believe a radio signal so strong could be originating 8000 miles away. The signal on 9580 kHz would be going strong up till 11 am local time when they would shift their transmissions to higher frequencies to take advantage of improved propagation. In the evening the same process repeated itself on 15240 kHz.
“Over the years ABC and RA felt the budget axe. Decisions were made to reduce the transmission power to the US to 250 kW and then eliminate it all together. This really effected the East Coast in the early Morning hours but we could still hear RA's Broadcasts to the Pacific. RA was always a beacon of light regarding news coverage of Australia, Oceania and Asia. We rarely get any news from that region of the world from US media so RA was a lifeline we could hardly do without. The Internet coming of age spelled the end for shortwave. The Big Beacon Signals have been dropping slowly but steadily - the BBC, Radio Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands, Radio South Africa and Voice of Russia. It seems we should leave the message “to the last station shutting down, please turn off the lights when you sign off”. With Radio Australia passing into the ether it would appear that honor will likely fall to one of the Asian stations, most likely China Radio International. So to all the producers, on-air staff, technical staff and administrators that have filled our lives with news, sports and culture I say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Radio Australia will be missed dearly.” (Bob K6TR)
Further Reading:
Michelle Guthrie says it is not her job to lobby for ABC funding:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/28/michelle-guthrie-says-it-is-not-her-job-to-lobby-for-abc-funding
'Thousands' in Solomon Islands affected by ABC shortwave cut:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/323443/'thousands'-in-solomon-islands-affected-by-abc-shortwave-cut
Xenophon not happy about Radio Australia:
http://video.sheppnews.com.au/2017/02/02/72104/xenophon-not-happy-about-radio-australia
Workers upset by ABC's ditching of shortwave radio told to complain to Senate inquiry:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/workers-upset-by-abcs-ditching-of-shortwave-radio-told-to-complain-to-senate-inquiry
ABC shortwave service a lifeline for Aussie expats in PNG:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-31/abc-shortwave-service-a-lifeline-for-aussie-expats/8228440
It will be a long process and I am sure ABC management will resist any attempt to reverse the decision. The commercialisation of the ABC is the future under current management.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting article thank you Rob.
ReplyDeleteActually this sounds like a threat from the old boys who run Sherparton. Actually 3 million is a HUGE chunck on change. The solution is these Islands are small. Get low powered automatic weather transmitters for the islands. Its really that simple.
ReplyDelete