Rare Radio

RARE RADIO RECORDINGS

Shortwave Stations of the 1970's

Here are some recordings of radio stations that have now long gone from the shortwave radio bands, as heard in the 1970's  on old valve and early solid-state receivers. I still get shivers of delight these days when I hear them again. I wish I had made many more recordings of those wonderful stations of the 1970's. These examples below were recorded off-air on a reel-to-reel tape recorder.

NOTE:  Time has taken its toll on these recordings. From the original reel-to-reel tape recorder, I then transferred them to cassette tape a few years later. And, of course, over time the cassettes started to deteriorate as well. This resulted in increased noise and less definition or clarity. I am currently spending time endeavouring to digitise and restore these recordings, but it's difficult, and …….. what's gone is gone!


ECOS DEL TORBES, San Cristobal, Venezuela. This station broadcast for many years on the frequency of 4980 kHz in the 60 meter band. This recording was made on October 8, 1972 as the station signed-on at 1004 UTC (8.04pm local time in Melbourne).

RADIO CONTINENTE, Caracas, Venezuela. Recorded on October 8, 1972 at 1000 UTC (8.00pm local time in Melbourne) using the frequency of 5030 kHz. This recording is nearly 5 minutes long but is interesting for all the sign-on announcements and formalities that happened at the start of every broadcasting day. The first thing heard was always the National Anthem (the full version, of course!....although I cut most of this for the purposes of this download). Then there was an extended station identification, listing all the outlets in the network. By the way, the music heard in the background is Leroy Anderson's famous Typewriter melody. Vigorous Venezuelan guitar music begins, but suddenly there is a two second gap in the transmission. Eventually, we get a "Good Morning Friends" (Buenas dias amigas y amigos). I always enjoy wonderful rolling "r's" in the Superrrrrrrrr Potente slogan.

RADIO RELOJ, San José, Costa Rica. Recorded on October 13, 1973 on 6006 kHz in the 49 meter band, at 0832 UTC (6:32pm local Melbourne time).




RADIO COLOSAL, Neiva, Colombia. Transmitting on 4945 kHz on October 13, 1973 at 0822 UTC (6.22pm Melbourne time). As we head into the Southern Hemisphere's summer, the season for listening to Latin American stations has well and truly ended. Conditions on the low frequency bands become quite noisy.

RADIO LARA, Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Transmitting on 4800 kHz, recorded on August 12, 1973 at 1036 UTC (8.36pm local time).




RADIO COMERCIAL, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Recorded on October 13, 1973 at 0811 UTC (6:11 local time in Melbourne) on 4881 kHz. This one was not commonly heard in my part of the world. The signal is not especially clear and the recording has deteriorated over time. I have done my best to restore the original taped sounds.



RADIO SUTATENZA, Bogota, Colombia. This station was often well-heard in south eastern Australia and operated on three frequencies in the 60 and 49 meter bands. This recording is of their 5075 kHz outlet at sign on 0959 UTC on August 21, 1973. Aonther example of a station with a long sign-on procedure.