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“Shortwave is still significant in much of Africa, South Asia and parts of Latin America.” “Other regions vary from country to country,” said Sennitt. “Media Network” began in 1981 as a weekly shortwave program in 2000 that show ended in favor of its current online presence. He is one of the world’s most respected experts on shortwave radio and the editor in charge of the Radio Netherlands Worldwide “Media Network” Web site. “There has been a massive decline in shortwave listenership, especially in Europe and North America,” said Andy Sennitt.

In fact, the BBC World Service no longer beams programming via shortwave to the Americas or most of Europe. In North America and Europe, many of the major broadcasters have disappeared or minimized their presence. Scan across the shortwave bands and you’ll find that much has changed. But back when there was no awareness of the Internet and no international satellite TV, shortwave was where many news-hungry North Americans went first. Granted, most of that audience was outside of North America. If you wanted to know what was happening in Cuba, Tel Aviv or what was then called Bombay, you could tune to Radio Havana, Kol Yisrael or All India Radio directly.Īt the time, the BBC estimated global shortwave listenership to be in excess of 120 million people weekly. There was also Radio Moscow - once the mouthpiece of old-style Soviet propaganda - the Voice of America, Radio Netherlands, Deutsche Welle from West Germany and Radio Berlin International from East Germany.

Most hours of the day, the BBC World Service boomed in, especially at night on 6175 kHz. As recently as 25 years ago, shortwave radio was a preferred source of breaking international news in North America.