Archive

Category: Asia & Middle East

A Tour of Asia’s Oldest Radio Station

A tour of Asia’s oldest radio station, which introduced Sri Lanka and India to Elvis Presley, is a journey through broadcast history.

No All India Radio, Only Akashvani Henceforth Says Govt Diktat

All India Radio is going off air. It is being replaced by Akashvani. The next radio bulletin that you listen to in English on the government-run service will begin with the announcement, “This is Akashvani” in place of “this is All India Radio.”

Radio Alhara – No Limits

Radio Alhara was launched in 2020 as a way for five friends to stay in touch during the coronavirus lockdowns. It was initially broadcast from Bethlehem, Ramallah and Amman but now you’ll hear presenters and DJs from around the world.

AIR Kurseong Celebrates 60 Years

The Kurseong station of All India Radio Radio is located at an altitude of 4800 feet and it was inaugurated by the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Dr. B. Gopala Reddy in June 1962.  Since then AIR Kurseong has taken a programming relay from other AIR radio broadcasting stations, and it also fosters the development of local talent in order to preserve the rich cultural values and traditions of the region.

PBS in the Philippines on Shortwave

During its more than three quarters of a century of on air shortwave service, PBS, the Philippine Broadcasting Service has always been quite tenuous, even at its very best. Radio Philippinas, the shortwave service of the Voice of the Philippines, has at times been dependent upon borrowed facilities and donated equipment, sometimes quite old, and sometimes no longer reliable.

Radio broadcasting still crucial in Sarawak

According to Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) Sarawak Radio Section principal assistant director Marrill Chunggat, radio services in Sarawak continue to play an important role in reaching out to the masses. “This is especially in the rural areas that have yet to have digital accessibility, but can be reached through receptions of bands, waves or radio frequency transmissions either via shortwave (SW) or frequency modulation (FM),” he told The Borneo Post.

AIR’s Station At 9,000 Feet Along LoC In Kashmir Broadcasts Programs For People Living Across Border

Surrounded by the barbed wires, dense deodar trees and Pir Panchal mountains in the backdrop, this is the All India Radio (AIR) Srinagar’s Radio Station which has been set up close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Rustum area of J&K’s Uri sector.

The Powerful United States Naval Radio Station at Tarlac in the Philippines

The Tarlac Radio Transmitter station on Camp O’Donnell contained three separate transmitter facilities, each with its own separate antenna systems. A total of nearly one hundred American personnel operated the station and its equipment, together with more than two hundred local Filipino personnel as well.

Voice of America Relay Station at Tinang in the Philippines

The fourth VOA relay station in the Philippines is the large and powerful station that is located at Tinang, some 50 miles north of the national capital, Manila, on the main island of Luzon.

VOA Shortwave Relay Station at Poro in the Philippines

The Poro radio stations were constructed on 200 acres at the Wallace Air Force Base, at Poro Point on Poro Island.  The original complement of shortwave transmitters was made up of six transmitters…

The Story of the Two Shortwave Stations Known as Radio Sada-e-Kashmir

In mid-January 2003, a new shortwave station called Radio Sada-e-Kashmir (Voice of Kashmir) hit the airwaves in Southern Asia.  It was first noted broadcasting in the Kashmiri language at 0230 – 0310 UTC, followed by programming in the Dogri language at 0310 – 0330 UTC on 9890 kHz.

The Voice of America on Mediumwave at Poro in the Philippines

The third relay station for VOA, the Voice of America in the Philippines, was located at Poro Point, 150 miles north of the national capital, Manila.  Interestingly though, that one VOA relay station at Poro was in reality four different radio broadcasting stations all clustered together. 

The Second VOA Relay Station in the Philippines

In our brief mini-series of topics here in Wavescan about the VOA Voice of America radio stations in the Philippines, we have presented the story about their first relay station, which began as a submarine operation under the callsign KZSO which subsequently morphed into a landbased station as KZFM in Manila city.  We move on now to the story of their second relay station in the Philippines which was located in the regional city of Malolos on Luzon Island.  Let’s go back to the beginning.

The First VOA Relay Station in the Philippines

According to the official history of PBS, the Philippine Broadcasting System in the Philippine Islands, the first programming from OWI the Office of War Information in Los Angeles California, and VOA the Voice of America in New York City, was on the air from a low powered mediumwave transmitter aboard an American submarine in the Lingayen Gulf, off the west coast of Luzon Island.  This unique radio broadcasting station operated with just 50 watts under the callsign KZSO, and it took to the air in its Philippine service in December 1944.

Voice of America Relay Station in a Submarine        

The Voice of America radio stations in the Philippine Islands, that subsequently became so well known throughout the international radio world, underwent a very small though very interesting beginning towards the end of the Pacific War in the middle of last century.  In order to understand those early origins way back then, let’s go back to the year 1942. This is what happened.

Kazakhstan Celebrates 100 Years of Radio History

At the present time, the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan is celebrating the 100th anniversary of radio broadcasting in their country. It was in October 1921 that the first radio broadcasting station was inaugurated in the city of Orenburg, exactly one hundred years ago

The World’s Highest Radio Station Celebrates its 50th Anniversary: AIR Leh

When it was constructed in 1970, the mediumwave and shortwave station of All India Radio at Leh in Kashmir was listed as the World’s Highest Radio Station, and it has survived, fire, flood and snow during its half century history. As Jose Jacob VU2JOS in Hyderabad India informs us, AIR Radio Kashmir Leh recently celebrated its Golden Jubilee, its 50th anniversary, on Friday June 25 (2021).

Radio Malaya Singapore in Two Different Countries

By the end of January 1942, Japanese armed forces had scrambled down through the thick jungles and the multitude of rubber plantations on the Malay Peninsula until they finally reached Johore Bahru, facing Singapore Island. They then began sporadic attempts at bombarding the island and at crossing the waterway that separated the Malay mainland from Singapore Island itself.

National Broadcasting Day 2021: India’s first-ever radio broadcast went on air on this day in 1927

National Broadcasting Day is observed annually in India on 23 July to commemorate the first-ever radio broadcast in the country that went on air from the Bombay Station under the Indian Broadcasting Company in 1927.

The Radio Scene in the Lonely Isolated Maldive Islands: The Island of Gan

The Maldive Islands are a lonely and isolated cluster of islands that lie towards the southern end of a very long series of underwater mountains on the western side of the Indian subcontinent. This island chain stretches for 1000 miles, from the Aminidivi Islands in the extreme north to the Chagos Islands in the extreme south.