International broadcasting
Encyclopedia
International broadcasting is broadcasting
that is deliberately aimed at a foreign, rather than a domestic, audience. It usually is broadcast by means of longwave
, mediumwave
, or shortwave
radio, but in recent years has also used direct satellite
broadcasting and the Internet
as means of reaching audiences.
Although radio and television programs do travel outside national borders, in many cases reception by foreigners is accidental. However, for purposes of propaganda
, transmitting religious beliefs, keeping in touch with colonies or expatriates, education, improving trade, increasing national prestige, or promoting tourism and goodwill, broadcasting services have operated external services since the 1920s.
One clear reason is for ideological, or propaganda
reasons. Many government-owned stations portray their nation in a positive, non-threatening way. This could be to encourage business investment and/or tourism to the nation. Another reason is to combat a negative image produced by other nations or internal dissidents, or insurgents. Radio RSA
, the broadcasting arm of the apartheid South African government, is an example of this. A third reason is to promote the ideology of the broadcaster. For example, a program on Radio Moscow
from the 1960s to the 1980s was What is Communism?
Other reasons include broadcasting news which might be censored, or at least of little interest, in a nation. The BBC World Service
and the Voice of America
have emphasized news broadcasts. In addition to these services, during the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, the American Radio Free Europe
ran its own domestic service for nations "behind the Iron Curtain."
In the case of emergencies, a nation may broadcast special programs overseas to inform listeners what is occurring. During Iraqi missile strikes on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, Kol Israel relayed its domestic service on its shortwave service.
Besides ideological reasons, many stations are run by religious broadcasters and are used to provide religious education, religious music, or worship service programs. For example, Vatican Radio
, established in 1931, broadcasts such programs. Another station, such as HCJB
or Trans World Radio
will carry brokered programming from evangelists. In the case of the Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
, both governmental and religious programming is provided.
Stations also broadcast to international audiences for cultural reasons. Often a station has an official mandate to keep expatriates in touch with the home country. Many broadcasters often relay their national domestic service on shortwave for that reason. Other reasons include teaching a foreign language, such as Radio Exterior de España
's Spanish class, Un idioma sin fronteras, or the Voice of America's broadcasts in Special English
. In the case of major broadcasters such as the BBC World Service
or Radio Australia
, there is also an educational outreach.
. For example, the station in Nauen
, Germany became a fully commercial telegraph station in 1911, with a 260 m high antenna and a spark-gap transmitter running 100 kW of power. During World War I, with the severing of Germany's undersea cables, Nauen was the sole means of long-distance communication of Germany. The US Navy Radio Service radio station in New Brunswick, Canada, transmitted the Fourteen Points by wireless to Nauen in 1917. In turn, Nauen station broadcast the news of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 10, 1918.
Following experiments in the shortwave frequencies in 1925 from Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, radio station PCJJ
began broadcasting on March 11, 1927 with programmes in Dutch for colonies in the Dutch West Indies and Dutch East Indies
and in German, Spanish and English for the rest of the world. The popular Happy Station show was inaugurated in 1928.
The BBC
followed this with the BBC Empire Service on December 19, 1932, with transmissions aimed towards Australia and New Zealand.
Other notable early international broadcasters included Vatican Radio
(February 12, 1931), Radio Moscow
, the official service of the Soviet Union which began broadcasting on long-wave in 1923 (this has since been renamed the Voice of Russia
, following the collapse of the Soviet Union).
Clarence W. Jones started transmitting on Christmas Day, 1931 from Christian missionary radio station HCJB
in Quito
, Ecuador
.
Shortwave broadcasting from Nauen
in Germany to the USA, Central and South America, and the Far East began in 1926. A second station, Zeesen, was added later. In January 1932, the German Reichpost assumed control of the Nauen station and added to its shortwave and longwave capacity.
Broadcasting in South Asia was launched in 1925 in Ceylon - Radio Ceylon
, now the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
is the oldest in the region.
. Once Adolf Hitler
assumed power in 1933, shortwave, under the Rundfunk Ausland (Foreign Radio Section), was regarded as a vital element of Nazi propaganda. German shortwave hours were increased from two hours a day to 18 per day, and eventually twelve languages were broadcast on a 24-hour basis, including English. A 100 kilowatt transmitter and antenna complex was built at Zeesen
, near Berlin. Specialty target programming to the United States began in 1933, to South Africa, South America, and East Asia in 1934, and South Asia and Central America in 1938.
In the 1930s, international broadcasting was a key means of promoting Nazi Germany
foreign policy. German propaganda
was organized under Joseph Goebbels
, and played a key role in the German annexation of Austria and the Munich Crisis of 1938.
Mediumwave transmitters on the periphery of the Third Reich provided specialty programs to listeners in neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the Germans always had a problem staffing their foreign services with announcers who were both technically competent and loyal to Nazi ideas.
In 1936, the International Radio Union
recognized Vatican Radio as a "special case" and authorized its broadcasting without any geographical limits. On December 25, 1937, a Telefunken 25-kW transmitter and two directional antennas were added. Vatican Radio broadcast over 10 frequencies.
During the Spanish Civil War
, the Nationalist forces received a powerful Telefunken transmitter as a gift of Nazi Germany to aid their propaganda efforts, and until 1943 Radio Nacional de España
collaborated with the Axis powers to retransmit in Spanish news from the official radio stations of Germany and Italy.
. In the Pacific theater, General Douglas MacArthur
used shortwave radio to keep in touch with the citizens of the Japanese-occupied Philippine Islands.
Several announcers who became well-known in their countries included British Union of Fascists
member William Joyce
, who was one of the two "Lord Haw-Haw
"s; Frenchmen Paul Ferdonnet
and Andre Olbrecht, called "the traitors of [Radio] Stuttgart"; and Americans Frederick William Kaltenbach
, "Lord Hee-Haw", and Mildred Gillars, one of the two announcers called "Axis Sally
". Listeners to German programs often tuned in for curiosity's sake—at one time, German radio had half a million listeners in the U.S.--but most of them soon lost interest. Japan had "Tokyo Rose", who broadcast Japanese propaganda in English, along with American music to help insure listeners.
For details of German propaganda themes, see propaganda
.
During World War II, Vatican Radio's news broadcasts were banned in Germany. During the war, the radio service operated in four languages.
The British launched Radio SEAC
from Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during World War II. The station broadcast radio programs to the allied armed forces across the region from their headquarters in Ceylon.
Following the war and German partition, each Germany developed its own international broadcasting station: Deutsche Welle
, using studios in Cologne
, West Germany, and Radio Berlin International
(RBI) in East Germany. RBI's broadcasts ceased shortly before the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, and Deutsche Welle took over its transmitters and frequencies.
, and the (covertly) CIA-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Soviet Union's most prominent service was Radio Moscow (now the Voice of Russia) and China used Radio Peking (then Radio Beijing, now China Radio International
). In addition to the U.S.-Soviet cold war, the Chinese-Russian border dispute led to an increase of the numbers of transmitters aimed at the two nations, and the development of new techniques such as playing tapes backwards for reel-to-reel recorders.
West Germany resumed regular shortwave broadcasts using Deutsche Welle on May 3, 1953. Its Julich transmitter site began operation in 1956, with eleven 100-kW Telefunken transmitters. The Wectachtal site was authorized in 1962 and began with four 500-kW transmitters. By 1989, there were 15 transmitters, four of which relayed the Voice of America. Meanwhile in East Germany, the Nauen site began transmitting Radio DDR, later Radio Berlin International, on October 15, 1959.
In addition to the superpower states, international broadcast services grew in Europe and the Middle East. Under the presidency of Gamal Nasser, Egyptian transmitters covered the Arab world; Israel's service, Kol Yisrael
, served both to present the Israeli point of view to the world and to serve the Jewish diaspora, particularly behind the Iron Curtain
.
Radio RSA, as part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, was established in 1966 to promote the image of South Africa internationally and reduce criticism of apartheid. It continued in 1992, when the post-apartheid government renamed it Channel Africa
.
Ironically, the isolationist Albania
under Enver Hoxha
, virtually a hermit kingdom
, became one of the most prolific international broadcasters during the latter decades of the Cold War, with Radio Tirana one of the top five broadcasters in terms of hours of programming produced.
, are being introduced, as well as sending programs over the Web to be played back later, as "podcast
s".
Daily developments are followed in Radio Netherlands' Media Network blog
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/.
The BBC World Service
was the first broadcaster to consider setting up a satellite television news and information channel as far back as 1976, but ceded being the first to CNN
(that had primary access to Canada soon after launch). The defunct BBC World Service Antigua
Relay Station was built in 1976, but its setup costs were not known to have been part of the BBCWS decision processes at the time.
In the early 1990s, many international (as well as domestic) 24 hour news and information channels launched as part of the post-Cold War
prosperity bubble. There was another burst of global news channels launching in the late 2000s as part the developing world trying to catch up with the developed world in this area.
Notable networks
An international broadcaster has several options for reaching a foreign audience:
An international broadcaster such as the BBC, Radio France International or Germany's Deutsche Welle, may use all the above methods. Several international broadcasters, such as Swiss Radio International, have abandoned shortwave broadcasting altogether, relying on Internet transmissions only. Others, such as the BBC World Service, have abandoned shortwave transmissions to North America, relying on local relays, the Internet, and satellite transmissions
band (530 kHz to 1710 kHz), which at night is capable of reliable reception from 150 to 2,500 km distance from a transmitter. Mediumwave is used heavily all over the world for international broadcasting on a formal and informal basis.
In addition, many receivers used in Europe and Russia can receive the longwave
broadcast band (150 to 280 kHz), which provides reliable long-distance communications over continental distances.
transmissions (2,000 to 30,000 kHz or 2 to 30 MHz). Depending on time of day, season of year, solar weather and Earth's geomagnetic field, a signal might reach around the world.
In previous decades shortwave (and sometimes high-powered mediumwave) transmission was regarded as the main (and often the only) way in which broadcasters could reach an international audience. In recent years the proliferation of technologies such as satellite broadcasting, the Internet, and rebroadcasts of programming on AM and FM within target nations has meant that this is no longer necessarily the case.
Transmitter output power has increased since 1920. Higher transmitter powers do guarantee better reception in the target area. Higher transmitter power in most cases counteracts the lesser effects of jamming
.
International stations generally use special directional antennas
to aim the signal toward the intended audience and increase the effective power
in that direction. Use of such antennas for international broadcasting began in the mid 1930s and became prominent by the 1950s. By using antennas which focus most of their energy in one direction, a modern station may achieve the equivalent, in that direction, of tens of millions of watt
s of radio power.
(DAB) in Europe in the 1990s, and in a similar limited way in the Americas via in-band FM (IBOC) DAB systems in the US in the 2000s. This is a popular method to reach listeners in cars that would otherwise not be accessible during that part of the day. However, in terms of the global international broadcasting audience the DAB listener base is very small—one can assume that it is less than 2% of the listener base globally.
In spite of a large number of international 24 hour television news and information broadcasters—the television percentage of viewers is still fairly small when compared to global radio listener numbers.
It must be understood that the rural populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (as well as East Asia) have radio listener bases that are far larger than the largest international TV broadcaster could hope for—yet could be considered under served since the end of the Cold War (when these regions had more radio broadcasts targeted at them).
International broadcasters known to maintain their own streaming video sites (not authoritative)
The reach of RSS and email for international broadcasters is not really known that well, especially considering that emails get forwarded. The numbers for active RSS and email audiences are probably 5 to 20 times larger than for streaming video. It may take into the 2010s to get meaningful numbers with respect to the size of these audiences for assorted technical reasons related to the RSS and email technologies.
Email and RSS feeds can traverse telecommunications barriers that streaming video cannot, thus the larger expected audience numbers. The global economic downturn of 2008-2009 will probably increase the email and RSS audience audience sizes as fewer people will be able to afford high speed internet connections in North America, Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.
One of the most common foreign audiences consists of expatriates, who cannot listen to radio or watch television programs from home. Another common audience is radio hobbyists
, who attempt to listen to as many countries as possible and obtain verification cards or letters (QSLs). A third audience consists of journalists, government officials, and key businesspersons, who exert a disproportionate influence on a state's foreign or economic policy.
A fourth, but less publicized audience, consists of intelligence officers and agents who monitor broadcasts for both open-source intelligence clues to the broadcasting state's policies and for hidden messages to foreign agents operating in the receiving country. The BBC started its monitoring service in Caversham, Reading in 1936 (now BBC Monitoring
). In the United States, the DNI
Open Source Center
(formerly the Central Intelligence Agency
's Foreign Broadcast Information Service
) provides the same service. Copies of OSC/FBIS reports can be found in many U.S. libraries that serve as government depositories. In addition, a number of hobbyists listen and report "spook" transmissions.
Without these four audiences, international broadcasters face difficulty in getting funding. In 2001, for example, the BBC World Service stopped transmitting shortwave broadcasts to North America, and other international broadcasters, such as YLE Radio Finland, stopped certain foreign-language programs.
However, international broadcasting has been successful when a country does not provide programming wanted by a wide segment of the population. In the 1960s, when there was no BBC service playing rock and roll, Radio Television Luxembourg (RTL
) broadcast rock and roll, including bands such as the Beatles
, into the United Kingdom. Similar programming came from an unlicensed, or "pirate" station, Radio Caroline
, which broadcast from a ship in the international waters of the North Sea.
, as well as an even cheaper 35-Reichsmark receiver, that could not pick up distant signals well.
The idea was copied by Stalin's Soviet Union, which had a nearly identical copy manufactured in the Tesla factory in Czechoslovakia.
In North Korea, all receivers are sold with fixed frequencies, tuned to local stations.
The most common method of preventing reception is jamming
, or broadcasting a signal on the same frequencies as the international broadcaster. Germany jammed the BBC European service during the Second World War. Russian and Eastern European jammers were aimed against Radio Free Europe
, other Western broadcasters, and against Chinese broadcasters during the nadir of Sino-Soviet relations. In 2002, the Cuban government jammed the Voice of America
's Radio Martí
program and the Chinese government jammed Radio Free Asia
, Voice of America
, Radio Taiwan International
as well broadcasts made by adherents of Falun Gong
, .
North Korea restricts most people to a single fixed frequency mediumwave receiver; those who met political requirements and whose work absolutely required familiarity with events abroad were allowed shortwave receivers. Another method of reaching people with government radio programming, but not foreign programming, is the use of radio broadcasting by direct broadcasting to loudspeakers.
David Jackson, director of the Voice of America, noted "The North Korean government doesn't jam us, but they try to keep people from listening through intimidation or worse. But people figure out ways to listen despite the odds. They're very resourceful."
Yet another method of preventing reception involves moving a domestic station to the frequency used by the international broadcaster. During the Batista government of Cuba, and during the Castro years, Cuban medium-wave stations broadcast on the frequencies of popular South Florida stations. In October 2002, Iraq changed frequencies of two stations to block the Voice of America's Radio Sawa
program.
Jamming can be defeated by using very efficient transmitting antennas, carefully choosing the transmitted frequency, changing transmitted frequency often, using Single Sideband
, and properly aiming the receiving antenna.
For a list of international broadcasters, see List of international broadcasters.
Graef, Robert. Bicycling to Amersfoort: A World War II Memoir. 2005, iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-34621-9
Horwitz 2001
Horwitz, Robert Britt. Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa. 2001, Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-79166-9.
Hughes and Mann 2002
Hughes, Matthew, and Chris Mann. Inside Hitler's Germany: Life Under the Third Reich. 2002, Brassey's. ISBN 1-57488-503-0
Levillain 2002
Levillain, Philippe. The Papacy: An Encyclopedia. Translated by John O'Malley. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-92228-3
Martin 2006
Martin, Bradley K. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. 2006, Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-32221-6
Wood 2000
Wood, James. History of International Broadcasting. 2000, IET. ISBN 0-85296-920-1
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
that is deliberately aimed at a foreign, rather than a domestic, audience. It usually is broadcast by means of longwave
Longwave
In radio, longwave refers to parts of radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths. The term is a historic one dating from the early 20th century, when the radio spectrum was considered to consist of long, medium and short wavelengths...
, mediumwave
Mediumwave
Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...
, or shortwave
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
radio, but in recent years has also used direct satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
broadcasting and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
as means of reaching audiences.
Although radio and television programs do travel outside national borders, in many cases reception by foreigners is accidental. However, for purposes of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, transmitting religious beliefs, keeping in touch with colonies or expatriates, education, improving trade, increasing national prestige, or promoting tourism and goodwill, broadcasting services have operated external services since the 1920s.
Reasons for international broadcasting
Broadcasters in one country have several reasons to reach out to an audience in other countries. The examples given below are not meant to be exhaustive, but are illustrative.One clear reason is for ideological, or propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
reasons. Many government-owned stations portray their nation in a positive, non-threatening way. This could be to encourage business investment and/or tourism to the nation. Another reason is to combat a negative image produced by other nations or internal dissidents, or insurgents. Radio RSA
Radio RSA
Radio RSA: The Voice of South Africa was the international broadcasting service of the Republic of South Africa. It was run by the South African Broadcasting Corporation from its inception on 1 May 1966 until its demise in 1992 following the end of the apartheid era...
, the broadcasting arm of the apartheid South African government, is an example of this. A third reason is to promote the ideology of the broadcaster. For example, a program on Radio Moscow
Voice of Russia
Voice of Russia is the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service owned by the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company. Its predecessor Radio Moscow was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.-Early years:Radio Moscow...
from the 1960s to the 1980s was What is Communism?
Other reasons include broadcasting news which might be censored, or at least of little interest, in a nation. The BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
and the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
have emphasized news broadcasts. In addition to these services, during the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, the American Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
ran its own domestic service for nations "behind the Iron Curtain."
In the case of emergencies, a nation may broadcast special programs overseas to inform listeners what is occurring. During Iraqi missile strikes on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, Kol Israel relayed its domestic service on its shortwave service.
Besides ideological reasons, many stations are run by religious broadcasters and are used to provide religious education, religious music, or worship service programs. For example, Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio is the official broadcasting service of the Vatican.Set up in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave , medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. The Jesuit Order has been charged with the management of Vatican...
, established in 1931, broadcasts such programs. Another station, such as HCJB
HCJB
HCJB, "The Voice of the Andes", was the first radio station with daily programming in the South American country of Ecuador and the first Christian missionary radio station in the world. The station was founded in 1931 by Clarence W. Jones, Reuben Larson, and D. Stuart Clark.- History :Radio...
or Trans World Radio
Trans World Radio
Trans World Radio is a multinational Christian evangelistic broadcaster. TWR broadcasts from 14 countries using mediumwave or high-powered AM transmitters, shortwave as well as through local radio stations, cable, satellite, and the Internet to reach millions of people in 160 nations in their own...
will carry brokered programming from evangelists. In the case of the Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a governmental entity of Saudi Arabia, organized under the Ministry of Culture and Information. BSKSA operates almost all broadcasting outlets in the Kingdom.-Television stations:...
, both governmental and religious programming is provided.
Stations also broadcast to international audiences for cultural reasons. Often a station has an official mandate to keep expatriates in touch with the home country. Many broadcasters often relay their national domestic service on shortwave for that reason. Other reasons include teaching a foreign language, such as Radio Exterior de España
Radio Exterior de España
Radio Exterior de España is a Spanish international radio station operated by Radio Nacional de España. The station is primarily intended for Spaniards living abroad. It broadcasts 24-hours a day on short-wave radio, satellite and the Internet. Transmissions are in Spanish, French, Arabic, Ladino,...
's Spanish class, Un idioma sin fronteras, or the Voice of America's broadcasts in Special English
Special English
Special English is a controlled version of the English language first used on October 19, 1959, and still presented daily by the United States broadcasting service Voice of America. World news and other programs are read one-third slower than regular VOA English. Reporters avoid idioms and use a...
. In the case of major broadcasters such as the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
or Radio Australia
Radio Australia
Radio Australia is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , Australia's public broadcaster.- History :...
, there is also an educational outreach.
1914-1933
International broadcasting, in a limited extent, began during World War I, when Central Powers and Allied stations broadcast press communiqués using Morse codeMorse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
. For example, the station in Nauen
Nauen
Nauen is a town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 38 km west of Berlin and 26 km northwest of Potsdam.-History:...
, Germany became a fully commercial telegraph station in 1911, with a 260 m high antenna and a spark-gap transmitter running 100 kW of power. During World War I, with the severing of Germany's undersea cables, Nauen was the sole means of long-distance communication of Germany. The US Navy Radio Service radio station in New Brunswick, Canada, transmitted the Fourteen Points by wireless to Nauen in 1917. In turn, Nauen station broadcast the news of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 10, 1918.
Following experiments in the shortwave frequencies in 1925 from Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, radio station PCJJ
PCJJ
PCJJ was a pioneering shortwave radio station operated by Philips Laboratories of Holland, a division of Philips Electronics....
began broadcasting on March 11, 1927 with programmes in Dutch for colonies in the Dutch West Indies and Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
and in German, Spanish and English for the rest of the world. The popular Happy Station show was inaugurated in 1928.
The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
followed this with the BBC Empire Service on December 19, 1932, with transmissions aimed towards Australia and New Zealand.
Other notable early international broadcasters included Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio
Vatican Radio is the official broadcasting service of the Vatican.Set up in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave , medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. The Jesuit Order has been charged with the management of Vatican...
(February 12, 1931), Radio Moscow
Voice of Russia
Voice of Russia is the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service owned by the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company. Its predecessor Radio Moscow was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.-Early years:Radio Moscow...
, the official service of the Soviet Union which began broadcasting on long-wave in 1923 (this has since been renamed the Voice of Russia
Voice of Russia
Voice of Russia is the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service owned by the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company. Its predecessor Radio Moscow was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.-Early years:Radio Moscow...
, following the collapse of the Soviet Union).
Clarence W. Jones started transmitting on Christmas Day, 1931 from Christian missionary radio station HCJB
HCJB
HCJB, "The Voice of the Andes", was the first radio station with daily programming in the South American country of Ecuador and the first Christian missionary radio station in the world. The station was founded in 1931 by Clarence W. Jones, Reuben Larson, and D. Stuart Clark.- History :Radio...
in Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
.
Shortwave broadcasting from Nauen
Nauen
Nauen is a town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 38 km west of Berlin and 26 km northwest of Potsdam.-History:...
in Germany to the USA, Central and South America, and the Far East began in 1926. A second station, Zeesen, was added later. In January 1932, the German Reichpost assumed control of the Nauen station and added to its shortwave and longwave capacity.
Broadcasting in South Asia was launched in 1925 in Ceylon - Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon
Radio Ceylon is the oldest radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis in Ceylon by the Telegraph Department in 1923, just three years after the inauguration of broadcasting in Europe.- Edward Harper :...
, now the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation
The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation came into existence on January 5, 1967 when Radio Ceylon became a public corporation. Dudley Senanayake who was the Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1967 ceremonially opened the newly established Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation along with Minister Ranasinghe...
is the oldest in the region.
1934-1939
Shortwave programming was a low priority in the Weimar RepublicWeimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
. Once Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
assumed power in 1933, shortwave, under the Rundfunk Ausland (Foreign Radio Section), was regarded as a vital element of Nazi propaganda. German shortwave hours were increased from two hours a day to 18 per day, and eventually twelve languages were broadcast on a 24-hour basis, including English. A 100 kilowatt transmitter and antenna complex was built at Zeesen
Zeesen
Zeesen is a village south of Königs Wusterhausen in Germany, known for Deutschlandsender Zeesen which was built in 1927 and the Zeesen short-wave transmitter ....
, near Berlin. Specialty target programming to the United States began in 1933, to South Africa, South America, and East Asia in 1934, and South Asia and Central America in 1938.
In the 1930s, international broadcasting was a key means of promoting Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
foreign policy. German propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
was organized under Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
, and played a key role in the German annexation of Austria and the Munich Crisis of 1938.
Mediumwave transmitters on the periphery of the Third Reich provided specialty programs to listeners in neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the Germans always had a problem staffing their foreign services with announcers who were both technically competent and loyal to Nazi ideas.
In 1936, the International Radio Union
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies...
recognized Vatican Radio as a "special case" and authorized its broadcasting without any geographical limits. On December 25, 1937, a Telefunken 25-kW transmitter and two directional antennas were added. Vatican Radio broadcast over 10 frequencies.
During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, the Nationalist forces received a powerful Telefunken transmitter as a gift of Nazi Germany to aid their propaganda efforts, and until 1943 Radio Nacional de España
Radio Nacional de España
is Spain's national public radio service. Since 1973 it has formed, together with , a part of , the corporation responsible for managing national public-service broadcasting in Spain.-Origins of RNE:...
collaborated with the Axis powers to retransmit in Spanish news from the official radio stations of Germany and Italy.
World War II
During the Second World War, Russian, German, British, and Italian international broadcasting services expanded. In 1942, the United States initiated its international broadcasting service, the Voice of AmericaVoice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
. In the Pacific theater, General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
used shortwave radio to keep in touch with the citizens of the Japanese-occupied Philippine Islands.
Several announcers who became well-known in their countries included British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
member William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
, who was one of the two "Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw was the nickname of several announcers on the English-language propaganda radio programme Germany Calling, broadcast by Nazi German radio to audiences in Great Britain on the medium wave station Reichssender Hamburg and by shortwave to the United States...
"s; Frenchmen Paul Ferdonnet
Paul Ferdonnet
Paul Ferdonnet , dubbed "the Stuttgart traitor" by the French press, was a French journalist....
and Andre Olbrecht, called "the traitors of [Radio] Stuttgart"; and Americans Frederick William Kaltenbach
Frederick William Kaltenbach
Frederick Wilhelm Kaltenbach was a American of German origin who broadcast Nazi propaganda from Germany during World War II.-Biography:Frederick Kaltenbach was born in Dubuque, Iowa, and was raised in Waterloo, Iowa...
, "Lord Hee-Haw", and Mildred Gillars, one of the two announcers called "Axis Sally
Axis Sally
Axis Sally can refer to:*Mildred Gillars, German-American female radio personality during World War II, best known for her propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany...
". Listeners to German programs often tuned in for curiosity's sake—at one time, German radio had half a million listeners in the U.S.--but most of them soon lost interest. Japan had "Tokyo Rose", who broadcast Japanese propaganda in English, along with American music to help insure listeners.
For details of German propaganda themes, see propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
.
During World War II, Vatican Radio's news broadcasts were banned in Germany. During the war, the radio service operated in four languages.
The British launched Radio SEAC
Radio SEAC
Radio SEAC was the war time radio station operated by the Allied Forces who took over the operations of Colombo Radio, the Ceylonese radio station that was launched in 1925. Radio programs were broadcast across Asia to the allied forces and to the people of India and South Asia.Radio SEAC was...
from Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during World War II. The station broadcast radio programs to the allied armed forces across the region from their headquarters in Ceylon.
Following the war and German partition, each Germany developed its own international broadcasting station: Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. The service is aimed at the overseas market. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio on 98.7 DZFE in 30 languages . It has a satellite television service , that is available in four languages, and...
, using studios in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, West Germany, and Radio Berlin International
Radio Berlin International
Radio Berlin International was the international broadcaster for the German Democratic Republic . It started in May 1959 to counter Deutsche Welle, the West German international broadcaster. Much of its output was news reports and information about the GDR. It offered a state-sponsored view on life...
(RBI) in East Germany. RBI's broadcasts ceased shortly before the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, and Deutsche Welle took over its transmitters and frequencies.
The Cold War Era (1945-1991): modern practices, modern technology
The Cold War led to increased international broadcasting, as Communist and non-Communist states attempted to influence each other's domestic population. Some of the most prominent Western broadcasters were the Voice of America, the BBC World ServiceBBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, and the (covertly) CIA-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Soviet Union's most prominent service was Radio Moscow (now the Voice of Russia) and China used Radio Peking (then Radio Beijing, now China Radio International
China Radio International
China Radio International , the former Radio Beijing and originally Radio Peking, founded on December 3 of 1941, is one of the three state-owned media in China along with China National Radio and China Central Television in the People's Republic of China .As the PRC's external radio station, CRI...
). In addition to the U.S.-Soviet cold war, the Chinese-Russian border dispute led to an increase of the numbers of transmitters aimed at the two nations, and the development of new techniques such as playing tapes backwards for reel-to-reel recorders.
West Germany resumed regular shortwave broadcasts using Deutsche Welle on May 3, 1953. Its Julich transmitter site began operation in 1956, with eleven 100-kW Telefunken transmitters. The Wectachtal site was authorized in 1962 and began with four 500-kW transmitters. By 1989, there were 15 transmitters, four of which relayed the Voice of America. Meanwhile in East Germany, the Nauen site began transmitting Radio DDR, later Radio Berlin International, on October 15, 1959.
In addition to the superpower states, international broadcast services grew in Europe and the Middle East. Under the presidency of Gamal Nasser, Egyptian transmitters covered the Arab world; Israel's service, Kol Yisrael
Kol Yisrael
Kol Yisrael is Israel's public domestic and international radio service, operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.-History:...
, served both to present the Israeli point of view to the world and to serve the Jewish diaspora, particularly behind the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
.
Radio RSA, as part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, was established in 1966 to promote the image of South Africa internationally and reduce criticism of apartheid. It continued in 1992, when the post-apartheid government renamed it Channel Africa
Channel Africa
Channel Africa is the international broadcasting service of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Airing on shortwave, satellite radio and Internet radio platforms, the service airs news, cultural, sports and public affairs programming focusing on South Africa and the African...
.
Ironically, the isolationist Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
under Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
, virtually a hermit kingdom
Hermit kingdom
Hermit kingdom is a pejorative term applied to any country or society which willfully walls itself off from the rest of the world. The Joseon Dynasty of Korea was frequently described as a hermit kingdom during the latter part of the dynasty...
, became one of the most prolific international broadcasters during the latter decades of the Cold War, with Radio Tirana one of the top five broadcasters in terms of hours of programming produced.
Post Cold War to today
At the end of the Cold War, many international broadcasters cut back on hours and foreign languages broadcast, or reemphasized other language services. For example, in 1984, Radio Canada International broadcast in English, French, German, Spanish, Czech/Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. In 2005, Canada broadcast in English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish There is a trend towards more TV (e.g. BBC World, NHK World, CCTV-9), and news websites. Some services, such as Swiss Radio International, left shortwave altogether and exist in Internet form. In addition, new standards, such as Digital Radio MondialeDigital Radio Mondiale
Digital Radio Mondiale is a set of digital audio broadcasting technologies designed to work over the bands currently used for AM broadcasting, particularly shortwave...
, are being introduced, as well as sending programs over the Web to be played back later, as "podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s".
Daily developments are followed in Radio Netherlands' Media Network blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/.
The television era (1990s - present)
International broadcasting using the traditional audio only method will not cease any time soon due to its cost efficiencies. However, international broadcasting via television is considered more strategically important at least since the early 2000s.The BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
was the first broadcaster to consider setting up a satellite television news and information channel as far back as 1976, but ceded being the first to CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
(that had primary access to Canada soon after launch). The defunct BBC World Service Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
Relay Station was built in 1976, but its setup costs were not known to have been part of the BBCWS decision processes at the time.
In the early 1990s, many international (as well as domestic) 24 hour news and information channels launched as part of the post-Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
prosperity bubble. There was another burst of global news channels launching in the late 2000s as part the developing world trying to catch up with the developed world in this area.
Notable networks
- BBC World News (English, Persian, Arabic)
- Sky NewsSky NewsSky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
(English) - France24 (French, English, Arabic)
- TV Globo (Portuguese, English)
- Al-Jazeera (English, Arabic)
- teleSURTeleSURLa Nueva Televisora del Sur is a pan-Latin American terrestrial and satellite television network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela. TeleSUR was launched with the objective of providing information to promote the integration of Latin America....
(Spanish, Portuguese) - Deutsche WelleDeutsche WelleDeutsche Welle or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. The service is aimed at the overseas market. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio on 98.7 DZFE in 30 languages . It has a satellite television service , that is available in four languages, and...
(German, English, Arabic, Spanish) - TRTTurkish Radio and Television CorporationThe Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, also known as TRT , is the national public broadcaster of Turkey and was founded in 1964. Around 70% of TRT's funding comes from a tax levied on electricity bills and a sales tax on television and radio receivers...
(Turkish and 36 languages) - Press TVPress TVPress TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....
(English) - TV5MONDETV5MONDETV5MONDE is a global television network, broadcasting several channels of French language programming. It is an approved participant member of the European Broadcasting Union.-History:...
(French) - RTRT (TV network)RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation run by the state-owned state-run RIA Novosti....
(Russian, Arabic, English, Spanish)
Means to reach an audience
Because of this many broadcasters are discovering they can reach a wider audience through other methods (particularly the internet and satellite television) and are cutting back on (or even entirely dropping) shortwave.An international broadcaster has several options for reaching a foreign audience:
- If the foreign audience is near the broadcaster, high-power longwave and mediumwave stations can provide reliable coverage.
- If the foreign audience is more than 1,000 kilometers away from the broadcaster, shortwave radio is reliable, but subject to interruption by adverse solar/geomagnetic conditions.
- An international broadcaster may use a local mediumwave or FM radio or television relay station in the target country or countries.
- An international broadcaster may use a local shortwave broadcaster as a relay station.
- Neighboring states, such as IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, may broadcast television programs to each other's viewing public.
An international broadcaster such as the BBC, Radio France International or Germany's Deutsche Welle, may use all the above methods. Several international broadcasters, such as Swiss Radio International, have abandoned shortwave broadcasting altogether, relying on Internet transmissions only. Others, such as the BBC World Service, have abandoned shortwave transmissions to North America, relying on local relays, the Internet, and satellite transmissions
Mediumwave and longwave broadcasts
Most radio receivers in the world receive the mediumwaveMediumwave
Medium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...
band (530 kHz to 1710 kHz), which at night is capable of reliable reception from 150 to 2,500 km distance from a transmitter. Mediumwave is used heavily all over the world for international broadcasting on a formal and informal basis.
In addition, many receivers used in Europe and Russia can receive the longwave
Longwave
In radio, longwave refers to parts of radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths. The term is a historic one dating from the early 20th century, when the radio spectrum was considered to consist of long, medium and short wavelengths...
broadcast band (150 to 280 kHz), which provides reliable long-distance communications over continental distances.
Shortwave broadcast
Yet other receivers are capable of receiving shortwaveShortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
transmissions (2,000 to 30,000 kHz or 2 to 30 MHz). Depending on time of day, season of year, solar weather and Earth's geomagnetic field, a signal might reach around the world.
Transmitter output power has increased since 1920. Higher transmitter powers do guarantee better reception in the target area. Higher transmitter power in most cases counteracts the lesser effects of jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
.
- 1950s : 100 kW
- 1960s : 200 kW, early 1960s (2 x 100 kW 'twinned')
- 1970s : 300 kW, but many 250 kW transmitters sold
- 1980s : 500 kW sometimes transmitters were "doubled up" to produce 1000 Kw output
- 1980s-present: 600 kW single, 1200 kW from twinned transmitters.
International stations generally use special directional antennas
HRS type antennas
HRS type antennas are more or less the standard antenna used for long distance high power shortwave broadcasting .- History of HRS design :...
to aim the signal toward the intended audience and increase the effective power
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
in that direction. Use of such antennas for international broadcasting began in the mid 1930s and became prominent by the 1950s. By using antennas which focus most of their energy in one direction, a modern station may achieve the equivalent, in that direction, of tens of millions of watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s of radio power.
Digital Audio Broadcasting
Some international broadcasters have become available via Digital Audio BroadcastingDigital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
(DAB) in Europe in the 1990s, and in a similar limited way in the Americas via in-band FM (IBOC) DAB systems in the US in the 2000s. This is a popular method to reach listeners in cars that would otherwise not be accessible during that part of the day. However, in terms of the global international broadcasting audience the DAB listener base is very small—one can assume that it is less than 2% of the listener base globally.
Television
International broadcasting via 24 hour TV news channels has its origins in North America in the early 1980s. CNN technically was the first 24 hour international news channel as it was made available in Canada soon after launch. It must be noted that the BBC World Service considered setting up a global TV news channel as far back as 1975, but abandoned the idea for internal reasons.In spite of a large number of international 24 hour television news and information broadcasters—the television percentage of viewers is still fairly small when compared to global radio listener numbers.
It must be understood that the rural populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (as well as East Asia) have radio listener bases that are far larger than the largest international TV broadcaster could hope for—yet could be considered under served since the end of the Cold War (when these regions had more radio broadcasts targeted at them).
Streaming video sites
Many international television broadcasters (as well as domestic television broadcasters) have set up accounts on streaming video sites like You Tube to allow their news and information broadcasts to be globally distributed. The viewer numbers for these sites may seem huge. Cable, TVRO and terrestrial television broadcasters probably have 100 to 1,000 times larger audiences for their international broadcasting content.International broadcasters known to maintain their own streaming video sites (not authoritative)
- CNN
- France 24
- Russia Today
- Al Jazeera English
RSS feeds & Email
Many international broadcasters (television or radio) can reach "unreachable" audiences via email and RSS feeds. This is not at all unusual, as the first commonly agreed international broadcast was a Morse Code telegram transmitted from US President Wilson to the German Kaiser (mid-1918) via a high powered longwave transmitter on the US East Coast (this important event in international broadcasting history was described in depth in the IEEE "The History of International Broadcasting" first volume). As Morse Code is considered to be a data format, with email and RSS merely being refinements of the technology it can be said that international broadcasting has a deep relationship with modern day datacasting.The reach of RSS and email for international broadcasters is not really known that well, especially considering that emails get forwarded. The numbers for active RSS and email audiences are probably 5 to 20 times larger than for streaming video. It may take into the 2010s to get meaningful numbers with respect to the size of these audiences for assorted technical reasons related to the RSS and email technologies.
Email and RSS feeds can traverse telecommunications barriers that streaming video cannot, thus the larger expected audience numbers. The global economic downturn of 2008-2009 will probably increase the email and RSS audience audience sizes as fewer people will be able to afford high speed internet connections in North America, Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.
Listeners
An international broadcaster may have the technical means of reaching a foreign audience, but unless the foreign audience has a reason to listen, the effectiveness of the broadcaster is in question.One of the most common foreign audiences consists of expatriates, who cannot listen to radio or watch television programs from home. Another common audience is radio hobbyists
Shortwave listening
Shortwave listening is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts located on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz. Listeners range from casual users seeking international news and entertainment programming to hobbyists immersed in the technical aspects of radio reception and DXing...
, who attempt to listen to as many countries as possible and obtain verification cards or letters (QSLs). A third audience consists of journalists, government officials, and key businesspersons, who exert a disproportionate influence on a state's foreign or economic policy.
A fourth, but less publicized audience, consists of intelligence officers and agents who monitor broadcasts for both open-source intelligence clues to the broadcasting state's policies and for hidden messages to foreign agents operating in the receiving country. The BBC started its monitoring service in Caversham, Reading in 1936 (now BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring
BBC Monitoring is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation which monitors, and reports on, mass media worldwide. Based at Caversham Park in Caversham, Reading in southern England, it has a number of overseas bureaux including Moscow, Nairobi, Kiev, Baku, Tashkent, Cairo, Tbilisi, Yerevan...
). In the United States, the DNI
United States Director of National Intelligence
The Director of National Intelligence , is the United States government official subject to the authority, direction and control of the President, who is responsible under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 for:...
Open Source Center
Open Source Center
The Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center is a United States government intelligence center that provides analysis of open source materials, including gray literature, through OSC's headquarters and overseas bureaus...
(formerly the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
's Foreign Broadcast Information Service
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
Foreign Broadcast Information Service was an open source intelligence component of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology. It monitored, translated, and disseminated within the U.S. government openly available news and information from media sources outside the...
) provides the same service. Copies of OSC/FBIS reports can be found in many U.S. libraries that serve as government depositories. In addition, a number of hobbyists listen and report "spook" transmissions.
Without these four audiences, international broadcasters face difficulty in getting funding. In 2001, for example, the BBC World Service stopped transmitting shortwave broadcasts to North America, and other international broadcasters, such as YLE Radio Finland, stopped certain foreign-language programs.
However, international broadcasting has been successful when a country does not provide programming wanted by a wide segment of the population. In the 1960s, when there was no BBC service playing rock and roll, Radio Television Luxembourg (RTL
RTL Group
RTL Group is Europe's largest TV, radio and production company, and is majority-owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. It has 45 television and 32 radio stations in 11 countries...
) broadcast rock and roll, including bands such as the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, into the United Kingdom. Similar programming came from an unlicensed, or "pirate" station, Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
, which broadcast from a ship in the international waters of the North Sea.
Restricting reception
In many cases, governments do not want their citizens listening to international broadcasters. In Nazi Germany, a major propaganda campaign, backed by law and prison sentences, attempted to discourage Germans from listening to such stations. The practice was made illegal in 1939. In addition, the German government sold a cheap, 76-Reichsmark "People's Receiver"Volksempfänger
The Volksempfänger was a range of radio receivers developed by engineer Otto Griessing at the request of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels....
, as well as an even cheaper 35-Reichsmark receiver, that could not pick up distant signals well.
The idea was copied by Stalin's Soviet Union, which had a nearly identical copy manufactured in the Tesla factory in Czechoslovakia.
In North Korea, all receivers are sold with fixed frequencies, tuned to local stations.
The most common method of preventing reception is jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
, or broadcasting a signal on the same frequencies as the international broadcaster. Germany jammed the BBC European service during the Second World War. Russian and Eastern European jammers were aimed against Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
, other Western broadcasters, and against Chinese broadcasters during the nadir of Sino-Soviet relations. In 2002, the Cuban government jammed the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
's Radio Martí
Radio Martí
Radio y Televisión Martí is a radio and television broadcaster based in Miami, Florida, financed by the United States government , which transmits Spanish radio broadcasts to Cuba...
program and the Chinese government jammed Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation that operates a radio station and Internet news service. RFA was founded by an act of the US Congress and is operated by the Broadcasting Board of Governors . The RFA is supported in part by grants from the federal government of the United States...
, Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
, Radio Taiwan International
Radio Taiwan International
Radio Taiwan International is the English name and call sign of the international radio service, the Central Broadcasting System of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan...
as well broadcasts made by adherents of Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
, .
North Korea restricts most people to a single fixed frequency mediumwave receiver; those who met political requirements and whose work absolutely required familiarity with events abroad were allowed shortwave receivers. Another method of reaching people with government radio programming, but not foreign programming, is the use of radio broadcasting by direct broadcasting to loudspeakers.
David Jackson, director of the Voice of America, noted "The North Korean government doesn't jam us, but they try to keep people from listening through intimidation or worse. But people figure out ways to listen despite the odds. They're very resourceful."
Yet another method of preventing reception involves moving a domestic station to the frequency used by the international broadcaster. During the Batista government of Cuba, and during the Castro years, Cuban medium-wave stations broadcast on the frequencies of popular South Florida stations. In October 2002, Iraq changed frequencies of two stations to block the Voice of America's Radio Sawa
Radio Sawa
Radio Sawa is a 24-hour 7-day-a-week Arabic language radio station broadcasting in the Arab world. The station is a service of theMiddle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. and is publicly funded by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the U.S. Congress...
program.
Jamming can be defeated by using very efficient transmitting antennas, carefully choosing the transmitted frequency, changing transmitted frequency often, using Single Sideband
Single-sideband modulation
Single-sideband modulation or Single-sideband suppressed-carrier is a refinement of amplitude modulation that more efficiently uses electrical power and bandwidth....
, and properly aiming the receiving antenna.
For a list of international broadcasters, see List of international broadcasters.
See also
- English-language television
- ShortwaveShortwaveShortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
- Shortwave bandsShortwave bandsShortwave bands are frequency allocations for use within the shortwave radio spectrum . They are the primary medium for applications such as maritime communications, international broadcasting and worldwide amateur radio activity because they take advantage of ionospheric skip propagation to send...
- FTA receiverFTA ReceiverA free-to-air or FTA Receiver is a satellite television receiver designed to receive unencrypted broadcasts. Modern decoders are typically compliant with the MPEG-2/DVB-S and more recently the MPEG-4/DVB-S2 standard for digital television, while older FTA receivers relied on analog satellite...
- Medium wave - MW broadcasts generally don't travel as far as shortwave broadcasts, but MW is still used for international broadcasting, particularly to neighboring countries
Sources
Graef 2005Graef, Robert. Bicycling to Amersfoort: A World War II Memoir. 2005, iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-34621-9
Horwitz 2001
Horwitz, Robert Britt. Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa. 2001, Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-79166-9.
Hughes and Mann 2002
Hughes, Matthew, and Chris Mann. Inside Hitler's Germany: Life Under the Third Reich. 2002, Brassey's. ISBN 1-57488-503-0
Levillain 2002
Levillain, Philippe. The Papacy: An Encyclopedia. Translated by John O'Malley. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-92228-3
Martin 2006
Martin, Bradley K. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. 2006, Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-32221-6
Wood 2000
Wood, James. History of International Broadcasting. 2000, IET. ISBN 0-85296-920-1
External links
- Hard-Core-DX - serious information about shortwave/AM radio stations
- American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Newington, Connecticut.
- englishradio.co.uk Cataloguing and reviewing every English language radio station
- Easy-to-construct "interference-reducing" antennas for shortwave portables: U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau and K3MT (the "Villard antenna")
- World Radio TV Handbook The bible of international broadcasting
- RCI Action Committee Union group created to protect Radio Canada International's international broadcasting mandate and funding.