Tuesday 16 September 2014

Radio in Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal...

Extracts below from Radio Websites by Chrissy Brand, for Radio User, 2014. 


It's time to track down some former shortwave broadcasters and see what they are up to. Radio Bulgaria is running a series marking 80 years of radio in the country. It will last for 80 weeks and you can hear the latest and previous programmes by going to  http://bnr.bg/en/post/100423681/bnr-80-years-in-80-weeks-peter-uvaliev-and-the-bnr-international-service

Radio Bulgaria and their Facebook page cover more recent events too at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Radio-Bulgaria-English-Service/314692588565772 The exploits of tennis star Grigor Dimitrov, a jazz festival in Stara Zagora (the city of the linden trees) and young Bulgarian rock band PSS have all featured of late. PSS are fronted by Sandra Petrova and cover the genres of alternative rock mixed with blues and progressive motifs. There is also a great online magazine called Zoom which almost makes up for Bulgaria's lack of shortwave activity (almost!) http://bnr.bg/en/page/zoom


The Greek state broadcaster ERT was replaced last year by NERIT and has still been heard on shortwave. NERIT now has a website at http://www.nerit.gr/ Like many other radio stations' websites it's modern, clear and easy on the eye; packed with photos and news stories. In the absence of Greek radio in English I go here instead to read up on Greek news and views, although as with all state-run broadcasters I also search out alternative opinions from people on the street via social media.


Radio Portugal's English service left shortwave late last century. RDP has a website at http://www.rtp.pt/radio/where you can hear the eight national broadcasters in Portuguese- with a range of music stations. For English you have to head for the Algarve and Kiss FM's programmes for holidaymakers at http://www.kissfm.pt/

London Shortwave is a blogger I've mentioned before at http://london-shortwave.blogspot.co.uk/ who is more active these days with his videos on You Tube . The channel has the over complex address of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOX41wIS1Qk&feature=youtu.be I created a shortened url of http://tinyurl.com/prsa6qo for you through Tiny url


He shows in various videos how he is set up receive shortwave in every room, based on "a drawing from the 1930s issue of a shortwave listening magazine, my way of listening to what's being received in my radio shack wirelessly around the house." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCTrSZdZOGk

Another YouTuber who uploads interesting radio recordings and videos can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/qwertyamdx with recent catches of Polish Radio, Radio France International and a wonderful sign on from Oblastnoye Radio Mogilev in Belarus on 7255 kHz.

Friday 12 September 2014

Amoeba, Jersey City and California

Extracts below from Radio Websites by Chrissy Brand, for Radio User, 2014. 


The Amoeba blog covers music and sometimes radio from California. There are several contributors which ensures plenty of different views. http://www.amoeba.com/blog
Recent posts include gig reviews of an amazing band from the city of angels, called Kan Wakan (http://www.kanwakan.com ) They are hard to describe but the combination of organ, guitars, strings and a melodic female vocalist all make for a heady sound. Their new album "Moving On" is already one of my summer favourites.  Amoeba major in music but other arts are also covered, mostly in the USA but also globally.


They have links with the great alternative radio station from Jersey City, WFMU, which has been on air since the 1950s. http://www.wfmu.org It's also streamed online of course and is a station I often turn to when I am in an eclectic mood. Their playlist covers "flat-out uncategorizable strangeness to rock and roll, experimental music, 78 RPM records, jazz, psychedelia, hip-hop, electronica, hand-cranked wax cylinders, punk rock, gospel, exotica, R&B, radio improvisation, cooking instructions, classic radio airchecks, found sound, dopey call-in shows, interviews with obscure radio personalities and notable science-world luminaries, spoken word collages, Andrew Lloyd Webber soundtracks in languages other than English as well as Country and western music." So that is just about something for everyone. If you use Facebook there are extras snippets posted there too. https://www.facebook.com/wfmuradio


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