Dutch Prime Ministher Mark Rutte announces changes to Radio Netherlands

As part of a government austerity program, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced plans to make significant cuts in the budget of shortwave broadcaster Radio Netherlands Worldwide. RNW has been relied upon by both Dutch expatriates and other listeners around the world for a unique take on world events, in addition to news from the Netherlands.

In a press conference Rutte praised the service and articulated its revised mission:

“Radio Netherlands Worldwide will limit itself to one role, promoting free speech. I think the other tasks RNW performs are nice, valuable, but not enough to finance them with public money.”

As part of this plan RNW will be moved into the government’s Foreign Ministry.

The cuts at RNW come at the same time as other international broadcasters are scaling back as well. Germany’s Deutsche Welle is ending shortwave and mediumwave (AM) broadcasts while Radio Australia is also phasing out shortwave in favor of internet broadcasting. In general governments have cited the ability to reach listeners more easily over the internet as a significant reason for ending terrestrial international broadcasts. The Dutch government’s revised focus for RNW reflects this trend to retain terrestrial broadcasts only to regions that still rely on shortwave for international news and information.

However, that doesn’t mean that RNW and other prominent supporters will go down without a fight. The network has assembled testimony from a variety of prominent international voices in support the station and retaining its full broadcast service. Dutch national Willem Sools discusses the important role RNW played for him while being held hostage in Somalia in 2008:

“The whole time, we were able to listen regularly to a little radio, to stations including Radio Netherlands Worldwide. I wanted to thank you, even though you weren’t aware of it. I was able to hear everything about the Netherlands: interviews, documentaries, the news and, at Yuletide, typically Dutch stories about Saint Nicholas and Christmas – fantastic. Your broadcasts strengthened me a lot. Thanks.”

As the BBC and Deutsche Welle have phased our their broadcast service to North America, Radio Netherlands Worldwide has remained one of the stations that I could reliably tune in for high-quality world news in English on the shortwave band. Admittedly, shortwave radio is not a primary information service for me at this point in time, nor is it for most people in North America. However, I’ve appreciated the service in times when I was traveling and there wasn’t another good news source on the AM or FM dial, or when there’s been a power outage and I’m tired of hearing “traffic and weather on the 8s.”

I suppose it is a good thing that the Dutch government seems to want to maintain broadcasts to the developing world and regions where it wishes to promote free speech. However, it is hard not to lament that the era of ubiquitous global shortwave broadcasting is coming to an end.

The BBC’s Five Live radio service seems to be providing some of the best up-to-the-minute English-language coverage of the situation in Libya. Just moments ago I heard a live phone call with the Libyan ambassador to India who told host Stephen Nolan that he had resigned in response to government forces firing on a funeral processing in Benghazi on Sunday. This is an interesting case where it seems like the immediate nature of radio broadcasting is ahead of major news websites in reporting what’s happening in Libya right now.

Five Live is a digital radio service in the UK but also streams live online.

Pirate aerial on top of a tower block.

She writes,

It is not true that the BBC played no pop music, but it was restricted to using mainly live musicians. The Musicians’ Union stipulated the number of hours of recorded music that it permitted to be aired, arguing that the act of spinning records took work from its members. Much of the MU’s allocated BBC ‘needle time’ was devoted to the weekly ‘Pick of the Pops’ chart run-down. …

The pirates didn’t save the world, but they made big changes to the music industry and the world of broadcasting and caused the government to have a major rethink about what the public wanted as entertainment. Listeners were, after all, legally obliged to purchase a radio and TV licence. (They still are. Detector vans are used to identify unlicensed homes and big fines are imposed.)

I encourage you to go and read her full comment.

With Music Banned from Somali Radio, What will DJs Play?

There are growing concerns about the control that militant groups are wielding over citizens and media outlets after music was banned from Somali radio on Tuesday and school bells were outlawed from a Somali town on Thursday.

Today’s New York Times reports that, “Insurgent groups in Somalia have increasingly alienated the population by imposing a harsh interpretation of Islam, stoning people to death and amputating the hands and feet of thieves. They have also issued strict edicts controlling the more mundane aspects of daily life, banning things like bras and soccer games in their territory.”

According to another story in the New York Times, music is one of the most recent areas of focus:

“At least 14 radio stations here in the capital [of Mogadishu] stopped broadcasting music on Tuesday, heeding an ultimatum by an Islamist insurgent group to stop playing songs or face ‘serious consequences.’”

In some cases stations have replaced musical interludes with the sounds of animals, bullets, sirens, and nature in order to comply with the ban. The article explains that militant Islamist groups believe that music is “un-Islamic.” Reports have suggested that station owners and DJs complied with the ban out of fear for their lives and safety.

In addition to the ban on music, Islamists have taken control of some radio stations in Somalia and have outlawed programs (such as BBC and Voice of America) from foreign countries. Yet, there are some stations fighting back against the ban. The article points out that,

“At least two radio stations did not heed the ban. The government-owned Radio Mogadishu and another station, Radio Bar-Kulan, which is mostly produced in Kenya, continued playing music.”

It’s frightening to see radio stations changing their programming due to threats and is a strong reminder about the consequences of war on freedom of the press. Radio can be used as such a powerful force to inform and empower citizenry, particularly during times of war. The work by Interactive Radio for Justice in Central Africa has demonstrated how vital free airwaves and community radio are, making this news about the situation in Somalia even more troubling. According to a Voice of America article today,

“The National Union of Somali Journalists says Somalia’s once-thriving independent media will cease to exist, if the current crackdown on media organizations continues unchecked.”

The bans on both music and bell-ringing also point out debates about the definition of music. Stations have gotten around the music ban by playing the sounds of roosters and engines, yet there are people who find both sounds to be musical. A few years ago I attended the Experience Music Project’s annual Pop Conference in Seattle and one of the most fascinating panel discussions that I saw was focused entirely on the relationship between music and war and how music can be used to both escape from the horrific sounds of violence and can also be used as a recruitment tool for soldiers.

Somalia is said to be a musical culture, so this ban is going to have a huge impact on its citizens who will no doubt find ways to rebel and play music undetected.

While digital HD Radio in the US generated some light interest during January’s Consumer Electronics Show, the BBC was sharpening its hatchet in anticipation of taking a few whacks at its digital radio service. The UK has had the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) service since the mid-1990s, predating HD radio in the US by a good half-decade. Unlike HD Radio, which broadcasts alongside analog signals, DAB uses a different set of spectrum dedicated exclusively to digital radio.

Although arguably superior to HD Radio’s IBOC system, both due to greater available bandwidth and not causing interference to analog stations, DAB isn’t necessarily doing any better in its home countries. As UK radio blogger Grant Goddard reports, many European countries are scaling back or ending their investment in rolling out DAB.

At the beginning of March the BBC confirmed rumored plans to shut down two of its DAB stations, the Asian Network, which serves South Asian communities, and 6 Music, which is a popular modern rock station. The 6 Music shutdown, in particular, has generated a significant outcry from listeners, with nearly 8,000 complaints filed with the BBC as of last Friday.

The 6 Music closure appears to hit a nerve because it was the BBC’s attempt at creating a cutting edge rock music station featuring more variety and up-and-coming bands than other BBC or commercial stations. Music celebrity hosts like Jarvis Cocker, Bruce Dickinson and Bob Dylan have had their own shows. When it debuted in 2002 it was the first new national service from the BBC since 1970. 6 Music was also intended to be a showcase for the new DAB service, supposedly taking advantage of the service’s enhanced digital fidelity.

While 6 Music listeners appear to be loyal fans, in the end there doesn’t seem to be enough of them to justify the cost of running the station for the BBC. Instead, the Beeb intends to focus more on its existing popular FM music channels Radio 1 and 2 and the digital-only 1xtra.

The BBC’s digital strategy going forward looks to be focused on inexpensive services that complement analog stations, such as the digital BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. The popular DAB talk station, BBC 7, may be paired more closely with the FM talk service Radio 4 and renamed “Radio 4 Extra.” As talk stations, it’s important to note that these services don’t take advantage of DAB’s supposed fidelity advantage.

However, just like HD Radio in the states, there are listeners who contest the fidelity claims of DAB. Marc Wheeler of the Hi-Fi audio site TNT-Audio writes a stinging critique of 6 Music’s programming and sound quality, saying

What we actually get is banal inane chatter (so trite it fully deserves the tautology) all day, infrequently interrupted by a great tune with all the life squashed from it by data compression following dynamic range compression.

Indeed, it appears that DAB in the UK and elsewhere suffers from the same fate as HD Radio in the US: uncertain demand for a digital service, combined with mediocre programming that doesn’t deliver on the promise of better sound quality than analog FM.

I went over to NPR’s web site to refresh my memory on this. By golly, I wrote back to Alan, it’s true. The only place you see the full name is up top where the meta title is.

<title>NPR : National Public Radio : News &amp;
Analysis, World, US, Music &amp; Arts : NPR</title>

Everywhere else it’s just the acronym.

So what’s with that? Alan wrote to NPR a couple of days ago. Was this inspired by Kentucky Fried Chicken going to “KFC”?

To which an NPR spokesdroid offered this reply.

“Thank you for your question about NPR’s branding efforts.

Over the past few years, we’ve been gradually transitioning from identifying ourselves by our full name, “National Public Radio,” to referring to ourselves as simply “NPR.” We’ve found that most listeners – and other news outlets – refer to us as “NPR,” and the acronym is now well known. That trend took place with other media outlets years ago, for example today people refer to the BBC rather than the British Broadcasting Company, or to CNN rather than the Cable News Network.

We’d like to attract more listeners to NPR, and more supporters to our member stations, and to do that, we need to be consistent in how we refer to our identity on the air, online, and everywhere you see a mention of our organization. For that reason, this year we’ve decided to make a concerted effort to reinforce the use of “NPR” more consistently throughout everything we do. This is why you no longer hear the familiar “This is NPR: National Public Radio” during our programs. Rest assured though, that NPR is the same organization you’ve always valued. (And know that everyone who has been listening for a long time as you have, will mentally add on, “….National Public Radio” when you hear the acronym from now on!)

Thank you again for contacting NPR to ask about this change. We appreciate your time and interest.”

Fair enough. Goodness knows we wouldn’t want public radio to be outpaced by CNN and the BBC. The problem is,  don’t we want folks to remember that NPR is “public” radio, with all the good connotations implied? Those would be less focus on commercials or sensationalistic content, more emphasis on public interest programming than you get via commercial radio and TV, and a sense that NPR belongs to the public that finances  NPR stations with listener contributions.

To be fair, National Public Radio fulfills those goals to varying degrees. And sure, long time listeners like Alan and I will always remember that NPR = National Public Radio.

But what about younger fans? Or is the point to gradually forget those missions—to be less mindful of the “public” part of NPR? I hope not.

But what I totally love about the show is that it really is the English speaking world having its say. The debate between the New Yorker and the weight activist is over. And WHYS Ros Atkins is announcing who is on the lines. “I can see Barbara’s phone from South Africa, Cathy in Sweden, and also John in the [United] States,” Atkins says. Plus e-mails are coming in from Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere. Most are in favor of the extra charges, as is Cathy.

“Discrimination usually applies in cases where the person has no control . . . ” she says, “therefore gender, ethnicity, your age, for example. In my opinion obesity is for the most part a choice.” Next comes an economist who says higher prices for unhealthy foods might encourage people to lose weight. After he’s finished Ros puts on Barbara from Johannesburg, but surprises her with a question about whether a “fat tax” would get people to slim down.

Barbara stumbles. She wants to talk about people in airplanes feeling “squashed” by bigger folks. “But Barbara, you’re describing what other people think. I want to know what you think . . . ” Ros insists, and the global conversation goes on.

Do me a favor

Not all the shows ask Oprah style questions. “Should Google pull out of China?” “Would you adopt a child from Haiti?” or “Have the French done Muslim women a favour?” by proposing a ban on Islamic face veils? Is the Burka a symbol of oppression and empowerment?

In response to this question a Muslim woman from London named Saramina says it should be a woman’s choice what to wear. She’s obviously upset and angry. WHYS host Nuala McGovern is attentive to her and takes pains to ensure that she says everything that’s on her mind. The French banning the Burka is “just a form of extremism,” she insists, no different from the Taliban making women wear it.

Next comes some vox pop the BBC collected from Paris on the question. Parisian women struggle with the English, but they make their positions clear. “In her country,” one insists, “but not in France!”

Another British woman who says she wears the hijab  opines that in some instances Muslim women in France may be forced to wear the niquaab, a head/veil that leaves only the eyes revealed for vision. “Yes, I’m sure that it does occur,” responds Saramina. “Like men force women to do all kinds of things. And of course she should have some legal recourse from that.”

A woman from Saudi Arabia calls in. “Strange for the government of France, which claims to have invented liberty, they do something like this. It’s kind of upsetting.”

I love it.

How it works

As I was writing this post, I got a press release from Stitcher billboarding the Alan Colmes radio show, or “the most interactive radio show on the planet,” as he calls it. I’d be surprised if that was true. Broadcasting since 2005, WHYS is a beneficiary of the revolution in electronic interaction of the last decade: texting, e-mailing, cheap VoIP calls, and social media. Here’s how people get on the show, according to WHYS.

1. They phone the show while we’re on air.

2. They text or email the show while we’re on air, and we reply asking if they’d like to speak to us.

3. They text or email the show while we’re on air and give their phone number and we ring them back.

4. They post on a debate on bbcnews.com and leave their phone number. One of the WHYS team gives them a ring and invites them on to the show.

5. The same as No.4, but they get in touch through our blog.

6. Subscribers to the WHYS Daily Email often reply saying they want to take part and give their phone number.

Of course, WHYS staff also call people up and invite them to be on, but the show wouldn’t be possible without the amazing global interaction that is its hallmark. The program’s FAQ asks, “Why are the phone lines so bad?”

“We’d like to think they aren’t most of the time, but we do sometimes have problems especially when speaking to those of you in Africa,” comes the explanation. “So if we get a call from Afghanistan we’re more likely to tolerate a poor quality phone line than we would if it was a call from the States.”

Could a program of WHYS’ quality come from the “the States”? It’s not surprising that Britain, an island nation that once controlled a big chunk of the world, excels at this sort of thing. While we in the U.S. certainly have our fingers deeply ensconced in the global pie, we are as a people far less curious about the world than the British. That’s something to work on. Listening to WHYS could help.

“Claims”? Reading UK audience research takes a little getting used to. There’s a skepticism for the subject cohort that you don’t find in the United States. In any event, here’s the main finding of the Rajar research service:

“One third (33.9%) of the UK’s adult population (15+) or 17.4 million people claim to have ever listened to the radio via the internet, compared with 16.9 million people in May ‘09. This includes 16.2 million listening live and 13.9 million listening at a later time using Listen Again services.”

Listen Again = BBC Radio 4 online, we presume. In addition, over 8 million adults “have heard of WiFi radio” (a dedicated Internet radio device) “but just under a million adults claim to own one.”

“Personalised Online Radio” listening is up too (Pandora; Last.fm). From 3.9 million to 4.5 million since May 2009, Rajar says. And there’s research on podcasts:

“8.1 million people have downloaded a podcast (up from 7.8 million in May ’09), while 4.4 million say they listen to podcasts at least once a week (up from 4.2 million in May ‘09). However, only 24% find time to listen to all the podcasts they download.”

Apparently Rajar takes this last assertion at face value, rather than suggesting that the survey group merely claimed it. RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research Limited and was set up in 1992 to do audience tracking for the BCC and commercial stations.

KOME Sticker

Recently I was tracking some college radio news when I ran across Greg Blouch’s website, “Radio Sticker of the Day.” Immediately I was taken back to my junior high school years when radio station stickers were a hot commodity. My classmate Ricky Kanazawa would spend most of our English class time focused on a stack of bright yellow and black KOME stickers and an exacto knife, carving up new, inspired, psychedelic creations. I’m not sure if Greg has tapped into this aspect of sticker art; but his website is a testament to the most visible radio station branding that there is.

KISR Sticker Courtesty Greg Blouch

I dropped Greg a note to find out what fuels his obsession for radio station stickers and learn more about his website, “Radio Sticker of the Day.”

It turns out that his fascination with stickers began in the 1980s, around the same time that my friends and I were plastering KOME, KSJO, and KMEL stickers (with a picture of a camel on them) all over our notebooks, windows, and Pee-Chee folders.

Over the years he’s accumulated around 12,000 stickers and largely credits the Internet for making it easier for him to contact stations. His site only features pictures of stickers that are in his collection. I love that attention to detail! On to the interview:

WYSO Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer Waits: How did you get started collecting radio stickers and what was your first sticker?

Greg Blouch: When I was 13 years old our family moved from Middleport, New York (in the western part of the state near Niagara Falls/Buffalo) to Celina, Ohio.  I was homesick and wanted to get my hands on something that reminded me of New York.

My favorite radio station had been 107.7 WUWU which was an offbeat, almost freeform, rock station heavy on the new wave music of the time (this was around 1982/1983.)  I wrote to the station and asked for a sticker which I promptly wasted by slapping it on a book cover for school.

WUWU Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

My obsession really began after I found a book in the library with station mailing addresses and started sending out self-addressed stamped envelopes with a note asking for decals.

My success rate was only about 50% but it was fun to get an occasional surprise in the mailbox…and it still is.  The Internet and the ability to write to stations instantly has helped the collection grow tremendously.  About 90% of my stickers have been acquired since I  got online in 1997.

Jennifer: How many stickers do you think you have?

Greg: I’ve tried to count them more than once but got bored and gave up.  My guesstimate would be somewhere around 12,000 different stickers.

KMLE Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: How do you find your stickers?

Greg: I subscribe to 100000watts.com, a subscription-only website with updated information on every radio station in the United States and Canada.

I find station websites through the 100000watts database and email every one of them going state-by-state (I’m currently canvassing my own state of Ohio, next is Oklahoma.)

I always offer to send a SASE but usually they just mail them to me.  Every once in a while I’ll venture overseas and email foreign stations but the return rate is much lower.
I also trade stickers with a small group of like-minded hobbyists and am a member and column editor of Decalcomania, which is a newsletter for radio enthusiasts and radio promotional item collectors.

Jennifer: What’s the strangest promotional item that you have from a radio station?

Greg: I received a whoopee cushion from a rock station in California, a fishing lure from KARP in Minnesota and a condom packet from Germany, but the strangest might be a bar of soap from Earlham College’s WECI in Richmond, Indiana.  The station logo is engraved into the bar itself.

I have a few boxes of non-sticker stuff…lots of keychains, magnets, mugs, t-shirts, pens, buttons, mousepads and on and on.

WECI Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: Do you ever visit radio stations?

Greg: Rarely.  I annoy the receptionist at the Dayton Clear Channel cluster every few months and ask for stickers but that’s about it.

Jennifer: Have you ever worked at a radio station?

WWSU Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Greg: I did college radio for three years at WWSU which is Wright State University’s station.  While still in college I answered an ad that my future wife saw in the paper looking for air talent for a brand new radio station.  I threw together a tape, got an interview with the PD and somehow got hired.  I was the night jock on WZJX “94-5 XRock” which was Dayton’s first commercial alternative station.  This was 1993/94.

I was on the air about 35 hours a week plus a little bit of production and promotion work as well as being in school full time.  It was a tough schedule to pull off but a great experience where I learned that I like radio but didn’t necessarily like working in radio.

Speaking on the air never came naturally to me but I think I faked my way through it fairly well.  When the ownership group sold the station and flipped it to Oldies it was both a disappointment and a relief that I was no longer in the biz.  I got a steady civil service job and never attempted to get back into radio.

WZJX Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: What do you love about radio?

Greg: So much of my love for radio is music-based and now that I’m on the curmudgeonly cusp of 40 I find it hard to listen to a lot of it.  It’s either songs I’m burned out on or styles that I can’t get into.

I fully admit that my musical tastes are permanently stuck in the 1980s and early 90s.  I do love good sounding production and a DJ who sounds like he’s into what he’s playing and is doing more than reading liners.

Jennifer: What kind of radio do you listen to? (college? commercial? music? talk?)

Greg: As far as terrestrial radio goes, it’s almost all college/non-commercial and sports talk radio these days.  I love college radio because it’s usually music you don’t hear everywhere else, presented by kids who are just being themselves in all their unprofessional glory.  It’s refreshing.
My job allows me to listen to a few hours of podcasts a day.  Most of it comes from WNYC, KCRW, WBEZ and a whole lot of individual NPR shows.

Jennifer: What are you favorite radio stations?

WOXY Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Greg: I could pick up WOXY from Oxford, Ohio when they were on 97.7 FM so I regularly listen to the Internet version.  I like listening to my old stomping grounds of WWSU although, at only 20 watts, it can be a tough catch. 

WYSO from Antioch University in Yellow Springs is a solidly quirky NPR affiliate.  My favorite might be 6 Music which is the BBC’s “alternative” digital radio station.  I especially like Roundtable, where four music geeks meet to hear, discuss and judge new music releases.

Besides the aforementioned WUWU, my favorite station from the past would be Toronto’s CFNY in the 1980s.  A friend would send me tapes of the station which had tons of cool music, about 30% of it (by law!) consisted of mostly-unheard-of-in-the-States Canadian artists.

WFMU Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: What can a sticker tell you about a radio station?

Greg: Hmmmm…not much.  I guess the only answer I have is that you can tell it’s a Clear Channel station because they often use the same logos for their stations across the country.  The blandness is kinda sad.  A single generic logo for all their “Kiss” and “Mix” stations…only the frequencies on the stickers are different.

Jennifer: Anything else?

Greg: If anyone out there has any stickers to swap, I’m always looking for a trade.  Email: radiodecals@gmail.com

Thanks to Greg for sharing his radio obsession with me and for turning me on to some more stations. Your sticker is in the mail…

Previous Radio Obsessives:

Garrett Wollman’s Radio Tower Quest

Jose Fritz’s Arcane Radio Trivia