Meeting
Around 1300 shortwave listeners from around the globe took part in the NASB
shortwave listener survey between May of 2010 and May of 2011, and the
results of the survey were announced at the 2011 NASB annual meeting on May
14th. In the conference center of Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas,
anchored off the coast of CocoCay in the Bahamas, Dr. Jerry Plummer of WWCR
announced the results for the first time. Jerry is the administrator of the
survey, which was posted online at the NASB website,
http://www.shortwave.org, with links on other shortwave and DX websites.
Most of the respondents were located in North America and Europe, with
significant numbers from Asia and Oceania as well. Nearly half of those who
responded were also amateur radio operators. Around 97 percent were male.
Not surprisingly, most listeners who took the survey listen to shortwave
stations for news and commentary, and many listen for cultural programs as
well. Around 7 percent listen for religious programming of a variety of
faiths. The number one shortwave station in the poll was the BBC. Full
results of the survey will be published in the next NASB Newsletter, which
will also be on the NASB website http://www.shortwave.org/.
The NASB meeting took place on the Majesty of the Seas May 13 to 16, sailing
from Miami to CocoCay and Nassau in the Bahamas, then returning to Miami.
Twenty-one persons from the United States, France, England and Finland
participated, including representatives of NASB member stations, associate
member organizations and DX clubs. It was the first time the NASB has ever
held its annual meeting on a cruise ship. In addition to the meetings,
delegates were able to enjoy a variety of entertainment onboard the ship, a
private beach resort in the Bahamas, and a sightseeing tour of Nassau,
capital of the Bahamas.
The meeting began May 13th with a presentation sent especially for the
meeting by Chinese shortwave listener and language teacher Cui Litang, who
explained about Chinese jamming of shortwave signals and Internet sites, as
well as about his use of shortwave station language programs for teaching
English in China. John Wineman of HCJB's Global Technology Center in
Indiana showed the new Pappradio DRM receiver housed in a small external
hard drive box.
On May 14th, Risto Vahakainu of the Finnish DX Association told particpants
about his country in northern Europe and the special challenges and
opportunities of doing shortwave and mediumwave DXing there. He presented a
video produced by his club about DXing in the Arctic at the very
northernmost part of Finland, where mediumwave stations from North America
can often be heard using so-called beverage antennas stretching up to one
kilometer through the forests of northern Finland. For a totally different
venue, Jerome Hirigoyen of TDF -- Telediffusion de France -- told about his
company's shortwave sites and other installations, including the large relay
station in exotic Montsinery, French Guiana, where a number of 500-kilowatt
transmitters are located, reaching nearly all of the Americas and West
Africa as well.
On May 15th, there was a slide presentation about the NASB's two member
stations in Florida -- veteran broadcaster WYFR in Okeechobee and relative
newcomer WRMI, Radio Miami International, in Miami. Michel Penneroux,
chairman of the DRM Consortium's Commercial Committee, explained the
difficulties and delays involved with the mass production of low-cost DRM
digital shortwave receivers, and he presented an investment plan for
producing a large number of such receivers within a 12- to 18-month period.
Rex Morgan, senior producer for Latin America for World Christian
Broadcasting, talked about his efforts to reach Latin American listeners
from Miami via shortwave and other media, and Kok Hai Tan from the same
organization presented a timely video about the progress of World Christian
Broadcasting's new shortwave station being built in Madagascar and where it
will reach with programs in Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and other languages,
including transmissions to India.
Finally, at the NASB business meeting, two new members were elected to the
board of directors. George Ross, frequency manager of KTWR in Guam, was
elected to replace Bill Damick, also of Trans World Radio, whose term was
ending. And Charles Caudill, President of World Christian Broadcasting, was
elected to replace David Creel of Far East Broadcasting Company, whose term
also ended this year.
Others attending the NASB meeting included Arto Mujunen, a Finnish DXer who
works at the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau monitoring office in
Helsinki; Michael Murray, a British DXer who is a former secretary general
of the European DX Council; Dino Bloise of Miami, who produces a syndicated
Spanish-language DX program called "Frecuencia al Dia;" Brady Murray,
operations manager of WWCR in Nashville; and Terry Borders and Ed Mathis of
the Catholic shortwave station WEWN in Birmingham, Alabama. A number of
spouses also took part in the cruise. The meeting was organized by Jeff and
Thais White of WRMI in Miami.
Next year's NASB annual meeting will take place at the headquarters of Radio
Free Asia in Washington, DC on May 10th and 11th, 2012. And just before
concluding this year's meeting, the NASB board accepted an invitation by
WEWN in Birmingham to host the 2013 NASB annual meeting.
(end)
Regards from Melbourne!
Bob Padula
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