The 72-year-old V. Balasubramanian, who used to tune into popular foreign radio stations like Radio Netherlands, Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW) and Radio Taiwan International to get updates about the day’s happenings is sad as most of the radio stations in the European Union and various other parts of the world have started to close down their short wave service. These radio stations cite lack of funds and growth of technology, which integrates radio into smart phones, as the main reasons for shutting down their SW services. Some top radio stations like British Broadcasting Corporation and DW have also closed their transmitter sites in Trincomalee (service for South Asia) as they found it difficult to make ends meet. “When I started to listen foreign radios six decades ago there were about 30 stations but today you don’t have so much on air. Some have moved to Internet and local FM, while others have closed down their services,” he said with a sad face. Recalling how he use to tune into Radio Australia for cricket commentary on weekends, Balasubramanian pointed out that it never happens today as the station had stopped its short wave broadcast. “Australian government had to spend $30 million for its SW service and with people's hue and cry over the use of public money, the government withdrew the service,” he added. Professor T. Jaisakthivel, president of Ardic DX club, listing out radio stations, which had closed their shortwave service, said that some popular radio stations had moved to digital radio platform to offer their services. “Some radio stations have even stopped sending their programme schedules, QSL cards and pennants. One can understand the burden on their exchequer so it’s obvious that these stations want to cut down their expense for which they have closed down their service,” he said. Written by N. Arun Kumar Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com _ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________
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