The following has been posted on Radio Prague’s Facebook Page: Radio Prague will be terminating shortwave broadcasting as of January 31. The station’s financing for next year has been drastically reduced by the Foreign Ministry in line with government austerity measures aimed at cutting the state deficit. The details of the budget are still being discussed. At present, broadcasting will continue in all six languages via the internet, satellite and partner stations.
(Source: Radio Prague via Mark Coady, Ontario DX Association)
on Dec 9th, 2010 at 12:57
I suppose it is inevitable:shortwave and it’s digital AM radio replacement DRM is just uneconomical in these current financial hard times,and with broadcasters facing severe cuts in broadcast and transmission budgets, it is just not viable anymore. I think we can wave goodbye to shortwave in europe because more will eventually follow suit unless drm shortwave gets a grip and takes off(which is more unlikely by the day as there is hardly anything you can get it with and because of the lack of receivers more and more broadcasters have reduced or discontinued drm shortwave transmission and theres nobody in the uk that has or is committed to drm either due to a lack of sets in uk stores). When you can listen in high quality sound via internet/satellite/cable fm and dvb relay and via your tv aerial thru digital terrestrial television dvb distribution then shortwave doesnt have a place in the listening place anymore.
on Dec 9th, 2010 at 13:32
One does wonder just who is listening to shortwave anymore in Europe for “non DX”purposes or at best how many “listeners per Kilowatt” to a given transmission there really are.
on Dec 9th, 2010 at 16:01
I’m travelling across Europe (and the Caucasus) and rely on shortwave in those areas without any internet access. It’s frustratingly difficult to find English language news on the shortwave bands now - yet incredibly easy to find Russian, Chinese, Arabic and many other languages. I just wish I could understand them.
on Dec 9th, 2010 at 18:59
Now is the time for the shortwave broadcasters to consolidate and unite. It is evident that the only way to save this industry is to create a network the mirrors the WRN. With multiple stations contributing to a network they could spread out and substantially reduce their costs. Essentially they could continue their broadcasts by paying a small fee compared to the huge costs of operating an independent array of transmitters. The system could operate with a few powerful (500kw) transmitters that could cover the globe.
on Dec 9th, 2010 at 19:30
Unfortunately broadband internet access is still not universally available in Germany. Look at the countryside where it is not economical, look at parts of East Germany where they have glass fiber lines (which sounds great, but it just means no DSL) and there are still lots of hotels out there that do not offer internet access. Mobile internet access really makes only sense in 3G areas, which covers about 70% of mobile phone areas (this does not equal 70% of the whole area of Germany). I imagine it won’t get any better as you travel further east in Europe.
on Dec 9th, 2010 at 19:48
While the situation is even less auspicious for shortwave here in North America, it’s worth noting that there are several Internet radios that now sell for less than $100. Considering they started off at $300 roughly 4 or 5 years ago, that’s an encouraging development. So hopefully those broadcasters who are abandoning SW due to its transmission costs (RSI, Radio Prague) will have the persistence to carve out a decent web niche. The extensiveness of Radio Prague’s audio web archives is impressive.
on Dec 10th, 2010 at 00:18
Radio Prague is more sad than Radio Slovakia. But it makes sense. Stations like Radio Prague mostly targeted there programming towards western audiences and we have seen what happened to SW in these markets. Stations that had and still have a huge audience in Africa, South East Asia, Latin America and areas where SW is still important are the ones surviving.
Last week I was in Tokyo for 2 days I listened to news not with my radio, but with my IPhone, but if I’m in Indonesia I use shortwave. The medium used is less important, more important is the content and the message. The content and message is why these stations are around.