Here is a preview article which will be published in our upcoming VISTA.


In Peace,


Debra Latham



Shortwave Radio
Relevant in the New Millennium?


Many detractors of shortwave radio, as well as proponents of the internet
as the great uniter of the world have said that shortwave is a thing of
the past and should be relegated to history.  The truth is quite different.
A report published in January 2001 by Groupe France Telecom, the
telecommunications arm of the French government states, "An estimated
2.5 billion people tune into programs broadcast on shortwave radio and
about a billion receivers pick up shortwave transmissions.  At any
given moment, over 200 million receivers are tuned in to shortwave broadcasts.
Shortwave remains the only means of reaching a broad audience anywhere in the world."


These billion shortwave receivers cannot be turned off by governments,
as the internet can be.  In times of crisis, power outages, natural
disasters, war or revolutionary situations all technologically sophisticated
telecommunications systems (television, internet, telephone, satellite)
can be blocked, cut or shutdown. Shortwave radio is the only mass
communication medium which remains operational.


In May 1999 the Group of 77 (a coalition of 133 developing countries)
requested the United Nations to maintain radio, and other traditional
media outlets, as a means of disseminating information rather than relying
only on the internet.  Ambassador Samuel Insanally of Guyana, chairman
of the Group of 77, said that "radio remains for most of our countries,
the major medium for the dissemination of information." The introduction
of modern information technology increasingly has favored rich nations
and is detrimental to the peoples of the developing world "who are clearly
disadvantaged by their lack of access to such advanced technologies."
As a result, Secretary-General Kofi Annan assured the Group of 77 that the
UN's Department of Public Information will continue to maintain and expand
the use of traditional means of information - including radio and printed
material - because of the constraints faced by developing countries in an
age of computers and the global information superhighway.


The equipment needed for shortwave reception is already widely available
to people in developing and developed countries alike giving the medium
a commonality across educational and economic boundaries.  As a cost-effective
means of disseminating information, shortwave radio provides a unique
delivery system capable of bridging the digital divide, lessening the
North - South polarization and thus bringing balance to the matter of access.


According to Kim Andrew Elliott, VOA Audience Researcher, writing in World Radio
and TV Handbook, the future of shortwave radio broadcasting will be with stations
such as Radio For Peace International-non-governmental, efficiently run stations.
We at Radio For Peace International are ready to take the challenge to meet the
growing demands set out by the world citizens.


*****



For more information contact Gil Carmichael, tel. 011-506-205-9092.


-- 
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Central America
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