I’m sure this move makes financial sense for Radio Netherlands, just as I’m sure dropping shortwave broadcasts to North America made financial sense for the BBC. There are no broadcasters with budgets large enough to transmit to everywhere in the world and it only makes sense to allocate limited resources to areas deemed most important. But it’s still sad to watch the steady decline of shortwave services to North America.

The Radio Netherlands website puts a positive spin on the move:

Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s English broadcasts are available in North America in an increasing variety of ways. More and more partner stations are taking our programming (a growing number of NPR stations in the US and CBC in Canada) and there are now a wide range of satellite options (including Sirius satellite radio).

The programmes are also available live, on-demand and via podcast.

The number of alternatives for listeners in North America is such that we have decided to end our shortwave broadcasts to the region.

They do list four different ways for North Americans to continue to listen to Radio Netherlands:

1. on the internet at http://www.radionetherlands.nl/
2. on the AMC 4 satellite 24 hours a day
3. as part of the CBC overnight service at 1:05 AM
4. on WRN as found on the Galaxy 25 satellite or on Sirius satellite radio

Unfortunately, no single option is a perfect alternative to shortwave and each has disadvantages:

1. Listening to Radio Netherlands on the internet is pretty close to a perfect alternative, but only for those with broadband internet access. Broadband internet is increasingly common, but not ubiquitous.
2. Listening to the AMC 4 satellite requires receiver hardware that most people don’t have, not to mention a clear view of the satellite.
3. The CBC overnight service is an option only for those who live in Canada or near the border. The late-night schedule is also not very convenient.
4. Most people don’t have satellite receivers or satellite radios capable of receiving WRN.

DRM in this case stands for Digital Radio Mondiale. To quote from the official DRM web site:

Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) is the universal, openly standardised, digital radio system for short-wave, medium-wave and long-wave – digital radio for the radio frequencies below 30MHz.

I have heard about DRM for years, but with the apparent demise of shortwave broadcasting (at least in North America and Europe), I had expected the idea of digital shortwave broadcasting to fade away. Many people think that DRM has come too late to make much of a difference, although the DRM Consortium might disagree with that assessment. At its best, DRM could mean shortwave broadcasts with no fading, whistling, hiss, or any of the other things that have always characterized shortwave listening. Some people regard that as heresy (shortwave listening is supposed to be difficult), but I find the concept very appealing. Maybe there are some other unconventional uses out there for DRM that could help shake things up a bit.

The source of the article, 26MHz.us, is an interesting site on its own. They are trying to promote FCC rule changes that would allow domestic local radio broadcasting on the 26MHz shortwave band using DRM. It might not be common knowledge, but shortwave broadcasters from the United States are not allowed to target listeners within the United States. The FCC only licenses shortwave stations for international broadcasting, for reasons that I believe date back to the Cold War.

There are many obstacles to the 26MHz idea (such as the complete absence of DRM receivers), but I am intrigued by the idea of one local station covering a state as large as Alaska. I am reminded of a story I once heard from someone who took a trip to eastern Europe back in the 1980′s. I don’t remember why he went, but he ended up driving a truck from one city to another distant city and then back again. What I found remarkable was that even though his trip covered many hundreds of miles, he listened to the same longwave station on his car radio, day and night, for the entire trip. Longwave is different from shortwave, but that would sure be hard to achieve with a FM station!

I was amused to read this because I remembered the time a few years ago when someone explained to me in great detail why listening to a shortwave broadcast in space would be impossible. His explanation made sense and he seemed quite confident in his reasoning. Unfortunately for him, apparently not only is it possible, but it had already been done years before he made his explanation!

In 2004, Vladimír Remek was elected a Member of the European Parliament. In an interview on the European Parliament site, he describes his path to space and mentions his space shortwave listening. So apparently if you ever travel to space, you can listen to some shortwave broadcasts while you are there. But considering all of the shortwave stations that have shut down recently, your problem might be finding a broadcast at all!