Monday, April 23, 2012
Proving Harper's point
One of the local NPR stations fills in the overnight hours with a variety of foreign 'world radio' broadcasts.
All of these stations have a long history on shortwave, and many have dropped their SW transmissions and switched to webcasting. Nostalgia doesn't beat reality; webcasting is clearly superior for the purposes of a national broadcaster. At this point in history there's no country where radio can reach better than the web. North Korea is web-less, but its regime is so absolute that it doesn't even allow tunable radios.
Now Radio Canada is getting ready to shut down its shortwave, by orders of Harper's frugal government. The announcers are protesting on-air and trying to stir up an international response. Not gonna work. If anything, the protest is so adolescent and hippie-ish that I wouldn't be surprised if CBC shuts down the whole mess, web and all.
If you want to prove your worthiness as a representative of the nation, you have to represent the nation in some meaningful way. Sounding like a low-power drug-dealing alternative-rock station proves your unworthiness. ¶ 1:56 AM
All of these stations have a long history on shortwave, and many have dropped their SW transmissions and switched to webcasting. Nostalgia doesn't beat reality; webcasting is clearly superior for the purposes of a national broadcaster. At this point in history there's no country where radio can reach better than the web. North Korea is web-less, but its regime is so absolute that it doesn't even allow tunable radios.
Now Radio Canada is getting ready to shut down its shortwave, by orders of Harper's frugal government. The announcers are protesting on-air and trying to stir up an international response. Not gonna work. If anything, the protest is so adolescent and hippie-ish that I wouldn't be surprised if CBC shuts down the whole mess, web and all.
If you want to prove your worthiness as a representative of the nation, you have to represent the nation in some meaningful way. Sounding like a low-power drug-dealing alternative-rock station proves your unworthiness. ¶ 1:56 AM
