May 11, 2017

Subject: Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment – Restoring Shortwave Radio Bill

To Whom it May Concern: While it’s true that shortwave has played a vital role in informing people over the many decades that it has been in use. Today they’re only a few regions where shortwave is still important. These include: Parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, East Asia and Latin America. In the last 5 years alone there have been major infrastructure investments in new technologies, such as G4 phone networks that have given millions access to a wide range of information. While some broadcasters such as the BBC World Service, Voice of America, and others continue to use shortwave. It is by no means their only distribution platform, but over the last few years they have reduced the number of hours and frequencies or even cut them all together in certain regions. For Radio Australia the best option would be to continue for a little while longer until new distribution platforms are in place. One option would be the use of DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). At the moment Radio New Zealand International use a low powered DRM, which is received and then rebroadcast on FM. RNZI’s DRM schedule: 1651 – 1835 UTC – 6115kHz 1836 – 1950 UTC – 9760kHz 1951 – 2050 UTC – 11690kHz These three transmissions are used for local stations to broadcast RNZI content. It’s more cost effective than standard shortwave and offers studio quality. At the same time they do keep at least 1 regular shortwave frequency on the air that is changed at various times as to provide the best audio quality to the region. I would also suggest a proper listener survey is conducted by an independent organization not connected with the ABC. To accurately discover how many listeners in Radio Australia’s target listen VIA shortwave. The reason why I suggest an independent organization is it’s common to “fake the numbers”. Something I saw at Radio Canada International, Voice of America and other broadcasters. Having worked as an announcer/producer in international broadcasting for more than 20 years for stations such as Radio Canada International, Radio Havana Cuba, China Radio International, Radio Netherlands and the African Service of Deutsche Welle. I also worked in audience research for Radio Havana and China Radio International. In 2000 when I joined China Radio International they had claimed they had a weekly audience of around 200 million a week on shortwave. After spending nearly 10 months on this. My team and I concluded it was less than 1 million a week. The Voice of America also is known to over inflate their figures. Finally: Keep a simple low cost schedule until something is in place to replace shortwave. This is something that could be done in less than 18 months. But the longer your off air getting back listeners will become increasingly more difficult. Regards, Keith Perron Director: PCJ Radio International Email: Mobile: