Radio Waves: Beidweiler Longwave Transmitter Masts Demolition and South Pacific Cyclone Watch Service Activated

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Edward (EI9LE) and David Iurescia for the following tips:

Livestream on RTL: Beidweiler longwave radio transmitters to be demolished on 6 November (RTL Today)

The date has finally been announced for the long-awaited demolition of the former radio transmission masts in Beidweiler. The three masts are set to be blown up at 3pm on Friday 6 November, organised by the Germany company Liesegang, based in Hürth (D). The necessary preparations are in motion.

As the event has garnered interest from Junglinster residents to beyond the borders, RTL will be streaming the demolition live. The three masts belong to the Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), a subsidiary of RTL Group.

From 1972 until 1am on 2 January 2023, the masts were used to transmit French-speaking RTL radio programmes to France.

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Cyclone Watch Service activated as South Pacific cyclone season begins (RNZ)

The South Pacific cyclone season officially begins 1 November and continues through to the end of April 2027.

There are occasions when tropical cyclones can develop outside of the cyclone season, more recently Tropical Cyclone Wati which impacted parts of the Cook Islands group.

Earth Sciences New Zealand is predicting elevated cyclone activity for parts of the Pacific in the coming cyclone season.

RNZ Pacific’s Cyclone Watch Service has become an important communications lifeline for Pacific nations and territories over the years, who are affected by the ever-increasing number of tropical cyclones in the Region.

The Cyclone Watch Service operates during the cyclone season in the South Pacific which is November through to the end of April. Once cyclone alerts are issued, RNZ Pacific will broadcast hourly updates of these bulletins, and whenever the situation changes.

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The fab five do the fab four

Radio Waves: EWTN to End Shortwave Service, Silver Lake FM Pirate KBLT, and NBC 100 Years Ago

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Original NBC Chimes. Photo taken at the NCRTV museum

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia, Dan Van Hoy, and Tracy Wood for the following tips:

EWTN Global Catholic Television Network: Catholic News, TV, Radio | EWTN (EWTN Global Catholic Television Network)

IRONDALE, Ala. — EWTN Global Catholic Network announced today the end of its shortwave radio service, WEWN, after 34 years of operation. The decision, approved by EWTN’s Board of Governors, will take effect Oct. 31, 2026.

Launched on Dec. 28, 1992, WEWN was EWTN’s first radio service, offering Catholic programming to national and international listeners in geographic regions where access to other forms of media was often limited. It also served as a catalyst for EWTN’s expansion into international television operations beginning in 1995. Since then, EWTN’s 11 global television channels and numerous regional channels have reached audiences in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN Radio has grown to become an extensive network with over 600 AM/FM stations worldwide as well as satellite and digital platforms.

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’40 Watts From Nowhere’: How a Feisty Pirate Radio Station Stormed the Airwaves in 1990s Silver Lake With Help From the Red Hot Chili Peppers and More (Variety)

The 1990s were a very different time — especially in Silver Lake, California — once a fertile neighborhood of artists and musicians and now a pricey hot spot. Three decades ago, the indie music scene was flourishing with homegrown acts like Beck and Rilo Kiley, based around clubs like Spaceland and the Garage.

And for more than two heady years, music lovers within a mile or two of the Sunset Junction area could groove to the wildly eclectic sounds of KBLT, a pirate radio station that operated from 1995 to 1998.

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When NBC Radio Began 100 Years Ago – Radio World (Radio World)

The first broadcast of the National Broadcasting Company was heard on Nov. 15, 1926. Author John Schneider tells how it came about.

In the early years of the 20th century, the infant technology of radio was envisioned as a method of point-to-point communications. The transmission of one-to-many (i.e., broadcasting) was not yet envisioned.

Worldwide, the British Marconi Company dominated the technology through its control of key patents. Its subsidiary, American Marconi, operated key relay stations in the U.S. and controlled most land and sea radio communications.

After World War I, the U.S. Navy and federal government worried that wireless communication was in the hands of a foreign-owned company. As a solution, the government essentially forced American Marconi to sell its U.S. assets and patents to General Electric.

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Mark Spots Radios in the Korean Zombie Film Peninsula

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Mark Hirst, who writes:

I spotted this collection of radios being used by survivors of a zombie outbreak in the Korean movie Peninsula.

A follow-on from ‘Train to Busan’, the survivors are in contact with the outside world using the foreground radio, which apparently needs batteries that are in short supply. Strange that the one in the background doesn’t have the same problem!

RNEI’s Halloween Special 2026

Dan Visits the Great Lakes Museum in Kingston, Ontario

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by Dan Greenall

While visiting friends this past weekend in Kingston, Ontario, my wife and I paid a visit to the Great Lakes Museum where we had the good fortune to tour the S S Keewatin, a Titanic-era passenger ship that served the Great Lakes between 1908 and 1965. It is now a floating museum and permanently docked in Kingston.

One of the first stops on our 1.5-hour tour was at the original wireless station, call sign VGMC, which originally began as VGC. I snapped a few quick photos before being whisked away past the amateur radio station that has been set up and occasionally goes on the air, call sign VA3VGC.

The call sign commemorates the ship’s original maritime radio call signs, which the SS Keewatin used starting around 1911 with its Marconi wireless equipment. A couple more photos were hastily taken, as the tour moved quickly along. Additional information about the equipment that is on display here can be found at: https://greatlakesmuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/VA3VGC_Photo-Gallery-compressed.pdf

Later on, while viewing some of the passenger cabins aboard the Keewatin, I spotted an old issue of Electronics Illustrated from October 1959 lying on a bed.

You can read a copy here: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics-Illustrated/Electronics-Illustrated-1959-10.pdf

I would encourage anyone visiting the Kingston, Ontario area to take a tour of the S S Keewatin. I suspect there are other Museum Ships out there with a Wireless station set up and would be interested to hear about any of these.

Dan Greenall, Ontario, Canada

When the Grid Goes Dark, AM Radio Is America’s Last Line of Defense

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By Robert Gulley K4PKM

I ran across this interesting article this morning dealing with AM radio’s role in emergencies from Nic Anderson, a former radio station general manager, in support of the The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act before the Senate.

When the Grid Goes Dark