The VOICE OF AMERICA, the global broadcast station run by an arm of the US government, is off the air -- perhaps permanently.
Our present Administration shut down VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe, Radio Ashna (to Afghanistan), and Radio Marti indefinitely. The suspicion is that the present people running things in Washington, DC see the entire operation as a waste of money -- especially their SW radio operations.
This shutting down of VOA, Marti, etc., occurred officially on Saturday, and for a while Marti just played old shows while VOA was playing music. But now most of those frequencies are silent. For how long? Who knows?
I have held off on writing about this subject over the past several days, for a reason. Even though the shutting down of VOA is an important development -- especially here in the US, where the station is used by our government to bring America to the rest of the world via the radio waves -- it is a politically charged subject.
And the political nature of the discussions often gets in the way of the bigger issue: Few in government, or even in the Radio industry and Radio hobby, believe in Shortwave Radio as a medium anymore.
That fact always gets lost in the constant hate tirades against Donald Trump and his administration when this subject is brought up, even in SWL circles.
His administration took VOA off the air. That is true.
But no one in Congress, or even the Radio industry (like the NAB) is standing up for VOA. Even the leaders of the opposition party in Congress, the Democrats, are silent about VOA being shut down.
It's Radio. And it's being shut down. You'd think that, in itself, would make it an important issue to the Radio industry, as well as the vast majority of Radio hobbyists. You'd think that even the NAB would be concerned, as it's Radio.
Unfortunately, it's almost the opposite.
Many SWL's on the radio forums and subreddits online seem to not care about VOA's demise any more than the present US administration does. Some SWL's have called it 'propaganda', and say good riddance to it. Some say that 'Shortwave is dead -- everyone is online'. Some say that VOA had no listeners. So let it die.
They don't seem to care about VOA's dying, except that it's being shut down involves Donald Trump, a highly polarizing figure in American politics.
Now, I won't go into the politics here. I hate politics, as it always includes varying degrees of hate. What one may think or believe about President Trump, personally, is actually beside the point.
The FACT that no one in government, the NAB, or any organization outside of VOA employees and maybe a handful of vocal SWL's supports VOA's existence speaks loads.
'SUPPORT VOA? THAT'S SHORTWAVE. YOU'RE LIVING IN THE PAST'
When VOA was being scrutinized by the present administration, even a couple weeks ago, I got into literal arguments online with Radio industry people, as well as SWL's, concerning VOA. I think VOA has value. It's the US's voice to millions and millions of poor people in Africa and parts of Asia, where a lot of people don't have free press, or good internet access.
All you have to do is look at the cell coverage maps, and the statistics, to see that for much of the world, internet use is not as widespread as it is in the US, EU, Canada, Oz, NZ, the more industrialized nations of Eurasia, and most of Latin America.
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Here is just one of several websites that have cell coverage maps for most of the countries of the world, including Africa and Asia. This site, like the others, has a drop down where you choose the country, and there's another drop-down menu to choose a cell carrier.
This particular map is for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it's showing the area one popular cell carrier covers. As you can tell, the cell service doesn't cover that entire country. If you compare it to Belgium, you'll see a drastic difference in cell coverage.
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Trying to tell a lot of Radio people that VOA was, and is, important because third and fourth world nations do not have first and second world cell and internet coverage has been like talking to a brick wall. There are maybe one or two people on Radio industry forums I go to who agree with VOA's existence, and a handful of vocal supporters on the Shortwave subreddits, but more of them seem to agree with the present day administration that VOA's purpose died with the Cold War
Those of us who support VOA feel like we're talking to dead air.
It's sad, and it's frustrating.
If Radio industry people and Radio hobbyists do not believe in VOA, and Shortwave, over the air radio as a viable medium -- why should anyone else?
When I ask that question online, I got a lot of backlash from short-sighted folks who think that I a) support the Trump Administration and its actions, or b) am an enemy of some sorts to the SW hobby or the SW broadcast medium.
When I ask some of those detractors what they are doing to show support for the Voice of America -- like emailing your congressman, for example -- the answer is mostly crickets.
It's an example of a lot that's haywire in my country. Political divisions run deep, and get in the way of actual dialogue.
In this case, is the VOA worth the money? Is reaching out to the over 500 million people in Africa who live north of the Namibia/Zambia line, 65% of whom are impoverished and have little cellphone or internet access because over half of them live in rural areas -- is reaching out to them important, or not? The VOA cost the US government about $267 million to run every year. Is that a good investment, or not?
ONE B-21 BOMBER + ONE AIRCRAFT CARRIER =
52 YEARS OF V.O.A. BUDGETS
One B-21 Raider bomber plane costs over twice that amount. And the US Air Force wants 100 of them. The USS Gerald R Ford, which is one of our latest aircraft carriers, cost $13 Billion dollars in 2018, and that's almost $16 Billion in today's US Dollars (the US Navy wants ten of them).
And some say that the B-21 and Ford class aircraft carriers are sitting ducks in today's drone weapons version of warfare. As we've seen in recent land wars, drones are becoming increasingly deadly in all sorts of warfare. Yet the US government is spending the rough equivalent of 52 years' worth of VOA budgets on just one B-21 and one Ford class carrier.
Just one B-21 and one Ford class carrier could pay for more than half of VOA's budget throughout all 83 years of its existence (VOA was founded in 1942).
So is the VOA worth the money?
In my opinion, the answer is yes. But, unfortunately, my country's present government, its opposition party in Congress, many Radio industry people, and even a lot of fellow SWL's, also think the answer is NO.
WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT RADIO IN GENERAL?
This leads to the next logical question: if the Voice of America is useless to the US as a form of radio broadcast, 'soft power', what does that say about the power of over the air radio in general?
Because Radio in general is in decline. As I pointed out in my last blog article, two of the largest Radio companies in the US recently announced the shutdown of 20 FM as well as AM radio stations.
When it's AM stations that are shut down, people in Radio practically applaud. But now the illness is hitting FM as well. And this leads me to question exactly who is standing up for Over-The-Air radio? If we can't stand up for our country trying to reach out to millions of people in third and fourth world countries using Over-The-Air radio, what is the use of Radio, really?
If the answer is to just 'go online', why have Radio at all? Is it going to be reduced to nothing but a gazillion, financially dysfunctional, cookie-cutter, 'Radio' content channels? Because once Radio goes all online, that's what it will be -- internet content, with low visibility, and lower revenues for most stations that go online-only.
Ask any internet content creator about the reality of content revenues, versus the myth that you can make a lot of money online. With nearly infinite competition, visibility is scarce, and when it comes to internet content, visibility is everything.
So, to me, this VOA issue is not just an example of my country abandoning the Radio medium to reach other regions of the world with 'Soft Power' -- it's also a classic example of Radio people shooting their industry, their hobby, in the foot.
Who is speaking up for Radio?
C.C. March 19th, 2025
EDIT: March 19th: I revised some language in one paragraph, to keep this post even further from politics.
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