Shortwave International radio Airtime

There are many opportunities to reach large, international audiences, especially on the Internet. However, huge areas worldwide are still not covered by the Internet, FM or AM (Medium Wave) radio and TV.

Placing programs on only one media channel or platform will limit your audience. In today’s very fragmented media – whether you represent a large or small organisation, either secular or religious – an effective media strategy would encompass more than one platform to reach the largest possible audience with the best cost/performance ratio.

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Milano Ventures provides a global outreach platform for any possible content (audio, video, text), managed to distribute such content via several international media outlets (radio & TV stations, satellite, cloud facilities, social media, etc.) that can enable any secular or religious organization to reach cost-effectively most English speaking regions in the world or any particular non-English speaking target area.

Shortwave radio broadcasting, also called World Radio or International Radio, is just one medium. Shortwave may reach entire continents using a single broadcast. Today, it is the most effective media to reach the digital divide areas and censored countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Shortwave also has a loyal niche audience in most industrialised countries in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia/Pacific. In these areas, Shortwave radio is one of the elite media that encourages hardcore music, poetry, culture and world news stories fans to appreciate and engage further, used to hear first-hand information from unbiased sources and any content not usually available on other media.

Shortwave is also the ideal Christian media to reach a large percentage of the “unchurched” audience. With active support for your Ministry at home (and probably not through listeners in the most deprived countries), our dedicated Shortwave service (European Gospel Radio) can be used as a real missionary Christian channel to evangelise large communities in Africa and Asia.

What is the value of Shortwave?

Shortwave radio remains one of the few electronic media for reaching the maximum number of potential listeners worldwide, especially in developing countries. Even today, there are largely populated areas in Africa & Asia without access to local FM or AM radio, TV or the Internet. Some governments in Africa and Asia limit free information by censoring media or preventing access to the global Internet. In a time of war or regional conflicts, shortwave radio is a powerful tool for reaching a vast audience, and it uses inexpensive receivers that can be put in a suitcase or pocket. This is proved because some of the world’s most prominent international broadcast organisations continue their activities via Shortwave and have invested heavily in transmission facilities.

Milano Ventures operates on Shortwave from multi-million dollar facilities, with 50 to 300 kW of power (up to several million watts of Effective Radiated Power or ERP via highly directional antennas) built using the latest broadcast technologies. Such facilities can also operate according to the latest digital standards (DRM) when receivers are widely available.

Shortwave is everywhere. It is the world’s most mobile medium. Ironically, it was the propaganda machine of Nazi Germany that recognised Shortwave’s power and perfected its use in the Second World War.

How does Shortwave work?

How Shortwave signals reflect across the outer layer of the ionosphere

Standard AM and FM stations lose power as their signals dissipate along the ground over long distances. On Shortwave, the opposite is true. The Earth is encased in an invisible covering of gases called the ionosphere. This acts as a mirror, reflecting Shortwave signals to Earth, making it possible to cover vast distances with a single transmitter.

This is why Shortwave is so efficient and cost-effective. In the case of our Shortwave radio channels, you can cover Europe, Africa or Asia/Pacific for the same or less money than it would cost to reach just one local market at home.

The audience on Shortwave

Shortwave is a lot like advertising: everybody agrees it works, but it ismuchasy to quantify. The world’s most essential broadcasting organisations have been deeply involved in audience research, which costs vast sums of money. Although relating primarily to political and social factors, there are findings of general interest to our broadcasters.

“If shortwave had been discovered today instead of eight decades ago it would be hailed as an amazing new technology with great potential for the world we live in today.” (John Tusa, Former Director, BBC World Service)

European Gospel Radio Europe and North Africa coverage

Access to radio and TV signals from foreign countries on FM, AM/MW, Shortwave, satellite, and the Internet can be and often is blocked or filtered in some areas of the world. For example:

• Nigeria does not allow any local rebroadcasts of the news;
• Ahead of the July-August 2013 elections in Zimbabwe, the country’s ruling coalition banned Shortwave radios, many distributed by NGOs, preventing opposition messages from getting out. However, Shortwave broadcasts are pretty popular since they carry information not available elsewhere in the country;
• Ivory Coast, Azerbaijan, both Congos, and several other countries have blocked local rebroadcasts when local circumstances have changed, and governments in these countries have not wanted outside “interference”;
• Afghanistan has only insufficient FM coverage in large towns controlled by military troops. Insurgents pull down local FM stations outside of these areas, and in remote areas, no regional or national radio or TV service exists. Hundreds of small FM stations, overlapping each other, are present in Kabul. Electricity is often down, and local stations stay off the air for hours;
• The Ethiopian government systematically jammed satellite TV and illegally blocked access to the Internet and social media in its efforts to crush dissents during the wave of protests that started in November 2015 and led up to the state of emergency;
  

  Our Far East Asia/Pacific coverage on Shortwave

• In many Africa regions, except in largely populated areas, there is Africanernet and no local radio or TV station, and on national TV or broadcast can be heard. Shortwave is the only way to reach such remote areas or towns;
• Webcasts, internet radio, video streaming or access to some websites can be filtered or blocked by firewalls operated by governments in the Middle East (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Gulf states, Iran) or China;
• Two billion people in the world still have access to at least one Shortwave capable set at home;
• Three hundred million people use Shortwave every week to access radio services. When government restrictions on national or foreign media, wars or crises happen, the number of Shortwave receivers and listeners increases repeatedly.

(Some of the data above are from a presentation by Graham Mutton, retired senior audience researcher for BBC and significant expert in audience survey, presented at a radio broadcasting conference in Prague in 2011)

It should be made clear that the European, Asian and African listener is much more passive than listeners in the United States. Broadcasters should not expect excited “I’ve Seen The Light” – type declarations of faith and salvation as might be the case in the U.S. Of course, this DOES happen here too, but far less frequently.

This may come as a disappointment. But remember that the people outside the USA have a different mentality: they are more shy, quiet, and reflective. It should also be realized that except for the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria and a few other countries reached by our Shortwave services, English is NOT a first language. Most of them understand English well enough to follow a broadcast, but are very reluctant to write letters.

 

Fundraising on Shortwave?

We understand that some Christian broadcasters might welcome financial contributions from listeners. But this should not be expected from Europe, Africa or Asia. Because of the social structure of Europe, people here are not used to helping finance religious institutions by personal contribution since churches are funded by tax money in most European countries.

People in the most impoverished regions in Africa and Asia will not have any means to send funds to the US or Europe.

We would like to encourage missionary radio ministries genuinely, as they will significantly impact our worldwide audience. If you are primarily trying to fund your organisation with your broadcasts in Europe, Africa or Asia, you will be disappointed, and we will actively discourage you. In that case, from bringing your program to European Gospel Radio. The results will be disappointing. You can achieve the best results by fundraising in North America and reaching our audience in the most remote and impoverished regions of Europe, Africa, and Asia via our Shortwave services.

People outside of the USA may be tight with their money and sceptical appeals for donations. This is merely the nature of most of our society.

For more information on using Milano Ventures’ Shortwave services, please contact us.