** U S A [and non]. An author who prefers to remain anonymous at this point asked me to post this. I will forward any significant replies, either on this group or privately: (gh)
``I'm writing a book about the decision the Christian Science Publishing Society made back in the 1980s to diversify from newspaper publishing (the Christian Science Monitor) into TV, cable, and (especially) shortwave broadcasting.
The way the Christian Scientists got into shortwave was, to say the least, surprising. They bought state-of-the-art ABB 500,000 watt transmitters and set them up in Scotts Corner, Maine, and later Cypress Creek, South Carolina, giving them massive shortwave broadcasting capacity - equal to the BBC World Service or Radio Moscow - in the late 1980s/early '90s.
[not equal: those had a lot more transmitters --- gh]
Unfortunately, they soon discovered that there was no commercial cost-recovery mechanism available for shortwave radio, and that the money they put into constructing and operating their massive modern
transmitters was money they would never see again. The Maine station, which cost $7.2 million to build in 1987, was sold seven years later at a $2.2 million loss; they lost even more when they sold the South Carolina station.
This is all background to the bigger question I am trying to answer: It's the 21st century, almost no one is using shortwave for commercial purposes any more. Some governments are still broadcasting news and propaganda globally via shortwave (China is a good example), and then there are the numbers stations and other oddities you have been documenting so well and for so long now.
In the US, though, there are still small religious groups owning and
operating commercial shortwave stations to pump out their various messages, most of them on reasonably small transmitters (the people who bought the South Carolina facility from the Christian Scientists, the LeSEA religious organization, on the other hand, actually have three ABB 500 kW transmitters on site, although they only have two of them hooked up).
I have looked into these groups and their financial arrangements, and
frankly, for most of them, I have no idea how they even pay their
electricity bills for broadcasting. Nor am I alone - in a 1992 book by
James Wood called History of International Broadcasting, Volume 1, the
author basically laughs at the idea that these small groups could afford to keep so much shortwave broadcasting infrastructure on-line. He more or less hints that the US government is behind these stations, either subsidizing them directly or somehow supporting their owners so that a network of shortwave transmitters can be maintained. Similarly, in conversations with veteran DXers around North America, I have encountered the same skepticism that small religious groups could manage to keep the lights on at their stations without serious financial help.
So my question to you is this: Are you aware of any arrangement by which the US government (or the EU, or any other governmental body) is somehow supporting and/or subsidizing commercial shortwave broadcasters to help them stay in business, and to keep their (presumably) critical shortwave infrastructure on-line?
Any thoughts you have on this, including names and contact details from anyone else you think might be able to answer my questions, would be greatly appreciated. Best regards,``
(via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
