Observations from a listening project on the Voice of Indonesia
In the absence of their short wave service, one has to turn to the internet stream at
http://cdn.voinews.id/streaming_en/id.html
Unfortunately, I did not find a schedule for this stream (nor did I find one for their former short wave activities). The external service of Radio Republik Indonesia is not the only external service that fails to give its audience this most needed information. How to win or retain an audience without a published schedule for your broadcast that can also be shared remains the secret of these stations. As a result, the attempt to create a broadcast schedule has become a "listening project".
Unlike the short wave schedule for 9525 kHz printed in the World Radio TV Handbook 2018, the internet stream runs around the clock. After monitoring the stream for about days, I have now closed the final gap and I can forward this 24 h schedule: 00.00 h UTC Spanish. 01.00 h German (repeat broadcast). 02.00 h Dutch. 03.00 h French. 04.00 h English. 05.00-08.00 h Bahasa Indonesia. 08.00-11.00 h English. 11.00 h Chinese. 12.00 h Japanese. 13.00 h English. 14.00 h Bahasa Indonesia. 15.00 h Chinese. 16.00 h Arabic. 17.00 h Spanish. 18.00 h German. 19.00 h Dutch. 20.00 h French. 21.00 h English. 22.00 h Japanese. 23.00 h Arabic.
These nine language were also used when the station was active on short wave. Some of these languages do not really sound the way they are known. However, it can be an advantage when foreign language content is not fully prepared and presented by native speakers of the respective language. You might even follow programmes in languages in which your skills are not fully developed. The speed of the French at Radio France International for example does not really care about non-native speakers. Returning to the Voice of Indonesia, in cases such as French or Spanish, I could follow the programme content.
Bahasa Indonesia and English have the largest time slots, and in English, too, the programme output is greater than just one hour like in the other foreign language services. As a German, I was surprised to find an additional night broadcast for the German service: There are two German slots at 18.00 and 01.00 (repeat), and also two Dutch broadcasts at 19.00 and 02.00. Dutch is the latest broadcasting language introduced in 2017 (actually re-introduced). In station IDs in English and French, reference is made to 9525 kHz only. Most services stick to the fiction of three shortwaves in the station announcement, though they might actually know better. For example. the "about us" self-presentation on the German web site mentions only 9525 kHz.
Listening to different languages for many hours reveals that much of the content is prepared centrally. But that is still better than having an editorial office only on paper and producing little more than music and station announcements. Common features include: news, commentary, historical events ("past and present"), cultural and tourist features and the language course. As you can see in the programme line up for foreign languages at http://voinews.id/index.php/broadcasting-schedule this is put into a very tight time management.
But there may also be small differences like the content of the mailbag. The for me most obvious difference was the recitation of the Koran at the beginning of the Arab programme. It is difficult to judge whether this is generally expected by the audience in the Arab world or is also a problem to some listeners. There are also Arab Christians or Muslims practicing Islam only moderately. Compare for example Radio Cairo, where I observed the Koran recitation in the KiSwahili programme for East Africa not at the beginning of the programme, but at the end (Dr Hansjoerg Biener, 16 March 2018, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
