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This post will only interest a few, but if you have a shortwave radio, you've likely heard of WHRI, an all-religious station that broadcasts to the world from South Carolina. It's hard to know if they'll still be keeping the faith after being sold to the owner of WBCQ, the Monticello, Maine maverick owned by a former American pirate radio guru named Allan Weiner. (He used to be part of Radio New York International before going legit.)
So what does a shortwave station go for these days? The answer may surprise you: $1.25 million, a lot more than I would have expected. What he plans to do with it remains to be seen - or in this case, heard.
WBCQ purchases World Harvest Radio (WHRI)
WBCQ Website
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WBCQ is an odd duck. Surly leftist one hour, followed by whacko fundamentalist bible hour, then classic oldies, then neo-nazi patriot hour.
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I guess that's what happens when you have to sell your airtime to survive - and you call yourself "free speech radio" so there's no way to censor anything.
I still miss Johnny Lightning, though. Now THERE was an odd duck. And yes, he's still on the web, but it's not quite the same as having his voice bouncing around The Planet on Sunday nights.
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The only shortwave giants were Radio Moscow, BBC, and Voice of America and, more recently, China Radio International. I don't think any commercial broadcaster has ever been able to make significant money off of shortwave - at least not since the 1930s when NBC and CBS both had shortwave stations aimed mostly at Latin America - for the simple reason that it's never been possible to accurately conduct ratings so advertisers don't trust it - only the radio evangelists manage to profit.
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Shortwave is dead. I tuned in a few weeks ago for the first time in years and only found religious, foreign language, and Radio Miami which was playing oldies.