Shortwave broadcasting in the United States allows private ownership of commercial and non-commercial shortwave stations that are not relays of existing AM/MW or FM radio stations, as are common in Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania except Australia and Latin America. In addition to private broadcasters, the United States also has government broadcasters and relay stations for international public broadcasters. Most privately owned shortwave stations have been religious broadcasters, either wholly owned and programmed by Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant charities or offering brokered programming consisting primarily of religious broadcasters. To better reach other continents of the world, several stations are located in far-flung US territories. Shortwave stations in the US are not permitted to operate exclusively for a domestic audience; they are subject to antenna and power requirements to reach an international audience.
Private shortwave broadcasting is fairly rare around the world. Critics of private broadcasting in the US have argued that the service allows extremists to spread their message to others without fear of censorship,[1] while others argue that private shortwave broadcasters provide an important service in providing programming to people without access to other forms of uncensored media.
The use of shortwave transmission by US broadcasters began in the 1920s by early broadcast networks as a way to transmit programming between stations, as an alternative to leasing expensive long-distance lines. Westinghouse simulcast the programs of KDKA in Pittsburgh on shortwave in order to relay them more cheaply to sister stations KDPM in Cleveland and WBZ in East Springfield, Massachusetts.[2]
Westinghouse soon decided to move its relay target to the geographical center of the United States, and switched to a newly constructed station, KFKX in Hastings, Nebraska, beginning on November 22, 1923,[3] which ended the relay transmissions to KDPM.[4] Ultimately shortwave relays for network programming was determined to be inferior to dedicated telephone line connections, and the transmissions to KFKX ended, with the Hastings operation closing on June 1, 1927.[5]
In 1922, a 1 kW shortwave transmitter was installed at Westinghouse's factory in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with call sign 8XS.[6] This was joined by 8XAU in 1924,[7] which, after the original 8XK was deleted later that year,[8] changed its call sign to the historically significant 8XK,[9] and then W8XK in 1929, with its transmitter power increasing to 40 kW by 1937.
The transmissions by W8XK were eventually expanded into an international service conducted independently of KDKA.[10]
From 1923 to 1940, KDKA produced The Northern Messenger, airing it over its shortwave radio sister station 8XS (later known as W8XK and WPIT). The program was broadcast over shortwave to the Far North during the winter months, when mail service was impossible, and consisted of personal messages to RCMP officers, missionaries, trappers, and others from family and friends, music, and news.[11]
RCA was also a pioneer in shortwave broadcasting in the US. RCA began to transmit transatlantic radio messages over longwave from its Radio Central facility at Rocky Point, New York after its opening on November 5, 1921.[12] In 1923, Radio Central began experimenting with shortwave with regular use beginning in 1924. By 1928, RCA had scrapped plans for more longwave transmitters and instead built six shortwave transmitters, 2XT andWTT at 40 kw and WBU, WIK, WQO and WLL at 20 kw. The Radio Central complex was used to relay international broadcast programming received by, or sent from, RCA's broadcast stations in the United States. The facility remained in use until the 1970s when it was superseded by satellite transmission.[13]
In 1924, General Electric began relaying WGY over shortwave transmitters W2XAF and W2XAD (later called WGEO and WGEA) at their Schenectady, New York plant and Crosley Broadcasting Corporation obtained a license to relay the programming of WLW over shortwave transmitter, W8XAL (later WLWO). RCA andNBC began relaying WJZ over a shortwave transmitter in BoundBrook, New Jersey in 1925 and in 1928 CBS relayed WABC programming over shortwave station W2XE in Wayne, New Jersey.[14]
Commercial broadcasting was not allowed on shortwave until 1939. The "NBC White Network", NBC's chain of shortwave stations, aggressively sought broadcasting for the White Network which served as NBC's international network broadcast in six languages, with a focus on transmissions to Central and South America in Spanish. CBS used shortwave to support its Latin American international network, which consisted of 64 stations located in 18 countries and GE's KGEI opened in San Francisco in 1939, transmitting to Asia.[15] [16] [17]
On November 1, 1942, all 14 private U.S. shortwave stations ended commercial operations and were leased to the Voice of America.[18] All the takeovers were friendly except for WRUL which was seized by the government. The stations continued to be owned privately and after the war all owners were given the option to resume control of their stations but only the owners of WRUL exercised that option, though they were not given full control until 1954. NBC and CBS provided programming to the government under contract until 1948 when they left shortwave broadcasting.[19]
While many private shortwave broadcasters in the United States are operated by religious groups or carry mostly religious programming, there have also been attempts at starting non-religious shortwave stations.
Two such stations were WRNO in New Orleans and KUSW in Salt Lake City, both of them with a rock and roll music format. Both stations were well received by shortwave listeners, but could not make the format successful in the long run. KUSW was eventually sold to the Trinity Broadcasting Network and converted into religious broadcaster KTBN. WRNO kept its rock and roll format going for most of the 1980s but eventually switched formats to selling brokered airtime to political and religious broadcasts, suffered a damaged transmitter, and eventually ceased broadcasting following the death of its owner, Joe Costello. WRNO was acquired by Robert Mawire and Good News World Outreach in 2001. After installing a new transmitter, the station was within just days of returning to the air when Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29, 2005. The new transmitter was spared from flood waters, but the antenna was severely damaged by high winds. WRNO finally returned to broadcasting in 2009, operating four hours per day. On March 13, 2010, WRNO began transmitting a weekly religious broadcast in Arabic for a portion of its broadcast schedule.
A notable exception is WBCQ, a non-religious private station operated by Allan Weiner in Maine. WBCQ has been a success by brokering much of their airtime to fringe cults like Brother Stair and World's Last Chance, while also carrying some music and entertainment programs. WTWW primarily operated as an oldies station targeted at amateur radio and DXing audiences, along with a country music feed targeting eastern Europe; the station leased out one of its channels to LaPorte Church of Christ mainly to subsidize the other channels.[20] WTWW went out of business November 9, 2022 and moved most of its programming to WRMI, one of the nation's largest shortwave broadcasters, with LaPorte fully taking over and relaunching WTWW a month later.
Other private shortwave stations that air a mix of religious and non-religious programs include WRMI (which also relays several International broadcast services),[21] and WWCR.[22]
Numerous pirate radio stations have operated sporadically in or just outside the shortwave broadcast bands. Most are operated by hobbyists for the amusement of DX'ers with broadcasts typically only a few hours in length.
Few American pirates are political or controversial in their programming. Pirates have tended to cluster in unofficial "pirate bands" based on the current schedules of licensed shortwave stations and the retuning of amateur radio transmitters to operate outside the "ham" radio bands.
Most pirate activity takes place on weekends or holidays, Halloween and April Fool's Day being traditional favorites of pirates. Most broadcasts are only a few minutes to a few hours at a time. One notable exception was Radio Newyork International, a short-lived attempt to establish a permanent broadcasting station operating from international waters.
Some European nations have recently begun allowing privately owned shortwave stations on a far more limited scale.
See also: Broadcasting Board of Governors and International Broadcasting Bureau.