Radio Jennifer (again); free radio on a weekday, and ch-ch-changes

 

Many thanks to the operator of Radio Jennifer, whose shall remain nameless, for this e-QSL I received just a few days ago.

I have seen it said elsewhere that free radio on shortwave appears to be declining in quantity. Whilst it cannot be denied that the quality of broadcasts, at least in my opinion, have sharply declined over the last twenty years, something I have noticed that was not prevalent in the 1990-2002 glory days is a willingness to broadcast during midweek on for example 6 and 7 MHz.

As a student in the early to mid-1990s I would often tune around 48 metres during the day, usually without any success. Radio Armadillo - the Middle A - could sometimes be heard on 6292 KHz during a Friday afternoon and for a time Radio Merlin, including its forerunner Radio Galaxy, would pop up on 6239 KHz on a weekday, but otherwise once Radio Fax left 6205 KHz the bands would normally be silent until a Friday night or Saturday morning. That is how I remember it, although others may have different recollections.

In the current era it is not uncommon to hear the likes of Radio Jennifer, Parade, Pamela, Nova, and a glut of yawn-inducing identikit Dutch stations during the day. At least for the unemployable free radio enthusiast and those of us who predominantly work from home there is often something to listen to during the week. 

Free radio much like life is what you make it, and whilst the 1990s has proven to have set the bar unattainably high for the decades since, the reported terminal demise of free radio has somewhat been exaggerated. As society today and attendant technologies are almost unrecognisably different to those three decades ago, it is unrealistic to expect free radio to not have rolled with the times. Only subjective opinion can though say if that is for the better, or to its detriment. 

Happy Easter.