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Long wave radio fans mourn fading frequencies (2023)

Now disappearing, long wave radio broadcasts once gave a taste of far flung countries and cultures.

As he turned the dial gently but purposefully, the sound of people speaking in foreign languages and the lilt of unfamiliar music burst through a haze of crackle and buzz. "It has a particular resonance that people like to listen to," he says, describing the noisy sound of the long wave band, which can be affected by lightning and interference from electrical devices, such as LED lights. But in Asia, Mongolia is also a prime example - a large country with a small population where the cost of putting an FM network in place, requiring many transmitters, would perhaps be hard to justify, he points out.

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