BBC Radio 4: "The Sound of Soft Power" (May 23, 2026)
About this episode
This episode features a documentary exploring the legacy of international broadcasting and shortwave radio, including an interview with SRAA curator Thomas Witherspoon.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor Andrew, who shares the following recording from Radio 4. “I chose to record the programme on one of my old radios received on the soon-to-be-discontinued Droitwich 198kHz transmitter. The radio is a Pye Mistral (picture attached) which was (almost) the first radio that I even had around 1972. It might even be tuned to the right place on the dial ("Radio 2", 1500m). That was the station that was broadcast on that wavelength back then. It is not a well-performing radio, but it has a wide-ish audio bandwidth and the recording is probably as nice-sounding as it can be on LW - that warm AM sound that you refer to in the programme. Reception was on the radio's internal ferrite rod aerial in one of the rooms of the house here on the South Coast of the UK.” This recording captures a special edition of BBC Radio 4’s The Sound of Soft Power, a documentary exploring the cultural, political, and emotional legacy of international broadcasting and shortwave radio. The programme weaves together archival recordings, listener memories, and contemporary reflections on a medium that once connected the world across borders and ideologies. The documentary also makes…
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