Transcript
ADRIAN SAINSBURY: Now on the international broadcast bands, which is what we use for broadcasting from New Zealand for example into the Pacific islands, these frequencies can be used by anyone, but there is a co-ordination system, and people register them with the ITU which is the International Telecommunications Union in Geneva to prevent stations from colliding. So you don't want two international broadcasters on the same channel. So people over time, like the BBC and so on, establish themselves on certain frequencies, and these go on for year after year after year. Now what's happened in this instance is with RA (Radio Australia) closing, their frequencies become free. And it coincides with China Radio International wanting to expand its services into the South Pacific. This has been a plan for some time. And to me it seems to be a strategic move on their part. By starting to use RA's frequencies, they inherit an audience in the sense that people over time have got used to RA being on those frequencies and if suddenly another English language station starts up on it, they'll listen, say they could be RA. It's only after listening for a while you realise, hello, this is not Radio Australia, this is a station that's talking about China quite a bit, and that's what's happening.
JOHNNY BLADES: How crowded is the spectrum, or how many of these former frequencies of the ABC's are being taken up, do you know?
AS: I can’t answer that. All I know is that in the past RA were using quite a few frequencies covering not only South Pacific, but also up into Papua New Guinea and that area, and into Asia. What I do find interesting is that China Radio in its expansion is doing it not only on shortwave, but they're doing it on domestic. You'll find it on Freeview television. You'll find China Radio International in most capital cities around the world.
JB: They have an English service.
AS: Oh yes. They’ve got American accents, they've got British accents. So it's very easy to confuse them with a western station.
JB: Do we know what kind of programmes and content will be on these frequencies going out to the Pacific Islands?
AS: Usually their programme content is promoting Chinese, talking about all the aid they give overseas, and all the good things that they do. They don’t broadcast anything that's political of their own country. It's very, very carefully controlled.
JB: There's not journalism or news about the islands for instance like on RA or RNZ?
AS: Until it really starts I don't think that anybody can really judge that. But I imagine they're bound to target different parts of the Pacific, and it would be sensible for them to put some local news in about it. But whether they do that or not, I can't answer that. I haven't listened to them much. But generally speaking, having listened to what I've heard up until now, it's generally promoting Chinese, saying yeah we give aid, we do all these things around the Pacific. There'll be news items about what hydro schemes they may have built or what they may be doing on a local scale within the area that they're broadcasting to. As I say it's a very big company, China Radio. They have very powerful transmitters. The shortwave ones are all 500 kilowatts, which is a lot of power. It's five times what Radio New Zealand uses.
JB: So that means it can project further?
AS: Yes, and they're stronger and clearer and easier to hear. So yes, it's a big thing. And as I say, with all the expansion within the South Pacific, if you go to any of the Pacific Islands you'll see the Chinese are investing heavily in buildings and other things. It's only natural that they follow that up with radio coverage as well.
JB: You've been around the region looking at this area (broadcasting) for a long time, how important is shortwave radio or how much of an influence can it have among those communities?
AS: Shortwave is still quite important in the Pacific Islands, and that's because it's one way a lot of people can get international coverage. But the local FM stations have limited resources usually. And that's why Radio New Zealand is quite important in the area, because a lot of radio stations in the area go to us for news - because they have small staff, and a lack of people to do all that work. So it's hard to know how many people would listen to them, to be honest, but there are more shortwave radios probably per head of population in the Pacific Islands than you'll find anywhere else because in more first world countries like Australia or New Zealand, everybody has their local FM stations which provide all the coverage they want, they've got all the television channels they want. When you go to a remote Pacific island, that's not the case. You might be lucky to have one or two stations, and a limited television service.
JB: It's not too late for Australia if they wanted to get back into the shortwave game to do so, but it's too late on some of the frequencies which they were formerly able to make theirs...
AS: Yes, if RA chose to come back on the air again they would have to carefully listen to see which channels are still free, and they may find some of the ones they used to use have been used up, they're already being occupied. But the spectrum is quite wide. There's plenty of room for everybody. You could say that the Chinese are using an awful lot of airspace, a lot of the spectrum is being used by the Chinese, they spend a lot of time on it - not only on shortwave, but they do it on AM as well, they get relay points in different countries. They're making their services available all over the world. I think what is worth mentioning is China Radio are opening up all through the west, the western hemisphere if you want to call it that. Whereas if you live in China you won't hear much in the way of foreign transmissions. In fact shortwave transmitters beamed to China in Mandarin by the BBC or Voice of America are heavily jammed. But the Chinese are basically only interested in positive news about their country, and not free journalism.
