Radio is part of the security paradox of our times. International radio broadcasts, and fresh investments in national radio transmissions and digitizing, are being cut by governments needing to tighten the belt and divert funds to more urgent security budgets. 

Radio seems to be a largely unintended victim of a world in turmoil. At the same time, it is also becoming an important piece in the new, harder security landscape. 

International broadcasting — shortwave broadcasting mainly — whether promoting plurality of opinion like BBC and RFE, or targeting diasporas or recent immigrants and foreign tourists in a country, is on the wane.

In some cases, following the example of big broadcasters, smaller brothers and sisters in Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium have gone fully online or diverted meager radio budgets to money-hungry TV broadcasts. As we know, online and TV are no substitutes for radio, but these closure decisions were in line with the management speak of 15, even 20, years ago.

Other broadcasters have closed their international public services completely, and the two most striking examples come from poor Moldova and rich Italy. 

Recently, there was news about the EU decision to support Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), part of the moribund U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), to the tune €5.5 million ($6.2 million). This is a drop in the ocean for the RFE/RL and for the E.U., whose total annual spending is 239 billion euros or dollars (in 2023). 

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc is releasing the emergency funding as a “safety net for independent journalism.” Aware of the small sum announced, more as a political gesture in the direction of the White House than as a real saver, Kallas said the funds would not be able to support all of Radio Free Europe’s 27 languages in 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

It will help, however, focus on countries in regions such as Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The EU is trying to assert itself as an even more significant geo-political power in a polarized world, especially in the context of a war raging on its eastern borders. And international, shortwave radio could have a bigger role to play in this endeavor. But international broadcasters also need listeners to listen and influence, and the crackling radio Ms. Kallas listened to as a child in Estonia is no longer acceptable. 

If international radio can play a role in unfiltered news dissemination, it needs to be digital, i.e. DRM. And more than 5 or 6 million euros or dollars will be needed to bring digital radio to the listeners and give them more than imperfect audio. 

In 2025 they will need clear audio and rich data, emergency warnings when drones approach, maps, lists of the disappeared and instructions on how to save their lives and that of their communities. This is in line with the position of many European governments talking in one breath about concepts such as emergencies and resilience. 

And there are many other reasons why digital radio is becoming both popular and necessary.

NBC, a broadcaster you might not be familiar with (Papua New Guinea’s National Broadcasting Corporation), is aiming to reintroduce shortwave radio (with DRM capability) to achieve the government’s goal of 100% broadcast coverage by 2030. 

One of its top engineering managers, Seloka Lewangu, explained this very simply: “FM is line of sight. If you see the tower, you receive the signal. If you don’t see the tower, you don’t receive the signal,” he said.

Lewangu continued: “Medium wave has a wider coverage compared to FM. Coverage for FM is more for cities and towns. Now, when you talk about medium wave, you talk regional. When you talk shortwave, you talk countrywide. That’s why we are talking.”

NBC trusts digital (DRM) shortwave as this will reduce costly hardware repairs, making maintenance and upgrades easier while ensuring improved emergency communication and public awareness. 

DRM medium wave and shortwave are seen as crucial by other governments, too. This is the reason for the big interest in DRM in China, the second largest military spender in the world. An electric vehicle with DRM reception in medium wave was used to demonstrate the DRM emergency warning functionality during the big China Content Broadcasting Network Exhibition (CCBN) in Beijing this April.

Emergency warnings have mainly been associated with natural disasters. Today, critical situations are more diverse and lethal. Even attacks have often come to mean cyber-attacks. The recent catastrophic electricity failures in Western Europe and in London the other week, during the Cannes festival, demonstrate that radio and digital radio are the last lines of resistance and important players in the security preparedness of any country. 

The much-lamented and waning HF and AM, in their new, more versatile and cheaper DRM clothes, can reach areas and people no other modern OTT platform can. They can cover large areas or reach areas of distress from far away, from where it is still safe.

They can also provide services which cannot be disrupted by pandemics, tsunamis or cyber-attacks. A recent DRM trial demonstrating how pupils in Western Africa can study using the latest information sent via digital shortwave to their tablets, when no internet or even electricity is available, or even when the rainy season stops them from going to school, is a perfect example. 

Resilience in trying times is starting to define radio like never before. Instead of cutting radio transmissions and digital investments to bolster up defense, modern radio should be seen less as “soft power” and more as part of the strong and resilient power of democracy.