Back in September 2021 I responded to a call for submissions for a project called Shortwave Transmissions curated by Cities and Memories.
The premise was to engage with a selection of shortwave radio recordings and select one to produce a new piece. The selection was vast and covered a range of geography, time and space.
Cities and Memories describe some of the highlights as:
– Recordings from the mysterious “numbers stations” around the world
– Coverage of world-changing events such as 9/11, the invasion of Kuwait, Kennedy’s assassination, the Tiananmen Square protests, the death of Fidel Castro and many more
– Rare international recordings from North Korea, St. Helena, Saudi Arabia, the Falkland Islands and Antarctica
– Recordings covering a huge period of time from 1934 through to the present day
– Space travel documented, including the Sputnik, Apollo and Challenger missions
– Recordings of famous voices such as Winston Churchill and King George V
– Station IDs, interval signals and final broadcasts from radio stations
I listened to all of the recordings and found a favourite in a broadcast from Iraq, namely the The broadcasting service of the Iraqi Republic I responded and began to piece together samples taken from the record to use in my own.
The selection available to buy/buy what you want on Bandcamp is superb and highlights the popularity of shortwave radio and its use in modern production.
Go to the Cities and Memories website to listen to the original recordings and read more about the project and their other field recording work.
Rusty Sheriff 