Voice of Nigeria on 7255 kHz: English and Hausa from Abuja

What you hear

The Voice of Nigeria sounds like the country it speaks for: loud, confident and busy. In the English hours there are news bulletins with a West African focus, current-affairs discussions, business and sports news, features about Nigerian culture and a lot of music, from highlife and juju to Afrobeats. The Hausa programmes serve the vast Hausa-speaking population of northern Nigeria and the neighbouring Sahel countries and have the same mix of news, talk and music, with a different musical palette. The identification is "This is the Voice of Nigeria" with a signature tune, and the station's slogan material tends to be in the old external-service style, formal and proud.

The sound of the transmitter varies. On good days the audio is clean and full; on others there is hum or distortion, and the station has gone through stretches of being off the air or on at odd hours. Treat an empty 7255 kHz as a bad day rather than a changed frequency, and try again at the next scheduled block.

Who transmits and why

The Voice of Nigeria is the federal external broadcaster, the Nigerian answer to the BBC World Service and the Voice of America, with roots in the external service of the 1960s. Its transmitters have been near Lagos at Ikorodu and, more recently, at Abuja, the capital, which is where the catalogue places this entry. Beyond English and Hausa the station has broadcast in French, Arabic, Swahili, Fulfulde and other languages. The purpose is the usual one for an external service and a little more: Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and wants a voice across the continent, and the Hausa service in particular reaches an audience in Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Ghana that no domestic station covers.

7255 kHz is the frequency for the morning and evening blocks. The station has also used the 31, 25 and 19 metre bands by day.

When and where to listen

7255 kHz lies in the 41 metre band, which from Nigeria reaches Europe well after dark and at dawn. The evening block, in the European evening, is the easier of the two from Europe: the signal from Abuja comes up as the band opens and holds through the broadcast. The morning block falls around the European sunrise, when the band is still open for a while before the sun kills the path. Receivers in southern Europe, especially Spain, Italy and Greece, hear it strongest; central Europe is fine on most evenings. From North America the station is a late-evening catch on a long path over the Atlantic.

The catalogue mode is AM. The band is shared with amateur stations and other broadcasters, so upper or lower sideband with a narrow filter helps when a neighbour is close.

In ShackDeck

The entry sits under Station catalogue → Shortwave broadcast → Voice of Nigeria. ShackDeck picks a public receiver whose range covers 7255 kHz, tunes it and sets AM from the catalogue; no receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed. If the receiver chosen is in northern Europe and the signal is thin, ask for one further south.