WRN in Russian on 9820 kHz: three hours of Europe's Russian services from the Gulf

What you hear

Three hours of Russian, from several voices. WRN does not make programmes; it assembles them. In the 17:00–20:00 UTC block on 9820 kHz the Russian services of a handful of European broadcasters follow one another, each with its own jingle and style: the Russian programme of Radio Exterior de España, Radio Prague International, the external service of Polish Radio and others, roughly half an hour each. Between them a short WRN identification in Russian ties the block together. The content is news and features from each country, made for Russian-speaking listeners by the broadcasters' own Russian sections, so the tone changes every half hour, from the Czech to the Spanish to the Polish way of doing things.

Who transmits and why

World Radio Network began in London in the early 1990s as a way for international broadcasters to pool their reach: one satellite channel or relay carrying many stations' programmes in a single language saves each of them from running its own transmitters. The Russian stream is distributed by satellite, on the web and, for a few hours a day, on shortwave leased from transmission companies.

This shortwave outlet runs from Dhabbaya in the United Arab Emirates, a large relay site in Abu Dhabi that works for many broadcasters and whose 250 kW transmitters are well placed for Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. That is why the catalogue shows a UAE flag for a block of Czech, Spanish and Polish programmes. A second, shorter outlet exists in the morning: 07:00–07:30 UTC on 15770 kHz from WRMI in Florida, which has its own entry.

When and where to listen

9820 kHz is in the 31 metre band, and 17:00–20:00 UTC is the transition from day to night on the path from the Gulf to Russia. The signal is aimed north: receivers in Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Kazakhstan hear it well through the whole block. From Europe it is audible too, weaker in the west and better in the east and south-east; a receiver in Turkey, Greece or Bulgaria is a good first choice, and receivers in the Gulf itself, when available, give a local-strength signal. In midsummer the band can be too open and noisy in the first hour, and in midwinter the last hour fades early; the middle hour, 18:00–19:00 UTC, is usually the most reliable.

The 31 metre band is crowded at this hour. If a neighbouring broadcaster leans on 9820 kHz, a narrower filter or the sideband away from it will separate the two.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Shortwave broadcast → WRN in Russian 9820. The program finds a public receiver that covers 9820 kHz, tunes it and sets AM; no receiver, antenna or account is needed on your side. Radio Exterior de España, whose Russian programme is part of the block, also broadcasts directly from Spain on 15520 kHz, with its own entry.