Radio Tahiti: circa 1981
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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tony King, who shares the following recording and notes:
TAHITI: Opening announcement in English 6035 khz 1981
Radio Tahiti (music): unknown date
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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Mark Pettifor, who writes:
One of the great things about DXing and SWLing is the variety of music one can hear. One of my favorite stations to listen to on shortwave for “exotic music” was Radio Tahiti, Papeete, French Polynesia, when they were still on shortwave.
If my memory serves me correctly, I believe something happened to the transmitter, and they never got back on SW. They were on mediumwave through December of 2016 (738 kHz); now they are on FM only. (Maybe us hobbyists should start a funding website to put them back on shortwave!)
Many a Saturday night I would turn on the DX-160 (my first SW rig) and let it warm up for a while, before tuning in 15170 to see how band conditions were. If the band was good, I’d get ready to record through the air. Once I started recording, I’d often leave the room and shut the door, because having three brothers around meant the possibilities were high for having “extraneous interference” on my recordings.
Saturday evenings were a good time to tune in, because of a music program that aired with a good selection of island music. The program had an announcer who spoke in the island vernacular (Tahitian?), and when that program ended they switched to French.
Here is a 30-min recording of Radio Tahiti on 15170 kHz from a while ago, most likely around one of the solar maxima of either 1980 or 1991. I’m leaning toward the 1980 cycle. My apologies for not being able to be more specific than that. I kept terrible records of my recordings. This would be recorded either with the DX-160 or a DX-302. Apologies too for the jump in volume at around the 2:37 mark.
So close your eyes, imagine you are lying in a hammock on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific, with a warm breeze off the ocean and your favorite cooled beverage nearby, listening to some of the best island music anywhere.
Radio Tahiti: February 7, 1982
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Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Tom Laskowski, who submits the following recording and notes:
Date of recording: 2/7/1982
Starting time: 0616 UTC
Frequency: 11.825
Location: South Bend, IN
Notes:
This was one of the first DX stations I logged when I got started in SWLing - DXing. Radio Tahiti was a nice music station to listen to on cold winer nights here in the northern hemisphere. Sadly this is no longer on the air, but I was happy toke this recording. I used a DX-302 with outside wire antenna. Recorded Feb. 7, 1982 on a frequency of 11.825 kHz possibly 15.170 kHz.
Radio Tahiti, English
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Many thanks to Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Dan Robinson, who submits this short recording of Radio Tahiti's English language service--a very rare recording.
Dan comments:
"Radio Tahiti was one of the most popular stations on shortwave for many years, audible on several shortwave frequencies. Many SWLs and DX'ers recall the pleasure of listening to hours of broadcasts, which because of the antenna orientation of the station, could be heard at strong levels, at almost all times of the day, including the middle of the afternoon on the East coast of North America. Primary frequencies were 15.170 and 11.825, though others were used. What many people might not recall, or perhaps never heard, was the only English language portion broadcast by Radio Tahiti, called "English by Radio". This recording, made early in my SWL career, was made with the first radio I ever used, a 1940's Pilot T-133, with a classic slide-rule type dial. This may indeed be the only recording in existence of this rare English from Radio Tahiti. Also included -- a recording of Radio Tahiti at sign off, and a longer raw recording of the station in Tahitian and French."
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