DEUTSCHE WELLE leaving shortwave?

[Ct Yankee]

I was scanning the bands this past weekend to see if DEUTSCHE WELLE was still broadcasting Bundesliga matches (Hausa service) but had no luck with their historic "B" season frequencies.  When I checked their website, the broadcast schematic showed only 2 weekly broadcasts (Wednesdays for 45 minutes) in Arabic.  The pair of transmissions had a note that it was only until Dec. 31, 2025.

DW Radio continues to exist but the noted schedule showed 95% of its content will be received via stream or satellite.  I am awaiting a reply to an email to confirm whether DW shortwave is in its final weeks, I could not find a formal announcement on line of eventual termination of shortwave service.

[Ct Yankee]

....and so they are:

"Dear Mr. Bonanno,

Thank you very much for your message and your interest in Deutsche Welle.
Yes, DW will be leaving shortwave transmissions on December 31, 2025.
Please allow us to offer the following explanation:

Shortwave radio no longer plays a significant role as a reception medium for our general international audience, and especially not for DW’s young and urban target group.

Broadcasting even a single language service via shortwave entails considerable costs for an international broadcaster, depending on various factors.
As a publicly funded broadcaster, DW is obligated to use the allocated resources economically and sustainably to fulfill its programming mandate.
It is therefore inevitable that, over time, the focus and resources must shift to new, modern distribution channels that are actually used by the majority of the audience or that show promising growth potential.

Even in regions where radio remains the most commonly used form of media consumption among our audience, it is predominantly FM radio that is being consumed.
For this reason, DW continues to expand its local partner networks in the relevant countries. Through these stations, our content continues to reach listeners in our target regions who have very limited access to the internet and television.
Additionally, DW is continuously expanding its efforts and partner networks to circumvent censorship in affected markets.

Of course, DW will continue to monitor the global situation and evaluate whether and where shortwave broadcasting should be resumed in exceptional cases.
We hope this explanation has helped clarify why DW will leave the shortwave transmission of its radio programs and hope that you stay tuned in to DW via our alternative distribution ways.

Kind regards,

Damian Gracht
Deutsche Welle
Customer Service/Kundenservice
Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 3
53113 Bonn
Germany "

[shadypyro]

Wow lots of stations leaving shortwave lately

[BoomboxDX]

It's a soft power mistake, but with funding being the way it is in many Western countries it's not surprising.

The concentration on FM is understandable, if they indeed have an FM audience in places like Africa. Depending on streaming isn't, really. Radio stations that start relying on streaming-only soon enough find their audience dwindling due to incredible competition for screen time from other audio and visual entertainment and information sources.

Anyone remember how streaming-only killed Radio Disney? even IHeart doesn't have the audio streaming audience that YT and Pandora have.

[n2avh]

I don't know that it's a mistake if they are reprogramming even a fraction of that money into other media.  The only languages that would seem to make sense for international SW broadcasters nowadays are Chinese and Korean, based on the continuing domestic service and clandestine use of SWBC...of course, those services might be wasting their money too.