On [The Divided Dial]: Fishing In The Night

Have you heard On the Media’s Peabody-winning series The Divided Dial? 

It’s awesome and you should, and now you will. In this episode they tell the story of shortwave radio: the way-less-listened to but way-farther-reaching cousin of AM and FM radio. The medium was once heralded as a utopian, international, and instantaneous mass communication tool — a sort of internet-before-the-internet. 

But, like the internet, many people quickly saw the power of this new technology and found ways to harness it. State leaders turned it into a propaganda machine, weaponizing the airwaves to try and shape politics around the world. And as shortwave continued to evolve, like the internet, it became fragmented, easily accessible, and right-wing extremists, conspiracy theorists and cult leaders found homes on the different shortwave frequencies. 

And even today - again, like the internet - people with money are looking to buy up this mass-communication tool in the hopes of … making more money. 

This is episode one from the second season of The Divided Dial a limited series from On The Media.

 

• Listen on Spotify (https://zpr.io/hKCcFEGTLb5a)
• Listen on Apple Podcasts (https://zpr.io/tQ86YmEmiivR)
• Listen on the WNYC App (iTunes, Android)
• Listen to the full Divided Dial series (https://www.onthemedia.org/dial)
• Follow On The Media on Instagram @onthemedia

 The Divided Dial was supported in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. 

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [e-mail].

Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [e-mail].

Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.