Radio Listening in South Korea
By Christos Rigas
(This article first appeared in the March/April 1985 issue of DX Chicago)
Two weeks before Christmas of 1984, I was unexpectedly told by my boss at work that I had two days to get ready to leave for South Korea in order to work on one of my company’s projects. I was expected to stay in the coastal city of Pusan for a week, but further developments delayed my departure by three days. As usual my ICF 2002 came along with me in order to do some radio listening.
After short stops in Los Angeles, CA and Anchorage, AK, I have finally arrived in Seoul on December 16 at midnight local time. After checking into a hotel, I turned on the little Sony to listen to some radio. It was 1610 UTC, and I started tuning around the AM band. One of the first stations heard was the American Forces Korean Network (AFKN) on 549 kHz with US pop music. This was via their Seoul transmitter. Further tuning produced another AFKN outlet. This one was on 576 kHz and originated from Munsan (per WRTH). Other stations from South Korea were heard. First of all, the biggest South Korean broadcaster, the KBS, occupied many frequencies. Also heard were the CBS outlet on 837 khz, MBS outlet on 900 kHz, and FEBC on 1188 kHz. Also heard was the Asia Broadacsting Company on 1566 kHz with Russian religious programs. North Korean AM stations were not heard in Seoul, mainly because all the KCBS outlets (657, 684, 855, 720 and 1053 kHz) were heavily jammed. Surprisingly though, the shortwave outlets of KCBS were not noticed to be jammed. Further observations in Pusan, showed only slight jamming present on the medium wave frequencies. Other foreign stations heard on the AM band during my stay in Seoul were Blagoveschensk on 191 kHz and Vladivostok on 245 kHz, with USSR domestic services. Two other USSR outlets were heard. Both of them were external services of Radio Moscow in Chinese via Vladivostok on 1251 kHz and 1476 kHz. Also heard were several NHK outlets from Japan. The best catch however was Saudi Arabia on 1440 kHz with Arabic vocal music and talk.
DXing in Pusan, because of more available time, produced much more variety from several different countries. As in Seoul, all the South Korean networks were heard easily, since all of them have transmitters located in this industrial city with a population around 3 million. Also, North Korean outlets provided much better reception than in Seoul, since jamming was not as bad. Because Japan is not too far from Pusan, Japanese stations dominated most frequencies, which were not occupied by South Korean stations. From Japan, the Far East network, which is heard in Chicago on shortwave, was heard on 648 kHz, mixing with Radio Moscow’s Chinese broadcast. In Pusan, the AFKN network was received on 783 kHz and 1197 kHz. Broadcasts from the Soviet Union were received from two different transmitter sites. Khabarovsk was heard on 155 kHz and 576 kHz, while Vladivostok was heard on 549 kHz, 648 kHz, 810 kHz, and 1476 kHz. In Pusan, I also heard my only station from the People’s Republic of China on the frequency of 1044 kHz with Radio Beijing’s external programming. Two more countries were heard on medium wave. They were Taiwan on 1521 kHz, and the Voice of America outlet with English language programming originating from Thailand on 1575 kHz.
In the hotel that I was staying, shortwave reception was poor with only the whip antenna of the ICF 2002. Major international broadcasters with relay transmitters in that part of the world were receiver fairly easily. Voice of America provided good reception via the Philippines relays. BBC via Singapore, and Radio Moscow via the Far East transmitters also provided fair signals. North Korean as well as Chinese stations provided reliable signals on the 120, 90 and 75 meter bands. Also heard on shortwave were several USSR stations as the domestic shortwave services from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Finally, WYFR was heard in Russian language on 15025 kHz via the Taiwan transmitters.
People traveling to South Korea from the United States can keep informed about developments thanks to the AFKN, which broadcasts on AM, FM and television. The radio broadcasts feature news on the hour and all kinds of music at other times. They are on the air 24 hours a day. AFKN also operates a televisions service. This features programs from the three major US networks, but with some delay. You can wake up to NBC’s Today program every morning and most major sporting events in the US are also televised. The most popular US prime time television shows are also shown on the delayed basis.
All in all my stay in South Korea was very enjoyable, and I wish that I could have stayed a little bit longer. Maybe next time.