Our version 2 release last week generated great hometown buzz in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press – Twin Cities developer creates ‘shortwave radio’ app for world news (and on their Facebook page).
It was then picked up by SWLing (twice), an extremely popular blog in the shortwave listening community, followed by the Google TV community. Apparently some versions of Google TV have a path to running this app and it works! Then SWLing added it to their list of the best shortwave radio apps.
Below is my shortwave inspiration story that I posted to SWLing.
(Not me – Steven Clift, 1 Radio News founder that is.)
Comment made to SWLing:
In the days before the Internet, I can remember taking my shortwave radio up to my Grandparents in far northern Minnesota. I’d have the time to be “closer to the world” by listening global broadcasters like the BBC World Service and be intrigued by Cold War broadcasts from the Soviet Union and Cuba giving a decidedly different view.
As my Uncle gave me my first shortwave radio, what might one give to a teen today to easily expose them to the world of truly global news? Now there is an app for that: https://1radionews.com 
In 1993, when I first went online, my novice thought was this might be like “reception clear shortwave.” Going to the world.
I had forgotten that early thought until a few days ago when I added 30+ live English news streams from broadcasters around the world into the pro version of my 1RadioNews.com Android radio app.
I started channel surfing … what’s on here, fun, OK how about this station. What are Radio Sputnik and Radio China International up to … oh and Wisconsin Public Radio has some great original programming. So now I can go even deeper in my explorations of the voices around the world. I could discover radio, discover the world again through the power of sound and the human voice right on my mobile – quickly and easily.
FYI – “Pro” version has 3 times more – curated and well tested – streams, but the free ad-supported version has some classics like the BBC World Service. I tried to make the app “thumbable” meaning you can just hold the phone and swipe and press a button to play. Super simple and a lot quicker than apps with literally ten of thousands of stations. Saving ten seconds to switch the station matters!
In the days before the Internet, I can remember taking my shortwave radio up to my Grandparents in far northern Minnesota. I’d have the time to be “closer to the world” by listening global broadcasters like the BBC World Service and be intrigued by Cold War broadcasts from the Soviet Union and Cuba giving a decidedly different view.
As my Uncle gave me my first shortwave radio, what might one give to a teen today to easily expose them to the world of truly global news? Now there is an app for that: https://1radionews.com
In 1993, when I first went online, my novice thought was this might be like “reception clear shortwave.” Going to the world.
I had forgotten that early thought until a few days ago when I added 30+ live English news streams from broadcasters around the world into the pro version of my 1RadioNews.com Android radio app.
I started channel surfing … what’s on here, fun, OK how about this station. What are Radio Sputnik and Radio China International up to … oh and Wisconsin Public Radio has some great original programming. So now I can go even deeper in my explorations of the voices around the world. I could discover radio, discover the world again through the power of sound and the human voice right on my mobile – quickly and easily.
FYI – “Pro” version has 3 times more – curated and well tested – streams, but the free ad-supported version has some classics like the BBC World Service. I tried to make the app “thumbable” meaning you can just hold the phone and swipe and press a button to play. Super simple and a lot quicker than apps with literally ten of thousands of stations. Saving ten seconds to switch the station matters!