On October 26, 2003, the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) began a six-month series of special joint broadcasts produced by the organization’s member and associate member stations.  Station KNLS is a founding member of the organization.  This is the first time in the NASB’s history that it has produced joint broadcasts by its members. And equally important, this series of broadcasts is being transmitted in the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) mode, as well as in traditional analog form.

The broadcasts, titled "Voice of the NASB," are transmitted in the DRM mode each Sunday at 1330-1400 UTC on 9785 kHz, beamed primarily to Europe from the facilities of VT Merlin Communications in Rampisham, England. Each program is also broadcast on UTC Sunday at 0330-0400 on 7385 kHz, primarily to North America via WRMI in Miami, Florida. (That's 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday nights in North America.)  Station KNLS will be heard January 3 from Miami and January 4 in digital from Rampisham.

A special NASB QSL card is being issued for reception reports on these transmissions, both digital and analog. reports should be sent to the Voice of the NASB, P.O. Box 526852, Miami, Florida 33152 USA.

NASB, founded in 1990, has been a member of DRM since 1999 -- one year after the DRM Consortium was launched. DRM officially inaugurated regular digital shortwave broadcasts on June 16, 2003. Since then, some 49 stations in various countries have broadcast programs in DRM. NASB has helped promote DRM to its members and around the world, helping coordinate DRM demonstrations at trade shows, shortwave exhibitions and at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 in Geneva.

NASB stations operate shortwave transmitters throughout the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. NASB broadcasters cover every continent with more than 5000 program hours per week, according to a BBC study.

Jeff White, NASB President, commented: "We are very pleased to be a member of DRM, and very pleased to be in the forefront of digital shortwave broadcasting. While we believe that it is important to continue broadcasting in analog form -- especially to certain parts of the world -- it is impossible not to see the tremendous advantages that DRM offers shortwave broadcasters and listeners. DRM-capable receivers are already on the marketplace, and the number of models is rapidly increasing, while the prices are rapidly decreasing. And with dozens of organizations already broadcasting in DRM, listeners will have more and more variety of programming to tune into."

There are 25 privately-owned shortwave stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States and its territories. Nineteen of the 25 stations are members of NASB. Each week, a different station produces the Voice of the NASB program.  The series began with a special edition of the "Wavescan" DX program from Adventist World Radio on Oct. 26.  Some of the NASB’s associate members, such as the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, HCJB, TDP Radio and Merlin Communications itself will also be featured on the series of broadcasts. The tentative schedule through Feb. 22, 2004 is as follows:

October 26 - Adventist World Radio
November 2 - WMLK (Assemblies of Yahweh) - Bethel, PA
November 9 - WEWN (EWTN Worldwide Catholic Radio)
November 16 - WYFR Family Radio
November 23 - Far East Broadcasting Company
November 30 - WTJC/WBOH - Newport, North Carolina
December 7 - WSHB/Herald Broadcasting - Cypress Creek, South Carolina
December 14 - Word Broadcasting (WJIE/KVOH)
December 21 - WRMI Radio Miami International
December 28 - Trans World Radio
January 4 - KNLS (Anchor Point, Alaska)
January 11 - KAIJ (Dallas, Texas)
January 18 - WINB
January 25 - HCJB
February 1 - International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB)
February 8 - TDP Radio
February 15 - LeSea Broadcasting (WHRI, WHRA, KWHR)
February 22 - VT Merlin Communications


Listener reaction has already been quite positive.  From Bad Salzschlirf, Germany, Simone Stoeppler wrote:  "Here is my reception report on your first DRM transmission from relay station Rampisham/UK on 9785 kHz, from Adventist World Radio.  Strong and stable signal about S9+10 dB.  Receiver: modified FRG100.  Antenna: whip antenna on car.  (It was a quite interesting summary of digital broadcasting. The audio decoding was perfect, not a single dropout! It´s great that you start broadcasting in DRM to Europe.) Another listener near Frankfurt, Germany wrote:  "Nice that today's programme was dedicated to Germany. The last 5 minutes were in a strange kind of German. Quite interesting."

Michael Bethge of Bad Homburg, Germany said:  "I have been listening to the very interesting NASB programs in DRM modulation the last two weekends.  It's a great idea to broadcast this special weekly program and by this means presenting the members of NASB to a general public.  And the reception in DRM modulation is similar to FM quality."

As for the analog version of the programs broadcast here in North America, John Fisher in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts commented:  "It was very interesting to hear about the founding of WMLK." 

Fritz Layer in Terre Haute, Indiana wrote us:  I tuned into your first NASB broadcast (AWR) via WRMI.  There was real good reception of the analog broadcast here in western central Indiana."

And Wade Smith wrote from Chipman, New Brunswick, Canada:  "It was a great pleasure to hear this special broadcast from the NASB.  I look forward to hearing future broadcasts also."