The International Broadcasting Landscape

Many people still consider shortwave and AM radios to be museum pieces. That’s a misread. In 2025, funding cuts hit several US-backed international services and created gaps that state broadcasters rushed to fill, especially across China and its peripheries. The Washington Post and Reuters both reported how reductions affecting Radio Free Asia and other outlets coincided with a surge in state messaging and more jamming. That shift matters most where the web is slow, expensive, censored, or unreliable.

At the same time, public broadcasters still reach massive audiences. The UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee notes the BBC World Service has around 320 million weekly users across radio, satellite, and digital platforms, even under budget pressure. Deutsche Welle continues targeted radio services into Africa in multiple languages, including English, Hausa, Kiswahili and Portuguese, alongside FM relays, satellite and online. In the Pacific, RNZ reaffirmed its commitment to wide-area coverage with a new high-power shortwave facility serving island nations. These are not signals of decline. They show a mixed ecosystem where analogue and digital reinforce each other.

There’s also a complex reality to weigh in. Governments still switch off or throttle the Internet during elections, protests and exams. Cloudflare and the Internet Society documented shutdowns and large-scale power failures disrupting connectivity across multiple countries this year. Radio doesn’t depend on functioning app stores, mobile towers, or even mains power if you’ve got a crank, solar cell, or a handful of AA batteries.

What the evidence says about misperceptions

Let’s break it down. People often hold strong beliefs that don’t match reality. Ipsos’s long-running Perils of Perception work tracks how the public overestimates or underestimates key facts, including the size of immigrant populations in Europe and the cost of public services. The result is predictable: polarised debates and brittle trust. Broadcasting that reaches across borders and platforms helps counter this by offering a simple yet effective solution that still works anywhere, a clear signal carrying verified information.

Shortwave’s role here is practical, not nostalgic. A low-cost portable receiver can cover thousands of kilometres, hop borders, and bring in news, education, and cultural programming where broadband can’t. It also reaches people during disasters, when phones are flat and cell towers are down. Emergency radio buyers know this well; hand-crank and battery-powered units remain popular because they keep working when everything else is dark.

Shortwave is high-frequency (HF) radio that reflects off the ionosphere, allowing very long-distance coverage.
AM/Medium Wave travels far at night and blankets regions with modest power. Both are analogue, simple, and resilient.

Regional lenses

• Europe. Mixed models dominate. Audiences are split across broadcast radio (FM, AM, DAB), satellite TV, and streaming, but international services still hold their ground. The BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle maintain radio footprints in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. At the same time, national networks utilise AM/Medium Wave for nighttime reach and cross-border listening. When electricity failures or network outages hit, analogue radio carries on.
• North America. Streaming is the default in cities. Yet preparedness culture, outdoor communities, and faith broadcasters sustain healthy interest in over-the-air listening. AM remains valuable for after-dark reach across large geographies. Shortwave adds an international perspective and redundancy. Consumer demand for emergency receivers is steady because people have seen what happens when storms take the grid offline.
• Africa. Radio is still the workhorse. Where coverage is patchy or data is costly, a small radio set is affordable and shared. International broadcasters feed news, language learning, health advice, and public-interest content via shortwave and smaller AM & FM relays, while satellite and streaming complement urban centres. The point isn’t either/or. It’s reach first, then convenience.
• Asia and the Pacific. Information environments vary widely. Some states fund powerful external services and jam rivals. Others rely on international outlets for independent reporting. Across the Pacific, island nations depend on wide-area radio to cross ocean gaps and alert communities to cyclones, tsunamis, and volcanic activity. RNZ’s investment in high-power shortwave is a reminder that analogue broadcast remains a literal lifeline.

Practical takeaways in International Broadcasting

• Design for redundancy: Plan content to run on shortwave, AM/Medium Wave, satellite and streaming. If one path fails, others carry the load.
• Keep an analogue in the kit:  Maintain a baseline of analogue shortwave and AM/Medium Wave capacity to serve regions with low connectivity and to ride through outages and throttling.
• Mind the language mix:  Serve audiences in the languages they use at home. That’s how you build trust and a daily habit.
• Think “coverage first, data later”: In many markets, a radio is cheaper than a month or day of mobile data. Meet people where they are, then extend with podcasts and streams.
• Measure the right things: Do not chase only clicks. Track coverage hours, field reports, message penetration during emergencies, and community response. Publish program and frequency schedules regularly across social media and listeners’ mailing lists.
• Prepare for shutdowns: Maintain pre-positioned schedules, precise frequencies, and on-air fallback scripts for when the web goes down.

The NEXUS-IBA angle: how the pieces fit

NEXUS-IBA has worked for decades at the intersection of analogue broadcast and digital distribution. If you need reliable reach across borders, start with our shortwave (world radio) network and AM (Medium Wave) for strong European coverage after dark. Integrate streaming for on-demand listening and live simulcast, and utilise satellite services to Africa and Asia, to feed your network of churches, FM and AM stations and fill in areas where dishes are familiar and mobile data is scarce.

Independent producers can get on air quickly through IPAR (International Public Access Radio). Faith organisations can reach multi-continent audiences with European Gospel Radio.

Misconceptions are not limited to politics or public policy; they also affect how faith and values are understood across cultures. European Gospel Radio (EGR) plays a role here by giving different Christian denominations a platform to speak to the world. By broadcasting programmes from diverse traditions, EGR helps listeners compare perspectives, think critically, and make informed choices about their own beliefs. This diversity of voices strengthens free expression and counters the idea that only one narrative can be heard, making international broadcasting a safeguard not just for news, but for spiritual dialogue too.

Behind it all, our WorldDirector CDN technology moves your audio and assets quickly and reliably. If you want a single conversation and a global platform to scope coverage and budget, start here: request a quote.

For stories and ideas in long form, dip into our podcast, Beyond Global Waves.

Case note: when a simple radio makes the difference

Consider two moments that speak for themselves. Internet firewalls and disruptions across the world leave many without news or messaging for hours at a time. Where people had analogue radios, they stayed informed. Shortwave doesn’t wait for towers to reboot or totalitarian regimes to unblock the Internet. It rides the sky and keeps going.

Second, look at the Pacific. Island communities spread across thousands of kilometres rely on wide-coverage broadcasting for cyclone alerts and public service updates. RNZ’s strengthened shortwave service continues to deliver across 19 countries, including to boats, outer islands, and places where a smartphone is a luxury and stable data is a dream.

What to watch next

• Budget pressure on international media: Funding cuts reduce pluralism and leave space for state messaging to dominate. Watch how services are reshaped and which languages lose out.
• Internet shutdown tactics: Expect targeted throttling, DNS tampering, and regional cut-offs around sensitive dates. Plan analogue alternatives well in advance.
• Receiver availability: Keep an eye on the market for affordable, durable shortwave and AM radios, especially crank/solar models. They are the last mile when the grid fails.
• Audience trust: Use plain language and consistent schedules. Link broadcast and digital so listeners can move between platforms as conditions allow.

International Broadcasting: so what?

What this really means is simple. To reach people everywhere, not just where the Internet and 5G are strong and stable, consider building on analogue shortwave and AM (Medium Waves). Then, add satellites to connect AM & FM ground stations in Africa and Asia, and enable streaming. Radios are cheap, mobile and widely available. They are shared across families and villages beyond the digital divide. They keep working when the lights go out, the apps won’t load, or a regional conflict cuts the fibre cables and cell towers.

In war zones like Ukraine and Palestine, or in parts of Africa where local fighting disrupts communications, a trusted shortwave radio signal can still break through.

If you are a broadcaster or program producer, keep your message honest, your schedule steady, and the platforms diverse. That is how NEXUS-IBA helps you serve Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia/Pacific with one reliable, human voice that reaches people even in the hardest places.