Jim Haynes Shortwave Radio Recordings on MiniDisc (2001-2012) Vital Weekly by Frans de Waard February 2021 Jim Haynes, who got his first short wave radio in 1998 or 1999 and whenever he was travelling he brought along his shortwave radio and mini disc to capture the local waves. Now, the short wave frequency was relatively free of interference, as opposed to these days, with everybody carrying cell phones (I am copying some text here, I have no idea if that is true) and also the mini disc is now a museum piece. There are twenty-five pieces of found sound, and it comes with a bit of documentation so you have some indication where all of this was recorded. There is a great website from the University of Twente, which allows you to scan AM/FM/SW/ and such waves, and you can dial into all sorts of strange conversations in any language, and obviously, you don't understand all of them, but that is the fascinating aspect. Haynes picked up a few interesting bits, such as a conspiracy on water fluorination, but sometimes there is no text and just scratches, hiss, static and rumble. There is even a bit of number station in there, from Andrews Air Force Base. Number stations were a big thing in the age of the Cold War when radio waves were used to spout random lines and numbers as instructions to agents. Listening to this tape is for me listening to the sort of radio I like; dialling around, picking up random stuff and listen to it for a while, a bit of exotic music, a bit of conversation and a bit of noise. I can do this for some time. Listening to the selections from Haynes is equally fine, or perhaps even better with all the suggested narrative, rather than a real narrative. This is what radio should be for me.