[HCDX] The Mighty KBC serves long-haul truckers over shortwave radio

[Zacharias LIangas <zliagas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2013/02/22/the-mighty-kbc-serves-long-haul-truckers-over-shortwave-radio/

The Mighty KBC serves long-haul truckers over shortwave radio
Posted on February 22, 2013 by Paul Riismandel	

The Mighty KBC logoIf you?ve ever found yourself scanning the AM dial during a
late night road trip on the highways of North America, then you?ve probably
encountered one of the radio networks that serves truckers with country music,
call-in shows, and information tailored to long-haul professional drivers. They
rely on the long-distance capacity of AM to serve road dogs for hundreds of miles
without changing stations.

Of course, shortwave radio broadcasts can outrun AM, covering thousands of miles.
But it never occurred to me that there would be a shortwave station serving truckers.

Thanks to the Shortwave Listening Post I learned about The Mighty KBC which is a
European shortwave station that blasts out rock n? roll oldies and classic rock
to truckers across the continent. Historically, shortwave has been more popular
in Europe than North America, and there are still car and truck radios with
shortwave reception available. So it makes perfect sense that an enterprising
broadcaster would choose this band to serve an audience traveling across
countries and across the continent.

In the US many truckers have migrated to satellite radio, since it offers
nationwide coverage in addition to its own trucker channel. But there has yet to
be a successful satellite radio service in Europe.

Featuring an international lineup of DJs from the UK, US and Holland, KBC is also
quite proud of its rebroadcasts of border-blaster legend Wolfman Jack. The
station also carries Trucker Radio (formerly the Driver Show), a syndicated
Canadian program targeted to professional drivers, built on a foundation of
country music.

KBC is the brainchild of former pirate broadcaster Eric van Willegen, who says he
used to broadcast from Dutch high-rise apartments and ships at sea until he grew
tired of being raided by the authorities. Van Willegen is also president of
Holland-based KBC Import-Export, which sells consumer electronics, specializing
in citizen band, police band, marine and shortwave radios.

The current incarnation of the Mighty KBC went on the air from a transmitter in
Vilnius, Lithuania in 2009, broadcasting in English at 6095 KHz. Recently the
station has been running test broadcasts aimed at North America on 9450 KHz,
which they claim originates from an old Soviet transmitter based in Bulgaria. The
SWL Post recorded a 2-hour aircheck of last weekend?s transmission and uploaded
it to the Internet Archive.
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