This week...in your letters

“Hello my friends In Bucharest. Can you believe that spring is almost upon us? We are really moving the start of this year do you not think? It got your transmission up over here at 18:00 hours on 5.935 Khz that always does seem to come in well of an evening. So very sad to hear over the Radio here In the UK and later during the course of your newsreel report regarding the running down of Romanian car wash workers in south London that was not nice to be informed of. But on a high side of things good to hear that Romania and Hungary are making communication as I am aware of the turbulent past that both of you in the past have been through. The history show did provide a great deal of history yet again on a different topic with regards to some of the torture prisoners encountered with horrific beatings carried out by wardens In such an inhumane way during the old regime. Loving your music on your music especially one particular piece of music called the most beautiful (Frumuos) girl in the world. Hoping weather has improved and I think it has and you can now be looking forward to spring that is just around the corner. Sending you all my very best In the English section and wishing you well. Keep up the good and hard work!”

James Obrien, United Kingdom

“News mentioned upcoming elections in Germany, France. EU Parliament passes resolution on requiring VISAs for US citizens. I hope this does not get anywhere. Most US citizens are not aware of the VISA issues for the EU countries. The Romanian Government is increasing defense spending to 2%. The Future Starts Today had a great segment on NASA’s discovering the new set of planets. 3 have potential to support life. New telescopes could be built. I find space exploration fascinating. Always have since a kid. My parents took us to see Skylab blast off. I can often see rockets soaring through the sky after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center from my house in Fort Pierce. A nice song I Believe was called “Time” was played, female singer pop song. Roots followed by Sports and the Romanian rugby team playing Russia on Saturday. The traditional music was beautiful. A musician who participated in many national and international contests and left for the US and went back to Romania after playing in major US cities. Living in Romania with James Donahue where Romania is his second home, he bought a wooden spoon and fork as souvenirs. Through the Looking Glass had an interesting discussion on a Romanian film maker who passed away at 79 years”.

Richard Nowak, United States

“Mr. Donahue seemed to be extremely pleased with living in your country. I suppose that Romania can be very nice provided that you are well off. I have some Romanian friends who seem to be travelling to Turkey, Greece and Italy all the time enjoying their retirement. Others apparently are less lucky. This year I missed your World Radio Day show. However, I was very much involved in the project organized by the Swedish DX Federation. We had produced a one-hour show that went out three times on shortwave from stations in Germany and Norway and a half-hour version on Radio Northern Star, a web radio based in Norway. I produced and presented three reports including one devoted to the invention of radio. We are now planning special broadcasts at Easter and once again I intend to produce some of the segments”.

Christer Brunstrom, Sweden

“Spring greetings from Denmark – even that it is not too warm at the moment, but the spring flowers show their colors to tell, that warmer days are coming. I must say political temperatures has been going high in Romania. I so hope, that better days are on their way to “the man in the street”. I do not understand your protests against the plan for 2-tempi EU-development, but it is not an easy case.  Best and warmest wishes”.

Hans-Verner Lollike, Denmark

“It has been an interesting month, what with World Radio Day and the recent protests against the Romanian's government's unpopular criminal code policy. As many other RRI listeners had commented, these demonstrations had received a lot of coverage on UK TV news over many days, and it was great to see people standing up against something that they didn't like, and interesting to hear what many individual protesters had to say during TV interviews. It couldn't have been much fun standing out there for so long at this time of year, especially with recent temperatures, so well done to them, it's always a good idea to keep the politicians in their place, as they love to walk over us if we let them. One thing that no one else seemed to have commented on which I thought was well worth a mention, was RRI's coverage of the demonstrations, which was very impartial, and no one could ever accuse your station of being a government mouthpiece. It was great to see the editorial freedom that you had, and to hear balanced comments on what was going on there, so well done to all at RRI staff for standing up for the truth rather than the politicians. Best regards to all at RRI till next month, it will be nice when Spring finally arrives again as I've had quite enough of the winter cold, and I'm just glad that we never get temperatures as low as some of the ones that you have experienced during the winter”.

Alan Gale, United Kingdom

“I like to listen to your one hour broadcast on Sundays. The mix of news, features and music is very enjoyable and informative. I always enjoy the jazz music and the listeners’ letters. It is great to know that there are still many people all over the world listening to shortwave using radios old and new. The staff and presenters at RRI do a wonderful job and your efforts are enjoyed by many people. Thank you all very much”.

Ian Evans, United Kingdom