Passport to World Band Radio, 1988 Edition

"World band" is a new term for shortwave and this compact, inexpensive handbook offers an excellent introduction to the subject. In addition to consumer advice on purchasing a radio, and a complete listing of world band broadcasting, Passport provides unusual insights into the state of international politics. Total international broadcasting on world band frequencies comes to 156,170 hours a week, meaning that on average 930 programs can be heard at any given moment. Three states — the USSR, followed by the United States and China - produce over a third of this total. (Sixteen stations broadcast from the United States.) Jamming takes place 11.640 hours per week (or 7.5 percent of the time). Predictably, the United States is the main victim of this practice, being jammed 7,185 hours (or 39 percent of the time). But it is followed by a not entirely expected list of muffled states: the Republic of China, Israel, Great Britain, West Germany, Iran and Syria.