MONITORING BECOMES BIG BUSINESS  

In western Canada the monitoring of the current vast flow of information reached the public consciousness when former B.C. Attorney General Bud Smith spoke unguardedly about a tryst with a lady friend (who also happened to be a TV reporter) and made uncomplimentary remarks over his cellular phone about a political opponent. The TV reporter left her job rather hurriedly, the Attorney General was obliged to resign, and nobody got around to laying charges against the alert radio reporter who probably found such open-to-the-airwaves communications a great source of news leads. After all, who wanted to get him mad at them? He had too much information. If you think that is a lot of information consider this, one of the largest pools of unreleased information in the world. For the last several decades of the Cold War, Soviet submarines and surface vessels have been lying off both the east and west coasts of North America monitoring everything in any line of communications they could pick up. That covered a lot.

Probably the largest inventory of private conversations in the world are laying around in the bowels of a secret warehouse somewhere in the remains of the now-disintergrated Soviet Union. Just think of it. What is there, properly exposed, could change governments. Why? Because the Soviets monitored not only military activity, although that initially was their prime objective, but also things political and economic. They were monitoring ordinary phone conversations, not merely those transmitted over cellular radio waves! Can you imagine what happens when Ted Turner of CNN gets hold of that inventory!

Which brings us around to the publication MONITORING TIMES, the U.S. magazine that monitors the world for the best equipment for use by those who monitor. Founded by Bob Grove of Brasstown, N.C.

Many criticize Americans for not being globally-oriented or for the fact that some of their high school students cannot find Japan on a map. This is unlikely to occur in a family that monitors world radio. They are among the best informed people anywhere and there are more of them in America than in any other country. Monitoring Times helps keep them that way.

Among the first ad I noticed was one for the World Radio TV Handbook '92. A column I wrote on that publication two years ago is still drawing interest. With radio and all types of monitoring equipment improving daily, the old sputters, squeaks and hisses of short wave radio are much rarer with today's equipment than in the past. Automatic everything seems to be the rule including the Marcor radio designed for use in Africa that contains a built-in two-inch satellite dish! Within two years a new CD satellite radio network will be operating in North America with 120 narrow-casted 24-hour-a-day channels. There will be channels for bird watchers, chess players and other interests. That satellite dish will be the size of a business card! You can carry it in your hatband.

More information: Rachel Baughn, Editor, Monitoring Times, Box 98, 140 Dog Branch Road, Brasstown, North Carolina 28902. Phone: 704/837-9200. Fax: 704/837-2216.

* * *

< previous | chapter index | next >
back to Main Chapter Listing
back to Home Page