Where Are You Dear General?
August 4, 2017 12:59 PM   Subscribe

An eerie electronic ballad plays across Pyongyang every morning. One outsider pieces together its history.
posted by JanetLand (9 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
In the 1980s, cable radios – known colloquially as the ‘Third Radio’ – have been a mainstay of most apartments and offices in the country.

According to Dr. Andrei Lankov, director of the Korea Risk Group which owns NK News and NK Pro, each set “consists of a loudspeaker with a single knob for volume control,” with only one channel.

The radios can be turned down but not switched off.

posted by theodolite at 1:11 PM on August 4, 2017


Twist: this isn't actually news from Pyongyang, it's viral marketing for the reboot of The Prisoner.
posted by Nelson at 1:21 PM on August 4, 2017 [4 favorites]


I'm curious about the handheld radio in the photograph from the article. It has an SD card in it, and also a USB port.
posted by Nelson at 1:23 PM on August 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


The style of it reminds me of a shortwave radio interval signal - an easily recognisable tune played in an electronic style to help listeners identify an often weak, distant station on a crowded dial.

Funny you should say that. Mark Fahey, the guy quoted at the very top of the article, is very active in the SWL community. Here are his recordings in the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive. He's also the author of Behind the Curtain:
Over successive trips into each province of the country, Behind the Curtain has smuggled monitoring and recording equipment to capture and analyse the propaganda and broadcast media used by the North Korean regime as a prime instrument of control over the population.
posted by mykescipark at 1:37 PM on August 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm curious about the handheld radio in the photograph from the article. It has an SD card in it, and also a USB port.

Just for playing electronic media. I have seen more than one boombox with those accouterments.
posted by Samizdata at 1:51 PM on August 4, 2017


While having a loose grip on the specificities - the writer appears to have believed that E major is a "note" - ...
posted by Wolfdog at 3:34 PM on August 4, 2017


He's also the author of Behind the Curtain:

I really do not understand what people get by limiting their products to the Apple platform. I'd love to see this but....

In regards to North Korea, I'm reading a book of short stories right now called The Accusation by an author named Bandi who is allegedly still in North Korea, link to a Guardian story about it here The stories are remarkable for the sense of entrapment they illustrate by what would otherwise (in other places) be mundane occurrences.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 4:40 PM on August 4, 2017


I really do not understand what people get by limiting their products to the Apple platform.

Looking at that the description of the (unreleased) ebook, they get the ability to include a variety of audio, video clips, and embedded panoramas.
posted by JiBB at 9:30 PM on August 4, 2017


Looking at that the description of the (unreleased) ebook, they get the ability to include a variety of audio, video clips, and embedded panoramas.

Sorry, the book has indeed been released, but his Web site apparently hasn't been updated to reflect this (rather important) fact...
posted by mykescipark at 10:15 AM on August 6, 2017


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