Friday, July 15, 2011

Don't forget the Radio

It was a small $10 radio that saved our WYD 2000 experience.  Our group was miles, literally, from the altar at the final Mass of WYD 2000 in Rome.  We walked for 30 minutes towards the main stage and we weren't even close to the stage.  We had no direct view of any large screens and JPII was a small white dot on the horizon.  We only knew that the Pope had arrived when the crowd cheered "JPII, we love you".

It was a small $10 radio that helped us to pick up the sound system at the main WYD events.  We were able to participate in all the events and hear the Pope's address.  The other advantage of the radio was that we could receive the english translation of the main events which were in Italian. 

In 2011 the humble radio has almost become an antique with iPhones and iPods ruling the music world. Yet this simple technology, old school, could make all the difference to hearing or not hearing the main events.  So my advice is to head to your local electronic store and spend a small amount of money on a small AM/FM radio.  This will help you to participate in the main liturgies and events at WYD. 

If you are feeling really generous then perhaps you could splash out on a small pair of speakers so that you can share the sound with the people around you rather than having to all plug the ear phones in.  Perhaps you can team up with someone, they can buy/carry the radio and you can buy/carry the speakers.

5 comments:

  1. Check out the radios with a speaker built in:
    http://dicksmith.com.au/product/A4770/philips-portable-radio-ae2160

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  2. How does it pick up the signal did you tune into a radio station? I am confused? but what a great thing that it alllowed you to hear the mass!

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  3. The WYD events are broadcast in four different languages on four different radio frequencies.

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  4. Is it on the AM or FM band? My iPod Nano has an FM tuner built in…

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  5. Which is the right channel for madrid 2011.
    ?
    Sitting in opening mass now and there isn't a single channel in English !!

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