What became known as The Swiss Shortwave Merry-Go Round was started by Bob Thomann in 1957 (listen to “The Two Bobs” or “Bob Thomann Turns 80” for more).

The heyday of the vintage MGR was the 1960’s, when Bob Thomann scripted and presented the program along with two assistants, Pamela and Heidi. This format lasted until it became a two-voice presentation in 1969, with David Simmons and Bob Thomann, and from spring 1970 with Bob Zanotti. The show remained in that form until the end on June 4^th, 1994.

We offer here the last known surviving off-the-air recordings of the classic 1960’s MGR. In addition, there are two interviews done by Bob Thomann for special editions. One is with Herbert Hoover Jr., son of the former US president, and a former US Secretary of State. Mr. Hoover was speaking in his capacity as a radio ham and president of the then-newly created Region 2 section of the International Amateur Radio Union, IARU.

The second interview is with Swiss ham, Walter Baumgarten (HB9SI), who was speaking over ham radio from the Gaza Strip in his capacity as chief of mission there of the International Telecommunication Union, ITU.