Brian: "It's also wise to be aware of the possible effects of broadcast ..."
I wasn't even sure how to frame shortwave radio. Is 'oral tradition' exclusively 'unplugged?'


"However, these were scarcely ever provided with sheet music, and there's no evidence that singers (as opposed to instrumentalists) would have been able to read it anyway"

Pam: "The implication would be that songs collected from the rural poor before widespread literacy and before the dissemination of recordings and broadcasting, are the most likely to have been transmitted primarily orally."

The 18-19th century American circus industry had the design intent of mass distribution. In terms of raw headcount and surface area it probably beat print and oral combined. A nice interview with circus bandleader John Robinson:
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18860709.2.36&srpos=7&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-robinson+music-------1

Anywho... best of luck to you!