"Radio Shack is closed for the day."
Good. I think you would find the BBC/VOA reporting to be extremely annoying in your circumstances.
Fog of war. No one - not BBC, not VOA, not the US embassy Beruit - has any better idea than you about what's going on right now. You are the best judge, not reporters.
Hang on with rumor and gossip until its all over.
Anecdote: in the coup I was in, I left my hotel where I could hear B40 and mortar fire going on less than 4-5 blocks away (which was "distant" given previous shooting). So I hotfooted it on my motorcycle down to the 5-star hotel where the embassy had set up a refuge spot for US citizens (they rented the ballroom).
I ask the embassy staffer at the desk, "what's up, any news?"
"Oh, everything is OK now, it's all over."
"Ummm......not quite, they're still shooting blazes over at the Stadium. Big stuff, not just AK."
"Oh, really? That's not what they told us."
The purpose of getting a shortwave radio is to get evacuation instructions, not to listen to the news.
Very interesting stories.
I hope someday you'll write this all down for your grandkids.