DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-155, October 6, 2002 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd02.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn WORLD OF RADIO 1150: NEXT AIRING ON WWCR: Wed 0930 9475 AIRINGS ON RFPI: Mon 0630, Wed 0100, 0700 on 7445 and/or 15039 NEXT AIRING ON WBCQ: Mon 0415 on 7415 ONDEMAND http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/worldofradio.html (DOWNLOAD) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1150.rm (STREAM) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1150.ram (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1150.html ** ARMENIA. Yerevan is active on 234 kHz! Heard it with a stable signal on 23 Sep, at 1843 with SINPO 35333. Parallel frequency is 1395 kHz, but signal on it is weaker and more noisy, 22222. Song in French. News at 1845, mentioning Robert Kocharyan, Azerbaijan, Karabakh, etc. A long listing of locations and frequencies (including FM) read after 1850. It continued even at 1858, when I left the frequency. A kind of DX program, hi... (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, Signal Oct 5 via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. I think it was already reported that ROI will terminate the programs in Arabic and Esperanto. Wolf Harranth will do his last Intermedia show on Oct 25; the programme will continue but only in a modest way, basically relying on unpaid contributions (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) as webcast only? (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Hello, Glenn! I can confirm that Brazil has remained on regular time. Matter of fact, my wife flew there just last night, and there was conflicting info re. arrival time. On Air Canada's site, it was shown in DST at the time the reservation was made, only last week, but as of a couple of days ago it was shown in standard time, and that already puzzled me. And the actual arrival recording gives it in DST, which is wrong. The presidential election takes place today. A second round (as in France) is scheduled for October 27, if needed. So I guess somebody thought better and decided to move DST to the following weekend, but this may have taken place recently, as the Air Canada schedule (update downloadable every Friday) still shows flight arrival happening 1 hour later as of today. Their polls open very early and close at the also ungodly early hour of 5 PM! So imagine somebody who didn't know of the time change showing up at his 4:30, and it's already 5:30, poll closed... Best regards (Carlos Coimbra, Canada, Oct 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Glenn, Site of things to come: http://cbc.ca/soundslikecanada/ (Kevin A. Kelly, Arlington, Massachusetts, USA, Oct 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHECHNYA. CHECHEN REBEL RADIO BROADCASTING DAILY - WEB SITE | Text of report by Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site 5 October: Dzhokhar state [Chechen] radio station has started daily broadcasts in Chechnya, the head of the internal information service of the State Defence Committee - Majlis ul-Shura of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria [CRI], Bashir, has told Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency. The radio is broadcast in most parts of Chechnya and people can listen to the Chechen radio station without significant noise interference. In addition, several newspapers and magazines are printed in Chechnya now, Bashir said. The total print run is 16,000. Most of them are printed twice a month. Source: Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site in Russian 5 Oct 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Incluyo a continuación algunas direcciones WEB de Emisoras de Medellín: Vida AM 870: http://www.vidaam.com Munera Eastman Radio 790 AM: http://www.radiomunera.com (audio) Allegro 90.3 FM: http://www.allegrofm.com Latina Stereo 100.9 FM: http://www.latinastereo.com La Z 91.3 y Rumba Estéreo en: http://www.geo.net.co (audio) Radio Altair: http://altair.udea.edu.co De Bogotá: Los 40 Principales: http://www.40principales.com.co Radio Santafé: http://www.radiosantafe.com Me despido hasta otra oportunidad (HECTOR ARBOLEDA via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** DEUTSCHES REICH. A SHORTWAVE MESSAGE'S LONG RANGE September 22, 2002 Nearly 60 years ago, Antoinette Addazio was a student at what now is Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Her name back then was Antoinette Casula, and the school was called Bloomsburg State Teachers College. Late on summer nights, to keep up her skills in the Gregg shorthand method she had learned in high school, Antoinette would listen to shortwave radio broadcasts from American prisoners of war in German camps.... http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/columnists/ny-lflowe2932981sep22(0,6448048).column?coll=ny-li-columnists (Newsday via Jill Dybka, TN, NASWA Flashsheet Oct 5 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Hi Glenn, Re station on 12256.7 in DXLD 2-154: ``En 12256.7, a las 0600, sólo alcancé a oir "Uptown Girl" de Billy Joel, para luego disiparse en un fade eterno. Nombre:?? 29/09. [R. Fax?]`` This was almost certainly UK pirate WRI (Wrekin Radio International) who broadcast most Sunday (UT) mornings on 12256. SRS news (Swedish Report Service) log for 29 Sep shows: 12256.6 WRI 07.45-08.44 EE, mx WRI have a website at: http://www.wrinternational.net and use this address: WRI, Ostra Porten 29, S - 442 54 Ytterby, Sweden A copy of their QSL (received by Jim Parker in Wales) is pictured on page 57 of BDXC-UK's Aug 2002 edition of "Communication". (Re R. Fax? - they have not been on air for many years but the same transmitters I think (in Ireland) are used by Reflections Europe who broadcast various religious programmes Sundays only on 3910 6295 and 12255 from 1500 UT sign-on (to around 2100?).) (Alan Pennington, BDXC- UK, Caversham UK, Oct 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Anker Petersen, and DSWCI Tropical Band Survey Editor, notes that "in November 2001 CKTM, Trois Rivières, Canada, was heard with a feeder on [2]6145 - 26150 at 1330" opening up a possible alternative to Comité Department du Tourisme de la Chanente-Maritime as the one on 25,775.1 kHz. However, the English language programming suggests France over Canada at this point. If France, is it possible that this could be only 1 watt as listed? Also, Anker notes the phone number appeared to be dated so if France the programming could be about seven years old (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Oct 5 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 6085 Closedown Confirmed: The current ROI Intermedia programme contains an interview with the technical director of Bayerischer Rundfunk. He confirmed that 6085 will be switched off by the end of this year due to high operational costs (hardly a surprise; that's a Telefunken S4005 500 kW transmitter, although running on reduced power) and continued with declarations that this is a temporary shut-down only. Of course! By the way, first Bayerischer Rundfunk complained about the regarding item in the teletext service of Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg, claiming that there would be no decision to close 6085. Some kind of internal communication, not to discuss the circumstance that the times when only official statements could be used for publications are over for almost 13 years now (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DDH47 CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF SERVICE. November 8th and 9th will see a special station on the air from Pinneberg Germany. This as Weather Service's station DDH47 will be operating crossband on 147 kHz and listening on 80, 40 and 20 meters CW to celebrate its 50th anniversary of the service. Slow speed Morse transmissions to North America are also planned (G4NJH From ARNewsline via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. Hello listeners of RADIO RASANT, This is the announcement of our third transmission at the coming weekend by IRRS transmitter. It is a special broadcast due to the World Childrens' Day 2002 by UNICEF council, celebrated in Germany in September every year. Cause of the fact that the students produced this programme RADIO RASANT got the title "Junior- Ambassador of UNICEF Germany 2002". The topic of this transmission is "Children and War" and will be broadcast in German. As far as you will get no corrections or further information about the schedule of this broadcast, the following schedule is the complete one: Saturday 12th October 2002 7.30 - 8.30 h UTC on 13840 kHz Sunday 13th October 2002 7.30 - 8.30 h UTC on 13840 kHz PS: If you haven't got any QSL confirmation due to your former reports, you will get a letter in a few weeks. Please keep in mind, that the RADIO RASANT members met once a week for 1,5 hours only to do their complete work. Of cause you have the opportunity to use this email address and ask whether your letter has already been answered or not. Further reports to coming transmissions should be send by snailmail to the already known address. We are sorry about this situation and beg your pardon. Thank You! Mit freundlichen Grüßen with kind regards RADIO RASANT Radio Rasant, Rotbuschweg 28, D- 59846 Sundern, Germany (via Tom Read, M1EYP, Macclesfield, England, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non?]. Radio Caroline QSL Received a QSL from Radio Caroline for a report on the transmission on 7140 kHz. It says "Transmission from Southern Ireland". (Claes Olsson, SWEDEN, Oct 6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Re DXLD 2-148: ``So KBS openly acknowledge they are responsible for this station 6348 Echo of Hope? Or `automatic` response like UMC for the wrong R. Africa International?`` If this QSL card is not an 'error' it would be the first QSL card for a Clandestine directed to North Korea that appeared on the QSL Info Pages (Martin Schoech, Germany, Sept 30 Clandestine Radio Watch, Oct 5 via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. A partir del próximo 21 de octubre Radio Corea Internacional modifica su programación. En el programa "Antena de la Amistad" conducido por Soñia Cho y Ramiro Trost del día de hoy 6 de octubre de 2002 se anunció lo siguiente: Soñia Cho: "Empezamos en primer lugar con los cambios en las frecuencias y programación de nuestra emisora, Radio Corea Internacional a partir de finales de octubre, esto es sólo un anticipo que ampliaremos con detalles y nuevo esquema de frecuencias en las siguientes ediciones". Ramiro Trost: "...Pero podemos decir entre las novedades que quedarán sin efecto las frecuencias que hasta el momento resultan inaudibles, se va a agregar otra frecuencia hacia España y otra más desde Sackville-Canadá hacia Sudamérica que funcionará juntamente con la frecuencia ya existente hasta establecer cuál es la de mejor recepción para transmitir hacia Sudamérica". S. Cho: "Las frecuencias todavía están en negociaciones lastimosamente por lo que no podemos anunciar con puntualidad en este momento pero les prometemos que lo vamos a hacer dentro de poco y también vamos a pedir ayuda a los monitores para que nos indiquen qué frecuencia es la mejor de las que se mandan desde Sackville-Canadá para que sean captadas en el sur de América del Sur". R. Trost.: "En cuanto a los programas del Servicio en Español de Radio Corea Internacional veamos primero los nuevos espacios y cambios en días de emisión". S. Cho: "El espacio de entrevistas 'Seúl en Contacto con el Mundo' pasa de los sábados a los jueves, luego de 'Corea a Diario' y 'Hablemos Coreano'. R. Trost: "'Redacción Económica' de los jueves va a pasar a los martes para convertirse en un micro-espacio muy compacto dentro de 'Corea a Diario', así podrán seguir el panorama de la economía coreana con sus noticias y perspectivas". S. Cho: "Las grandes novedades vienen los fines de semana ya que los sábados -luego de las noticias- vendrá 'Antena de la Amistad' que reemplazará el lugar que ha dejado 'Seúl en Contacto con el Mundo' y luego escucharán el tradicional espacio 'Buzón del Radioescucha' así que podemos definir que el sábado se convierte en un día imprescindible para los diexistas". R. Trost: "Y los domingos superprogramón ya que 'Melodías de Corea' amplía su emisión para incluir no sólo las noticias del momento y los últimos discos de los cantantes modernos sino también informaciones y música de películas, música tradicional de Corea y muchas sorpresas más". S. Cho: "A preparase que a partir del 21 de octubre viene con muchos cambios el Servicio en español de Radio Corea Internacional". (transcripción de Rubén Guillermo Margenet, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MACEDONIA. Macedonia on 810 kHz is off (OCT 4+5). I hear Mayak from Volgograd instead. On 5 OCT after 1800 UT observed sporadic attempts to keep the transmitter on the air. Usually on for 2 seconds, then off again... GOOD DX, (Karel Honzik, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Oct 5, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. THE SPIRIT OF DON BOSCO LIVES ON MADAGASCAR AIRWAVES THROUGH A STATION NAMED FOR HIM Ivato, Oct 2 (CRU) --- When the BBC Monitoring Service did a study of the media, electronic and print, of Madagascar, a large island republic off the southeast African coast, it found one Catholic radio station, Radio Don Bosco 93.4 FM in Anatananarivo, the capital. As the name indicates, the station belongs to the Salesians, the order of St Francis de Sales founded by St. Don Bosco, one of the warmest saints to be canonized in the last two centuries. The Salesians operate a number of radio stations around the globe, all apparently in connection with their youth apostolates, for they operate schools, orphanages, vocational training centers, and the like. Radio Don Bosco 93.4 FM covers the entire capital area and gets out as much as 200 km., thanks to rebroadcast by Haja Radio in the large city of Antsirabe and repeater stations elsewhere that give it extensive coverage over much of center of the island. The station has an extraordinarily developed website at http://www.radiodonbosco.mg --- all the more remarkable in that Madagascar is a poor, developing nation that has seen its share of political and social troubles. I cannot recall seeing as developed and well written statements of mission, philosophy, and methodology as I have for Radio Don Bosco, all the more remarkable because these are written in plain English, the kind most people speak and write. All the more remarkable it is, too, because Malagasy is the language of the people, not English, nor was English the colonial language and the present language of the educated, but French. ``Plus je l`écoute, plus je l`amie`` --- ``The more I listen, the more I love it`` --- is the station slogan, clearly visible on its homepage. Click on the Enter button, and you are rewarded with an attractive page that offers the website in Malagasy, French, or English. The English pages, the only ones I visited, are detailed, simple, in large typeface and have a simple but effective attractiveness. You can learn everything you want to know about the station, from the listing of its main offices to detailed inventories of its control room and two production studios, to its statement of mission and methodology. Click on ``Jingles`` and you will hear clearly a home-grown variety (How many international custom jingle shops offer jingles in Malagasy?) but nonetheless effective. The more you scrutinize the website, the more impressed you become. This is no mickey-mouse operation out of a large closet. There is a public relations office, a treasurer, a customer service office, a transportation office (no doubt to get presenters and guests to and from Radio Don Bosco, RDB), a board operator, a transmitter operator, a record librarian and archivist, a technical staff, a production center, and a full-blown news operation responsible for five daily newscasts. In all, 30 people work at RDB, and many of them are young, because RDB, in keeping with the Salesian philosophy, is geared to the interests of young people, particularly in being trained in radio broadcasting. But programming is not targeted exclusively at the young. The RDB 24-hr schedule comprises music, culture, religious programming, news, sports, and entertainment. There are programs for children, teenagers, and youth, but also geared to women and the rural inhabitants of this rugged land of 15 million people. Advertising is accepted and sought; the station uses it to help support itself. RDB can better describe its philosophy than anyone. ``RDB`s Audience is a general audience, belonging to all age brackets and to all social levels. RDB covers a fairly large and deliberately differentiated territory, with a field of potential use which comes close to about 4 million, that is from the ``highest`` part of the capital to the peripheral parts and to the outskirts which build the periphery, joining the villages along the four large roads towards the North, the East - the West - the South, with a range of 80/180 km, getting up to Antsirabe, the second town of the country. ``The Audience adjusts itself with RDB in a differentiated way depending on the programs which please most, even if we must not exclude the existence of ``faithful listeners`` who choose it as their radio and listen to it preferably from any other one. In our opinion, the ordinary population is especially the one who listens to it; the young choose some parts from it, depending on the programming grid: RDB does not make of music its unique ``product``. It does not market it by following new fashions which incite to consumption, even if it is the only radio whose music is 80% Malagasy. A particular attention has been granted to the show public, to sports people, to artists, especially to those who are rising. This is because we have wanted to implement the strategy of approaching, of encountering, of collaborating to the events which touch it in some way. Of course a radio is made to satisfy the `` customer`` who, in such as case, is precisely the Audience. Yet RDB, given its identity as a cultural, educational and Catholic radio, is also a radio of ``proposals`` . Hence, it in a responsible way ``invites`` the audience to make choices.`` Radio Don Bosco is a Catholic station, and the website explains that, ``in keeping with the apostolic and pastoral action of Madagascar`s Catholic Church, [it] fully observes its guidelines and its orientations, in particular as regards Social Communication [the mass media], in this oecumenical perspective and spirit that the Media World should, by its nature, tend to favor and to develop.`` Catholics number 3,612,000, about 23% of the population; almost a century ago, in 1900, there were only 100,000. There are 3 archdioceses and 16 dioceses, and the Church runs hundreds of schools and a number of orphanages, and it plays an active role in social justice and the public forum. Database: Itavo (Antananarivo): Radio Don Bosco (RDB) 93.4 FM (power unknown.) Repeated by Haja Radio, Antsirabe; and by several repeaters elsewhere. Oeuvres et Missions Don Bosco, Salésiens, B.P. 60, 105 Ivato, Madagascar. Tel.: ++261-20-22443.87 (Ivato) and ++261-20-22626 72 (Antananarivo). Fax: ++261-20-22445.11 (Ivato), ++261-20-22626.73 (Antananarivo). E-mail: rdb@dts.mg. 24 hrs. Website: http://www.radiodonbosco.mg Fr. Giuseppe Miele, chairman; Fr. Erminio DeSantis admin. official; Fr. Cosimo Alvati, manager; Fr. Luca Treglia, technical director. On the air June 27, 1996. (Mike Dorner, Oct 7 Catholic Radio Update, Oct 6 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. La ventana ciega --- Claudia Segura OPUS 94 SALVA A XELA Dos de octubre no se olvida, ni primero de enero, pues fue entonces cuando los adoradores de la música de concierto se encontraron con la desaparición de XELA Buena Música. Desde entonces muchas han sido las manifestaciones de los que gustan de la música de cámara y los ofertorios, pero también muchas han sido las rebatiñas para recuperar este genero de la radio que poco, muy poco se da en el cuadrante nacional. El día de ayer, en plena calle de Bucareli y frente al reloj chino, los niños cantores de Chalco se manifestaron por la vuelta de la emisora de Grupo Imagen que tenía más de seis décadas de vida cuando desapareció. Por ello, hoy no es de sorprender que una hermana de genero, Opus 94 de el Instituto Mexicano de la Radio, haya salido a la defensa de la XELA, ofreciendo que a partir de enero próximo pondrá una barra de programación dedicada a la famosa emisora que sustentó a ``La hora sinfónica Corona``. En la gerencia del 94.5 de FM, Rosa Virginia Sánchez ahora ha iniciado algo muy especial junto con María del Rayo Monteagudo, que era la directora de ola XELA desde hace añales, para que juntas rescaten esta emisora que, de verdad, primero murió por la falta de audiencia y luego fue rematada por la familia Fernández a principios de año, con lo que hoy felizmente hemos visto llegar a la familia Macsise de Toluca con Grupo MAC. Tengo claro que cuando se trata de ponerse solemnes la cosa es seria, por lo menos así ha sucedido desde que inició el frente de apoyo por la salvación de la XELA, en donde hasta José Luis Cuevas ha hablado de la radio perdida en lo que a música de cámara se refiere. Pero lo grato del asunto es que será el IMER quien ha ofrecido por primera vez por lo menos unas horas a la emisora que de facto era su competencia. En fin, que luego de 16 años de contar con Opus 94, la competencia de la radio pública ha sido la única que le salió al paso a la XELA. De cualquier manera yo no me quedo con las ganas de decir que es una pena la desaparición de la XELA como parte de Grupo Imagen, y no sólo por el acervo musical, sino porque esta frecuencia era una emisora comercial que se atrevió por muchas décadas a realizar una emisión de música culta que era, quieran o no, rentable, por lo menos para la cervecería Corona, que de allí se inspiró para hacer sus famosísimos anuncios de televisión y de radio. El que podamos hablar de el IMER ahora en este rescate de la XELA confirma, una vez mas, que el trabajo que Dolores Beistegui está realizando en el Instituto Mexicano de la Radio es museográfico, y no por ello aburrido, desfachatado o sin sentido. ¿Rescatar o no rescatar a la XELA? Esa es la pregunta que los concesionarios se hacen para justificar que no tenía rentabilidad una emisora de genero culto, pero yo creo que es como no saber imaginar o proyectar a la música, porque a poco no es vendible incluso un noticiario donde se tocan los temas más solemnes. Es más, me atrevo a decir que José Gutiérrez Vivó se ha llevado más las palmas de la comercialización por sus mesas de análisis, por aburridas que parezcan, que por lo banales o mercantiles que pudieran ser. Es cierto. Alfredo Palacios vende menos que Gutiérrez y el primero toca temas mas ligados al show y a la farándula. ¿Por qué entonces se cierran los mercadólogos de la radio a no ``poder vender`` una programación que incluya Buena Música? Muy bien por Opus 94 que se está tomando la molestia no de salvar al enemigo o al competidor, sino de darle vida al género orquestal y sinfónico en la radio. Muy bien por el Comité de Rescate Nacional de la XELA, que se ha dado cuenta de que Opus no es competencia, sino vía de salvación por este acervo musical nacional. Ojalá que Radio UNAM y tantas emisoras universitarias nacionales se pongan también las pilas, rescaten y reprogramen las barras musicales que XELA hizo sonar por 60 años en el 830 de AM. Ojalá que los radiodifusores comerciales tengan la agudeza de experimentar con buena música y con mejor comercialización. Vamos en paz, nuestro rescate ha terminado! Claudia Segura (diario Milenio via Héctor García B., Conexión Digital via DXLD) CAMBIO DE FRECUENCIA - Fernando Mejía Barquera Anuar Maccise, nuevo dueño de XELA Bueno, en realidad ya no lleva la sigla XELA, ni es ``La estación de la buena música``, ahora se llama XEITE Radio Capital –después de recibir por unos meses el nombre de Estadio W– y todo indica que ya no pertenece al Grupo Imagen Telecomunicaciones (donde le pusieron las letras ``ITE``), sino al Grupo Mac, propiedad del señor Anuar Maccise Dib y familia. Sin embargo, su trayectoria de 60 años en el cuadrante de la ciudad de México y su retiro abrupto en enero de este año, junto con las protestas en demanda de su retorno al aire, han hecho que la denominación ``XELA`` sea, por ahora, la que más recuerdan los radioescuchas de la metrópoli. GRUPO MAC El martes pasado, frente a la Secretaría de Gobernación, miembros del Comité Nacional de Rescate de la XELA (Conarexela) y antiguos radioescuchas de la legendaria emisora realizaron un mitin para exigir a esa dependencia la restitución de las transmisiones de música clásica retiradas a principios de este año cuando la frecuencia de 830 AM fue ocupada para transmitir contenidos deportivos. Difícilmente lo conseguirán, al menos en esa misma frecuencia; en primer lugar porque Gobernación, autoridad a la que se han dirigido, carece de facultades legales para hacerlo, pero además porque quien decide ahora lo que debe transmitirse en los 830 kilohertz es un grupo empresarial poderoso que acaba de posicionarse en el Distrito Federal –el mercado radiofónico más grande del país y al que no es fácil entrar– y cuyos planes parecen muy lejanos a la idea de difundir música clásica. Grupo Mac es como se conoce a este conglomerado de empresas asentado en al Valle de Toluca, el cual maneja varios periódicos, una estación de radio en la capital mexiquense y ahora una más en el DF. Entre las empresas de este grupo está MAC Ediciones y Publicaciones S.A. de C.V., propietaria del periódico toluqueño El Diario. Asimismo, el grupo posee la emisora XECH Radio Capital (1490 AM) que también difunde en aquella ciudad del Estado de México. ``DEFEMEXIQUENSE`` Desde 1997, el Grupo Mac trató de penetrar en el mercado radiofónico del Distrito Federal y la forma que halló para hacerlo fue un convenio con el Grupo ACIR para que los noticiarios de XECH Radio Capital fueran difundidos en el Distrito Federal a través de la emisora Bonita (1590 AM). La intención obvia del grupo propiedad de la familia Maccise era, además de entrar al mercado del Distrito Federal, llegar a los municipios mexiquenses que rodean a la capital de la República; o sea, dirigirse a un nicho radiofónico muy atractivo integrado por habitantes tanto del Distrito Federal como del Estado de México. De ahí que esos noticiarios, que llevan el nombre genérico de Al instante, difundieran noticias consideradas de interés para las dos entidades. A partir de agosto de 2002, la frecuencia de 830 AM, originalmente llamada XELA y luego Estadio W asumió el nombre de Radio Capital (la programación de Estadio W, como es ampliamente conocido, emigró a la frecuencia 590 AM, hogar de la antigua Radio 590 La Pantera). La Radio Capital que funciona en el DF –nada que ver con otra estación legendaria: Radio Capital, que transmitió muchos años en el 1260 de AM– es prácticamente igual a la mexiquense: difunde ``pop`` en inglés y en español, programas ``hablados`` y noticiarios con un contenido ``defemexiquense``. Probablemente por falta de instalaciones propias, la estación tiene su sede en Prado Sur 150, donde se ubican las oficinas de Grupo Imagen, el anterior dueño de la emisora, sin embargo los noticiarios se transmiten desde Toluca y son conducidos por los señores Guillermo Garduño y Luis Pantoja, a quienes se unió en días pasados Marissa Escribano. La estrategia de fusionar en una emisora contenidos que puedan ser de interés para el DF y el Edomex podría resultar comercialmente exitosa –habrá que ver sus resultados–, y también políticamente atractiva. Incluso está recomendada como necesaria por la administración de Arturo Montiel en su ``Plan de Gobierno``: ``La estructura de los medios de comunicación ha correspondido a patrones de centralización. La mayor parte de las publicaciones, las emisoras de radio y de televisión de cobertura local, tienen su marco de influencia en la Zona Metropolitana del Valle de Toluca, mientras que en los municipios del Valle de México, donde se concentran siete de cada diez mexiquenses, y en las zonas rurales, su presencia es limitada``. De ahí que en el propio plan se recomiende abrir espacios en el Valle de México, tal y como lo ha hecho desde hace varios años el gobierno mexiquense con el Canal 34 de TV en la capital del país. Sin duda, la presencia de Radio Capital en el 830 AM del Distrito Federal debe ser vista con simpatía por el gobernador Montiel. EL SECRETO DE SIEMPRE El Grupo Mac, de los señores Maccise, tiene dos divisiones: la editorial, que preside Anuar Maccise Dib, y la de Radio, que dirige Luis E. Maccise Uribe. Su adquisición de los derechos para operar la frecuencia de 830 AM al Grupo Imagen no se ha hecho pública por parte de las empresas. Sólo una breve referencia en la columna de Marcela Gómez Zalce (MILENIO Diario, 6 de agosto de 2002) dio pista sobre la operación cuyo monto y detalles tampoco se han conocido. En aquella ocasión la colega escribió: ``La familia Fernández se ve obligada a vender otra de sus estaciones, la famosa XELA, legendaria por su programación de música clásica, a un señor de apellido Maccise (estrechamente ligado al gobernador Montiel...)``. Sin duda el Grupo Mac quiere echar raíces en la radio del Distrito Federal, por lo que de inmediato solicitó su ingreso a la Asociación de Radiodifusores del Valle de México (ARVM). El pasado 11 de septiembre, al tomar posesión como presidente de esa agrupación, Antonio Ibarra Fariña dio la bienvenida al Grupo Mac como nuevo socio de la ARVM. Rápidamente, la nueva operadora de una frecuencia en el DF ingresó al Consejo Directivo de la agrupación a través del señor Luis Maccise Uribe, quien fue designado vocal de la ARVM. De esta manera, si los promotores del regreso de la XELA consiguen su objetivo, será seguramente en otra frecuencia, porque en los 830 de AM se ve difícil. (diario Milenio via Héctor García B., Oct. 4, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. The death has been announced of HRH Prince Claus, the husband of Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands. In accordance with protocol, Radio Netherlands has suspended its scheduled programming and is broadcasting a documentary about the life of Prince Claus (Andy Sennitt, Oct 6, Radio Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last airing presumably 0430-0530 UT Monday on 6165, 9590 (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio New Zealand International --------------------- Frequency Schedule 27 October 2002 to 30 March 2003 UTC kHz Days Primary Target 1650-1750-11980 Mon-Fri-To NE Pacific, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 1751-2050-15265 Daily -To All Pacific, also heard in Europe 2051-0505-17675 Daily -To All Pacific, westcoast of the USA 0506-0705-15340 Daily -To All Pacific, also Europe, and mid-west USA 0706-1105-11675 Daily -To All Pacific, also mid-west USA Daily 1106-1305-15175 Daily -To NW Pacific, Bougainville, East Timor, Asia 1306-1650-6095 -To All Pacific 0' Usual Closedown is 1305 UTC - this frequency is for occasional overnight broadcasts to the Pacific for Sports commentaries or Cyclone Warnings. Bougainville/Timor Transmission 1105 -1305 UTC 1105-1305 UTC programme is directed to the North Western Pacific and Asia for NZ Forces serving overseas (RNZI Website via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. A Radio América, la escuchamos en dos frecuencias en paralelo: 7737 khz, con QSA 2 y hasta en algun momento 3, sobre las 0830 UTC+ y 7386 (no 7385) con QSA 1/2 a la misma hora. Siempre la encontramos con programas religiosos. Lo importante es confirmar que la nueva emisora paraguaya está activa y en las dos frecuencias en paralelo. 55's (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DX Camp Chascomus, Oct 6, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. 6 Oct'02 Radio Veritas Asia - B'02 (Tentative) FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF LOC POWR AZIMUTH SLW ANT DAYS LANGUAGE --------------------------------------------------------------- 6060 2100 2300 43,44 PUG 250 350 0 215 1234567 Mandarin 6190 2100 2300 43,44 PUG 250 350 0 215 1234567 Mandarin 7130 2100 2300 43,44 PUG 250 350 0 215 1234567 Mandarin 7265 1300 1330 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese 7265 2230 2300 42-44 PUG 250 331 0 146 1234567 Filipino 9505 2300 2330 54 PUG 250 222 0 146 1234567 Indonesian 9520 1000 1200 43,44 PUG 250 355 0 215 1234567 Mandarin 9520 1330 1400 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Sinhala 9520 1400 1430 41 PUG 250 300 30 216 1234567 Tamil 9535 1430 1500 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Telugu 9540 1400 1430 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Bengali 9555 1000 1030 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Hmong 9590 1330 1400 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Hindi 9615 1130 1200 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Burmese 9615 1200 1230 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Karen 9615 1230 1300 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Kachin 9670 1430 1500 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Urdu 9670 2330 2400 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese 11705 2330 2400 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Kachin 11705 0000 0030 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Zomi Chin 11705 0030 0100 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Hindi 11705 2300 2330 42-44 PUG 250 331 0 146 1234567 Cantonese 11725 0000 0030 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Karen 11725 2330 2400 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Burmese 11770 0000 0030 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Zomi Chin 11795 1030 1130 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese 11795 1500 1600 31,32 PUG 250 331 0 146 1234567 Russian 11820 0000 0030 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Sinhala 11820 2300 2330 54 PUG 250 222 0 146 1234567 Indonesian 11820 2330 2400 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese 11850 1030 1100 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese 11935 0030 0100 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Tamil 11935 2300 2330 54 PUG 250 222 0 146 1234567 Indonesian 11935 2330 2400 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese 11995 0030 0100 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Bengali 12035 1200 1230 54 PUG 250 222 0 146 1234567 Indonesian 15130 1500 1600 31,32 PUG 250 331 0 146 1234567 Russian 15240 1000 1030 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Hmong 15240 2230 2300 42-44 PUG 250 300 15 216 1234567 Filipino 15240 0000 0030 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Sinhala 15240 0030 0100 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Tamil 15240 0100 0130 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Bengali 15240 0130 0230 33,34 PUG 250 0 15 215 1234567 Russian 15305 1500 1600 38,39 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Filipino 15305 0030 0100 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Bengali 15335 0030 0100 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Hindi 15335 0100 0130 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Urdu 15335 0130 0230 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Hindi 15360 1000 1200 43,44 PUG 250 355 0 215 1234567 Mandarin 15360 1500 1600 38,39 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Filipino 15360 2300 2330 42-44 PUG 250 331 0 146 1234567 Cantonese 15510 0000 0030 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Zomi Chin 15530 0100 0130 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Telugu 15530 0130 0230 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese 15570 0000 0030 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Sinhala 15570 0030 0100 41 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Tamil 17665 0100 0130 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Urdu 17830 1000 1200 43,44 PUG 250 355 0 215 1234567 Mandarin 17830 0100 0130 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Urdu 18830 0130 0200 33,34 PUG 250 0 15 215 1234567 Russian 17845 0100 0130 41 PUG 250 300 0 216 1234567 Urdu 17885 0130 0230 49 PUG 250 280 0 146 1234567 Vietnamese Postal Address:P.O.Box 2642,Quezon City,1166 Philippines. Email: technical@rveritas-asia.org (RVA Website via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND. CHURCH TURNS AGAINST POLISH RADIO STATION WHICH HELPED END COMMUNISM From The Scotsman Sun 6 Oct 2002, NICHOLAS WALTON IN WARSAW BEDRAGGLED vagrants and beggars queue up for their bowl of soup outside Warsaw's main train station. They shuffle and cough as they wait at the soup kitchen run by Catholic broadcasters Radio Maryja. The pitiful scene is a rare show of support for those who have failed to flourish in post-Communist Poland. But despite Radio Maryja's good work for Poland's neediest, it has become a painful thorn in the side of the country's Catholic Church. The independent radio station's broadcasts are infused with fundamentalist Catholicism, fierce Polish nationalism and bitter opposition to membership of the European Union. The Church, intent on a modernising agenda, wants to silence such reactionary views. Cardinal Glemp, the Primate of Poland, has controversially called for the closure of Radio Maryja's parish offices in Warsaw. The bureaux are the station's lifeline, raising funds for its broadcasts and campaigns. It has been a difficult decision for the Catholic hierarchy . Faced with waning influence, the Church is wary of alienating Radio Maryja's avid listeners, who account for more than one in seven of the population. The move threatens to create a schism in the Church, pitting modernisers against traditionalists. Radio Maryja is a post-Communist success story. It was set up in the old city of Torun by a cleric called Tadeusz Rydzyk. By 1993 it was broadcasting its mixture of prayer, sermons and masses nationwide. The radio station now claims to be listened to by 14% of Polish adults - around four million people . However, to its critics Radio Maryja symbolises the Poland they want to leave behind. The radio station's reactionary message supports a right-wing Catholic political party, the League of Polish Families, which has almost 40 seats in parliament, the Sejm. The party and the radio station lead opposition to the European Union. Scratch the surface and the religious nationalism takes on a sinister anti-semitic and xenophobic tone. The Catholic Church entered Poland's post-Soviet era on a high, having played a direct part in the fall of Communism. To retain its influential place in Polish society, the church has to decide which way its future lies. If it goes along with the reactionary view, the powerful message of Radio Maryja and Father Rydzyk, it risks siding with the losers of modern Poland. If it allies itself with a modern Polish state in the EU, as favoured by the Pope, it risks alienating fervent Catholics. By undermining the power of Radio Maryja, Cardinal Glemp has sided with the modernisers (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. PUTIN ANNULS DECREE ALLOWING RADIO LIBERTY BROADCASTS FROM RUSSIA By STEVEN LEE MYERS c.2002 New York Times News Service MOSCOW – It was not the most dramatic symbol of the end of the Cold War, but a momentous one nonetheless. In 1991, six days after the abortive putsch that signaled the end of the Soviet Union, President Boris N. Yeltsin issued a decree allowing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to broadcast from Russia. On Friday President Vladimir V. Putin annulled the decree. The Kremlin said Putin`s decision was purely technical and would not affect the work of the station, which was established by the United States during the Cold War to broadcast unfiltered news and information – which some saw as propaganda. In Russia, however, purely technical matters rarely lack political undertones. To advocates of a free press here, Putin`s decision was stunning, raising the specter, they said, of still more Kremlin meddling in Russia`s mass media. ``We are concerned because freedom of speech is deteriorating day by day in Russia,`` said Andrei V. Shary, who heads the network`s Moscow bureau. ``If Yeltsin`s decree was a symbol in 1991, then the revoking of the decree by Putin is a symbol, too.`` Yeltsin`s decree gave the station the right to open permanent offices in Moscow and elsewhere across a newly independent Russia. In a statement released Friday, Putin`s administration said the revoking of Yeltsin`s decree was simply an attempt to treat Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as it does all foreign news organizations. At the same time, however, the statement reiterated criticisms that Russian officials have leveled against the station for its coverage. It singled out the station`s reporting on Chechnya, where Russia is mired in a civil war, and on Ukraine, a former Soviet republic. Earlier this year the station began broadcasting Chechen-language reports into the Northern Caucasus. The station has a license to broadcast until next year on 1044 AM in Moscow. It was unclear Friday whether the decision would have any effect on the possibility of renewal. Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky, a spokesman for Putin, told the Interfax news agency that Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov had told Secretary of State Colin L. Powell by phone on Thursday evening and that Secretary Powell had not objected. The State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, had no immediate comment Friday. Shary said he had received reassurances that the decision would not affect operations. But Aleksei K. Simonov, chairman of the Glasnost Defense Foundation, a private group, saw a trend to control mass media under regulations adopted in 2000. ``We are becoming a closed society,`` he said. Last year, the law was at the heart of the corporate takeover of NTV, one of Russia`s most independent television networks, by the state- controlled natural gas monopoly Gazprom. Earlier this year, a court ordered the agency that grants broadcasting licenses to shut down TV- 6, whose staff members were mostly refugees from NTV. In both cases, the Kremlin denied influencing what it called ordinary business disputes. (NY Times via DXLD) From © 2001 RIA Novosti RUSSIAN STATE DUMA SPEAKER: REVOCATION OF PRIVILEGES FOR "LIBERTY" RADIO STATION DOES NOT INFRINGE ON ITS RIGHTS MOSCOW, October 5th, 2002. /From RIA Novosti correspondent Viktoria Prikhodko/. Russian State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev said that the fact that the "Liberty" radio station would have to be registered as a foreign mass media office did not infringe on its rights. In such way the Russian State Duma Speaker commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to revoke an act issued by the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin under which "Liberty" radio station had been granted certain privileges. "All mass media have equal rights now," Mr. Seleznev said. "'Liberty' radio station will have to be registered as other foreign mass media outlets. It is not an infringement on the rights. The radio station will have to be reregistered," emphasized the Russian State Duma Speaker (via Mike Terry, DXLD) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45804-2002Oct4.html PUTIN ENDS SPECIAL STATUS FOR U.S. RADIO MOSCOW, Oct. 4 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin today repealed a decree that granted the U.S. government-funded Radio Liberty special permission to operate in Russia, culminating years of tension with the Kremlin over its unstinting coverage of the war in Chechnya. The revocation of the decree, first issued in the heady days following the failed Communist coup of August 1991, will not force Radio Liberty to leave and may have little practical impact, because the station can still operate under normal laws governing foreign media. Kremlin officials described Putin's decision as merely an attempt to put Radio Liberty on a level playing field with other independent media. But journalists and human rights leaders interpreted it as a blatant, if symbolic, attack and a warning to other media not to incur the government's wrath in reporting on the drawn-out conflict in Chechnya as Radio Liberty has over the years. Russian authorities arrested Radio Liberty reporter Andrei Babitsky in 2000 and charged him with helping Chechen rebels, only to later release him. The dispute escalated with the start of Radio Liberty Chechen-language broadcasts to the region in April, which Russian officials equated to broadcasting al Qaeda propaganda in the United States. Putin's decision to strip the station of its special status fit with what democratic reformers consider a broader crackdown on independent media. State-affiliated entities last year forced out management of the NTV and TV-6 networks, closed a newspaper and ousted the staff of a newsmagazine. State-run RTR television last spring appointed the spokesman for Russia's security service to a top post. Thomas A. Dine, the president of Radio Liberty, said the station would not "allow the revocation . . . to affect our reporting of events in the Russian Federation in any way." Andrei Shary, editor in chief of the Moscow office of Radio Liberty, said he was confident the decision would not have much tangible effect. "What does it mean? I just do not know," he said. "I doubt any potential impact will follow." Russian officials said Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov informed Secretary of State Colin L. Powell of the decision in a telephone conversation Thursday night. The decree establishing Radio Liberty's right to broadcast in Russia was one of the signal moments marking the end of the Cold War after years of attempts by the Soviet Union to jam its anti-Communist messages. Boris Yeltsin, then president of the Soviet republic of Russia, signed the decree on Aug. 27, 1991, just days after staring down hard-liners who failed in an attempted coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Putin, Yeltsin's successor as Russian president, took a different view of the station, once describing Babitsky as "working with bandits." An unnamed aide told Interfax news agency today that the Yeltsin decree had "lost its initial significance" and was no longer needed in a country with a robust press. This decision, he said, "makes all the players equal." At the same time, he railed at Radio Liberty, saying it "has not only maintained its ideological coloring but it has become still more biased. This is demonstrated in its broadcasts to Chechnya and Ukraine, which tend to present information selectively and not impartially." (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. FRANCE/KAZAKHSTAN. Voice of Orthodoxy, 20 Sep, 1530- 1559 on 9355 kHz. SINPO=44444. Slightly interfered by VOR on nearby 9360 kHz (I guess it was in Farsi). (Vladimir Doroshenko, Dneprodzerzhinsk, Ukraine, Signal Oct 5 via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE [and non]. Glenn, Here's a small mystery involving Radio Sawa. In a New York Times op-ed on 4 October, Nicholas Kristof wrote "...Iraqis listen openly and constantly to the BBC, Iranian radio, Israeli radio and especially to an excellent new American broadcast called Radio Sawa, which mixes popular music with news... ." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/04/opinion/04KRIS.html But when the same op-ed appeared in the Straits Times of Singapore on 5 October, Mr. Kristof wrote... "...Iraqis listen openly and constantly to the BBC, Iranian radio, Israeli radio and especially to a new American broadcast called Radio Sawa, which mixes popular music with news." http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/analysis/story/0,1870,147195,00.html Somehow, 24 hours later, Radio Sawa is no longer "excellent." 73 (Kim Elliott, DC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA. R. G. STAIR WIEDER AUF FREIEM FUß (HjB) Brother Stair, gegen den zahlreiche Klagen verfolgt werden, ist derzeit auf Kaution frei. Auf seiner Website http://www.overcomerministry.com sind alle Hinweise darauf, dass er festgenommen war, wieder entfernt worden. Neben diversen finanziellen Unregelmäßigkeiten soll R. G. Stair sich auch an den Frauen seiner Anhänger vergriffen haben (Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Kirche und Rundfunk July-Sept via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. IBC Tamil & Tamil BC. Tamil clandestine radio IBC-TAMIL started its one hour evening transmissions to South Asia: LTTE funded Tamil clandestine radio IBC-TAMIL started its one hour evening transmissions to South Asia and discontinued its half-an hour news broadcast during 1500 UT at 17485 kHz. TIME - 1230 UTC -1330 UTC. FREQUENCY - 17495 kHz. Its morning transmissions on 11570 kHz {may be the Russian transmitter?} at 0000 to 0100. Both the abovesaid frequencies provides good reception at my location. Interestingly, IBC'S main rival at European skies, TAMIL BROADCASTING CORPORATION- LONDON stopped its shortwave transmissions, which was usually heard 1230-1330 at 21590 (D. Prabakaran, India, Sep 21, 2002 for CRW via DXLD) ** SYRIA [non]. Syrian Human Rights Commission send a postcard they promised in response to an electronic reception report for a Sout Al Watan broadcast in 24 days for a report to its president, Saleem El- Hasan. The Palace of Westminster card simply states "with thanks and respect" and is signed by Saleem El-Hasan. A thank you e-mail - inquiring further about Sout Al Watan - resulted in the following reply: "Thanks again for your message. All wishes of pleasure and happiness to you too. I have asked several friends in Syria and in the USA, but nobody confirmed so far that he or she heard of such a broadcast. Regards, SHRC." They continue to deny any relationship between clandestine shortwave station Sout Al Watan and the SHRC. Believable? (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Oct 5 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. CBS-Radio Taipei International will bring you live coverage of the ROC National Day celebrations on October 10. Schedule as follows : To Southeast Asia - 0100 to 0300 UT on 15320 kHz. To North America - 0203 to 0300 UT on 5950 and 9680 kHz (there will be a 3-minute delay due to frequency change) To Central America - 0200 to 0300 on 11740 kHz. Regular programs on 15465 kHz from 0200 to 0300 UT will be cancelled on that day. Regards (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi,India, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** TURKEY. I think Turkey is still using 11655 at 0300 UT. They didn't move to 31 meters as promised! (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, Oct 6, SWBC via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. The current pattern is as follows. Since 28 Sep, only two transmitters from Khar`kiv site are active in SW, using 7320, 7410, 11950, 12045, 13590 kHz. LW/MW stations on 549 and 207 kHz are off- air, too (Signal, Oct 5 via DXLD) ** U K. MARCONI MAY SELL INVENTOR'S COLLECTION STRICKEN phone giant Marconi may sell the record of founder Guglielmo Marconi's work, including messages sent from the Titanic. Princess Elettra Marconi, the inventor's 72-year-old daughter, said from Rome: "The company has run out of money. Now anything can happen to my father's collection." Historians and the family want to stop the company selling the collection on the grounds that it would break up a unique resource for the public and researchers interested in early radio technology. It holds wireless equipment from Marconi's first experiments in 1895, messages sent by Queen Victoria and thousands of photographs, as well as duplicates of the Titanic's radio equipment. It was valued in 1997 by auctioneer Christie's at £3 million. John Griffiths, senior curator of Media Technologies at the Science Museum in London, said: "Preserving this collection in its entirety is crucial." The company, which last month agreed to hand over control to creditors in return for most of the £4 billion it owed, set up a trust last year to oversee the collection. It has yet to transfer ownership of its contents to trustees. Marconi reported a loss of £5.9 billion for the year to the end of March as demand for phone equipment slumped. Its shares have fallen from £12.50 in September 2000 to 1.5p. The company hopes to cancel most of its debt by handing control of its equity to creditors in January. The son of a wealthy Italian father and an Irish mother from the Jameson whiskey family, the inventor set up Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company in 1897. On 12 December, 1901, Marconi sent the first radio signal across the Atlantic from Cornwall to antenna- equipped kites flying above the coast of Newfoundland. He then developed ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship radio. The record of his work includes two of the kites and 3,000 messages sent between the Titanic and ships coming to rescue crew and passengers after the liner struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland in 1912. Marconi, who died in 1937 at the age of 63, helped to pioneer civil and defence communications and was also a founder of the BBC. His company was acquired by General Electric in 1968. GEC changed its name to Marconi in 1999, after selling its defence electronics business to BAE Systems to focus on selling phone equipment. The inventor's collection, which is housed in a former Marconi factory in London, was almost sold in 1997 after GEC's then-chairman Lord Arnold Weinstock had Christie's value it. By: Simon Clark -- 28-Sep-02 (from http://uk.news.yahoo.com/020928/17/dallr.html via Horacio A. Nigro, Uruguay, Oct 5, DXLD) ** U K. Glenn, Site of things to come: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/ (Kevin A. Kelly, Arlington, Massachusetts, USA, Oct 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBC LAUNCHES NEW RADIO STATION - BBC 7 Mon Sep 30, 1:26 PM ET LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC said Monday it would be launching a new digital radio station focusing on drama, comedy and children's programs. The station will feature "Big Toe," a daily two hour interactive ( news - external web site) program for children aged nine to 11, with "Little Toe" aimed at a younger audience everyday at 7 a.m. There will also be five hours of drama and two hours of book readings daily. BBC 7, which will go on air in the next few months, is the latest in a series of new stations unveiled by the BBC this year, following on from 1Xtra, Five Live Sports Extra, 6 Music and the yet-to-be launched Asian Network. "BBC 7 gives us a tremendous opportunity to bring new listeners to speech radio through a range of wonderful programs and the latest technology," Mary Kalemkerian, editor of BBC 7, said in a statement. (Reuters/Variety Source: Yahoo News via Sergei Sosedkin, DXLD) ** U S A. INSECURITY PLAGUES US EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM By Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus Online Posted: 10/09/2002 at 22:21 GMT A national alert system that gives the president the ability to take over the U.S. airwaves during a national crisis may inadvertently extend hackers the same courtesy, thanks to security holes that put radio stations, television broadcasters and cable TV companies at risk of being commandeered by anyone with a little technical know-how and some off-the-shelf electronic components. At issue is the Emergency Alert System (EAS), a nationwide network launched in 1997 to replace the cold-war era Emergency Broadcast System known best for making the phrase "this is only a test" a cultural touchstone. Like that earlier system, the EAS is designed to allow the President to interrupt television and radio programming and speak directly to the American people in the event of an impending nuclear war, or a similarly extreme national emergency. The EAS has never been activated for that purpose -- it was not used on September 11th -- but state and local officials have found it a valuable channel for warning the public of regional emergencies, recently including the "Amber Alerts" credited with the recovery of several abducted children over the summer. But even with Amber's successes, the EAS is increasingly under fire by critics who charge that its national mission is obsolete in an era of instant 24-hour news coverage, and that the technology underlying it is deeply flawed. One of the most stinging criticisms: that the EAS is wildly vulnerable to spoofing, potentially allowing a malefactor to launch their own message that in some scenarios could quickly spread from broadcaster to broadcaster like a virus. The system works this way: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activates the EAS for a national alert through 34 radio stations around the country that act as "primary entry points" (PEPs) for the system. Those stations, typically all-news AM stations with powerful transmitters, immediately interrupt their programming to broadcast the alert on the air. The alert begins with a burst of data coded by a low-speed modem, repeated three times. It's followed by an eight-second alert tone, and then spoken emergency information and instructions -- or a presidential address -- before another burst of data terminates the message. 'No Security' The data header is the key to the system -- it's what allows the same broadcast to simultaneously warn the public, and other broadcasters. To radio listeners, it sounds vaguely like the quacking of a duck, but encoded within it is a timestamp, a station identifier, a region code, an expiration time, and a three-letter event code identifying the type of alert. EAS boxes at hundreds of radio and TV stations are tuned in to at least one of the PEPs, and to them the burst is a wake-up call. The equipment reads the header, determines what kind of alert is being sounded, and then the station interrupts its programming to retransmit it (with its own identifier) on the air, and starts carrying the audio live. Thousands of other stations are tuned to those broadcasters, and they do the same, until the message has filtered all the way down the hierarchy, even reaching cable T.V. companies which are required to interrupt every channel for a national alert. The problem, experts say, is that the EAS data headers include no authentication whatsoever. That means anyone capable of following the specifications and with the skill to build a low-power radio transmitter akin to a "Mr. Microphone" toy can get their own messages into the system -- commandeering a radio or television station with a custom broadcast of their own, which would in turn be picked up by a cascade of other stations. An attacker could even omit the end-of- message indicator, leaving some stations off the air until engineers figure out the snafu. "It's very, very simple to generate those messages, and there's literally no security," says Richard Burgan, a Columbus, Ohio radio engineer who's studied the problem. "If you were to go to one of the stations... and get near their antenna and generate a false transmission, you could start an EAS message that would lock up all the stations down the line.... You wouldn't be able to get the whole state that way, but if you were to do a little research you could pick the right point to get the most." Alternative Plans Proposed So-called "replay attacks," in which a spoofer records and retransmits a genuine message, would likely be thwarted by the region code and expiration time in the header. But the only thing preventing someone from generating their own original message are the system's non- standard 500 baud modems. That's not much protection: the modem specs are published in the FCC regulations, and the technology is simple and slow enough to be easily emulated by any off-the-shelf PC with a sound card. A transmit-only modem could even be built from scratch with a few dollars in components, according to Burgan. "The only thing that's mentioned in any document I have relating to security is that you have to transmit the message clearly three times," says Burgan. "And that's not security. I think they overlooked it entirely because it's too complicated to do." The FCC adapted the EAS from an older National Weather Service system used to issue severe weather warnings. Large broadcasters have personnel assigned to handle EAS alerts manually, and the humans in the loop provide a common-sense bulwark against obviously false alerts. But many smaller stations and automated broadcasters turn their transmitters over to the EAS automatically upon receiving an alert. A false alert could trigger widespread panic, and undermine public confidence in genuine warnings. Though it's not known to have ever been exploited, the spoofing risk is one of the factors quietly driving calls to reform the EAS. In a paper published earlier this year, Columbia University researchers Henning Schulzrinne and Knarig Arabshian proposed enhancing the system with an Internet-based emergency notification system, noting that under the current design "it would not be hard to drive by an EAS receiver with a small transmitter and make it distribute a false alarm." Peter Ward, chairman of the Partnership for Public Warning, a nonprofit group formed this year to explore advanced warning systems, would phase out the EAS, and replace it with an all-digital network tied to cell phones, digital televisions and pagers, turning any networkable device into a "smart receiver that would know the wishes of the owner, and could provide them with the information they want to receive." He says the potential for spoofing is only one the EAS's problems, and one that's "not likely to be corrected soon." FCC Silence In fact, with weak security etched into FCC standards, the system effectively creates open backdoors into broadcast stations across the country that the broadcasters are forbidden by law to secure. Burgan says the government should shoehorn security into the existing system, possibly by digitally signing EAS headers. "It wouldn't have to be very complicated to make it highly secure," he says. So why didn't the FCC build in security in the first place? "It's a classic case of something that was designed by committee," he says. Other experts say that's unfair. "I really think that the EAS has provided a great service, and it needed to be simple to go into these mom and pop radio stations, literally running their own business with a transmitter in the back field," says Mark Manuelia, engineering manager at WBZ Radio in Boston, one of the primary entry points for the system. "These things stand alone in little radio station that have no Internet access... That's something we don't think of where we are in big cities." Manuelia says the FCC isn't to blame, because information security wasn't on anyone's mind when the they were working on the plan in 1995. "They were doing something that was better than was there before," he says. "Whether they were thinking ahead to the year 2002 - - I guess they weren't." The FCC is mum on the question -- indeed, on the entire issue. John Winston, assistant chief of the enforcement bureau overseeing the system, says the commission doesn't comment on EAS security. They're more talkative on the system's popular new role in Amber Alerts, through which parts of the country not prone to tornados and floods are becoming acquainted with EAS for the first time. Under Amber, in the minutes or hours immediately following a child abduction, state officials use EAS to broadcast critical information like a description of a suspect's vehicle to the public. (Highway signs also disseminate Amber Alerts, and are not a part of EAS). The programs are gaining in popularity: last week, New York became the 17th state to adopt a statewide Amber Alert plan, and Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill that would set up a nationwide Amber program. Ward says the successful Amber programs demonstrate that the killer app for warning systems is local alerting, not the national duck-and- cover message that the EAS, and the Emergency Broadcast System it replaced, was built for. "In the cold war days when we were talking about missiles coming over the poles there was a much stronger fear that all the broadcast authorities might have disappeared, and we needed a way for the President to commandeer the surviving broadcasters." © 2002 SecurityFocus.com, all rights reserved. (The Register via Jill Dybka, TN, NASWA Flashsheet Oct 5 via DXLD) ** U S A. 'OPEN SPECTRUM' IS NEXT BIG WIRELESS IDEA LEE GOMES, The Wall Street Journal Monday, September 30, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press (09-30) 05:43 PDT There is a big new idea out there, one that may forever change what we think when we look up at the sky. The idea involves not stars but spectrum -- the radio spectrum, which cellphones, radar, TV stations, garage door openers and other gadgets use to transmit signals. Our current thinking about spectrum was shaped by technology from the dawn of the radio age. Transmitters back then were big, dumb louts that had to be confined to narrow parts of the spectrum lest they interfere with each other when they broadcast. And so we were forced to treat the spectrum as something limited, like real estate. We assigned selected parcels of it -- say, cellphone frequencies -- to specific users, in recent years often to the highest bidder. Strict antitrespassing laws were set for everyone else. But there is a movement afoot called Open Spectrum. It argues that modern technology allows us to build "smart" transmitters that don't interfere with each other. Such transmitters could listen to the airwaves and then change the way they transmit based on what they hear. If one part of the spectrum is busy, for example, they could use another. With no interference problem, there would be no need to divide up the spectrum. And with no divided spectrum, the bandwidth-scarcity problem vanishes. That's because the total usable spectrum is so vast it could accommodate everything anyone would want to do. The line of numbers on a car AM radio measures off just a sliver of the spectrum. To measure the entire usable spectrum at the same scale, the radio's display would need to be 24 miles wide. Open Spectrum has been around under that name for the past year or so. Its backers are a diverse group. Some are partisans from the "open software" world who are philosophically attracted to the sort of "commons" that they believe Open Spectrum makes possible. One of them, Yochai Benkler of New York University Law School, wrote a 1998 law review article on the topic. Others are more technically oriented. David P. Reed, Timothy J. Shepard and Dewayne Hendricks are all respected technologists of varying backgrounds who have written on the engineering aspects of the idea. The Open Spectrum ranks are growing. Among those counting themselves as general supporters are Dale Hatfield, former chief of the Federal Communications Commission office that parcels out spectrum, and Bennett Z. Kobb, a consultant whose book, "Wireless Spectrum Finder," is the industry's bible. Companies in the wireless world are noticing, too. Steve Sharkey, Motorola's director of spectrum and standards strategy, says that while his company isn't yet convinced of some of Open Spectrum's more sweeping claims, it's taking the core ideas very seriously and working on them in its labs. After radio and tv, the pentagon is the country's biggest user of spectrum, controlling roughly 6 percent of it. Steven Price, deputy assistant defense secretary for spectrum, says it's too early to know how feasible Open Spectrum will be. But he notes that the Pentagon, too, has been moving toward increasing its usable spectrum by relying on smarter transmitting devices. Indeed, the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency has lately funded research into Open Spectrum-like technologies, and veterans of those projects are now at the FCC. In general, Open Spectrum backers believe the law shouldn't dictate where on the spectrum you transmit but, instead, the design of the devices you use to transmit, to ensure they're smart enough for the new, open world. But there are already polite disagreements among Open Spectrum boosters. The true believers are so confident of their approach that they say the entire spectrum should be opened up. More cautious types say it might be better to open up only certain parts, leaving the rest regulated. What could happen with more spectrum? The sky is the limit, backers say. They cite the many serendipitous things happening with "WiFi" wireless networks, which were designed to connect machines in a home or office but now link whole neighborhoods. Imagine a camcorder in an Open Spectrum world that not only recorded your kid's school play but also sent DVD-quality video of it to the grandparents' TV -- live. The children in this play are probably not yet born. An Open Spectrum world is still five or 10 years off. But children of that brave new world would surely regard their parents' tales of the old days, when cellphones had sound but not video, as something simply too primitive to be believed. ©2002 Associated Press (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. IN SAN DIEGO, LEGAL QUIRKS HELP A RADIO EMPIRE ANNA WILDE MATHEWS, The Wall Street Journal Friday, October 4, 2002 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/10/04/financial1057EDT0058.DTL&type=printable (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) FIRM SKIRTS RADIO CAPS IN SAN DIEGO http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-clearmex4oct04.story (via Ray Robinson, CA, DXLD) ** U S A. LETTERS October 4, 2002 --- More static for WFMT WHEATON -- Regarding the article on Oct. 1 about the WFMT signal, Clare Close is not the only listener to have experienced a change. I have had intermittent "static" on my car radio while listening to WFMT for the past several months. In fact I mentioned to a friend that I was thinking of having the radio checked out; only to be told that the friend was also experiencing the same problem. I live in Wheaton, have been a WFMT listener for 10-plus years in this area. Have never had this problem before and do not have the problem with any other station (that I can receive clearly). The radio in question is top-of-the-line and the car is less than a year old. This is definitely a new problem. In fact, I wondered if the new WDCB antenna at COD was causing interference. It would seem that the cause of the interference is the decision by WFMT to "sell out" part of their signal band (Katherine Damitz, Letter to the Editor, Chicago Tribune Oct 4 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. OFFICE OF GLOBAL INTERNET FREEDOM A remaining advantage of shortwave over the Internet as a medium of international broadcasting is that the Internet is more vulnerable to interdiction. Now Rep. Chris Cox has introduced legislation to create an Office of Global Internet Freedom, within the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, to try to overcome some nations' attempts to block web content. A Wired story about the proposal is here... http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,55530,00.html A House Policy Committee press release is here... http://policy.house.gov/html/news_release.cfm?id=111 And a scathing commentary about the propsal, from the BBC website, is here... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2299259.stm (Kim Elliott, DC, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. 7489.94, WJIE, very strong at 0730 Sep 29 but with constant audio hiccups. Prgm in what I think was Urdu, as program URL they gave http://www.questionsforgod.org is in English and Urdu. Talk and S. Asian music. Also gave address of Hope From Heaven, P.O. Box 53379, Limassol, Cyprus. Then gave English announcement as, "You've got a friend in the High Adventure Global Radio Network." And a WJIE ID at 0750 (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet Oct 5 via DXLD) As of Oct 6, WJIE 7490 had been missing again since Oct 4, but was back at 0236 UT Oct 7, with undermodulated gospel music, ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5920, WBOH. Per David Robinson, station engineer A 50 kW converted AM transmitter engineered by Transcom (as heard), a Canadian company, is in place at a site about 5 miles from WTJC. They are running low power tests right now with just the exciter at about 50 watts to check and tweak their antenna pattern. At this time, they will keep it on most of the time. Once these are complete, they will go to full power. The antenna is a rhombic at 180 degrees. They are using a cable to feed the signal to this transmitter. While the tests are // to WTJC on 9370, WBOH will have about 50% Spanish programming of its own. Like WTJC, it will be on 24/7. The website says the call stands for Worldwide Beacon of Hope. They will verify these tests. They will also write the power on the card if you ask them, they did for me when I heard them at low power during an ice storm a few years ago (Hans Johnson, Sep 30, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. WYFR High Frequency Schedule 27 October 2002 - 30 March 2003 FREQ LANG TIME (UTC) AZ ZONE PWR 100 kW u.o.s. 5810 ENGL 0500-0600 44 27,28,39 5810 SPAN 0600-0700 44 27,28,39 5810 PORT 0700-0745 44 27,28,39 5810 FREN 2000-2100 44 27,28 5810 ITAL 2100-2200 44 27,28 5810 GERM 2200-2245 44 27,28 5950 ENGL 1000-1245 355 4,5,9 5985 SPAN 2200-2300 181 11 50 5985 ENGL 2300-0000 181 11 50 5985 SPAN 0000-0300 181 11 50 5985 ENGL 0300-0400 181 11 50 5985 SPAN 0400-0445 181 11 50 5985 MAND 0500-0600 315 2 5985 CANT 0600-0700 315 2 6065 ENGL 0100-0445 355 4,5,9 6085 ENGL 0000-0100 355 4,5,9 6085 FREN 2300-0000 355 4,5,9 6085 SPAN 1000-1400 181 11 6105 SPAN 0800-1100 160 14 6175 PORT 0800-1000 142 13 7355 RUSS 0304-0400 44 27,28,39 7355 GERM 0500-0600 44 27,28,39 7355 ENGL 0600-0745 44 27,28,39 7355 MAND 1100-1245 315 13 7520 RUSS 0504-0600 44 27,28,39 7520 FREN 0600-0700 44 27,28,39 7520 ITAL 0700-0745 44 27,28,39 7580 ENGL 2000-2245 44 27,28 9355 RUSS 0304-0400 44 27,28,39 9355 GERM 0400-0500 44 27,28,39 9355 SPAN 0500-0600 44 27,28,39 9505 ENGL 0000-0445 315 2 9555 SPAN 0804-1100 160 16 9575 PORT 0900-1000 160 15 9575 SPAN 1000-1200 160 15 9605 PORT 0800-1000 142 15 9605 SPAN 1100-1245 222 11 9680 PORT 0900-1000 140 13 9680 FREN 1000-1045 140 13 9690 PORT 0000-0045 142 15 9690 SPAN 0100-0200 160 15 9715 SPAN 0000-0045 285 10 50 9715 ENGL 0404-0500 285 10 50 9725 SPAN 0500-0600 285 10 50 9985 GERM 0300-0400 44 27,28,39 9985 ENGL 0400-0445 44 27,28,39 9985 ARAB 0500-0600 87 37,46 9985 FREN 0600-0700 87 37,46 9985 ENGL 0700-0800 87 37,46 9985 SPAN 0100-0300 151 15 11530 ENGL 0400-0500 44 27,28,39 11530 ARAB 0500-0600 44 27,28,39 11530 ENGL 0600-0700 44 27,28,39 11530 ITAL 0700-0800 44 27,28,39 11565 ARAB 2000-2100 44 27,28,39 11565 GERM 2100-2145 44 27,28,39 11580 PORT 0400-0500 87 47,52,57 11580 FREN 0500-0600 87 47,52,57 11580 ARAB 0600-0700 87 47,52,57 11580 ENGL 0700-0845 87 47,52,57 11665 SPAN 2100-2200 44 27,28 11665 PORT 2200-2245 44 27,28 11720 ENGL 0000-0100 142 15 11720 PORT 0100-0145 142 15 11725 ENGL 1100-1200 222 12 11725 SPAN 1200-1400 222 12 11740 ENGL 1300-1500 355 4,5,9 11740 FREN 1000-1100 151 15 11740 SPAN 1100-1300 151 15 11740 ENGL 2200-2345 315 2 11830 ENGL 1100-1700 315 2 11855 SPAN 2200-2300 222 11 11855 ENGL 2300-0000 222 11 11855 SPAN 0000-0300 222 11 11855 ENGL 0300-0400 222 11 11855 SPAN 0400-0445 222 11 11885 PORT 2300-0145 140 13 11970 ENGL 1200-1345 285 10 13695 FREN 1100-1200 355 4,5,9 13695 ENGL 1200-1300 355 4,5,9 13695 MAND 1300-1500 355 4,5,9 15115 PORT 1700-1800 87 4,5,9 15115 FREN 1800-1900 87 4,5,9 15115 ENGL 1900-1945 87 4,5,9 15130 PORT 2200-2245 142 15 15130 SPAN 1300-1500 285 10 50 15170 ENGL 2300-0000 160 15 15170 PORT 0000-0045 160 15 15215 SPAN 2300-0200 160 16 15355 SPAN 1300-1400 222 11 15400 ENGL 2300-0000 151 15 15400 FREN 0000-0045 151 15 15565 FREN 1800-1845 44 27,28 15565 ARAB 2000-2100 87 37,46 15565 ENGL 2100-2245 87 37,46 15565 ITAL 1600-1645 44 27,28 17510 ENGL 1300-1500 160 16 17575 ENGL 1300-1500 140 13 17575 PORT 1500-1600 140 13 17575 ENGL 2000-2200 140 13 17575 PORT 2200-2245 140 13 17760 SPAN 1700-1900 44 27,28 17760 ARAB 1900-1945 44 27,28 17760 ENGL 1400-1700 285 10 17790 ENGL 1600-1645 87 4,5,9 17845 SPAN 2304-0045 160 14 18930 ARAB 1600-1700 44 27,28 18930 GERM 1700-1800 44 27,28 18930 ITAL 1800-1845 44 27,28 18980 ENGL 1600-1945 44 27,28,39 21455 ENGL 1600-1800 44 27,28,39 21455 FREN 1800-1900 44 27,28,39 21455 GERM 1900-1945 44 27,28,39 21525 ARAB 1900-2000 87 47,52,57 21525 FREN 2000-2100 87 47,52,57 21525 ENGL 2100-2200 87 47,52,57 21525 PORT 2200-2245 87 47,52,57 21745 RUSS 1600-1745 44 27,28 (via Evelyn Marcy, WYFR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. The following will be the shortwave schedule for Family Stations, Inc. aired from Taiwan 27 October 2002 to 30 March 2003. Language Time (UTC) Freq (kHz) Target English 0100-0200 15060 S. Asia 1300-1500 11550 S. Asia 1500-1700 6280 S. Asia Hindi 0000-0100 15060 S. Asia 1500-1600 11550 S. Asia Mandarin 1102-1602 6300 E. Asia 1102-1602 9280 E. Asia 2100-0000 6300 E. Asia 2100-0000 9280 E. Asia Russian 1500-1700 9955 Eu/Sib (WYFR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. New E-mail address for "Radioactividades" (a weekly programme of media news mixed with radio historical features aired via 1050/6125 SODRE on Sat/Sun 1400-1500 and 0200-0300 Mon) is: radioact@adinet.com.uy Also the new URL for their website is: http://www.radioactividades.com Can be a useful contact info for reception reports on SODRE's radio stations. Programme hosted by Dr. Daniel Ayala Gonzalez (a former DXer and member of the DX Club of Uruguay) (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Oct 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. From October 8, Vatican Radio is scheduled for a new service in Hausa, for West Africa. It's daily, 0700-0715,on 11625 13765 and 15570. This appears to be a new language for this station. Regards! (Bob Padula, EDXP via DXLD) Doubt there be many Christians among Hausa speakers, let alone Catholix (gh, DXLD) NIGERIA: SENDUNGEN VON RADIO VATIKAN IN HAUSSA GEPLANT (HjB) Auf Wunsch der nigerianischen Bischöfe soll Radio Vatikan mit regelmäßigen Sendungen in Haussa beginnen, das in Westafrika Verkehrssprache ist. Ein Teil des Programms würde in Nigeria selber hergestellt, ein anderer Teil am Zentrum der römisch-katholischen Weltkirche in Rom. Eine Bitte um Mithilfe bei der Finanzierung ist an die deutschsprachigen ``Freunde von Radio Vatikan`` ergangen, die auch bisher schon fremdsprachige Redaktionen der Stimme der Weltkirche unterstützten (Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Kirche und Rundfunk July-Sept via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Saludos colegas diexistas. Espero que todos se encuentren muy bien. A continuación la siguiente noticia. La señal de YVTO Observatorio Naval Cajigal se encuentra actualmente en el aire. Hoy 05 de Octubre a las 22:30 UTC la estoy captando en mi QTH familiar y ajustando la hora de mi receptor con dicha señal. Un abrazo rompecostillas para todos. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Oct 5, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Lim Kwet Hian from Indonesia and John Wilkins from the USA both provided pictures of their new Que Huong Radio QSL cards to the CRW Clandestine Radio QSL card gallery at http://www.schoechi.de/bild-cla.html Until now the gallery only had an older QSL letter from 2000 (Clandestine Radio Watch via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. I've been hearing a weak signal in Spanish over the last few nights on 4759.15. David Norrie has identified it as Radio Nacional from Argentina, so presumably this is the 4th harmonic of Radio Nacional, San Miguel de Tucuman 1190 kHz??? Any ideas, Conosur DXers? Cheers, (Paul Ormandy, New Zealand, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE NEW HARD-CORE-DX.COM WEBSITE IS OPEN Visit: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ A hard core DXer is a shortwave and mediumwave listener who tries to listen to rare, weak, and normally unheard broadcasting stations. This kind of radio listener has been around since radio was born in the early 20th century. And since the early days of the Internet, Hard-Core-DX.com has been around, trying to cover the information needs of these specialized listeners. We are announcing today a complete redesign of the Hard-Core-DX.com web site which will bring DX content providers even closer together and introducing an unique portal for all DXers. We're very excited to see several premium partners joining us and providing unique content on the new site. This will bring a lot of up- to-date and valuable resources available in one portal better than ever before. Also, web surfers can easily find indepth information from HCDX channel partners' dedicated web sites and mailing lists -- now easily accessible through the new Hard-Core-DX.com web site. During the beta period 82% of visitors rated the new site good (37%) or excellent (45%). We believe this is a very strong signal that we're on the right track and encourages us going forward with our services to all DXers around the world. We hope you'll find our service useful and adding value to your DXing hobby. The new web site is available at http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ (Risto Kotalampi & Hermod Pederson & HCDX Channel Partners, via DXLD) ###