DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-075, April 30, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com [Note: previous issue 3-074 should have been dated April 29, not 27] 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 later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3d.html HTML version of late March issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3c.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 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 FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1180: Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825 Sat 0130 on RFPI 7445 WRN ONDEMAND from Fri: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html from early UT Thu: [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1180.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1180.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1180h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1180h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1180.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL Regarding complaints of your 'political' comments in DXLD, I would state that the tremendous amounts of information compiled and presented virtually free of charge to the shortwave listener via DXLD and WOR are well worth the occasional subjective opinion. To paraphrase a great American who's name escapes me, "I may disagree with what you say, but will defend your right to say it". After all, its YOUR program. If I don't like the commentary, I don't have to listen. But judging by the longevity of DXLD/WOR, I would say the majority of your audience greatly enjoys/appreciates your work, as do I. Regards, (Ben Loveless, WB9FJO, Michigan USA, April 30) ** AFRICA [and non]. MW stations heard on São Tomé e Príncipe. On March 03-16, 2003 I also checked the MW-band using a portable Sangean ATS909 with the built-in ferrite antenna. During daytime, only the two local stations at Pinheira, São Tomé on 945 and 1530 were audible, so all other stations were heard at night. 531 NIG Ondo R Vision, Akure 0503 531 SUI Musikwelle, Beromünster 2050 549 NIG Kano B.C., Tukun Tawa 2200 549 GAB RTG 2, Oyem 1830 567 NIG FRCN, Alaho 2253 567 I Raiuno, Caltanisetta 2056 567 RUS R Rossii, Volgograd 2058 576 BUL R Christo Boteo, Vidin 2102 585 NIG FRCN, Abakaliki 0505 686 TUN RTT, Gafsa 2105 594 NIG FRCN, Jaji 2240 603 NIG Ogun R, Ibese 0506 612 MRC RTM, Sebaa-Aioun 2110 621 NIG Anambra B.C., Akwa 0509 621 EGY ERTU, Voice of Arabs, Batra 2118 621 E RNE 1, Palma de Mallorca 2130 630 TUN RTT, Tunis 2132 648 G BBC W.S., Orfordness 2200 657 NIG FRCN, Ibadan 2136 666 D SWR, Rohrdorf 2205 675 NIG R Oyo, Obomasho 0559 675 LBY LJB, Benghazi 2140 684 E RNE 1, Sevilla 0514 693 NIG Kogi B.C., Ayanga 0515 702 NIG Taraba State B.S., Wukari 0512 711 F France Info, Rennes 0518 720 NIG Imo B.C., Owerri 0558 729 E RNE 1, (Lograno ?) 0520 738 E RNE 1, Barcelona 0522 756 NIG R Oyo, Ibadan 0525 765 SEN R TV du Sénégal, Dakar 2210 828 NIG FRCN, Enugu 2307 882 E COM R, Barcelona 0531 855 ROM R Romania Actualitati, Bucur. 0325 909 NIG FRCN, Fwagwa Lada 0520 918 NIG R Benue, Makurdi 0559 936 MRC RTMA, Agadir 0534 945 STP R Nacional de São Tomé e P. 1100 963 CYP CBC 1, Nicosia 2215 972 NIG Katsina State B.C., Katsina 0538 990 NIG Lagos State B.C., Ikeja 0522 1008 GRC ERA Kerkyra 1840 1026 NIG Jagiwa B.C., Dutse 0546 1062 NIG Enugu State B.S., Onitsha 0545 1089 NIG FRCN, Sogunle 2246 1089 AGL R Nacional, Mulenvos 2323 1107 NIG FRCN, Jaji 2243 1134 NIG Cross River State B.C., Ogoja 2215 1143 NIG B.C. of Niger State, Bida 0553 1188 AGL Em. Prov. de Malanje, Malanje 0433 1278 AGL Em. Prov. do Cabinda,Cabinda 2320 1296 SDN SNBC, Reba 2155 1314 UAE BBC, Dabiya 2320 1332 I Raiuno, Roma 2153 1404 NIG Bauchi R Corp., Gombe 1904 1404 GRC ERA Regional, Komotini 2220 1404 LBY LJB, Tripoli 0555 1440 NIG Adamawa B.C., Yola 0610 1458 AGL Em. Prov. do Moxico, Luena 2313 1467 F TWR, Romoules 2140 1476 UAE Emirates R, Dubai 1905 1485 AGL R Kuanza-Sul, Kuanza-Sul 2308 1502 AGL Em. Prov. do Benguela, Beng. 2313 1503 TGO R Kara, Kara 0613 1512 ARS BSKSA, Jeddah 2225 1521 ARS BSKSA, Duba 2130 1530 STP VOA, Pinheira 1620 1530 CVA Vatican R, S.M. di Galeria 2232 1548 KWT R Sawa, Kuwait 0015 1557 F France Info, Nice 2320 Most amazing was that besides the ``local`` Central African stations, I was also able with that built-in antenna to pick up fairly good signals from far away stations like 648 BBC Orfordness (distance 5790 km), 567 Volgograd (6500 km) and 1548 Kuwait (5425 km)! Thus São Tomé e Príncipe is an excellent location for MW DX from all Africa, South and Central Europe and the Middle East! (Anker Petersen/STP, DSWCI DX Window April 27 via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. "O PROJETO DE FUTURO DA RÁDIO ÁUSTRIA É A INTERNET" 24/04/2003 Viena - O experto em temas relativos aos meios de comunicação, John Herbert, opina que "no lugar de encerrar com a Rádio Áustria Internacional, o que a ORF deveria fazer seria ampliar os programas". Isso foi o que ele declarou numa entrevista concedida ao diário vianense "Die Presse". O ex-jornalista da BBC e atual catedrático, disse "não entender a decisão recente tomada pelo Conselho de Administração de ORF, a rádio e televisão austríaca. "Se a Áustria encerra suas emissões em língua extrangeira, encerra também suas fronteiras culturais e intelectuais". É uma decisão absurda, disse, e propõe como alternativa uma combinação de radio e internet. Este é o futuro das rádios internacionais; se podendo obter e escutar as emissões através da Internet, se poderia chegar a um número todavia maior de ouvintes, independentemente das mudanças de horário e com isso, os programas emitidos durante a noite poderiam ser ouvidos a qualquer hora do dia. E aumentando o número ouvintes, poderia aumentar o número de turistas vindos do exterior. Não fazer uso desta fonte de informação para o exterior seria uma loucura para um país como a Áustria. Combinar rádio com a internet não aumenta os custos. Incluir textos na internet nunca tem uma aceitação tão grande como a combinação de textos e rádio. Especialmente países geograficamente pequenos, como a Áustria, deveria aproveitar esta possibilidade de poder ultrapassar eletronicamente suas fronteiras. Não se trata somente de atrair mais turistas, senão também o feito de que a Áustria seja sede de Organismos Internacionais". O experto em meios de comunicação, John Herbert, faze referência às emissões de rádio feita ao exterior, como dispõe a Grã Bretanha, Países Baixos e Alemanha e ademais que "estes países compreendem a importância de poder chegar, com essas emissões, a um grande número de pessoas. A Áustria por ser um país eminentemente católico, tem também na América Latina um grande número de ouvintes em potencial (via Santa Rita DX Clube via Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** CANADA. For the final recording test, "Nobody Does it Better" will be played on CHWO - AM 740 between 9 and 9:30 pm (EDT) on Wednesday April 30th (Brian Smith am740@rogers.com Reception Report Manager for CHWO AM 740 http://www.odxa.on.ca/chwo.html YahooGroup Moderator for AM740 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AM740 Apr 29, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. An intervener alleges that programming from the applicant, CJRN 710 Inc. (Niagara Falls), actually comes from a studio in Buffalo, N.Y.! http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2003/pb2003-22.htm (Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CANADA. VANCOUVER (CP) - Bob Kerr, who shared his vast collection of music and musical knowledge with CBC Radio listeners for 35 years, is dead at 85, CBC has announced. Kerr hosted Off the Record weekday afternoons. And with a fondness for pipe organs, he dedicated each Thursday's program to recordings of the world's greatest pipe organs. Neil Ritchie, who produced Off the Record for more than seven years, remembers Kerr's love of the organ. "Organs were his particular passion and I believe his passion first came about from the organs themselves, the pipes and the keyboards," Ritchie says. "It was sort of a one-man crusade because there were always listeners who dreaded Thursdays." (Relayed by Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, April 10, DXLD) CBC announcement: http://www.vancouver.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=bc_kerr20030409 (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** CANADA. ROBERT ALLAN KERR VANCOUVER -- A plummy voice distinctive in its timbre greeted radio listeners each weekday afternoon. ``Good afternoon, friends,`` Bob Kerr would say, and a devoted audience settled back for another two hours of boyish passion and curmudgeonly complaint. Mr. Kerr, who has died at 84, was the long-time host of the CBC Radio program Off the Record, celebrated both for his eclectic musical selections as well as his eccentric behaviour. He fumed on-air about inadequate liner notes and freely indulged his own whims in music. He played classical pieces, operettas, even the occasional Broadway show tune. Every Thursday broadcast was dedicated to organ music, to some a delightful tribute to an underappreciated instrument, to others a notorious celebration of the banal. One listener sent a weekly fax complaining, ``Stop the organ music, we're not dead yet.`` Mr. Kerr enjoyed an intimate relationship with an audience built from 1 to 3 p.m. (and a half-hour later in Newfoundland) over 36 years of weekday broadcasts. A letter writer to a newspaper once proclaimed him to be a ``national cultural treasure -- and daily friend.`` Richard Gwyn of the Toronto Star included him in a Canada Day paean as one of the ``voices that connect,`` while Russell Smith of The Globe and Mail praised Off the Record for being ``idiosyncratic and passionate.`` Mr. Kerr chose as his show's theme Pachelbel's Canon, helping to popularize a piece so ubiquitous now as to seem unlikely ever to have been obscure. Still, his producers dream of the riches to have been had were they paid a dollar for every time a listener asked the tune's name. Few knew Mr. Kerr had selected the piece because he thought it dull and easy to fade as the show ended. The intimacy of his style encouraged much correspondence, including one fan who regularly sent perfumed love letters and another who maintained a log of every piece of music he selected. The object of their attention was a painfully shy man. ``I can't imagine what it must be like to be a television personality, and to have to deal with recognition at every turn,`` he once told Bill Richardson, whose own As You Like It replaced Off the Record in 1996. ``I rather like having a modicum of celebrity, while at the same time retaining my anonymity.`` Mr. Kerr rarely attended concerts or other public events, preferring instead the solitude of his radio pulpit with its two-hour homily of music and musings for an unseen audience. He personally selected the pieces played on Off the Record, all of which came from his personal library, a legendary collection that occupied several rooms at his home. ``There's a great deal of serendipity in each day's program,`` he told Mr. Richardson on the occasion of his 75th birthday in 1993. ``The show ends at 2:57, and although I sometimes make changes at almost the last minute, we almost always come out on the button, without having to fade. The luck of it seems incredible. And even more Jungian is that from among all my thousands of recordings, I'll settle on one particular piece -- say, the Mahler Sixth -- then look at my notes on the sleeve and find that I'd chosen exactly the same disc a year ago to that very day.`` Less serendipitous would be a record that skipped or a compact disc that misplayed. Mr. Kerr, known for his erudite manner on-air and volcanic temperament off it, would place the offending vinyl, or plastic, on the floor and stomp on it to ensure that it would never again raise his displeasure. Born to privilege, Mr. Kerr was able to indulge his many obsessions, of which classical records were merely the most public. He collected writing instruments as a hobby, and purchased cars and houses as frequently as others might update a wardrobe. He insisted on being up-to-date on the CBC's latest audio purchases, matching the corporation's every technological advancement in his home stereo equipment. A love of gadgets found expression in purchases made through The Home Shopping Network, whether of the latest kitchen blender or a wonder tool for removing odours from a kitty-litter box. Robert Allan Kerr was born in Calgary on April 16, 1918, the son of a man who carried one of the best-known names in the city's history. Isaac Kendall Kerr Jr. was a businessman whose achievements were overshadowed by those of his father, one of Calgary's pioneering industrialists. Mr. Kerr's grandfather was an Ontario-born lumber baron whose interests included a mill, a gas works, a power plant and the Eau Claire Lumber Company, whose name still graces the Calgary neighbourhood in which it originally did business. The family owned a retreat at Sylvan Lake named Kerrhaven, a playground for young Bob and his two siblings. His parents eventually divorced. As an adult, Mr. Kerr rarely spoke of his father, yet always travelled to Calgary to join his mother on her birthday. Mr. Kerr was educated at Shawnigan Lake School, a Vancouver Island boarding school where the scions of the rich received grounding in Latin and other classics. He earned a B.A. from the University of Alberta and taught music appreciation in his hometown. Encouraged by friends impressed by his locution and luxurious voice, Mr. Kerr auditioned for a job at a radio station. In the summer of 1947, he joined his sister and her family in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. He was busy picking peaches outside Penticton when the call came from radio station CFCN in Calgary. Thirteen years later, Mr. Kerr took a CBC announcer's job working from studios on the mezzanine level of the downtown Hotel Vancouver. He soon inherited Off the Record and promptly made the program his own. When the CBC moved into a new facility a few blocks east on Hamilton Street in 1975, he purchased the shelves from the old record library to store his own collection. As well, he had the floors of his house reinforced to handle the withering load. He spent two decades at the new facility, years in which his show became a daily staple of carpeted front parlours and dusty antiquarian bookstores. His knowledge intrigued those familiar with classical works, his passion inspired those of his audience whom he knew were unfamiliar, even intimidated, by such pieces. ``I think he programmed for himself,`` said Neil Ritchie, who produced Off the Record for seven years. ``He had integrity and cared about what he played. He was sort of a salesman, in that he would set up a piece so people would fully enjoy it.`` The origins of the Thursday show dedicated to organ music were long ago forgotten even by their originator. His own interest may be traced to Knox United Church in his hometown, which claims the finest organ west of Toronto and in which his family had long been active. Mr. Ritchie well remembers the Kerr fervour for organs. ``Organs were his particular passion and I believe his passion first came about from the organs themselves, the pipes and the keyboards,`` he said. ``It was sort of a one-man crusade because there were always listeners who dreaded Thursdays.`` His loyal following among listeners was reflected in the print media across the country and every so often a feature about him would appear in the pages of newspapers. Almost exactly 10 years ago, The Globe and Mail arts section ran an interview with him that was accompanied by a picture that became his favourite. Photographer Suzanne Ahearne had been assigned to capture him at his most characterful and showed up at his CBC studio in Vancouver. ``It was a great light-hearted shot of him conducting with the pen he did crosswords with while on air,`` Ms. Aherne said. ``He told me after that it was a picture he'd like to be remembered by.`` In 1996, the CBC announced major changes to programming on CBC Stereo (now Radio Two), including the impending retirement of Mr. Kerr. ``The pace of a daily show has caught up with me,`` he was quoted as saying in a release issued by the network. He was given a monthly, three-hour show plus a weekly appearance on In Performance. His many fans also eagerly awaited his Christmas broadcasts, the last of which was aired in 2001. Mr. Kerr suffered a stroke last August and lay on the floor of his house for days before being discovered. The resulting bruising led to infections and he never fully recovered. Last week, listeners paid a radio tribute on CBC Radio Two's Take Five. So sweeping and unexpected had been their response to Mr. Kerr's death that producers decided to devote most of the April 16 time slot to him and his music. For three hours that day, which also happened to be the date Mr. Kerr would have turned 85, host Shelley Solmes and producer Alison Howard indulged listeners in requests for the kind of music that had been heard on Off the Record and to lengthy reminiscences about the well- loved musicologist. Their comments had arrived unsolicited and unco- ordinated from all across the country and also the United States. ``It was quite overwhelming,`` Ms. Howard said. ``We began to hear from listeners even before we had acknowledged his death on the air. I suppose as we occupy his former time slot and we have a request portion to our program, listeners just sent their e-mails to us.`` The man known for ending his program by wishing his listeners ``a very fond farewell`` died at Evergreen House in North Vancouver on April 8. Mr. Kerr never married. He was predeceased by a brother, Kendall, and a sister, Jane Schofield (Toronto Globe & Mail via Gerald T. Pollard, DXLD) ** CANADA. THE DIEFENBUNKER ON THE AIR (Here is an excerpt from their latest newsletter on the amateur radio station located there - Brian Smith) Described as "the most important surviving Cold War site in Canada" by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, the Diefenbunker is one fascinating place. Located 35 miles from Ottawa in Carp and named after then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, it's a giant bomb shelter built in 1960 to house Canadian government and military big- wigs in the event of nuclear attack. The four-story, 100,000 square foot hardened structure was designed to house 500+ people with 30-day supplies. Besides living facilities, the shelter contained a vault for national treasures, a CBC Radio Studio for emergency Broadcasting, 78 bathrooms and even a morgue! Now a museum, the Diefenbunker is a fascinating and entertaining place to learn about the cold war and Canada's stake in it, especially for kids. Hard-hitting artefacts include a practice 1 Megaton gravity Hydrogen bomb actually used by CF-104 Starfighters for ground and flight practice and a "Rad Sniffer" (radiation and blast monitoring device). --------------------------- In addition to its military radio communications capability and an emergency CBC broadcast studio, the Diefenbunker was equipped with a rather less formal amateur radio (or "ham" radio) station. This facility was operational from the bunker until de-commissioning, providing communications between the bunker and other amateur radio stations world-wide via short wave radio. In October 2002, the amateur radio station was re-activated under the call sign VE3CWM (Victor Echo 3 Cold War Museum). In keeping with the heritage aspects of the Diefenbunker's exhibits, the equipment installed in the "ham shack", while not original, dates from the 60s and 70s. A major challenge in operating a radio station from underground is the need for a cable connection from the radio to somewhere above ground where a suitable antenna can be erected. Unfortunately when the bunker was de-commissioned, all of the above ground short wave antennas were removed and most of the connecting cables sliced off at ground level. So far we have located one useable cable and a temporary short wave transmitting/receiving antenna has been installed on the tower. Efforts will continue in the spring to locate more cables, improve the antenna installation and increase the operational capability of the station. Even under the present rather restricted conditions many contacts have been made with stations throughout North America and Europe. If anyone is interested in helping out with the amateur radio station- you don't have to be a licensed radio amateur to be involved - please contact Shawna Moffatt at (613) 839-0007. Nick Shepherd, Volunteer http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/Canada/diefenbunker.htm http://www.diefenbunker.ca/english/default.asp (via Brian Smith, Apr 27, ODXA via DXLD) ** CHILE. ESCUTAS DE MÚSICA CHILENAS Para muitos pode não ser novidade, mas eu já tinha lido sobre escutas na faixa dos 50 MHz. E hoje após a aquisição nesta semana de um receptor que pega esta faixa, pude ouvir várias emissoras chilenas nestas bandas 47, 48 e 49 MHz. O sinal é espetacular; creio que a propagação estava escancarada, pois recebia até com a antena portátil do receptor. O que mais me chamou a atenção são a qualidade das músicas e não tem propaganda. Agora eu pergunto para alguém que sabe sobre este assunto e que tenha costume de ouvir tais emissoras. Quem mantém emissoras somente para tocar músicas e até mesmo sem identificar a emissora, pois eu não ouvi nenhuma identificação? Enfim se alguém quiser posso passar as frequências (Paulinho, Votuporanga/SP, Apr 27, radioescutas via DXLD) We`ve had reports of these before, which also reach North America, and a link to a website about them which I can`t seem to find now. They`re background music services, which used to be on subcarriers around here (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. Republic of Congo, 5985, Radio Congo, verification statement letter "I must confess and certify that your reception report was true, correct and accurate", v/s Roger Olingou, for English report and $1 US. This in 2 months, report mailed from El Fasher, Sudan by my brother working for a Canadian oil exploration company, reply from Brazzaville. Return address on the envelope: B.P 5378 Quenze', Brazzaville-Congo, (Central Africa). Mr. Olingou apologizes for the delay in the reply. He hopes to visit Canada, is asking for assistance in finding an organization that may help him with passage and a letter of invitation. Then goes on to ask "...can you kindly help me get a visa". He also mentions that if listeners send $5 US or 5 Euro he will record programmes and cover return air postage. He also tells us that $1 US and 1 Euro notes are not exchangeable into CFA Frcs (African Financial Community), only $5 US and 5 Euro or more (Joe Talbot, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. You are listening to Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is DXers Unlimited, and we do QSL here 100 percent... as a matter of fact we have QSLed back to all accurate signal reports since we first went on the air 42 years ago amigos ... May Day of 1961, marks the day that our station used the Radio Havana Cuba name for the first time ... So we are celebrating our station's birthday with a party for all our staff and a very nice cultural event at one of Havana's most famous concert halls, to be attended by all of our workers and their families (Arnie Coro A., CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Apr 29 via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Regarding the departure of HCJB, I wanted to echo comments in the last DXLD that HCJB's 'soft-sell' approach to Christian evangelism was tremendously more effective than the 'fire and brimstone' preaching all the other SW religious broadcasters use. Rather ironic that the effective style goes away, and the ineffective approach will be with us for the forseeable future. And did you notice that, except for a couple of stamps when writing for a QSL, HCJB never asked you for a dime? I wonder if HCJB President Dave Johnson really knows what he's done? (Ben Loveless, WB9FJO, Michigan USA, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, HCJB has a rather unusual funding scheme --- individual missionaries working at the station are responsible for raising donations back at churches in the US to support themselves, thus lengthy leaves for ``home ministry``. I assume other operational expenses are covered in a similar manner (gh, DXLD) ** FINLAND. Warning! Summerkangaroos are on the air again. Take special care in traffic when listening shortwave frequencies 11690, 11720, 5980, 5990 or 6170 kHz while driving. Next alarm day is starting on Friday 2nd May at 21 hours UT. Good music and more 24 hours a day is coming to your ears from Virrat in Finland. Scandinavian Weekend Radio on your dial, of course! Summer schedule: UT 48mb 25mb 21 5980 11720 05 6170 11690 10 11720 14 5980 16 6170 19 5990 11690 Changes in frequencies might happen without beforehand notice! Check http://www.swradio.net Reception reports: We have several new QSLs available! Send your detailed reports with 2 EURO/ 2 USD to SWR/Reports, P. O. Box 35, 40321 Jyväskylä, Finland. Or fill our report form for web- verification http://www.swradio.net/fin/rapo.htm Ooh la la laa, rock it, baby, (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. A RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA: ORTHODOX FANATICS AXE LOCAL STATION BECAUSE OF CATHOLIC PROGRAMS by Felix Corley (Forum 18 News Service) © Copyright 2003 by Forum 18 News Service and republished with the kind permission of Mr. Corley. Readers are invited to visit the Forum 18 website at http://www.forum18.org Forum 18, based in Oslo, Norway, documents instances of abuses of religious liberty around the world. Subscriptions to its newsletter are free and can be entered at the website. Kutaisi, Apr 16 (Forum 18) --- In the wake of an attack on independent radio station Dzveli Kalaki 107.9 FM by ax-wielding men who destroyed the antenna and put it off the air, station director Irakli Machitadze is optimistic the attackers will be brought to justice. "There was wide publicity over the attack and officials promised that the case would be dealt with properly," he told Forum 18 from Kutaisi. He said the station's weekly Catholic program – which has aroused the anger of the local Orthodox bishop and self- appointed vigilantes – was the most likely reason for the attack. But he vowed the Catholic broadcasts will continue. "It is a question of principle." No-one has been sentenced in Georgia for the series of attacks on religious minorities over the past few years, although the organisers are well known. The director of a radio station whose antenna was destroyed on 28 March by a group of men armed with axes --- apparently to prevent the station airing a weekly Catholic program --- says he hopes the perpetrators will be brought to justice quickly. "I'm inclined to be optimistic," Irakli Machitadze, director of independent station Dzveli Kalaki (Old City) told Forum 18 News Service on 15 April from Kutaisi in western Georgia. "There was wide publicity over the attack and officials promised that the case would be dealt with properly." However, others are more sceptical. "Theoretically they will get justice," Emil Adelkhanov of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development told Forum 18 from the capital Tbilisi on 15 April. "But in practice this is highly doubtful." Other employees of the station regard this attack as part of the continuing series of attacks on minority faiths by self-appointed ultra-Orthodox vigilantes that have plagued Georgia in recent years. The vigilantes enjoy de facto immunity from prosecution (see F18News 25 March 2003). Tengiz Shekralidze, who is handling the case at the Kutaisi city procuracy, declined to discuss it. "The investigation is underway, so I am not allowed to say anything," he told Forum 18 on 15 April, before putting the phone down. Machitadze reported that the attackers broke down the door of the radio station late on 28 March, then broke their way onto the roof and destroyed the antenna. He put the damage at 4,000 US dollars (28,985 Norwegian kroner or 3,690 Euros). "We will have to find this money ourselves. It is unlikely we will ever be able to recover it, even if they prosecute the perpetrators." The station has been off the air since the attack, though Machitadze hopes it will be possible to begin broadcasting again in the next few days. "The Catholic program is one of the most likely reasons for the attack," Machitadze told Forum 18. He said the Catholic community in Kutaisi, which he described as "fairly strong", proposed the idea of a weekly program a year and a half ago. He believes the fact that the program touched on the case of the city's former Catholic church – now in the hands of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate – may have contributed to Orthodox hostility to the program and the station. Machitadze stresses that the 28 March attack is only the latest in a string of incidents, including rowdy protests on 22 and 31 January. "The police investigated those incidents but brought no criminal cases. Why not?" He says that in the wake of the latest attack, the city procuracy is again looking at these incidents. As one of the leading suspects in the latest attack – Gia Aprasidze – is a serving army officer, investigation of the attack was handed to the military procuracy, but on 10 April it was returned to the city procuracy after the military procuracy ruled that there was "insufficient evidence" against the officer. Both Machitadze and Adelkhanov report remarks by the local Orthodox bishop, Metropolitan Kallistrat, who has been hostile to the station. "He twice warned his flock not to listen to the Catholic program and threatened that he would deny communion to those who did so," Adelkhanov told Forum 18. He pointed out that local Orthodox seminarians took part in demonstrations against the station in January, including an attempt to ransack the station on 31 January that was prevented by the station's security guards after the police had left. Machitadze believes Metropolitan Kallistrat might have been behind an attempt to close down the station at about the same time, when local people protested that the station's broadcasts were harming their health. With such strong forces ranged against it, Adelkhanov doubts whether Dzveli Kalaki will see justice done and whether the state authorities will protect it. "I believe the station will not have protectors strong enough to resist those who are more powerful. The Catholic Church is very cautious and I doubt it will take strong measures to defend the station." Despite the continuing pressure, Machitadze vows that the weekly 20- minute Catholic broadcasts will continue. "It is a question of principle," he told Forum 18 (Catholic Radio Update April 28 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. Hearing DW's W. Africa English release from Kigali quite well at 2100Z on 15205, but I'm also hearing with reasonable reception the 2000Z East/Central Africa release from Nauen, Germany on the same frequency. I noted different programming between these two releases (Ben Loveless, WB9FJO, Michigan USA, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4869.96, RRI Wamena (Presumed) 1240-1255* 4/30. Pop vocal music; 1255 M announcer with apparent closing, since station left the air right after. Nice signal, rivalling powerhouse RRI Makassar on 4753.4v (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. MOSAIC BROWSER MARKS 10TH ANNIVERSARY 12:41 AM EDT Apr 28 JIM PAUL CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - Ten years ago this month, software developers at the University of Illinois released Mosaic, which used graphics and simplicity to open the World Wide Web to the masses. . . http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/030428/b042802.html (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** IRAQ [and non]. Re R. Sumer/WRN mixture on satellite: The story of the audio file is a long one, but basically Tarek recorded it on a Mac using the True Voice format, which I couldn't read at Radio Netherlands because the mail server (probably the virus checker) had done something weird to the file. Well, I got it here, converted it to a WAV file using a command line conversion program (I grew up with MS-DOS. so that wasn't a problem) and finally to Real Audio. Of course, I can't access the Radio Netherlands audio server from outside the building, and since tomorrow is a national holiday here I won't be in the office. So I've put it on my own Web site. Unfortunately I can't stream it so the file (520k) will have to download first before you can play it. Here's the link: http://www.agsmedia.nl/sumer030428_56.rm UPDATE 2015 UT: Lou Josephs says this is probably crosstalk between different audio subcarriers on this transponder of the Hotbird. All the WRN services are also on the same frequency (12597). Both the French and German services of WRN can be heard on the recording. It would be interesting to know if this problem occurred on the mediumwave transmission, as I assume they use the Hotbird signal to feed the mediumwave audio (Andy Sennitt, RN blog via DXLD) ** IRAQ [and non]. AL-ARABIYA TV OFFERS JOB TO FORMER IRAQI INFORMATION MINISTER - SAUDI PAPER | Text of report in English by Muhammad al-Harbi entitled: "Wordsmith Al-Sahhaf sought by Al- Arabiya, published by Saudi newspaper Arab News web site on 30 April The Al-Arabiya satellite channel has confirmed that it has offered employment to the former Iraqi Minister of Information Mohammed Sa'id al-Sahhaf. Ali al-Hudaythi, director-general of Al-Arabiya, told Arab News that Al-Sahhaf would be free to work for the channel whenever he wanted and that the channel would facilitate whatever he needed, including a residence permit. The idea is that he could choose between presenting special programmes or being a political analyst or both, Al-Hudaythi added. In explaining the offer, the director said that Al-Sahhaf had been part of the former Iraqi government and that because of that, he knew many things of interest to viewers. He also has wide knowledge and experience that could help in explaining Iraq's history and discussing the country's future. Al-Hudaythi denied that the channel was looking for publicity. "The channel chose him because he has things to say about Iraq and he is one of the few Iraqi officials not wanted by the Americans; he is not on the list of 55 wanted Iraqis." He commented sarcastically: "It would be great if we could get Saddam Husayn to work for us." Al-Arabiya is currently featuring Muhammad al-Duri, the former Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, on six live programmes about Iraq, and the channel has plans to hire him as a commentator. Al-Sahhaf is internationally known and many people, especially in the Arab world, would welcome him as a TV personality. Even [US] President [George] Bush admitted last week that he sometimes broke off his official meetings so that he could watch the Iraqi information minister on TV. His press conferences were eagerly awaited during the war when he was called the minister of misinformation. Source: Arab News web site, Jedda, in English 30 Apr 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. DX TARGET ======= GALEI ZAHAL - THE BROADCASTING STATION OF THE ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES By Richard A. D'Angelo One way or another, Israel seems to be always in the international news. Located in an intensely fanatical part of the world, Israel is in a daily struggle for survival with its Middle Eastern neighbors. The Israeli Defense Forces plays a major role in the country`s survival. Galei Zahal is the broadcasting station of the Israel Defense Forces (``IDF``). It to has a major role to play in the Middle East drama of day-to-day living. This DX Target takes a look at an interesting shortwave broadcaster, Galei Zahal the broadcasting station of the Israeli Defense Forces, which can be heard from this distraught part of the world. The Country Israel is a small, narrow, semi-arid country located in the Middle East, along the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. It lies at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. Long and narrow in shape, the country is about 290 miles (470 km.) in length and 85 miles (135 km.) in width at its widest point. It entered history some 35 centuries ago when the Jewish people forsook their nomadic way of life, settled in the Land and became a nation. Over the years, the Land was known by many names - Eretz Israel (Land of Israel); Zion, one of Jerusalem`s hills which came to signify both the city and the Land of Israel as a whole; Palestine, derived from Philistia, and first used by the Romans; the Promised Land; and the Holy Land, to mention but a few. Israel is a country of immigrants with a parliamentary democracy form of government. Since its inception in 1948, Israel`s population has grown five-fold. Its 6.5 million inhabitants comprise a mosaic of people with varied ethnic backgrounds, lifestyles, religions, cultures and traditions. Today Jews comprise about three-quarters of the country`s population, while the country`s non-Jewish citizens, mostly Arabs, make up the rest. A wide spectrum of lifestyles characterize the country, ranging from religious to secular, from modern to traditional, from urban to rural, from communal to individual. The official languages of the country are Hebrew and Arabic, but in the country`s streets many other languages can be heard. Although small in size, Israel encompasses the varied topographical features of an entire continent, ranging from forested highlands and fertile green valleys to mountainous deserts and from the coastal plain to the semitropical Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. Approximately half of the country`s land area is semi-arid. Israel`s climate is characterized by much sunshine, with a rainy season from November to April. Total annual precipitation ranges from 20-30 inches (50-70 cm) in the north to less than an inch (2.5 cm) in the far south. Regional climatic conditions vary considerably: hot, humid summers and mild, wet winters on the coastal plain; dry, warm summers and moderately cold winters, with rain and occasional light snow, in the hill regions; hot, dry summers and pleasant winters in the Jordan Valley; and semi-arid conditions, with warm to hot days and cool nights, in the south. The Economy Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with substantial government participation. It depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20 years. Israel is largely self- sufficient in food production except for grains. Cut diamonds, high- technology equipment, and agricultural products (fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually posts sizable trade deficits, which are covered by large transfer payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the government`s external debt is owed to the US, which is its major source of economic and military aid. The influx of Jewish immigrants from the former USSR during the period 1989-99 coupled with the opening of new markets at the end of the Cold War, energized Israel`s economy, which grew rapidly in the early 1990s. But growth began moderating in 1996. Growth was a strong 6.4% in 2000. But the outbreak of Palestinian unrest in late September 2000 and the declines in the high-technology and tourist sectors led to a 0.6% drop in GDP in 2001. Israel`s industry concentrates on manufacturing products with a high value added that is primarily based on technological innovation. These include medical electronics, agro-technology, telecommunications, computer hardware and software, solar energy, food processing and fine chemicals. The country has been internationally recognized for its extraordinary achievements in agriculture, irrigation, and various high-tech industries and electronic start-ups. Israel`s agricultural successes are the result of a long struggle against harsh, adverse conditions and of making maximum use of scarce water and arable land. Today, agriculture represents some 2.5% of GNP and 3% of exports. Israel produces 93% of its own food requirements, supplemented by imports of grain, oil seeds, meat, coffee, cocoa and sugar, which are more than offset by the wide range of agricultural products for export. The Station Galei Zahal was established in 1950. The initial broadcast on Sunday, 24 September 1950 featured the Prime Minister and Defense Minister at the time, David Ben Gurion, who said the following: ``Military broadcasting, which starts its operations today, is to serve two purposes: to function as an instrument of security and defense, an effective and rapid means of communication for call-up, training, for speeding and putting into operation the forces of the regular and reserve army in all ground, naval and airborne divisions of the regular armed forces.`` He went on to state: ``It is also intended to serve, within the army, as a tool for educating the youth and the people, as an auxiliary educational aid for the absorption of Jewish immigrants, for spreading the language, and the knowledge about the land and the history of the nation, for the consolidation of ``the tribes of Israel`` for forging national will and state responsibility and, for casting light on the historic vision of the people of Israel, with a view to a life of work, peace, justice, freedom and brotherhood. This secondary mission of IDF broadcasting is inherent to the essence and special destination of the IDF.`` Galei Zahal`s programs include extended news coverage, programs on current events, music and culture programs, special programs about the army and security, and Broadcast University. Programs covering culture and entertainment dominate the weekends. Programs on the geography of Israel, historical issues and heritage of the country are also popular. For years, the station has broadcast programs that are chiefly aimed at soldiers, such as a music program with greetings being sent by the soldiers. Programs are developed and carried out by personnel consisting of soldiers who have just been recruited along with senior broadcasters. For years, Galei Zahal has been producing broadcasting talent for all channels of broadcasting in Israel. The station has been operating twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year since 1973. Music is one of the most important elements in the station`s broadcasts. All types of music are well integrated throughout the broadcast day in all of its programs. The emphasis is on Israeli and Mediterranean music accompanied by music from the best international composers. The main program, Galgalatz, combines traffic reports and music drawing on information from helicopters, traffic police, commuters, taxi drivers, etc. Along with the traffic messages, Galgalatz carries music that appeals to a wide audience. The main program features a news report on the hour. The station uses a state-of-the-art control center at the broadcasting center in Jaffe to coordinate all studios. Veteran technicians and soldiers working as technicians work around the clock to provide reliable broadcasts to households all over Israel and to overseas listeners. Galei Zahal broadcasts primarily within Israel on medium wave and FM but also maintains a shortwave radio presence relaying the main Galgalatz program that can be heard worldwide using a 10 Kilowatt transmitter. The station is known to operate on 6,973 kHz and on its alternate channel of 15,785 kHz 24 hours a day. Galei Zahal is often heard at nice levels between 0000 and 0400 UT in North America on 6,973 kHz. The station has been a good verifier of shortwave listener reception reports over the years. With the Israel Broadcasting Authority becoming a reluctant verifier of listener reception reports for Kol Israel transmissions, Galei Zahal becomes the prime shortwave broadcasting target to QSL this country. Reception reports with return postage in the form of a US dollar or two International Reply Coupons can be directed to the station at: Galei Zahal, 23 Yehuda Hayamit Street, 68134 Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel Or, simply address a reception report to Military Post Office Box 01005, Israel. You can try sending an e-mail reception report to the station using the following electronic address: glz@galatz.co.il As always, remember to send in those Galei Zahal logs to Edwin Southwell for the Shortwave Logbook and those interesting QSL verifications should be sent to Mark Hattam for inclusion in the QSL Report column. Good luck with this DX Target (May World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. P`yongyang by long path: I am listening here in Delaware to the Voice of Korea with reasonably good signal during their 2100-2200 UT program in English beamed to Europe on 11.335 MHz. Polar flutter and kinda mushy audio makes intelligibility low so I can't make any obligatory program content observations. The music is pretty clear. Sounds like maybe their engineer was trained by All India Radio. Maybe their signal would be better if they powered the transmitter with nuclear juice. They did say they were using their plant for generation of electricity (Joe Buch, Apr 29, swprograms via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. Last night I swear I heard Radio Korea broadcasting on 2480 kHz at approximately 0300 UT give or take an hour (sorry, I don't remember what time I was listening to it). I could find nothing to verify this transmission in either Passport or Radio Korea's website. There was much discussion regarding the nuclear crisis on the peninsula, and the broadcast came in exceptionally well south of Buffalo on my 398 hooked up to a reel-out antenna. The signal was stable enough that I began to think it was a relay from Sackville or Sheperton. Any idea what I was listening to would be greatly appreciated. Regards, (Jim Welch, location unknown, April 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There is contradictory info about which frequency RKI via Sackville is using at 0200 in English, 9560 as before, 9535 or 9395? Once that is confirmed, we can see what might mix with that to produce 2480, which could also be receiver-generated (gh, DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. Ref DXLD 3-072: Surely the answer to the Radio DMR/Radio PMR question is that in English it's "Radio DMR" (D=Dniestr) and in Russian it's "Radio PMR" (P=Pridnestrovye). A listen to the clip on the Interval Signals Archive at http://www.intervalsignals.net (follow the Moldova link) will verify this! Regards, (Dave Kernick, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Have made three changes to their published schedule - viz.: 0800-1104 World Service to West Europe [which includes English news at 0800 & 1100] has shifted from 17835 to 17825 due IBB Radio Farda until 0830 and D. Welle in Chinese at 1030 using 17835. Parallel is still 21465. 1200-1315 Bangla & Nepali services have moved from 15625 to 15635 due RFA from 1230 using 15625. // is 17635. 1630-1700 Turkish and 1815-1900 Arabic services have moved from 11550 to 11530 due Taiwan and Ukraine using 11550. Parallel is currently 9385 (Noel Green, UK, Apr 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Glenn, I note the inclusion in your recent Web postings about planned operations from PNG on 7 MHz. My broadcasting engineering contacts, and myself, are puzzled, as the so-called "proposed" operations do not appear to be the outcome of any formal plans for such transmission extension within NBC in the immediate future. NBC currently provides a daytime HF service from Port Moresby on 9675 from 2200-0700, switching to 4890 at 0700-1400 for evening services, and morning programming 1930-2200. Evening s/off and morning s/on times are variable. The only other daytime HF service is on 5985, Rabaul, irregularly operating in the period 2200-0000 with schools programming for the Gazelle Peninsula. The Kundu provincial stations do not operate during the daytime on HF, as listed in some sources on 6 MHz, due to the unavailability of suitable antennas. There are no plans to re-establish those daytime transmissions. FM services are expanding in all provinces, including the National (Karai) service, Commercial network, Kalang network, Kundu network, NAU and YUMI FM networks, PNG CBN, Pacific Partners, and PNG University. At this writing, there is no all night service from any NBC service, although some of the non-NBC FM broadcasters do in fact operate 24- hrs. It would be more meaningful for publication of such "planned" information to be specific, rather than clouded in mystery (Bob Padula, Victoria, Apr 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Summer A-03 schedule of Radio Romania International: ARABIC 0700-0756 15250 15340 15370 17720 17745 17790 1300-1356 15250 15365 15390 17745 17790 17815 AROMANIAN 1800-1826 756 7140 2030-2056 756 7185 BULGARIAN 0500-0526 756 5965 1630-1656 756 7105 CHINESE 0630-0656 17735 21480 1430-1456 15340 17790 ENGLISH 0200-0256 9510 11940 15105 17720 0400-0456 9510 11940 0700-0756 21480 1400-1456 15250 17805 1700-1756 9510 11820 11940 15380 2100-2156 7185 9510 9725 11775 2300-2356 9570 11740 11775 15105 FRENCH 0500-0556 9635 11940 1100-1156 15250 15380 17745 17805 1500-1556 11970 15250 15260 17805 2000-2056 9510 11940 15255 17720 GERMAN 1200-1256 11775 15150 1600-1656 9690 11940 15170 1900-1956 9625 11940 GREEK 1330-1356 756 9680 1730-1756 756 9535 HUNGARIAN 0600-0626 5965 7225 1930-1956 5990 7125 ITALIAN 1100-1126 15180 1400-1426 756 11820 2000-2026 756 9655 PORTUGUESE 0100-0156 15340 17815 2200-2256 11885 15365 ROMANIAN 0000-0156 5955 7225 11940 15255 0200-0256 5955 7225 9540 11675 0300-0356 5955 7225 11675 15230 0400-0526 7105 9625 9690 11790 15230 17735 0530-0556 756 7105 9625 9690 11790 15230 17735 0600-0656 756 9625 9690 11830 11840 11940 0700-1056 756 11830 15105 0800-0856 15270 15370 17790 17805 17860 21530 Sun only 0900-0956 15180 15250 17745 17790 17840 21490 Sun only 1000-1056 15380 15390 17745 17790 17805 21480 Sun only 1100-1256 756 11830 15105 15390 17790 1300-1356 11830 15105 1400-1426 11830 15105 15270 17720 1430-1456 756 11830 15105 15270 17720 1500-1556 756 11830 15105 1600-1626 756 11830 11960 15105 15335 1630-1756 11830 11960 15105 15335 1800-1856 9690 9735 11830 11970 1900-2026 756 7145 9690 9735 11970 2030-2056 7145 9690 9735 11970 2100-2156 7105 9530 9690 11970 2200-2356 5990 7105 11940 15255 RUSSIAN 1200-1256 11740 15270 17745 1500-1556 9590 11775 1900-1956 7205 9680 SERBIAN 1300-1326 756 9680 1830-1856 756 7135 SPANISH 0000-0056 9530 11730 15340 17815 0300-0356 9570 11725 11970 15245 1800-1856 15380 17745 2200-2256 11730 15380 TURKISH 1130-1156 11780 1700-1726 756 9530 UKRAINIAN 0530-0556 7195 1600-1626 7195 (Observer, Bulgaria, Apr 29 via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN--Coming up on Radio Sweden: Thursday: On May Day -- a roundtable on political involvment among the young Friday: Our weekly review Saturday: "Network Europe" Sunday: "In Touch With Stockholm" takes up the changing face of Swedish defence and native cultures and women's rights Just as we've been offering MediaScan and our daily headlines via e-mail we're now putting our Monday to Friday news on a mailing list. If you'd like to subscribe, write to: ne-@radiosweden.org [truncateds but we can guess] If you want to subscribe to our daily headlines, the subjects covered in each day's program Monday to Friday, write to: headl-@radiosweden.org You can find mailto links for both subscriptions on our website at RadioSweden.org (lower right hand part of the page) where there's also a little orange "XML" button. This is for access to an RSS syndicated feed of our news, for inclusion in websites. The BBC, CNN, and NPR offer such feeds, and now we do too! (George Wood, SCDX/MediaScan Apr 30 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. Do you have any current information about WYFR relays of Radio Taiwan International ? I am hearing what I think is their listed Hokkien [Amoy] service at 0600-0700 s-off on 9680 at poor to fair strength most mornings. HFCC says 9680 at 0145-0700 YFR at 315 degs to Ciraf Zone 2. I guess they have a very large audience of Amoy speakers up there, but fortunately, the beam crosses a large part of N. America too. I think you've previously discussed the fact that WYFR doesn`t list these relays anywhere - or do they? Keep up the good work. Best 73s, (Noel Green, UK, Apr 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Hola amigo: Disculpe que le vengo a molestar de nuevo. Tuvimos un problema en el enlace de la actividad para el Dia de la Madre que dificulto' la entrada a muchos oyentes. Ahora ya esta resuelto el problema, por lo tanto le invito a visitar de nuevo y dejar sus palabras. http://www.cbs.org.tw/Spanish/index.htm Si ya ha entrado o dejado su mensaje, ignore este aviso. Saludos, Bonnie Cheng SECCION ESPANOLA DE RADIO TAIPEI INTERNACIONAL (via George Maroti, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Webcast tip o' the day: Voice of Turkey: I am sure I'm not the only one who finds the TRT website positively awful to navigate. I've been able to do some digging through the HTML and have identified the key links in order to listen to their live webcast. English airs live at 0300, 1230, 1830, 2030, and 2200 UT -- according to their schedule, which shows Istanbul time, not UTC. To listen live, put this URL into your browser or directly into Windows Media Player: mms://212.175.166.3/rdvot You can also directly get to their "mini-console" for other TRT services by entering this URL: http://www.trt.net.tr/saytek/web3/canli/canli.html (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Apr 29, swprograms via DXLD) You might have saved yourself some trouble by going through http://www.publicradiofan.com which has had access to VOT for quite some time, and is adding more and more international stations (gh) ** U K [and non]. Re Paul David`s BFBS monitoring: There is a very good reason Paul cannot hear 17635 - the station has shifted to 17800 at 1600-1700. The unID station reported on 15150 at 1730 is probably the European service of RRI Jakarta, which starts at 1730 in Spanish. Frequency 15795 is operating, but varies considerably in strength from day to day from nothing to fair at my location (Noel Green, Blackpool, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. COMPLAINTS ABOUT BBC SHOWS ARE DOUBLED By Tom Leonard, Media Editor From the London Telegraph April 30 Complaints about the BBC's television and radio programmes more than doubled in the past year, figures showed yesterday. A total of 1,596 complaints were investigated by the corporation in the year to March, compared with 794 in the previous 12 months. Greg Dyke, the BBC director-general, blamed the rise on audiences now being able to email their views. In the past year 807 items prompted complaints, compared with 515 the year before. The proportion of complaints about sexual conduct almost quadrupled - from 3.5 per cent to 13.5 per cent - and complaints on religious grounds went up to 13 per cent from three per cent. Two programmes accounted for a total of 300 complaints. The first was The Virgin Mary, a documentary shown close to Christmas. Mr Dyke said some viewers felt it had undermined their religious beliefs. The second particularly controversial programme was an episode of Casualty in which two gay characters kissed. Complainants are allowed to appeal to the governors if their complaint is rejected. Only one appeal was upheld this year. The governors agreed that BBC2's Correspondent Special: The Siege of Bethlehem, had not sufficiently stressed to viewers that it was Israeli-made and researched, and that it had offered a one-sided account (via Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC STATION OFFERS AIRWAVES ALTERNATIVES By Chris Durant The Times-Standard, Eureka (California) FRESHWATER -- When the scan button on your radio stops on 91.5 FM and a British accent says you're listening to the British Broadcasting Corp., it seems like a freak crossing of satellite signals or some other technical glitch. But then the soft voice of Monica Olsen says the station is out of Bayside. Bayside? Yes, Bayside. Humboldt County's Bayside. Everything from African cricket tournament scores to headlines from Malaysian newspapers can be heard on KZPN. Olsen broadcasts the distinctly British perspective from a small room in the back of a house off Greenwood Heights Road. The radio station is considered to be in Bayside because that's where the post office box is. "There's a style of broadcasting, and I think it's in Canada as well as Europe, that I miss," Olsen said as to why she started the nonprofit station in 1992. BBC representatives often call Olsen to see how the station is coming along. She thinks there may be another station like hers in North Carolina, but people in London have told her she has the only BBC World Service station in the United States. Olsen, a native of Yorkshire, England, moved to Humboldt County from Los Angeles in 1979 when her husband, Lee Olsen, got a job in the area. "I hadn't heard of Humboldt County but I said as long as I can get the soap operas, i.e. Masterpiece Theater, " Olsen said. "If I can get a public TV station, I'd be all right." Olsen isn't concerned with how many people listen to the program or the station's ratings. "I don't agree with doing that," Olsen said. "Somebody kept calling, it could have been Arbitron (the radio rating company). He was a really nice guy but I said 'Hey look, can you think of any moral reason why I should cooperate and fill out this garbage so that you will have more information so that other people can program against me?'" Olsen tries not to program against other stations. "To me this isn't a commercial competition," Olsen said. "I think people have found that I try to do what other people ain't. I call it flip flop." Olsen noticed more people have been listening to the BBC since the war started. People are not always pleased with the British coverage, but still listen. People even threatened her life after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "I got death threats because I think the BBC was trying to toe the line and remain balanced but some people just didn't see it that way," Olsen said. "It was pretty scary." People even called her to say they were going to blow the station up. "I got so angry," Olsen said. "I thought, if anybody actually arrives I will show them to the transmitter and let them blow it up." Olsen called the affiliation process with the BBC odd. "Because we pay the NPR (National Public Radio) satellite and then I paid an initial fee to BBC and then it's about $200 a year after that," Olsen said. The station is fully funded by donations and occasionally with money available from the Humboldt Area Foundation. The idea to broadcast the BBC World Service came when Olsen had a satellite connection for her personal listening and heard a representative ask if anyone was interested in broadcasting. Her husband Lee Olsen has experience with electronics and broadcasting. He helped his wife get the proper equipment up and working. "We got a signal going and then I called London and I said 'We'd like rebroadcast the BBC," Olsen said. Olsen broadcast on her homemade equipment for two hours before calling BBC headquarters. "I said we've tested it and we've gone out on the air for about two hours now. The woman said 'You what?'" Olsen said. "But she didn't say stop, I was just dreading that." The BBC representative took Olsen's information and called her back within an hour. "She said 'You're sounding good' and I thought whoa, they got spies," Olsen said. "She told us we shouldn't do it without a contract and she had one in the mail." Olsen has kicked around the idea of airing local programs, but has decided against it, for now. "That would mean too much complication," Olsen said. "It's really low budget, low maintenance and I don't want to muddy the waters." When people call her to complain about something they heard, Olsen directs them to the BBC and encourages them to call. The BBC is broadcast about 16 hours a day, the rest of the time Olsen plays classical music. She wants it known that she's not a classical music station. She doesn't concentrate on what she called "heavy" classical music. "It's for people to do stuff by," Olsen said. "I just try to keep it, God forbid I say Muzak, but light." Olsen is happy with where the station is now and doesn't want to get in the cycle of needing more money to buy more equipment to raise more money. "It should be small enough that if Humboldt County doesn't want to support it, they don't deserve it," Olsen said. http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127%257E2896%257E1355449,00.html (via Andy Sennitt, Kim Elliott, Jilly Dybka, Alan Pennington, DXLD) ** U S A. Scheduled for this Saturday's A Different Kind Of Oldies Show, a live interview with Herb Cox, founder and lead singer of the Cleftones. Herb and I will be discussing the history of this New York City pioneer R&B Group and will be playing tracks from their new CD. Join us Saturday night, 5/3/03, at 8 PM Eastern/Midnight UT on WBCQ/7415 kHz shortwave or on the web at http://www.live365.com/stations/steve_cole for mp3 audio in Stereo or http://www.doowopcafe.com for Real Audio (mono). |^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| | "Big Steve" Coletti | | A Different Kind Of Oldies Show on WBCQ, 7415kHz Shortwave | | Saturday Evenings at 8:00 ET, 0000 UTC-Sunday | | E-mail: bigstevecole@email.com - http://www.dorsai.org/~bigsteve | | US Mail: P.O. Box 396, New York, NY 10002 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (via DXLD) ** U S A. I hesitate to report a strange "interference" or fault at Boulder's own transmitter, wherein a loud tone, which sounds to me like a 660 Hz tone, very loud, never reducing in volume or cutting off, obliterating the underlying normal WWV traffic. This from aprox 1055-1113 GMT 4/30/03. I have no DFing capability to locate this signal on 5000 kHz; I heard no traffic on 10 or 15 MHz, as it was early in the local day. 73 de (KB9NXD, Michael A. Mathis, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. QSLing: I have two VOA cards, and they just took half a month's time arriving here in China, one is Tinang, and the other is Saipan. I think you may try this address: jvodenik@del.ibb.gov Remember, I am Xi, (Xi Nietzsche, China, Apr 29, dxing.info via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. AMATEURS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN 2003 ARMED FORCES DAY ON-AIR EVENT NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 28, 2003 --- The US Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will cosponsor the annual military/Amateur Radio crossband communications tests the weekend of May 10-11. The event will mark the 53rd celebration of Armed Forces Day. Although Armed Forces Day actually is Saturday, May 17, the Armed Forces Day Amateur Radio event is held a week earlier to avoid conflicting with [the Dayton] Hamvention. The event features a military-to-amateur crossband communications SSB voice test and the Secretary of Defense message receiving test. ``These tests give Amateur Radio operators and shortwave listeners an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills and receive recognition from the Secretary of Defense and/or the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise,`` the chiefs of the Army, Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) said in announcing the event. During the crossband test, 14 military stations in the continental US, Germany and Hawaii will listen on amateur frequencies in the 80, 40, 20, 15, 12 and 10-meter bands and transmit on selected MARS frequencies --- a mode of operation similar to the split operation used by many DXers. Participating military stations will announce their listening frequencies. Not all stations will be active on all amateur bands or at all times, depending on propagation and staffing. Most military stations will commence operation at 1200 UT on May 10. Amateurs are asked to limit the duration of contacts to two minutes or less. QSL cards will be provided to those making contact with the military stations. Special commemorative certificates will be awarded to anyone who receives and copies the digital Armed Forces Day message from the Secretary of Defense. Eight military stations will transmit the Secretary of Defense's Armed Forces Day message at stated intervals via digital modes, including RTTY, PACTOR, AMTOR, CLOVER and MT63. Amateurs submitting ``as received`` hard-copy evidence of successful reception will be awarded commemorative certificates. A listing of stations, frequencies, anticipated hours of operation and operating instructions is available on the ARRL Web site. http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/af-day/armdfrcs-2003.html (ARRL via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** U S A. You have an article including comments by Michelle Malkin concerning `religious` stations usurping translators in the non- commercial FM band. Ms. Malkin [is] a very prolific writer of far right wing articles. At one pont she is rabidly defending the ``religious`` stations causing the demise of some NPR translators. Don`t get me wrong. What Mr. Wildmon and his AFR organization {does} is legal. The fact that it is legal does not make it morally correct, however. Then Ms. Malkin goes on to moan about the federal government subsidies given NPR stations. A few numbers, please. How much do they get? She doesn`t want to push the issue too much because, while Mr. Wildmon owns at least 200 stations, all of which broadcast one of his three formats [saves a ton on programming costs], there are no NPR station groups anywhere that large. It is truly a David and Goliath, but she cannot see who is David and who is Goliath. Mr. Wildmon is the giant bully here. What she does not mention is that Mr. Wildmon and all of his ilk, including Jan and Paul Crouch {TBN}, are massively at the public trough, too. They operate as religious organizations, meaning that [the organization] income is free from federal taxes. Free from federal taxes means that other taxpayers have to pick up the bill, and if that is not a public subsidy, I don`t know what is. Having a public subsidy to run a religious organization may well be in the general public interest; it is hard to justify, however, in a multi- racial, multi-cultural society such as ours, giving a gorup such as Wildmon`s a huge public subsidy, probably well out of proportion to what our government`s laws originally intended. I looked at the programming listing for his main programming channel [which is broadcast over most of his stations]. He includes several decidedly non-religious broadcasts s day. . . Phyllis Schafly, a Catholic, who has very little to do with religion, but a lot to do with right wing movements. Mr. Wildmon is well known for his similar involvements, and AFR also has D. James Kennedy of Fort Lauderdale. Ms. Malkin ingores the very salient fact that an organization with 200 stations, with regular beg-a-thons [Fmedia falls them ``share-a- thons``] can easily amass huge amounts of non-taxable revenue [not to mention the fact that these ``contributions`` can be claimed as tax- exempt donations by the givers]. This is way beyond what individual NPR stations can hustle up with local donations. So, yes, there may be a federal subsidy to NPR stations and, yes, donations to these stations are generally tax-exempt; but this is small potatoes when compared to the mega-organizations like Mr. Wildmon`s or the Couches who are the huge hogs at the public trough. One does not expect Ms. Malkin to recognize any of this. Ignoring the whole picture on issues is part and parcel of folk in her movement (Joseph Martin, Los Angeles, Feb-Mar-Apr Fmedia! via DXLD) [brackets in the above article are sic, presumably editorial remarks or clarifications by Bruce Elving; gh`s remarx there are in {}] ** U S A. SCS consultant Lyle Henry has advice on the pages of Radio Guide. There has been a huge drop in interest in leasing SCA space in the last couple of years. The prices stations can get are therefore also down. Foreign language broadcasters are still interested from time to time, but the ones who used the most SCAs have been able to lease or buy AM or FM stations. For example, the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Persians here in Los Angeles. The Spanish community never has used SCA here, but in markets where they do not have a large presence they may be candidates, as would other minority groups. Most data applications have failed, including Seiko`s Message Watch service, Command Audio`s digital service (which went to satellite) and Clariti`s digital VOCA Wireless Messaging. Paging never worked that well on SCA because of the tiny antennas that had to be used, the RF noise created by the digital electronics right next to the antenna, and multipath. Music services have essentially gone to satellite delivery. Tips for happier SCSes: Put analog on 92 kHz and digital on 67 kHz; 57 kHz RDS is close enough to 67 to be annoying in analog receivers. Digital signals on 57 and 67 coexist nicely. Give SCS clients the injexion they need to do the job; 10 percent is normal and generally necessary, particularly on analog. Run analog SCAs at 6 kHz deviation on 67 kHz and 7 kHz deviation on 92 kHz. This is a win-win. The more that SCA signal is spread out, the less likely that it will show up as a birdie (whistle) in your main channel in areas where you have multipath. Most car radios blend to mono where there is multipath anyway, so this is not much of an issue nowadays and does not happen on mono stations. Even in stereo, it`s almost a non-issue when analog is on 92 kHz. Stories of SCA birdies mostly come from years ago, are related to 67 kHz, and were sometimes caused and/or aggravated by transmitter mistuning. Be aware of the ``sound`` of the digital stream that a digital SCA client will use if you are a talk, classical music or other format stereo station running light audio processing and have multipath problems. The best digital data stream sounds like white noise, but there are some that are very raucous. RDS itself is a noisy one. When the data stream is essentially white noise, it is unnoticeable in multipath conditions. Be aware that the maximum total SCA injexion is 30 percent for mono FM stations and 20 percent for stereo stations. The limit above 75 kHz is 10 percent, so while you may run a 57 or 67 kHz SCA at 20 percent on a stereo station, you may run at 92 at no more than 10 percent. ``Incidentally a 39 or 41 kHz SCA at 30 percent is one honking signal on a mono station. Great coverage.`` (Feb-Mar- Apr FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. from Northwest Broadcasters site: http://members.shaw.ca/nwbroadcasters/recentnews.htm In order to provide listeners with a consistent signal both day and night, KIXI AM 880 Seattle now is simulcasting on the subcarrier, known also as Subsidiary Communications Authority or SCA, of sister station KWJZ-FM 98.9. PD Bob Brooks advises that they are getting "Great results with a small portable test radio. The signal is clear from Everett to Olympia and east to North Bend, west to Bremerton and beyond". Radios capable of receiving the SCA signal are required, and are being sold on KIXI's website. I know nothing about SCAs (Eric Floden, Vancouver, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Returning to its roots --- physically --- is Pacifica adio. A previous board voted to move the network`s headquarters to Washington DC, but the current board, after months of wrestling with the issue, decided to move back to Berkeley CA. The board did not want to move because Pacifica is $1.5 million in debt, but long term it looks like a good idea. The organization owns a building adjacent to KPFA *94.1, which they can take over rent-free, as opposed to its paying $50,000 a year in the District. The move is expected either this month or March. The network started in Berkeley in 1949, ``and the city`s lefty climate matches Pacifica`s progressive ideals.`` Washington, in contrast, was termed ``a cesspool,`` which drew a sharp objexion from board member and former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who said they were probably referring to ``national Washington DC, not local Washington DC.`` (Feb-Mar-Apr FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. SHOESTRING RADIO --- SCRAPPY INDEPENDENT STATION WRFG CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF PROVIDING A 'VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS' Rodney Ho - Staff, Wednesday, April 30, 2003 Every Thursday night, David Chamberlain, a disc jockey for WRFG radio, stuffs a bunch of CDs and vinyl records from his home collection into a ragged cloth bag and spins two hours of Western swing, or "jazz with a twang," as he describes it. But last Thursday, the lanky, balding Chamberlain, 48, decided to play nothing but yodeling songs for the station's current two-week fund-raising marathon. "I called it Yodelrama," he said. "It's a masochistic kind of thing. People almost paid me money to turn it off." WRFG-FM (89.3), a shoestring nonprofit station located in the Little Five Points Community Center, will turn 30 years old this summer, much the same as it was when it began in 1973. A group of stubborn idealists seeking a "voice for the voiceless" in terms of music and politics, the station bucks the truisms of commercial radio with wildly diverse programming, leftist political views and a plucky volunteer spirit. Unlike its commercial brethren, WRFG doesn't restrict its playlist to 300 songs, hand out $10,000 cash prizes or schedule out-of-town disc jockeys to "tape" a four-hour show in 15 minutes. Instead, it relies on 100 unpaid jockeys who often lug in their own record collections, two-week on-air begathons for subscribers, and the ingenuity of an operations director who keeps decades-old equipment running with duct tape and a prayer. The music ranges from Celtic to Caribbean to ''black rock'' (''Alternative Rock Soul-U-Tions''). The station's anti-corporate, underdog philosophy is both its core strength and its weakness. There is constant tension between those who raise the most money, such as the relatively apolitical blues staff, and the social activists, whose public affairs shows attract far fewer listeners and very little money. But there's a richness of sound and opinion heard nowhere else on Atlanta radio. "We sometimes pick shows that have small audiences because we feel they're important," noted Joe Shifalo, a WRFG founder and a board member. Unlike noncommercial neighbor WABE-FM, "we're not here to serve huge corporations," declared Heather Gray, board president and the host of a weekly show called "Just Peace." WRFG also lacks the backing of a university, unlike Georgia Tech's WREK-FM, relying instead on membership fees, grants from the likes of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Fulton County Arts Council, and annual fund-raisers such as the Peachblossom Bluegrass Festival. Treasurer Jo Ann Cooper said that, in the current difficult economy, grants are down and membership has dropped to 2,500 (from 4,000 in the mid-1990s), while annual revenues have fallen to $300,000 from closer to $500,000. That modest budget is less than what many Atlanta morning disc jockeys make per year. WRFG, which draws an estimated 40,000 listeners a week, survives on four paid staff members overseen in communal fashion by volunteer committees and a board. "We're trying to stay afloat," Cooper said. "It's tough." The station owes its existence to the federal government's desire after World War II to provide air space for educational institutions. When FM radio became a real factor in the early 1970s, social activists nabbed many of the noncommercial signals on the left-hand end of the dial, said Carol Pierson, president of the National Foundation of Community Broadcasters. WRFG, which she calls "one of the early pioneers," remains a major force among 50 or 60 similar independent stations nationwide, despite its financial problems. Debuting at a modest 10 watts in the summer of 1973, the station at one point struggled to reach to the edge of Midtown with a $20 Radio Shack antenna mounted on a plumber's pipe. Organizers found space in a cruddy Victorian-style bungalow on Euclid Avenue. "We had pigeons in the ceiling and had to scrape poop off the turntable before putting records on," recalled former station manager Sharron Wiggins. The station, which gradually upped its power and moved to its current location in 1982, was the first in town to target specific populations (gay, African-American, disabled) with shows for and about them. It broke ground playing punk, goth and rap. That diversity has made for odd bedfellows. "You'd have the bluegrass people, the gay activists and black nationalists in one room," said Mike Rose, who worked at WRFG from 1979 to 1994. "There were hard-core radicals and conservative patriotic types, which created plenty of argumentative shoutfests." Rose --- who credits the station for jump-starting his radio career and is now operations manager at talk station WALR-AM (1340) --- said he considered himself liberal at the time but didn't always like the way topics were covered. As a Jew, he said, he didn't appreciate it when a group of black jockeys calling themselves Radio Free Griots ran Louis Farrakhan speeches with no rebuttal. One staff member, he remembered, threatened to put a bomb in his car when he argued about that. "I said, 'Go for it, buddy,' " Rose recalled. He never did. Wiggins said she was let go as station manager in the late 1980s partly over racial issues, though she remains active with WRFG. "Some people felt like a white woman should not be in charge of a station in a city that is more than 50 percent black," Wiggins said. Harlon Joye, a station founder and a board member, said Wiggins' perception was understandable given the conflicts she had with some black nationalists, but Joye said racial tensions are far less prevalent today. The last major schism came in 1991, when Tom Davis, then general manager, dropped several bluegrass programs, took 60 volunteers off the air and added music geared to younger African-Americans. "It was a war," Davis said, noting that he had to hire off-duty police officers for the station as a precaution. "Sometimes you have to drag people kicking and screaming into the next phase. You can't wait for everyone on the board to get on board." In the mid-1990s, under Davis, the station raised $200,000 to increase its signal to the current 100,000 watts, emanating from a tower at Clark Atlanta University. That's the same as local powerhouses such as V-103 and 99X, but because the tower is too low, there are transmission problems. WRFG has applied for a grant to fix that problem. In 1998, Davis' successor streamlined the weekday programming, which has stayed surprisingly consistent: blues and then rhythm and blues in the morning, world music and public affairs in the afternoon, bluegrass and jazz in the evening, and black talk, rap and reggae at night. Weekends range from doo-wop to Celtic to zydeco. During the recent war in Iraq, WRFG --- which relies on the liberal Pacifica Radio Network --- was stridently skeptical in its coverage. In comparison, "NPR is increasingly middle of the road and has taken the mainstream perspective on Iraq," said board president Gray. Regular listener Steve Cooke, general manager of Sevananda Natural Foods Market in Little Five Points, said he appreciates the station's diversity both in music and thought. "They're a great source of independent media at a time most of the media is controlled by multinational corporations," Cooke said. And despite occasional purchase offers from religious groups and educational institutions such as Emory University, WRFG isn't going away anytime soon. "We will never, ever sell out," Gray vows. "Ever." ON THE WEB: http://wrfg.org/scheduleAlt.asp NOTABLE EPISODES IN WRFG HISTORY: 1973 -- Hits the airwaves at 10 watts 1977-1980 -- Produces the 50-part "Living Atlanta!" series on the city's history 1980 -- Ramps up to 24,380 watts, goes 24/7 1982 -- Moves to current location in Little Five Points Community Center 1987 -- Provides a voice for Cuban prisoners during the rebellion at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary 1991 -- Moves bluegrass music to evenings, starts ''World Party,'' a world music show 1995 -- Goes to 100,000 watts 2000 -- Ousts station manager, goes to a group leadership structure (c) 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. Jerry Williams has passed away. Details at: http://www.boston.com/news/daily/29/williams_obit.htm Marc DeLorenzo, Boston, Apr 29, NRC-AM via DXLD) JERRY WILLIAMS, DEAN OF TALK RADIO IN BOSTON, DEAD AT 79 By BIPASHA RAY, The Associated Press, 4/29/03 4:17 PM BOSTON (AP) -- Jerry Williams, considered one of the pioneers of talk radio and credited with making the format a catalyst for political change, died Tuesday. He was 79. Williams died at Massachusetts General Hospital after a long illness, said Rod Fritz, news director of Boston's WRKO-AM, where Williams hosted a popular afternoon drivetime program in the 1980s. "He started doing issues-oriented talk shows back in the 1950s, and it just blossomed from there," Fritz said of the man he called the "dean" of talk radio. "He's probably best known for his time in Boston, but he made waves everywhere he went, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago." Paul Lyle, a board member of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts, which Williams founded, said Williams was the first to prove that talk shows could effect political change. "Whether we agreed or disagreed with him, we know that he did a lot for our industry, opened up doors for us, helped make it what it is today," said Lyle, a talk radio manager in Silverdale, Wash. Williams started his radio career in Bristol, Tenn., in 1946 and later came to Boston to work for WMEX-AM. He became widely known at Boston's WBZ-AM, where he was on the air for eight years beginning in 1968 to an audience that covered 38 states and Canada. In 1976, Williams joined WMCA/New York, and the following year he moved to WWDB/Philadelphia, where he became the first FM talk host, according to the Web site of the Radio Hall of Fame, where Williams was inducted in 1996. Williams spearheaded many drives, including one to repeal Massachusetts' mandatory seat belt law in 1986, arguing that the government should not intrude on people's individual freedoms. Chip Ford of Citizens for Limited Taxation credits his entry into political activism to Williams' campaign on the seat belt issue. "He had his finger on the pulse of the average citizen, the taxpayer," Ford said. "And they loved him because he was speaking for them. He was saying things they didn't have the voice to say." Williams' cantankerous style and populist views made him popular among listeners but often infuriated politicians and public officials. He became an especially harsh critic of then-Gov. Michael Dukakis. "He would take his prisoners and he would fight his battles to the end," said Lyle. "But he always led with his heart. He was very passionate, very expressive." He recalled how Williams would leap out of his chair when he got excited or riled up, and flail his hands around as he talked, whether he was behind the microphone or in public. Williams was able to score important interviews at WROL, Fritz said, such as getting Malcolm X on his show at a time when the civil rights leader didn't like talking to the media. He was also one of the first people, back in the 1980s, to be "yelling and screaming" about Boston's Big Dig highway project, accurately predicting that it couldn't be finished on time or on budget, Ford said. "I'll remember him best as a gentle man, a curmudgeon, but a gentle man," Fritz said. "Even if he didn't like you, there was a respect there that only comes from a gentleman." David Brudnoy, a talk show host at WBZ-AM, worked with Williams for five years at WRKO and remained a friend. "We sometimes disagreed about issues, but the personal relationship was very warm," Brudnoy said. "He educated me in showing passion and not be embarrassed about showing that I cared." Williams, who left WRKO in 1998, had been in semi-retirement in Marshfield, doing the occasional guest show. He is survived by three daughters. Jimi Carter of WROL-AM of Boston, where Williams had done guest shows, said he'd always remember one piece of advice from Williams: "'If you can't be good, be loud."' (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. El pasado sábado escuché en tu programa "World of Radio", edición 1179, una referencia a la emisora o red comunitaria caraqueña conocida como Radio Perola. Hablabas de un reportaje de un periodista que vino a Caracas recientemente y el cual disertaba sobre todo lo que repiten los medios comerciales acá...que Chávez los tiene amenazados, que los van a cerrar, que si la fulana libertad de expresión está en peligro y cosas por el estilo, las cuales no fueron mencionadas en tu espacio pero imagino fueron escritas por el periodista en su artículo. También se hacía referencia a Radio Perola como una emisora patrocinada por el gobierno, que funciona en las zonas pobres o cerros de la capital y que sólo pasa propaganda de Chávez y su "self- proclaimed revolution". Esto último dicho por el actual presidente de la Cámara Venezolana de la Industria de la Radiodifusión, la cual, está demás decir, vela por los intereses mercantilistas de los radiodifusores comerciales. Ahora bien, ¿la libertad de expresión está en peligro en Venezuela? Cualquier ser inteligente, apenas pisa Venezuela, puede caer en cuenta de que en este país ese derecho ya no se llama libertad, sino LIBERTINAJE. Ese derecho constitucional es respetado en el país y los radiodifusores y "des-opinadores de oficio" abusan de él. ¿Chávez amenaza a los medios? ¿Los va a cerrar? Para información de todos, esos medios que han instigado a la violencia y han patrocinado el golpismo, ellos mismos se han puesto al margen de la ley. La ley reza que hay que aplicarles el Reglamento de Comunicaciones vigente y si a ver vamos, ¡mínimo!, les sale suspensión de la señal a la gran MAYORÍA. Repito mi pregunta, ¿quién es el culpable? ¿Chávez? Por cierto, es muy pintoresco escuchar las opiniones acerca de Radio Perola, lanzadas por el presidente de la Cámara de Radiodifusión. ¿Y dónde estaba ese señor cuando durante tres días nos sometieron a un apagón informativo, a todos los venezolanos? Eso sí es violación de los derechos humanos, de la libertad de información. Y ¿por qué tanto miedo por Radio Perola? Sencillo, proyectos comunitarios como Radio Perola rompen el monopolio de la información sesgada de los medios comerciales. Cuando todos los medios se callaron, en abril de 2002, canales como Radio Perola fueron la fuente de noticias veraces. La Cámara de la Radiodifusión tiembla porque ya no tiene el MONOPOLIO de la información para seguir manipulando a su antojo. Eso se acabó en Venezuela. ¿No es eso revolucionario? Como conocedor de Radio Perola, ya que fui invitado a la sede de Caricuao -en Caracas- el 15 de enero de 2002 para hablar de mi trabajo como docente, puedo asegurar que no recibe dádivas del gobierno. A través de la publicidad y las donaciones se mantiene. No es un órgano de propaganda del gobierno y hay plena libertad de conciencia. Todos pueden tener un programa allí, siempre y cuando sea algo que ayude a elevar el nivel intelectual y espiritual de la audiencia. Hasta el padre de Caricuao tiene un programa en Radio Perola. Es decir, en ningún momento me sentí censurado o presionado en la radio para decir algo a favor de una parcialidad política. ¡Éso sí es verdadera libertad de expresión! Por ende, me parece una falta de respeto que un periodista escriba mentiras sobre Radio Perola, se nota que ni se tomó la molestia de ir a conocer sus estudios y su personal. Lástima. Bueno Glenn, te agradezco sepas dar la difusión correspondiente a esta réplica por todas las vías posibles. Sé que por tu profesionalismo citaste la nota del periodista en tu programa y de la misma manera, yo te pido dar a conocer la otra parte de la historia. Atentamente, (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, April 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [He`s in favor of R. Perola and stations like it supporting Chávez] UNIDENTIFIED. 1700: I got an e mail from Larry Godwin [MT] today. He called KBGG [IA] and when Larry is hearing the Spanish, KBGG is not in Spanish! So apparently it is not KBGG. He thinks it might be a new X Bander. The mystery continues. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Apr 30, IRCA via DXLD) Could it be WJCC [FL]? Only other SS station on 1700 (Art Blair, ibid.) Larry seems to think that the signal is too common and strong for Miami and the format doesn't match. 73s, (Patrick Martin, ibid.) Depending on the receiver, possibly an internal image from SW, like 49m (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. I wonder if anyone can help me to identify a station I am hearing on 13630. I hear it on air at tune in 0620 UT until close down 0800. Unfortunately, signal level is not very good, although there was a nice peak for a short time this morning at around 0640, but not for very long. The language appears to be Hindi. I hear talks and popular Indian style music and song, and a short news bulletin has been heard at 0630 and 0730. During the improvement in reception this morning I heard what sounded like a talk about cookery! I have searched my lists of frequencies and stations but cannot find anything listed for 13630 - except NHK at 0600-0700 which I believe I hear in English in the background. Could this be another new AIR domestic frequency? Your assistance would be appreciated. Greetings from Blackpool - UK (Noel R. Green, April 30, dx_india via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NEW EDITION OF BROADCASTS IN ENGLISH The Summer 2003 edition of Broadcasts in English is now available from the British DX Club. It was compiled by Alan Pennington and includes details of all currently known international broadcasts in English on shortwave and mediumwave for the Summer A03 schedule period. It is in time order throughout and covers all target areas. Transmitter sites are listed where known. A comprehensive guide to DX and Media Programmes is also included plus schedules for WorldSpace and World Radio Network for Europe. Copies are available at the following prices (postage included): United Kingdom - 2 pounds sterling Europe - 5 International Reply Coupons; 5 Euros or 4 US Dollars Rest of the World - 6 International Reply Coupons or 5 US Dollars UK cheques/Postal Orders should be made payable to British DX Club. Payments in Dollars or Euros are only accepted in cash. All orders/enquiries to: British DX Club, 126 Bargery Road, Catford, London SE6 2LR, UK Web site http://www.bdxc.org.uk Email: secretary@bdxc.org.uk (BDXC-UK April 30 via DXLD) RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ SWLING IN THE ICU Hello there! I'm back! You might recall my comments posted a couple weeks ago about my going into the hospital and hoping to hear some SW during my stay. Well, I can now report on this effort... 1) I survived. This is not coming to you from beyond the grave... :-) But I did have 6 coronary bypasses (more than I had expected). So the effect on me might have been more than I anticipated. (I never before had such invasive surgery, so the recovery was new to me.) Therefore, I was NOT much interested in radio listening the first couple days after coming to... Maybe a new rule of thumb: "The more tubes coming out of incisions or orifices you have, the less you're interested in other activities." 2) The hospital instructions always tell you to not bring in any "valuables", so I did not bring a decent SW radio at first. I *did* bring that little junky Bell & Howell so-called AM/FM/TV/SW $10 radio (See DXLD #2-196 for my evaluation of that toy). I am glad that I did because the very first time I was awake and active enough to start tuning a radio, it was on my bedside table, and the first time they moved the table, the radio sailed off onto the tile-over-concrete floor. Amazingly, it did not really "break"; the case popped open on its seam, and I was able to squeeze it and make it snap back together and the thing still worked! It didn't work any *better* than it did before, but neither noticeably worse... I continued to use that radio for AM & FM listening from then on through my hospital stay and subsequent week at a recovery facility. To fix the "fly off the table" problem, the nurse slapped a strip of tape over the radio to secure it to the table. *Everything* gets taped up in a hospital... :-) 2) I had assumed that all the myriad of equipment surrounding me would produce such RF interference that I'd never get any listenable SW signal. But it wasn't all that bad. I still did not have a decent SW radio, but tuning the B&H SW bands got sone random SW signals in readable form. If I had had a decent digital-readout SW radio in there, I think I could have heard something and enjoyed it. This might have been due to my lucking out and having the best room in the ICU -- at the end of a corridor at the corner of the building, with three windows. 3) I did have my wife bring a DX-398 and spare batteries to me at the recovery facility (basically a nursing home not far from my house). Again, I lucked out and had a room at the end of a corridor at an outside corner of the building. I was able to get some reception in the room, and better reception out on the patio. To hear World of Radio that first Wednesday off WBCQ, though, I had to go out to their parking lot, down away from the power lines, and found a spot where I could sit on a sewer lid construction by the street to listen. Greater loyalty to gh hath no man, to do this 5 days after bypass surgery... :-) Later on, I discovered that in-room reception was usually better if the radio was placed against an outside wall as opposed to sitting in the window. I'm wondering if the DX-398 was the best choice; I could have had her bring a YB-400. Would that have been more sensitive? Well, anyway, am now home and the Grundig 800 with external random wire renders all this moot. Now if the international broadcasters would just stop dropping their services... :-) 73, (Will Martin, MO, April 30, swprograms via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ And now amigos, as always at the end of the show, here is Arnie Coro's HF plus Six Meters propagation update and forecast... The daily effective sunspot number SSN went UP dramatically during the last few days....reaching a figure of near 100, while the daily sunspot count peaked for this 27 day rotation at 200 and has now started to decline slowly. Unfortunately the higher solar flux has also come associated with coronal holes that have generated Earth bound streams of charged particles that have caused geomagnetic storms... As you hear this the most significant solar related event is that an active solar region of sunspots has reached the delta magnetic configuration, and that may lead to the emission of the powerful X type solar flares, when that specific area is located at a geoeffective position, so if an X flare erupts, the resultant radiation first, and latter the ejected particles will be reaching the Earth and may cause severe damages to orbiting satellites as well as radio and magnetic storms... So be on the lookout for abnormal propagation conditions during the next three to four days (Arnie Coro A., CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Apr 29 via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) ###