DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-099, June 5, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3f.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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1185: RFPI: Fri 1930, Sat 0130, 0800, 1400, 1730, 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 7445 15039 WWCR: Sat 0600, Sun 0230 5070, 0630 3210, Wed 0930 9475 WJIE: Sat 0930, Sun 1030, 1630 7490 13595 [maybe] WINB: Sat 1730 13570 WBCQ: Mon 0445 7415 WRM: Rest of world Sat 0800, Europe Sun 0430, North America Sun 1400 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/wor1185.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1185.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1185h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1185h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1185.html ** AFGHANISTAN. A special page inside the CRW homepage contains an up to date list of all broadcast stations that Dave Stanley in Kabul has been able to monitor in Afghanistan during April/May 2003. http://www.schoechi.de/crw/afghan.html The photo of the destroyed SW building at Pulecharchi, near Kabul was taken by D. Stanley in Aug 2002 (Clandestine Radio Watch June 5 via DXLD) 404 not found when I checked June 5 (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, this is the assignment for Station X Gold Coast Queensland Australia, as per the ACA Database, http://www.aca.gov.au/pls/radcom/assignment_search.lookup?pACCESS_ID=1144521&pDEVICE_ID=2217923 1144521-2217923 2.3685000 MHz 6K00A3E 1138969 Peter G Tate (85365) from the Labrador Vodaphone site, Horizontal (may change to vertical), 1 KW. 73 (Tim Gaynor, Q, Dxerscalling, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, I read Rhodes/Glen piece in your Australia section of DXLD 3-096. Since I don't have their email, can you ask them what the OTHR sounds like? Is it like the old Russian Woodpecker? Or like the CODAR frequency Sweeper ("swoosher')? Tones? thanks, (Paul McDonough, June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HI, The OTHR I hear is a rapid clicking, several times per second, is very broadbanded, in that it spreads over many kHz. Occasionally will shift up and down the band, but often stays on the same channels for some time. Can be very strong signals and will at times overpower even a strong broadcast signal, such as Radio Japan to Oceania. There are many sites, and the Aussie one is called Jindalee project. Regards (Don Rhodes, Vic., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Hi Glenn, I assume that this ´´merely playing "The Blue Danube" over and over again´´ was the result of a malfunction, probably even a complete crash, of the continuity system (CARAT from Siemens Austria, no longer on the market if I'm not terribly wrong). Nobody is there at night, and so of course nothing can be done if the system runs amuck. On the other hand the transmitter engineers at Moosbrunn (at least I think that always an engineer is there) are hardly in a position to decide that the transmission can be dropped, and so of course they leave it on, even if it contains nothing but the ID theme over and over. And just as a reminder, ROI will cease to exist altogether in three and a half weeks (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Estimado G.Hauser, Sera que tengo hermano aqui y no sabia? ``Yuspayrampa Jila Marcelo Aragaoru Quchapanpata, Diuspargayki Marcelo Aragao weraquchaman Quchapanpamanta, Muchissimas gracias a Sr. Marcelo Aragao de Cochabamba por su primera informacion sobre esta estacion!!! (Artyom Prokhorov, Russia, Cumbre DX via DXLD)`` 73, QRV (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragão, Cochabamba - Bolivia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was too impressed by the lingo to notice the disparity (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. EVEN MEDIOCRITY COMES IN EXTREMES By WILLIAM THORSELL, UPDATED AT 9:16 PM EDT, Monday, Jun. 2, 2003 In recent weeks, we've had the opportunity to hear compositions by Louise Farrenc, George Chadwick, Johann Schobert, Josef Mysliveceh and James Paisible, among other unknowns who live In the Shadow on Tom Allen's excellent CBC Radio program, Music and Company. It is an affectionate conceit to explore the works of second-rate composers every Thursday morning on Radio Two, a feature, introduced thematically by Beethoven's opening bars for the Fifth Symphony, which puts about 90 per cent of everything ever composed in a shadow. The lives of these also-rans are interesting for their balancing acts between aspiration and disappointment, notice and dismissal. Their biographies are often admirable to a fault -- earnest in the manner of a student politician, naively hopeful, indefatigable in the face of rejection, stoutly prideful and inexplicably unlucky in love. These are the masterworks of pretenders, if not amateurs, and one comes to them with a curiosity bred of the unfamiliar, an empathy based in feelings of fair play, and, perhaps, a prurience seeking pleasure in someone else's stupid pretence. The problem, after all this is said, is the quality of the music, of course. Mr. Allen introduces a lively work for strings and winds that bongs on with 1.2 ideas going nowhere, brimming with activity signifying nothing much, justifying every dollop of oblivion attached to the composer's forgotten name. A few minutes of this mediocrity generates desperate aural claustrophobia and, despite one's admiration for the premise of In the Shadow, the point is made with a switch to another station. One must learn to recognize the signposts of mediocrity in life which, as a friend intoned recently, is too short to drink bad wine. A decade ago, trundling around town looking to buy a house, the phrase "recently renovated" popped up on many ads and MLS listings. At first, this looked liked good news. Excellent: Renovations will not be required! And then, you'd get through the front door. Everything was wrong. Vast sums had been spent to ruin the proportions of rooms, install ungainly fireplaces, build hobbit-like kitchens and sink hot tubs into closets. Colonial flourishes had been applied to Victorian staircases, Mexican roof tiles to Edwardian townhouses. Amateurs with means had run amok, as they often do in building country homes that express childhood ideals of castles, bomb shelters and Lego sets. "Recently renovated" soon came to stand for "recently ruined," along with the marriages that explained why the houses were on the market. So one shifted the focus to estate sales, where nothing had been done to a house for 60 years, allowing for either simple restoration or a competent approach to more radical surgery. Probably 90 per cent of the renovations in our major cities would qualify for a visual version of In the Shadow -- cautionary tales of mediocrity rampant on a field of good intentions. (Home renovations have another variant by their nature -- the "professionally designed" effort, produced by an overwrought window-dresser turned interior decorator with a penchant for ceramic dogs, dried weeds and colour-coded art. But let's not strike too close to home.) Condo ads that show nothing but young couples kissing passionately or sailing in the bay are signs of tiny cells for sale in the sky, with sliders in the living-room windows. Opera ads sometimes tout "rarely performed" work by a well-known composer such as Puccini, or just a rarely performed work by the likes of a Chadwick or Paisible, who are marketed as diamonds in the rough. One soon learns to avoid these numbing rarities as deserving of rarity, like butterscotch pudding, Romanian preserves or calf brains. The canned laugh track on television is an efficient signal of mediocrity in sitcoms, allowing for fast flipping through myriad channels on the way to a good book. Someone wearing a brimmed hat and driving a Buick with their hands glued to the top of the steering wheel is a sure sign of mediocre driving skills. One either drops back a length or gets by fast. Any vegetable in a can, any fabric made from natural gas, any flower bred for fluorescence, any movie featuring a Celine Dion soundtrack and any music chosen by Tom Allen to be played in the shadow of Beethoven should be avoided in the name of serenity and the efficient use of time. It is the process of manufacturing mediocrity that is admirable -- the hope, the effort, the aspiration of the unsuccessful creator. It is the product that needs gentle squishing, elegant rejection, decent burial or the sometimes blessed relief of amnesia and bad hearing. William Thorsell is director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum. Bell Globemedia (c) 2003 Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. RICK MERCER TO BE HONOURED IN BANFF FOR SKEWERING POLITICIANS AND AMERICANS --- JUDY MONCHUK CALGARY (CP) - He made laughing at Americans' ignorance of all things Canadian a national obsession and humanized stuffy Preston Manning by having him struggle with a child-proof lighter. But political satirist Rick Mercer's finest hour was a tongue-in-cheek cyber-petition to force Stockwell Day, then leader of the Canadian Alliance, to change his name to Doris Day, the 1960s singer who personified purity. What began as a wickedly biting dissection of Alliance referendum policy became one of the most memorable aspects of the 2001 federal election. "At one point, 42 people a second were signing that petition," said the former star of This Hour has 22 Minutes and Made in Canada, who will receive the Peter Ustinov award for achievement in comedy Monday at the Banff Television Festival. "In the blink of an eye, this was being e-mailed all over the world and within two weeks (Day) changed his campaign song to Que Sera Sera," laughed Mercer, with obvious glee. At 33, the acerbic Mercer seems a tad young to be accepting a lifetime achievement award. He prefers to view it as recognition for a body of work that has garnered him 20 Gemini awards. In fact, Mercer was stunned to be added to a list of that includes John Cleese, the late John Candy, Martin Short, Bob Newhart and Tracey Ullman. "It's kind of mind-boggling," said Mercer, who will also co-host Monday night's Rockie Awards saluting international television. "I think if we were all in the same room, I'd have to be the bartender or something." The St. John's, Nfld., native, who has spent the past decade working in CBC-TV, began doing comedy in high school and was inspired by the Wonderful Grand Band, which was "must-see TV" in Newfoundland and featured future Codco stars Greg Malone and Tommy Sexton. Mercer says federal subsidies for Canadian programs are "imperative" for the industry's survival, just as Canadian content rules for radio airplay were needed 15 years ago. "People realize those rules and those subsidies played an awful large part in (developing) an industry that is now dominated globally by Canadian artists," he said from Toronto. "You don't hear people complaining about that anymore." Not with artists such as Shania Twain, Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne topping music charts. Mercer notes that Made in Canada has been exported all over the world, but the current affairs format of the popular This Hour has 22 Minutes leaves it with limited marketability. "Who else would watch it? People in Ohio don't care about (Federal Heritage Minister) Sheila Copps or some provincial politician," he said. Ottawa has refused calls for a multimillion-dollar infusion for homegrown TV programming. Mercer calls that short-sighted. "If it's an hour-long drama, it's never going to be able to compete with the hour-long drama based in Baltimore that costs $20,000 (to buy)," he said. "We can't do that in Canada, so what you're really saying is 'I've thought about it and our country can't afford to have a culture when it comes to hour-long dramas.' " There will be a sharp focus on Canada's TV industry during this year's Banff festival, as producers, broadcasters and other stakeholders from around the world descend on the Rocky Mountain resort town a hour west of Calgary. Charles Dalfen, president of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, will respond Monday to two reports critical of reduced funding for Canadian programming. The cash-strapped Canadian Television Fund will hold a special meeting Tuesday, and experts from Australia, France and Britain will discuss fostering homegrown industries. "We are an international festival, but if you've got a critical situation and the whole Canadian industry is here, you can't put your head in the sand," said Pat Ferns, president of the Banff festival. The festival will also feature a tribute to U.S. TV and honour James Burrows (writer/director of Will and Grace, co-creator of Cheers) and Sopranos creator David Chase. And documentary producer David Attenborough will be given a lifetime achievement award. Mercer returns to political commentary in January with the Rick Mercer Show, a CBC production that will play up his sarcastic nature and allow him to travel the country skewering current events. Mercer says his job isn't to simply report the news, but to have an opinion and attitude to match. "Journalists are supposed to be unbiased and just report the facts: I don't have to worry about that," he said (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CHILE. 6010: how is this station actually called? I have seen already 3 versions of its name: Parinacota, Parinocota, Paranicota. In Finland we had adopted one more version, just for fun. Pärinäkota - literally meaning in Finnish "a wigwam of motorcycle engine interference" - it applies perfectly to the noise one can sometimes hear on shortwaves. And yes, the reception could be better too. :-D (Jari Lehtinen, Lahti, Finland, hard-core-dx via DXLD) A quick check with Google produced: Paranicota 66 hits, Parinocota 13 hits, Parinacota 6020 hits. On that basis, I'd say Parinacota must be the correct spelling :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ** COLOMBIA. SENSUAL RADIO SHOW URGES COLOMBIAN GUERRILLAS TO DESERT Associated Press Wire June 1, 2003 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/06/01/2003053523 A soft, sensual voice speaks over the radio to rebels in the jungles and mountains of Colombia, urging them to put down their weapons and rejoin society. "We must surrender," murmurs the government-employed radio announcer known as the Flower of the Wilderness. "We must depend on our authorities, on the military institutions of our country." The broadcasts are part of a major campaign by hardline President Álvaro Uribe to entice rebels to desert, while also squeezing them through military action and increased police presence in rural areas. TV commercials feature first-person testimonies of others who have deserted, who say they have been well treated. Airdrops of leaflets proclaim: "Escape! Many of your companions have done it!" Deserters are promised clothing, food, protection for themselves and their families and given the opportunity to change their identities. They also have access to health care, education and work training under the government's rehabilitation program. Uribe's campaign has shown quick results. Since the beginning of this year, 640 insurgents, including leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary fighters, have turned themselves in -- 40 percent more than the same period last year. In a proposal to be presented to Congress in July, even deserting rebels accused of serious crimes would receive a form of government- monitored parole instead of prison sentences. Let the rebels "divide themselves between those who will eternally remain professional bullies" and those who will surrender, Uribe said Friday at a military ceremony. Part of the challenge is convincing the rebels they won't be tortured or killed if they turn themselves in -- which is what their commanders often tell them, said Vice Defense Minister Andrés Peñate, who is in charge of the US$12 million campaign. In an interview late Thursday, Peñate said about 20 percent of those who desert are younger than 18 and many are in their 20s and 30s. Critics say this type of deserter is easy to replace and point out that the core leadership of the rebels remains intact. Military analyst Alfred Rangel said that even if the trend of rebel desertions continues, it would take 27 years for the nation's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to demobilize -- and only if there are no new recruits. Nonetheless, many believe the increase in deserters -- especially those authorities say are high-ranking -- is demoralizing the high command of the FARC. In April, Rafael Rojas, purportedly in charge of the FARC's 46th Front, turned himself in. Uribe interviewed Rojas on TV when the desertion was announced and urged other rebels to follow his lead (AP Jun 1, 2003 via U. Fleming-USA for CRW, via DXLD) ** CUBA. 9505, Radio Havana Cuba, 2030-2045 English. World news with ID every few minutes. Signal good but possibly skipping over Clewiston, Florida periodically (Chuck Bolland, June 4, 2003, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But where will they be tomorrow? Back on 11760? ** ECUADOR. Allen Graham (DXPL, HCJB) provides the following information about the HCJB Ecuador transition: "Our webmaster is making a change of server this week. Most everything has been changed over and he is working on the "pointers" right now. The dxpl.hcjb.org address won't work yet. In fact when I tried updating it this weekend, material reverted back. The current page on the new server can be accessed by going to http://www.hcjb.org and on the right-hand side choosing the program DX Partyline. The morning schedule for the English Language Service is also going up on the new server and should be there by the end of the day today... Morning in the Mountains is not part of the current schedule. Once some of the staff return from their short Home Ministry Assignment (i.e. furlough), MIM is scheduled to start up again. This should be early August." Allen also provided this interim schedule for the morning release: 1100 Sun Let My People Think M-F Insight for Living Sat Down Gilead Lane 1130 Sun Renewing Your Mind M-F Family Life Today Sat Adventures in Odyssey 1200 Sun Moody Presents M-F Precept with Kay Arthur/Proclaim (1215) Sat Hour of Decision 1230 Sun The Living Word M-F Renewing Your Mind Sat DX Partyline (via John Figliozzi, June 4, swprograms via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. ``RADIO JUSTICE. As per BBCM's report in DXLD 3- 096: Sundays 1700-1800 on 12120 in Tigrigna. Because of this frequency, I went to look at TDP's website and found it scheduled as Radio Solidarity. Was previous scheduled via DTK Julich Wed/Sat on 15265. Never heard this one due to the Chinese musicjammer active at the same time. Is this frequency still used, has it ever been used? (S. Domen-BEL Jun 2, 2003 in DXLD 3-097)`` According to the New [sic] updated schedule of Deutsche Telekom (DTK T-systems) as of Jan 10: Tigrean International Solidarity for Justice and Democracy: 1600-1630 15275 JUL 100 / 145 Wed,Sat EaAf Tigrina this was on 15275 kHz, not 15265. So Silvain seems to mix up the new station with the station R Suthid (Tigre International Solidarity for Justice and Democracy) ? The latter station has been last reported in CRW in March 2003 [log below]. (M. Schoech, Germant, Jun 5, 2003 for CRW) Radio Solidarity 15275 kHz, Radio Suthid (Solidaridad Internacional Tigre para la Justicia y la Democracia), 1600+, 15 Marzo, ID, cxs en tigriña por locutora, mx. SIO: 232. (N. Pugliese-ARG Mar 15, 2003 in ConDig 204) --------------------------------------------------------- (Martin Schoech - PF 1136 - 06201 Merseburg - Deutschland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HOWEVER: Addition to CRW 135 / Breaking news Ethiopia But then I wonder [why] does TDP, who seems to broker this station, put it in its schedule-list as "Radio Solidarity". It clearly comes from the same organisation. As the BBCM report says : "Radio Justice is prepared with the goodwill of Tigrayan International Solidarity for Justice and Democracy." All A03 lists I have seen give the frequency as 15265... 15275 was a B02 entry for Radio Solidarity. = Tigrean International Solidarity for Justice and Democracy: = 1600-1630 15275 JUL 100 / 145 Wed,Sat EaAf Tigrina This comes from the B02 (winter) schedule, and yes I have heard them on that one. Here the entry I made in my personal logbook kHz UTC Date ITU Station Details L SINPO 15275 1601 06/11/02 D (c) Radio Solidarity/Julich Tigrigna, poor audio, Wednesday (also Saturday) X 35343 Take a look at DTK's schedule from 16.04.2003 (as found via BCLNEWS): 15265 1600 1629 47,48 304 145 217 47 300303 261003 JUL 100 TIS TIS Tigrean International Solidarity for Justice and Democracy But as I said, this frequency is inaudible because of the China Musicjammer on it at the same time... As BBCM says the identification is: "This is Radio Justice broadcasting from Washington DC [Tigrinya: Ezi kab Washington DC zmehalalef Radio Fthi eyu]. And this is from the Clandestineradio.Com website, compare the Tigrean ID : Radio Solidarity Identification: (Tigrean) Radio Fathiriu Active Since: Sep 2001 Contact Address: Dade Desta, P.O. Box 60040, Washington, DC 20039 Conclusion: This is the very same station and organisation, moved away from DTK, and now hiring airtime (probably cheaper) via TDP. (S. Domen, Belgium, Jun 5, 2003 for CRW) As it seems it was not Silvain who mixed up things but BBCM (and also CRW). I have nothing to add the conclusion at the end of Silvain additional report, only 'sorry and also thank you for not blindly believing everything you read !' (M. Schoech, Germany, Jun 5, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Hoy a las 0400 UT tuve la oportunidad de sintonizar a Radio Verdad, en la frecuencia de los 4050 kHz [4052.5??] banda de 75 metros. Esta emisora transmite desde Guatemala, Centro America según pude escuchar cuando estaban identificando. Al momento de la escucha estaban presentando el programa: Ofrenda Espiritual. Luego se presentó una fuerte interferencia y lo único que logré entender es que estaban dando el número de una cuenta de ahorros para que depositaran sus donaciones a nombre de:Promociones Radio Verdad. Tambien dijeron que les escribieran a su dirección, la dieron, pero no la pude entender, lo que si entendí fué cuando dijeron: Nosotros responderemos todas sus cartas. Tambien hubo una identificación en ingles a las 04:36 UTC. Equipo Utilizado: Radio Receptor Siemens modelo RK-769. y un amplificador de Antena para Onda Corta Radio Shack conectado a la antena hilo largo de 27metros. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Cumbre DX et al., Jun 5 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Radio Barabari, 7470: My follow-up reception report for December 2002 to info@barabari.org came back after four days as 'undeliverable' from my mail server (E. Kusalik-CAN May 27, 2003 for CRW) Bernd Trutenau wrote me: 'try info@radiobarabari.net --- the current homepage is http://www.radiobarabari.net '. I did check out their website and there is a separate listing for e-mail letters. Going to try and get a reply from them (E. Kusalik-CAN May 29, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) ** IRAN/IRAQ/KURDISTAN [and nons]. Rumen Pankov has made the following observations which update the listing of Iraqi clandestine and Kurdish broadcasts on p.21 of last month's Communication [May]: 3870/80 V of Communist Party of Iran: 0230-0330, 0430-0530, 1430- 1530, 1630-1730 // 4380 3900 Voice of the Iraqi People 0300-0420, 1755-1925 //5880 3900 Radio Freedom - not heard since 1st May. Silenced or poor conditions? 3928 Voice of Komala 1600-1730, 0230-0400 // 4620 3975 Voice of Iranian Kurdistan has been reactivated. It was heard on 29 April 0205-0225, and on 5 May at 1505-1530 s/off in Persian 4025 Voice of the People of Kurdistan - not heard since 5th May (poor conditions?) 4085 Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan now 0330-2055 4120 Radio Kurdistan ~1600-1700 has been reactivated 4160 Voice of Independence, 1600-1700. 4235-45v Voice of Kurdistan Toilers 0200-0400(presumed), 1430-1730 (s/off varies 1700/1800) 4260 UnID "Eira Dengi Kurdistani Irana" (Voice of Iranian Kurdistan? cf 3975) reported on 4th, 5th, 13th May at 1600-1700 in Kurdish and Persian. 4355 UnID in Kurdish 1600-1630 s/off. Jammed by Iran 4380 V of Communist Party of Iran: 0230-0330, 0430-0530, 1430- 1530, 1630-1730 // 3780 4620 Voice of Komala 1600-1730, 0230-0400 // 3928 5880 Voice of the Iraqi People 0300-0420, 1755-1925 // 3900 Iranian jammers are heard on 3870, 3930, 3975, 4355, 4380 and 4620 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, 1-13 May, British DX Club Communication, June, via Dave Kenny, DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. Radio Bopeshawa, 9450 Radio Forward. My letter to their address in Canada (A.K.P.I. P. O. Box 491 Domains Postal Station North York Ontario M3C 2T4) was returned after ten days as 'return to sender moved/address unknown' So that postal avenue is closed (E. Kusalik-CAN May 27, 2003 for CRW) I wrote to WCPI (at wcpi@sympatico.ca) for Radio Bopeshawa, asking for information for a postal address for letters (I did not indicate reception reports at all) and here's their reply which came back within 24 hours. "Dear friend, sorry for the inconvenience, we don't have a postal address at the time, it is best that you write to us via email. yours, sabah". So will be sending out two enquiries and see what happens (E. Kusalik-CAN May 29, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) ** IRAQ. IRAQI RELIGIOUS GROUP TURNS TO TV AND RADIO [this story was summarised in 3-093] By Charles Clover in Baghdad Published: May 28 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: May 28 2003 5:00 http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1051390368510&p=1012571727179 A powerful Shi'a political group in Iraq plans shortly to begin its own radio and television broadcasts from Baghdad, a key step towards promoting its influence in the country. Hassan Grebawy, head of the Centre for Public Islam, said he had received both oral and written permission from US forces to start the broadcasts, which will be financed by the Hawza, a loose grouping of Shi'a religious schools in the southern city of Najaf. Mr Grebawy's centre, set up under the patronage of Shi'a cleric Moktada al-Sadr, will broadcast from the al-Hikmah mosque in the Shi'a suburb of Baghdad. He said the range of the broadcasts would be 50km, enough to encompass Baghdad, and plans are under way to extend the broadcasts to the rest of the country, where the Shi'a form a 55 per cent majority. The television and radio stations should serve as powerful tools for consolidating Mr Sadr's influence. Already, an overwhelming majority of Shi'a in Baghdad profess allegiance to him. He is not known for his tolerance of US forces in Iraq, though he is rarely heard from publicly. His followers have frequently organised mass demonstrations in Baghdad calling for an end to US occupation. Mr Grebawy made it clear that the broadcasts, to be named "Baghdad reports" and introduced with the calligraphic symbol of Iraqi state television, will not be friendly towards the US presence: "If I come to your house riding on a tank, and take over your oil, and take over your money, and tell you that you need my permission to do anything, then is this justice?", he asks. Coalition forces have been tolerant in allowing Iraqis to express dissenting views, considering it a useful exercise in democracy building. Numerous newspapers have been set up in Baghdad, many critical of the coalition presence. "The Americans said they have no objection in principle to these broadcasts," said Mr Grebawy. He showed a letter from the US 1st Brigade, charged with security in Baghdad, giving permission for a radio station. "The 1st Brigade Combat Team would like to thank Sayid Ali [a member of Mr Sadr's group] for his support of US forces in the liberation of Iraq," said the letter. Mr Grebawy said they had received verbal permission for the television station, and a letter would follow. The 1st Brigade could not be reached for comment. US forces have relied heavily on Shi'a religious leaders to help them restore basic services such as garbage removal and medical facilities in their neighbourhoods, and the letter seemed to be partly a quid pro quo for this help. But ultimately, giving Shi'a Islamist groups access to their own television station could undermine the US goal of keeping Iraq a secular state. Asked what political message they would be broadcasting on their TV channel, Mr Grebawy said: "The political content of the broadcasts will be that religion is politics and politics is religion. We are only expressing the reality of the Iraqi street. "We need television broadcasts which will express the views of all Iraqis, about their problems, including the American occupation." (Financial Times May 28, 2003 via A. Sennitt, Holland for CRW via DXLD) ** IRAQ. Re : Control over the content of a television station in Mosul in [crwatch] CRW 134 Extra WHAT DO You Know About Major Means? US ARMY MAJOR Charmaine Means ...assigned the tricky task of public relations in the sensitive city of Mosul, in northern Iraq. When she was given an order that she could not in conscience obey, she did what all good officers do. She chose to follow in Gandhi's footsteps. She refused to obey. The order was to close down the television station in Mosul, because it sometimes broadcasts Al-Jazeera. That's the Arab-language TV network that U.S. officials love to hate, because it is truly independent. Mosul has no newspapers and no radio station, according to the Wall Street Journal. The TV station was the only means of public communication for a very large city. Major Means said she could not in good conscience close it down, just to suppress free speech. Her superiors could not ignore that. .... They relieved her of duty and flew her out of Mosul, right away. A Google News search found not one single mention of this event. Is the story really not newsworthy? Could the WSJ's editorial judgment about news priorities be so out of line with every other editor in the country? Or is the story just too dangerous to report? Could only the venerably conservative WSJ, whose "pro-American" credentials are beyond question, take the risk? (I. Chernus, USA, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder May 28, 2003 via M. Watts-USA, Clandestine Radio Watch via DXLD) This is the WSJ story mentioned in the Washington Post article in CRW 134 Extra: ARMY ORDERS TROOPS TO SEIZE TV STATION IN NORTHWEST IRAQ: A MAJOR BALKS AT DIRECTIVE AND GETS RELIEVED OF DUTY By Yochi J. Dreazen, Wall Street Journal May 8, 2003 MOSUL, IRAQ -- The U.S. Army issued orders for troops to seize this city's only television station, leading an officer here to raise questions about the Army's dedication to free speech in postwar Iraq, people familiar with the situation said. The officer refused the order and was relieved of duty. The directive came from the 101st Airborne Division's commander, Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, who has ultimate authority in Mosul and the rest of northwest Iraq, the people familiar with the matter said. They said it was aimed at blocking the station from continuing to broadcast the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera. The order has not yet been publicized in Mosul, which has no radio station or newspaper, and Army officials here said they had no plans to do so. Late Wednesday night, it wasn't clear whether soldiers who had been on the grounds of the station, which is near the city's university, had moved into the station building itself and taken control. The incident may add fuel to suspicions in the Arab world about the Bush administration's promises to bring open elections and other Western-style freedoms to Iraq. The move also could further strain the already-tense relations between the Pentagon and al-Jazeera, a satellite channel based in Qatar that is the most popular source of news throughout the Mideast. Pentagon officials have long accused al- Jazeera of being biased against the U.S. and criticized it for broadcasting material such as bloody images of civilians killed or maimed by U.S. bombs. Al-Jazeera's Baghdad office was unintentionally shelled by the U.S. on April 8, killing one journalist. The order to seize the station, which had been under the unofficial control of a local Iraqi militia leader, was discussed at a contentious meeting among American officials based in a former hospital here. During the two-hour meeting last night, the head of the Army public-affairs office in Mosul, Maj. Charmaine Means, said she could not agree to seizing the station and posting troops there. She argued that the presence of armed soldiers would intimidate the station's Arab employees into airing only programming produced by, or acceptable to, the American military. Maj. Means was told to pick up a nearby telephone. On the other end, Col. Thomas Schoenback, chief of staff of the division, ordered her to go along with Gen. Petraeus's plan to take the station, according to people familiar with the matter. When she again refused, he relieved her of her duties. A short time later, she was told that she would be flown out of Mosul on an Army helicopter early Thursday morning. Neither Gen. Petraeus nor Col. Schoenback could be reached for comment. In Washington, the Pentagon could not immediately confirm the order to seize the station. Officers familiar with the matter said military officials were uncomfortable with the station's programming. They wanted to apply a U.S. military formula for gauging the station's accuracy, balance and trustworthiness, and if the programming fell short, the station would be shut. As word of the decision filtered through the main American base in downtown Mosul, several officers condemned it. The officers said they were particularly incensed that the military had allowed the Iraqi militia leader, Meshaam Jabori, to broadcast political messages for weeks without interference, only to seize it Wednesday after it occasionally showed al-Jazeera programming. The station also airs programming from other Arabic news channels, as well as from NBC. Mr. Jabori couldn't be reached for comment (Wall Street Journal May 8, 2003 via N. Grace, USA for CRW via DXLD) ** IRAQ. ANOTHER SMALL VICTORY FOR THE 'PSYOPS' TEAM By Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 14, 2003 http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=IRAQ-PSYOPS-05-14-03&cat=II NEAR THE SYRIAN BORDER, Iraq - Sgt. Mark Hadsell noticed that when he was talking to Iraqis in Baghdad, the men would try to stand behind something, or would stand in front of their wives or daughters. He thought this was curious. So he asked why. "They'd been told that when they wear their sunglasses, American soldiers can see through clothing," Hadsell said. Hadsell handed his sunglasses to the Iraqi who told him this and had him put them on. One more rumor dispelled. Another small victory for the team from the 361st Psychological Operations Company, a reserve unit based in the Seattle suburb of Bothel, Wash. It has already been a long year for Hadsell, 38, a mechanical engineer in Lacey, Wash., in civilian life, and his teammates, Cpl. Kent Yost, 29, a buyer for Amazon.com in Seattle, and Pfc. Joseph Knitschuk, 23, an auto restorer in Sammamish, Wash. The trio spent January and February on a mission in the Philippines and had just enough time in the United States to trade in their jungle-green uniforms for desert-brown before shipping off to Iraq. "We finished up that gig, kissed the tarmac, and jumped on another plane to come here," Yost said. The team was always slated to support the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is now overseeing peacekeeping operations in western Iraq, but arrived in country before the regiment did. So the "psyops" soldiers went to work for the 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad. The chief task of psyops soldiers is to communicate to the Iraqis certain broad themes about U.S. plans for Iraq. They have a loudspeaker atop their Humvee and prerecorded tapes in Arabic warning Iraqis to stay away from U.S. military operations, informing soldiers how to surrender, and so forth. But most of their communication has been face-to-face. Neither Hadsell, Yost nor Knitschuk speak Arabic, but, Yost said, "in Baghdad there were enough people who spoke English that it was helpful to have interpreters, but not essential." The chief messages the psyops soldiers have been communicating is that Iraqis should go back to work, and that it is up to Iraqis to determine how long U.S. soldiers remain in their country. "When you tell them that we don't want to be here, they are in awe," Hadsell said. Since Iraq under Saddam Hussein was a thoroughly totalitarian state, few Iraqis have any idea what freedom is like, Hadsell said. "They couldn't leave one job for another without having both a letter from their old employer releasing them from their job and another letter from their new employer accepting them," Hadsell said. "It blows their minds when we tell them they should just do what they want, they don't need our permission or anybody else's to change jobs." "They're good people, but it's going to take some time on training wheels," Yost said. Each week, Aouf Abdul Rahman al Samari, the lead Iraqi interpreter for the 3rd Regiment's Tiger Squadron, goes to Baghdad and buys every newspaper he can find. Hadsell, Yost and Knitschuk then distribute them. The psyops soldiers also hand out cheap radios and schedules printed in Arabic of Voice of America broadcasts. "The only satellite (TV) channels the locals can get are Syrian, and they are always bad-mouthing the United States," Hadsell said (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 14, 2003 via N. Grace, USA for CRW via DXLD) This time feedback for BBCM and RN MN BBCM : Chris McWhinnie was interviewed (by my hometown public radio station)! http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/20030410.html (May 31, 2003 via N. Grace-USA for CRW) No audio link? (gh) RN MN : RNW and A. Sennitt`s work about R Tikrit are looped into a dissertation on the bell curve. http://www.srv.net/~msdata/bell.html "Just so, that Radio Netherlands observed that "radio tikrit" included an astrological forecast is a matter of fact, public record-- but whether that meant that the U.S. was trying to convert those within its broadcast range to astrology is a matter of interpretation." (May 31, 2003 via N. Grace, USA for CRW via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. See NORWAY ** MALAWI. BAN ON COMMUNITY RADIO NEWS BROADCASTS CONDEMNED | Text of report by UN regional information network IRIN on 4 June Johannesburg, 4 June: A group of concerned journalists in Malawi have called for the repeal of a media law that bans community radio stations from broadcasting news. The issue has dogged Malawi's broadcasters for some time, but it rose to prominence again during an international conference on the role of community radio, held in the southern city of Blantyre earlier this week. A spokesman for the National Media Institute of Southern Africa (Namisa), Innocent Chitosi, told IRIN that Evans Namanja, director- general of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra), reminded delegates of the controversial Section 51 (3) c of the Communications Act. Chitosi said the warning appeared to have been directed at the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) radio station, although a number of other community radio stations broadcast news. Macra has previously accused the MIJ, considered a training ground for journalists, of biased reporting and warned that it risked losing its licence. Chitosi said the latest warnings have been seen as an attempt to silence media other than the state-controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Television Malawi, ahead of next year's elections. "The MBC news is just about the ruling United Democratic Front and the president's diary," Chitosa said. "But the MIJ puts people first and quotes the opposition." A statement released by Namisa said: "Community radio gives all political players and ordinary citizens a platform to air their views." Chitosi said that Namisa, the Malawi chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, had a meeting scheduled with parliament's media committee later in June to discuss the matter. "Although the act stipulates that community radio stations can't broadcast news, it is against [Section 35 and 36] of the Malawi constitution which provides for freedom of the media and freedom of expression," he said. Chitosa said they would also ask for a review of the MBC and Macra boards to ensure that they are composed of media professionals. With a high percentage of Malawi's population living under the poverty line, many people cannot afford television sets or buy newspapers, and rely on community radio stations for information. Source: UN Integrated Regional Information Network, Nairobi, in English 4 Jun 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** NORWAY. RADIO PROPAGANDA: TERRORIST GROUP BROADCASTS FROM NORWAY Av: Hanne Dankertsen 05. jun 10:31 A Kurdish group that is registered on the US list of terrorist organisations has been allowed to broadcast radio signals from a short wave transmitter in Rogaland, Norway. Norwegian authorities do not know who is renting and using the transmitter. According to NRK, a growing number of oppositional groups wish to use the radio transmitter in order to send messages to their home countries. Parliamentary Secretary Yngve Slettholm said it is alarming if organisations on the US terrorist list are allowed to broadcast propaganda from Norway. The transmitter is owned by Norkring who does not check its customers against the list of terrorist organisations, according to NTB. According to NRK, one of the organisations that use the transmitter for broadcasting is the Kurdish group PKK, which is registered both on the US list and the EU list of terrorist organisations. ``Our duties according to international law are very clear when it comes to groups that have connections to terrorist organisations. Whether that is the case here, I do not dare comment on», said spokesman KarstenKlepsvik at the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. http://www.nettavisen.no/servlets/page?section=1706&item=270987 73 (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) What`s the station, Kenneth, not to mention the frequency? Checking http://www.shortwave.be which is TDP`s listing of clandestine stations we find V. of Independent Kurdistan (PKK) which links to the website http://www.pkk.org/ which is entirely in Turkish! -- not Kurdish. It`s not among the stations on TDP`s own client list at http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html so I suppose Merlin is to blame for this as much as NRK. A google search indicates PKK has rarely been mentioned in DXLD, in fact not since 2-124 last August 5, under TURKEY – it`s the Kurdish Worker`s Party, which is of particular concern to Turkey; at that time they were going to be allowed to broadcast, but nothing about clandestine on shortwave. So what broadcast via Norway, exactly, is the above article referring to? It is not included in the probably incomplete list of clandestines via Norway at the foot of DXLD 3-079 nor in 3-038. Here`s what Media Network has on it at http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/kurdistan.html The group currently in the spotlight, the PKK, operates a clandestine station called Voice of Independent Kurdistan. It has broadcast since February 1993, albeit with a two year break from September 1995 to August 1997. Regular transmissions are scheduled on or near 6215 kHz from 0400-0530 and 1400-1530 UT. In October 1998 the station was also heard on 4170 kHz between 1600 and 1630 UT according to the Clandestine Radio Intelligence Web. http://www.clandestineradio.com/intel/kurdistan.htm But this station is not among the many listed there (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. SHIFTING WAR IN AIRLANES By Froilan Gallardo, MIndaNews, May 12, 2003 http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/news/story.php?id=9442 ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews) --- The rebel commander`s voice came out very clear over the radio. Abduraman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is telling radio listeners about the progress of a rebel attack somewhere in Lanao del Norte. A few minutes later, the voice of Lt. Col. Francisco Simbajon, spokesperson of the Army`s 4th Infantry Division, was heard over the same radio program. Simbajon was denying everything Macaapar said. The Army Colonel claimed it was the military, not the MILF, that was gaining an upperhand in the Lanao del Norte firefight. ``People here are already used to listening to Commander Bravo and Col. Simbajon every morning. In fact, they look forward to this every day,`` says Ramil Emborong, station manager of Radio Mindanao Network`s dxIC [sic]. ``There is a propaganda war here. Everyday, the MILF and the military wage a war on air to win the hearts and minds of the people,`` he said. Emborong said Macapaar or Bravo as he is popularly known, usually calls their radio station everyday, even before the MILF attacked the towns of Kolambugan and Maigo in Lanao del Norte last April 24. The attack killed at least 15 persons and wounded at least 31. At the height of the attack, Macapaar went on air. ``We have not hostaged any civilian. We sent them to pier in Maigo so they will not be caught in the crossfire,`` Bravo told dxIC listeners. Bravo, who speaks fluent Cebuano and Tagalog then proceeded to rattle off the names of civilians killed in the fighting. He also said the attack was done to cripple the country`s economy. Simbajon has this to say about their daily airlane joust with Bravo. ``He is a big liar but I am glad Bravo is on the air everyday. At least we know his intentions,`` he said. Simbajon said Bravo has a tendency to divulge their plans especially if he gets mad at him. So Simbajon makes Bravo angry by daring him to meet with him. The harsher the tirade the better to make Bravo angry, Simbajon said. ``It`s all about psyops actually. If he answers back, then I know Bravo is still alive and creating some mischief,`` the Army colonel said. The propaganda war over the airwaves in Iligan City and Lanao del Norte highlights the continuing war between the MILF and government. Radio listeners would sometimes join the fray. Their views depend on whose side they are on or whether they are inclined to war or peace. (Mindanao Times May 12, 2003 via N. Grace. USA for CRW via DXLD) Frontline/World just had a story on this, PBS-TV UT Friday (gh, DXLD) ** POLAND. Dear Glenn: On May 31 2003 earlier morning local time 0259:03=0325:05 / 1859:03-1925:05 UT, I heard Radio Polonia's Russian program with good and clear on 7180 than previous days, at 1859:03 with first IS (piano mx) then ID as " Radio Polonia " by a male announcer and followed by every two IS and once ID till 1859:55, at 1900:08 announces as "Govorit Russiawa nofonia Radio Polonia . . ." by a female announcer, during the Russian program mentioned many times of "President George W. Bush", and signing off at 1925:05 after jazz mx. The program mentioned above was good than their Ukrainian program just before during 1830-1855 UT on same frequency (Yin Yung-chien, Taipei, Taiwan 6/5 13:06, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TOGO [non]. Radio Togo Libre is at the bottom of the page of stations broadcast via TDP at http://www.airtime.be/whose.html Is this something very new, or very old? I don`t recall hearing of any such station currently active. No advisory of such a new addition has been received via the very seldom used TDP mailing list. The current TDP client schedule at http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html shows: Radio Togo Libre 1300-1400 21760 mtwtf.. French Radio Togo Libre 2000-2100 12125 ......s French [i.e. Sunday] and the ``whose`` page links to http://www.diastode.org/ which is Diaspora Togolaise pour la Democratie = Togolese Diaspora for Democracy which unseems to say anything about broadcasts, but automatically plays some music, presumably the Togolese national (or revolutionary?) anthem? I hate websites doing that, since I am almost always already listening to something of my preference!! A google search on Radio Togo Libre gets only one hit, to the diastode page (Glenn Hauser, OK, June 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. UKRAINIAN PAPER LISTS OWNERS OF KIEV'S FM RADIO STATIONS A list of the owners of Kiev's FM radio stations shows several names appearing more than once, writes correspondent Serhiy Kovtunenko. Although no-one can own more than two stations, the law says nothing about relatives of owners, Kovtunenko says. Quality of the stations is low and they are a poor news source, he concludes. The following is the text of the article published in Ukrainian newspaper Stolichnyye Novosti on 3 June: We have recently been seeing the appearance of new radio stations in Kiev almost every month. Their claims to originality and sophistication are frankly laughable. But you cannot deny their ambitions. There are already 25 of them in the capital, or at least 25 so far. The main thing is that the number of self-proclaimed masterpieces on the air waves has absolutely no influence either on the quality of the product itself or on expansion of the advertising market or, if I may say, on the political views of our people. It made one sick and still makes one sick to listen. Of course, there is no point in answering the question of why things are wrong here, for one of the most important postulates of business has been violated: most of our radio stations did not buy the right to broadcast, but received it thanks to their political sponsors. That is the root of the whole problem. For example, the cost of a licence to broadcast on the FM band in the USA is over 2m dollars. And naturally, someone investing that sort of money will strive to get it back. But in our conditions, when licences are issued by the national council [for TV and radio broadcasting], whose composition is distinguished by its political commitment, the right to broadcast is primarily obtained by people who have their hands in circles of the authorities. Well, anyway, this article is really about something else entirely. It is to define who owns what and with what aims. After all, if the owner is a people's deputy or someone from the authorities, then it is clear that he needs the radio station not just for beauty. We are looking at Kiev stations, since it is precisely in the capital that the centres of virtually all network radio stations are concentrated. Using some data from opinion polls by a number of rating agencies, it can be defined with a small margin of error what audience the owners can count on in fulfilling political orders. [Table organized by:] Station name, frequency, network (+ or -), controlled/owned by Yevropa plyus-Ukraina, 95.6+, Karpiy/Lozhkin Era, 96.0+, [Andriy] Derkach [an influential pro-Russian businessman and MP, member of the pro-presidential Working Ukraine parliament faction] [Era is one of the BBC Ukrainian Service's rebroadcasters in Ukraine] Renessans, 96.8-, Pinchuk/Yevtukhov [Viktor Pinchuk is an influential businessman and President Kuchma's son in law, the informal leader of the Working Ukraine faction, has interests in the steel industry] Khit-FM, 96.4+, Pinchuk/Yevtukhov Russkoye Radio-Ukraina, 98.5+, Pinchuk/Yevtukhov Nostalzhi, 99.0-, [Volodymyr] Satsyuk, [member of the pro-presidential majority in the Ukrainian parliament] Avtoradio, 99.4+, TRK Pilot-Ukrayina Gala-radio, 100.0+, Joseph Lemir Super Nova, 100.5-, foreign investor Kontingent, 100.8-, Serhiy Sholokh [Kontynent rebroadcasts the BBC, the Voice of America and Deutsche Welle in Ukraine. The station and its chief, Serhiy Sholokh, have repeatedly complained of government pressure, linking it to the station's independent reporting] Melodiya, 101.1+, Karpiy/Lozhkin Myuzik radio, 101.5-, OOO Music-Radio Shanson, 101.9+, Pinchuk/Yevtukhov Prosto radio, 102.5+, AOZT Radi.O Lyuks FM-Kiev, 103.2-, Karpiy/Lozhkin Radio Roks, 103.6-, PP Lyamin Pauer-FM, 104.0-, Pinchuk/Yevtukhov Apelsin, 104.6-, Pinchuk/LUKoil [Russian oil company] Promin, 105.0-, Derkach Stolitsa, 105.5-, Satsyuk Shanson, 106.0+, Karpiy/Lozhkin Kiss, 106.5+, Pinchuk/Yevtukhov Yevropa plyus-Kiev, 107.0+, Pinchuk/Yevtukhov Dovira, 107.4+, [Serhiy] Tyhypko [the chairman of the Central Bank of Ukraine, leader of the Working Ukraine party. Had extensive business interests of which he says he divested himself following his appointment as central bank governor] Nashe radio, 107.9+, Pinchuk/Alfa-kapital "+" means networked through Ukraine; "-" means not networked. The Niko-FM network, which covers several, predominantly western, regions, does not broadcast in Kiev. It belongs to Petro Poroshenko. [Poroshenko is an influential member of reformist former prime minister Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc and chairman of the parliamentary budget committee.] Apart from these stations, there are others, of course, but their share, even in their home towns, cannot be compared with established networks. Two stations with the same name, Shanson, currently enjoy the most popularity in virtually every town in the country. The only difference between them is their owners, and one of them carries in parenthesis the words Adult Radio. There is one other clarification. According to current legislation, one legal entity does not have the right to own more than two radio stations or TV channels. And if one looks at the founding documents of the listed stations, then we do indeed find completely different founders. Only sometimes one may be somewhat surprised to see masses of relations among the co-owners. Well, the law does not say anything on that score. As far as political predilections are concerned, they are forgotten during gaps between elections, and virtually all the stations try not to burden the airwaves with politics. This is all the more true, in that there are only two news stations, Era and Dovira, with a developed network. Moreover, the latter has sharply cut the amount and time of providing material from Radio Liberty, which is relayed on its frequencies. There is a belief in Ukraine for some reason that radio news is nonsense for our country and that cheap pop music and gangster songs are more suitable for us. Well, if those are the conclusions of the agencies that compile the picture of the potential listener, that is how he will be. In other words, we deserve what we hear. Speaking of potential leaders on the political advertising market, the situation in the Top 10 now looks like this (according to data from the MMI, JFK, 059 and VIP-consult agencies). [Table organized by:] No, station name, percentage of listeners in Ukraine Shanson (Adult Radio), up to 15 per cent Shanson, 9 per cent Melodiya, up to 7 per cent Nashe radio, 3-5 per cent Russkoye radio-Ukraina, 3-5 per cent Khit-FM, 2-2.5 per cent Dovira, 2-2.5 per cent Era, 1.5 per cent Yevropa plyus-Ukraina, 1-1.5 per cent Niko-FM, up to 1 per cent. All the others either do not want to play politics or will have to do it at local level, which will not bring in much money, but can bring headaches. Source: Stolichnyye Novosti, Kiev, in Russian 3 Jun 03; p 12,13 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. [vhfskip] sp-E opening to UK Hi all! brief massive sporadic-E opening late this afternoon towards UK and Atlantic Belgium and France. Unfortunately, the opening had just an hour slot, so I only tried to focus on 48 MHz studiolinks. Signals were quite loud but the MUF was a bit low (no 70 MHz fire channels could be heard). RX : Icom IC-R7100 ANT: Dressler ARA1500 active wideband vertical QTH: Italy FREQ/MODE DATE TIME Z STATION/QTH/REMARKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- 48300 WFM 04jun 1700-1715 UNID Indian MX station. Good until final fadeout. Long chants. Have no idea about the ID, but it's one of the many Indian community stations in the UK. Maybe BBC Asian Service? 48325 WFM 04jun 1650 TWC-FM, Melton Mowbray, Lincs. Had the DJ with an advertised quiz about a 70's TV serial soundtrack. Prizes are food bonuses. Gave the phone number 01664 822132 and the internet URL http://www.twcfm.co.uk Some 60's and 80's hits (Hey Jude, Michael Jackson, etc). Impressive WFM signal at times. 48425 FM 04jun 1655 BHBN (Birmingham Hospital Broadcasting Network). Short local news headlines, then girls' choir jingle. Loud at times 48475 WFM 04jun 1630-1715 UNID always weak and unreadable. 48525 FM 04jun 1630-1715 HHR Hemel Hospital Radio, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. Powerful signal peaks up to S9! Caught some ads: "Solid Gold Music Show" broadcast; "Hemel Hempstead Carnival Society" on July 13th. The jingle was unreadable in the middle of a QSB, but internet searches confirmed it was HHR. 49 MHz 04jun 1630-1715 In-house pagers (UK?). 12.5 kHz step. 50041 CW 04jun 1630 ON0SIX Ham beacon Nivelles, Belgium. Locator JO20EP. Many of the stations appearing on 48 MHz are "Hospital Stations" broadcasting to patients and surgery staff. I suppose these are not "studio links" but in-house loudspeakers' broadcasting devices reaching every room and ward inside the hospital. A very good website having a list of stations and every info you need to have, is http://www.hospitalradio.co.uk/ Best wishes of a fruitful sp-E summer! de Ciccio Munaron (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. CLEAR CHANNEL TO PURCHASE FCC (Press Release) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Communications Commission FCC) announced today that it has agreed to be acquired by Clear Channel Communications (CCU) of San Antonio, Texas. In announcing the deal, FCC Chairman Micheal Powell said "This transaction will greatly expedite the demise of the antiquated concept of local ownership of media outlets. Critics of deals such as this need to understand that Clear Channel embodies all that is good and decent in the broadcast industry, and anyone that believes otherwise clearly isn't listening to the news." In a statement issued today, Clear Channel CEO Lowry Mays said "This acquisition is a perfect strategic fit for Clear Channel. The FCC has been a wonderful business partner for the past several years, and has carried out our directions with great enthusiasm. We are proud to welcome the FCC into the Clear Channel family of companies." Although terms of the deal were not immediately available, It is said that the acquisition will include all components, operating units and assets of the FCC, except for its soul, which was sold in a prior transaction to Satan, Inc. in 1996. Clear Channel, which owns broadcast facilities, shopping malls, billboard advertising, and concert promotion units all across North America, has been on an acquisition binge for the past several years, and has recently broadened the scope of its acquisitions to include government entities. In a recent deal, CCU purchased a 50% interest in the U.S. Congress, and is reportedly close to striking a deal to purchase The White House. Clear Channel's Stock stood at $42.09 at the close of Monday's trading, up $1.39, or 3.42% (Stolen from another list via Paul Smith Sarasota, FL, June 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. COZY WITH THE F.C.C. -- June 5, 2003 By BOB HERBERT The latest government giveaway to big business came Monday when the Federal Communications Commission eased a number of media ownership restrictions that had been designed to enhance competition, foster independence and provide the public with a wider variety of views and perspectives across the media landscape. What we will get instead is a further consolidation of news and entertainment outlets under the control of a handful of giant corporations. The assets and the tremendous power of these media biggies were enhanced - and the interests of the viewing, listening and reading public were eroded - by the controversial 3-to-2 vote of the F.C.C. commissioners. This was, understandably, a big story. Not so widely covered was an interesting and enlightening study by the Center for Public Integrity on the "cozy" relationship between F.C.C. officials and the telecommunications and broadcasting industries they are supposed to be regulating. The center examined the travel records of F.C.C. employees and found that over the last eight years, commissioners and staff members have taken 2,500 trips costing $2.8 million that were "primarily" paid for by members of the telecommunications and broadcast industries. Can you say conflict of interest? Can you imagine how maybe - just maybe - the interests of ordinary men and women, who don't have the money or the entree to lobby the F.C.C. and entertain its staffers, could be overlooked? How about trampled? "This shows us just how close, how incestuous, the industry and its regulating agency are," said Charles Lewis, the center's executive director. According to the study: "The top destination was Las Vegas, with 330 trips. Second was New Orleans, with 173 trips. And third was New York, with 102 trips. Other destinations were London (98 trips), San Francisco, Palm Springs, Buenos Aires and Beijing. I wish I could tell you this was unusual. But the fact is that many government agencies accept millions of dollars annually from industries and other special interests for trips to meetings, conferences, retreats, whatever. The government beneficiaries of this largess are frequently wined and dined in luxurious settings. They network. They party. And they will tell you they are not influenced at all by this wonderful treatment. The F.C.C. is overridden - "like locusts, really" said Mr. Lewis - by lobbyists and top industry executives. Control of the nation's airwaves, which is the most direct and effective way of controlling how we think and feel and vote and spend our cash, is one of the great prizes America has to offer. Each opportunity to grab additional control is seized upon ferociously by the big media honchos. The Center for Public Integrity reported that there were more than 70 closed-door meetings in recent months between F.C.C. officials and representatives of the nation's top broadcasters, including very powerful chief executives, to discuss the relaxation of media ownership restrictions, the key issue that was voted on Monday. The two major groups that represented the public on this issue were Consumers Union and the Media Access Project. Representatives of those groups met just five times with F.C.C. officials. A particularly revealing moment occurred Sunday, the day before the vote, on the ABC program "This Week." During an interview with F.C.C. chairman, Michael Powell, the moderator, George Stephanopoulos, noted that a survey of 500,000 comments on the F.C.C. Web site showed that more than 97 percent "were opposed to the new rules." "Doesn't that make you wonder," Mr. Stephanopoulos asked, "whether you might be misreading the public interest here?" Mr. Powell said he didn't think so. He said the F.C.C. had "taken those comments into deep consideration." He even said, "I think that they're valid." Oh? "But unfortunately," said Mr. Powell, "as you can understand, most of the comments are `I'm not for consolidation.' Well, Mike Powell is not for consolidation either. But that is not the specific task we have before us." You can understand that, can't you? http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/05/opinion/05HERB.html?ex=1055812426&ei=1&en=c5942e7fc4b89de6 Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company (June 5 via Roger Chambers, DXLD) ** U S A. ON TV-MEDIA DEREGULATION By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- This was never about us. Anyone who is still perplexed over this week's vote by the Federal Communications Commission to let Big Media grow even bigger should get a clue. However much we may be affected by that vote, it had nothing to do with us, the nation's media consumers. Sure, we may want to believe that the FCC is committed to stewarding the public airwaves -- our airwaves -- on our behalf. But we apparently are clinging to a quaint, outmoded notion. This has been vividly demonstrated by Michael K. Powell and what we might call his Roadmap for Media Consolidation. The FCC, thanks to his chairmanship and a three-member Republican majority (also consisting of Commissioners Kathleen Q. Abernathy and Kevin J. Martin), is serving interests other than ours: those of media giants and the parties they enrich. With media regulation clearly the province of Beltway and Wall Street insiders, we are relegated to a secondary role. We are meant to be dazzled by the bounty of media outlets, while remaining unconcerned by what goes on behind the scenes: more media acquired by fewer companies; more media in a community controlled by a single owner; fewer voices; less diversity. Such affairs, as the FCC has told us with ringing clarity, are none of our business. Granted, this is disputed by the FCC's other two commissioners, Democrats Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein. For months, they actively sought comments from the public on the proposed changes, which Adelstein on Monday called "gratuitous deregulation." The 3-2 vote changes the national TV ownership limit so a company can own stations that reach 45 percent of the U.S. audience, boosted from 35 percent. One company can own up to three TV stations and a newspaper in a single market. Media conglomerates including Viacom and News Corp. are cheering these and other new provisions. "The Communications Act tells us to use our rules to promote localism, diversity and competition," said Copps, referring to the 1930s legislation that created the FCC. "It reminds us that the airwaves belong to the American people, and that no broadcast station, no company, no single individual owns an airwave in America." Even so, already lax rules have led to a situation where 90 percent of the most-watched cable channels are owned by the same giants that own the major TV networks and cable systems, Copps noted. And as for the argument that such a disparity can be corrected by the Internet, the major Web news sites, he said, "are controlled by the same media giants who control radio, TV, newspapers and cable." Like Copps, Adelstein decried the pro-business focus of the commission's majority, while marvelling that it had chosen to overlook the expressed will of the people. "We have received about three-quarters of a million comments from the public in opposition to relaxing our ownership rules, a new record," said Adelstein, "and only a handful in support." The unlikely coalition of vocal opponents includes media moguls Ted Turner and Barry Diller, consumer advocates, civil rights and religious groups, writers, musicians, unions, the National Organization for Women and the National Rifle Association, and members of Congress from both parties. Nonetheless, the new FCC order "is rife with references to market efficiencies," said Adelstein, "but it's virtually devoid of any reference to consumers -- that is, citizens." Maybe we brought this on ourselves. For too long, we have paid little mind to the FCC. So much of what it does seemed technical, abstruse and downright boring. Such chores seemed best left to the bureaucrats and lawyers who are typical commission appointees. They were the professionals, the experts. But are they really? In 1997, then Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth famously declared that television was taboo in his home. On the other hand, "There is no better expert witness than the American people," Adelstein observed Monday. "We have heard from people who have collectively spent billions of hours watching TV, listening to the radio and reading newspapers," he said. "But today's decision overrides their better judgment. It instead relies on the reasoning of a handful of powerful media companies who have a vested financial interest." But the final shot may not yet have been fired. Lawmakers will consider partly reversing the FCC's decision, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain said Wednesday. And thanks to a citizenry aroused by its betrayal at the FCC's hands, this media debate could even play a part in the upcoming presidential race. The FCC, Copps said, "awoke a sleeping giant." ------ On the Net: http://www.cjr.org/owners/ http://www.moveon.org http://www.commoncause.org http://www.mediachannel.org http://http://www.fcc.gov (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. Our local "station of record" by-the-way, is again running their hurricane coverage promos, while their transmitter site is in one of the evacuation flood zones. Wonder how that works? (The buildings don't appear to be raised) (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, June 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) Which station would that be? ** U S A. HIS NETWORK HAS A STRIPPER, BUT NO SOLICITORS PLEASE By ROBIN FINN June 5, 2003 LATER rather than sooner comes the main confession from Steve Mendelsohn, executive director of Manhattan Neighborhood Network, the public access television station that is the ultimate bully pulpit for Manhattanites wishing to vent in its freebie studios, as long as they vent without resorting to obscenity, violence or, the ultimate MNN no-no, sales schemes. Psychics and personal trainers, don't go posting your cellphone numbers around here. This minuscule venture may draw the bulk of its $3 million annual operating budget from AOL Time Warner a fiscal quid pro quo the city demanded of Time Warner in return for allowing it to tear up sidewalks to install its cable system but it is a bastion of noncorporate ideals. At least until its franchise is up for renewal in 2008. Also, lest it go unmentioned, anybody who threatens to make mean with an animal, like the guy who brought a live iguana to the studio as a torture prop, will lose his or her MNN camera privileges just as fast as a guy who waxes pornographic. First Amendment rights have their limits. Animals have rights, too. MNN is "democracy in action," Mr. Mendelsohn says. "Anybody who has anything to say can say it so long as they don't break the law." Or recite sales pitches along with their mantras and poetry and recipes and campaign promises. But Mr. Mendelsohn, still ingenuous at 45, tends toward benevolence: he suspends rather than expels broadcast miscreants. Of the 2,000 Manhattan residents who book time in MNN's studios each year, only 30 have had their knuckles rapped for flouting on-air decorum. (Brooklyn and the Bronx have their own public access outlets, but nonprofit organizations with Manhattan agendas are welcome.) He's an optimist, and believes in second chances for everybody except the Federal Communications Commission, which incurred his disdain on Monday by relaxing the rules governing media ownership, a decision that provoked a nonpartisan backlash in Congress. Critics like him say the deregulation invests too much media clout in too few hands (and ideologies). Mr. Mendelsohn, alongside peers in the Alliance for Community Media, is protesting the ruling as an antidemocratic development that, while not imposing on his network, is an insult to the public. If not repealed as he anticipates, he says, it has potential to distort the big picture. "The result will be a limitation of the public's ability to get balanced information," he says, flexing his freckled fists. Back to that confession about MNN's far-and-free-ranging content a confession that, by the way, is not obtained via torture in Mr. Mendelsohn's poorly ventilated but impressively high-tech office at 537 West 59th Street. He makes it freely. And it is, like most of the two-hour soliloquy that emanates from the strawberry blond and blush-prone countenance of Mr. Mendelsohn, delivered with a Howdy Doodyish grin that threatens to spilt his face in two. "Sometimes I'm appalled by some of the things I hear on MNN," he admits, "but I'm also thrilled people can say what they say. We never censor. If someone wants to come in here and agree with the F.C.C., I'm not going to stop them." Since he can't afford to commission a Nielsen rating, Mr. Mendelsohn has no clue about the size of MNN's audience. But he brags about its scope. "We're about targeting niches," he says. "Some people want to watch the stripper who tells jokes while she's stripping; some people want to hear about issues related to the Dominican community. I don't know how many people watch `Biker Billy Cooks With Fire' or `Health's Kitchen' or `Caribbean Body Talk,' " he says. "But there's an audience." A JERSEY-GROWN guy, Mr. Mendelsohn was raised in Glen Rock but gravitated early to Manhattan's arts and theater scene. His parents wanted him to become a dentist; just the thought made him queasy. Instead, he got a degree in economics from the Wharton School and completed his M.B.A. at Harvard. From there, he plunged into the corporate hierarchy, first at Clairol, with a timeout to run the family limousine company after his father's death in 1986, then at American Express, where he spent a decade and was, by 1997, a vice president for foreign exchange services. As corporations go, Amex was good to him and for him. But the death of his partner of 15 years, Phil Kanner, from AIDS in 1995 compelled him to rethink his professional agenda. Mr. Kanner had been a social worker. Mr. Mendelsohn sensed that his own trajectory was a touch selfish. He left his job, traveled, and wound up at Razorfish during the Internet boom: "We were going to help everyone revolutionize everything they did. If you remember what people were saying in the late 90's, it felt true." After the wheels fell off the Internet juggernaut, he agreed to run MNN for five months as its board searched for a permanent executive director last year. With no experience in public access media, or in nonprofit organizations, Mr. Mendelsohn was deemed unqualified for the permanent position. Two months later, he interviewed for the job. The 18-member board grilled him for three hours. "Grueling," he says. "But why I wanted this job is probably why they hired me: I had a vision of what this could become. The more the F.C.C. does things like they did Monday, the more important we are. It's all about people saying, `I want my MNN.' " Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. GREASING THE SKIDS FOR OPERA By Art Buchwald, Thursday, June 5, 2003; Page C03 It goes without saying that oil companies have to think about money -- lots of it. They produce so much money that they feel guilty about it, so occasionally they do a good deed. For 63 years, one of the good deeds for Texaco, now called ChevronTexaco Corp., was to broadcast the great operas live every Saturday afternoon from the Metropolitan Opera. It brought culture and joy into the hearts of millions of Americans who might otherwise never hear an opera -- and it also sold millions of barrels of oil to people who believed Texaco cared. The other day, ChevronTexaco announced that as of 2004 it will no longer be the sponsor. Its reason: The company's focus has changed. No one knew what that meant. You don't have to read between the lines to know that there is a serious brain drain at ChevronTexaco. The whiz kids have decided they can save the company $7 million a year and spend the money on lobbying for drilling in Alaska. Is another sponsor going to pick up the tab and the goodwill that goes with it? You bet your Traviata it will. The Heavenly Oil Co. is very excited. The president of Heavenly called me. "We never thought we could get a chance to sponsor the opera." "Why is ChevronTexaco quitting?" "Because they are stupid. The people who buy gasoline are opera lovers. On Saturday after the performance, everybody went out and bought Texaco gas and oil and even tires. We could feel how loyal the listeners were. Then they produced a public relations disaster. We realized it was coming when Chevron bought Texaco. "Our mole infiltrated one of their meetings and told us a smart-alecky 25-year-old vice president said, 'Now that we own Texaco we have to play hardball. Operas used to drive me crazy at the Harvard Business School when I was studying mergers and acquisitions.' "The mole told us an older vice president said, 'Are we going to get any backlash when we announce what we're doing?' "Our mole reported that an advertising manager said the damage control division could take out ads in the newspapers explaining the reason they did it was to cut down on noise pollution." I asked the Heavenly Oil president, "Did your company come up in the conversation?" "Texaco apparently said we would be suckers to pick up sponsorship. They said culture is changing in America and Mozart is a dead duck." "What did you have to say to that?" I asked him. "If America sees that we like opera, they will let us explore for oil in Iraq." After talking to the president of Heavenly Oil, I called around and found many sponsors who said they might be interested, including Sprint, Nike sneakers, Alpo dog food, Head and Shoulders shampoo and even Viagra. ChevronTexaco made a $7 million blooper and the next time I drive past one of its gas stations I'm not even going to stop to fill up my tires with free air. (c) 2003, Tribune Media Services (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. "STATIC BE GONE: RADIO GOES DIGITAL" Click here to email this story to a friend: http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/send-story?2003/0605/p13s01-stct.txt Click here to read this story online: http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0605/p13s01-stct.html Byline: Rick Dearborn, Special to The Christian Science Monitor Date: 06/05/2003 This summer's biggest radio hit may not be a pop single, but a new service. When new digital radio - or HD Radio, named after its cousin HDTV (high definition television) - comes to US stores in August, it could change the whole soundscape of the nation. Formerly lower-quality AM radio will sound like stereo FM. FM will sound more like a compact disc. As local radio stations put the new service on the air, listeners with HD-equipped radio receivers can expect to hear an immediate improvement. "On AM, the improvement will be startling. On FM even listeners with 'educated ears' will have a hard time detecting the difference between HD Radio and their favorite CD," says Andy Laird of the Journal Broadcast Group. But while many stations are installing and testing the new system for between $100,000 and $500,000 apiece, some broadcasters aren't sold on the idea. "We took a good look at [HD Radio] and decided that we could not justify the cost of conversion at the present time for any of our 22 stations," says Dennis Orcutt of Renda Broadcasting in Pittsburgh. "[We're going] to hold off and see how the industry and consumers take to this new technology." As the nation's oldest wireless medium, radio has been woven into the fabric of everyday life since its advent in 1903. Today, with HD Radio's expanded capacities, new uses are only beginning to be envisioned. HD Radio works like this: To listen to the service, consumers need new - and relatively inexpensive - radio equipment adaptable to both the HD system and old analog radio. Then, when they tune in to a station providing the signal, at first they'll hear the old analog signal. Then, after about seven seconds, the signal switches over to HD and "the sound suddenly expands out in all directions," Mr. Laird says. Because the HD Radio signal is concealed within the AM and FM radio programming already being broadcast over local radio stations, if listeners opt not to buy the new HD radios their old ones will continue to work just fine. Only at some future point, if HD Radio stations decide to go completely digital, could analog radios become obsolete. Unlike satellite radio, which charges listeners a subscription fee, the only cost to HD Radio listeners will be for new radio gear. Broadcasters will pick up the rest of the tab, in the form of new broadcasting equipment and licensing fees. A Columbia, Md., company called iBiquity will be the sole provider of the technology, which was approved by the Federal Communications Commission last October. "Terrestrial radio is really the only remaining medium not to be all digital," says Dave Salemi, iBiquity's vice president of marketing. "HD Radio now propels radio into the digital age" both in terms of sound quality and possible communications with other new technologies. New radios coming out this summer, for example, will include an informational display showing song title and artist, or other text messages such as emergency alerts. Second-generation FM radios will have even more features, including on-demand local traffic and weather updates automatically sent to car receivers. Additional data channels could even tie car radios to a Global Positioning System receiver that would supply information about restaurants, hotels, and other attractions within blocks of the car's location at any given moment. "The future on-demand audio function will also allow listeners to repeat songs they just heard, or even play the end of a program they missed when they had to leave their car for work," says Mr. Salemi. Still, broadcasters say, there are definite drawbacks. The high cost of installation may put the service out of reach for smaller stations. And as with all new technologies, there are kinks to work out: Since January, some broadcasters have said the sound quality of the AM system is not up to snuff, and have put their plans to install HD Radio on hold until the issue is resolved. What's more, initially AM stations will be allowed to broadcast HD Radio only during the day, due to potential interference with other stations at night. Though this hurdle is likely to be overcome as the AM system is refined, and though higher audio quality across the board may level the playing field between AM and competing FM stations, many small-station owners are still holding, with Sam Stemm of tiny WBGZ-AM in Alton, Ill. "My attitude right now is wait and see," he says. (c) Copyright 2003 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. (via Roger Chambers, DXLD) ** U S A. Anyone need WJNT-1180 Jackson, MS? I got a message they're testing tonight. 12 am till 1 am CST [sic; surely CDT = Fri June 6 0500-0600 UT] at 50 kw-ND. Morse IDs along with the regular programming: Bruce Williams CBS News - top of hr. CNN News - bottom of hr. Stan Carter, CE, WJNT NewsTalk 1180 AM / 103.9 FM, http://www.wjnt.com See the website to e-mail the CE. Sorry about the short notice!!! (Lynn Hollerman, Lafayette, LA, June 5, IRCA via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Hi Glenn, Greetings from Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. I send you an article I have written about the situation in Venezuela with media and the new "Radio and TV law". VENEZUELA: IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH UNDER JEOPARDY? Days before an imminent approval of the new legislation about media known as "Ley de Responsabilidad Social de Radio y TV", many people have shown their disagreement towards this law. The fact of controlling media programming is not a very common situation in Venezuela where the most powerful and wealthiest people have always done what they have wanted to. Control is a bad word for these people. Contrary to other countries in Europe or other parts of the world, the majority of radio and TV stations in Venezuela are under entrepreneurs' control. The first radio broadcaster going on the air in the early 1920's was a private sponsored station. The first TV broadcaster --- in the early 1950's --- was a private station too. Through the years, media owners always had strong relations with government officials in Venezuela. Most of the times, senators and congressmen in the former Parliament were supported by media or directly related to them. Naturally, these senators and congressmen sabotaged --- for more than 40 years --- any attempt of sanctioning a law concerning to radio and TV programming regulation. Nowadays, things have changed and something that is not a surprise is happening: private media owners accuse the government of violating freedom of speech if the law on radio and TV is approved. It is such a natural reaction! They are not accustomed to regulations; they have been operating for more than 70 years without clear regulations! Yes, control --- a bad word for them. The Ley de Responsabilidad Social de Radio y TV document claims to protect children from programs which promote violence, sex and pornography and states that children have to be respected as viewers. The law establishes schedules especially devoted to children-oriented programming, during morning and afternoon hours. The participation of independent producers on private networks airing-time is also an important goal of the new Radio and TV law. However, the worst enemy against the law is ignorance. Many people have taken a stand against the law and they have not even read its text! Last Sunday, a Caracas-based group called "Asamblea de Vecinos", went to the state-owned Channel 8 to carry out a demonstration. They were aired by the station, even when many people on the opposition side say this is not a REAL DEMOCRACY! One of the protesters said that the Radio and TV law was putting freedom of speech under jeopardy. Suddenly, the TV station reporter asked him: "So, could you name --- in numbers --- the articles of that law you are opposed to?". The protester made a pause and started to cry out the "same-old-story- repeating-speech" about the dictator Chávez, the so-called communist project and the media-biased opinions about the "Ley Mordaza" (the media "nickname" to the new Radio and TV law). I strongly recommend to my DXing friends to read --- carefully --- the Radio and TV law document before expressing any comments (Adán González, Radio Announcer, Licence number 26950, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. Hi Glenn, Just to let you know that your report in June 4 DXLD 3-098 on the Zimbabwe-based reporters of Radio VOP --- "The Voice of the People" was informative and accurate. Local media is subject to huge censorship by the State but shortwave always gets its message across the borders. SW Radio Africa transmitting from Sentech facilities in South Africa and VOP Radio from the 200 kW Radio Netherlands transmitter on Madagascar Island have been informative and directive during this week-long crisis staged against the government of Zimbabwe. I have been a DXer for 20 years but at no stage did I think that shortwave radio would be more important to me and my fellow countryfolk as it has been this week (Dave Pringle-Wood, Harare, ZIMBABWE, June 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Hi out there, below is one of two answers I got from SW Radio Africa on 4880, and anyone familiar with reception conditions in SE Africa could send on their advice to Richard. I've done my best to answer Richard's mail, but I know that there are better "experts" around. I thought my AOR AR7030 had gone wild yesterday June 3, at 1730 UT... The other and first mail came from Simon Surrey, Technical Manager, SW Radio Africa, just one hour after sending the report. His mail address is simon@swradioafrica.com. I let this correspondence speak for itself. 73 Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden ----- Original Message ----- From: richard Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 1:45 PM Subject: FW: Reception report 4880 kHz Dear Johan, Thank you for this report and your observations. It is exciting to know that we can be picked up in Sweden. In fact you seem to be able to hear us better than many people in our target area of Southern Africa. If it is not too much trouble I wonder if you could explain in a few words how people in Zimbabwe with a short wave radio might be able to get a better signal. At this time of year there is a big problem with propagation and many people cannot hear our programmes, which is frustrating. Is it possible to connect a regular short wave radio to a wire propped against a tree to get a better signal? Is there an optimum length of Arial to pick up signals on the 60 metre band? Again many thanks for your e-mail. Richard - SW Radio Africa 4880 KHz on the 60m band http://www.swradioafrica.com -----Original Message----- From: simon Sent: 03 June 2003 23:54 To: staff Subject: FW: Reception report 4880 kHz I have replied. What a nice report to have. Steve -----Original Message----- From: Johan Berglund Sent: 03 June 2003 23:41 To: tech Subject: Reception report 4880 kHz Trollhättan, Sweden June 3, 2003 SW Radio Africa; Dear Sirs, I congratulate you to the very fine reception of your broadcasts on short wave 4880 kHz in the 60 metre band. Even "way up" here in western Sweden, your programmes are heard very well, with an astonishing signal strength, and fine readability. There was simply no comparison to other signals from Africa in the same metre band at the time. I tuned in at 1730 GMT and stayed with you for an hour. June 3, 2003. The news coverage of what is going on in Zimbabwe also stunned me, with so many details and perspectives of the peaceful demonstrations against Robert Mugabe's illegitimate regime now taking place. This one hour of listening gave me more insight than a dozen newspaper articles. I do listen with a semi-professional radio, the U.K. designed and manufactured AOR AR7030, and a 50 metre outdoor wire for aerial, but I am very sure that any receiver with shortwave covering the 60 metre band would pick it up very well - especially in your "target area" of Zimbabwe. On a scale 1-5 for signal strength, you get 4, interference 4 (just occasional telegraph beeps, and some voice communication, in Russian, I think), 5 for noise (no background buzz) 4 for propagation (steady, only slightly variable signal strength) and 4+ for overall quality of reception. SINPO 44544. A few details from your broadcast (times are GMT) At 1733 an interview with a woman who really had a horror story to tell, how she and her husband going in their car had had a man jumping onto the roof of the car and stabbing it with a knife (or was it a bayonet?), how they had passed policemen not bothering and how they eventually escaped that drama... After that you spelled out you website and at 1943 [sic = CEST] a news story how staff members of The Voice of the People had been beaten up by "war veteran" militiamen. Station identification : -You're listening to the news from SW Radio Africa, Zimbabwe's Independent Voice. Then about the arrests in Harare, MPs in police custody, and an interview with the owner of a Harare farm supply store. The news went on well beyond normal time, you said, because of the vast amount of things to report on. It came to a close at about 1818, with a frequency reminder about 4880 kHz, and the program went on with a long and catchy Zimbabwe Freedom Hymn. I will indeed listen to 4880 kHz tomorrow too, and keep in touch with developments. I strongly support your cause, and this broadcast that I heard made me very much more aware of the terrible situation that freedom and democracy is suffering in Zimbabwe. I have not yet visited your website, just wanted to write this letter first, with a very fresh impression of your program. Thank you so much, and all my best wishes. If you have the time, please just acknowledge that I have heard your program. Sincerely yours Johan Berglund (retired traffic officer) Vabacksvägen 10 S - 461 91 Trollhättan, Sweden (via DX LISTENING DIGEST) How are we supposed to help them when they won`t even confirm their transmitter site? If it be South Africa, as widely assumed, possibly in mid-winter the MUF is falling so low that even 4.8 MHz be too high, and they should go down to 90 meters. There could also be issues of antenna directionality, vertical take-off angle, etc., but how can we advise on this without any data? (gh, DXLD) The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is disgusted with the level of harassment, intimidation and brutality that has accompanied the week of mass action called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Arrests, assault and intimidation continue across the country. There are reports of business owners being forced to open their businesses, and local organisers and activists have been attacked and detained by members of the uniformed forces. This week, the brutality that Zimbabweans have come to associate with mass action has exceeded even its previous limits. Two journalists were attacked in the Harare suburb of Mt Pleasant when they went to cover a story about the University of Zimbabwe students. They were assaulted, driven back into town, and taken to the police station. Rather than detaining the people who had attacked and abducted these journalists, the police took the two to their office, seized some material belonging to the agency, and held it over night. The material was later returned. This flagrant breech of journalistic freedoms is just one indication of the repression Zimbabweans must now confront. Copies of the independent Daily News have been seen torn into shreds and strewn across the streets in Harare and other towns in Zimbabwe. It is reported that pro-government youths and para-military groups are moving about major towns destroying copies of the paper and threatening people found reading it. It is not press freedom alone which is under threat. Many of the Harare residents who have been injured in this week`s wave of assaults have been treated at the Avenues Clinic in Harare. This afternoon, however, (Wednesday June 4) members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police stormed the clinic and created a panic threatening outpatients, those awaiting treatment and even Hospital staff. Victims of violence were easily identified by their bandages, and these people in particular were threatened by the police. Vehicles with number plates from the ZRP and from the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) were observed outside the clinic at this time, and at least two people were witnessed being accompanied by riot details to these vehicles. The behaviour of the ZRP instilled even more fear among people who had already been severely beaten, tortured and brutalised. In Mbare, it is reported that one pro-democracy activist was killed when he and a Harare City Councillor were attacked by pro-government actors. In Warren Park police reportedly fired teargas at a primary school. In Mbare, there have been reports of school children being attacked by pro-government actors when they were coming from school. The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is disturbed by the increasing lack of humanity that such cases indicate. It is a damning comment on our national character if people are assaulted, and then when they seek treatment, they are further harassed by the same state agents who are supposed to ``serve and protect`` them. Moreover, if school children are not allowed to move freely between home and school, then as a nation we have truly reached a desperate state. 4 June 2003 Crisis in Zimbabwe is a grouping of civil society organisations and coalitions whose vision is a democratic Zimbabwe. The Coalition`s mandate is to address the twin questions of governance and legitimacy. Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Tel/Fax: +263 4 747 817 Email: info@crisis.co.zw Please forward this message to others, print copies for your office and distribute to your friends and colleagues (via DXLD) I was just listening to Thursday`s Fresh Air on NPR --- the first 34 minutes with the Guardian correspondent just expelled from Zimbabwe (gh, DXLD) ###