DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-149, August 17, 2003
        edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com

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NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1195:
RFPI: Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 on 7445
      [nominal times subject to delay or pre-emption]
WBCQ: Mon 0415 on 7415
WWCR: Wed 0930 9475

WRN ONDEMAND:
http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 
OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]:
Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html
[Low]  (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1195.rm
       (Stream)   http://www.k4cc.net/wor1195.ram
[High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1195h.rm
       (Stream)   http://www.k4cc.net/wor1195h.ram
       (Summary)  http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1195.html

WORLD OF RADIO on WJIE: We missed checking Sunday 1630 the last few 
weeks to confirm whether WJIE has still been running #1179 from April, 
but on Aug 16 we found that the schedule had been updated at 
http://www.wjiesw.com/schedule.htm to show only one time for WOR, Sat 
0930 UT. However, occasional checks at various times of both 
frequencies, 7490 and 13595, the past week have failed to confirm WJIE 
is even on the air, or modulating if there is a carrier. We have told 
them there is no point in continuing until WJIE can become serious 
about SW (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

WORLD OF RADIO WATCH: On WRMI: 1195 confirmed Sat Aug 16 at 1804 on 
15725; on WINB: confirmed 0031+ UT Sun Aug 17 on 12160; CONTINENT OF 
MEDIA on RFPI was about half an hour early at 0300 UT Sun instead of 
0330 (gh)

SOLICITED TESTIMONIALS  Re: DXLD 3-146 comments by Steve Cross: ``The 
best reception by far is the Sunday UT show on WWCR 5070 at 0230 UT.`` 

I agree with that assessment, but the UT Saturday 1030 airing, also on 
5070, matches it occasionally. For the past several weeks, I have been 
waking up around that time and tune the program in on the Satellit 
800. For the past two or three weeks reception was marginal but it 
could have been impaired by some nearby interference.

I didn`t wake up in time this morning (August 16) but I did tape it on 
the VCR from my DX-398, and today it was very clear, and it was 
complete, while during recent weeks it would usually be cut off before 
the propagation outlook as the program occasionally starts 1-2 minutes 
late. I must make a habit of checking the tape afterwards, even if I 
do wake up early and listen to it then on the 800, as I have noticed 
that occasionally reception will be better on one radio than on the 
other. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I use two separate 
antennas, both the wind-up type (the one for the 800 is attached to 
the whip antenna while the 398`s is plugged into the antenna input) 
which I am limited to but fortunately they are both satisfactory.

``The Thu afternoon local show on WWCR 15825 at 2030 fades in and out
but is usually readable, again if no weather or solar problems.`` 

I usually find this to be completely inaudible, but I believe that is
due to local interference burying the signal.

``The first show of the week on WBCQ is not readable until wintertime 
on 7415 and is occasionally readable on 17495, both at 2200 UT Wed.`` 

I agree with the comment for 7415 but 17495 is usually buried under 
local interference. But as the slide into winter continues the 
interference should abate.

So, at the moment, my first chance to hear WORLD OF RADIO clearly is
the Saturday 1030 airing on WWCR. As the nights get longer, however,
the first airing on WBCQ should start coming in stronger, although 
even at its best it never matches the reception I usually get on WWCR
Saturday mornings and evenings. I have, on a couple of occasions (both 
in July late in the evenings while I was home on vacation), downloaded 
it from the net and listened to it on the computer. The first time it 
played complete with no interruptions but the second time it cut out 
so many times I was forced to stop after five minutes or so.

I consider WORLD OF RADIO to be the only DX program worth listening 
to. I never listen to DXING WITH CUMBRE, although, as I have said once 
before somewhere in the gh universe, they really ``don`t speak my 
language, so to speak.`` (I have no interest in DXing as such). DXERS 
UNLIMITED definitely doesn`t speak my language and I never listen to 
that, although I have in the past checked their posted scripts (but 
not for many months now). I have been intending to start listening to 
DX PARTYLINE again, but I usually find that I`m busy with something 
else when their broadcast times comes around so I don`t bother. 
However, if I didn`t get good reception Saturday morning, I always 
make sure I finish with or stop whatever I`m doing by the time the 
Saturday evening WORLD OF RADIO broadcast rolls around. 73, (John 
Norfolk, OKCOK)

Dear Mr Hauser, Hello! My name is Ian and in answer to your question, 
``What is my favourite station for listening to World of Radio?`` I 
would say WWCR. I listen to you at 0230 UT Sundays on 5070. Actually I 
usually set the tape recorder because it`s 0330 local time here. I use 
a Sangean 818, the one with the built-in cassette recorder, with an 11 
meter `open` end fed ceiling loop clipped to the set top whip. The 
loop is a single strand of 12 volt doorbell wire (insulated). The wire 
is held in place by 5 plastic `map pins`, two or three turns around 
each pin. I actually have 23 or these lops about 2.5 inches apart. The 
other one feeds my 1972 Eddystone EB37 transistor `cabin` set which I 
bought at the National Vintage Communications Fair for 20 pounds in 
May this year. . . (Ian Evans, Gwent, UK, 10 Aug, by P-mail, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST)

** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 15615, CIS(?) to AFGHANISTAN, R. Amani, 1624-
1637, 15/08, Arabic?, CIS test tones at tune-in until 1628, silence 
until 1631 sign-on, very poor/weak under propagational QRN, with 
presumed ID and Arabic-like music fanfare followed by music and talks. 
Not able to get any readable copy, just enough to know something is 
there! (Scott R Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, Sangean ATS 818, RF 
Systems MLB-1, RS longwire w/ RBA balun, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Surely 
they would not use Arabic except for Qur`an recitations (gh, DXLD) 

** AUSTRALIA. RA will be able to broadcast a few more hours out of 
Darwin in the near future to Asia; to improve signal in Vietnamese, 
which is presently from offshore [Taiwan?]; also looking at mounting a 
transmission to S and SE As in English, probably around 1300-1530 UT 
for a presence in the evening as well as afternoon. Due to budget 
cuts, RA will make some changes, cancelling some programs to be 
replaced by others, details not yet decided, to take effect at the 
beginning of September (Jean-Gabriel Manguy, RA network manager on 
Feedback Aug 8 [presumably] from WRN archive Aug 17, looking for 
current show about ARDS, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. 5050, ARDS, another "vague" QSL but a QSL all the same, 
especially when Radio Manager Dale Chesson dale@ards.com.au said the 
male announcer I heard on Aug 8 was him. Other info from Dale: "We are 
a community education/community development organisation and our media 
release went out on Thursday (Aug 7)." He added: "We're collecting S 
readings from hams across the Top End (i.e. the Northern Territory) to 
identify if our antennae are aimed correctly. We'll use MF 
transmitters in the major communities once time and finances allow. We 
are on 5050, as that was the frequency assigned by the ACA when we 
applied for our HF Domestic Broadcasting Licence. 5060 is the upper 
limit of the licence and we wanted something as close to that as 
possible to cope with the tropical climate, etc., as we would only be 
issued with one frequency due to congestion of the spectrum. Over 5060 
you need an International Broadcasting Licence and that was really out 
of the scope of our operations." 

I recommended shifting to 5045 or 5055 to lessen interference. Dale's 
response was: "Given frequency allocation by ACA, and also that 5040 
is the Defence frequency in Townsville, there is little hope of us 
being issued something inside their 9 kHz spacing requirements." I 
made reference to the ABC SW transmitters at Katherine, Tennant Creek 
and Alice Springs. Dale said that the ABC's transmitters are "50 kW 
vertical incidence with shower antenna. We were quoted A$5 million to 
replicate this service!" The station`s name isn't finalised yet: "We 
have a name in mind at this stage, but are waiting for our listening 
audience to come up with something that they will identify with. As we 
talk to people, we refer to it as the Community Development Radio 
Service." (David Foster, Australia, DXplorer via DXLD) 

** BAHAMAS. 1540, ZNS1, Nassau - 0535+ 8/17. Weird, a couple of
years ago I recall hearing them track Billy Joel's "River Of Dreams" 
album in its' entirety. So whadda ya know, tonight I stumbled upon 
them tracking Joel's "The Stranger" and across the top-of-the-hour.  
Is there some hidden meaning here, or could there be a closet Billy 
fan working graveyard in central New Providence? (Terry L. Krueger,
Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BANGLADESH?? 9550, Bangladesh Betar, 1228 17 Aug, Instrumental 
music and announcement by W in what sounded like English, then into 
long talk by W after 1230 although it didn't sound like English then. 
No IS noted. Definitely Asian. If them, maybe they started the English 
program a little early. Weak and fading. Nothing but Hams on 7185. 
Could they be using the same transmitter and switching frequencies?? 
73's (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD)

Well, GVG said 7185 was the only active SW frequency here (gh, DXLD)

7185, Bangladesh Betar 1234-1259* 8/16. English transmission; last 
minute of news, then commentary with mentions of India and Bangladesh; 
subcontinental vocal music at 1240. Fair signal with ARO QRM (John 
Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via 
DXLD) 

** BOLIVIA. 4905, RADIO SAN MIGUEL, Riberalta, 0215, August 16. 
Spanish, program "Show de los Sábados" "...la multitud de Radio San 
Miguel", "...mes aniversario, 35 años de Radio San Miguel..." sign-off 
0300 45444; also 1035, August 16 Spanish, Mass 55555 (Rogildo F. 
Aragão, Quillacollo - Bolivia, Sony ICF-2001D - Lowe HF-225E, LW 20m + 
LW 50m, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nominal 4930; this is the one that jumped 
to 4735v recently (gh, DXLD) e.g.:

4930.01, R. San Miguel, 15 Aug 2353, M talk in Spanish with mention of 
Sierra, and ending with R. San Miguel ID at 2355, into nice Tango 
vocal song. Fair (Dave Valko, PA, 15 August, micro dxpediton, Used a 
26 meter dipole oriented 120-300 degrees and 4 meters off the ground, 
and a 300' Beverage on the ground running to 190 degrees, Cumbre DX 
via DXLD)

** BRAZIL. Hi Glenn, Re the item NACIONAL DO BRASIL PARA A ÁFRICA in
DXLD 3-146: So you think the Af service is actually on 9665?

I haven`t heard anything yet to indicate this is for Africa, but I am 
by no means fluent in Portuguese. Today, Aug. 17, I heard the usual 
sambas and what sounds a recorded ID which includes station name, 
frequency[ies?] and a schedule, and also mentions RadioBrás, but no 
mention of a target. Audio is overmodulated which doesn`t improve 
audibility. Signal strength here is very good, which doesn`t suggest 
it`s beaming towards the main Portuguese speaking countries in 
southern Africa. 73s, (Noel Green, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 12 AMAZON CATHOLIC STATIONS FORM NEWS SERVICE

Tefé, Amazonas, Aug 9 (Conexión Digital) --- Twelve Catholic radio 
stations located in the Amazon Basin are working together to produce a 
regional newscast, reports Paul Roberto e Souza. With the goal of 
creating an informative program over the Amazon Basin, originating
from Tefé, Amazonians will produce it. According to Padre Edilberto
Sena, director of ZYI354 Rádio Rural of Santarém 710 AM and ZYG363 on
4765 kHz shortwave in the Brasilian state of Pará, ``It is not
xenophobic, but is dedicated to highlight the values of our region and
to alert our people about international greed, especially that of the
Gringo North Americans.`` Forming the network are stations in ZYH204
Cruzeiro do Sul 940 AM and ZYF203 on 4865 kHz shortwave in the state
of Acre, ZYI535 Bragança 1390 AM and ZYG364 on 4825 kHz in the state
of Pará, Rádio Rural de Santarém, among others. ZYH282 Rádio Educação
Rural 1270 AM and ZYF271 on 3385 kHz shortwave, of Tefé, in the state
of Amazonas, a city where Paulo Roberto e Souza works, is not
currently a member of the network, but it will be entering shortly
(Catholic Radio Update Aug 18 via DXLD)

** CANADA. RCI is expecting a new design of QSL card within the next 
month or two. That card will picture the flags of the Canadian 
provinces and territories. 73s (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, 
Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. I received the following inquiry from a DXer in New 
Zealand. I didn't do any SW listening at all during Thursday's 
blackout. Does anyone know if CHU went off? And if they did go off, 
how long did they stay off? Or did they switch to emergency power and 
stay on during the outage? As I type, just after 1 PM eastern (1700 
UTC), I can't hear CHU at all. But that's likely due to propagation, 
as I can't hear WWV on 5000 or 10000, and reception is poor on 15000. 
73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, Aug 17, NRC-AM via DXLD) 

Nope, CHU is definitely off the air (as of 1345 EDT). I live just a 
few km away from the transmitter site, and there is not even a weak 
carrier on 3330 or 7335. I can't say whether they've been on at all 
since the blackout, since I didn't check until now (Barry McLarnon, 
Ottawa, ibid.)

CHU has indeed been off since the blackout. I thought it was bad band 
conditions at first, but I guess not. I wonder if they are dropping 
the service? I ask because some time ago, they removed the web pages 
on CHU's data format and such. I'd think WWV would reach well into 
Canada, so I never understood why they have CHU. Are there some areas 
where WWV just doesn't get into in Canada? (Adam Myrow, Memphis TN, 
ibid.)

I live near Boston. We have heard them occasionally since the 
blackout, sometimes very weak, sometimes normal level for very short 
periods, and then totally gone. Did not know if it was propagation or 
blackout related. Suspected the latter, and you are confirming this. 
But I can say they have been on although very sporadically (Allan 
Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.)

** CANADA. We're told - but have not yet confirmed - that the CN Tower 
transmitting facility lost power, sending most of the signals there 
either into darkness (CTV's CFTO, CHIN-FM, CJRT, CBL-FM) or to low-
power auxiliary facilities. On the AM dial, CHWO (740) was off the air 
most of the night, though the problem appeared to be at the studio and 
not the transmitter, since CJBC (860) stayed on from the same 
transmitter. Scattered off-air stations were reported elsewhere in 
Ontario, and we caught the CJBC relay network picking up Syracuse's 
WTKW and relaying it in the absence of the Kingston 99.5 signal early 
in the blackout. On Friday morning, the transmitters of the TVOntario 
network that weren't off the air were carrying a slate apologizing for 
the lack of programming because of the power outage (Scott Fybush, NE 
Radio Watch Aug 15 via DXLD) more under USA

** CANADA. CIAO-530, CHKT-1430 and CHIN-1540 were k.o.'ed completely. 
CJBC-860 stayed on, but CHWO-740 was off sporadically. They didn't 
seem to have any special programs when they were on, just the usual 
nostalgia music. CFTR-680 was off for about an hour after the power 
went out, with only a growlly carrier, but came back on around 1800 
EDT. Of course MOJO-640 stayed on - power outages are a test of macho 
and separate the men from the boys. No sign of JOY-1250, presumably 
they were knocked off - God works in wonderful ways :) CFYZ-1280 
stayed on, with emergency programming (well, duh, virtually every 
flight at YYZ was cancelled) (Mike Brooker, Toronto, hard-core-dx via 
DXLD)

** CANADA [and non]. RADIO TO THE RESCUE WHEN POWER OUT 
People spent hours in their cars flipping from station to station 
Julie Smyth, National Post, Saturday, August 16, 2003
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=1C6A930E-72D0-46F6-A871-901FACC0BD38 

It was the renaissance of radio. As the power went out, leaving 
television screens black, people huddled around battery-powered radios 
to get their news.

Neighbours gathered on lawn chairs, lit lanterns and candles, watched 
the stars and turned on the old-fashioned pocket radio someone had 
dusted off and dug out of the basement closet.

Through out the night, the scratchy sounds of beat-up hand-helds and 
more modern ghetto blasters filled the air with music and newscasts.
Many people spent hours in their car, flipping from station to 
station, or fell asleep, clutching their radio and listening to 
bulletins about when their power might be restored.

"I laid all night listening to the radio. People were phoning in 
asking where they could get a Tim Hortons," said one woman.

It was a throw-back to the fifties when only months ago every family 
across the modern world was glued to the television watching live 
footage of combat in Iraq on CNN through the camera of an embedded 
camera crew.

For one of the most important stories in years -- the biggest blackout 
in North American history -- television, for once, could not reach 
viewers in major cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, New York.

With limited news access -- even the Internet proved useless except on 
portable computers -- people relied on the only source of information 
that was still available. The good old radio made a temporary come-
back, brought upon simply by the fact that all the technology 
available to the giants of broadcast could do nothing about the fact 
50 million people could not turn on their television sets.

"Radios were flying off the shelves," said Peter Collins, who works at 
a Waterloo, Ont., Radio Shack. "Some people were picking up shortwave 
radios, others were going for the old-style pocket radios."

The CBC spent most of yesterday airing footage from the night before, 
with Ontario viewers seeing the first images of the blackout as late 
as 24 hours after the outage began just after 4 p.m. on Thursday.

CBC, with its head office in the middle of downtown Toronto, relied 
initially on radio coverage, then had to broadcast out of Calgary and 
Vancouver on what was an exclusively eastern story.

By 6 p.m., Peter Mansbridge, on holidays and driving home to his home 
in Stratford, Ont., had arrived and reported from the CBC's rooftop in 
his shorts and, somewhat controversially, his annual summer holiday 
beard. (He was expected to keep his facial hair, which one CBC 
official described as his "casual look" for last night's coverage.)

Even radio had to bounce from signal to signal on occasion, said Tony 
Burnman, editor-in-chief of CBC News. It was not until 9 p.m. that CBC 
had enough back-up power to move coverage to Toronto. "We had to 
struggle with the technology but I think we were able to get our 
message out."

But it did not get to the people who cared about the story most. As 
one Ottawa woman put it: "As soon as we got home, we kept thinking 
we'd put on the news so we could find out what was happening. Then we 
realized, we can't turn on the TV."

CBC relied on limited emergency power that allowed it to broadcast on 
radio and to feed television news reports, including footage of Mr. 
Mansbridge, to Vancouver, then it moved to the full-scale program out 
of the Toronto building. The network had full power back by 11 p.m, 
which was early compared to most homes in the city.

Other national networks across North America had similar problems and 
had to hope people would once again return to the round-the-clock 
television coverage yesterday. "I expect the audience for the National 
tonight will be phenomenal," Mr. Burnman said yesterday.

Or maybe they'll just stick with their radios (© Copyright 2003 
National Post via Artie Bigley, DXLD)

** CANADA. Radio Shalom application DENIED --- It's a very lengthy 
decision. Excerpts presented below.
See http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2003/db2003-399.htm 

[...]
6.  The Commission received 23 letters of support and two petitions 
with 182 and 533 signatures, respectively, in support of Radio 
Chalom's application. On the other hand, the Association des 
radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec (ARCQ), Radio Centre-Ville 
Saint-Louis inc. (Radio Centre-Ville) and Radio Communautaire 
Francophone de Montréal inc., licensee of CIBL-FM Montréal, opposed 
any new radio licence in the Montréal market because of their concerns 
for the survival of community radio stations CINQ-FM and CIBL-FM 
Montréal and CHAA-FM Longueuil. 

Fred Leclaire and Hyman Glustein filed a joint intervention opposing 
the application based on their concern that the new station would have 
negative impacts on radio stations currently offering ethnic 
programming in the Montréal market.

7.  The Union des artistes (UDA) and the Société professionnelle des 
auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ) also submitted comments 
on the application. UDA stressed the importance it placed on promoting 
French-language stations in the Montréal market, while SPACQ stated, 
among other things, that priority should be given to broadcasting 
outlets that would give airplay to French-language musical selections.
[...]

9.  Radio Chalom's proposed frequency and technical parameters made it 
non-competitive on technical grounds with the other applications to 
serve the Montréal region, and could in the Commission's view, have 
represented an appropriate technical use of the proposed AM frequency. 
The Commission also considers that the applicant's experience in 
operating an SCMO service has provided Radio Chalom with the 
appropriate practical knowledge and sufficient resources to operate 
the proposed radio station. Given the relatively modest nature of the 
proposal from a commercial vantage point, the Commission is further 
satisfied that the proposed Montréal station would not have had an 
undue negative impact on existing radio stations.

10.  Radio Chalom, however, failed to convince the Commission that its 
application to operate a broadcasting undertaking that is both ethnic 
and religious, responded to the requirements of the existing Ethnic 
and Religious Policies, or that it would be able to comply with those 
Policies and its obligations as a broadcasting licensee. Given the 
lack of details and clarity of the information provided by Radio 
Chalom, both in its application and at the public hearing, the 
Commission considers it important to clarify in this decision certain 
provisions of its Ethnic and Religious Policies as they pertain to 
Radio Chalom's proposals. [...]

19.  The Commission finds that the measures proposed by Radio Chalom 
for soliciting points of view from other religious groups were not 
sufficiently concrete to ensure that its programming would be 
balanced. The Commission notes that the applicant proposed to achieve 
balance through on-air exchanges of opinion between members of the 
Jewish community. In the Commission's view, Radio Chalom's proposal to 
fulfil the balance requirements through an exchange of ideas within 
its own group would not have allowed it to meet the requirements of 
the Religious Policy. [...]

21. (...) It is not sufficient, however, merely to make air time 
available to other groups. A broadcaster must actively solicit such 
programming to ensure that different views are presented. An applicant 
should demonstrate to the Commission that it has contacted other 
religious groups, and present evidence that a willingness exists on 
the part of other faith groups to participate. Moreover, it should 
indicate to the Commission how it will ensure that programming from 
the various faith groups in the community will continue to be 
available on an on-going basis. (...) [...]

22.  On the basis of the information provided by Radio Chalom in its 
application and at the public hearing, the Commission does not 
consider that the applicant fully appreciates, or that it would be 
willing or able to meet the requirements of, the Ethnic and Religious 
Policies.

23.  The Commission notes further that Radio Chalom did not provide, 
either in its application or at the public hearing, reliable 
quantitative information with respect to several matters, including 
the proposed weekly hours of local programming, news in general, local 
news and music. [...] (via Ricky Leong, QC, DXLD)

** CANADA. CKUT now has a 2-month experimental audio archive derived 
from their logging recordings. If you can get it to work, says Sheldon
Harvey on this week`s IRR. You have to specify the date, start and
stop time you want to hear, mp3 either in 32 kbps mono or 64 stereo.
International Radio Report is Sundays at 10:30-11:00 local. I could
not get it to work either: again seeing `this may not be an MPEG file`
error message. IRR`s own audio archive, which only contains the latest
show, is still OK at http://www.vif.com/users/rleong/stream.html 
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHILE. 6089.9 Radio Esperanza, Temuco, 1401+, August 02, Spanish, 
local ads: "si busca muebles... Quincalleria Cohue, pionero en el 
sur", gospel music, 43522 (Arnaldo Slaen, Chascomus, Argentina, hard-
core-dx via DXLD)

** CHINA. Due to heavy co-channel interference [and bad frequency 
selection, wb] CRI Beijing's new introduced morning service in German 
at 0500-0700 UT will replace both 15215 17690 kHz, by new 15245 and 
17720 kHz from August 18th at 0500 (Marcel Goerke, Germany, A-DX Aug 
17 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) 

** CHINA [non]. World Falun Dafa Radio 

Dear Lim Kwet Hian, Our broadcast schedule and frequency are: Asian: 
Everyday: Beijing time 6:00am-7:00am, 9.625 MHZ [2200-2300 UT]
Sunday - Friday: Beijing time 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM, 9.930 MHZ [1500-
1600 UT]
Tuesday - Saturday: Beijing time 12:00 AM - 12:30 AM, 9.930MHZ [1600-
1630 UT]
Europe: Everyday: GMT 21:00-22:00, 5.925 MHZ 

The 9.625 MHZ one will be stopped in after this September. Dafa Hao 
means "Falun Dafa is good". It's just another name for World Falun 
Dafa Radio. Thanks for you interest. Best regards, Editor 
editor@falundafaradio.org (Falun Dafa R to L. Kwet Hian, Indonesia, 
Aug 7, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) 9930 being KWHR, of course) 

** CUBA. Attention Radio Havana Cuba listeners around the world... 
your attention please... our engineering department needs your help... 
We are now testing our 9600 kiloHertz frequency with a new 
transmitter. It is on the air starting at 00 UT, that is 8 pm Eastern, 
7 pm Central, 6 PM mountain and 5 pm Pacific time. Again the frequency 
is 9600 kiloHertz and the new transmitter under test will be on the 
air from 00 to 05 UT. The program we are broadcasting on that 
frequency is in Spanish, but you can easily identify the station 
because we do ID quite often, and use the same interval signal that is 
used on our regular English language programs. Send your reports to
arnie@r... [truncated by yahoogroups] amigos, and we will be sending 
back to you a special transmitter test QSL card that I will autograph 
for you. Friday evening, when we first tested the new transmitter it 
was sounding really good, with excellent modulation quality, as heard 
via ground wave here in Havana. We are also now using on a regular 
basis from 05 to 07 UTC our 250 kiloWatt transmitter on 9820 kiloHertz
with the Pacific Coast of North America Curtain Array. By the way the 
new transmitter is a 100 kilowatt rig, but we are running it at 70 
kiloWatts during the test period. The antenna used on 9600 kiloHertz 
is beaming to Venezuela, but many of you in North America can pick up 
the back of the beam quite easily according to my calculations.

You can also send your reports via AIR MAIL to Arnie Coro, Radio 
Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba, and don't forget to include your postal 
mailing address in all of your correspondence to the station, so that 
we can send you our nice QSL cards that verify your reception reports 
(Dr. Arnie Coro Antich, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Aug 16 via Bob 
Chandler, VE3SRE, ODXA via DXLD)

** CUBA [non]. Glenn, heard Radio Martí on 19610, 2 x 9805 at 0805 UT 
on the 17th. Signal was fair with fading; heard female with talk and 
slow Spanish ballads. 9805 was an excellent signal, presumed from 
Delano (Ron Trotto WDX4KWI, Waggoner, Illinois, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** GERMANY. Special ADDX / RMRC European DX Conference 2003 report on 
DTK T-systems Juelich 3965 kHz today at 1900-1930 in AM mode, 1930-
2000 UT in DRM mode, noted here in southern Germany with S=9 +60 dB. 
Interviews with various DX personages and DRM developing staff could 
be heard. This is not a 'malicious criticism', but in reality the DRM 
Juelich outlet used three adjacent channels. Measured a bandwith of 
12.70 kHz with the small 2.2. kHz filter of the AOR 7030 set. Signal 
covered 3958.68 to 3971.38 kHz portion of the 75 mb. 73 wb (Wolfgang 
Büschel, Stuttgart, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. AIR MAITHILI NEWS, DD METRO TO START IN DARBHANGA  
   Indiantelevision.com Team  (16 August 2003 5:00 pm)  
  
NEW DELHI: India's radio pubcaster All India Radio (AIR) is starting a 
daily news bulletin in Maithili language from Darbhanga station of AIR 
from today. Deputy prime minister LK Advani would formally inaugurate 
the bulletin at Darbhanga and would also lay the foundation stone of 
DD Metro channel. 

The minister of information and broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad would 
preside and several union ministers, including CP Thakur, Hukam 
Narain, Dev Yadav, Sanjay Paswan, Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap 
Ruddy, MPs (members of parliament) from Bihar and some state leaders 
would be present on the occasion.

Maithili bulletin would raise the number of languages/dialects to 66 
in which AIR broadcasts bulletins. The Maithili bulletin would benefit 
a total Maithili speaking population of 2.41 crores (24.1 million) in 
India and Nepal. 

Maithili speaking population in India accounts for 2.2 crores (22 
million) in northern Bihar. Madhubani and Darbhanga are the major 
towns and cultural centres in the region (via Alokesh Gupta, New 
Delhi, India, DXLD) WTFK??

** IRAQ. CRW AND RNW ANALYSIS ON IRAQ PROVEN CORRECT 

Note: Long-time readers of CRW, Radio Netherlands Media Network and 
ClandestineRadio.com will recall our analyses of the campaign against 
Baghdad, which the following piece published by the New York Times 
proves were indeed on target. We were first to report in 1998 that 
Wifaq Iraqi National Accord's radio stations broadcast from the 50kW 
Harris transmitter administered by the CIA in Kuwait. In 2000 we 
revealed the Wifaq's ties to Jordanian intelligence. As early as 
October 2002 we reported "(T)he Bush administration is clearly pinning 
its hopes on the Iraqi National Accord (INA), which seeks to eliminate 
Saddam by recruiting support from within his inner circle." We stated 
in December 2002, "The pro-coup stations, meanwhile, continue to 
broadcast as... the Pentagon proceeds with its build-up in the region 
- leading to suspicion that hope lingers within the Washington Beltway 
that America's show of force will act as a force multiplier to the 
broadcasts and lead to a so-called "zipless coup" that lies at the 
core of the Iraqi National Accord's platform." 

RNW's Andy Sennitt was first to note that astrological forecasts on 
Radio Tikrit were probable surreptitious messages to intelligence 
assets in Baghdad. Hours before Operation Iraqi Freedom began, on 
March 17, 2003, we detailed how the Bush administration and the radio 
stations it covertly supported were trying to neutralize the Iraqi 
military and political elite. Clandestine broadcasting, we have long 
believed, can serve as a window into the murky realm of espionage and 
covert operations. Clearly, this is the case (N. Grace-USA for CRW and 
RNW Media Network, CRW via DXLD)  Viz.:

U.S. MOVED TO UNDERMINE IRAQI MILITARY BEFORE WAR 
By Douglas Jehl with Dexter Filkins, New York Times, A1 August 10, 
2003 
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/10/international/worldspecial/10IRAQ.html 
(via CRW via DXLD)

** ISRAEL. At the end of today's 1630-1645 UT English broadcast (heard 
on usual 15640 and 17545 kHz) Israel Radio carried an announcement 
confirming the end of the this English broadcast from tomorrow. The 
full announcement said:

"And now this announcement: Local and overseas listeners of Kol Israel
English language news broadcasts. As of Sunday 17th August Kol Israel 
will stop broadcasting the 7.30 pm, that's 1730 hours UT [wrong, its 
at 1630 UT in summer] English news bulletin. In addition the 1.10 
broadcast is being reduced to 10 minutes and will be heard from 1.10-
1.20 local Israel time. Starting Sunday 17 August Kol Israel local 
English broadcasts will be heard at 7 am and 1.10 pm in the AM and FM 
bands and at 10 pm in the FM band. Overseas listeners can hear these 
broadcasts at 0500, 1110 and 2000 UTC."

It appears they got the time conversion to UTC completely wrong as 
surely Israel is on UT +3 hours in Summer, in which case English will 
be on SW at 0400, 1010 and 1900 UT from tomorrow. 73s (Dave Kenny, UK, 
Aug 16, BDXC-UK via DXLD0

   ISRAEL RADIO TO CEASE EVENING NEWS BROADCAST IN ENGLISH 
   By Anat Balint, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service 
   http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?

Israel Radio will cease its daily 7:30 P.M. [1630 UT] news broadcast 
in English as of Sunday, the Israel Broadcasting Authority has 
decided. In addition, the daily lunchtime news in English will be cut 
from 15 to 10 minutes  [1015 UT?]. The radio announced the changes 
Friday on air, but no explanation was given. The 7:00 A.M. [0400 UT] 
morning news broadcast is not affected by the decision. The IBA will 
continue to broadcast its English news program abroad on shortwave at 
10 P.M. Israel time [1900 UT]. This broadcast, however, cannot be 
picked up anywhere in Israel, except for Jerusalem. 

A staffer at Israel Radio's English News division said there had been 
a flood of telephone calls, email messages and faxes from listeners 
protesting the move. The staffer said that the English department had 
only been informed of the decision on Thursday evening and that 
management had not offered any explanation. The upshot of this 
decision, he said, was that there would be no news broadcast in 
English from 1:20 in the afternoon, when the lunchtime program ends, 
until the next morning at 7 A.M. 

Last month, Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Director General Yosef 
Barel announced that he had reached an agreement with Industry and 
Trade Minister Ehud Olmert to freeze all planned changes in the 
broadcasting hours of Voice of Israel radio stations and IBA 
television stations until a committee headed by Ra'anan Dinur, the 
director general of Olmert's ministry, finishes formulating a reform 
program for public broadcasting. Barel's plan to consolidate 
broadcasts on Reshet Alef, the Voice of Music and Reka (which airs 
programs focusing on new immigrants) into one culture channel will not 
happen in the near future, following the announcement, and the same is 
true of his plan to cancel the Mediterranean channel's Arabic-language 
satellite broadcasts and merge them with Channel 33's programs (via 
Mike Terry, DXLD)

[apparently same story:]
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=330044&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y 
(via Daniel Rosenzweig, DXLD)

** KOREAS. Re: KOREA NORTH. SOUTH KOREA TO HEAR NORTH'S RADIO 
"WITHOUT FILTRATION" FOR ANNIVERSARY |

--- I guess this statement refers to KCBS put on former Voice of 
National Salvation frequencies as observed by Hans Johnson? I wonder 
whether or not 1053 is on, too. There is already a KCBS outlet with 
1500 kW from Haeju on 1080, I bet that two 1500 kW rigs are installed 
there side by side, one for 1080 and the other one for 1053.

Re. jamming: The main mediumwave frequencies (at least 657 and 1080) 
and also some shortwave outlets of KCBS and Pyongyang Pangsong are 
jammed in Seoul. I think we had a detailed report a couple of months 
ago? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MALI.  ORTM Bamako: on 16 Aug at around 1906 on 4835 heard with 
English news and pop tunes between the items. A weak parallel was 
heard on appr. 4782.4 (heavy ute-qrm). At 1920 music and at 1925 local 
language program. I recall these English news are aired only during 
weekends (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** MEXICO. XERMX seems to be in a real state of flux. I understand the 
Portuguese program was cancelled, and now the producers of the English 
and French programs are gone, but they may be replaying some old 
programs still. I assume their frequency/time schedule is the same, 
with the appropriate adjustment for daylight/standard time (Jeff 
White, FL, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Enid`s community access cable TV service, Pegasys, is in 
danger of a drastic budget cut, as the city manager thinks it is 
getting too much, based on a percentage of Cox Cable`s franchise fee, 
which has been steadily growing over the years. Pegasys is a rarity in 
Oklahoma, with only one other equivalent service in the state, in 
Norman. Unfortunately, Pegasys` schedule is topheavy with gospel 
huxters since ``that`s what the community wants``. See the week`s 
schedule (still last week`s as of Aug 17, a big help):
http://www.pegasys.org/this_week_schedule.htm

Read about the current crisis and links to Enid Eagle coverage about 
it: http://www.pegasys.org (Glenn Hauser, ibid., DX LISTENING DIGEST) 
Viz.:

PEGASYS IS IN JEOPARDY! YOUR HELP IS NEEDED...... 

On Tuesday, August 19, 5:00 pm, the Enid mayor and city commissioners 
will be discussing PEGASYS funding and the July 2003 - June 2004 
contract, which has not been signed by the City of Enid. They will be 
discussing cutting funding this year, instead of in 2004! This is a 
public study session. If you would like to attend, please come to the 
Enid Municipal Building (Martin Luther King, Jr. building) upstairs in 
the city manager's conference room at 5:00 pm. The regular city 
commission meeting will follow downstairs [cablecast on Pegasys ch 11]

The Enid City Commission is considering a proposal to cut PEGASYS 
funding by 50% or more over a period of time. Your input is critical
to help keep YOUR community access station alive! Please write, email,
or call your City Commissioner TODAY!! (via gh, DXLD)

** OKLAHOMA. Selected AM Happenings:
Anadarko  KJON 850 was silent; not ethnic [and moved toward Dallas!]
Chickasha KOCY 1560 silent; now Radio Disney.

FMakings --- Applications: Blanchard (from Weatherford) KWEY-FM [97.3 
--- gh]. The country station serves the Clinton area; but would move 
to southwest of Norman, with a signal to reach the southern parts of 
the OKC market. Comments by Sept. 22; replies by Oct. 7 (Aug FMedia! 
via DXLD) Unnecessary; leave one FM to serve Weatherford (gh, DXLD)

** SCOTLAND. RAIDED PIRATE RADIO HIJACKED CHARITY STATION'S FREQUENCY 

A PIRATE radio station broadcasting in the Glasgow area has been 
raided by industry watchdogs for operating without a licence. 
Inspectors from the Radio Communications Agency seized broadcasting 
equipment in a swoop on the operator of Perfecto FM. The station had 
been broadcasting on 106.9FM, the same wavelength as community radio 
station Sunny Govan FM, which has been given a licence allowing it to 
broadcast on the frequency until the end of this month. . .
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5018121.html 
(via Artie Bigley, OH, Aug 9, DXLD)

** UGANDA. IDI AMIN AND INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING

The death in exile of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin brought back 
memories of how it was 30 years ago. A young Ugandan journalist who 
was recently on a course at the Radio Netherlands training centre told 
me he didn't know that Uganda had ever had an external service.

In 1972, President Idi Amin changed the name to Uganda Broadcasting 
Corporation (UBC) to compare with the British Broadcasting Corporation 
(BBC). He purchased some high power shortwave transmitters and started 
a foreign service, which was inaugurated in time for a conference of 
the Organisation of African Unity which he hosted in Kampala. He 
boasted at the time that Radio Uganda was stronger than the BBC - 
hardly surprising, as the transmitter site was just down the road from 
the conference centre. It wasn't long before the expensive 
transmitters fell into disrepair due to lack of proper maintenance. By 
the time Amin was deposed in 1979, the only similarity with the BBC 
was the name, and that was duly changed back to Radio Uganda (Andy 
Sennitt, Media Network blog Aug 16 via DXLD) WTFK? 15325 (gh)

** U K. SPECIAL EVENT. Glyn, GW0ANA, reports: ``Many Amateur Radio
operators may be aware of the significance of ``Flatholm Island ``
located in the Bristol Channel in the UK. The island has a very
historic link in connection with our hobby as it was used by Marconi
when he demonstrated to the British Post Office that his theory that
radio waves would travel across water. He made the link via radio
from Lavernock Point in south Wales to the island on Thursday, May
13th 1897. To pay homage to Marconi, the Barry Amateur Radio Society
(South Wales) erected a monument on the island and each year make an
annual visit to operate a special event station using the callsign
``GB5FI`` (Flatholm Island). This years` visit will take place
between Friday, August 22nd and Wednesday, August 27th.`` The society
will activate this very rare WAB square ST26 and operate mainly on
the amateur HF bands to follow in the footsteps of the historic
event. This year they also plan to operate via satellite using AO-40
and also Oscar 14 (subject to access in the short pass time). Their
priority will be mainly SSB operation, but they may operate on the
digital or SSTV modes. This is a very rare opportunity to add to your
QSL card collection a ``MARCONI Experiment`` location, Flatholm
Island, via satellite! Lighthouse ref. number: 0007. QSL via GW0ANA
direct CBA or via the Bureau is no problem (KB8NW/OPDX August 18
[posted August 15]/BARF-80 via John Norfolk, DXLD)

** U S A. A follow-up to the item on Roy Neal, K6DUE, in DXLD 3-148:
Neal was a contributor to the Amateur Radio Newsline service, and no
doubt a tribute will appear from that source shortly. K6DUE also
conducted a net on 7153 LSB Saturday mornings at 1315 UT. On August
16 there were a couple of hams talking about K6DUE shortly after
1315, but their comments were brief and they left the frequency
shortly afterwards. I am assuming that if a net continues, it will
probably be done as a memorial to K6DUE. But until such comes about
(if it does), the K6DUE net will be deleted from future editions of
Nets To You!

Speaking of Nets To You! I found that the Treasure Coast Net, which
meets on 7153 earlier, begins at 1200 during summer, not 1300. The
QCWA net list on their web site simply gives the time as 1300 UT, and
I assumed that it was for all year, which of course turns out to be
wrong (John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. EWTN CELEBRATES ITS 22ND ANNIVERSARY; NETWORK`S FOUNDRESS, 
   MOTHER ANGELICA, DOING WELL 

Irondale, Ala, Aug 13 (EWTN) --- EWTN Global Catholic Network 
celebrates its 22nd Anniversary on August 15th and will air a 30-minute 
special that day profiling the network`s historical achievements. The 
program titled, ``EWTN Yesterday and Today,`` airs at 2:30 PM EDT. As 
Mother Angelica, EWTN`s Foundress often said, ``The history of EWTN 
isn`t about what we`ve done, it`s about how we`ve done it.`` Giving 
all the credit to God and His Providence, she says she didn`t have a 
business plan when she powered up the network in 1981. As Mother 
pointed out, ``What could a handful of nuns know about starting 
something that would become a global Catholic television and 
multimedia network?``

According to Sister Mary Catherine, Vicar of Our Lady of the Angels 
Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, Mother Angelica continues her 
recuperation after suffering a debilitating stroke nearly two years 
ago. ``Mother is doing well and is taking part in all of the 
Community`s activities,`` she said. ``She sings at daily Mass, joins 
the Sisters for the Divine Office and spends time each day in 
adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.``

Sister Mary Catherine said in the evenings, ``Mother enjoys lending a 
helping hand snapping beans from our garden. She keeps us all 
entertained with her funny little remarks and one-of-a-kind facial 
expressions! Even with few words, she is able to get her point across. 
She is in very good spirits, enjoying every moment that she spends 
with the Sisters.``

As it celebrates its anniversary, EWTN Global Catholic Network is 
planning several new series and specials for television, radio and the 
Internet http://www.ewtn.com According to Doug Keck, Vice President of 
Programming and Production, ``Headlining our special events calendar 
are two major programs in October, first, the much anticipated 
Beatification of Mother Teresa on October 19th and later that month, 
the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II`s pontificate. EWTN will take 
you to the heart of these celebrations, live from Rome,`` he said. 
Keck also mentioned the launch of a new live Monday-Friday 60-minute 
radio call in program in September called ``EWTN Open Line,`` which 
will feature a different host and Church related topic each day.

EWTN Global Catholic Network is available in more than 84 million 
television households in 110 countries. And with its worldwide short-
wave radio station, satellite delivered AM & FM radio network, 
Internet website http://www.ewtn.com and publishing arm, EWTN is the 
largest religious media network in the world (Catholic Radio Update 
Aug 18 via DXLD)

** U S A. WCPE *89.7 Raleigh NC is among five finalists for 
``Classical Station of the Year`` in the 2003 Marconi Radio Awards 
from the National Association of Broadcasters. The nomination comes as 
WCPE celebrates its 25th year of broadcasting classical music. An 
independent task force selected finalists in 19 awards categories. 
Ballots will be sent to members of the NAB Marconi Radio Awards 
Selection Academy in August. The ballots will be tabulated by the 
accounting firm of KPMG. The winners in each category will be 
announced on October 2 at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show 
at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. The annual 
dinner and show, radio`s premier awards program, will also feature 
comedian Steve Harvey as the emcee. In addition to WCPE, finalists for 
NAB`s ``Classical Station of the Year`` are KDFC 102.1 San Francisco; 
KFUO-FM 99.1 Clayton MO; WFMR 106.9 Brookfield WI; and WRR 101.1 
Dallas --- all commercial stations (Bruce Elving, Aug FMedia! via 
DXLD)

LAST CHANCE FOR TRANSMITTER --- By Michael Futch, Staff writer

Do you own a slice of the Fayetteville skyline where a classical music 
radio station can install a station transmitter? If so, officials with 
WCPE would like to talk with you. WCPE (89.1 FM) is a 100,000-watt 
station that operates out of Wake Forest in Wake County. Fayetteville 
is part of WCPE's secondary broadcast area, which is anywhere from 50 
to 100 miles from the station. Those are areas where the signal is not 
good, but the station still has a crop of faithful listeners. . .
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=local&Story=5803835 
(Fayetteville NC Observer, via Artie Bigley, Aug 11, DXLD)

** U S A. Bob Edwards tells The Tennessean that union-management 
relations at NPR have been "a little testy" lately: "A nonprofit 
thinks it's doing God's work, whether it's NPR, the Red Cross or NATO. 
They're doing God's work and how can you argue with God? -- that's 
their attitude. So sometimes you need a union to just cut through 
that." 
http://www.tennessean.com/business/archives/03/08/37641758.shtml?Element_ID=37641758
(posted at 4:07 PM EST Aug 14, Current via DXLD) 

** U S A. NPR BOARD WANTS NO PART OF TV'S PROPOSED PAC
Originally published in Current, Aug. 4, 2003 By Dan Odenwald

The NPR Board has firmly refused to join public TV execs in 
establishing a political action committee to aid congressional allies 
of public broadcasting. In a unanimous vote at its meeting last month, 
the board said "the act of soliciting and collecting funds to 
influence the outcomes of elections is not appropriate to the mission 
of NPR or public radio." 

"A person's ability to contribute to a PAC in support of a cause he or 
she believes in is an important First Amendment right," commented John 
Lawson, president of the Association of Public Television Stations 
(APTS). "We were surprised the NPR Board would be so quick to say that 
those rights should not be available to public radio supporters." ... 
http://www.current.org/funding/funding0314pac.html
(Current via gh, DXLD)

** U S A. PIRATE GETS OFFICIAL SUPPORT!
   By Jean Choung Of The Examiner Staff, Published Friday, August 15

In a 2-to-1 vote, the Board of Supervisors City Services Committee on 
Thursday passed a resolution supporting an unlicensed, low-power FM 
station, San Francisco Liberation Radio 93.7 FM, which the Federal 
Communications Commission is investigating and threatening to close or 
heavily fine. The station offers shows on alternative social and 
political views, such as those on gay issues and the Green Party. 

The resolution also urges Congress to hold meetings and develop laws 
to help such diverse forms of local media, which are not run by large 
corporations. Independent, low-power stations have a tougher time 
obtaining a license to operate due to stringent laws that favor large 
media companies. 

Additionally, the resolution urges Congress and the FCC to reverse a 
decision made in early June allowing large media companies nationwide 
to own more television stations, radio stations and/or newspapers than 
previously allowed. 

The full board must still weigh in on the issue. Supervisor Fiona Ma 
voted against the resolution, saying she was uncomfortable weighing in 
on a federal issue. Supervisor Matt González, a Green Party member, 
developed the resolution. 

About 60 volunteers run SFLR. The FCC visited the station, operated 
out of the dank and musty basement of a three-story Victorian home, 
last month. 

At the time, SFLR volunteers refused FCC's request to be able to 
inspect the radio equipment. The FCC threatened the station with a 
$17,000 fine for refusing to comply and being unlicensed. The station 
continued to refuse inspectors, launching an FCC investigation. 

Peter Franck, a lawyer representing SFLR, said the FCC has also 
threatened to close the station if it did not provide proof of a 
license to operate. An FCC official would not comment on the 
investigation. 

The station has applied for FCC licenses on two occasions, once in 
1998 and most recently in mid-2000. Both requests were denied. The 
most recent rejection was based on two laws, one that prohibits 
providing a license to a station that has operated previously without 
a license, and another that requires a channel separation from other 
radio stations that SFLR does not meet. The first law is being 
challenged in Supreme Court and the second law is under review by 
Congress. 

Based on the uncertainty of the future of those laws, the FCC should 
hold off on making any decisions about the station, Franck said. 

Supporters of SFLR who spoke during the committee meeting said 
preserving the station would mean preserving democracy and a diversity 
of voices on the airwaves. "It's about giving the public the widest 
breadth of information possible," said Steven Schubert, an SFLR 
supporter. 

The microstation broadcasts in some city neighborhoods and parts of 
the East Bay (via Mike Terry, DXLD)

** U S A. A long-inactive Manatee County pirate is back, though 
suspect not the original operator (probably a friend, though): "Hot 
102.1" was noted with a killer signal (audible up through south-
central St. Petersburg). Format is (while I listened, 4:50 p.m.+ 
Friday, 8/15) urban and current rap (Ashanti, Papa Doc, R Kelly, 
B2K...). Announced 744-2786 followed by many 'shout outs' by girls-in-
da-hood, mostly in the Port Manatee area (station was previously DF'ed 
by myself in the Palmetto area). The host was "Boy DJ" but he 
mentioned "Big Dog" is on Wednesdays (so apparently this is a seven-
day operation). Often uses the slogan "All New Hot 102.1" as well as 
"Ghetto Radio" (the latter especially when the phone line is 
activated). Stereo, clean though very compressed audio with heavy 
bottom-end. Noted one 'commercial' for a nightclub (Terry L. Krueger, 
Clearwater, Florida Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 87.9 MHz FLORIDA (PIRATE): "Mélodie FM" Tampa.  "Mélodie"
appears to be the correct slogan for this one, not "Unité FM" as I 
originally thought. Quite a few ID's noted 0330+ 8/17 while driving 
home from St. Petersburg. Usual Kreyol format (Terry L Krueger, 
Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, 
Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html 
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. The bands seemed "quieter" last night when I was tuning 
around. I suspect it was because many of the lower power stations in 
smaller communities were off the air for want of an emergency 
generator. I kept the dial on 740 for some time hoping that the CBC 
affiliate in Winnipeg [Edmonton --- both west of the Hudson -- gh] 
might punch through, but no luck. Had this happened in the winter, I 
think we might have had better DX --- but then again, we would have
all been shivering too! :-) 

Locally, here in the Albany area, it was hit or miss. The local NPR 
powerhouse -- WAMC, whose main transmitter is located on Mt. Greylock 
in the Berkshires of western MA but whose studios and control room 
facilities are in Albany -- suffered "brownouts" all evening. The 
transmitter would be on, but at times programming was interrupted. WGY 
810 was down for a very short while, but then kicked in its emergency 
generator which had it on at reduced power from its normal 50kW. The 
Clear Channel (the co., not the frequencies) stations in the area all 
tacked to WGY whether they were on AM or FM. (It really becomes 
apparent who the station owners are when something like this happens.) 
Some of the CC stations clearly lacked back-up because they were down 
and stayed down for some time. I suppose CC considers some of its 
stations in a community "essential" and provides a way for them to 
stay on the air (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Aug 15, hard-core-dx 
via DXLD) 

** U S A [and non]. August 15, 2003--- THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT 
   IN NERW-LAND --- By SCOTT FYBUSH http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html

It's been an interesting 24 hours or so here at NERW Central, and 
while we get our Monday issue together, we can offer this update on 
what we've pieced together from across the region in the wake of the 
Great Blackout of 2003:

New York City and vicinity: Still recovering from the damage to its 
broadcasting infrastructure on 9/11 (see link at left), New York's 
broadcast scene - especially the TV stations - was ill-prepared to 
handle a huge blackout as well. Of the major TV stations, only WCBS-TV 
(Channel 2) stayed on more or less uninterrupted, again proving the 
wisdom (however accidental) of the decision to keep a transmitting 
facility at the Empire State Building after most TV moved to the World 
Trade Center in the late seventies. Fox's WNYW (Channel 5) and WWOR 
(Channel 9) were off the air much of the day, while WNBC (Channel 4) 
and WABC (Channel 7) apparently transmitted from the old Armstrong 
tower at Alpine, N.J. at low power, with WABC making some of the 
arrangements for Alpine on the air.

Without power, though, TV wasn't the medium of choice for those in the 
midst of the blackout - radio was. And just as it did in 1965 and 
1977, radio came through. The big AM signals had the fewest problems, 
with WOR, WCBS and WBBR staying on essentially nonstop, WABC 
experiencing a few glitches, and WINS off for the first hour or so. We 
learned what it takes to make WCBS dump the Yankees - with no Mets 
game at Shea, it was an easy decision to move the Yankees road game 
down the dial to WFAN and let WCBS keep rolling with news. (Later, 
WFAN would simulcast WCBS overnight before returning to its own 
programming at 5:30.) Notably absent from the dial all night was WQEW 
(1560); WSNR (620 Jersey City) came back on the air with Sporting News 
Radio rather than its usual leased-time fare.

On FM, the New York dial was much quieter than usual. While some 
stations had backup generators at the transmitter site (especially 
WSKQ/WPAT-FM, WNYC-FM and the Clear Channel stations at the new Four 
Times Square facility), studio power failures still plagued many 
stations through the night and into the morning. WNEW didn't "Blink," 
but did come back on the air at low power with a WINS simulcast once 
WINS itself was back on. The Clear Channel stations without studio 
power simulcast WNBC's TV news, we're told. 

Upstate: Without being able to rotate the antenna atop NERW Central 
(we've been advised to buy a power inverter to run the rotor off the 
car battery next time), we had a hard time being certain who was on or 
off outside the Rochester area. Locally, all our TV stations - and 
most of the city's FM signals - went dark when we did, about 4:10 PM. 
With the AM dial missing the usual electrical noise, we were able to 
dial around and get a sense of who was doing what in Buffalo and 
Syracuse. WHEN (620) in Syracuse dumped sports to simulcast news from 
WSYR (570); their FM counterparts in the Clear Channel stable appeared 
to be off the air for most of the evening. Buffalo's WGR (550) and 
WBEN (930) each did their own coverage, with most of the Queen City's 
smaller AM signals still on the air as well. Here in Rochester, the 
only AM signals on the air were WROC (950), WHAM (1180) and WXXI 
(1370), all of them doing live blackout coverage, with Entercom 
simulcasting WROC on WBEE-FM (92.5), WBBF (93.3) and even WBZA (98.9) 
when it managed to flicker on the air. WHAM kept going with Bob 
Lonsberry and company all through the night (at which point Lonsberry 
turned around and did his Salt Lake City talk show and his regular 
WHAM midday shift); WROC went to network talk around 10, from what we 
could tell.

On TV, Buffalo's signals apparently stayed on with generators, with 
the exception of several UHF signals (23, 29 and 49); Batavia's Pax 51 
WPXJ stayed on throughout - and, as the only signal easily seen in 
Rochester, would have made a wonderful simulcast of LMA partner WGRZ 
if anyone had thought of it. Rochester's WHEC was back on at low power 
at about 8:45, with WOKR joining it at 1:20 AM (just after we regained 
power at NERW Central), WUHF (Channel 31) on and off through the 
night, and WROC (Channel 8) and WXXI (Channel 21) silent until Friday 
morning. Utica's WKTV (Channel 2) never lost power at its transmitter 
site; it managed to get the studios back up with a generator about 
6:30 and was into live coverage by 7. Syracuse's WSTM, WTVH and WIXT 
all were seen here by early evening as well.

And we're told Albany was a patchwork, with some FM signals on and 
others off through the evening. [more: see CANADA]

New Jersey/Pennsylvania: Except for northern New Jersey and the Erie 
area, we're told everything is pretty much OK in the southern reaches 
of NERW-land, as well as across most of New England.

Much more over the weekend here at fybush.com; stay tuned - and send 
in your blackout notes and observations! (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch 
Aug 15 via DXLD) Wonder where s gets all his material? He never says

** U S A. DJ'S BLACKOUT SPOOF NO JOKE TO SOME NORTH TEXAS RADIO 
   LISTENERS --- By Paul Bourgeois, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

An on-air stunt by a Dallas radio jock on Friday morning had some 
people believing that the blackout in the Northeast had spread to 
North Texas. It hadn't, but a radio personality who goes by "The 
Fitz," on the weekday morning show on KRBV/100.3 FM, spent more than 
two hours telling listeners that the power was out. . .
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/6547685.htm
(via Artie Bigley, DXLD)

** U S A. NON-LOCAL TRAFFIC --- CLEAR CHANNEL PROVIDES TUCSONANS WITH 
   TRAFFIC REPORTS FROM PHOENIX. By Chris Limberis
 
When you hear traffic reports on one of Clear Channel's six radio 
stations in Tucson, keep in mind that the bulletins are cooked up in 
Phoenix. 

We're not alone in such treatment from big brother Clear Channel, the 
San Antonio-based behemoth that used the Telecommunications Act of 
1996 to devour station after station to build its list to more than 
1,220. Las Vegas, with more rapid growth and worse traffic, also hears 
how things are moving on its streets and interstates from Clear 
Channel's Total Traffic in Phoenix. So do listeners in Albuquerque. 

"That they would do traffic reports for Tucson out of Phoenix is 
outrageous," said John Scott Ulm, host of the mostly political John C. 
Scott Show on AM 990 KTKT. "It's an affront to the sensibilities of 
the community." . . .
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/2003-07-17/curr4.html
(Tucson Weekly July 17 via DXLD)

** U S A. UT Bountiful 101.5 a booster of KKIK 101.5 Oakley, 
requesting the KKIK-6 calls. I e-mailed the FCC not to grant those 
calls, and Dale Bickel replied: 

If you want to object to whatever KKIK has requested, you must do it 
formally via an informal objection [sic] filed through the Office of 
the Secretary. Under our processing rules as they stand now, an e-mail 
cannot be considered as an objection. Sorry, Dale Bickel, 
dale.bickel@fcc.gov

My note to him read: Hi, I see that KKIK in Oakley UT has applied for 
a booster in Bountiful UT, asking for the calls KKIK-6. Don`t grant 
those calls! Make them use one of the unused calls, KKIK-2 or KKIK-4! 
Keep the series intact, perhaps changing KKIK-5 Price UT to KKIK-4! 
(Bruce F. Elving, Ph.D., August FMedia! via DXLD)

** U S A. ``A lot of politicians get ticked off at the FCC and some 
get ticked off at big corporations — although there are fewer and 
fewer of them everyday — but [Senator Ernest ``Fritz``] Hollings gets 
ticked off at both. He once told FCC chairman Michael Powell he`d make 
`a wonderful executive vice president of the chamber of commerce but 
not the chairman of a regulatory agency.``` ---
Brooks Boliek, Reuters, August 12, 2003 

Commentary --- THE SADDENING DRIFT OF THINGS AT THE FCC

I must confess: I have put off writing this commentary for weeks now. 
Not that I do not have subject matter; there is enough stupidity 
around to warrant commentary. It`s just that, the older I get, the 
less stomach I have for fight. Now several years past sixty, I have 
come to the conclusion that the world does not change for the better, 
despite the urgings of Pope John XXIII and the earnest do-gooders that 
have turned our Church and world upside down these past 40 decades. 
The Catholic Catechism says the same thing in more eloquent terms. 
Teilhard de Chardin`s poetical ideas of a universe constantly 
improving and thus ascending to the perfect joy of union with Christ 
is nonsense. Human nature and human behavior are constants; nothing 
changes. 

In Washington, in regard to the Federal Communications Commission, the 
same holds true. Change the administration. Change the politicians. 
Change the agenda. Try as one might, one still gets stupidity, 
crassness, greed. To wit:

In early July the FCC decided to permit historic (1946) WSNJ-FM 107.7 
FM in southern New Jersey, in a town called Bridgeton, to change its 
city of license to Pennsauken. No big deal, right? Wrong. Pennsauken 
is a suburb of Philadelphia, although the Jerseyites may not think so. 
Pennsauken is the town adjacent to and immediately north of Camden, 
the hometown of the old RCA. Both are across the Delaware River from 
Philadelphia. Thus, WSNJ-FM becomes a de facto Philadelphia station. 
The owners persuaded the FCC (these days it does not take much 
persuasion) to drop in a Class A in Bridgeton to replace its traveling 
station. The value of WSNJ-FM soars as a result, and if the owners 
decide to hang on for the long-term revenue, the value of those 
revenues has increased immensely.

But that is not all. In the process, WSNJ-FM will wipe out two 10-watt 
high-school FM stations, WHHS 107.9 FM Havertown, Pennsylvania, and 
WWPH 107.9 FM Princeton Junction, New Jersey. It will also wipe out a 
translator for classical music WWFM 89.1 FM Trenton, New Jersey, which 
is the only fulltime classical music service for Philadelphia since 
Franklin Broadcasting sold its 50-year-old WFLN 95.7 FM several years 
ago. Both stations, WHHS and WWPH, protested, as did two emeritus WHHS 
staff members, but to no avail. The FCC denied their opposing 
comments. To their credit, the owners of WSNJ-FM offered to work with 
the stations to eliminate interference, but the FCC in its Final 
Report & Order said that, nonetheless, if they interfere (and they are 
sure to interfere), then their licenses are forfeit.

Please continue to read on. This may look as if it has nothing to do 
with Catholic radio, but it does. It has everything to do with radio 
in the United States today. 

Allow me to explain briefly the phenomenon of 10-watt radio. The FCC 
moved the FM band to its present 88-108 MHz just after World War II. 
It deliberately set aside the first 4 MHz --- 88-92 MHz --- for 
educational radio stations. The thinking back then was the same that 
would occur with educational television just a few years later, that 
instruction could be conveyed to school children, high school 
students, university students, and the general public by courses 
offered over educational stations. Quite a few school boards did 
construct pioneer educational FM stations back then, and one or two 
still survive, notably WNYE 91.5 FM in New York City.

To compress a lot of history, it was television and not FM radio that 
caught the public`s eyes and ears back then, and there was even less 
interest in educational FM stations. In fact, there was talk about 
reducing the size of the FM band or even eliminating it to provide 
additional VHF television channels! In 1948, Syracuse University 
approached the FCC and suggested that it authorize 10-watt stations 
that would operate in the 88-92 MHz educational band with a minimum of 
regulations and legal requirements once the license was awarded. 
Nonlicensed personnel, that is, teachers, administrators, and 
students, could operate these stations with a minimum of log work. In 
such manner, Syracuse argued, the launch of educational FM stations 
would be accelerated and made a lot easier. Licensees could upgrade 
their 10-watt stations later as necessary and as resources permitted. 

The FCC agreed, and it opened the 88-92 MHz band to 10-watt stations. 
At first, it was school boards and high schools that opened these 
stations. Then, colleges joined them, but the great impulse came with 
the advent of high-fidelity (``hi-fi``) sound equipment and recordings 
in the mid-1950s. Dozens of colleges across the country saw students 
and radio-TV-theater divisions apply for 10-watt licenses and receive 
them. In those days, even in large cities, there was a lot of open 
space on the FM band, and some of these stations got out surprisingly 
far. One station in southern Louisiana, KRVS 88.3 FM Lafayette, could 
be heard 30 miles away with an outside antenna with no problem; 10 
watts was the transmitter output; fed into a multi-bay antenna, the 
power was enhanced by the multiple bays, less an average 30% for 
transmission line losses. Thus, a 10-watt station feeding a five-bay 
antenna achieved an ERP of about 35 watts, independent of whatever 
antenna height it could achieve.

Syracuse University proposed the successful 10-watt program, but it 
was not the first 10-watt FM licensee. That honor went to Haverford 
High School in Havertown, Pennsylvania, in 1948. It was on the air on 
St Nicholas Day, December 6, 1949. For 54 years, WHHS has been on the 
air from Haverford High, offering the students training in radio and 
television, and providing a local service to the suburban Haverford 
Township. WHHS is uniquely historical and successful; many of its 
fellow pioneer high school stations have long since vanished. (WWPH is 
much younger, 28 years old, and is operated out of West Windsor–
Plainsboro High School.) You can read about WHHS at 
http://www.whhs.org The WWPH website is under construction and due 
back shortly: http://www.wwph1079fm.com/

Now, its future is bleak. About 10 years ago, the FCC reworked the 
regulations governing the 88-92 MHz band. Several factors caused this. 
First, with the advent of public radio, noncommercial stations 
operated as public interest and fine arts operations by not only 
universities but ad hoc groups, often public television licensees, the 
reserved 88-92 MHz frequencies came into great demand. Second, 
instructional radio (``radio classrooms``) had been largely abandoned 
by school boards. Third, the number of college and high school student 
stations had proliferated. In a few years, a wave of religious group 
applications would also be filed for these increasingly scarce 
frequencies, after the FCC would relent and drop its previous, long-
standing refusal to allow religious stations in the band. At that 
time, the FCC then gave 10-watt stations an opportunity to upgrade 
their facilities to Class A, with a minimum ERP of 100 watts. Those 
that did not do so during the year after the public notice were 
required to find a frequency that would offer no interference to full-
power stations, even among the 92-108 MHz commercial frequencies (the 
commercial operators protested, to no avail). Nevertheless, their 
immunity from interference from new applications was eliminated, and 
new educational and commercial stations that would cause them 
interference required them to find yet another frequency of minimal 
obstruction, ad infinitum.

WHHS Havertown unwisely chose to remove itself to 107.9 FM, freeing up 
its 89.3 FM for two competing applications that would become a share-
time operation, Cabrini College`s WYBF 89.1 FM in Radnor Township and 
Villanova University`s WXVU 89.1 FM at Villanova. It could have 
upgraded to a minimal 100 watts and thus have forever ensured its 
frequency. It did not do so, apparently considering that 10 watts had 
served it well all those decades and there was no need to block two 
new college stations with more power than it needed to continue to 
serve Haverford Township. Besides, under the regimes at the FCC back 
then, it had no reason to fear that 107.9 FM would ever be assigned to 
a full-power station in the Philadelphia area, precisely because WSNJ-
FM used 107.7 FM in Bridgeton, New Jersey, 40 miles away, and there 
was no way under stringent FCC spacing regulations that such a station 
could be licensed in the Philadelphia area, nor under equally 
stringent FCC regulations, tested in court, that WSNJ-FM Bridgeton 
could move closer to Philadelphia.

That, my friends, is the grain in the oyster, the pebble in the shoe, 
the smell in the refrigerator. There was a time when the FCC would 
never consider allowing a station owner to move his station into a 
more lucrative market. Never. When a West Virginia AM station owner 
proposed this 50 years ago, the FCC refused and the station closed 
down. Not that long ago, when the owner of WQSB 105.1 FM in 
Albertville, Alabama, proposed to move the 50-year-old WQSB into the 
Atlanta market, the FCC refused, even after lengthy appeals. The FCC 
opposed the move not only because of regulatory tradition, but because 
it also saw such an authorization as the hole in the regulatory dike 
that held back the flood of move-ins to larger markets to thereby 
enrich the owners on either immediate sale or long-term revenue, and 
consequently reduce service to the areas left behind, which were often 
left with a less desirable, lower power Class A frequency. But times 
and administrations have changed, and the climate at the FCC is much 
more conciliatory to move abouts. Suddenly the realm was filled with 
megamedia corporations looking for outlying AM and FM stations that 
could be moved into metro areas and thus be converted into stations 
far more valuable than the piddling price they paid for a rural 
station.

We saw this happen in Moberly, Missouri, where the owner of a rural 
station in central Missouri successfully proposed to the FCC that he 
be allowed to move his station 140 miles west to Kansas City, where 
the station was licensed to the suburb of Lee`s Summit. Thirteen 
stations had to change frequencies as the result, and the possibility 
of putting KOFL-LP, a Catholic low-power construction permit, on the 
air in Cameron, Missouri, was rendered impossible. The KOFL-LP CP 
expired. This was not a unique occurrence. There is a proposal to move 
Hattiesburg, Mississippi`s oldest FM station, originally WFOR-FM 103.7 
FM, 110 miles southwest to the New Orleans suburb Westwego. Recently, 
AM stations in Anadarko, Oklahoma, and Waco, Texas, have been moved 
into the Dallas-Fort Worth market. KREH 990 AM in Oakdale, Louisiana, 
in the central part of the state, was moved over 100 miles into the 
Houston market. There are many such proposals filed since the 
Albertville proposal, and the only thing that will stop this flow is 
when the metropolitan areas see their FM bands filled with wall-to-
wall signals.

KOFL-LP Cameron was the first LPFM station to succumb to move-ins. In 
South Carolina, the holder of a CP (Taylors Public Radio, Inc.) for 
another low-power station had constructed it completely and then filed 
for its permanent license. The application was refused and returned 
because a commercial FM station, WGVC Greenville-Spartanburg in South 
Carolina had upgraded its power, and since LPFM stations are no more 
protected than 10-watt educational ones, WFBP-LP Taylor, was out of 
luck. After having spent $20,000 to $30,000 on constructing the 
station, it was left with no license and a useless radio station 
facility.

This is a grave injustice. Some of the groups getting into LPFM radio 
have had to scrape up the funds to put a station on the air; it is 
cruel that at the last minute their frequency is pre-empted and they 
are left with a lot of useless equipment and dashed hope. That is what 
happened to WFBP-LP, and it should give pause to any group, religious 
or not, going into low-power radio. They can expect no quarter if some 
entrepreneur finds he can move a station onto their frequency and they 
can find no other.

This situation is the result of the cozy relationship between the FCC 
and the commercial outfits, principally the mega-media corporations 
that it ostensibly regulates. True, the FCC low-power website states 
that LPFM stations are not protected against full-power stations, 
commercial and noncommercial, either existing or proposed, or to be 
proposed at any time in the future. But what does this mean to people 
who usually have no background or knowledge of radio broadcasting, the 
very kind of people that go into LPFM station operation and, in fact, 
are the very kind of people who have been encouraged to do so by the 
FCC and various groups? This cautionary note is akin to the small 
print found in the bottom of contracts, the kind of print that undoes 
what the larger print seems to have assured and the kind of note so 
beloved by lawyers.

That a small group can invest so much money into filing for, winning, 
and constructing an LPFM station, only to have it shut out of any 
operations by a full-power licensee is rank cynicism working against 
the public interest. Such maneuvers are typical of Chairman Michael 
Powell`s FCC, an FCC that has sold out to the giant financial 
interests whose sole regard is the profit margin. Such maneuvers are 
also the trademark of the present administration, which leaves no 
stone unturned in its efforts to wax the skis of big 
telecommunications interests. Historic 10-watt stations, existing and 
permitted LPFM stations, small-town America, all are left behind as 
the fat cats get fatter and the general public is starved. How poorly 
we are served by some of our politicians and their camp followers!
(Michael Dorner, editor, Cathoilic Radio Update Aug 18 via DXLD)

** U S A. KAHN COY ON CAM-D DETAILS

Leonard Kahn says 10 broadcasters have agreed to test his Compatible 
AM Digital technology, and he expects those stations to begin field 
tests by the end of the year. Kahn says his Cam-D technology will 
restore AM to 15 kHz stereo fidelity by using digital processing. Kahn 
declined to identify which stations had paid for his system and how 
much money that entailed. He said, "The receive end of this has a very 
big potential if it's done right. AM radio going digital and doing the 
tricks (the system) is capable of, can make the receiver shoot right 
up. That's where the money is and where our patents will go."

Kahn said he would make a small amount of receivers available to his 
test stations as pre-production models. Industry engineers and other 
observers have called for details concerning the technical 
specifications of the system, which Kahn claims will "provide improved 
fading performance over vast distances at night" and "will not 
increase adjacent or co-channel interference." But he declined to give 
details.

However, he said he knows he needs to do that soon. "After bragging, 
it's time for people to put up or shut up. ... We're not playing 
around and not weasel wording."

Asked whether he would discuss details of his system at the NAB Radio 
Show, Kahn said he wasn't sure. An NAB official said in July that Kahn 
was not slated for a presentation.

Ralph Carlson, president of Carlson Communications in Salt Lake City, 
plans to test Cam-D and hopes the necessary equipment would be 
installed in the fall. Using Kahn's Powerside AM stereo exciter, 
Carlson said he has increased his station's nighttime power level by a 
factor of three.

"Previously, we couldn't get 20 miles south. Now, we can be heard 40 
miles," said Carlson. Kahn has said his Cam-D system would perform 
using a station's existing transmitter and antenna (Leslie Stimson, RW 
Online Aug 13 via DXLD)

** U S A. The NRC's Chuck Hutton achieves instant Fame, and perhaps a 
little Fortune, as he is quoted in a story originally in EE Times and 
now linked on the front page of Techweb which I think does a good job 
of laying out the current mess in a concise format (Bob Foxworth, FL, 
Aug 17, NRC-AM via DXLD) Viz.:

LAST-MINUTE CHANGES BLUR U.S. DIGITAL RADIO SPEC
August 15, 2003 (4:10 p.m. EST [sic]) By Junko Yoshida, EE Times 

PARIS - Days before the launch of its heavily promoted digital radio 
system, iBiquity Digital Corp.-sole intellectual-property owner of the 
U.S. terrestrial digital broadcast scheme called HD Radio-earlier this 
week announced a fundamental change in the audio codec that is the 
heart of its system. 

The last-minute switch was designed to quell growing doubts about HD 
Radio's fitness for broadcasts, and while some observers believe the 
HDC codec does the trick, skeptics said the system is still not ready 
for the airwaves. http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20030815S0008
(via DXLD)

** U S A. DTV becomes more and more a QRM problem, to analog DXing. 
Aug 17 at 1520 UT I am getting WTKR-3 Norfolk VA with what would be a 
nice sporadic E signal, more or less free of analog QRM. But it keeps 
fading into snow, not correlated with its own fading, and this goes on 
for an hour. This must be another station running DTV on 3 nearby, 
undergoing its own fade cycle, and I see WBRA in Roanoke VA is the 
most likely culprit, per Doug Smith`s list of low-band DTV 
http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/b/wb9nme/articles/lowbanddtv.htm --- but how 
up to date is it? Says 11/21-2002! This list does have a few more 
channel 4 DTV than the industry list I quoted a few weeks ago (Glenn 
Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VANUATU. R. NETHERLANDS PROGRAM PREVIEWS FOR AUG 20, 22:

The Weekly Documentary: Vanuatu - The Mysterious Isles Vanuatu - the 
name means 'land eternal' - is a group of more than 80 islands in the 
South Pacific. It lies east of Australia along the Pacific ring of 
fire. Prior to independence from Anglo-French rule in 1980, this dark 
and rugged archipelago spread over nearly 1000km of ocean, was known 
as the New Hebrides. Today Vanuatu is home to about 200,000 people - 
the Ni-Vanuatu. Daily life for the Ni-vanuatu is bound by custom. From 
the goods that are traded, and the way food is prepared to the stories 
told, and the songs that are sung. Join us as we visit these 
Mysterious Isles --- a place where magic and religion go hand in hand. 
Where men drink kava prepared in sacred ceremonies and women are often 
believed to be bad luck... 

Broadcast times (UT): Wed 10.00 (Pacific/Asia/Far East), 11.30 
(Europe/East Coast USA), 12.30 (USA WRN), 13.30 (Europe WRN),15.00 
(Asia/West Coast USA), 18.00 & 19.30 (Africa), 21.00 (Europe), Thu 
00.00 (North America), 04.00 (USA WRN) & 05.00 (North America) 

Broadcast times (UT): Fri 11.00 (Pacific/Asia/Far East/Europe/Eastern 
USA), 15.30 (Asia/West Coast USA), 19.00 (Africa), 21.30 (Europe), Sat 
00.30 (North America) 

If you need to check out our shortwave, mediumwave or satellite 
frequencies, surf to: http://www.rnw.nl/en/html/tuning_in.html 
(RN program previews via DXLD)

** VENEZUELA. Recibe un fuerte abrazo desde Cumaná. El motivo de la 
presente es para hacerles llegar copia de un artículo de prensa 
publicado por el Semanario "La Razón" con información referente a la 
radio venezolana (Julio Trenard, Venezuela, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:

TEMEN QUIEBRA MASIVA DE EMISORAS DE RADIO 

"Si los costos siguen subiendo, la tendencia será el cierre de 
emisoras en todo el país. En el interior del país, esa posibilidad es 
más fuerte, la inversión publicitaria está deprimida", advierte el 
radiodifusor Ciro García 

[por?] Myriam Mosquera 

Tras una silenciosa y paciente labor de cinco años, ejercida en cuatro 
ocasiones en la vicepresidencia de gestión de la Cámara de Radio, Ciro 
García llegó entre bastidores a conquistar la presidencia de este 
organismo gremial que agrupa a los profesionales y trabajadores de la 
radiodifusión. Una posición que lo hace sentir como pez en el agua, 
tal y como él mismo lo manifiesta: "Me siento bien cómodo en este 
cargo, no solamente conozco a mis colegas radiodifusores, mantengo 
excelentes relaciones con ellos, sino porque llegué a manejar el día a 
día en la institución". 

Pero, su recién iniciada gestión despierta algunas interrogantes por 
su acercamiento con el gobierno, el cual promete, como es lógico 
pensar, la más rápida solución de los problemas de un sector que 
tradicionalmente mantenía posiciones antagónicas, más en estos 
momentos cuando se anuncia la aprobación de la Ley de Responsabilidad 
Social de Radio y Televisión, también conocida como Ley Mordaza o Ley 
de Contenido, que supuestamente mediatiza el ejercicio de la libertad 
de expresión, especialmente en los medios radioeléctricos. 

Suspicacias a las que García le sale al paso, con la convicción que es 
necesario establecer lazos amistosos y proyectos comunes a favor de 
este sector de la radiodifusión venezolana. Además, dejó claro en la 
conversación que no está vinculado con el gobierno y que el gremio que 
ahora preside, "no es de militantes de políticos". 

"Es bueno acotar que el presidente Chávez conoce bien la situación que 
confronta el medio de la radiodifusión y en mi visita a Miraflores le 
informé al mandatario, sobre la problemática que le compete al Estado 
y la radiodifusión del país", agregó. 

- ¿En estos momentos en qué estado se encuentran las conversaciones 
entre el gobierno y la Cámara de Radio en relación con la Ley de 
Responsabilidad Social de Radio y Televisión? 

- Estamos trabajando. Hemos hecho reuniones en Conatel. No creemos que 
sea necesario ir varias veces a Miraflores. Ahora viene el trabajo con 
los organismos competentes. Yo precisé cuando asumí el cargo, que es 
un proyecto inconveniente para el pueblo venezolano y los medios de 
comunicación. 

- ¿Quién propició el encuentro de la Cámara de Radio y el gobierno? 

- El ciudadano ministro de Comunicaciones fue quien me llamó y me dijo 
que si deseaba una reunión para un encuentro con el Presidente. De 
inmediato dije que sí. 

- ¿Cuál fue la actitud del Presidente hacia el sector de la 
radiodifusión? 

- Bastante positiva. Mantiene una actitud de diálogo con el sector que 
represento. 

- ¿Hay intenciones del gobierno de presionar a los propietarios de las 
emisoras? 

- Yo no he sentido ninguna presión. No he tenido quejas de los 
propietarios de las emisoras. 

- ¿Por qué han surgido algunas especulaciones acerca que se tienen 
algunas negociaciones de emisoras con personeros del gobierno? 

- Desconozco eso. Pienso que pueden ser malas interpretaciones de 
algunas posiciones. No hay nada de eso. 

PESCANDO EN RÍO REVUELTO 

Entre las acciones inmediatas a tomar por el presidente de la Cámara 
de Radio está intensificar la lucha contra las emisoras ilegales, las 
cuales han tomado "mucho cuerpo en todo el país". 

"Siento que hay gente pescando en río revuelto, eso se lo dije al 
Presidente de la República y al presidente de Conatel. Hay mucha gente 
que coloca emisoras al aire, sin permisos y sin papeles de Conatel. 
Son negocios y haciendo ver que al gobierno le convendría tener 
emisoras comunitarias para favorecer y más que eso, son ilegales. El 
presidente Chávez me prometió que iba a estudiar y solucionar bien 
esta situación", explicó García. 

- ¿Las estaciones de radio comunitaria han desplazado a las emisoras 
comerciales? 

- No. Las radios comunitarias tienen un sentido comunitario y nunca 
desplazarían a las comerciales. Son patrones diferentes, atienden a 
una comunidad determinada. Las comunitarias tienen un vatiaje y 
localización específica. No son competencia. Las de competencia son 
las ilegales. 

- ¿Cuántas emisoras ilegales hay en el país? 

- Ciento cuarenta emisoras ilegales. Eso es un problema muy grave para 
el país. Desde hace un año esto viene ocurriendo. Hay que meter en 
cintura este problema. 

- ¿Es cierto que en Perijá y Mérida hay emisoras clandestinas de las 
FARC? 

- Nosotros denunciamos ante el gobierno una emisora clandestina que 
operaba desde El Vigía. No hemos tenido noticias que siga operando. 
- ¿La Cámara de Radio hace seguimiento de esto? 

- Sí. A través de su capítulo hace un seguimiento, especialmente las 
que violan la ley. 

LA CRISIS APRIETA EN LA RADIO 

Para Ciro García la crisis económica reinante en el país ha afectado 
"enormemente a este sector de la radiodifusión". Muestra gran 
preocupación en este sentido y a la vez, señala que también los 
problemas financieros arroparon a la industria. 

"Nosotros hemos bajado las ventas en las emisoras del país en un 
sesenta y cinco por ciento. Eso es producto de la grave crisis 
económica. En otros países, con criterios más sólidos, la publicidad 
se abre ante la crisis. Mientras que aquí, el mercado publicitario 
cerró. Estamos en situación de incertidumbre, por eso hacemos un 
llamado de unión, estamos en la búsqueda de mejorar las relaciones con 
el sector de la publicidad. Queremos contactar a los gremios del país, 
a los directivos de Fevap y Anda, para tratar de buscar soluciones que 
nos beneficien a todos. Esto también es parte de mis objetivos dentro 
de la presidencia de la Cámara", indicó García. 

- ¿Esta situación de crisis en la radio venezolana aumentó o se agravó 
con el paro de diciembre? 

- Esto venía ya rodando. La crisis lleva tiempo. El paro agravó esta 
situación. 

- ¿Hay la tendencia al cierre de emisoras por la crisis? 

- Si los costos siguen subiendo, esa será la tendencia. En el interior 
del país, esa posibilidad es más fuerte, la inversión publicitaria 
está deprimida. 

"La Cámara de Radio hace un llamado al gobierno, para que saque el 
dinero a la calle para que el país reviva económicamente, porque 
lamentablemente esta economía depende del gobierno", señaló. 

REUNIÓN DE CONSULTA EN EL TSJ 

Para mañana lunes 11 de agosto, está previsto que la Sala 
Constitucional del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) escuche la 
opinión de la Cámara de Radio, en relación con la nueva directiva del 
Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE). Sobre el particular consultamos a 
Ciro García, quien dijo que sí fue citado por el presidente de la 
mencionada dependencia y que espera asistir con una representación de 
la organización que dirige. 

"Nos dijeron que es una reunión de consulta, aún no hemos resuelto 
cuál va a ser la propuesta a presentar. La junta directiva de la 
Cámara de Radio tomará sus decisiones y cuál es la política a seguir 
en este caso. Quizás hasta el mismo lunes bien temprano, esté lista 
esa decisión. Esperamos por una reunión. En este momento que me haces 
esta entrevista, no hay decisión", señaló. 

- ¿Usted cree que la Sala Constitucional del TSJ estaría usurpando 
funciones de la Asamblea Nacional? 

- Yo creo que no. Si el TSJ considera que es una decisión acertada, 
eso debe ser respetado. Aunque no me atrevo a hablar con más 
profundidad sobre el tema, porque sencillamente no soy abogado, 
legislador. Pero, creo que está a derecho para hacerlo. No sería bueno 
una opinión mía. 

- ¿Tiene la Cámara de Radio alguna propuesta de candidato para el 
nuevo CNE? 

- A título personal me gustaría hacer alguna propuesta. Pero, soy 
presidente de la Cámara de Radio y me debo a ciertas directrices que 
debo acatar. 

"Renny fue mi amigo" 

Ciro García es caraqueño, nacido en la parroquia San Juan. Se califica 
como un luchador gremial, y a quien le preocupan los problemas en el 
medio radiofónico. Su vinculación en el medio traspasa los años 
sesenta. Tiene bonitos recuerdos de su primer trabajo dentro de la 
asistencia de producción del programa televisivo "El Club del Clan", 
en VTV. 

Con especial atención refiere de un trabajo que desempeñó de extra que 
realizó en el programa de Renny Ottolina, "Renny Presenta". "Fui su 
amigo, sin duda el mejor en televisión", recuerda. 

"He sido de todo en el medio", manifiesta orgulloso. Desde el año 
1966, su figura ocupó espacios como asistente de producción, tanto en 
radio como en televisión, locutor, publicista y más recientemente como 
gerente de ventas, de la emisora Triple X. También conduce un espacio 
musical llamado "El jazz y sus intérpretes", el cual le apasiona por 
el interés que despierta en él este género musical. Es transmitido 
cada sábado entre cinco de la tarde y las siete de la noche, a través 
de la emisora Jazz 95 FM. 

Tiene el empuje ganado de su padre, según su confesión, quien fue un 
obrero calificado de la prensa venezolana. "Mi papá trabajó por más de 
treinta años en el diario El Nacional, y luego ingresó a la Cadena 
Capriles", añade. 

Actualmente su máxima preocupación es proseguir en la misión 
radiofónica que se le ha encomendado, como voz del sentir de quienes 
trabajan en este medio, "y también en el sentir del pueblo 
venezolano", agregó. 

"No quiero ser presidencialista, tengo veinticuatro directores y 
converso con ellos día a día. Nuestras ideas se contrastan y toman 
cuerpo a la hora de las decisiones. No creo en los que se la dan de 
presidencialistas, mi trabajo está basado en la apertura, en la 
opinión de todos", afirmó García (via Julio Trenard, Cumaná, DXLD)

** VIETNAM [non]. Degar Voice is scheduled Tue, Thur, Sat 1300-1330 on 
7115 kHz in Vietnamese (via Russia according to Wolfgang Büschel). 
This is a service targeted at the Degar people (also called 
Montagnards) in the Vietnamese Highlands. More info about the Degar 
people can be found e.g. at http://www.montagnard-foundation.org 
(Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You`d think 
broadcasts would be in their own language. That explains `DGV` in 3-
124 (gh, DXLD)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1020, 0450-0532 8/17. Nonstop classical music fading in 
and out of the Cuban buzz jammer and the Kreyol format station in 
Kendall, FL. My first thought was Musical Nacional on a new channel.  
And while it could be, no parallels located and 590 seemingly silent.  
Musical used to close around local midnight or 1 a.m. Anyone know if 
that is still the case? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, 
27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1669: 0532-0535 8/17. Huge buzzing blob noted on 1670, 
actually seemed more like 1669 when in sideband. No audio. Anyone else 
hearing this? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, DX LISTENING 
DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Al-Asr: Hi Ludo, Wonder if you can provide any info 
about your new addition Al-Asr Radio. Their website in Arabic only 
does not tell us much. Time, frequency, start date, target, 
organization, studio location? Of course I will not ask about the 
transmitter site! Thanks, (Glenn  Aug 14 to Ludo Maes, TDP, via DXLD)

Dear Glenn, We started broadcasting Al Asr Radio on satellite on 
August 7, 2003. The addition of shortwave for 2 hours per day is 
scheduled for early September. The station's web site is at 
http://www.alasr-radio.com and you can get in touch with them by 
writing to info@alasr-radio.com Kind regards, (Ludo Maes, Belgium, 
TDP, Aug 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PUBLICATIONS
++++++++++++

ALL CLANDESTINE AND OPPOSITION MOVEMENT STATIONS IN TIME ORDER
http://www.schoechi.de/crw/crw140.html
(Compiled from Eike Bierwirth's http://www.eibi.de.vu/ by DXA375-
Silvain Domen - 3 August 2003, CRW Aug 15 via DXLD) 

PROPAGATION
+++++++++++

CUMBRE PROPAGATION REPORT

Once again a very quiet week as far as solar flares are concerned with 
nothing to report. As usual the effects of coronal hole windstreams 
have been felt, with the earth being in their path from Aug 8-10 and 
12-13. We are currently in another windstream however this one is not 
having as great an effect as the others. At times the geomagnetic 
field reached storm levels and MUFs were generally enhanced except at 
polar latitudes. Conditions are forecast to be good until Aug 22 then 
becoming disturbed once again. Prepared using data from 
http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, SA, Aug 16, Cumbredx mailing list 
via DXLD)

ARNIE CORO'S DXERS UNLIMITED'S PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST 

The largest sized sunspot group at this moment stopped developing on
Saturday, but it is still capable of producing M or even an X class 
solar flare. The number of sunspots is expected to diminish during the 
next several days, but this may change if the new sunspot active 
region now about to rotate into view has a complex structure. Expect 
much better radio reception during the next three days as compared to 
the previous three days, and the reason for this improvement is the 
much lower geomagnetic activity expected. The number of sunspots from
optical observations is between 80 and 90, and the solar flux is 
hovering between 120 and 130 units.

Expect a nice an low A sub P or planetary geomagnetic disturbance 
indicator on Monday UT if no further coronal hole or flare activity 
changes this forecast. I will recommend the 19 and 16 meters
international short wave broadcast bands for easy listening from 
shortly before sunrise to about 2 hours after sunset in the case of 16 
meters and much later into the local evening for the 19 meter band. 
Amateur radio operator's best DX chances continue to be on the 20 
meter band, with 30 meters running a close second (Dr. Arnie Coro 
Antich, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Aug 16 via Bob Chandler, VE3SRE, 
ODXA via DXLD) ###