DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-048, March 14, 2004 edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2004 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1223: Mon 0430 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [last week`s 1222] Mon 0515 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Tue 0400 on SIUE Web Radio http://www.siue.edu/WEBRADIO/ Wed 1030 on WWCR 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 WORLD OF RADIO 1223 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1223h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1223h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1223.html WORLD OF RADIO 1223 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1223.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1223.rm DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS updated March 13, looking ahead to A-04: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** BELGIUM [non]. Re 4-043, 4-047, TDP DRM: 7380 = Taldom, Russia, see: http://baseportal.com/baseportal/drmdx/main. Detailed info about TDP Radio transmissions (including all music mixes): http://www.tdpradio.be (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. 6035, Bhutan BS (presumed) 1401-1425 3/13. Sequence of man and woman announcers, music at 1411-1413, 1420-1425. Started at SINPO 23322 but faded badly to inaudible by 1425. Only possible after BBC Thailand signs off at 1359. ALA-1530/P loop at 154 degrees. I'm very impressed with this Wellbrook loop antenna (UK product) - thus far, it's outperformed the all-band DX-Sloper I used to have and the directional gain is not bad below 9 MHz. I use a ChannelMaster TV rotator (Bruce Churchill, CA, Japan Radio NRD-545, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Does anybody know if and what languages of CRI are now relayed via Sitkunai, Lithuania on 1557 kHz? I suppose 30 minutes of Polish (2100-2130) is no more valid as they have a 1 hour relay on 1458 kHz at 2130-2230 via Fllake, Albania (Karel Honzik, MWDX via DXLD) Hi Karel, At least today they carried: 1900-2000 Russian, 2000-2100 English, 2100-2200 Mandarin 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) ** COLOMBIA. Estación Latina 1520 from Colombia = HJLI Ecos del Palmar, Bogotá: http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?t=1371 (thread including Henrik Klemetz via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. PADRE CALVO FREED BUT REMAINS IMPLICATED San JosÉ, Costa Rica, Mar 13 (CRU, based on La Nación reports) --- Padre Minor de Jesús Calvo was unexpectedly freed from prison late Friday afternoon and rode with his lawyer to a family home, where he was greeted by family, friends, and well wishers. But according to Costa Rica`s principal daily, La Nación, "he continues to be implicated in the crime against radio producer Parmenio Medina Pérez, and therefore is prohibited from leaving the country, must report to judicial authorities every 15 days, and is forbidden to come close to any witness connected with the case." According to the paper, the release came after the third appeal of Padre Calvo`s lawyer to the court. Reasons for the court`s decision will be announced on Monday. Padre Calvo was exultant. "The justice of God has begun to shine," he announced at his mother`s home; "As the Bible says it, that which is built on sand, falls, and that which they have against me has been constructed on sand and therefore it is falling." He also said that he has been "in the desert" with Jesus Christ and now he has greater compassion "for the sufferings of human beings." But Archbishop Hugo Barrentes of San José told La Nación that only the location of Padre Minor has changed, not the matter at hand, and that Padre Minor continues to be forbidden to say Mass or to give the sacraments. Nevertheless, the archbishop said he would speak with the priest if he wanted to come to his office. When Ministry of Justice officials were asked when the trial would finally take place, they replied that it has been pushed back because of the time required to address the barrage of appeals launched by the attorneys for Padre Minor de Jesús and co-defendant Don Omar Chaves. His appeal for release will be heard next Tuesday. Both are alleged by authorities to be the intellectual authors of the assassination of popular radio producer and critic Don Parmenio in 2001 (Mike Dorner, Catholic Radio Update March 15 via DXLD) ** CROATIA. TCI 611 antenna for sale: see CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES ** CUBA. ENTORPECE ETECSA COMUNICACION CON OFICINA DE INTERESES DE EU Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:08:20 EST TOMADO DE LA PRENSA INDEPENDIENTE DE CUBA / CUBANET NEWS SANTA CLARA, 9 de marzo (http://www.cubanet.org) - "Cuelgue por favor y espere unos minutos, las líneas están congestionadas" es la respuesta digital de la Compañía de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba, ETECSA cada vez que se intenta contactar desde Villa Clara con alguno de los teléfonos de la Oficina de Intereses de Estados Unidos en La Habana. La voz enlatada de una famosa locutora de radio cubana, utilizada para anuncios y servicios a la población por la compañía, con el reiterado mensaje es la única respuesta a los usuarios cuando en horario laboral tratan de establecer contacto con alguna de las dependencias de la oficina americana, especialmente a los teléfonos destinados a solicitar fecha de entrevistas para visitar temporalmente el país norteño. También ocurre con los teléfonos pertenecientes a la sección de Refugiados, al igual que al de la pizarra informativa de la Sección, así como a otros teléfonos muy usados para asuntos migratorios. Las dificultades se han hecho más frecuentes en el transcurso de las dos últimas semanas de febrero y lo que va del mes de marzo. Anteriormente cuando se estableció el contacto podía dar ocupado hasta que reintentando, especialmente con el redial, daba timbre normal y se estableció la comunicación. Pero en estos momentos no es así cada vez que se disca uno de los números se escucha la tonalidad del timbre normal hasta que es interrumpido siempre por la voz de Ana Margarita Gil. Varias personas interesadas en viajar a Estados Unidos han tratado infructuosamente de contactar para conseguir fecha de entrevista y otras en busca de turno de tiempo de máquina en el centro de información han corrido la misma suerte en los últimos 21 días. Los interesados en fechas de vuelo, entrevistas y entregas de información en la sección de Refugiados navegan en una incertidumbre total por la persistencia de ETECSA de mantener ese servicio restrictivo, a decir de muchos usuarios violador de los derechos ciudadanos por considerarlo una maniobra de esa compañía para impedir la libre comunicación de los ciudadanos con la sección consular. La participación aliada de ETECSA en esta maniobra ocurre de igual manera con teléfonos radicados en el exterior que sin estar restringidos, las operadoras los tienen registrados en sus máquinas como "restringidos". Tales son los casos de los de Radio y TV Martí así como de oficinas y personalidades catalogadas por el gobierno de Cuba como personas no gratas y de posición hostil al gobierno revolucionario. cnet/46 73's (via Oscar de Céspedes, FL, DXLD) ** EGYPT. R. CAIRO A04 --- EGYPTIAN RADIO & TV UNION (ERTU) BROADCAST ENGINEERING - TENTATIVE PROGRAM SCHEDULE (A 04) UTC kHz PROGRAM TARGET AREA -------------------------------------------------------------- 0030-0430 7115 ARABIC E N AMERICA {hamband! clash Yugo?} 0045-0200 11855 SPANISH N AMERICA 0045-0200 11755 SPANISH C AMERICA 0045-0200 9415 SPANISH S AMERICA 0200-0330 11855 ENGLISH N AMERICA {note new frequency!} 1100-0300 12050 GENERAL PROG AMERICA & EUROPE 0600-1000 15115 GENERAL PROG W AFRICA 1015-1215 17775 ARABIC M EAST & AFGHANISTAN 1115-1215 15715 THAI S E ASIA 1215-1330 17670 ENGLISH S ASIA 1215-1315 15715 MALAY S E ASIA 1230-1330 15480 PERSIAN TADZHIKSTAN 1330-1530 15480 PERSIAN IRAN 1315-1450 15715 INDONESIAN S E ASIA 1330-1430 17670 BENGALI S ASIA 1300-1600 15365 ARABIC W AFRICA 1400-1530 11655 AZERI AZERBAIJAN 1500-1600 15135 HINDI S ASIA 1430-1600 15670 PASHTO AFGHANISTAN 1800-1900 7220 RUSSIAN W RUSSIA 1530-1630 11695 UZBEKI UZBEKISTAN 1530-1630 15155 AFAR E & C AFRICA 1530-1730 17810 SWAHILI C & E AFRICA 1600-1800 15115 URDU S ASIA 1600-1645 15620 ZULU C & S AFRICA 1600-1800 6230 TURKISH TURKEY 1600-1800 9950 ALBANIAN ALBANIA 1630-1730 15155 SOMALI E & C AFRICA 1630-1830 9855 ENGLISH C & S AFRICA 1645-1730 15620 SHONA C & S AFRICA 1730-1815 15620 INDEBELE C & S AFRICA 1730-1900 15155 AMHARIC E & C AFRICA 1800-1900 9988 ITALIAN EUROPE 1800-2100 9735 HAUSA W AFRICA 1830-1915 9855 LINGALA C & S AFRICA 1830-1930 15375 WOLOF W AFRICA 1900-2000 9990 GERMAN EUROPE 1800-2330 11665 V of ARABS C & E AFRICA 1915-2030 15425 FULANI W AFRICA 1930-2030 15375 BAMBARA W AFRICA 2000-2200 7270 ARABIC AUSTRALIA 2000-2115 9990 FRENCH EUROPE 2030-2200 15375 ENGLISH W AFRICA 2030-2230 15335 FRENCH W AFRICA 2100-2200 9635 YORUBA W AFRICA 2115-2245 9990 ENGLISH EUROPE 2215-2330 11790 PORTUGUSE S AMERICA 2300-0030 11725 ENGLISH E N AMERICA 2330-0045 9735 ARABIC S AMERICA 2330-0045 11755 ARABIC S & C AMERICA Regds, (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Re R. Amistad 4698+: It is very possible that the volunteers from Chattanooga, TN were able to replace the HV plate transformer in the power supply and get the little transmitter up and running again. They took with them a salvaged transformer from a small microwave oven which is about the right voltage and current to power the transmitter at about 250 watts (Larry Baysinger, via Hans Johnson, March 13, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hans, have station here at 0250, weak but steady signal, so far unID. 73 (Bob Wilkner, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hans! I have noted the station the last 2 days on the same frequency as before but without ID, the soundquality is not that good. 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Bob, do you think Radio Amistad is still located in San Pedro La Laguna? I got a very weak signal here, with music and comments from a man (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRAN. The representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting -- IRIB -- confirmed to me that due to budget problems they have recently discontinued their English and French shortwave transmissions to North America, although they are still available via Internet. IRIB's Spanish transmissions to Latin America continue on shortwave (Jeff White, HFCC Dubai report below, NASB newsletter via DXLD) If the schedule below is to be believed, VIRI will still have English at 0030, extended to three hours, but for South America! If 9905 proves to be a clear frequency, unlike some of their previous NAm channels, we should be able to hear it there anyway (gh, DXLD) ** IRAN. A04 irb 14-Mar-2004 IRB; Version:03 Subversion:00 DATES 280304 311004, and DAYS 124567 u.o.s. ;----+----+----+------------------------------+---+----+-------+---+-- ;FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF ZONES LOC POWR AZIMUTH ;----+----+----+------------------------------+---+----+-------+---+-- From complete [and partially wooden?] IRIB A-04 frequency schedule, these are the only English entries, daily rearranged into time order: 15600 1030 1130 41 KAM 500 100 17660 1030 1130 41 KAM 500 109 9635 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 105 11650 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 KAM 500 100 11750 1930 2030 52,53,57 SIR 500 216 9905 0030 0330 12-16 KAM 500 259 And these are all the Spanish: 15530 0530 0630 27S,28S,37,38 KAM 500 289 17785 0530 0630 27S,28S,37,38 SIR 500 300 9800 1930 2030 52,53,57 SIR 500 211 9650 2030 2130 27S,28S,37,38 SIR 500 295 11760 2030 2130 27S,28S,37,38 KAM 500 289 7220 0030 0330 37,38,13-16 KAM 500 259 9655 0030 0230 11-15 KAM 500 274 11610 0030 0230 10-13 KAM 500 304 (via Swopan Chakroborty, India, DXLD) ** IRELAND. RTE started test transmissions today on 252 kHz and is transmitting a recorded loop announcing new programming from 17th March interspersed between pop songs. See http://www.rte.ie/radio1/lw252.html (Steve Whitt, UK, March 14, MWC via DXLD) RTÉ 252 KHZ IS ON THE AIR Following a tip from Michael Schnitzer in Germany on the Hard Core DX mailing list, we note that Irish public broadcaster RTÉ is already broadcasting on longwave 252 kHz, ahead of the official launch of RTÉ Radio 1 on Wednesday 17 March, St. Patrick's Day. Daytime reception here in the Hilversum area is good. Steve Whitt in the UK, reporting to the Medium Wave Circle mailing list, notes a recorded loop announcing new programming from 17th March interspersed between pop songs. An announcement on RTÉ 's Web site notes that 'Programming on Long Wave 252 will include RTÉ Radio 1's sport and religious choices, currently available on Medium Wave in Ireland.' Both versions of Radio 1 are also available on satellite via the the Sky Digital platform. # posted by Andy @ 11:57 UT March 14 (Media Network blog via DXLD) It actually started yesterday afternoon. Reception here in London on a portable without external aerial is quite poor in the house, but fine outside. Careful positioning is required to null out the Algerian station. As I noted to RTE when they undertook tests last year, there are too many noisy household appliances around for reliable reception here in London. I have to turn off my VDU & TV for it to be listenable, but can't do anything about my neighbours. So, if you really want to hear RTE radio 1 you can if you perservere, but the casual listener isn't going to be bothered. (Colin, 03.14.04 - 2:28 pm, ibid.) I'm not surprised you have problems in London. Even the BBC's own longwave transmitter at Droitwich doesn't come in that well in some parts of London, which is why they had to put a mediumwave booster station there on 720 kHz. Unfortunately, if Broadband over Powerlines isn't stopped, large areas of Europe will have the same problem :-( (Andy, 03.14.04 - 2:59 pm, ibid.) Thanks for the information, here in Southeast Essex reception was okay in the day but got carved up by Algeria in the evenings. We'll have a listen during the week and get back (Paul (Essex), 03.14.04 - 4:17 pm, ibid.) ** ITALY. NEW PIRATE FROM ITALY Radio RS 6260 kHz Ciao! 3rd tentative ...... Ascoltata stamattina 14-3-04, a partire dalla 08.43, su 6260 kHz RS con musica e annuncio in italiano "vi ricordiamo che siete sintonizzati sui 6260 kHz di Radio RS". Segnale ottimo anche se con modulazione a volte incerta e brevi interruzioni nella trasmissione, come se qualcuno stesse cercando di mettere a punto il trasmettitore. This morning 14 April from 08.43 heard on 6260 kHz RS with no stop music and Italian identification "vi ricordiamo che siete sintonizzati sui 6260 kHz di Radio RS". Good signal in Treviso with some modulation problems, look like the operator was testing the transmitter. Ciao (Luigi Basso, via Dario Monferini, Italy, DXLD) Ciao Luigi! Grazie per la segnalazione, notata anche qui a Milano fin oltre le ore 1330 con ricezione in peggioramento dopo le 1350. Che sia la famosa Radio Serenissima progettata nel Veneto ???? Fateci sapere se arriva anche in altre zone Italiane (Dario Monferini, Milano, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. VOK in P`yongyang continues to respond to my letters: I receive QSL cards and trinkets from them regularly and last month they sent me a catalogue where I can order North Korean CDs, books and magazines. The children`s books are a hoot to read, judging by the synopsis --- ``The Story of the Little Raccoon Dog who learned that to work for the collective is the best of all`` or the story of the ``evil Jap`` soldier. Stalinism to the max is alive and well in the Hermit Kingdom; at least they respond to reception reports! (Sue Hickey, Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, CIDX Forum, March Messenger via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Re: OVERVIEW OF THE MEDIA IN KYRGYZSTAN FM radio in Bishkek -- 99.75 KOORT radio Public Educational Radio and TV; web site: http://www.koort.kg Source: BBC Monitoring research 10 Mar 04 (via DXLD) This is not an FM radio station, but the sound carrier of TV channel R5 in Bishkek. This is the TV sound to the KOORT TV programme (channel R5, 8m offset, exact frequencies are Vision: 93.2396 MHz, Sound: 99.7396 MHz). KOORT is also providing relays of Russian TV prgr's on this channel. The TV channel R5 (along with channels R3 & R4) is a relic from the times when Kyrgyzstan was part of the USSR and the FM band below 100 MHz was used for TV broadcasting and not FM Radio. Now, Kyrgyz telecom authorities are preparing to open it for FM broadcasting, therefore all TV transmitters on channels R3 to R5 will be closed down and replaced by UHF frequencies. This is the technical background for the item ``Government revokes Osh TV licence`` (hidden in the sentence "electromagnetic incompatibility with transmitters of Channel 4 and Channel 5."). Re: ``FM radio in Bishkek [continued] 101.7 Radio Evropa Plus; also on 104.5 and 106.5 FM Web site: http://www.europa.kg [...] 102.5 Russian radio; also on 104.5 FM [...] 106.5 same as Evropa Plus (see above) Source: BBC Monitoring research 10 Mar 04 (via DXLD)`` 102.5 MHz carries "Russkoye Radio - Aziya", a stream of the Moscow based Russkoye Radio, produced in Almaty, Kazakhstan and distributed on FM throughout Kazakhstan and by satellite. Website: http://www.rusradio.kz 104.5 MHz carries "Russkoye Radio", a local channel of Evropa Plus Kyrgyzstan. Website: http://rusradio.europa.kg. 106.5 MHz carries "Kyrgyzstan obondory", the Kyrgyz language channel of Evropa Plus Kyrgyzstan. Website: http://ko.europa.kg (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MACAU. Question of the Week -- "To the best of your memory, what is the most unusual or unique transmitter site you have personally seen?" Back at the beginning of 1965 I was in Hong Kong and took the hydrofoil over to Macau, about 40 miles, to spend a day (and get a new country stamp in my passport). This was on my 7 Seas trip. Macau is not a large place, a little spit of land and 2 small islands, you can walk around the whole thing in an hour or so, I believe. I managed to contact John Alvarez, whose ham call was CR9AH, a very wellknown DXer. Sr. Alvarez was the chief engineer of Radio Vila Verde. He came over to the dock where the hydrofoil landed and picked me up and we spent an hour or so touring the station, and then a trip to the casino for a bit. The station was something like 10 kW, and I recall that 735 and 738 kHz were used at various times. They had a vey nice modern looking studio. This station was the Chinese service. I recall that Larry Godwin had verified them from California sometime in that time period. Others too, I am sure (Pat Martin?) The transmitter hall was actually a spacious room and off to one side, standing all alone was a little Raytheon (I think) single rack unit, all by itself on an otherwise unused floor area. John told me that was a (I think) Portuguese service xmtr that had been used on 1200 kHz. I remembered that Bengt Ericsson in Sweden had logged and reported that station from Sweden, according to an item in DX News. I think the xmtr was 250 watts, and it certainly looked it. I went back to Victoria that night on the steamer. The hydrofoils were run by "communist entities" we were told (P. R. China) and were were sternly warned to not travel on them. Of course, many of us did. The trip was about a half hour and the steamer was over 2 hours. I still have my old tickets. The "Penha" and the "Guia". I've never been on a hydrofoil since. I still have a CR9AH QSL card as well, ironic as, in the 275-odd countries I worked in my Ham days, CR9/XX9 was never among them (Bob Foxworth, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** MALI. Mali confirmed still has English Saturday evenings. English news heard Sat 13 March from 1905 to 1917 UT on 4835. Heavily accented English newsreader and strong utility interference at this time meant it wasn't as readable as I used to expect from Mali on 4835! Best on usb. Opening ID as "This is Bamako, Mali Radio Telecommunications. Good evening .......". Signed off saying would be on air "next Saturday at the same time and on the same frequency". Music (e.g. Bob Marley) between each news item (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030+ / longwire, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR. 6160, CKZN/CFGB relay, 0923-0941, March 7, English, NA at tune-in followed by choral music, YL with lengthy CFGB sign-on announcement with CBN/CBC MW, FM frequencies, "...Under the authority of the Canadian Radio & Television Commission, we invite you to stay tuned for today`s programming". CFGB'S "Labrador Morning" at 0930 with CBC Radio News for the Newfoundland/New Brunswick area. Choppy w/ fades (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. I'd like to add a few corrections for the WRTH 2004, mainly in what concerns the "Eur/Africa/MEast MW section" . . . http://www.ydunritz.com/y-news.htm#PORTUGAL (Carlos Gonçalves, Ydun`s MW News via DXLD) Includes Azores, mostly misspellings; link will eventually expire (gh) ** ROMANIA. MAJOR CHANGES AT RADIO ROMANIA INTERNATIONAL Radio Romania International (RRI) is undergoing a major reorganisation. On Sunday 28 March, two international channels will start broadcasting from Bucharest: under the slogan, "Romania LIVE", RRI 1 will target the Romanian Diaspora and all Romanian speaking audiences living abroad, while RRI 2, broadcasting in English, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian and Serbian, will "try to build and consolidate bridges to the world." The Board of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation has decided to stop shortwave broadcasts in Hungarian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek and Portuguese as of 28 March. According to RRI's Web site, the overhaul of the foreign language services is a result of the end of the Cold War, and the ongoing reunification of Europe. "The European media community is all about ridding the broadcasters of some of the old structures and programming schemes and upholding new forms of cooperation," he is quoted as saying. The two Romanian international channels will seek to diversify their broadcasting outlets. World Radio Network has recently been added, together with mediumwave and FM broadcasting to target areas on all continents. RRI says there will be "a wider range of live co- productions and a broader perspective from the region both in our newscasts and on our Web pages." (Source: Radio Romania International) # posted by Andy @ 12:40 UT March 14 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. Have I missed something? Featured on Voice of the NASB (which stands for National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters, the nation being USA), UT Sun March 14 on WRMI 7385 at 0330 was Voice of Russia! Actually Jeff White presented his own visit to VOR and Estelle Winters, apparently originally broadcast on her show Timeline. Well, I guess it`s no more out of place than on a program called Viva Miami (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Much more below from Jeff on his visit to Moscow under CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES ** SEYCHELLES [non]. FEBA Radio A-04: 28 March to 31 October 2004 Tx Site Codes - ARM Armavir Russia KIG Kigali Rwanda ASC Ascension Island MEY Meyerton South Africa DHA Dhabayya MOS Mossbrunn Austria ERV Yerevan Armenia NVS Novosibirsk Russia FLE Flevo Holland SAM Samara Russia IRK Irkutsk Russia TAC Tashkent Uzbekistan Day 1 = Sunday (ITU Convention) NORTH INDIA, NEPAL, TIBET Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0030-0115 s...... HINDI 7365 41 TAC 0030-0045 .mtwt.. BANGLA 7365 41 TAC 0030-0045 .....fs BHOJPURI 7365 41 TAC 0045-0115 .m.wtfs HINDI 7365 41 TAC 0045-0100 ..t..... ORIYA 7365 41 TAC 0100-0115 ..t.... HINDI 7365 41 TAC 0100-0115 smtwtfs HINDI 9820 31 MOS 0115-0130 smtwt.. MARATHI 9820 31 MOS 0115-0130 .....f. URDU 9820 31 MOS 0115-0130 ......s PUNJABI India 9820 31 MOS 1200-1230 smtwtfs TIBETAN 15355 19 DHA 1230-1315 s...... NEPALI 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 .....f. BHOJPURI 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 ......s. CHATTISGARHI 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 .m.w... MUNDARI 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 ..t.... NEPALI 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 ....t... CHATTISGARHI 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 .m.wt.. ORIYA 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 ..t.... MAGHI 12005 25 TAC 1230-1315 smtwtfs BANGLA 12005 25 TAC 1315-1330 ....t.. KUMAUNI 11750 25 SAM 1315-1400 ......s PUNJABI India 11750 25 SAM 1315-1400 .mtw.f. PUNJABI India 11750 25 SAM 1315-1330 s...... KANGRI 11750 25 SAM 1315-1330 .m..... BHILI 11750 25 SAM 1315-1330 ...w... MARWARI 11750 25 SAM 1315-1330 ..t.... BRIJ 11750 25 SAM 1315-1345 s....f. GUJARATI 11750 25 SAM 1330-1400 .mtwt.s GUJARATI 11750 25 SAM 1400-1415 smtwt.. URDU India 9530 31 DHA 1400-1500 .....fs HINDI 9530 31 DHA 1415-1500 smtwt.. HINDI 9530 31 DHA SOUTH INDIA, MALDIVES, SRI LANKA Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0030-0100 s...... TAMIL 7335 41 ERV 0100-0130 s...... KANNADA 7335 41 ERV 0030-0115 ..tw... TAMIL 7335 41 ERV 0030-0130 .m..t.. TAMIL 7335 41 ERV 0030-0100 .....fs TAMIL 7335 41 ERV 0115-0130 .....fs KANNADA 7335 41 ERV 0115-0130 ..t.... TULU 7335 41 ERV 0115-0130 ...w... KONKANI 7335 41 ERV 0100-0115 ..t..fs BADAGA 7335 41 ERV 0130-0200 smtwtfs TELUGU 9855 31 DHA 1400-1430 .mtw... MALAYALAM 7350 41 IRK 1400-1445 s...tfs MALAYALAM 7350 41 IRK 1445-1500 s...tfs TELUGU 7350 41 IRK 1430-1500 .mtw... TELUGU 7350 41 IRK 1500-1515 smtwtfs ENGLISH Slow 7350 41 IRK 1515-1600 smtwtfs ENGLISH 7350 41 IRK 1600-1615 smt.... SINHALA 7350 41 IRK 1600-1615 ...w.fs DHIVEHI 7350 41 IRK 1600-1615 ....t.. MALAY 7350 41 IRK PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, IRAN Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0200-0215 .m...fs URDU Pakistan 12045 25 NVS 0215-0230 .m...fs PUNJABI Pakistan 12045 25 NVS 0200-0230 s.t.... PUNJABI Pakistan 12045 25 NVS 0200-0230 ...wt.. URDU Pakistan 12045 25 NVS 0230-0245 s...... URDU Pakistan 12045 25 NVS 0230-0245 ....t.. POTHWARI 12045 25 NVS 0230-0245 .mtw.fs HINDKO 12045 25 NVS 0200-0215 s.....s SINDHI 6145 49 DHA 0200-0215 .mtwtf. SIRAIKI 6145 49 DHA 0215-0230 s..wtfs BALUCHI 6145 49 DHA 0215-0230 .mt.... BRAHUI 6145 49 DHA 0200-0215 smtwtfs PASHTO 9855 31 DHA 0215-0245 smtwtfs DARI 9855 31 DHA 0245-0300 smtwtfs HAZARAGI 9855 31 DHA 0630-0800 .....f. PERSIAN 9660 31 DHA 1630-1730 smtwtfs PERSIAN 9875 31 ARM 1730-1745 s.....s BALUCHI 9875 31 ARM 1730-1745 .mtw... TURKMEN 9875 31 ARM 1730-1745 ....t.. AZERI 9875 31 ARM 1730-1745 .....f. LURI 9875 31 ARM 1400-1415 smtwtfs English Slow 9495 31 NVS 1415-1500 sm..tf. URDU Pakistan 9495 31 NVS 1415-1515 ..tw..s URDU Pakistan 9495 31 NVS 1500-1515 sm..tf. BALTI 9495 31 NVS 1530-1600 smtwtfs PASHTO 9415 31 ARM 1600-1630 smtwtfs DARI 9415 31 ARM 1630-1645 smtwtfs HAZARAGI 9415 31 ARM 1645-1700 smtwtfs UZBEK 9415 31 ARM MIDDLE EAST Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0400-0530 smtwtfs ARABIC 15530 19 SAM 0500-0530 .....f. SINHALA 6125 49 DHA 0530-0630 .....f. MALAYALAM 6125 49 DHA 1903-1957 smtwtfs ARABIC 9690 31 KIG AFRICA, ETHIOPIA, SUDAN Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1515-1530 smtwtfs NUER 12125 25 MEY 1530-1545 smtwtfs DINKA 12125 25 MEY 1545-1600 smtwtfs MAKONDE 12125 25 MEY 1600-1630 s...tfs AMHARIC 12125 25 MEY 1600-1630 .mtw... GURAGENA 12125 25 MEY 1630-1700 smtwtfs AMHARIC 12125 25 MEY 1700-1730 smtwtfs OROMO 6180 49 DHA 1700-1730 smtwtfs SOMALI 11690 25 KIG 1730-1800 smtwtfs TIGRINYA 11690 25 KIG 1830-1900 smtwtfs FRENCH (West+Cent Af) 15130 19 ASC 2145-2215 ....tf. WOLOF (West Af) 11985 25 ASC WESTERN EUROPE (DRM Digital Transmission) Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0945-1000 smtwtfs ENGLISH Slow 9815 31 FLE ------------------------------------------------------------------- Schedule Engineer, FEBA Radio, Ivy Arch Road, WORTHING BN14 8BX, UK. WEBSITE: http://www.feba.org.uk/schedule/sch2.htm A04bs02 dated 11.03.04 rww (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. AWR *2000-2025 15295, March 13, 2004. "You're listening to Adventist World Radio -- The Voice of Hope" in English and several other languages. "Africa Redemption" program. Then "The Clear Word" discussion. SIO 353. 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. Radio Peace, 4750: Better-than-usual signal level on Mar 14 from *0230, but murdered by local noise so basically useless. I can hear this signing on just a sliver after 0230 most nights, but so far I have only one definite albeit weak ID, at 0247 Mar 12 as they were switching from EG to another language (Jerry Berg, MA, DX-plorer via DXLD) *0230 Mar 14, many English IDs, local music, talk about Israel and Egypt, nice choir music, IDs every 15 minutes; strongest signal in Salzburg around 0300 (Christoph Ratzer, Austria, ibid.) ** TAIWAN. VOICE OF HAN BC LAUNCH SW SERVICE TO CHINA You can hear Mainland service of Voice of Han BC at 9745 kHz. The program is parallel to 981, 711, 1431. QTH Kuanyin, 40 km west of Taipei. Two SW small curtain type antenna were installed. Maybe we can find another frequency some day. Due to adjancent channel interference, I have to listen 9745 in USB, bandwidth 1.5 kHz at 1200 UTC; 0655 sign-on and 0105 sign-off (Miller Liu, Taiwan, Receiver: AOR AR7030plus, ICOM IC-R8500; Antenna: RF SYSTEM 40ft longwire, 100m random loop, March 12, dxing.info via DXLD) The schedule in local time UT +8? That would be 2255-1705 UT (gh) Thanks to the above tip I tuned into a clear 9745 at 1920 UT this evening (Sun 14 Mar) and heard a monologue in Chinese then song which I confirmed was "Voice of Han" by checking the Mainland Service online audio at http://www.voh.com.tw/english/top-e.html (though there is a time delay). Unfortunately stronger CRI in Esperanto signed-on on 9745 at 1930 but Voice of Han was still audible underneath CRI. VOH much weaker but in clear after CRI sign-off at 2027. (Presume this is the station on page 367 of WRTH 2004 as MW channels etc match, though WRTH calls it Voice of Kuanghua?) When did it start on shortwave and what power is its transmitter?? (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030+, Wellbrook K9AY, dxing.info via DXLD) ** U A E. See CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES below ** U K. Here`s a paste from a recent BBC7 e-newsletter.... Since the launch of BBC 7, our most frequent requests have been for a 'listen again' service. Because of rights issues with archive programmes, we have until now been unable to provide this valuable option. However, those of you who heard me on Radio 4's Feedback last week will know that problems have been resolved, and very soon we will be able to bring you Audio on Demand. We hope it will be up and running before Easter. You will then be able to access BBC 7 programmes up to seven days after transmission - and this applies to all shows! It's a tremendous boost for the network to be able to bring this to you. I'd like to thank all the staff who have been working hard to make this possible (via Phil Attwell, MWC via DXLD) ** U S A. It seems that the Kim Elliott segment on VOA Mainstreet has possibly come to its end. I`ll keep it in the Guide for one more month in case it returns. Thanks to David Crystal for the heads up on this one (Mickey Delmage, DX Programme Guide, March CIDX Messenger via DXLD) How about, it Kim? ** U S A. THE END OF AN ERA - WSHB GOES SILENT On March 27, 1989 at 0758 UT, shortwave station WSHB made its first broadcast from Cypress Creek, South Carolina. Fifteen years later -- at 0700 UT on March 1, 2004 -- it signed off for the last time after broadcasting the Sunday service from The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts. WSHB was one of the giants of shortwave broadcasting. Owned by the Christian Science Publishing Society (a branch of the Christian Science Church based in Boston), WSHB was one of three stations that comprised the World Service of The Christian Science Monitor. The World Service broadcast a two-hour daily English-language news and features "magazine"-type program which rotated 24 hours per day, Monday through Friday, with some hours in Spanish to certain target areas during part of its existence. Live newscasts were inserted into the program at the top and bottom of each hour. On weekends, the station became the Herald of Christian Science, with broadcasts from the Christian Science "Mother Church" in Boston and other Christian Science religious programs in a variety of languages. WSHB was actually the third station in the Monitor World Service trilogy. WCSN in Scotts Corner, Maine, was the initial station. It went on air in March, 1987. KHBI in Saipan, Marianas Islands, was purchased by the Church in 1989. WCSN was sold to an Adventist organization called Prophecy Countdown in 1995, and is now owned by NASB member LeSEA Broadcasting. KHBI was sold in 1998 to Radio Free Asia, which is an associate member of NASB as part of the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau. WSHB operated two 500-kilowatt transmitters, making it one of the largest and most technically sophisticated privately-owned shortwave stations in the United States. It had six pairs of curtain antennas beamed to Europe/Africa, South America, Central America/Caribbean, Mexico/New Zealand, Western North America, and Eastern North America. The station was manned by a staff of eight engineers and operators. Station Manager Ed Evans -- a former president of the NASB -- was there for both the first and last broadcasts from WSHB and everything in between. He explained that "WSHB had a couple of unique devices called 'splitters' which gave us the ability to use either transmitter into two of the antennas simultaneously. In other words, we could broadcast in four different directions from the two transmitters." WSHB also operated three 750-kilowatt generator sets in conjunction with the local power company to reduce peak demands. "That greatly reduced our electric bills," said Ed Evans. "We connected our building status monitor computer to the utility substation communications computer, and we received daily communications from the utility on the need for peak shaving for that day." Current NASB President Jeff White commented: "The end of WSHB's broadcasts is really the end of an era. The World Service of The Christian Science Monitor was a unique broadcast service that was widely regarded to be on the same level as the BBC World Service in terms of journalistic quality and integrity. It was an honor for me to have been associated with the World Service for a number of years as a freelance news and features correspondent." Despite the highly-lauded programming of the World Service of The Christian Science Monitor, the Church decided to end all of its news programs in 1997. Since then, WSHB has aired only religious programs in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Russian, in addition to a few paid relays of overseas radio services from time to time. ``Over the last few months, we've reviewed and reassessed many of our activities here with the goal of finding the most effective ways of connecting with spiritual seekers everywhere,`` said Catherine Aitken- Smith, Broadcast Director of Broadcast and Multimedia Services for the Church, which owns both the Publishing Society and the Herald Broadcasting Syndicate. ``WSHB has been a very effective communications tool, and we`re deeply grateful to its staff for their dedicated professionalism,`` she added, ``but it`s become clear to us that we don`t need to actually own broadcast facilities in order to distribute programs.`` Aitken-Smith said the Publishing Society and the Herald Broadcasting Syndicate are investigating several alternate distribution solutions and technologies that, in combination, will help the Society ``reach people wherever they are, reliably, and at a reasonable cost.`` During this planning period, many of the Society`s broadcast activities will continue. Herald religious programs will be heard throughout Europe, Africa and South America on local radio stations, where the programs are supported by local funding sources. Listeners may also hear a selection of programs on the Internet at http://www.churchofchristscientist.org The Mother Church has put WSHB up for sale. Interested parties may contact Ed Evans at evansc @ wshb.com for more information. The Christian Science Board of Directors, the governing body of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, created the Syndicate in 1985. Mary Baker Eddy, the Church`s founder, established The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1898. The Society publishes religious magazines in 12 languages as well as The Christian Science Monitor, a highly- respected international daily newspaper (Jeff White, March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 4-046: LETTER TO KPLC VIEWERS 3.7.04 http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1692378 Dear KPLC Viewers: We're on the air! Kind of a time warp, but we're broadcasting from a fairly old transmitter loaned to us by our sister Liberty station in Tyler, Texas, KLTV (which also happens to operate on channel 7). I want to thank Butch Adair of KLTV's engineering staff for overseeing the move of that big piece of equipment down to Lake Charles. I wish each of you could have seen Butch and our engineering team unload that transmitter from the truck and "walk" it on big metal rollers into the station's garage, just the same way the Egyptians moved the huge building blocks of the Pyramids centuries ago. Hearing that old transmitter roar at 11:30 Saturday night was music to our ears. What goes around comes around. We are now operating off of an antenna we found in Atlanta which has been mounted at the top of our downtown Lake Charles tower. If you stand at the corner of Bilbo and Division streets and look straight up, you'll see it up on the northeast corner of the tower. Thanks to arrangements facilitated by Lester Langley at KVHP-TV (Fox 29), we now also have a satellite uplink of the KPLC signal and have begun the process of downlinking that signal to the cable systems which carry us throughout Southwest Louisiana. (As you are probably already aware from recent articles here, Cox customers in the Lake Charles/Sulphur and Acadiana areas already receive us via fiber link, as do many CommuniComm customers in the Westlake and Moss Bluff areas.) Several cable systems in and around the Lake Charles area have already restored their KPLC service, including Cox/DeRidder. I appreciate Ron Vaden, a satellite engineer from WAVE-TV, our sister Liberty station in Louisville, Kentucky, for coming down to Cajun Country to help us out with that project. One of the first people to call and offer assistance is an old friend of many of you in Southwest Louisiana. James Smith, our former news director and news anchor, is now VP & General Manager of WWAY-TV, the Liberty station in Wilmington, N.C. He sends his regards and has offered any help he can provide (we're usually the ones who offer to help James out since Wilmington seems to attract every hurricane which ventures anywhere near the East Coast). I've also had calls offering help from each and every one of Liberty's 14 other television stations. Speaking of familiar faces, one of the ironies of this event is that another familiar face was literally flying into Lake Charles minutes after the towers fell. Ron Loewen, who was general manager at KPLC before I assumed the job, just happened to be coming here from our corporate headquarters for a meeting the next morning. His timing couldn't have been better. Ron's a great broadcaster and really knows KPLC and Southwest Louisiana. While I can't say I in any way enjoyed having to respond to the towers falling, it was gratifying to be able to work side by side with him and take full advantage of his extensive knowledge and wisdom as we developed our response plan. By the way, Ron ultimately had to fly onto other commitments elsewhere, but not before he made his usual stop at Tony's for a sack of po-boys. Mary Anne Bunton, our corporate director of human resources, was with Ron. She pitched in to answer the phones Thursday night as viewers inundated us with calls wondering what had happened to us. The next morning, our corporate VP of engineering Steve Smith and our company's assistant chief Bill Eschbach flew in from South Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. They've been with us every step of the way. Our company's president, Jim Keelor, has probably forgotten more about television stations than the rest of us combined know. He has personally helped guide the process of responding to this disaster and laid the foundation for the rebuilding of KPLC's transmission facility. We LOVE our KPLC advertisers. They are your local TV station's very lifeblood. And you should know that each and every one of them has told us they're standing by our side as we rush to recovery. Please take note of the commercials you see and let your local businesses know you appreciate them as much as we do. And you, our loyal viewers ---there simply aren't enough words to thank you for your wonderful calls and letters (and even a few poems!). Believe me --- we've missed you as much as you've missed us. So many people have rallied around us. We are humbled and grateful. Thank you to each of you reading this for your good wishes and your support. A final thought. My father (still the smartest man I've ever known) once taught me the difference between involvement and commitment. He called it the "bacon and eggs test." He told me that when you have bacon and eggs in the morning, the chicken was involved in your breakfast --- but the pig was committed. As I reflect on the last three days, the folks at the top of my list of "thank you's" are the fantastic employees of KPLC. These are not people who are involved in KPLC and those we serve. These are people who are COMMITTED to KPLC and those we serve. You know the folks in front of the camera. Please take a moment to recognize with me the long hours and dedication selflessly shown by those behind the cameras during this trying time, particularly our incredible engineering staff. John Scott, Mike Odom, Mike Chimeno, Gerry Clark --- my hat's off to you. Get some sleep tonight before you hit the ground running tomorrow. Finally, if you are still waiting for your KPLC service to be restored, please bear with us. More homes will be on line this week, and every week thereafter. I'll keep you posted here. Thanks again for letting us be At Your Service. Best regards, Jim Serra VP & General Manager 7 At Your Service KPLC (via DXLD) ** U S A. THE NIPPLE EFFECT --- KPCC YANKS THE PLAY`S THE THING by Steven Leigh Morris, L.A. WEEKLY, MARCH 12 - 18, 2004 http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=51753 L.A. Theater Works` recorded-play series, The Play`s the Thing, is the latest casualty in a national cabal against dirty words. On February 13, KPCC 89.3 FM pulled the series because of the words ``fuck`` and ``shit`` spoken by characters in a February 7 rebroadcast of Oliver Goldstick`s off-Broadway hit, Dinah Was (about singer Dinah Washington). In October, president of Southern California Public Radio Bill Davis warned L.A. Theater Works Producing Director Susan Loewenberg that the station would drop the broadcasts ``immediately and permanently if LATW persists in delivering programs to KPCC with obscene or indecent language.`` Loewenberg says she repeatedly sought clarification of policy from the station over whether potentially offensive plays should run with a listener advisory or be bleeped. She says she never heard back and that Dinah Was ran twice in two years with the listener advisory. Whether coincidentally or not, this all seems to have started after the Super Bowl halftime televised appearance of Janet Jackson`s breast. ``Enough!`` proclaimed FCC chair Michael Powell, puffing around the Senate like a rooster and trying to prove that he can stand beak to beak with any media conglomerate, even as the number of merging national media voices shrinks to six — is that now five? --- with his endorsement. Shortly after Powell`s Senate appearance, Clear Channel banned Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge for offensive language, and on March 1, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to approve legislation raising the maximum indecency fine for a broadcaster or on-air personality to $500,000 per violation. That same day, KCRW axed Sandra Tsing Loh for slipping ``fuck`` into one of her monologues. (Loh insisted it was a mistake and that she had asked the station engineer to bleep it, but station manager Ruth Seymour said the decision was irrevocable.) Craig Curtis, program director of KPCC`s parent network, Minnesota Public Radio, describes the pulling of the theater series as coincidental. ``This would have happened regardless of Janet Jackson or Sandra Tsing Loh,`` says Curtis. ``This issue was being discussed for months.`` The KPCC decision is particularly troubling because it applies the ``Seven Dirty Words`` standard (used by broadcasters since a 1974 Supreme Court decision told comedian George Carlin to wash out his mouth with soap) to works of literature. L.A. Theater Works issues plays that have been produced on the American stage. But Curtis says, ``Prevailing standards of decency in the theater and on the radio are different.`` The banning of such recordings on grounds of obscenity hearkens back to the Anthony Comstock era of the 1880s, and the later banning of Ulysses. In 1933, Judge John Woolsey lifted the 11-year ban on the book, saying that the dissemination of works of literature can`t be restricted to those appropriate only for children. Yet that`s exactly where we are again on public radio. Which replaces the question ``What is the purpose of art?`` with the larger, more immediate question, ``What is the purpose of Michael Powell?`` And though $500,000 is not a chunk of change any public radio station wishes to lose on a curse, Davis says KPCC`s decision is not so much about the potential fine as the jeopardy to the station`s existence. Explains Davis, ``The first rule of broadcasting is, you don`t lose your license.`` Hoping the station will reconsider its decision (and Davis says it just might), Loewenberg argues, ``We`ve done 100 broadcasts for KPCC, for a listenership of at least 5,000, and for all of that, there have been only three complaints that I know of.`` (via Current via DXLD) ** U S A. EVEN BUTTONED-DOWN PBS GETS CAUGHT IN THE WRINGER By Lisa de Moraes washingtonpost.com Thursday, March 11, 2004; Page C07 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48162-2004Mar10?language=printer Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone confided to investors this week that "a woman's breast is not such a big deal" to him. We wish him a speedy recovery. Ironic, isn't it, that thanks to Mr. Redstone's MTV and CBS, which produced and aired, respectively, the little Super Bowl halftime number that's come to be known as the Breast Heard Round the World, TV execs all over the country have been engaged in vigorous debate about that part of the female anatomy which no longer holds any interest for the 80-year-old Mr. Redstone. Take PBS station WGBH, for example, where suits went back and forth about how much cleavage to show in its upcoming "American Experience" documentary "Emma Goldman." You cannot expect to make a documentary about a colorful 20th-century anarchist and advocate of free speech and free love -- a woman J. Edgar Hoover once called one of the most dangerous people in America - - without including a little anarchy, a little free speech and a little free love in the piece. In calmer times, this would not be a problem. But since Justin Timberlake unleashed Janet Jackson's right breast during the Super Bowl halftime show and it began its scorched-earth march through the TV industry, it's a big problem. So the executive producer of "American Experience" agreed to cut a couple of seconds of a scene re-creation in the documentary, in which Goldman's lover is seen unbuttoning the front of her chemise, revealing about as much cleavage as Susan Sarandon showed off in that black number she wore to this year's Academy Awards. According to "American Experience" executive producer Mark Samels, during the normal finishing process this documentary, like all "American Experience" documentaries, went to an attorney at WGBH for what's called "errors and omissions" analysis. While screening the project, Samels reports, the attorney raised concerns about the love scene. Here is where Samels's version of what happened differs from that of the public TV source who was among those who brought this to the attention of The TV Column. According to our source, the showing of cleavage was what knotted the attorney's knickers; he thought it would be objectionable to the Federal Communications Commission, which has been on a sort of shock- and-awe campaign against TV smut -- at least the broadcast stuff -- since its chief wandered in on the halftime show while watching the Super Bowl with his family. According to Samels, it wasn't the cleavage that had the attorney grinding his teeth; it was the question of nipplage. Mel Buckland, who wrote, produced and directed the documentary, declined to comment for this article, nervously telling The TV Column that she had been expressly told by folks at "American Experience" not to discuss the situation and explaining that she was afraid of the career consequences if she did talk to the press. (Just to refresh your memory: This is still about a documentary on the life of a woman who lobbied in this country, back in the early 1900s, for freedom of - - among other things -- speech.) Samels says the "American Experience" team assured the WGBH attorney that there was no nipplage in the scene. According to Samels, the attorney passed along the documentary to an outside attorney who does work for WGBH on communications issues, for a second opinion. "That person also agreed that it looked like a full breast was exposed, which was a pretty common-sense line of decency we haven't crossed," Samels explained. However, a spokeswoman for "American Experience" with whom we spoke yesterday afternoon said the outside attorney did not screen the documentary; rather, the in-house attorney had described the scene in question and the outside attorney advised that "he didn't perceive any legal issues with it." Back to Samels, who tells The TV Column that the "American Experience" people "went back and did a frame-by-frame analysis, because we had only looked at it 50 times while making it. "I didn't see a fully exposed breast, and sure enough, there isn't," he said. "What there is is a shadow of a blouse which gives the appearance of the revealing of a nipple, the full breast." That, he says, is why they agreed to remove what he calls 51 frames and our source says is about two seconds of the love scene. Samels insists, however, that even after the nip and tuck, there is "enough cleavage to drive a truck through in this scene." We will pause here for a minute while you try to get that image out of your head. Our public TV source and Samels do agree that it's pretty ironic that a documentary about a woman who preached free love and free speech should be mired in a discussion about whether it's okay to show a breast on TV. "What I love about it is that it shows the country has never gotten away from its Puritanical roots," Samels said. "Which once again calls for exploration of American history. You can only understand who we are by knowing how we got this way." That, of course, is a shameless plug for "American Experience," which bills itself as television's longest-running history series. Oh well, that's showbiz (via Current via DXLD) ** U S A. MARIE OSMOND PROMISES `SAFE` RADIO SHOW --- By MARK THIESSEN LEHI, Utah (AP) --- Marie Osmond is taking the shock out of jock. As the Federal Communications Commission cracks down on broadcast indecency, Osmond`s nationally syndicated and family friendly radio show, ``Marie & Friends,`` is hitting the airwaves. ``It`s safe radio,`` said the 44-year-old Osmond, a member of the famously squeaky-clean performing Utah family. ``That`s one of the things we`re going for is to be safe, and funny and clever and quick- witted without getting to the blue side.`` The debut of Osmond`s show last month came as broadcasters nationwide are responding to pressure generated by Janet Jackson`s Super Bowl flash. ``We all have choices,`` said Osmond, whose show mixes congenial conversation and the occasional celebrity guest with familiar songs. ``You have to be 21 to be able to go into a strip bar. Why are you bringing the strip bar into my living room?`` She has tailored the show primarily for women, but counts her eight children, her 78-year-old mother, men and truck drivers among her listeners. ``It`s informative and it`s fun and we`re a little crazy,`` she said. ``But it`s something you don`t feel like you have to explain to your 6-year-old later in the evening, and try to fill her in on information that she`s too young to understand.`` ``Marie & Friends`` is a five-hour afternoon drive time program syndicated by Jones Radio Network. So far it airs on stations in Salt Lake City; Boise, Idaho; Yakima, Wash.; Santa Monica, Calif.; and Santa Maria, Calif. This is Osmond`s first foray into radio, but she said she was well prepped for the work after doing years of live radio interviews. ``The only training is what`s up here, a quick wit,`` she said, pointing to her head. A lifetime in show business doesn`t hurt, either. Osmond first performed at age 3 on ``The Andy Williams Show.`` At age 13, she had a No. 1 hit on the pop and country charts with ``Paper Roses.`` In 1976, she and her brother became the youngest ever television hosts with ``The Donny and Marie Show.`` After the show, Marie Osmond continued acting, but branched out to meatier stage roles on Broadway and cross-country tours. Later, she rejoined her brother for a short-lived television talk show, canceled in 2000. She`s also a businesswoman whose three enterprises includes a line of collectible dolls. Osmond also is the co-founder of the Children`s Miracle Network. Along with the much storied success have come some very public setbacks. She left her family for a few days after suffering postpartum depression in 1999. A year later, she and her second husband, Brian Blosil, briefly separated. She admitted, but gave few details in her autobiography, that she was sexually abused as a child. And later, as an adolescent Hollywood star appearing alongside busty women like Raquel Welch and Farrah Fawcett, developed an eating disorder. ``You know, I`ve been through a lot of things, so I feel like (listeners) think they can relate to me,`` she said. But this isn`t an advice show. ``Life can be heavy,`` she said. ``When you turn on the radio, you want something that will pick you up, make you laugh, and make you feel like, `I can do this.``` On the Net: Marie Osmond`s radio show: http://www.radiomarie.com 03/12/04 16:37 EST Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press (via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. HUSBAND OF SLAIN RADIO PERSONALITY PLEADS GUILTY, GETS LIFE TERM CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) -- The husband of St. Louis radio personality Nan Wyatt was sentenced to consecutive life terms Friday after pleading guilty to killing his wife. Thomas Erbland, 44, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 18, 2003, death of Wyatt, a popular radio host on KMOX. . . http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2004/03/13/news_state/0313040016.prt (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. RECLAIMING THE AIR --- Rush Limbaugh created the model for conservative talk radio. Now a new network hopes to use comedy -- liberally -- to build an alternative. By Paul Starr Issue 3.1.04 This spring, if all goes according to plan, a new radio network with programs modeled after Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will make its debut. The viewpoint of the venture is the big news. Air America Radio, as it's now being called, promises to be the first commercial network with a liberal political outlook in a medium that for years has been dominated by conservatives. . . http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/3/starr2.html (via Current via DXLD) ** U S A. THE LATINIZATION OF THE UNITED STATES Here are some interesting statistics about the growing Latino impact and influence on the Anglo United States: 80% of all Hispanics live in five states --- California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. Latinos make up 42% of the population of New Mexico (Anglos 44%, the rest are chiefly American Indians), 25% of the population of Arizona, 20% of the population of New York state. Where do they come from? Two-thirds (66.9%) are Mexican, 14.3% from Central and South America, 8.6% from Puerto Rico, and 3.7% from Cuba. Once a bastion of Cubans, Florida now sees 60% of its Hispanic population coming from other Latin American countries. There have been waves of Haitians (French Creole speakers), Colombians, and Venezuelans. What distinguishes most Hispanics immigrating into Florida is that they are middle and upper class professionals and managers, fleeing the deteriorating situation in Venezuela or the 40 years of bloody civil war in Colombia. Latinos are urban: 50% live in 10 cities --- Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Rio Grande Valley, Dallas Fort Worth and San Diego. 20% of all Americans under 21 years old are Hispanics. As a minority, 13.5% of Americans are Hispanics, and that number is expected to grow. For more information, visit http://www.sia.com/diversity/pdf/Hispanic.pdf (Mike Dorner, Catholic Radio Update March 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. BROADCAST BUCCANEER --- Pete Tridish is a new sort of radio rebel, bent on bringing low power to the people. Rob Gurwitt, From the March/April 2004 issue of 'Mother Jones' magazine: Pete Tridish is only 34, but he's got a cast-iron way of connecting with people decades older: He asks them about their favorite radio experiences. On a cold winter's night in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where 50 people have gathered at the First Congregational Church to talk about starting a community radio station, the reminiscences come bubbling out—the station in San Francisco that kept its listeners up-to-date on Vietnam demonstrations, the obscure recordings on Symphony Sid's late-night jazz show in New York City. A man in his early 70s, his voice warm with the memory, talks about spending his nights during high school listening to Jean Shepherd in Cincinnati, before the legendary storyteller moved to New York. "He created a real community of listeners," he says, and laughs. "There were suicides after he left town." Reviving the sort of personal connection that good radio once created is the reason Tridish has driven here from Philadelphia. The T- shirts he's laid out in the church hall make his goals clear. A logo of a radio mic in flames is surrounded by the words "Prometheus Radio Project. How many ways have we fought corporate radio --- Today?" Prometheus, which consists of Tridish and two colleagues, has become a guiding light for community groups around the country hoping to launch low-power FM stations. Tridish & Co. provide technical advice, help with the licensing process, and even organize radio "barn raisings," at which low-power activists from around the world converge on a community for three days to get a new station up and running. Just a few weeks before his trip to Great Barrington, Tridish had been in Florida, working with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers --- the farmworker activists leading a boycott of Taco Bell --- to build a station of their own. Prometheus has also drawn national attention as the lead petitioner in a suit to block an FCC directive increasing the number of media outlets a single corporation can own in a given market. A federal judge issued a stay in the case last September, and it went to court in February. In this age of strip-mall programming, Tridish is doing his best to restore the bond between the words "community" and "radio." He got started on this course in the late 1990s as a member of the Radio Mutiny Collective in Philadelphia, which ran a pirate FM station aimed at giving leftist political views a voice on the media spectrum. "It wasn't just the young, out-of-work actor who wanted to read the entire Epic of Gilgamesh on the air, or the guy with the incredible collection of polka records," he says. "People came out of the woodwork for this station." That experience gave him two things: his nom de guerre, which he pronounces "petri dish" (he was born Dylan Wrynn); and a lasting appreciation for the connections that local broadcasting can build. "A town without a community radio station is like a town without a public library or public schools or public parks, where people from all walks of life can come together," he says. In 2000, after the collective had been raided several times by the FCC, Tridish set off in a more legal direction. The FCC had just reversed course, announcing its intention to license community stations with enough power to reach between 3 and 15 miles. "When people in power say they want to make changes, there's a moment when you have to drop your skepticism and go into the mode of trying to hold them to their word," Tridish says of his decision to found Prometheus. Though Congress quickly slashed the number of licenses that could be issued in cities like Philadelphia, it left small-town groups alone. The FCC has since licensed 900 new low-power stations. Add an eye patch to his stocky build and roisterous beard and Tridish could pretty much personify "pirate" radio. In person, though, he's calm and deliberate, with an offhand gift for making the abstruse technicalities of broadcasting—everything from FCC filings to antenna configurations—seem comprehensible. But you don't have to dig far before you hit a roguish streak. Just after he formed Prometheus in 2000, Tridish organized a takeover of the plaza in front of the National Association of Broadcasters' headquarters, ran down the NAB's flag, and hoisted a Jolly Roger in its place. Still, Tridish no longer considers himself a radio pirate. "A lot of pirates are into the idea of a right to broadcast," he says. "I believe there's a right to reasonable and fair access to the media." And though low-power FM for rural areas is a start, it's only that. "A small community group like ours can own zero stations in Philadelphia," he says, "while Clear Channel can own eight --- and feel that it's an abridgment of their free speech that they can't own more (via Matt Francis, DC, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7460, WESTERN SAHARA/ALGERIA, RSAD, 2221- 2235, March 9, Arabic, OM with talks re "Mohammed" and "Israel", Vocal music until talks with nice, full "Jamahiryia al-rabiyah al- Saharyah al-Democratyah" ID at 2230, then more music and talk. Good signal (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES / DRM +++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ SHORTWAVE FREQUENCY PLANNING COMES TO THE MIDDLE EAST A review of the A04 HFCC Conference by Jeff White, NASB President The A04 High Frequency Coordinating Conference (HFCC) in Dubai was very well-organized by Emirates Media. Special thanks is due to Mr. Mahmoud Al-Redha, the Head of Engineering at Emirates Media's Radio and TV Center. The facilities at the Shangri-La Hotel were excellent. Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates, a very wealthy little country bordering Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman, and just across the Persian Gulf from Iran. Dubai's oil money was used to develop the country very highly and to expand its economic base to various aspects of international trade and tourism. It is a very orderly, clean, almost Disneyland-like place which has much experience with international conferences of all types. Emirates Media sponsored all of the daily lunches during the event, as well as three hospitality dinners -- one around the Shangri-La's hotel pool, another on board a boat, and the other at a cultural park with a surprise arrival by helicopter and personal greeting to all conference delegates by Sheik Abdulla Bin Zaid, the Minister of Information and Culture and Chairman of Emirates Media. The Sheik then proceeded to invite us into a nearby palace for a wonderful Arabian dinner. The HFCC Conference was conveniently held during the month-long Dubai Shopping Festival, an annual event which draws people from various parts of the world. This enabled many of us to take advantage of the excellent prices on items such as electronic goods -- or in my wife's case, clothes, shoes and jewelry. Dubai is supposedly one of the best places in the world to buy diamonds and gold. For my part, I found a Sony digital car radio with coverage of practically the entire shortwave spectrum for the unbelievable price of about US$ 93. I also noted that about 90% of the radio receivers I found in a large hypermarket called Carrefours had shortwave coverage, which probably means that people in this part of the world listen a lot to shortwave. The same store had small imitation Sony shortwave receivers available for as little as $5 and $6! Of course, people in the UAE also watch a lot of international television, and there was a great variety of free-to-air satellite receivers available for as little as about US$ 68. Looking on the roofs of the houses and apartment buildings in Dubai, it appeared that virtually everyone has a satellite dish. An excursion into the desert My wife and I arrived in Dubai a few days before the conference began, so we decided to take an all-day tour to a place called Al Ain, on the border with Oman. Our guide/driver was from Afghanistan, and we went with two other couples visiting from Kuwait. We made a brief stop at the horse and camel racing tracks on the outskirts of Dubai (yes, camel racing is a very popular pastime here), then ventured out into the desert where our driver did something I have always wanted to do. He took our four-wheel-drive vehicle off the road and straight out into the sand dunes, up to the edge of a Bedouin camp and goat farm. Then it was on another couple of hours to Al Ain, crossing some very high mountains en route. Because of the elevation, it was actually very cold and windy. Al Ain itself is kind of an oasis town of beautiful parks and recreation areas, located in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. (The UAE is a federation of seven emirates.). We visited the Sheik Zayed Museum, which honors the country's founder and supreme ruler, who used to live in Al Ain. For lunch, we crossed over into the town of Buraimi in Oman and had a nice meal at the Buraimi Hotel. In the afternoon, we visited a large camel market on our way back to Dubai. I was surprised to learn that even the smallest camel costs about US$ 1000. Many people in the UAE want to hear foreign news from satellite TV or shortwave because they are expatriates. In fact, most people in the country are not UAE citizens. They come from India, Pakistan, Iran, the Philippines and many other countries to work in the UAE's oil and other industries, and send money back to their relatives abroad. The standard of living is very high in the Emirates, even for foreign workers. There are a lot of British and German executives in the country, and a few Americans. Dubai's opulent shopping malls rival those found anywhere in the world, and the hotels are equally luxurious. Because of the influx of foreign workers, Dubai's population and cuisine is multi-ethnic. You'll find everything from McDonald's and Pizza Hut to Indian, Filipino, Indonesian and Iranian restaurants. Many of the foreign workers have to renew their visas every so often, so sometimes they fly to a small Iranian island off the coast of Dubai to renew their visas and then return immediately. Unfortunately, during the HFCC Conference, an Iranian airplane with 40-some foreign workers on board crashed just about 10 kilometers from our hotel. I believe there were three survivors. The day after the HFCC Conference ended, February 14th, the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau's Middle East Television Network (the IBB's answer to Al Jazeera) began. The MTN has a TV channel in Dubai, and the IBB's Arabic-language radio service Radio Sawa also has an FM frequency in Dubai. The FCC delegation There were five people in the FCC delegation to the HFCC Conference. Tom Lucey attended the conference for the FCC. George Ross and Jeff Lecureux represented KTWR-Guam. I represented the NASB, and my wife Thais represented WRMI. Several of our NASB member stations sent me their requested A04 schedules before I left, and I checked to make sure that the master HFCC databases had the correct information. I also went through the daily "collision lists" to see which FCC- licensed stations were affected. Some of these were "regular" collisions that stations have chosen to live with over the years. Others required some adjustment of time, frequency, antenna azimuth, etc. to eliminate possible interference. Stanley Leinwoll and George Jacobs sent instructions in advance on how to deal with some of the specific collisions involving their clients, and I worked with Tom Lucey on these cases, with help from the KTWR team and the new ITU interference analysis software developed by Hai Pham. For example, there were a couple of cases where China Radio International relays from Cuba and French Guiana were interfering with transmissions from WYFR in Okeechobee. We were able to use the ITU's interference-analysis software to show the extent of the anticipated interference, and we printed it out and gave it to Tom Lucey to give to the Chinese delegation. As of almost the end of the conference, the Chinese said they were still analyzing the data, but hopefully they have by now decided to move their relay times and/or frequencies in order not to interfere with the long-time WYFR transmissions. NASB has also been providing the HFCC with anticipated schedules for certain Latin American shortwave stations such as RAE (Radiodifusión Argentina al Exterior) which we receive from station sources. During the conference, Fernando Almarza from Spanish National Radio called me over to show me what was on paper a collision between a RAE transmission and a Spanish National Radio broadcast to western North America via their relay in Costa Rica. It turned out that propagation software clearly showed that RAE's target of reaching western North America for the particular transmission from Argentina was unrealistic. So in reality, there was no collision, but we have to contact RAE and request that they eliminate western North America from their target areas for the transmission in question. That way, it will not show up as a collision in the future. NASB's Middle East diplomacy However, I spent much of my time at this HFCC Conference lobbying for the February and August 2005 HFCC conferences to be held in the U.S. (in Miami and Boulder, Colorado, respectively). Thaïs and I prepared a package of information for each delegation with general information on the two conference proposals, plus brochures that had been provided to us by the tourist authorities in Miami and Boulder. I prepared a special website http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-nasb which contains the complete copies of both conference proposals, so delegates could read the entire proposals. The response from virtually all of the conference delegates was very positive to both proposals. Everyone liked the idea of having a conference in Florida in February. And not surprisingly, I heard many comments from people saying they would love to attend a conference at the Boulder propagation laboratories where most of the HF propagation software that they use was developed. The main stumbling block -- which we anticipated -- was the concern of delegates from certain countries (particularly the Arab countries and Iran) about possible problems obtaining visas to enter the U.S. Thanks to a personal introduction from our associate member Ludo Maes of TDP, I had a very cordial meeting with two of the three members of the Iranian delegation, who seemed to favor the idea of having the conferences in the U.S. They are, of course, concerned about how to get U.S. visas, especially since there is no U.S. embassy in Iran. However, I promised to look into this for them to see what would be the best way to pursue this. Incidentally, the representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting -- IRIB -- confirmed to me that due to budget problems they have recently discontinued their English and French shortwave transmissions to North America, although they are still available via Internet. IRIB's Spanish transmissions to Latin America continue on shortwave. I also met with Bassil Zoubi, the head of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), and assured him that we would work very closely with them on getting visas for all delegates who normally attend these conferences. I had brought with me letters from Senator Bob Graham of Florida and Congressman Mark Udall of Colorado promising to assist us with any visa difficulties. Bassil himself went to college in Arkansas and spent several vacations in Florida. But he told me many stories of Arab friends and colleagues who have gone to the U.S. since Sept. 11th of 2001 with visas in hand who were still denied entry, including a well-publicized case involving the president of the University of Jordan. Since that discussion, we have made some significant headway on this issue, thanks to Florida Senator Bob Graham putting us in touch with a contact at the State Department who will be assisting us with visa and immigration issues. We have reassured the ASBU that if the Steering Board decides to accept either or both of our proposals, we will do everything we can to help the Arab delegates to obtain visas and to avoid problems at the point of entry. The Steering Board has promised to make a final decision on the A04 conference location by around mid- April. The August 2005 conference in Boulder was originally supposed to be a joint conference with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union's HF division. However, the ABU delegates present in Dubai announced that they had received a proposal from China to hold the next joint meeting in February 2006 in Beijing, so it appears that the Boulder conference, if approved, will just be a normal HFCC/ASBU conference (which is probably good, since we have somewhat limited meeting space at the Boulder facility). But the biggest problem the HFCC has at the moment is where to hold the B04 Conference in August of this year. The Russians, who had offered to host the August 2004 meeting in Moscow, announced with much regret in Dubai that due to a reorganization of their transmitter division, they have had to withdraw their invitation. Therefore, the HFCC has to scramble to find a place for the August 2004 meeting. The HFCC has approached a few long-time members who have never hosted a conference to see if one of them might be willing to do it this August. Wherever the conference ends up being, the deadline for submission of frequency requirements for the B04 season has been set as July 11. Administrations are being asked to include language information regarding all transmissions, to make it easier for IRUS monitors to identify the stations. And for DRM transmissions, they are being asked to list the actual transmitter power (i.e. the lower power), rather than the higher AM equivalent power. (The temporary internal conversion being used is +7 db to obtain the AM equivalent power.) Perspectives and Prospects for DRM Other issues came up at the HFCC Conference. The IRUS monitoring committee revealed that while some progress has been made, there are still a lot of wooden transmitters being registered, and -- somewhat ominously -- there was a lot of talk about DRM transmissions interfering with adjacent-channel analog transmissions on shortwave (and sometimes vice-versa). Actual monitoring is finding that the bandwidth taken up by DRM transmissions is much more than the supposed 9 kHz, and many people are talking openly about the need to allocate certain portions of the bands to DRM broadcasting so that it won't interfere with analog transmissions. Others, however, are convinced that DRM transmissions can be made to conform with bandwidth guidelines so they can co-exist with analog broadcasts. The conclusion at the final plenary session was that it was "too soon" to make any definite recommendation on this. But at least everyone is more aware of the problem now and will hopefully take appropriate measures, and the HFCC's IRUS Committee will be monitoring these transmissions very closely. I am not aware of any complaints of interference by NASB's DRM program on Merlin's Rampisham transmitter on 9565 kHz. Incidentally, Merlin informed me in Dubai that the UTC time of the DRM transmission on Sundays will change from 1330 to 1230 as of March 28th, when summer time in Europe begins. This will maintain the transmission at the same local time for European listeners. Likewise, we will reschedule the analog edition of The Voice of the NASB via WRMI to North America from 0330 to 0230 UT Sunday, in order to maintain the program at the same local time in North America. This time change will take place one week later than in Europe -- that is, on April 4th. The program series is currently scheduled to end on July 18th. Representatives from TDF, Thales Broadcast and Multimedia, and Merlin Communications all gave excellent talks about the status of DRM (digital shortwave) technology focusing on technical information as well as news about recent developments in DRM broadcasting during the past six months. Michael Penneroux, head of the DRM Commercial Committee, says Sony has committed to make digital receivers. Kuwait is experimenting with DRM on 6055 kHz. A major European commercial broadcaster is expected to announce its commitment to DRM during late March of 2004. China and Russia are already committing to DRM. The first DRM chipset receivers are expected to be available in Europe by the end of this year, with the first big sales push expected for Christmas of 2005. DRM receiver sales forecasts for Europe are 5 million by 2007 and 8 million by 2008 in a continent with 150 million potential listeners. Sales forecasts for China are 20 million DRM receivers by 2008. And the good news is that prices will be dropping rapidly to about 150 euros retail in Europe by 2005 and just 50 euros per receiver in China. The world market of shortwave receivers is about 2.5 billion, and the annual replacement rate is about 5 percent. The key, says Penneroux, is to have as many programs as possible on the air for the next two years in order to drive the receiver market. Presently, there are about 50 stations or program services using DRM regularly, amounting to about 500 hours per day in Europe on shortwave. Josef Troxler from Thales demonstrated the new Mayah 2010 DRM receiver (currently costing about 700 euros) which does not require a connection to a PC. DRM's Commercial Committee is focusing first on Europe, which has the most DRM receivers at present. To achieve "synchronization" between receiver manufacturers, shortwave broadcasters, transmitter manufacturers, regulatory agencies, etc., the DRM Coalition will be setting up regional or country-by-country groups. There are already eight in Europe, including Russia. (NASB's Mike Adams has plans to hold a North American DRM group meeting in Washington on May 6 -- the day before our annual meeting.) "So," says Penneroux, "shortwave is definitely not dead." NASB membership in HFCC? I held some informal discussions about the possibility of NASB requesting membership in the HFCC -- something that has been suggested by some of our stations and board members. HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip said that we would probably fall into the lowest membership fee tier, which is about 250 euros per year. Oldrich indicated that this situation would be treated just as they do with the Russians -- that is, they permit multiple members from Russia, but all frequency registrations must go through the GFC (General Frequency Center, I believe it's called at the moment). So if NASB were to join the HFCC, we would have own our FMO (Frequency Management Organization) code -- which is basically a membership code -- but all frequency registrations for FCC-licensed shortwave stations would still go through the FCC. SRI saying goodbye to the HFCC One organization that will be leaving the HFCC soon is Swiss Radio International. SRI's Ulrich Wegmüller explained at the closing plenary session that his station will be ending its shortwave broadcasts at the end of October 2004. At that time, SRI's programs will be transmitted only via Internet. The Steering Board expressed some hope that SRI may return to shortwave sometime in the future to broadcast in DRM. As a result of SRI's move to end shortwave broadcasts for the time being, the station's only remaining transmitter in Switzerland (in Sottens) will be idle, and its owner -- Swisscom -- is willing to sell the transmitter whole or as spare parts. It's an ABB 500- kilowatt, type SK55 C3-P, operating from 5.9 to 26.1 MHz with a PSM modulator and Dynamic Carrier Control (DCC). The unit was built in 1989. Interested parties should contact Mr. Pierre-Andre Triponez at: pierre-andre.triponez @ swisscom.com Also at the HFCC Conference, Croatian Radio announced that it has a TCI model 611 dipole curtain antenna for sale. The design frequency is 8.75 MHz, although it operates 5.9-12.1 MHz. The power capability is 100 kW. There are five slew positions. The antenna is complete with guyed masts, air-traffic lighting, remote control unit and all documentation. It is stored in Zagreb, Croatia, where it was originally delivered in 1995. The original price was US$ 300,000. For further information, please contact Ms. Marica Risek, Croatian Information Centre, Meduliceva 13, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Telephone +385-1-4846121. Fax +385-1-4848634. E-mail: marica.risek @ hic.hr A Russian adventure It turned out that the least expensive way for me to get to Dubai was on Aeroflot airlines, going through Moscow. Despite the somewhat negative reputation that Aeroflot has regarding service and safety, I had heard that things have improved considerably in recent years and decided to give it a try. This gave me an opportunity to make a free stopover in Moscow on the way back from the Conference, where I visited the Voice of Russia on a Friday afternoon. I met several representatives of the English and Spanish services, and I was interviewed for four different programs that they transmit, including the English-language program "Timelines" hosted by Estelle Winters. This gave me a chance to do a bit of public relations for the NASB. They also gave me a bag of Voice of Russia calendars and program schedules to give away at the upcoming SWL Winterfest in Pennsylvania next month. The Voice of Russia occupies about five floors of a 10-story building constructed in the 1950's at number 25 Pyatnitskaya Street in central Moscow. The offices and studios are a mixture of the old and the new. The worldwide English service is experimenting with the Dalet computer system for recording and production, and this is expected to expand to the Spanish service and other sections within a matter of months. There are various domestic radio services also located in the Pyatnitskaya Street building, and Voice of Russia staff have complained about having less and less space, as other services (such as one owned by the Russian Orthodox Church) buy airtime and are given some of the VOR's office and studio space to work in. But the VOR staff is very friendly and professional, and it was a great experience for me to meet personally with many of the voices that I have heard on Radio Moscow (and now the Voice of Russia) for over thirty years. The Voice of Russia, incidentally, has recently initiated regular DRM transmissions to Europe. For some reason, bad news seemed to follow us during our trip to Dubai -- or maybe we were following the bad news. The day we stopped in Moscow to change planes en route to Dubai was the day of the Moscow subway bombing which killed dozens of people. I already mentioned the deadly Iranian plane crash near our hotel in Dubai. And when we stopped over in Moscow on the way back, the snow-filled roof caved in on a Moscow water park, killing several more. It seemed like every time I turned on CNN International or BBC World, the top story was from Moscow or Dubai. Oh yes, and in case you're wondering, I found Aeroflot to be a fairly decent airline. The planes used for flights between New York and Moscow are Boeing 767's, and the ones used for the flights between Moscow and Dubai were brand new Airbus 319's. The food and service were comparable to that on international flights by U.S.-owned airlines. The flight attendants may not smile as much as their U.S. counterparts, but that's basically a cultural thing. I saw an Aeroflot sticker on one of their office windows at the airport in Moscow which read: "If I'm not smiling, it's because I'm working hard to make you smile." And when a schedule change for our flight from Moscow to New York caused us to miss our connection on American Airlines from New York to Miami, Aeroflot gave us a hotel for a night in New York and four free meals. Photos of the Dubai HFCC Conference by Hector DeCuyper of VRT in Belgium can be found at http://www.hfcc.org, then click on the A04 meeting page [lots of people, and scenery but no captions --- gh] HFCC CONFERENCE OPENING REMARKS BY CHAIRMAN OLDRICH CIP Your Excellencies, honoured guests and colleagues; I would like to thank Emirates Media now on behalf of the association of the HFCC and the Arab States Broadcasting Union for inviting us to such an excellent conference venue. Broadcasters of the Arab states joined this body in 1998 and became an important part of the association. The Dubai conference is the first in the Middle Eastern region and it is certainly not only a temporary refuge from the harsh winter weather for many of us coming from the North. I have spent a couple of days with the Emirates Media colleagues and I am sure that this spacious and elegant conference room and the associated conference facilities will rank among the best we have ever had. Let me thank therefore on behalf of all of us here first of all to Mr. Ahmed Ben Ali Albelosh, General Manager of Emirates Media; our colleague Mahmood Al Redha, Head of Engineering; his assistant Moaz Al Sud; and their whole Emirates Media support team that have worked hard on the preparation of the first-class conference environment. This is now the third conference of all world groups active in the co- ordination of broadcasting on short waves – and also an occasion to look back at the process that is described and codified in the Article 12 of International Radio Regulations as well as at the results we have achieved. The first such global meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 2000 still had to rely on co-ordination based on the coverage that has been defined - more or less arbitrarily - by frequency mangers with the help of the well known Ciraf zone numbers. There was no common, single database and we worked in two separate groups of co-ordinators. In Bangkok, in 2002 there was already a single database that combined together all requirements of the HFCC/ASBU association as well as those of our ABU-HFC colleagues from the Asia-Pacific region. What's more, results of computer calculations based on a short wave propagation prediction method had been used to determine collisions among the requirements. In our present Conference here in Dubai there will be no manipulation with exchange diskettes and the data will be collected by means of an online application combined with the local wireless network in the conference area. The same application is available permanently on the website. Consequently, a system is in place on the Internet for an ongoing updating of the global pool of seasonal frequency schedules. It is evident that the time has come now to complete the development of a global system in cooperation with the ITU. In fact the original concept chartered in Article 12 envisaged such revisions to be reached during meetings of co-ordination group managements with the ITU. We are going to draw attention of the ITU back to the idea that was raised already during our first joint co-ordination conference in Kuala Lumpur. Naturally, there is absolutely no intention and need to revise the basic principles laid down in the Article 12. For example the IRUS campaign that has been launched by the HFCC/ASBU association recently, and that is supported by the ABU co-ordination group, is based on one of those key principles. According to paragraph 3 all co-ordination procedures shall be based solely on frequency requirements that become operational during the given schedule period. The IRUS campaign, i.e. identification of the real use of the spectrum, revealed a fair amount of inaccuracies in the schedules of quite a number of broadcasters, but further results indicate that things have already started to improve. The introduction of DRM is another important subject on our agenda. DRM holds a promise of revitalizing interest in short wave broadcasting but even the DRM is bound to fail if there are no reliable guarantees of an effective frequency co-ordination of new digital transmissions. Therefore we feel very strongly that the guidelines for an orderly introduction of DRM into the short wave spectrum should be worked out here in the community of short wave frequency managers and co- coordinators. I have tried to concentrate briefly on the role of this community in the creation of environment for global co-ordination of short wave channels for broadcasting. This has been a step-by-step process, and I would like to borrow a quotation of a famous Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh who once said: "Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together." I believe that we have all contributed to this process (March NASB Newsletter via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ BEWARE THE PULSING MATTRESS --- by John Bisset http://www.radioworld.com/reference-room/workbench/07_rwf_work_march_10a.shtml Bob Gonsett's CGC Communicator newsletter had an interesting item recently, about an electric mattress pad that generates radio frequency interference, or RFI. The interference destroys reception of Channels 2 through 6, as well as stations operating in the FM broadcast band. The engineers from Communications General Corp. found the problem is caused by an inadequately shielded switching-type AC-to-DC power supply. Even when the mattress pad is turned off, RFI bursts are still generated if the power supply is plugged into an outlet. The home or apartment wiring serves as an antenna, making the problem worse. The interference sounds like a "tic-tic-tic" and consists of brief wideband pulses with a one-second delay between the pulses. Under the right conditions, CGC found that the interference can extend up to 250 from the source. The pad and power supply are manufactured by Perfect Fit Industries, and the product is not FCC Part 15-compliant. CGC found no Part 15 sticker on the system it inspected. To make matters worse, when both Perfect Fit and the power supply design engineer were questioned by CGC, they were unfamiliar with the FCC's Part 15 requirements that prohibit the marketing of RFI generating devices. You can see a picture of the pad system as sold by a retailer at http://www.assistedlivingstore.com/lv_electric_blanket.asp The product is also sold by Kmart, so a wide distribution can be expected. Perfect Fit has indicated that they have pages of RFI complaints and are acting promptly to develop a Part 15 compliant power supply. CGC stumbled upon one such complaint at http://www.eham.net/forums/RFI/161 This entire case has been turned over to the FCC, and the NAB has been notified. If your station maintains an engineering page on its Web site, this is one link you may want to include. It might save you some time in tracking down an RFI problem, and inform your listeners of a potential problem at the same time! (Workbench, Radio World Online via DXLD) ###