DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-060, March 31, 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 1226: Thu 2130 on WWCR 15825 Fri 2300 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sat 0800 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacific Sat 0955 on WNQM Nashville 1300 Sat 1130 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1930 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, webcast http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2130 on WWCR 12160 Sat 2130 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sat 2200 on DKOS usually, http://www.live365.com/stations/steve_cole Sun 0030 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0330 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0730 on WWCR 3210 Sun 1000 on WRN1 to North America, webcast; also KSFC 91.9 Spokane WA, and WDWN 89.1 Auburn NY; maybe KTRU 91.7 Houston TX, each with webcasts Sun 1900 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sun 2100 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB [NEW] Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [last week`s 1225] Mon 0430 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Tue 0300 on SIUE Web Radio http://www.siue.edu/WEBRADIO/ Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND [from Fri]: 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 1226 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1226h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1226h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1226.html [from Thu] WORLD OF RADIO 1226 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1226.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1226.rm NETS TO YOU, new April edition: http://www.w4uvh.net/nets2you.html [note new URL, change your bookmarks] DX PROGRAMS is being updated frequently this week: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** ANDORRA [non]. Radio Andorra on the air again?? Please read (and listen) this... http://www.radioandorre.com/ (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, Play-DX via DXLD) Ciao! No hay ninguna noticia sobre futuras transmisiones en AM digital (DRM) de Radio Andorra oficialmente. Parece un pesce d'aprile. Podría tratarse de alguien que utilice este nombre para efectuar tests en DRM / AM digital privadamente. Pero la prensa catalana no dice nada. La foto corresponde al edificio de los transmisores que todavía existe pero que nadie sabe de quien es propiedad, si a los herederos de Jacques Tremoulet, al gobierno español o al andorrano, lo mismo para las antenas d'Engolasters que incluso tienen mantenimiento regular. Si tengo más noticias informaré (Enric Roca, Barcelona, Corresponsal de PLAYDX en Catalunya, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 6215, R. Baluarte, 2358-0017, March 30, Spanish, OM with religious service and "Hallelujah's" at tune-in, religious music from 0002-0016 with occasional OM talk over and ID in passing at 0011. More religious service, "Hallelujah" at 0017. Noisy, weak but steady (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. That RAE sound, with a bit of reverb, on 11710, March 31 at 0202. Trouble is, it was in Spanish, not scheduled English. Seemed to be talking about sports, tho not play-by-play. Guess they`ve pre- empted English again for stupid ballgame (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. ORF in English coming in well on summer frequency 9870 instead of 7325, at 0148 check March 31 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. It`s been a long time since I corresponded with you (early 70s). I still listen (DX) but do not bother to get a verification anymore. I have had the opportunity to DX from numerous locations I have lived in (or stationed) i.e. Germany, Alaska and other US states. Also many trips to other parts of the world like North Africa, South America and most of the Caribbean Islands for a period of time and I always bring my receiver with me. I heard your WOR on various stations through the years but recently came across your Web site. In Winnipeg, the FM band is completely filled up with the last useable commercial FM frequency taken by CKY-FM 102.3. It`s too bad that CKY 580 will be gone soon as this station had a fantastic ground wave which I have heard in 3 provinces and 5 US states (by the way CKRC 630 coverage was almost identical). The newest station that just started testing in the area is another Golden West FM station --- CJPC 96.5 Portage La Prairie with a good signal into Winnipeg. They will be sharing the new studios with CFRY 920 // 92.1 that Golden West opened last month. Red River Community College CKIC 92.9 (KICK FM) was still calling their transmissions a test and requesting comments on this test at (204) 949-8480. One of their announcements is "The only radio station with 20 announcers and 6 listeners". One last thing, on 25 Mar 04 I heard the evening news broadcast of RHC on CKUW 95.9 (U of Winnipeg) at 1700. At the end, it was announced that they are broadcasting RHC so students can be aware of what is available on SW and to encourage students to listen to SW. Also, they mentioned that there is a DX show on Friday night (Sgt. Anthony Markewicz, MB, March 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nope, Tuesday and Saturday. Good to hear from you again (gh) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. WORKING CONDITIONS AT RADIO CENTRAFRIQUE "CATASTROPHIC" Staff at Radio Centrafrique, the national broadcaster of the Central African Republic, are falling ill because of their awful working conditions. Radio Centrafrique reported on Tuesday that a presenter and technician had been rushed to hospital after being taken ill in the studio due to a broken-down air conditioner. Outdoor temperatures are currently around 28C (82F) and relative humidity of up to 91%. Radio Centrafrique is using equipment that's nearly 50 years old and highly unreliable, and the breakdown of the air conditioning is the last straw for its beleaguered staff, whose ingenuity and improvisation has kept the station on the air. That's despite the fact that their salary payments are many months in arrears. Radio Centrafrique's director, Delphine Zouta, has already warned that the station could be forced to stop broadcasting unless its dilapidated facilities are modernised. "It's a catastrophic scenario," she said. "We are moving towards elections [due in December 2004]. This is a delicate period. We ask the authorities to intervene in this situation so that national radio does not go off the air. People need this very important tool for this country's development." # posted by Andy @ 08:22 UT March 31 (Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Noticed some co-channel to undermodulated CRI via Habana in English at 0130 UT on 9580. Must be Belgrade on its new A-04 frequency in Serbian, also for English at 0100, but it`s a Week of Confusion thing, as Belgrade will shift an hour earlier from April 5 UT and be done by 0100. I`ve confirmed a few of the languages on the Canadian relays scheduled in 4-058: English at 1300 on 9650 and 15260, 0100 on 9790; Chinese at 1500 on 15220; French Guiana 0200 on 13685 is Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. As noted a couple nights ago, Iran was audible in Spanish on 9655, but now March 31 at 0150 it`s RHC in Spanish with no QRM, \\ 9600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {see also CHINA above} ** EGYPT. R. Cairo surprisingly good modulation and signal for last few minutes of Spanish broadcast with Arab music and closing, on 11855 at 0155 UT March 31; perhaps co-channel WYFR was in a pause. After 0200, Cairo into English, modulation still good, but YL announcer with heavy accent believes they are still on 9475 to WCNA! Doesn`t she ever turn on a radio to her own station? And WYFR IS, Open Forum in English underneath but gaining. Nothing much on 11850 or 11860; the two ought to QSY plus and minus 5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. YLE Radio Finland offers a worldwide frequency and broadcast time service on mobile phones to listeners who are customers of leading Finnish mobile phone operators (Teliasonera, DNA and Radiolinja). In the system, the listener sends an SMS to a GSM number (17279). The SMS should be: RF (blank) and the name of the country in which the person wants to listen to YLE. (For example, the SMS "RF Uganda" brings back as a return SMS the broadcast times and frequencies of YLE Radio Finland in Uganda (in Finnish time), etc. The intention is that listeners would use the service in Finland before they go, but the service is available when the listeners roam in foreign networks as well, as long as they are connected to the message centre of their home operator. In Finland the service costs only 49 cents per message, but on a roaming basis the cost is usually more as the host networks abroad add their fees. Juhani Niinistö, Head of international radio at YLE, says that the SMS service has proved to be an easy way of distributing complex frequency information and to target it just for one country. We can take into account, for example, the increase in the "no signal" zone during the winter months in the 6 MHz band. In Finland practically everyone has a mobile phone, including the kids. Shortwave broadcasting has benefited from the huge expansion of mobile communication. In the market, consumers rediscovered the world band radio as a reaction to high mobile phone costs abroad. "The new listener" is very demanding though, and frequencies with poor reception simply should be discarded. With the SMS Frequency Service, the mobile phone that people use everywhere gives them the frequencies they can use in the country they happen to be in. The service does not give any conversion to local time, but gives all the times in Helsinki time. All Finnish travellers are aware of what the time is in Helsinki, but very few today know what UTC is, or think it is the London time (which it is not). YLE Radio Finland today is basically a service for Finnish world travellers, tourists and expatriates. The SMS service facilitates the use of world band radio by occasional listeners - who are not on the frequency schedule mailing lists of YLE Radio Finland. The SMS service also gives immediate service. If you have a radio and you do not know the frequency, you get it in 10 seconds in most countries of the world. The print run of the YLE Radio Finland printed schedule is around 130- thousand for half a year. YLE hopes that, with the SMS service, the distribution of the printed schedule could be at least kept at its present level, or reduced. For info about YLE Radio Finland visit http://www.radiofinland.fi Broadcast languages Finnish, Swedish, Russian. Domestically, broadcasts in various languages available on the Capital FM, with FM service in six Finnish cities (YLE Radio Finland, Helsinki, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. Main Script for Wavescan, Edition number 483 for airing on Sunday 4/4/2004. The small independent nation of Haiti in the Caribbean has featured in major news events in recent time, but what`s happening there in terms of radio? Today and next week Ariel McLeggon will share with us the two part story of ``The Radio Scene in Haiti.`` The country of Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola which is located in the central Caribbean between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Haiti is French, and the Dominican Republic on the eastern end of the island, is Spanish. The total area of Haiti is a little over 10,000 square miles and the greatest distance in their country is less than 200 miles. The total population is around 6 million, and the capital city is Port-au- Prince with around half a million people. The radio scene in Haiti began a little over 80 years ago when the American navy established a wireless communication station in Port- au-Prince with the callsign NSC. Subsequent communication stations were erected by the Haitian government and these were given the callsigns HHM, HHW and HHZ. The first radio broadcasting station in Haiti appeared on the radio dial in 1927 with the callsign HHK and this station was also located in the capital city. Station HHK was a government facility and it was licensed with 1 kW on 830 kHz. Shortwave broadcasting began in Haiti eight years later when the Haitian Automobile Association established a station that was given three different callsigns, one for each of the three licensed channels. This station was heard in North America and Europe under the callsigns HH2R, HH2S and HH2T. However, the first Haitian shortwave station that was heard in the South Pacific was HH3W which was noted five years later, in the year 1940. In the year 1946, ambitious plans were announced by a commercial organization in France for the establishment of a powerful station that would give radio coverage to almost the entire planet. This station with a commercial world service was planned with three transmitters at 50 kW each. However, that august (au-GUST) announcement was the last that was ever heard of this project. Over the years, a large number of small shortwave stations were established in Haiti and these have been on the air with programming in mainly three different languages, French, Spanish and English. Each of these small stations was usually a shortwave relay from a regular mediumwave station, though on occasions a truly international service was heard from a few stations. The target areas for an international service were usually other island nations in the Caribbean basin. The power output of the shortwave stations in Haiti was usually in the range of just 1 kW or less, though a couple of stations were on the air at times with 10 kW. Some of these stations also issued QSL cards which these days are quite rare. It was at the beginning of the year 1950 that the cailsigns of all radio stations in Haiti were changed from the original prefix HH to the new prefix 4V. Thus, for example, the station mentioned earlier, HH2S, became 4V2S. Over the years more than 60 different callsigns have been noted on shortwave in Haiti, and the station with the longest tenure was the Gospel station 4VEH with a close runner-up 4VWA. This station was on the air for more than half a century as Radio Citadelle. The era with the greatest number of shortwave stations was in the 1960s and 1970s with more than 20 on the air. The last two surviving shortwave stations in Haiti were Radio Citadelle 4VWA and the Gospel station 4VEH. The Gospel station left the international shortwave bands in 1982, and both stations left the tropical shortwave bands in 1992. Station 4VEH was the most famous of them all and that will be the story for next week here in Wavescan, and we will present this story under the title, ``The Right Station with the Wrong Callsign.`` Thanks Ariel, and as you heard we`ll learn more from her about Haiti next week in our Easter Edition of Wavescan (Adrian Michael Peterson, AWR Wavescan April 4 via John Norfolk, DXLD) {no mention of Kriyol!} ** INDIA. 11620, AIR Aligarh (ex-Delhi), 1220-1237, March 30, Burmese/English, OM and YL with banter over music, contact info and (presumed) program name in unison, sounded like the same "Faithfully Yours" mailbag duo. ID in Burmese and English at 1230, news in English re various political parties, back to Burmese at 1235. Fair/poor, best in LSB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Note RKI`s new Spanish broadcast to Europe at 2000-2100 via Sackville 11775! What about Dr Gene Scott, Antigua? Should be quite a clash tho aimed in different direxions --- no, March 31 at 2030 check nothing but DGS heard, while Sackville back-radiation is legendary, so did that move somewhere else? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {see 4-061} RADIO KOREA INTERNATIONAL. RKI broadcasts in 10 different languages on a total of 26 frequencies targeting 8 directions: Europe, North America, South America, Southeast Asia, Middle East & Africa, China, Japan and Non Direction. March 28, 2004 Languages Time (UTC) Frequencies (kHz) Europe Korean 1 09:00-11:00 13670 16:00-18:00 7275 17:00-19:00 9515 Korean 2 07:00-08:00 9535 (Skelton) 09:00-10:00 15210 Russian 16:00-17:00 9515 18:00-19:00 7275, 15360 (Skelton, new) 19:00-20:00 9515 20:00-21:00 7275 English 1 08:00-09:00 13670 19:00-20:00 7275 English 2 21:00-21:30 3955 (Skelton) French 08:00-09:00 15210 19:00-20:00 6145 (Skelton) German 07:00-08:00 15210 20:00-21:00 3955 (Skelton) Spanish 07:00-08:00 13670 10:00-11:00 15210 20:00-20:30 9515 20:00-21:00 11775 (Sackville) Chinese 23:00-24:00 7275 North America Korean 2 01:00-02:00 15575 11:00-12:00 9650 (Sackville) English 1 02:00-03:00 9560 (Sackville), 15575 12:00-13:00 9650 (Sackville) South America Korean 2 03:00-04:00 11810 English 1 02:00-03:00 11810 (Sackville) Spanish 10:00-11:00 9580, 11795 (Sackville) 01:00-02:00 11810 Southeast Asia Korean 1 09:00-11:00 9570 English 1 08:00-09:00 9570 13:00-14:00 9570, 9700 (new) Indonesian 12:00-13:00 9570, 9700 (new) 14:00-15:00 9570, 9700 (new) 22:00-23:00 9640 (new) 24:00-01:00 9810 (new) Chinese 23:00-24:00 9640 (new) Middle East & Africa Korean 1 16:00-18:00 15575 (new) 17:00-19:00 7150 18:00-20:00 9870 Arabic 19:00-20:00 15365 (Rampisham), 15575 (new) 20:00-21:00 7150 (new) English 1 16:00-17:00 9870 French 16:00-17:00 7150 17:00-18:00 9870 (new) 18:00-19:00 15575 (new) Russian 19:00-20:00 7150 China Chinese 11:30-12:30 6065 21:00-22:00 9580 (new) Japan Japanese 00:00-01:00 11810 08:00-09:00 5975, 7275 11:00-12:00 7275 12:00-13:00 5975, 6135, 1170 14:00-15:00 5975, 7275 23:00-24:00 15575 Non Direction Korean 1 09:00-11:00 5975, 7275 17:00-19:00 5975 21:00-23:00 5975 Korean 2 10:00-11:00 1170 12:00-13:00 7175 Chinese 13:00-14:00 5975, 6135, 1170, 7275 20:00-21:00 5975 23:00-24:00 5975 Russian 11:00-12:00 5975, 6135, 1170 English 1 16:00-17:00 5975 19:00-20:00 5975 English Program Service 1 00-10 Daily NEWS 10-15 Mon-Fri NEWS COMMENTARY 10-60 Sat WORLDWIDE FRIENDSHIP Sun KOREAN POP INTERACTIVE 15-45 Mon-Fri SEOUL CALLING [Fri until :60] 45-60 Mon KOREA, TODAY AND TOMORROW Tue KOREAN KALEIDOSCOPE Wed WONDERFUL KOREA Thu SEOUL REPORT English Program Service 2 00-10 Daily NEWS 10-15 Mon-Fri NEWS COMMENTARY 10-30 Sat WORLDWIDE FRIENDSHIP Sun KOREAN POP INTERACTIVE 15-30 Mon KOREA TODAY AND TOMORROW Tue KOREAN KALEIDOSCOPE Wed WONDERFUL KOREA Thu SEOUL REPORT Fri SEOUL CALLING Worldwide Friendship: Designed to bring RKI producers into close contact with our listeners, through conventional letters or post- cards, E-mails, faxes and the Internet. Your support has always been a source of pride and encouragement for all of us here in the English Service. We hope to combine the very best elements of both ``Multiwave Feedback`` and ``From Us To You,`` so that our listeners may enjoy a warm, chatty format, along with some solid information about worldwide DXing. This program will air on Saturdays, as that is most people`s day to relax. Korean Pop Interactive: In response to an overwhelming number of letters requesting a variety of Korean music, this show will continue to bring you cutting-edge pop music, while adding golden oldies and interview clips as well. The brand new show will be a full 50 minutes, and have not ONE but TWO hosts walking you through the charts! It will continue to be broadcast every Sunday. Seoul Report: RKI`s unique interview show, where guests might be Koreans, expats, or visitors, whose achievements have put them in the spotlight. This program helps you catch a first-hand glimpse of people in all walks of life, who make up the fascinating diversity that is modern Korea. Wonderful Korea: Established on the occasion of the 2002 Visit Korea Year. You can have a glance at a whole gamut of Korean scenic spots and tourists attractions by just tuning to this program every Wednesday. We try to give you the sense that you have really toured a particular destination on each show. Please join us and visit Korea every week! If you happen to miss the program on the radio, RKI stores every show in our internet archives. A virtual tour of Korea is yours just for the clicking... Korean Kaleidoscope: Look more closely at the intricately-woven fabric of Korean society. This show examines the latest nuances of Korea, encompassing the ever-changing aspects of its economy and social phenomena. Running the whole spectrum from what`s trendy, through what people are hoping for their children, to how society`s views are evolving, this program keeps your finger on the pulse of Korea! Korea, Today and Tomorrow: South and North Korea have shared the same ethnic people, common language and history over the centuries. Sadly, inter-Korean contacts have stopped for some half a century. By listening in to this program every Monday, you can keep track of the latest developments on the Korean peninsula. This show gives you a chance to form your own opinion on what lies ahead in terms of reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas. Seoul Calling: Broadcast from Monday through Friday, this is a week- day show, with an omnibus-style, in which we introduce you to a feast of tid-bits about our country. On the menu are various episodes, sketches and anecdotes, spiced with facts, little-known trivia and the latest music, served with a generous portion of humor and warmth. In addition, ``Let`s Learn Korean,`` our language lesson corner, is part of the show on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This is designed to work in tandem with the texts stored on the RKI Internet homepage, to help you master the mysterious. enchanting language of Korea! (RKI web site via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** MEXICO. Re: "las estaciones de radiodifusión sonora de FM que operen en una misma localidad deberán mantener una separación de sus frecuencias portadoras de 800 kilohertz como mínimo" – Glenn: -- This has been regularly violated in Tijuana for several years now, with active stations assigned to 98.9, 99.3 and 99.7. The middle station acts as a San Diego outlet, LMA'd to Clear Channel for its "Cool Oldies" format, in English; I believe the calls on that one are XHOCL. TJ also has others in the form of XHIS/90.3 (Clear Channel LMA'ed hot hits), XHLNC/90.7 (LMA'ed to USC with Classical), and XETRA-FM/91.1 (Clear Channel's '91X' alternative rock offering)...plus a Spanish-lingo station on 91.7 (I believe that's XHITC). (GREG HARDISON, CA, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. The Dutch Inforadio which earlier had announced that it will be on the air during summer 2004 via DTK Jülich and WRMI in the USA now says on its website that these transmissions will not materialize. Also, the station's application to use its own SW transmitter in Holland has not been approved. Quote from the website: 16 March 2004 Our application has been turned down. 10 December 2003 InfoRadio has applied for a frequency for 2004. 9 September 2003 InfoRadio has sent the Ministry of Economical Affairs a discussion document with her plans for 2004. 23 juni 2003 InfoRadio has found a location for her transmitter site in Leende, in the soith-east of the Netherlands. All data is available to apply for a licence with our Ministry of Economical affairs. A seperate foundation will function as the site operator. http://www.inforadio.nl (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if Holland`s existing SW station was opposing this (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. I`m sure I confirmed RNZI on its A-04 frequency 6095 in the 1300+ period on Sunday or Monday, but nevertheless on March 31 I found them back on 9870! Some problem with 6095, or another computer-control programming error? Anyhow, 9870 is much better for us. Listened from 1336 with a sports discussion; after the news at 1400 a show (from BBC?) with pop music from the 70s until 1500 when it began to fade. Where will RNZI be tomorrow? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. NIGERIA BANS LIVE REBROADCASTS OF FOREIGN NEWS | Text of report by Kabir Alabi Garba, "Commission bans raw foreign news on Nigerian stations", published by Nigerian newspaper The Guardian web site on 31 March Starting from tomorrow, all unedited foreign news programmes are outlawed on the country's broadcast stations. And that is "no April fool" gimmick Similarly, beaming unverifiable claims, including the peddling of miracles at a "naira per dozen" will attract stiff sanctions as from 30 April. The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), through its director- general, Dr Silas Babajiya Yisa, reeled out the directives yesterday at a press conference in Abuja. The 1 April deadline, according to Yisa, is in line with the agency's mandate of monitoring and regulating the Nigerian airwaves. His words: "The National Broadcasting Commission has put a stop to the relay of news and news magazine broadcasts from foreign stations by Nigerian terrestrial stations. The order takes effect from Thursday 1 April, 2004. This is no April fool." The directive, he said, became necessary "because apart from the perspectives they convey, it is a professional aberration for a station to relay "live any news content over which it has no editorial control." [punctuation as published] "There is also the danger that these broadcasts pose to our national interest. Any terrestrial broadcast station in Nigeria that conducts a live relay of news and news programmes of a foreign station will be sanctioned according to the prescription of the National Broadcasting Code," warned Yisa. Stressing that the commission's actions are clearly guided by both professional and ethical considerations, he noted that the order "does not include the universal practice of monitoring news and rewriting them or those programmes exchanged, entailing a pre-recorded programme edited to suit the context of the Nigerian audience". The NBC boss cited Sections 5.1.4 and 5.1.5 of the NBC code to justify the latest decision, adding that "necessary administrative and operational framework is already in place to locate and bring defaulters to order". The commission, he stated, had given sufficient disengagement notice of eight weeks to defaulting stations about the practice, "and this is not subject to any other considerations". On why the action was previously allowed when the commission knew that it was against the code of practice, Yisa explained: "Stations granted permission for live relay of programmes of foreign stations and which advertently included news and news programmes, are put on notice that such a permission was contrary to the law and code and therefore erroneous and is hereby reversed to conform with the law." And as reported exclusively by The Guardian last Monday [29 March], the issue of unverifiable claims on stations was also addressed, as "broadcast stations who indulge in transmitting these programmes that profess indiscriminate miracles as events of daily fingertip occurrence, are directed to put a stop to this by the 30th of April, 2004. We realise the sensitivity of religion to our people but this should not be exploited unduly in disregard of the sensibilities of the audience just for profit." The non-payment of licence renewal fees by some operators also engaged the attention of the NBC. According to its director-general, "a final deadline for payment of outstanding licence fees is now April 30, 2004. Stations that do not meet this deadline will be jeopardising their licences. After this deadline, all defaulting stations should consider their licences withdrawn." Flanked by his top management staff, Yisa also spoke about the forthcoming fifth biennial Conference of Africa Broadcasters, Africast 2004, billed to hold in Abuja between October 26 and 28. With Broadcast Technology and Democracy in Africa as theme, another highlight of the conference is the maiden edition of the programme competition honouring Best Producer, Best Overall Programme, Best Director, Best Script for Television and Radio across Africa. He expressed optimism that the event will not only boost the image of the country, but also foster the inflow of foreign investments to the country.` Source: The Guardian web site, Lagos, in English 31 Mar 04 (via BBCM via WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DXLD) Just checked VOA`s program guide, which shows FM affiliates in Benin City and Jos; BBC`s local frequencies listing mentions Lagos, Kano and Abuja. Say, why not use external SW which the Nigerian authorities have no control over? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 92.1 SOUTH OKC'S NEW UNCUT PIRATE URBAN STATION Well, my buddy was right, if you are around Crossroads Mall, you'll find a pirate station on 92.1 FM, its a rap/soul station, uncensored, even the djs cuss, I got it all the way into Midwest City, but take a listen, they even give out a phone number to call, and aired the calls live; it was 645.. I didn't get the rest. THE PIRATES ARE TAKING OVER! But not for very long (Antenavision, March 15, Oklahoma board at radio-info.com via DXLD) A long thread follows on this and previous OKC FM pirates for the next few days, via http://www.radio-info.com/mods/board.php?Post=146816&Board=oklahomas and another one: http://www.radio-info.com/mods/board.php?Post=151881&Board=oklahoma These are only a few of the many posts: 92.1 Pirate off the air It appears the FCC came in today and shut off 92.1 at about 11:48am. They faded out right in the middle of a song. So much for them, huh? Guess they need one of their homies to deliver them some bond money at jail, just like a pizza.. No bull-S*#@! Happy trails! (--- THE Insultant --- March 24, ibid.) A pirate station at 92.1 FM in OKLAHOMA CITY has been shut down after two weeks-the Hip-Hop outlet was closed down by a raid just before noontime on WEDNESDAY (3/24). INSIDE RADIO reports that the station was shut down after Urban KVSP-A tracked down the pirate's location and Oldies KOMA streamed the pirate's signal on the Net so FCC field agents in DALLAS could hear it (via X-Man, March 29, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. KFNY-1640 OK Enid - Personal letter from Hiram Champlin, Owner, Chisholm Trail Broadcasting, in 16 days for letter report, return postage (which they used), and one of my ham radio "eye-ball QSO" cards. Address is: Chisholm Trail Broadcasting, PO Box 952, Enid OK 73702. Letterhead also had KXLS-95.7 FM, KCRC-1390, and KNID-99.7 FM logos on it. The verie letter stated "KFNY operates with a power of 10,000 watts in the daytime and 1,000 watts at night. Both day and night are directional with a simple two-tower pattern that orients the signal 160 - 340." (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** POLAND. Dr Glenn, Referring to your DXLD latest, Poland has this schedule: SHORTWAVE [English only] 1200-1259 GMT kHz 11820 (25 mbs) and 9525 kHz (31 mbs), 1700-1759 GMT kHz 7150 (41 mbs) and 5995 kHz (49 mbs) BUT, the correct frequencies at 17 UT are 7265 (co-channel Südwestrundfunk) and 7285 kHz. Both are doing well in Copenhagen. At 12 UT 11820 is co-channel BBC in Arabic. It also suffers from heavy sidesplatter from a very broad signal from Romania in Romanian on 11830. 73, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, March 30, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This just missed last issue ** ROMANIA. RRI in the clear with fair signal on 9690, English at 0144 check March 31; the 11, 15 and 17 MHz parallels were inaudible; after 0200 CRI via Spain blasts in with its horrible modulation on 9690 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. DJ SEIZES RADIO, APPEALS FOR BACK PAY Mar 29, 10:38 AM http://news.myway.com/odd/article/id/394178|oddlyenough|03-29-2004::10:45|reuters.html BUCHAREST, Romania (Reuters) - A Romanian DJ seized a radio station Sunday, threatened to jump from a balcony if his employer cut the broadcast and told listeners he wanted his overdue salary, TV Antena 1 reported. "I want them (the employers) to pay me the money they owe me," DJ Alin Farcas told listeners of the small private radio station Mix FM in the Romanian capital. Farcas, 24, locked himself in the station for four hours before being taken into custody by police. Radio director Alexandru Lazescu told TV Antena 1 he would try to pay the salary which, Antena 1 said, amounted to about $425. "I just wanted to draw attention to my problem. I never really wanted to jump off the balcony," Farcas said afterward (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOICE OF RUSSIA ENGLISH A04 MARCH 28-OCTOBER 30 2004 English to Africa TIME (UTC) FREQUENCIES (kHz) 1600-1700 11985 1700-1800 11985, 11510 1800-1900 11510, 9745 English to Australia, New Zealand TIME (UTC) FREQUENCIES (kHz) 0500-0600 21790 0600-0700 21790 0700-0900 21790, 17635, 17525, 17495 English to Europe TIME (UTC) FREQUENCIES (kHz) 0100-0300 603 0300-0400 1548, 603 0400-0500 603 0500-0900 1323, 603 1400-1500 15780**** 1700-1800 11675***, 9890, 9820**, 9480*, 7350**, 1494*** 1800-1900 11630*, 9890, 9820**, 9480 1900-2000 12070*, 9890, 7440, 7310** 2000-2100 15455*, 12070*, 11980**, 7310** * - from 28.03 till 04.09 ** - from 05.09 till 30.10 *** - Sat, Sun **** - Broadcasting in the DRM system English to Middle East TIME (UTC) FREQUENCIES (kHz) 0100-0300 5945 1500-1600 11985, 7325, 4975, 4965, 4940, 972 1600-1700 12055, 11985, 5945, 1251, 648 1700-1800 1251 English to North America TIME (UTC) FREQUENCIES (kHz) 0100-0200 17660, 15595, 11825, 9665**, 7180* 0200-0300 17660, 15595, 9860, 9665**, 7180* 0300-0400 17660, 15595, 9880*, 9860, 9665**, 7300**, 7180* 0400-0500 17660, 15595, 9880*, 9665**, 7300**, 7180* * - from 28.03 till 04.09 ** - from 05.09 till 30.10 [North American portion via WORLD OF RADIO 1226] English to Asia TIME (UTC) FREQUENCIES (kHz) 0700-0900 1251 1400-1500 17645, 12055, 9745, 7390, 1251 1500-1600 11500, 7390, 972 1600-1700 12055, 7320, 5945, 1251 1700-1800 7320, 1188, 1251 PROGRAMS NEWS - EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR (11 minutes) NEWS-IN-BRIEF - ON THE HALF HOUR (1 1/2 minutes) [except for] RUSSIA - 1000 YEARS OF MUSIC -Thu 1630, 1830; Fri 0330 UTC [thus the features actually start at :11 and :31.5 --- gh] 1400 Monday-Saturday NEWS AND VIEWS Sunday SUNDAY PANORAMA, RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS 1430 Monday FOLK BOX Tuesday, Thursday MUSIC AROUND US; MUSIC AT YOUR REQUEST Wednesday JAZZ SHOW Friday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Saturday TIMELINES Sunday KALEIDOSCOPE 1500 Monday-Friday FOCUS ON ASIA & THE PACIFIC Saturday THIS IS RUSSIA Sunday MOSCOW MAILBAG 1530 Monday JAZZ SHOW Tuesday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Wednesday AUDIO BOOK CLUB Thursday FOLK BOX Friday SONGS FROM RUSSIA; YOU WRITE TO MOSCOW Saturday CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM MOSCOW Sunday RUSSIAN BY RADIO 1600 Monday SCIENCE PLUS Tuesday, Friday MOSCOW MAILBAG Wednesday SCIENCE PLUS Thursday NEWMARKET Saturday MUSICAL TALES Sunday THIS IS RUSSIA 1630 Monday, Wednesday, Friday THE RIVER OF TIME Tuesday GUEST SPEAKER; LADIES OF CHARACTER Thursday ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS Saturday MOSCOW CALLING Sunday TIMELINES 1700 Monday, Thursday MOSCOW MAILBAG Tuesday NEWMARKET Wednesday THIS IS RUSSIA Friday THIS IS RUSSIA Saturday, Sunday MUSIC & MUSICIANS [continues to 1800] 1730 Monday KALEIDOSCOPE Tuesday MUSIC AROUND US; MUSIC AT YOUR REQUEST Wednesday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Thursday MUSICAL TALES; RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS Friday FOLK BOX 1800 Monday-Friday COMMONWEALTH UPDATE Saturday NEWMARKET Sunday MUSICAL TALES 1830 Monday-Friday same as 1630-1700 Saturday KALEIDOSCOPE Sunday CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM MOSCOW 1900 Monday-Saturday NEWS AND VIEWS Sunday SUNDAY PANORAMA; RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS 1930 Monday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Tuesday RUSSIAN BY RADIO Wednesday KALEIDOSCOPE Thursday AUDIO BOOK CLUB Friday MOSCOW CALLING Saturday CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM MOSCOW Sunday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY 2000 Monday SCIENCE PLUS Tuesday, Friday MOSCOW MAILBAG Wednesday, Saturday NEWMARKET Thursday THIS IS RUSSIA Sunday MUSIC & MUSICIANS [Continues until 2100] 2030 Monday SONGS FROM RUSSIA; YOU WRITE TO MOSCOW Tuesday MUSIC AROUND US; MUSIC AT YOUR REQUEST Wednesday MUSICAL TALES; RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS Thursday FOLK BOX Friday JAZZ SHOW Saturday RUSSIAN BY RADIO 0100 Monday, Sunday MOSCOW MAILBAG Tuesday-Saturday COMMONWEALTH UPDATE 0130 Monday TIMELINES Tuesday FOLK BOX Wednesday JAZZ SHOW Thursday ST. PETERSBURG; RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS Friday MOSCOW CALLING Saturday CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM MOSCOW Sunday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY 0200 Monday SUNDAY PANORAMA; RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS Tuesday-Sunday NEWS AND VIEWS 0230 Monday RUSSIAN BY RADIO Tuesday KALEIDOSCOPE Wednesday MUSICAL TALES; RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS Thursday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Friday RUSSIAN BY RADIO Saturday AUDIO BOOK CLUB Sunday SONGS FROM RUSSIA; YOU WRITE TO MOSCOW 0300 Monday THIS IS RUSSIA Tuesday MUSICAL TALES Wednesday, Saturday MOSCOW MAILBAG Thursday SCIENCE PLUS Friday NEWMARKET Sunday MUSIC & MUSICIANS [Continues until 0400] 0330 Monday MOSCOW CALLING Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday THE RIVER OF TIME Wednesday GUEST SPEAKER; LADIES OF CHARACTER Friday ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS 0400 Monday, Sunday MUSICAL TALES Tuesday, Friday MOSCOW MAILBAG Wednesday SCIENCE PLUS Thursday NEWMARKET Saturday THIS IS RUSSIA 0430 Monday, Friday AUDIO BOOK CLUB Tuesday MUSIC AROUND US; MUSIC AT YOUR REQUEST Wednesday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Thursday FOLK BOX Saturday TIMELINES Sunday KALEIDOSCOPE 0500 Monday MOSCOW MAILBAG Tuesday-Saturday FOCUS ON ASIA & THE PACIFIC Sunday THIS IS RUSSIA 0530 Monday, Wednesday RUSSIAN BY RADIO Tuesday KALEIDOSCOPE Thursday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Friday MUSIC AROUND US; MUSIC AT YOUR REQUEST Saturday CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM Sunday MOSCOW AUDIO BOOK CLUB 0600 Monday SCIENCE PLUS Tuesday, Friday THIS IS RUSSIA Wednesday NEWMARKET Thursday, Sunday MOSCOW MAILBAG Saturday MUSICAL TALES 0630 Monday, Friday KALEIDOSCOPE Tuesday RUSSIAN BY RADIO Wednesday JAZZ SHOW Thursday AUDIO BOOK CLUB Saturday FOLK BOX Sunday TIMELINES 0700 Monday MUSIC & MUSICIANS [Continues until 0800] Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday UPDATE Wednesday THIS IS RUSSIA Friday MOSCOW MAILBAG Sunday NEWMARKET 0730 Tuesday FOLK BOX Wednesday, Friday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Thursday JAZZ SHOW Saturday KALEIDOSCOPE Sunday SONGS FROM RUSSIA; YOU WRITE TO MOSCOW 0800 Monday SUNDAY PANORAMA; RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS Tuesday-Sunday NEWS AND VIEWS 0830 Monday MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY Tuesday KALEIDOSCOPE Wednesday AUDIO BOOK CLUB Thursday FOLK BOX Friday JAZZ SHOW Saturday CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM MOSCOW Sunday TIMELINES This schedule is subject to change without prior notice Copyright © 2004 THE VOICE OF RUSSIA (Voice of Russia web site via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** SAIPAN. KFBS SAIPAN Program Schedule Effective date: March 28, 2004 Time(UTC) Freq Language and day - SuMTuWThFSa 0900-1059 11.650 Russian 1100-1114 11.650 Chi (Mongolian) 1115-1129 11.650 Halh (Mongolian) 1130-1359 11.650 Russian 1400-1529 9.465 Russian 1530-1544 9.465 Udmurt (Su, Tu), Tatar (M), Mari (W), Uzbek (Th), Kazakh(F, Sa) 1545-1600 9.465 Udmurt (Su), Tatar (M, Tu), Chuvash (W), Ossetic (Th), Kirghiz (F, Sa) 1000-1600 11.580 Mandarin (Chinese) 0800-0829 15.580 Banjarese (Indonesian) 0830-1129 15.580 Indonesian 1130-1200 15.580 Sasak (Indonesian) 1200-1329 12.120 Vietnamese 1400-1430 12.120 Vietnamese (M, Tu, Th, T[sic] Sa) Koho (Su), Hmong (W) 2230-2330 12.090 Vietnamese Note: Saipan local time is 10 hours ahead of Universal Time Co- ordinate [sic] (UTC). (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE has temporarily suspended QSLing due to budget and staffing constraints, and request reports be sent to [the Tenerife address] (Gayle Van Horn, QSL Report, April MONITORING TIMES via DXLD) Not exactly. I don`t think REE ``requested`` this. Some DXers simply found that a certain program produced in the Canary Islands, Españoles en La Mar, was willing to issue QSLs; one should not report reception of any other REE program to that address, and not abuse the courtesy (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA [non]. Syria/Cyprus: FREE SYRIA RADIO REPORTEDLY TO START TRANSMISSIONS FROM CYPRUS | Text of report by Lebanese newspaper Al- Safir web site on 30 March Farid al-Ghadiri, leader of the US-based Syrian al-Islah [Reform] Party, yesterday announced that Radio Free Syria will begin transmissions tomorrow, 31 March, at the latest, to both Syria and Lebanon. In a statement posted on the party's web site, Al-Ghadiri said that the radio, "which is funded by Syrian businessmen", will begin transmission from Cyprus. The radio carries the same name as the Radio Free Iraq, which is funded by the US Government, though Al-Ghadiri insists he is innocent of receiving foreign funds for the radio. US authorities declined to comment on Al-Ghadiri's activities and denied any connection to the radio despite reports on a meeting between Al-Ghadiri and a State Department official. Asked by Al-Safir to comment on the report, Steve Sish [as transliterated], head of the Syria, Lebanon Desk at the State Department, refused to comment. On its web site on the Internet, Radio Free Syria says that one of its objectives is to emphasize "the benefits of democracy and free _expression" and "to prove the honest intentions of US policy in the Middle East and stress the importance of dispensing with the culture of violence". Source: Al-Safir web site, Beirut, in Arabic 30 Mar 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK!?!?! ** UKRAINE. RUI big signal on 7545 in English, 0000 UT !!! 73 de (Dino Bloise, South Florida, USA, March 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. Re DXLD 4-059: Dear Glenn, UAE Radio, Dubai, Today, March 31, they are close to 21597.5 kHz (instead of 21605). Audio is excellent. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Denmark, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. A LAST LETTER ... TO ALISTAIR COOKE Byline: Helen Schary Motro Date: 03/31/2004 Click here to read this story online: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0331/p09s02-coop.html (TEL AVIV) Dear Mr. Cooke, Having listened over the years with pleasure to so many of your "Letter from America" radio programs on the BBC World Service, I sat down to write my personal letter to you in America upon your retirement earlier this month. Then, Tuesday, I heard the bitter news that a few short weeks after your weekly program went off the air after an incredible run of 58 years, you passed away. I missed your last Letter, which was first broadcast to the world on Feb. 20, but Tuesday I was able to call it up and hear it on the Internet. Your last "Letter from America" was on the whole a representatively incisive commentary. Supremely current, it focused on the shifting fortunes of the US presidential race after the former CIA chief weapons inspector admitted that, "We got it all wrong" on the issue of Iraqi weapons. It was typically erudite, with references to Shakespeare and Napoleon, and bore touches of your characteristic humor: President Clinton had been considering military action in Iraq, but after Monica Lewinsky became a "figure of fate," Mr. Clinton "didn't possess the moral authority to invade Long Island." Yet, in retrospect, your firm, clear voice with its crystalline British precision bore a darkly prescient note. You began your last Letter with these words: "Propped up there against my usual three pillows ... I was feeling chipper enough to ... " They say that at 95 you had not left your apartment on Fifth Avenue and 97th Street for two years. My mother tells me that years ago when she recognized you coming out of your building, you acknowledged her smile with an elegant nod. The only place I ever saw you was in your wing chair on public television's "Masterpiece Theatre," telling us things we ought to know. But once I moved abroad, I became your groupie. Every week I looked forward to your voice on the radio. Sunday seemed emptier if I missed your "Letter from America," broadcast the world over on the BBC. Yet even you - who insisted on resisting even an electric typewriter, let alone a word processor, and went on typing your talks on an old manual - agreed to have them inscribed on the Internet. Even though your fans included many Americans inside the country, we were not the ones you had in mind as a target audience when you composed your Letter. Rather, you sought to demystify our paradoxical land to bewildered foreign listeners around the world. But as I tuned in, as an expatriate American, every broadcast I heard you deliver struck close to home. And as a New Yorker, I often imagined myself back on that block where you live - and where I passed by so many countless times, as yet unaware of your weekly broadcasts. I was one of the cast of thousands that constituted the deep and resonant America you painted. East 97th Street - I had ridden that crosstown bus through the stages of my life, down the congested narrow street which passes from Hispanic groceries to opulent Fifth Avenue co-ops, then onward almost to the Hudson River. As a kid I'd show the driver my bus pass, climb up the steps, and plop down between a serene West Indian nurse on her way to work the night shift at St. Luke's and an elderly European refugee, gloved hands primly folded, returning from an afternoon at the Guggenheim Museum. I sat in the overheated bus, wedged between them, invisible, getting dizzy from reading Mad Magazine between the bumps. In high school I stood parting from my boyfriend at that bus stop, watching the approaching bus from the corner of my eye, willing it to move more slowly. A few years later I sat on the bench reading the newspaper while my toddler played on the swings of the 96th Street playground on the southwest corner, catty-cornered from your building. Perhaps you looked down at me some of those times I walked by under your window, Mr. Cooke? Glanced at me and past me, musing about the subject for your upcoming radio talk? Afterward, so very far away from East 97th Street, continents away, I was glad to know you were there. I loved hearing you expound on Fiorello La Guardia's small stature and big heart, on Central Park sparkling the day after the Cuban missile crisis was solved, on Mayor Giuliani's snow-contingency plans, on Charles Schulz carrying on the tradition of Dickens and Twain. After Sept. 11, 2001, you put eloquent heartbroken words to the unsayable. Like many a foreigner who settled in the Golden Land, you became one of its biggest enthusiasts. Your mellow voice with its hint of humor revealed love for the country you espoused. I was glad to think that you may have gazed down, past other young women leading their lives under your window on East 97th Street. Then, every week, you went on the air and spoke directly to me. From Iceland to India, millions of others who had never set foot on your block felt the same way. It was at home, in that same apartment on Fifth Avenue, that you passed away Monday night. America will be farther away without you. * Helen Schary Motro, an American lawyer and writer, teaches at the Tel Aviv University Law School. (c) Copyright 2004 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. (via Jim Moats, DXLD) ** U K. It seems, according to the BBC website, that the tribute programme on Radio 4 at 21:00 BST today will be repeated in the Archive Hour slot on Saturday, i.e. 20:02 BST, 1902 UT. It seems the World Service programme will only be 25 minutes in length (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, swprograms March 30 via WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DXLD) RTE Radio One from Ireland during their evening news program Five Seven live just aired a tribute piece including clips from Letter from America, including the letters describing Bobby Kennedy's assassination in 1968 and after 9/11. The program should be available for on-demand listening at the following web site http://www.rte.ie/news/57live.html you can listen to either the whole broadcast or the individual segment. 73, (Keith Anderson, Houston, TX, USA, ibid.) NBC, CBS, ABC and even PBS (NewsHour) were all doing Cooke obits at the same time this evening, around 52-54 minutes past the hour. The three commercials often think so alike, even to the timing and ordering of their stories (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Road Rage program statistic -- Hello to the BBC World Service! I just heard the first of the "Road Rage" programs this morning, and a line spoken by one of the interviewees struck me as being a complete fabrication. I'm writing this from memory, so I hope that I am recalling it exactly. This man made a statement that some road-rage incidents result in both drivers stopping, getting out and "fighting a duel" and then that either both are killed or they shoot each other (not sure just what phrase was used) and that this happens 1200 (yes, twelve hundred) times a year in the United States. Well, I would sure like to know the source of that statistic and have it verified by some reliable independent party. If it cannot be so proved, I think that the next edition of that program needs to include a retraction of that statement. While it may just be possible that there are 1200 incidents of road rage per year in the US that result in the drivers stopping and getting out of their cars and having some sort of confrontation, either with fists or words or some sort of weapon, I cannot believe that it has EVER happened that BOTH are killed, or that using a firearm happens more than a few times. If the former happened, it would be all over the news nationwide. If the latter happened frequently, it would be constantly cited by anti-gun groups and brought up every time another state was considering legislation allowing citizens to carry firearms. (The latter just happened here in my state of Missouri, and we've seen vast amounts of debate from both sides of that issue. I never saw any such citation.) It is irresponsible of the program producers to include such rhetoric without proof or justification, and irresponsible of the BBC World Service to broadcast it if it is untrue. The program itself is actually quite well done; I found myself caught up strongly in the emotional aspects. That isn't good with my heart condition! Even though I am one of the rare non-drivers in the US, I could identify strongly with the participants. (That's one of the reasons I do not drive!) But including that manifestly-incorrect number of deaths or shootings spoiled an otherwise-excellent broadcast. Please investigate this and get the truth aired, and change the recorded program to eliminate such an error, both for on-line listening and future rebroadcasts. I may be wrong, and maybe the producers were right, but I just cannot believe that this is so. Thank you (William Martin, Saint Louis, Missouri USA, March 30, to BBC Write On, cc to DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, Re the comment by Paul David in DXLD 4-057 that the "delivery of SW frequency in MHz is not normal practice these days." Most VOA listeners have inexpensive receivers with analog dials. The shortwave bands of these radios are marked in megahertz, not kilohertz. Hence our use of megahertz for on-air frequency announcement. Anyone with a radio with digital frequency readout in kilohertz can quickly convert from megahertz. The name "News Now" goes back to the early years of VOA News Now, when it was a 24-hour all-news service. A possible new name for the service is among many things to be decided before VOA's global standard English service is reduced to 14 hours per day on October 31. The planned transmission of News Now via Marcali, Hungary, 1188 kHz MW, was bumped at the last minute in deference to VOA Serbian at 2100- 2130. The RFE ID loop is at 2130-2200. Also, to the Middle East and North Africa, at 0300-0500 UTC, the frequencies are now 9620 and 11695. There may have been more recent VOA frequency changes, but I'm not in the loop. 73 (Kim Elliott, VOA, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA Cutting Back Wrong Stuff! Hi, Glenn! What with the VOA cutting back this and that all over the schedule, I wonder if we could get them to cut back or at least change the 1330-1430 UT Urdu program on 15190 kHz? Here, it interferes annoyingly with the BBC's *only* Americas-stream morning SW broadcast on that frequency. Surely they could save some money by dropping that or at least shift it 10 or so kHz! 73, (Will Martin, MO, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. We have managed to obtain a copy of a new VOA Program Guide, 48 pages in full color, very nicely printed covering most VOA languages, with program and frequency schedules. As one interested in languages, and in the overall picture of VOA broadcasting, it`s great to have this all in one magazine. Or is it? Altho it was just printed and published, the date on the cover is November 03 to April 04! Oh, no, it`s all for the B-03 season, out of date by the time it reaches the readers! And the program start times are rounded off, or not shown at all if they are sometime within the hour, which could easily have been done. Some of them were never correct, such as Issues in the News. This can`t really be for listeners --- after all, it would hardly be cost-effective to send all 48 pages to someone who only speaks Swahili --- what would they care about Burmese? It must be to impress those ignorant of what is really going on at VOA, such as most Members of Congress, BBG governors, etc. With any luck, the April-November edition will be ready by October, if anything of VOA remains on the air by then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re RFE/RL sked: North Caucasus --- Glenn, I have checked the web site again, It does say to listen to "on-demand" and "live" audio broadcasts in Avar, Circassian (these are new ones to me) and of course the better known Chechen. I think the web pages refer to them collectively as North Caucasus (as well as the geographical area). I admit that the language of "North Caucasus" sounds a bit odd. Any comments (Bernie O'Shea, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWRB is happy ! Hi Glenn: We are happy that you are 'amused' with our last post to your site. What we find 'amusing' is NEW clients and NEW broadcasters are advising the staff at WWRB the Bad Mouthing of WWRB by stations charging $ 140 to 180 dollars per hour is at an all time high! The real ' amusement' is while They are Bad Mouthing WWRB WWRB is BOOOOOOming in on the NEW client`s shortwave radio! Now that's AMUSEMENT ! (Dave Frantz, WWRB, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. My apologies if this info was posted a while back. However, the frn.net Grapevines had some discussion about CODAR, complete with webpages. I don't know how many Cumbre DX participants are affected by CODAR interference, but I thought anyone who is might be interested. http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/codar.html kohut @ imcs.rutgers.edu I sent an e-mail and I think I was extremely polite, especially considering my opinions on the topic. I told them that their data was fascinating, but I wish they could move their frequency range because they obliterate the bottom end of the 60-meter broadcast band. I don't think that just my comments will make them change...and I'm probably naiive to think that a few dozen comments will make them change, but it can't hurt. Thanks & have a great day! (Andrew Yoder, March 31, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. FYI... I've done a quick scan of the first page of the 893 new-station [AM] applications. These aren't all in tiny backwaters - the second one on the list is for a new GY station on 1400 in Philadelphia! You can bet there are other apps in major cities (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com March 29, NRC-AM via WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DXLD) This is somewhat unique. Several years ago, the city put an HAR on 1400 down near the Ben Franklin Bridge along the Delaware River in the I-95 corridor for traffic purposes. That seems to have 'proven' something to someone even though the HAR was low power and had a range of about 3 miles max. It may also be 'enabled' by the scaling back of the former commercial facility on 1380 in Wilmington (then-WAMS) which might have precluded this. Otherwise, the nearest adjacents are about 100 miles away (1410-WDOV Dover DE; WHTG 1410 Eatontown NJ, on 1390) other than a DE HAR, it's further yet. Nearest 2nd adjacent would be the prior-mentioned 1380 HAR and 1420-WCOJ in Coatesville, PA each at maybe 30 miles (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (15 mi NNW Philadelphia), ibid.) Incidentially, the Wilmington station has filed to move elsewhere in Delaware - I forget exactly where. That seems to account for a lot of these. Three stations along the Gulf Coast are asking for the 570 channel abandoned by WVMI when they moved to 1640. Someone has applied for WJDM's 1530 channel, and there's an application for Monona, Wis. for the 1480 frequency that WTDY's supposed to abandon eventually. (guess that shows how much good the X-band did |grin|...) – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, ibid.) ** U S A. Re NPR and Bob Edwards: But one of those nagging gray areas is, "When do you know something is broke or not?" For example, is 64% growth over 5 years good enough? Could it have been 84% with different actions taken?" I am playing devil's advocate in this -- I was one of the 17,000 messages who stated that the timing was highly insensitive with Edwards' 25th Anniversary coming up. There is a delicate line that needs to be straddled in this quandary of "going live" with breaking news. I, for one, don't want to see NPR (or the BBC) become a CNN clone in emphasizing immediacy over impact and analysis. Perhaps we can draw a parallel to the BBCWS in this -- while I don't specifically recall how the events on 9/11/2001 unfolded on the BBCWS, I'd wager they "went live" a lot quicker than NPR. Maybe the lesson here is that you must purposefully rotate hosts if you want the "NPR" brand to be more important than the "Bob Edwards" brand, and to avoid facing this no-win situation. Take our friends at the BBCWS -- neither Newshour nor The World Today are as personality-driven as NPR's Morning Edition or ATC. I suspect this helps keep Newshour from becoming the Julian Marshall show or the Robin Lustig show (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. WLIB TO DROP CARIBBEAN FORMAT By DESIREE GRAND THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: March 30, 2004) Friday mornings always began the same for Yonkers resident Dennis Hammer — turning on his radio and tuning to 1190 AM to listen to the steel band calypso that would remind him of his home in Barbados. But this Friday, he'll have to search elsewhere to hear the rhythmic beats of the pings and pangs of the drums. Starting tomorrow, WLIB will scrap its daytime Caribbean programming and become the New York home for Air America Radio, the new, liberal talk-radio network. . . http://www.nynews.com/newsroom/033004/a0130wlib.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) AIR APPARENT --- NEW RADIO NETWORK SEES PROFIT IN LIBERAL VIEWS By Rory O'Connor -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/29/2004 http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA406393?display=Top+of+the+Week&promocode=SUPP& Affable and authoritative, clear-eyed and coifed, Mark Walsh looks like the small-market network affiliate anchorman he once was. Looks are deceiving. Walsh may be calm, but he's also driven. As CEO of Air America, he's about to launch the first self-proclaimed liberal radio network. Yet with its cramped, caffeinated feel, Air America seems more dotcom- startup-meets- political-campaign than radio powerhouse. Comedian/ author Al Franken air-kisses co-host Katherine Lampher. A young woman in jeans and a T-shirt bangs away on a laptop. Is this a business or a movement? "Business. Period. End of quote," says Walsh. "There are social and political overtones, but this will be a dependable, sustainable, and profitable media franchise." He has accessed nearly $60 million in equity and debt capacity and is ready to launch March 31 in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Then he plans to air AA in 36 markets through a combination of station leases, purchases, and syndication deals by year's end. And he's eyeing satellite radio. So it's no surprise that his vision extends to his bottom line. Walsh plans to make money the new-fashioned way: "We want to be one-sided," he states. "And biased. We'd like to mimic the one-sided success of Fox News." Is it good business simply to target liberals while writing off half your potential audience? "We don't care about them," Walsh says. "They're not our market. If someone believes Brit Hume is telling the truth, I don't believe they'll buy us." Who will? "We're not blindly following the Democratic Party line," says the one-time fulltime John Kerry volunteer. "It's not just dyed- in-the-wool liberals who will listen. We can also appeal to fair- minded people in the center, people who want an entertainment product that is fun and tells them the truth." At the same time, Walsh argues that Air America doesn't need mega- listeners to make money. "The first thing I have to do is to secure my base. All we need is a reasonably sized audience that advertisers care about. We get that by offering a product that will entertain, entice, and invite that audience back. "We know we won't get any Halliburton ads," he jokes. "But so far, we're getting reasonable traction. It looks like fertile ground for our ad pitch." What exactly is Air America pitching? That depends on whom you ask. In great Democratic tradition, even Walsh's chief programmers --- Comedy Central veteran Lizz Winstead and ex-network TV exec Shelley Lewis --- disagree somewhat. Winstead dubs it "fact-based opinion" and says the audience will be composed of "some of Howard Stern's listeners who might find him too sex-obsessed, some of NPR's, who find it too boring, and people who want to hear an unembedded information service --- independents, moderate Republicans, a little of everything." Fellow Senior Vice President for Programming Lewis has a different take. "Our primary mission is not to be informative but to be entertaining, interesting, and compelling. To speak to, for, and with an audience that feels isolated and underserved." Lewis says she "won't run from the word 'liberal'" but quickly adds, "We're more centrist than people think. And we don't intend to be far left." Will Air America be as "fair and balanced" as Fox? "We will definitely be fair," Lewis responds. "Do you have to be balanced to be fair? You have to be honest." Adds Walsh, "The easy hook to our story is that 'Air America is the liberal response to Rush.' That's a dismissive right-wing argument and not what we're doing. Besides, Democrats won't listen to us because they should." But Democrats are at the heart of his launch strategy. "The essence of it is trial and then sustain," he says. "Heat as opposed to light." "This an election year, and we can't ignore that." Walsh says. "No matter who wins in November, we have a good business model. Whether George Bush or John Kerry is elected, Tom Delay, Scalia and Co. remain. Either way, we'll have lots to talk about." (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** U S A. Air America Radio --- March 31, 2004 Air America Radio, the political left's answer to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others, takes off today. Author and comedian Al Franken stars in the noon to 3 p.m. slot directly opposite Limbaugh. It debuts in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. It's also available to XM Satellite Radio subscribers on channel 167 and, executives say, on the Internet at http://www.airamericaradio.com From http://www.centralairmedia.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 "On March 31, 2004 Air America Radio begins airlifting entertaining, progressive talk radio to millions of Americans who for far too long have been and are being neglected by talk radio broadcasters today. Our on-air personalities and guests represent today's top political and popular humorists, commentators, activists and analysts. Our irreverent, informative programming sparks the kind of challenging political and social dialogue that has been absent from AM radio for years. Our programs will mix provocative conversation, challenging interviews and biting political satire." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) At 5:08 am CST on Wed 31 March 2004, WNTD am950 in Chicago suddenly dropped Spanish language programming to join Air America Radio which at the time had a repeating place holding program of rock/pop music with freedom and revolution themes, audio clips by JFK, George Carlin and others and announcements such as "Air America Radio where our listeners have more to say than ditto". When I arrived at work before 8 am I tried tuning it in here but even 50 kw stations suffer interference in telephone central offices and am950 is a lost cause in this building. I have a hifi VCR at home recording today`s programming so I can listen when I get home (William Hassig, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hoping to find a webcast for Al Franken`s début, underway after 1700 UT March 31; can`t find any website for the Chicago or LA affiliates, and http://www.wlib.com is a slow-loading jpg with an URL containing `pinkish` or something like that, making me suspect it was a spoofer, so I stopped it. Website http://www.airamericaradio.com now mentioned two more stations, when checked around 1700 UT, ``KCAA 1050 in the Inland Empire of California`` (actually per NRC AM Log, 1.4 kW daytimer only in Loma Linda), and KPOJ 620 in Portland OR; the San Francisco station still not identified, but NO webcast link. Rechecked just before 1900 and they had added WMNN 1330 in Minneapolis, AND a webcast link --- they sure waited until beyond the last minute: http://play.rbn.com/?url=airam/airam/live/live.rm&proto=rtsp so I finally got in on the tail end of the second hour and all of the third hour; ads for Coldwell Banker and XM, no doubt tradeout; 1906 Franken resumed with guest Michael Moore. Then Al Gore called in and will be a studio guest later; ads for Lexis used cars in NY/NJ/CT so this is actually the WLIB feed as confirmed by ID at hourtop; did I hear a bit of steel drum as the News sounder? More big name guests coming up. Having missed the first two hours of the O`Franken Factor, we were glad to find a repeat after 0400 UT, and brought up the webcast again but for 10 or 15 minutes we overheard what must have been going on in the production studio instead, obviously not aware they were webcasting it worldwide, multiple takes of newscasts, off-mike but still audible remarks, etc. Then Franken show did run for about 40 minutes before stopping abruptly, and after 0500 the webcast would only say ``Please tune back during broadcast hours``. They have a lot of bugs to work out (Glenn Hauser, March 31, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. LIBERAL RADIO TALK SHOW LAUNCHED --- By SETH SUTEL, AP NEW YORK (AP) - Is it a radio business, or is it politics? The two seem inextricably entwined for the leaders of Air America Radio, the liberal talk radio network that launched on five stations around the country Wednesday. As a startup media business, they need to draw in listeners fast. Air America Radio is betting that a menu of left-leaning political commentary, current affairs talk and satire will resonate with those opposed to the Bush administration. Al Franken, who is headlining the network with a daily three-hour talk show, has made no secret of his intention to use his platform to influence the election in November. ``We are flaming swords of justice,`` Franken told a cheering crowd at a party to launch the network Tuesday night. ``Bush is going down, he is going down, he is going down. And we`re going to help him.`` Franken`s show went live at noon on Wednesday with co-host Katherine Lanpher, a longtime host of a public radio show in Minnesota. At the opening, Franken joked that they were broadcasting from a bunker 3,500 feet below Vice President Dick Cheney`s own secret bunker. In fact, Franken will be broadcasting his show, dubbed ``The O`Franken Factor`` in his latest jab at Fox News host Bill O`Reilly, from the slightly shabby studios of New York City station WLIB, on the 41st floor of an office tower a few blocks from the Empire State Building. The studio, where the show has had just a week to settle in before launching, has the feel of a scrappy political campaign that`s just getting under way. ``I don`t think of it as a business, but I know it has to make money to be sustaining,`` Franken said in an interview, perching his feet up on the desk after a rehearsal session for the show. ``A lot of it is mission.`` The sense of mission is felt just as strongly several floors down, where the makeshift offices of Air America Radio are marked with handwritten sheets of paper taped on the wall, including those for CEO Mark Walsh, where the phones have yet to be hooked up. Walsh, a former America Online executive and adviser to the Democratic National Committee, said liberal politics would be a ``teaser ... a loss leader in the window`` for the radio network, which is also being broadcast in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. ``The right has dominated the airwaves for a decade, and we blew it. First they did radio, then they did TV, and movies are next,`` he said. However, the idea that liberal commentators have been shut out of radio has been greeted with skepticism in the talk radio industry, where the left-leaning commentator for Fox News Alan Colmes has a large audience. Also, one of Air America`s new hires, Randi Rhodes, has hosted a very popular, and very progressive, show in Florida for years. Michael Harrison, the editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, the leading trade publication for the talk radio business, is leery of Air America Radio`s tactic of using liberal politics to draw in viewers. ``Of all the elements that go into this, the least important element is that they`re liberal,`` Harrison said. ``They`ve got to be entertaining, fascinating, captivating and compelling - and then they have to find a way to make money with it.`` What`s more, Harrison said the company was setting expectations too high by promising to take on Bush as well as Rush Limbaugh, who has built up a massive national audience over the past two decades. ``Radio doesn`t work that fast, it doesn`t have that power to do it that quickly,`` Harrison said. Another big question facing the network is what Franken will do in a year`s time, when the election will be over and his contract expires. Franken says he`ll assess his options in a year`s time. ``It depends on how much I like radio,`` he says. In the meantime, Franken is bringing out one of his battle-tested ideas for generating laughs: baiting conservative pundits. On his first show, Franken pretended conservative gadfly Ann Coulter was locked in the station`s green room after she complained about the composition of her snack plate. Rich Lowry, the editor of the conservative journal National Review and another past Franken target, said he was interested in Franken`s efforts on Air America, but not enough to tune in. He did acknowledge that Air America could find an audience. ``There has been a rise of an angry liberal populism, and so now there`s a disenchantment with media sources on the left,`` Lowry said. ``Whether they can take advantage of that remains to be seen.`` On the Net: http://www.airamericaradio.com 03/31/04 16:34 EST Copyright 2004 The Associated Press (via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. LIBERAL VOICES GET NEW HOME ON RADIO DIAL By JACQUES STEINBERG New York Times (March 31) --- Lady Olivia was on the phone from Washington. And Sam Seder, a nighttime host on Air America Radio, the fledgling liberal talk-radio network, had a question about the clientele of his guest, who identified herself as a dominatrix. ``More Republicans or more Democrats?`` Mr. Seder asked. ``Seventy-30,`` Lady Olivia said. Mr. Seder`s broad grin suggested that that was precisely the answer he had hoped for. Sitting in a windowless studio 41 floors above Midtown Manhattan during a rehearsal on Thursday for the program, ``The Majority Report,`` he shuffled through a sheaf of testimonials downloaded from Lady Olivia`s Web site, operated under a different name. He soon inquired about the identities of those Republicans, displaying a particular interest in learning more about ``Jon from Washington,`` who had written, ``I enjoyed the corporal punishment more than I thought I would.`` ``Does his last name,`` Mr. Seder asked, ``rhyme with Chriscroft?`` The exchange yielded no information about the attorney general of the United States. (Lady Olivia`s response was little more than a coy laugh.) But it did provide some clues to how Air America, which makes its debut at noon today on five stations with Al Franken, the comedian and political satirist, at the microphone, intends to challenge the hegemony of conservatives on commercial talk radio. ``It needs to be entertaining, it needs to be compelling, it needs to be laugh-out-loud funny,`` said Jon Sinton, a veteran of radio who is a founder of Air America, a subsidiary of Progress Media. ``It needs to foster water-cooler conversation. You need people to go to work and say, `Did you hear what Franken said yesterday?` `` ``When people begin to say that,`` he added, ``we will have arrived.`` Beyond the satiric, sometimes sophomoric humor displayed during the dress rehearsal for ``The Majority Report,`` which Mr. Seder shares with the comedian Janeane Garofalo, Air America plans to offer a mixture of issue-oriented interviews (with conservatives, as well as liberals), commentary, listener phone calls and news reports, delivered straight, at regular intervals. But this liberal radio network faces numerous obstacles in capturing a substantial audience, in particular finding a critical mass of stations that will broadcast its voices. The network has already fallen behind in its initial goal, announced last year, of owning five stations by the time it went on the air. As of today it owns none. Instead Air America has bought programming time on stations with moderately strong signals, but previously low ratings: WLIB-AM in New York, WNTD-AM in Chicago, KBLA-AM in Los Angeles, KCAA-AM in Riverside and San Bernadino [sic], Calif., and KPOJ-AM in Portland, Ore. A San Francisco station is expected to be announced in early April. By contrast Rush Limbaugh, whom Air America has identified as a chief competitor, is heard on more than 600 stations, including WABC in New York. Sean Hannity, another conservative talk-show host, has a similar reach. Air America, which has raised more than $20 million, has grand plans for buying stations, or at least all of the broadcast time on stations, in more than a dozen cities by year`s end. Many are in Ohio, Florida and other states considered battlegrounds in the presidential election. But since the media ownership rules were eased in the mid-1990`s, much of the broadcast spectrum is owned by a handful of companies. Few stations are for sale, and few station owners will give over all of their broadcast day to untested programming. Then there is the question in radio and conservative circles whether liberals can be entertaining enough for talk radio. ``Sometimes they just sound so grim,`` said Neal Boortz, a libertarian whose Atlanta-based program is syndicated to more than 180 stations. ``My god, the foreboding.`` Mr. Sinton said Air America needed to be wary of that tendency. ``The problem with really wonkish policy discussion is that it does not attract or hold a mass audience,`` he said. As a result the network`s 17-hour weekday lineup has as much if not more in common with ``Saturday Night Live`` than with National Public Radio. For example, its midmorning show, which begins tomorrow at 9, will have as its hosts Lizz Winstead, a comedian and a creator of ``The Daily Show`` on Comedy Central, and Chuck D, the frontman for the rap group Public Enemy. They will be followed at noon by Mr. Franken, the ``Saturday Night Live`` alumnus who has evolved into a satirist, and whose co-host is Katherine Lanpher from Minnesota Public Radio. Martin Kaplan, a communications professor at the University of Southern California, will be the host of a one-hour show about the news media in the early evening. He will be followed, from 8 to 11 p.m., by Ms. Garofalo, whose main experience in radio was playing the role of a talk-show host for pet owners in the 1996 film ``The Truth About Cats and Dogs,`` and by Mr. Seder, who has worked as a comedian, screenwriter and filmmaker. There were times on Thursday during the three-hour run-through, which was recorded with the expectation of using portions of it on actual shows, that Ms. Garofalo, 39, and Mr. Seder, 37, sounded --- surprisingly --- not unlike their right-leaning competition. In an interview with Craig Crawford, a columnist for Congressional Quarterly, the two hosts spent several minutes clobbering the news media, a favorite target of Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Hannity. ``It seems the journalists have really put themselves in the center of the story in a partisan political way,`` Ms. Garofalo said, speaking of what she called a new form of participatory journalism. Moments later Mr. Seder observed, ``Really, most reporters are whores.`` And yet the content of most of the program sounded nothing like the fare provided by Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Hannity. Those two popular hosts can usually be counted on to defend President Bush --- Mr. Hannity`s Web site declares that he is ``fed up with all the Bush- bashing`` --- and whose favorite punching bags include the president`s presumed Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry. (``Kerry injured changing positions,`` Mr. Limbaugh`s Web site declared.) Among others, Ms. Garofalo and Mr. Seder poked fun at Mr. Bush`s former spokesman Ari Fleischer (``Is he not shoveling coal in hell now?`` Mr. Seder asked); Karl Rove, the president`s senior adviser and political strategist (said by Ms. Garofalo to be pursuing ``the elusive 18-25 Klan demo``); and Vice President Dick Cheney. (Mr. Seder said he felt sure that he could see Mr. Cheney`s hand moving Mr. Bush`s mouth on ``Meet the Press`` earlier this year.) Ms. Garofalo said that ``The Majority Report,`` its name inspired by a reference to Al Gore`s presidential victory in the popular vote in the 2000 election, would also feature substantive interviews. Among the invited guests, she said, are Ben Cohen (the activist founder of Ben & Jerry`s ice cream), Dr. Joyce Riley (an advocate of Persian Gulf war veterans) and Howard Dean. (Ms. Garofalo was in the audience on the night of the Iowa caucus, before he gave what she described as his ``so-called `I have a scream` speech.``) ``It`s not like we`re here to say we`re going to be as nasty as right-wingers,`` Ms. Garofalo said in an interview. ``On the left, traditionally, you`ve got a nicer type of person. You`ve got a person who is more willing to engage in conversations that have context and nuance, who tend to have more educable minds.`` Whether all of these elements can be brought together to make great radio remains an open question. Kipper McGee, the program director of WDBO-AM (580) in Orlando, Fla., which is owned by Cox Communications and carries Mr. Hannity`s syndicated program, said that Air America could count on listeners from all bands of the political spectrum, at least early on. ``The old adage, `Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,` sometimes it`s true with the remote control or the radio tuner,`` said Mr. McGee, who has worked in radio for three decades. ``In the final analysis, though, whether they survive depends on how good the shows are.`` On at 9 am Host: Chuck D Show: `Unfiltered` Best Known As: Hip-hop artist, rapper in Public Enemy Quote: ``... Bush is the biggest thug of all.`` Source: Public Enemy On at Noon Host: Al Franken Show: `The O`Franken Factor` Quote: ``We`re going to listen to (Rush Limbaugh`s) show and hold him up to ... ridicule.`` Source: Reuters On at 8 pm Host: Janeane Garofalo Show: `The Majority Report` Quote: Says Bush adviser Karl Rove is after ``the elusive 18-25 Klan demo.`` Source: The New York Times 03-31-04 11:06 EST (New York Times via aol.com via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I run an Icom IC-R75 and a longwire up 50 feet. I was tuning around below the CB and heard what I thought was a pirate on 26.45 MHz. It was playing classical music and a woman`s voice identified it as `the Radio Diva network.` I`m not sure if it is a pirate or legal, because every so often the woman would give the call sign WPZA598. Have you guys heard of it? (Murphy Sweet, Letters to the Editor, April MONITORING TIMES via DXLD) Murphy got his own answer by looking up the FCC records online, and discovered the station was licensed. When he e-mailed the station to ask for more info, here is the reply: ``What you heard on 26.450 MHz was the HF feed of the Radiodiva Network. We provide programming via fiber optic link and shortwave to our affiliate broadcast stations. Programming began on Dec 15, 2003 and the HF transmitter was fired up on Jan 1, 2004 at 0000 UTC. Our studio is in Dallas, Texas and the FCC has restricted our output power to 100 watts, but that is more than enough to get a signal into Reno! Right now our format is classical music. Within six months we will change format and play music solely from female pop/rock artists, hence the name ``Radio Diva``. (Marty Reeves, ibid.) The FCC has three broadcast auxiliary remote pickup units listed with this call, on 26410, 26430 and 26450, as of Dec 3, 2003, with only approximate coordinates of 96 W, 32 N, to one Martin K. Reeves: AM WPZA598 R 096- 00- 00.0 W 0001419662 REEVES, MARTIN K 12/ 04/ 2003 00026.41000 32- 00- 00.0 N AM WPZA598 R 096- 00- 00.0 W 0001419662 REEVES, MARTIN K 12/ 04/ 2003 00026.43000 32- 00- 00.0 N AM WPZA598 R 096- 00- 00.0 W 0001419662 REEVES, MARTIN K 12/ 04/ 2003 00026.45000 32- 00- 00.0 N We can only wonder what and where the ``affiliates`` are. The 26450 transmitter may be licensed, but what about them? Can`t find any such stations in a Google search. Is anyone in The Metroplex familiar with Radio Diva? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. 4939.7, R. Amazonas, 2328-2355, March 30, Spanish, Nice mix of LA music, canned IDs/announcements from 2336-2345 then back to music. Weak, poor with lots of static. Het at 2347, India sign-on? (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ TESTS OF COMPUTER NOISE EFFECTS ON SW RADIOS Steve Waldee advises that he had a major crash of some sort, but seeing our reference to this page of his in the April MONITORING TIMES, hastened to put it back up, as will be his other SWLing pages http://www.home.earthlink.net/~srw-swling/sw-comput.htm Welcome back! (Glenn Hauser, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RELOADED DATABASE HTML I guess you are all getting tired of this subject? Anyway, I re-issued the HTML database file onto my web page for downloading. I left some instructions and suggestions. After I loaded it, I tried to download it and open it and only got as far as 9 MHz. However, when I first set this up yesterday, I was able to open the entire HTML file. Anyway give it a try. I seem to recall that once a file is downloaded, the browser keeps it in the cache, but maybe that's only for certain types other than HTML? Give me a shout with comments. Here's the URL to get it. http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE33.HTML Have fun. One more comment. I have included a ZIP file on my web page. (Chuck Bolland, ka4prf @ us-it.net http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com Clewiston Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ UTILITIES EXPLORING BROADBAND VIA POWER OUTLETS read the San Jose Mercury News article: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8298971.htm (via Radio Intel via DXLD) BPL HANDOUT AVAILABLE FROM ARRL (Mar 31, 2004) --- ARRL has posted a two-page document that discusses Broadband over Power Line (BPL) in lay terms. ``Broadband over Power Line: Why Amateur Radio is Concerned about its Deployment`` is available for reprinting and use as a handout when, for example, dealing with members of Congress, municipal officials, power utilities and the news media. While emphasizing that hams do not oppose broadband services per se and tend to be ``early adopters`` of new technology, the information sheet outlines Amateur Radio`s concern about BPL`s potential to create interference. Other broadband delivery methods ``do not pollute the radio spectrum as BPL does,`` the paper states. It also defines BPL, outlines its current deployment status, discusses FCC regulations already in place and explains that BPL`s interference potential is real, not just theoretical. Finally, it lists ``Others at risk,`` including short-wave listeners, public safety agencies and federal government radio systems. http://www2.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/BPL-leave-behind.pdf (ARRL via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SIDC WEEKLY BULLETIN (WEEK 169 FROM 2004 MAR 22) ------------------------------------------------ SOLAR ACTIVITY: --------------- Solar activity was mostly low to moderate this week. During the first 36 hours of the week, the flaring scene was still dominated by Catania sunspot groups 82 (NOAA 0574)and 87 (NOAA 0578). Both produced some C-class flares (besides many B-flares), the largest being a C8.6 from Catania 82 on Mar 22. From about UT noon on Mar 23, no more significant flaring activity occurred in these groups, and solar activity became very low for 24 hours. During this time, however, a third group on the disk was growing in size and complexity: Catania 86 (NOAA 0577) ended the quiet period with a C5.7 flare at 14:26 on Mar 24, followed by a few other C-flares. This group's activity was however soon overshadowed by a new active region that appeared at the east limb. Even before becoming visible, Catania sunspot group 93 (NOAA 0582) caused an M1.5 flare late on Mar 24, a few hours later followed by and M2.3 at 04:39 on Mar 25. This remained the largest flare of the week. Catania 93 turned out to be a medium-sized compact group with strong magnetic fields, but its flaring activity remained much lower than expected. From the evening of Mar 25 until early Mar 27, no more C-flares occurred. After 9UT on Mar 27, a number of small C-flares originated from Catania 95 (NOAA 0586), which was a small group that rapidly developed near the west limb before rotating from view on Mar 28. On the last day of the period, Catania 93 again contributed a few small C-flares. GEOMAGNETISM: ------------- The week started with quiet geomagnetic conditions (though the K-index in Wingst reached 4 a few times on Mar 22). The solar wind speed was a bit elevated, but decreasing. Conditions remained quiet until Mar 25. On Mar 24, the solar wind reached its lowest speed well below 400 km/s, but following the arrival of a small shock around midnight it started rising again, due to the influence of a large recurrent coronal hole. It first rose slowly to 700km/s, but late on Mar 27 it went up much faster to 900km/s. From the middle of Mar 28, the solar wind speed started decreasing again. All the while, the interplanatary magnetic field alternated between northwards and southwards orientation, never obtaining strong components in either direction. Therefore, the geomagnetic influence of the high solar wind speeds remained limited. During Mar 26-28 conditions were mostly at active levels in Wingst and Izmiran geomagnetic stations, but K-indices reached minor storm levels occasionally. The estimated Kp index in NOAA reached minor storm level only once (on Mar 28). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DAILY INDICES DATE RC 10CM Ak BKG M X 2004 Mar 22 104 116 017 B2.0 0 0 2004 Mar 23 107 118 012 B2.1 0 0 2004 Mar 24 108 120 004 B2.7 1 0 2004 Mar 25 /// 127 005 B3.8 1 0 2004 Mar 26 134 124 026 B2.2 0 0 2004 Mar 27 152 128 023 B3.4 0 0 2004 Mar 28 /// 129 021 B3.8 0 0 # RC : Sunspot index from Catania Observatory (Italy) # 10cm: 10.7 cm radioflux (DRAO, Canada) # Ak : Ak Index Wingst (Germany) # BKG : Background GOES X-ray level (NOAA, USA) # M,X : Number of X-ray flares in M and X class, see below (NOAA, USA) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICEABLE EVENTS DAY BEGIN MAX END LOC XRAY OP 10CM TYPE Cat NOAA NOTE 24 2314 2329 2335 N15E77 M1.5 SF 93 0582 25 0429 0439 0443 N12E82 M2.3 SF 93 0582 (from http://sidc.oma.be/current/bul.html via Jim Moats, DXLD) PROPAGATION NEWS FROM RSGB Solar data for the period from the 22nd to the 28th of March, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS http://www.g0cas.demon.co.uk/main.htm Solar activity was low except on the 24th and 25th, when it increased to moderate due to small M-class solar flares taking place on both days. These flares had no affect on propagation. The solar flux increased from 116 on the 22nd to 129 by the 28th. The average was 123. The 90-day solar flux average on the 28th was the same as last week, 111 units. Geomagnetic activity started at quiet levels: on the 24th the daily Ap index was only 4 units. Activity increased to unsettled from the 26th due to a small coronal hole. The most disturbed day was the 28th, with an Ap of 17. The average was Ap 10 units. The ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds increase from 320 kilometres per second on the 24th to 950 on the 27th and 28th. Particle densities were low except on the 25th, when they increased briefly to 18 particles per cubic centimetre. Bz fluctuated between minus and plus 6 nanoTeslas on the quiet days but on the more disturbed days it was between minus and plus 11 nanoTeslas. Now follows an update on the 3B9C Rodrigues Island DXpedition. Experience over the past week suggests that they will be workable on 14 MHz around 0630 UTC and from early afternoon to late evening, on 18 MHz around 0600 to 0700 and in the late afternoon, on 21 and 24 MHz around breakfast time, early afternoon or early evening. And finally 28 MHz should be possible on the better days from about 0830 to 1400. At least one UK station has contacted them on 29 MHz FM. However, although they have worked into southern Europe on 50 MHz, as yet we have no reports of UK contacts on that band. By Sunday morning, the 28th of March, they had made over 100,000 contacts and the pile-ups have already started to diminish. And finally the solar forecast. This week the quiet side of the sun is expected to be looking our way. Solar activity should be mostly low but could increase to moderate for the next few days. The solar flux should decline and by next weekend be just below the 100 mark. A recurring coronal hole is expected to rotate out of view tomorrow, therefore geomagnetic activity should decline to quiet levels for the remainder of the week. MUFs during daylight hours at equal latitudes should be around 24 MHz for the south and 21 MHz for the north. The darkness hour lows are expected to be around 10 MHz. Paths this week to the Middle East should have a maximum usable frequency, with a 50 per cent success rate, of about 26 MHz. The optimum working frequency, with a 90 per cent success rate, should be around 18 MHz. The best time to try this path should be between 0900 and 1600 UTC. The RSGB propagation news is also available in a Saturday update, posted every Saturday evening and for more on propagation generally, see http://www.rsgb.org/society/psc.htm (Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS Main News Script for April 4 posted on March 31 on uk.radio.amateur by G4RGA via John Norfolk, DXLD) The geomagnetic field ranged from mostly quiet to unsettled levels with isolated active to minor storm periods observed late on 27 March and early on 28 March. The active to minor storm levels on 27 and 28 March were due to effects from a favorably positioned coronal hole. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 31 MARCH - 26 APRIL 2004 Solar activity is expected to range from low to moderate levels throughout the forecast period. Isolated moderate activity is possible from Region 582 until its departure on 06 April. From 07 to 19 April, activity should be at mostly very low to low levels. Solar activity is expected to increase to low to moderate levels after old region 582 returns on 20 April. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected during the period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on 31 March, from 06 to 11 April, from 18 to 20 April and again from 24 to 26 April due to recurrent coronal hole high-speed streams. Geomagnetic activity is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. A large, recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream is due to return on 05 – 09 April and is expected to produce active to minor storm conditions. Unsettled to active conditions are expected on 17 to 18 April due to a weak coronal hole high-speed stream. A weak coronal hole high-speed stream is due to return on 23 – 25 April and is expected to produce unsettled to active conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 Mar 30 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2004 Mar 30 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Mar 31 130 8 3 2004 Apr 01 135 8 3 2004 Apr 02 135 5 2 2004 Apr 03 135 5 2 2004 Apr 04 135 5 2 2004 Apr 05 135 12 3 2004 Apr 06 120 25 5 2004 Apr 07 110 25 5 2004 Apr 08 105 20 4 2004 Apr 09 100 20 4 2004 Apr 10 100 12 3 2004 Apr 11 110 10 3 2004 Apr 12 115 8 3 2004 Apr 13 115 8 3 2004 Apr 14 115 5 2 2004 Apr 15 115 5 2 2004 Apr 16 115 5 2 2004 Apr 17 115 12 3 2004 Apr 18 115 10 3 2004 Apr 19 115 8 3 2004 Apr 20 125 5 2 2004 Apr 21 130 5 2 2004 Apr 22 135 5 2 2004 Apr 23 135 12 3 2004 Apr 24 135 15 3 2004 Apr 25 130 12 3 2004 Apr 26 130 8 3 (from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1226, DXLD) ###