DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-069, April 15, 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 EXTRA 46: Fri 2300 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sat 0800 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacific Sat 0855 on WNQM Nashville 1300 Sat 1030 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1830 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, webcast http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2030 on WWCR 12160 Sat 2030 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sat 2100 on DKOS usually, http://www.live365.com/stations/steve_cole Sun 0230 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 on WBCA 9330-CLSB Sun 0630 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 2000 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [last week`s 1227] 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: 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 Extra 46 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx46h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx46h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0401.html WORLD OF RADIO Extra 46 (low version): [same as CONTINENT OF MEDIA 04-01] (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0401.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0401.rm ** ANDAMAN ISLANDS. It's been a good winter and early spring of US MW DX here, so I haven't had much to offer for SW lately. But here's a note for those who are tempted to give up the art of QSLing because replies are so difficult to get. AIR Port Blair, 4760 --- Full data QSL letter from the station in 19 months after follow-up, two years and 15 days after the original report. The v/s is K S Venkateswarlu, Station Engineer. The letter refers only to my follow up report, and includes a brief apology for the delay. The QSL concludes with the magic word every DXer likes to hear: "These blessed islands attract any nature-lover, who seeks absolute peace and tranquility in the lap of Mother Nature." No, wait, that's not the good bit. This is: "We would like to keep receiving reception reports from you whenever possible." Never, ever give up. My thank you note goes out with Friday's mail (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. The Australian DX News reports that a new shortwave communication station has been established near Wagga Wagga (WOG-a WOG-a) in New South Wales. A total of 76 communication channels have been registered for this new station which is now on the air under the Australian callsign, VHK (AWR Wavescan April 18 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** AUSTRIA [and non]. A04 Radio Austria International --- as they are not too eager to update their website, I have asked ORF for the new season's information. Here is the useful information, picked from the XLS, DOC and 1-MB-JPG(!) they sent me: "Radio Austria International" 28.03.2004 (00 UT) - 30.10.2004 (24 UT) UTC kHz Ant kW Azimuth =============================== Europe 0400-2208 6155 HQ 300 OD 1100-1730 13730 VER 100 OD 1730-2208 5945 VER 100 OD 0400-1100 13730 LPH 100 160 Middle East 0500-0600 17870 HRS 100 115 America 0100-0200 9870 HRS 300 295 East N.A. 1500-1600 13775 HR 250 272 West N.A. *SACKVILLE* 0000-0100 9870 HRS 300 275 Central Am. 2300-2400 9870 HR 300 245 South Am. Asia, Australia 1200-1300 17715 HR 090 300 Antenna types: HQ - horiz. quadrant HR - rotary curtain HRS - slewable curtain LPH - Lop-Periodic (horiz.) VER - vertical cage Foreign language broadcasts are given as follows (as they wrote it; I don't dare interpret that): Report from Austria: Mo-Fr 1345 UTC Noticiero de Austria: Tu-Sa Europe 2155 UTC So. America 0000 and 0030 UTC Ce. America 0100 and 0130 UTC East America (sic) 0100 and 0130 UTC (Eike Bierwirth, 04317 Leipzig, DL, April 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surely there are still several more airings of Report from Austria; e.g. at 1510 when I have heard it, and after the Spanish 5-minutes at 0130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {see 4-070} ** BELGIUM [non]. /GERMANY: Very good reception of Maeva FM Inter via JUL 100 kW / 290 deg: 1300-1500 Sat April 10 on 5975 (54554) (Observer, Bulgaria, April 13 via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. /GERMANY: TDP Radio in DRM mode to We Eurioe via JUL 040 kW / non-dir: 1500-1600 NF 5975 co-channel BBC WS in English in AM mode, ex 1400-1500 on 6015 (Observer, Bulgaria, April 13 via DXLD) /RUSSIA: Frequency change for DRM of TDP Radio via MSK 035 kW / 275 deg: 2000-2100 Sat NF 7370, ex 7435, re-ex 7380 \\ 7590 in AM via ARM 100 kW / 284 deg. (Observer, Bulgaria, April 13 via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Summer A-04 of Radio Canada International in Russian/Ukrainian/Portuguese 1500-1530 Russian 6055 KIM 250 kW / 305 deg 9920 HBY 350 kW / 085 deg 11935 WER 250 kW / 075 deg 15325 RMP 500 kW / 062 deg 1530-1600 Ukrainian 11935 WER 250 kW / 075 deg 15325 RMP 500 kW / 080 deg 1600-1630 Russian 11935 WOF 250 kW / 082 deg 15325 RMP 500 kW / 080 deg 2000-2030 Portuguese 15255 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg Friday only to Brasil 17765 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg Friday only (Observer, Bulgaria, April 13 via DXLD) ** CANADA. A-CHANNEL SOLD --- CRAIG FAMILY TURNS REINS OVER TO CHUM FOR $265M Tue Apr 13 2004 By Martin Cash - Business Reporter, Canadian Press THE Craig family of Brandon is selling its television broadcast company to CHUM Ltd. for $265 million after 56 years of building what is now the largest private broadcasting company in the country. Craig Media, which owns A-Channel television stations in Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton, a CBC affiliate in Brandon, a new independent station in Toronto and three digital cable channels, signed a sales agreement yesterday with CHUM Ltd., the Toronto company that owns conventional and specialty television stations such as the ground- breaking Citytv and MuchMusic and radio stations across the country. The cash offer, subject to regulatory approvals, comes about a month after CHUM was denied a bid for new broadcast licences for Alberta, a market it has coveted for some time and about two months after it was first disclosed Craig Media was up for sale. "There are certainly mixed feelings today," Drew Craig said in an interview from Toronto yesterday. "Broadcasting is part of our family's heritage, but we got a fair price." "While we're happy about CHUM getting these assets in their company and I think they're great operators, certainly from the family's perspective, it's the end of an era." A-Channel schedules soon will be provided with a full complement of shows to which CHUM already owns the national rights, said CHUM president Jay Switzer. He said CHUM would be able to beef up A-Channel programming within a matter of weeks at no additional cost to CHUM with the Canadian rights of U.S. programs that it already owns. The Craig family -- including Drew's brothers, Boyd and Miles -- are also the owners of Winnipeg-based Craig Wireless, which operates wireless cable television and high-speed Internet distribution companies -- SkyWeb and SkyCable -- in Manitoba, British Columbia, Honolulu and Palm Springs, Calif. The wireless company also owns a 30 per cent interest in a similar company that owns licences in Ontario and Quebec. Asked what the family intends to do now, Drew Craig said it was too early to say for sure. "We've demonstrated we can create value," he said. "We're not done yet. We will definitely be back with some other plans." Although initial reports of Craig Media being for sale were downplayed by the family, most industry observers said they believed the sale was a necessity for the privately owned company, primarily because of the costly undertaking of starting a new television station in Toronto in September. Craig acknowledged the station, called Toronto 1, was "off plan" to generate $35 million in advertising sales in its first year of operation. Unconfirmed industry observations have speculated it is on course to reach only half that total and that the station was losing $1 million a week. Ever since its launch on Sept. 19, there have been predictions Toronto 1 could not survive in a fragmented TV market and rumours of its sale started in January. Switzer said his company's interest in Craig Media intensified after it learned at the end of February it would not receive new broadcast licences for Alberta. He said CHUM would be respectful of the process that the regulators -- the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission -- would have to go through to close the deal, but he said he anticipates an orderly process. "It's fair to say that the connections between our two companies are broad and deep," Switzer said in an interview from Toronto. CHUM, which also owns 30 radio stations across Canada, had annual revenues of $540 million in its fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2003, and almost doubled its profits to $25.4 million. In addition to the fact the open-studio concept and casual street- charm of A-Channel owes a lot to the style of broadcasting pioneered by CHUM-owned Citytv in Toronto, in the past the two companies have shared the cost of Canadian broadcasting rights to American programming, with the two companies generally operating out of mutually exclusive local markets across the country. Switzer said CHUM's interests in Craig is cost-driven. He said despite its poor showing in the Toronto market, A-Channel was very accomplished at local programming and that element would probably stay in place. Johnny Craig, Drew's grandfather, bought his first radio station in the mid-1940s. His son, Stuart, who died in 1999, got into TV in the 1950s and the family bought into the broadband business in the early 1990s. It sold its stable of four radio stations in the mid-1990s prior to what was probably the company's biggest coup -- winning broadcast licences in Alberta in 1997, beating out CanWest Global Communications Corp., which was the huge betting favourite to win those licences. Its subsequent victory in the Toronto sweepstakes may have been too costly for the privately owned firm. CHUM, which already owns Citytv and a Barrie-based channel available in the Toronto market, has already commenced the process of selling off Toronto 1. Yesterday afternoon, Switzer said he had already received calls from interested buyers. Torstar president and CEO Robert Prichard confirmed yesterday his company could be interested in Toronto 1 now that it's up for sale again. "On the right terms and conditions, we could have an interest in Toronto 1," said Prichard, declining to comment on what price he would be willing to pay for the TV station. Shares in CHUM (TSX:CHM.B) traded up 50 cents at $30.50 yesterday on the Toronto stock market. (Winnipeg Free Press April 13 via Sean Traverse, DXLD) ** CANADA. Re 4-068: CFYZ 1280 is heard here during the day with WHTK 1280 Rochester phased (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, April 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {CHWO: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM} ** CHINA [and non]. Up-to-date CRI schedule --- The Nagoya DXers Circle has what appears to be a very accurate A04 schedule for China Radio International updated as of 12th April 2004. The one on the official Web site was out of dated and incomplete when I last checked. http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/index.html (Andy Sennitt, Holland, April 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) We excerpt the English portion; there is no key on this page at least to the transmitter sites; C and Ca = Canada, Cu=Cuba, E=Spain, G=French Guiana, M=Mali, and the rest are presumably within China: 0100-0157 English 9790C, 9580Cuba 0300-0357 English-NA 9690E 0400-0457 English-NA 9755G, 9560C, 6190C 0500-0557 English-NA 9560C, 6190C 0600-0800 English 1215MW via Albania 0900-1057 English-S. Pacific 17690JI, 15210K5 1200-1257 English-S. E. Asia 11980K3, 9730k2, 1341 1188 684 English-S. Pacific 15415K5, 11760k6 1300-1357 English-NA 9650Ca 9570Cuba, 1120(WUST/M-F) English-S. E. Asia 15180X1, 11980K4, 11675K6 1341 English-S. Pacific 11900K5, 11760k6, 7405JI 1400-1457 English-S. Asia 11765U3, 11675K6, 9560kas, 1422kas English-NA 13740Cuba, 13675C, 7405JI English-AF 15125M, 13685M 1500-1557 English-S. Asia 9785JI, 9560kas, 7160U1, 1422 English-NA 15220Ca, 13740Cuba English-AF 15125M, 13685M 1500-1657 English-EU 558 London-Spectrum Radio 1600-1757 English-AF 11900X1, 9570X1 1900-1957 English-AF 13790K5, 9440B2, 7140kas 2000-2057 English-AF 13630M, 11640M, 9440B2, 7140kas English-EU 11790U3, 9600B4, 7190kas, 1557Sit fr2030 2100-2127 English-AF 13630M, 11640M 2100-2157 English-EU 11790U3, 9600B4, 7190kas, 1440Lux 2200-2257 English-EU 9880R (Taldom) 2300-2357 English-NA 13680C, 6040Cuba But still doesn`t account for all the Sackville relays (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. Our international correspondent in China is Chun-Quang Men and he serves in a University library in inland China. In his DX report, he states that the Voice of America in Special English and the Voice of Korea in Pyongyang were both operating on the same channel at the same time, 11735 kHz at 2300 UTC. Chun-Quang Men passed this information on to the Voice of America and they changed frequency from 11735 kHz to 11655 kHz (AWR Wavescan April 18 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. The report of REE relay on 3350 is correct; I had overlooked the entry in the schedule under SPAIN in 4-064, 0200-0600 3350-C. And heard here April 5 at 0517 check, much weaker than more- or-less \\ 6055 direct (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EL SALVADOR. R. Imperial, 17834.85v, April 10, 2150-2330+, presumed, with Spanish talk, religious music, Gone at 2355 check. Very weak but fading up to fair to good levels at times. Better afer 2300. Slightly unstable carrier varying +/- 10 Hz. Also heard next day, April 11, at 1935-2000+ in with a fair level at times, but with deep fades; still no ID heard (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Subject: new program and reception reports Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We would like to inform you that a new broadcast service Bible Christian Association (BCA) started its transmissions on short-wave on a regular weekly in Polish language. Regarding to the BCA broadcasting service, please find attached the following technical data, commencing from Sunday, 12. April 2004: Sundays only, 1530-1600 UT, using 6055 kHz on high gain antenna system to EEUR, SEEUR, azimuth 70 degrees. Your reception reports would be highly appreciated. All the best from Juelich, Ralf Weyl T-Systems, Regional MediaBroadcast Cologne, MediaBroadcast Address: Merscher Hoehe, 52428 Juelich Phone: +49 24 61 697-340 Fax: +49 24 61 697-371 Mobile: +49 171 56 13 207 E-Mail: ralf.weyl @ t-systems.com Internet: http://www.t-systems.com Please note and use my new email-address from now on. Thanks in advance! When you would like to visit our Internet page with regard to short-wave business please use the following link-address: http://www.t-systems.de/extranet/content_mitte/0,,-887-b-e,00.html (via Kai Ludwig, Swopan Chakroborty, DXLD) Note the frequency, 6055, a long-established Litomysl and Rimavská Sobota channel. No transmissions from there scheduled at this time, so no problem of course, but I already see the reports mentioning these sites as assumed origins (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND [non?]. Glenn: RE: IBC & Greenland --- I check once every 2-3 days at varying times of day for IBC on 7330 kHz. Nothing so far. Also keeping my ears open for this Philadelphia 1610 kHz "network" but haven't heard anything there either (Rich Cuff, PA, April 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked 7330 April 14 at 1340; there were two stations, at least one in Chinese; doubt the other was IBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. 1610, WPZH377, HI, Honolulu, 3/29, the two talking houses transmitters no longer noted while driving through the area. New TIS WPZH377 now alone on the frequency. Noted with new message by woman, calling itself "Traffic Advisory and Information Network" and mentioning Hawaii Convention Center location, parking info, phone numbers and web site. Still somewhat overmodulated (Dale Park, HI, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** HONG KONG. 8749 U, Hong Kong Royal Observatory Station (?), tentative! *1033-1038*, April 10, sitting on frequency at 1033, YL voice just slightly above noise floor, constant level but not enough signal for any details, off at 1038. Nothing other latter mornings. This on Don's Moman`s Sabre MLP-4, 4-30 MHz 19 element log periodic antenna at 113' (Joe Talbot, VA6JWT, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. I am very glad to tell you that I now have an extremely reliable source in Iraq (Baghdad) who is able to give me accurate information on the stations broadcasting in this country. So far, I have received this information on active stations: Station Frequency Power (kHz) (W) Dar-es-Salam 1152 2000 Sawt-el-Iraq 1179 1000 Sawt-el-Fadhila 999 1000 As soon as I get more information I will post it here. 73 (Herman Boel, MWC via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. The IBA English TV news which was on the now defunct IBA Arabic network, is now on IBA TV Channel 3 at 6 PM, 7 days a week. In Israel, that's cable channel 33. This is a 25 minute broadcast. Don't confuse IBA Channel 3, which is on cable channel 33... versus cable channel 3. The 7 minute IBA English TV news, now on IBA Channel 1, will be discontinued as of May 2, 2004. This past Friday's Jerusalem Post did not have the change listed - Ha`aretz did (as opposed to what I mentioned earlier) (Doni Rosenzweig, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On the eve of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the English news on Reshet Aleph will be at 1645 GMT/1945 Israel Summer Time instead of the usual 1700 GMT/2000 IST. No mention was made of exactly what will replace it at the normal time but it's not too difficult to guess. [when is that??? gh] (from an announcement at the end of the 1010 GMT/1310 IST news on Wednesday via Real Audio at http://bet.iba.org.il) (Joel Rubin via Doni Rosenzweig, DXLD) ** ITALY. Rai opening Italian news at 1400 April 14 on 21520, very good signal, best on band, eclipsing Spain on 21570, 21610 --- but then, Rai is the only 13m signal aimed at North America any more! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 8006 // 5006, JG2XA-HF Doppler Radar Station, 1242-1251 April 12, CW ID "JG2XA JG2XA JG2XA UEC HFD Station" CW ID, single time tone on each minute. 3,4,3,3,3. CW ID translated by local CW ARO! (Joe Talbot, VA6JWT, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR. Hearing CKZN 6160 at 1000Z April 13 from St. John's, Newfoundland, with CBC news followed by "Labrador Morning" program from the CBC Goose Bay Radio One affiliate. An advantage of Daylight time (and perhaps the only one) is being able to do morning DX an hour "earlier" now. Best Regards (Ben Loveless, WB9FJO, ex- WPE9JLQ, Michigan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925 U, Take It Easy Radio, 0405-0428, April 11, tuned in to hear music by Jewel "Save Your Soul", The Eagles "Lying Eyes", OM with R&B tune, C&W (?) tune by YL [Patsy Cline?] "Walking After Midnight", OM announcer with ID's, talk on Bunny Rabbits and rodents, "HAPPY EASTER", talk on the Eagles tour. Nice signal. 3+,5,4,4,3++. 100% copy on very clean audio. Pse QSL (Joe Talbot, VA6JWT, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. R. Victoria, 9720.05, April 11, 0640-0708+, tentative with Spanish religious talk, ballads, ranchera music, sermon. Poor to fair in noise. Checked earlier around 0100-0300 but nothing heard (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. Voice of Russia via DTK T-Systems effective March 29: 0100-0200 5945 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg to ME English WS 0200-0300 5945 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg to ME English WS, ex Russian WS 1400-1500 15430 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg to ME Turkish, ex Russian International Radio 1900-2000 5985 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg to ME Bulgarian, ex Russian International Radio 1900-2000 9825 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg to ME Bulgarian, ex Russian International Radio 2000-2100 5985 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg to ME French, ex Russian International Radio 2000-2100 7260 JUL 100 kW / 120 deg to ME French, ex Russian International Radio 2000-2100 9825 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg to ME French, ex Russian International Radio 2200-2300 6145 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg to ME Arabic (Observer, Bulgaria, April 13 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Re. religious programs via VOR: ``The available schedules are partly conflicting however. As an example, the official time table of Missionswerk Werner Heukelbach for April lists transmissions via VOR Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri 1845-1900 on 603/1215/1323/1386 & 6145/7300 - while the schedule on the VOR website gives MW and 7330/7440/15455 as SW frequencies for VOR's German service for this time period.`` Missionswerk Heukelbach simply still lists VOR's winter frequencies. Meanwhile 6145 has been replaced by 7440 (one of the three Moscow area sites), 7300 has been replaced by 15455 (that's Tbilisskaya) while 7330 is an additional Bolshakovo outlet they did without during the winter season. Judging from the continuation style these programs are just played instead of own stuff, i.e. apparently they put the tapes received from Germany and Switzerland on the Mechlabor tape recorders in the German service live studio without any switchings in the program distribution taking place. This circumstance is also reflected in VOR's program schedule where the religious programs are shown as ``Rel. Programm``; see http://www.vor.ru/German/gp.html By the way, ``Stimme Russlands live`` shown there as an occasional program is a studio discussion with call-in. They just tried it years ago and were actually amazed that indeed listeners called in. Only trouble was the very faint audio sent back from the hybrid, causing confusion if the caller had no radio in reach. Anyway, live is live. [but isn`t there a German word for it?] Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. RSI *is* definitely leaving SW :-( I just got this from Pete Miller at Radio Slovakia International: "Sadly the rumour is true - Radio Slovakia International is ceasing all shortwave broadcasting from may 1st. An absolute tragedy as Slovakia has such a poor profile worldwide, and our programmes bring in many tourists to the country. As you can imagine we are not a happy bunch." (Andy Sennitt, Holland, April 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Our Vote for Voice of Slovakia ! Support here with your e-mail: http://www.ratzer.at/slovak.php Just fill in the Form with name, place and email address, press send and the general manager of RSI Dr. Reznik will automatically get your support mail. During the transmission concerning listener's mail, Radio Slovakia broadcast the bad news that the management of the station wants to stop SW transmissions by May 1, 2004. The people from the German language editorial staff ask for help from all listeners; maybe there is a way to convince the management of the importance of SW transmissions from Slovakia. Here is the plea that was broadcast on April 4, 2004: Dear listeners! We have bad news for you. The general manager of Radio Slovakia Dr. Jaroslav Reznik is considering to stop SW transmissions by May 1, 2004. After this date, our transmissions can only be heard by satellite and internet! This decision was made for financial reasons but we fear that these are savings in the wrong place. We want to try to change his mind and show him the importance of SW transmissions as a means of information about Slovakia. We want to ask for your help, dear listeners. Should you be of the opinion that the transmissions of RSI are important for our listeners abroad we ask you to support us and send a letter or an email to our general manager in which you let him know what you think about this matter. A-DX supports this campaign of the German language editorial staff of Radio Slovakia and Josef Rieger, the club secretary of the 1st RSI- Listener's Club with an email campaign. Just fill in the Form with name, place and email address, press send and the general manager of RSI Dr. Reznik will automatically get your support mail (via Wolfgang Büschel, Apr 12 via Japan Premium via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Stair /TOM/ changes via DTK T-Systems effective April 1: 0600-0800 6110 JUL 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu new, additional txion 1000-1100 9470 JUL 100 kW / 020 deg to NoEaEu ex 1100-1200 on 9485 1000-1100 11950 JUL 100 kW / 220 deg to WeEu ex 1100-1200 on same 1000-1100 13810 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg to SoEaEu ex 1100-1200 on 13650 1000-1100 13820 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg to EaEu ex 1100-1200 on same 1000-1100 15195 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg to EaEu ex 1100-1200 on 15235 1000-1100 15265 JUL 100 kW / 125 deg to EaEu ex 1100-1200 on same 1000-1100 17695 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg to ME ex 1100-1200 on 17590 1000-1100 17860 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg to ME ex 1100-1200 on 17735 1000-1100 21590 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg to EaAf ex 1100-1200 on same 1000-1100 21760 JUL 100 kW / 175 deg to NoCeAf ex 1100-1200 on same (Observer, Bulgaria, April 13 via DXLD) The multi-frequency hour at 2200 remains unchanged (gh) ** SUDAN. R. Peace, 4750, April 11, *0230-0301+; sign-on with lite instrumental music and ID, then English religious programming. 0246 canned frequency and ID announcement, vernacular talk, local Horn of Africa music. 0301 another English ID. Weak (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. Re. ``I wonder if the big finale, if any, was actually 24 hours earlier, since at 2330 UT April 11, it was already April 12 in Switzerland``: Or probably the last hurra went out at 1930? Although this makes not much sense, since SRI's 24 hours channel on Eutelsat Hotbird (always // shortwave when on and presumably the actual audio source for Jülich transmissions) relays Swiss Pop between 0000 and 0600, providing a natural division of the broadcast days. On the other hand ´´I never heard anything else said by SRI from 2347 until they just turned the transmitter off at 0001 UT´´ suggests that indeed just Swiss Pop with inserted announcements was carried from 2330. Impossible to check out for me, since I have no possibility to use a satellite dish (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {MORE: 4-070} ** U S A. OPINION: VOA SHOULD BROADCAST IN ENGLISH by Kim Andrew Elliott http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/08_rw_guest_voa_2.shtml The English-language news on Voice of America is due to be cut back to 14 hours a day this October. It's already been reduced to 19 hours a day. On Sunday, Dec. 14, at about 4:30 a.m. Eastern time, the news broke that Saddam Hussein might have been captured. By 7 a.m., his capture near Tikkrit, Iraq, had been confirmed. The timing could not have been worse for the Voice of America. On Oct. 26, VOA News Now, VOA's global English broadcasting service, was reduced from 24 to 19 hours per day. The hours cut were 0700 to 1200 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), or 2 to 7 a.m. Eastern. Anyone in the world trying to get the American perspective on the capture of Saddam was not able to hear it, in English, from VOA. It would seem obvious that the international broadcaster of the United states would want to broadcast 24 hours a day in the mother tongue of the United States. VOA English was cut because the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which supervises United States government international broadcasting, has not been impressed with its audience numbers. Indeed, in countries outside of Africa, VOA's English audiences are small. Global English speakers Executives of United States international broadcasting may be looking in the wrong places for VOA's English audience. In countries where English is a primary language, such as the Philippines, Singapore and Jamaica, there is plenty of English-language media content available domestically. This reduces the incentive to listen to foreign radio. But a perusal of VOA audience mail indicates that VOA has many grateful listeners in countries where English is not a primary language, and where local media in English are sparse. The audiences in these countries are people who use English as a second language, as well as people from English-speaking countries who are expatriates, visitors, workers, students, diplomats, volunteers, etc. The target audience for VOA English is, therefore, not so much in any one country. Instead, the target audience is the global community of English speaking people. This is an elite audience, the movers and shakers of the world. What they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality. In fact, if one adds up all the mostly small English audiences in all the countries, they amount to 15 million, or around 20 percent of VOA's worldwide audience. And those are just the ones who are actually counted. Generally, expatriates and travelers are not included in national sample surveys. Many in this audience are Americans abroad: workers, students, Peace Corps volunteers, missionaries, diplomats, military personnel, etc. Americans overseas have never been considered part of VOA's mandate. This is curious, given that it is a key mission of the international radio station of virtually every other country to broadcast to countrypersons abroad. Perhaps the old Smith-Mundt law, which prohibits VOA from broadcasting within the United States, is the impediment. But Americans in other countries are not considered "domestic." Indeed, in an increasingly dangerous world, Americans abroad ought to be considered a priority audience for U.S. international broadcasting. De facto, they already are; when the State Department plans to evacuate American citizens from a country in turmoil, it turns to VOA to make the announcements. Evidence of Americans listening to VOA is ample in the letters and e- mails received by VOA. For example, Peace Corps volunteer Patricia Bigelow, a Peace Corp volunteer in Kazakhstan, wrote, "You have no idea what listening to your program means to a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Kazakhstan. I share the one shortwave radio with seven other volunteers." Americans are not the only English-speaking expatriates who depend on VOA. Asian and African guest workers in Arab countries are grateful to VOA for news from their countries, or indeed for any friendly voice on the radio in English. Some of the listeners are even on the high seas, including Leonid La- Anan Jr., who wrote, "I am a Filipino seaman on board a German container vessel, underway from China to Korea, and a listener to VOA since 1980. Maybe if there is an award for the most hours of listening to VOA everyday, I think I am the winner." Many of these English listeners are interested in news about where they are from, at least as much as where they are. The VOA News Now service therefore succeeds by remaining global in scope rather than focusing on specific regions. Shortwave 24 hours works While English is being reduced from 24 hours, expansion of broadcasting to 24 hours has been implemented, planned or contemplated in languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Korean. Audience research shows that fans are large during a few peak morning and evening hours, then, not surprisingly, dwindle when people are asleep or at work. English speakers are not limited to one or two time zones. They are virtually everywhere in world, on land and sea. Every of the hour of the day is prime time somewhere. English is the one language in which 24-hour broadcasting is an efficient use of resources. One reason for cutting English is the expense of transmitting on shortwave 24 hours a day. The hourly cost of 500-kilowatt transmitters can be a conspicuous line item in a budget. Less-expensive alternatives to shortwave now are available. The Internet is definitely cheaper than shortwave, and it may well become the primary vehicle of international broadcasting. However, if a person "accesses" VOA English via the Web, he or she also has access to hundreds of other English-language news sites, many with more news than VOA. If one listens to VOA on a shortwave radio, it's an indication that he or she lives in an area where the Internet connections and satellite receivers are not available, or are restricted. VOA is just one of thousands of English-language websites, but VOA is uniquely available throughout the globe via shortwave. Only BBC World Service has a comparable capability. Many VOA non-English language services have dropped shortwave because they are now relayed in their target countries on FM or AM transmitters. While this usually brings larger audiences, it also entails a higher risk. The transmitters can and are turned off when their content incurs the displeasure of the host governments, or during wars, revolutions, or other crises, i.e. when international broadcasting is most needed. And so the U.S. government's global shortwave network remains a vital insurance policy. It can get into countries when other media are unavailable. That network should remain viable if it should ever again be needed to reach countries in acute need of information. The way to do this is to keep the frequencies occupied, so that they are not taken over by other stations. And because radio transmitters tend to fall into disrepair if they are not used, they should be kept on the air. VOA's frequencies and transmitters can be put to good use by using the old BBC World Service concept: Transmit in English on as many frequencies as possible, for as many hours as possible, to as many parts of the world as possible. If this is done, VOA should generally be audible any place in the world at any time. The global English audience would not need a program schedule; they could find VOA by tuning across the dial. If people in a country find their domestic media restricted by a new dictator or a fresh crisis, they will dust off their shortwave radios and seek news from foreign stations. VOA can respond to this need by switching many of its English World Service shortwave transmitters to the appropriate language. Affiliation with domestic radio Another reason the decision makers have reduced the hours of VOA English broadcasts is the cost of personnel required to maintain a 24- hour information-intensive channel. Here, VOA could supplement its own English broadcast team by affiliating with domestic American broadcasting. I am not thinking of hyper-opinionated talk shows, but rather the many creditable news, current affairs, music and special interest programs available from American commercial and noncommercial radio networks. Just as VOA is retreating from English broadcasting, another international broadcaster is enhancing its English output. On its Dec. 13 "Listener's Garden" program, China Radio International announced that it is expanding its English output to 24 hours. When Osama bin Laden is captured, will VOA News Now be on the air? Or will listeners around the world have to hear the news from Beijing? Kim Andrew Elliott is an audience research analyst in the United States International Broadcasting Bureau. Views expressed are his own. Radio World welcomes other points of view (via DXLD) ** U S A. The item in 4-068 about KVOH, 17775 IDing as La Voz de la Restauración correlates with the item in 4-064 about that slogan being heard on 17715, and I suggested it could be a KVOH spur. Now I am wondering if 17715 was a typo for 17775? I belatedly look at the website http://www.restauracion.com but find nothing about KVOH or SW, altho they have a new 24 hour windows media stream. Most of the operations are in southern California (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. AIR AMERICA GROUNDED IN DISPUTE OVER MONEY April 15, 2004 BY ROBERT FEDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST At this point along the way in the development of Air America, backers of the liberal talk radio network had hoped to be making some real progress. "First, we want the buzz and hype to die down so we can get down to being in real business and operate a real radio business where we hit our marks and run our ads," Mark Walsh, chief executive officer of parent company Progress Media, told Radio & Records on the eve of Air America's launch late last month. But on Wednesday -- after two weeks on a handful of stations -- Air America sounded like anything but a real radio business. Listeners to Chicago affiliate WNTD-AM (950) and Los Angeles affiliate KBLA-AM tuned in to hear nothing but Spanish-language talk programming in place of Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and the rest of Air America's left-wing lineup. At the heart of the terribly embarrassing and possibly fatal blackout was a dispute over payment to New York-based Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, the licensee of WNTD and KBLA, which leases time to Air America. In pulling the plug on Air America and changing the locks on its studios, Multicultural Radio Broadcasting officials said the network had failed to make payments for its air time. Air America immediately slapped the company with a lawsuit disputing the nonpayment claim and seeking reinstatement on the air. "Multicultural Radio Broadcasting's conduct in this matter has been disgraceful," Evan Cohen, chairman of Air America, said in a statement. "To shut off a broadcast that listeners rely on without warning and in the middle of discussions is the height of irresponsibility and a slap in the face of the media industry." Linda Packer Spitz, Chicago market manager for the network, ducked calls Wednesday. Air America continues to be heard at: airamericaradio.com (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. LIBERAL RADIO STATIONS SILENCED By John Cook, Tribune staff reporter, April 14, 2004, 1:45 PM CDT After just two weeks of broadcasting, Air America Radio, the fledgling liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, in a dispute over payments for airtime. Arthur Liu, owner of Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, which owns Air America affiliates WNTD-950 AM in Chicago and KBLA-1580 AM in Los Angeles, said Air America bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million. Air America and Multicultural had entered into a time brokerage agreement in which the network was essentially renting Multicultural's airtime, Liu said. "They bounced a check today," Liu said. "It's a default. They have paid only a very small portion of what they owe us." Liu declined to say how much Multicultural is owed, but did say he is holding $1 million in checks that Air America has asked the company not to cash. "They've been saying, 'We're going to get you the money' for the past two months," Liu said, referring to a security deposit that he said Air America was supposed to have prepaid in advance of its launch. "They're not honoring our agreement." "That is an outright lie," said Evan Cohen, Air America's chairman, in a statement. "Multicultural Radio Broadcasting's conduct in this matter has been disgraceful.... [I]t is a clear violation of their contractual obligations." Air America filed a complaint today in New York state Supreme Court charging Multicultural with breaching their contract and seeking an injunction to force Multicultural to restore the Air America broadcast on both stations. Listeners who tuned into WNTD-950, Air America's Chicago affiliate, Wednesday morning heard Spanish-language talk radio instead of "Morning Sedition" and "Unfiltered," the network's morning talk shows. A Chicago source familiar with the situation said a Multicultural representative showed up at WNTD's offices this morning, kicked out Air America's lone staffer overseeing the network's feed to the station from New York, switched over to a Spanish-language feed, and changed the locks on the doors. Liu said the same thing happened at KBLA in Los Angeles. Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune (via Jim Moats, Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) LIBERAL TALK RADIO AIR AMERICA YANKED IN CHICAGO, LA http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004/0401/041504-radio.htm (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. AIR AMERICA`S TAKE ON THE CHICAGO & LA SITUATION: http://www.airamericaradio.com/pub/resNews.htm The Sludge Report After just two weeks on the air, Air America Radio, the fledgling liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, and that really loud woman from Florida, appears to have encountered serious cash-flow problems. Stop the presses!!! There’s nothing more exciting than half a story from a third hand source!!!! Insiders tell SLUDGE, that the reason the network was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, was because, the owner of both stations, Arthur Liu of Multicultural Broadcasting, said, the network bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million! The run-on sentence, tortured grammar and the exclamation point clearly means it’s true!! Only it isn`t. Normally we`d let this go because ``habitual liars`` like Drudge are laughable, and ridicule is our business. But Arthur Liu --- not funny. He lied to us, he ripped us off and now we`re chasing him down with a pipe wrench. It`s a metaphor. Here`s what really happened: This Liu-ser was ripping off our boss Evan Cohen big time (he can`t do that, that`s our job). Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer from ripping him off even more. You can touch Evan for the occasional meal or drinks but a million bucks is crossing the line. And if we ever get low on cash, we can always call Barbra Streisand. Or any of the Baldwins. Except Stephen. So we got screwed, Liu`d, and tattooed. How Liu can you get? In Liu of payment. Liu`d and lascivious behavior. These write themselves. What we`re getting at is that we hate him. So now everyone`s saying we`re going down the dumper in Chicago and Los Angeles, but what they don`t tell you is that we’re still on in Portland. And we OWN Portland. And let’s not forget Riverside and Plattsburgh. And New York. And streaming on the internet. And XM. And Sirius. Actually we`re fine. So cool your jets. Air America Radio isn`t dead, we`re in court and we`re going to slam Liu`s head in a car door. Another metaphor. We hope to be back on the air tomorrow or the next day in those markets. In the meantime, why don`t you give Arthur a call at (212) 966-1059. Arthur Liu, I wouldn`t show your face around here. Or Riverside. Or Plattsburgh. DEVELOPING . . . (Air America website via DXLD) {reversal by TRO: 4-070} ** U S A. A RADIO VOICE CHALLENGING RIGHT-WING TALKERS April 14, 2004 By ROBIN FINN FIRST, one submits to being frisked in the hallway by Eddie, a formerly homeless guy from New Paltz, N.Y., whose thoroughness depends on his mood. Second, one is compelled to wipe one's feet on the doormat before crossing the threshold. What's next, the interrogation or the credential check? Are all stand-up comedians this standoffish when their personal turf is invaded? Considering her quite public role as an unmuzzled mouthpiece of the laissez-faire left, Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central and director of entertainment programming and a host on Air America Radio, which debuted on March 31, lays down some pretty nonliberal rules for gaining access to her loft near Astor Place. Stringent rules that turn madcap when deconstructed. . . http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/14/nyregion/14profile.html?ex=1082974272&ei=1&en=099b52eafec3989b (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/14/nyregion/14profile.html?pagewanted=print&position= (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. DOES NPR HAVE COMPETITION? MORE ALL THE TIME NPR Ombudsman By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin Web Extra April 14, 2004 -- Many listeners tell me they find NPR to be an example of liberal media bias. When so much of the radio landscape is explicitly right wing, anything that is not openly conservative can sound liberal in comparison. But with the arrival of "Air America Radio," it's NPR that sounds a lot more conservative -- and a lot more sedate. . . http://www.npr.org/features/columns/column.php?columnId=2781901 (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I was happy to see that NPR has an ombudsman. I did not know this until you mentioned it [on WOR Extra 46]. Can you tell me if part of the task of the ombudsman is to listen to listener complaints. Also, I would appreciate knowing if this person can be contacted at: ombudsman @ npr.org Perhaps you can go to the NPR web site and find this out. I find web sites very confusing and hard to do. I would like to tell you about my on-going dispute with NPR. I would value your opinion on this matter. Over the past five or six years, I have written perhaps 25 or more letters to NPR, all on the same subject. I have accomplished absolutely nothing. In fact, I fear that by now they merely regard me as a crank. My issue is this: all NPR programs, except Morning Edition, offer only e-mail as a way to write to the programs. No PO box, no phone number. This leaves out and discriminates against the thousands of people who do not have internet access. I have written numerous letters to Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, even the Puzzle and Randy Cohen, the so-called ethicist. I have attempted to point out how unfair it is that listeners without internet access cannot interact with NPR programs. The biggest constituency I have in mind is blind people. The software needed to make a computer speak costs more than a basic entry-level computer for a sighted person. In addition, use of this software is not at all intuitive, and requires quite a bit of training or experimentation, especially for those who are not experienced with computers. I also know many sighted people who are not on the internet. My property owner and landlady is one, despite the fact that she has a college degree. She simply has no time or money for a computer. My 84-year-old father is another. Not that he listens to NPR, but, he does not use a computer. The argument is made that a person like my father, or my landlady, can go to the library and use a computer. This assumes that: A. they have the time, and B. they know how. Would my dad go to a library and ask an assistant who is probably the age of one of his grand children to show him how to use a computer? Probably not. To all of these arguments, I have received basically no answer from NPR. One time I received a call from a person who was obviously a secretary or office person. She offered to "give me" the special number where I could reach NPR programs. I tried to explain to her that the issue was not me, that, in fact, I have e-mail, but, the issue was the fact that thousands of people were being left out. This woman didn't have a clue what I was saying, or, perhaps, had no interest. I suspect that her boss simply told her "get this guy off our backs!" One of the arguments I have tried to use in attempting to persuade NPR to look at this issue is the way in which fund raising is done. I suggested that if NPR thinks all of its listeners are on the internet, or if they do not care about the rest of us, why, then, not simply let everyone pay their membership dues via PayPal and save all that work in the studio, taking phone pledges, etc. If we are good enough to call in and pledge, why aren't we good enough to have a voice other than on the internet. I also pointed out that all of the far-right programs, such as James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, have postal and telephone contact available, only NPR restricts itself to the internet. Glenn, do you know what response I got from NPR to all this? Zero! They didn't even bother to answer any of my letters, and I have written some 25, except for the one phone call I told you about. I have written to my local station manager with the same results. I have supported NPR for many years, but, finally, I have withdrawn my support from them. Glenn, do you think I am crazy? Do you think I am a crank? Does NPR simply not give a damn about its listeners, or, have I simply not found the right "ear" to listen to me? I am going to try to write to the ombudsman, but, I would like your opinion on this situation. Thanks for listening, (Tim Hendel, Huntsville, AL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tim, Yes, the address for the NPR Ombudsman is ombudsman @ npr.org His name is Jeffrey Dvorkin. He supposedly represents the listener`s interests to the organization. He just wrote a column about Air America and how it may impact NPR. I couldn`t second-guess how he would react to your concern, but maybe he will actually see it if you write to that address. The website does show a mailing address for NPR of 635 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001. So they never give it on the air except on Morning Edition? I recall they used to for the Sunday puzzle entries, but not any more, I guess since they want to get everything in quickly in time for the following week`s show. I think you have a very good point, not crazy or a crank, and wish you good luck with this approach (Glenn to Tim, via DXLD) ** U S A. US GOVERNMENT "CENSORING" PROGRAMMES FOR THE DEAF The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) in the United States is urging President Bush to overturn a decision by the US Department of Education to declare almost 200 television shows inappropriate for captioning. NAD President Andrew J Lange says the Department's action is government censorship, and contradicts President Bush`s promotion of family values and parental accountability. Under the current guidelines, applicants for captioning grants take into account the preferences of consumers, through grantee Consumer Advisory Boards (CABs) and other feedback mechanisms, when selecting "educational, news, or informational" programmes for captioning. The recent decision deeming almost 200 television shows inappropriate for captioning apparently was based entirely on additional descriptive categories and actions of an external panel of five unnamed individuals. Required federal rulemaking processes were completely disregarded, and thus the public was not consulted. Nancy J Bloch, NAD Executive Director, said, "This secretive process amounts to censorship, which runs counter to the principles of the First Amendment freedom of speech. This action also segregates over 28 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals from access to the same shows as everyone else in America." In addition, Bloch added, families of persons with a hearing loss (parents, siblings, and grandparents in particular) bring the number of persons adversely impacted to many millions more. "Without captioning, millions of deaf and hard of hearing parents, such as myself, are unable to preview shows for appropriate content for their children, to watch television programming with their families, or to engage in dialogue with their children in response to televised programmes. Education does not stop at the schoolhouse door. My duties and responsibilities as a parent to pass on our family values to my children have been undermined by a few government officials," said Lange who called upon the President to practice what he preaches and restore parental authority by overturning the recent censorship decision. Similar efforts to censor captioning in 1998 were met by a massive, nationwide outcry of consumer protest. These censorship efforts failed, in part, because then-Department of Education Secretary Richard W Riley affirmed that the government should not "supersede the individual judgment of millions of deaf Americans" nor should the Department single out particular television programmes resulting in a denial of access for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. For a list of recently approved and disapproved television programs for US Department of Education captioning support, visit http://www.nad.org/openhouse/action/alerts/captioningcensorship/list.html # posted by Andy @ 08:00 UT April 13 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. TEENAGE GIRLS SPIN THE DIAL TOWARD POSITIVE LYRICS The Christian Science Monitor - csmonitor.com from the April 13, 2004 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0413/p14s01-legn.html By April Austin | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor High on a hill overlooking triple-decker houses and hairpin streets, a handful of girls from the predominantly African-American and immigrant-rich Dorchester neighborhood of Boston are giving their own spin to radio. These are the young women of Radio LOG 540 AM, a low- power station that sends out a high-decibel message of respect and empowerment for girls. These are young women on a mission. Conceived by three teenage girls fed up with the bad-mouthing of women and girls in rap and hip-hop songs, the station has expanded to include 12 girls and a 12-week course in media literacy through the Log School. It was launched in February with much fanfare. It's late afternoon on a Monday, and the girls - ages 13 to 18 - come straight from school to spend the next 3-1/2 hours in this small room. After grabbing sandwiches from atop a file cabinet, they divide up the day's tasks under the proud eye of Pat Younger and Steve Drayton, two of the station's adult advisers. Radio LOG is on the air from 4 to 7 p.m., and the girls write public-service announcements, conduct interviews and chat sessions, and play music that sends a positive message to girls. Today, Melissa Martin sits at the board and spins Cape Verdean music, while her teammates quickly settle into a rhythm. Jandira Cardosa takes on the job of producer, and Azia Carle, the youngest team member at 13, will read local news of interest to teens. Dalida Rocha, who at 19 has already graduated from high school, comes in frequently to lend a hand. Today, she's going over an already vetted pile of CDs to help figure out the play list. Atop the stack is Alicia Keyes. Rap music is everywhere, says Stephanie Alves, one of the founders, who's now a freshman at Boston College. "Kids as young as 5 are going around singing these [sexually explicit] lyrics, and they don't know what they're saying." Ms. Alves, along with Ms. Rocha and Mary Lewis, decided it was time for a change. They wanted an alternative to radio stations that played endless rap and hip-hop songs that depicted women as sex objects and fashion accessories. So two years ago, they took their idea to Larry Mayes, director of the Log School in Dorchester. The timing couldn't have been better, as Mr. Mayes was looking for a way to add a radio station to the school's programs. An all-girl radio station was born. The station, which was enthusiastically endorsed by Boston Mayor Tom Menino, has plans to take its broadcasts to the Web, possibly in the summer. Expanding its current 1-square-mile range would be a boon, but the girls say they're already reaching peers in the neighborhood. "We want them to trust themselves," says Rocha. "If the girls change, if they stop listening to rappers [who] disrespect them, then [eventually] the industry might pay attention." The young women insist that they're not out to tell people what to listen to or to preach against rap, but to offer alternatives. Mayor Menino says Radio LOG is successful because "it's teenagers speaking to teenagers, not just a program handed down by adults." Rocha and others say they still listen to rap, such as 50 Cent and Li'l Kim, but they're much more aware of the lyrics and of what message they take in. And they find few rap or hip-hop artists whose songs meet the standards for Radio LOG's format. "I like the beat, but these singers still put girls down," Rocha says. The tools for analyzing these images are taught in Ms. Younger's Media Minds course, which she says walks a line between the practical aspects of running a station and the academic work of dissecting media messages. From the start, she has seen an immediate rise in her students' self-esteem. They begin to see how the media, especially advertising, can set the tone for music and images that degrade women, she says. "We all understand the power of words," says Danene Washington of Youth Entertainment Studios in Chesapeake, Va., which designed the radio-training curriculum used by R-LOG. "Words seep into your spirit." Full HTML version of this story may include photos, graphics, and related links. Copyright (c) 2004 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved (via Mike Cooper DXLD) {CNN had a few-minute feature on this April 16; they pronounce it `Radio L-O-G`; means Listen to Our Girls?? Has anyone DXed it?} ** U S A. SCHNEIDER: BEER DOUSES STATION'S BID TO BROADCAST TIGERS GAMES --- http://www.lsj.com/columnists/schneider/040406_john_1b.html Published April 06, 2004 CHARLOTTE - As if we needed further proof that the world is upside- down these days, I confirmed Monday - on the very day that the Detroit Tigers began their major league season - that beer got in the way of baseball. Radio station WLCM-AM (1390) in Charlotte was THIS CLOSE to signing a deal to broadcast the Tigers games this year - and rescue local fans from a season-long radio rain-out. Then, the most wicked of curveballs ... Station manager Jeff Frank learned that the Tigers broadcast package included commercials for Miller beer. "Being a Christian station, we couldn't accept that," Frank said. So, faster than you could say, "Play ball," the deal went sour. Frank said he explored the possibility of substituting a different kind of commercial for the beer ads, but the proposal was not acceptable to the folks at WXYT-AM (1270) in Detroit, the Tigers' flagship station. "I guess Miller was just too big a sponsor," Frank said. Lugnuts prevail As I've written in previous columns, no local radio station will broadcast the Tigers this year. Station 92.7-FM The Ticket (WQTX), which carried the games last year, dropped the Tigers in favor of the Lansing Lugnuts. Program director Paul Cashin described the decision as a "community involvement" move - his theory being that the Lugnuts are more a part of Lansing than the Tigers are. That, according to the folks at Detroit's WXYT, makes Lansing the only "major market" in Michigan without a Tigers station - for the first time in, well ... nobody can say. There is a Tigers radio affiliate in another state (WLQR-AM, in Toledo, Ohio) and in a foreign country (CJBK-AM, in London, Ontario) but not in Michigan's capital city. Unhappy fans That's strictly bush league in the eyes of many local Tigers fans - a surprising number of whom have filled my e-mail box in recent days with their protests. "It's ironic," wrote Steve Pollo of Lansing, "that at a time when the Tigers have had record ticket sales after signing (Iván) Pudge Rodríguez, that the third-largest radio market in the state, with two stations purportedly marketed to sports fans plus another commercial news/talk station, has no Tiger broadcast affiliate. "That the former affiliate could come to the conclusion that broadcasting the Lansing Lugnuts is a better alternative to the Tigers shows the shortsightedness of broadcast management." Late last week there was a glimmer of hope - a rumor that WLCM in Charlotte was going to step up to the plate. The Christian-talk station seemed like a perfect fit for the Tigers, who, coming off last season's 43-119 record, could use some prayerful fans this year. Frank said the deal fell apart about 10 days ago, after an agreement seemed imminent. The one fly in the ointment, he said, was the Miller commercials. It might be the first time in history that beer has interfered with baseball. Depending on your exact location, atmospheric conditions and the quality of your radio, you maybe able to reach Tigers games on WTKA-AM in Ann Arbor (1050), WIBM-AM in Jackson (1450), WSGW-AM in Saginaw (790), WRCC/WBCK-AM in Battle Creek (1400), or WMFN-AM in Grand Rapids (640). John Schneider, From the Lansing State Journal. Note the partial Tigers network listing. http://www.lsj.com/columnists/schneider/040412_john_1b.html for some letters from readers ("readers say station hits home run with anti-beer stand") 73 (via Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn: Re. the item about the CP grant for site change, etc, for KATZ, [1600] St. Louis: The site change is necessary because the Illinois Dept. of Transportation plans to build a freeway ramp through the present site. (The KATZ transmitter is on the E. side of the Mississippi, the Illinois side, just south of the 550 and 630 sites.) The present and proposed antenna systems are 8 tower end-fire arrays, among the most complex used in the MF band. The present nighttime operation is licensed for 5 kW, but the actual radiation pattern size ("RMS" to engineers) is the equivalent of 3.5 kW. The FCC formerly licensed AM stations at "nominal" power levels in discrete steps, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0 kW, etc., even though the "real" power (which is determined from the pattern RMS) might be lower. That policy was changed when the FCC modified the rules to allow licensing at most any power level, dependent only on the pattern RMS, with power specified to 2 decimal places for powers above 250 watts. So that relicensing the nominal 5 kW but actual 3.5 kW operation of KATZ results in a fictional apparent power reduction. There is actually only a negligible very slight decrease, from an RMS of 642 to an RMS of 637 mV/km, or about 0.077 dB. Still plenty hot enough to enter into the calculation of night interference levels to stations all the way to the west coast! (Benj. F. Dawson III, P.E., Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers, LLC, 9500 Greenwood Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103 USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re: KNAX [1630 Metroplex]. FYI, I think it's "Radio A y O" which translates as "Radio Alpha and Omega" since Jesus Christ said "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" in the book of Revelation in the Bible. Sincerely (Walter C. Daugherity, College Station, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, as I also suggested (gh) ** U S A. April 15, 1994 - 10 years ago Thursday Entertainment > TV & Radio > Story THIS SPACEY TALK-SHOW HOST IS A HANNA-BARBERA GHOST By Daniel P. Finney Of the St Louis Post-Dispatch 04/12/2004 Guest William Shatner goes one-on-one with Space Ghost. [caption] To celebrate the 10th anniversary of "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" Thursday we now stop production of this story for an awkward pause. OK, now back to the matter at hand. If you think the previous sentences are among the most bizarre (and possible the most stupid) you've ever read in a daily newspaper, you probably haven't seen the Cartoon Network's relentlessly deadpan superhero-hosted talk show "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast." The show uses animated characters cut out of a little-known 1960s 'toon "Space Ghost." The characters are superimposed onto new backgrounds simulating a talk show. Space Ghost, once an interstellar crimefighter, is now a dim-whited, {sic} easily distracted host. His former mortal enemy, Zorak, a giant preying mantis, is the band leader. Deadly foe Moltar is the show's director. The show sports actual human guests who appear live-action on a tiny screen next to Space Ghost, including A-listers such as Jim Carrey, Ice-T and Cameron Diaz as well as pop culture favorites such as Adam West (TV's "Batman") and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker of "Star Wars"). "Space Ghost" became an immediate hit with college kids coming home late from the bars, second-shifters and other night owls prowling the airwaves looking for something, well, odd. "Initially, I stumbled on it, and I was kind of like, 'Well, they've gone nuts,' " says Lloyd Bruce, a 39-year-old "Space Ghost" fan from St. Louis. "After time, it kind of grew on me. It's a strange sense of humor, but they are entertaining." "Space Ghost's" success paved the way for a new block of adult-targeted programming called Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. Adult Swim, which runs Sunday through Thursday after 10 p.m., features edgy Japanese animation such as "Cowboy Bebop" and comedies that bombed on the networks, such as "The Family Guy" and "Futurama" as well as original programming on the Cartoon Network such as "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law." Adult Swim kicked off a mini-revolution in television. The reruns of "The Family Guy" during Adult Swim, coupled with strong DVD boxed set sales, helped resurrect the show. The Cartoon Network announced earlier this month that it had ordered 36 new episodes of "The Family Guy" and will begin airing them in 2005. This marks the first time in TV history that a canceled show returned from the dead more than two years after execution. "Adult Swim is a ritual at our house," says Blake Fuller, a 20-year- old Washington University student and Theta Xi fraternity member. "From 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., we all get together and watch Adult Swim stuff like 'Family Guy' and 'Space Ghost.' It's huge all over campus." And it all began 10 years ago with an obscure hero named Space Ghost. In 1994, the Cartoon Network was largely seen as a dumping ground for old Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 1960s, '70s and '80s such as "Scooby-Doo," "Super Friends" and "Yogi Bear." Cartoon Network's Mike Lazzo and others wanted to do some original programming, even possibly a talk show. "In 1994, (David) Letterman had just gone to CBS, and he and (Jay) Leno were really battling it out for guests in the late night wars," Lazzo says. "We thought it would be really funny to do a talk show but with a superhero." Lazzo and his group took their idea to Ted Turner, then owner of the all-animation cable network and Turner "literally threw us out of his office." Turner said he spent millions to acquire the Hanna-Barbera library and suggested the producers work with that. The challenge led to ripping the "Space Ghost" characters from the old cartoon and placing them in a talk show milieu. The mouths were re- animated to look as if they were talking along with new voice tracks that Lazzo ordered for the new show. The result was a very discombobulated, yet starkly funny animated super-hero talk show host. His movement was unnatural, he blasted his co-host Zorak with an energy ray from his power wristbands and he argued constantly with his director Moltar. In the early days, Lazzo depended on getting guests who stopped by then-Turner-owned CNN for interviews. "We would basically beg them to do five minutes with us," Lazzo says. "After ('Space Ghost') caught on we started getting calls from major stars who wanted to be on the show because it was so hip and different." These days, the Cartoon Network has no trouble getting guests for "Space Ghost" or convincing them to go along with the odd-ball, dry humor on the show. Although most guests look as if they can barely contain their laugher while doing their bits. While the technology on the show has improved since 1994, the overall visual quality hasn't changed much. "We knew adults really didn't care about the quality of animation," Lazzo says. "With children, if you had something brightly colored and moving, you could make it go. But with adults, they become bored pretty quickly with the dancing brooms unless it's exceedingly well done. From the start, words were more important than pictures." The dry humor employed on "Space Ghost" is slightly reminiscent of the early NBC "Late Night with David Letterman" sketches, when the gags were lame and the fun was in watching Letterman react to the failure of it all. "It's just so unusual," says Cory McCoy, a 28-year-old fan from Fairview Heights. "There are these awkward pauses where they go back and forth between the guest and Space Ghost and don't say or do anything and it's just hilarious." The Cartoon Network used the "Space Ghost" format on a handful of other new series, including "Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law," in which the former high-flying Birdman defends other cartoon heroes in court. In one case, Birdman tries to get Shaggy and Scooby, from "Scooby-Doo" off drug possession charges. Lazzo says the Cartoon Network is searching for a runaway hit such as "The Simpsons" or "South Park." It's hoping "Space Ghost" may provide the template for that future show. "What 'Space Ghost' taught us is that if you offer something no one else is doing and that you can't find elsewhere, you can be successful," Lazzo says. "You ought to see what we've got in the works. It's called 'Adventure Brothers' and there are these red-neck squids who are detectives, it's sort of a Hardy Boys meets 'Johnny Quest' thing . . ." Oh no, here we go again (via Tom Roche, DXLD) AFAIK, hardly any new SGC2C episodes are being produced; it usually appears, but not always, UT Mon 0415-0430 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. NEGOTIATIONS STALLED FOR VOICE ACTORS IN 'THE SIMPSONS' http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/14/arts/television/14SIMP.html?pagewanted=print&position= The New York Times April 14, 2004 By BERNARD WEINRAUB LOS ANGELES, April 13 --- On television Homer J. Simpson is an underachiever, the safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, with the record for most years worked at an entry-level position. In real life Mr. Simpson and his family of subversives have, by the estimate of accountants employed by the actors who supply their voices, earned Fox upward of $2.5 billion as the stars of one of the longest-running prime-time series in television history. Now those actors are demanding their share of the wealth. Insisting that "The Simpsons" would not be the same without them, the professionals behind the voices of Homer, Bart, Marge and the show's other animated characters are holding out for the kind of financial rewards earned by actors on hit sitcoms like "Friends" and "Frasier." Hollywood executives say that the actors' insistence on not just a near tripling of their salaries to $8 million a season but also on a share of the show's profits is a first for an animated series, a genre that studios and networks have counted on for predictable costs and peaceable casts. A senior Fox executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the actors' estimate of revenues for "The Simpsons" was "extravagantly high" and that the figures did not reflect the considerable expenses of a series that employs large numbers of writers, producers and animators. (He declined to discuss revenues for the show.) But other television executives said the $2.5 billion figure was not out of line, given the syndication fees for "The Simpsons," its huge success in merchandising and its potential DVD sales. According to Fox, "The Simpsons" is averaging 11.5 million viewers an episode, down 2 million viewers from last season. But the show is still the network's No. 1 Sunday series and ranks first in its time slot for adult viewers 18 to 49, a much sought-after age group. The show is also the longest-running animated series ever. The fall season for "The Simpsons," normally 22 episodes, will be cut short because of the contract impasse, the Fox executive said. "We can't saddle the show with costs that make it uneconomical to produce," he added. But money is not the only issue. At stake in the negotiations over "The Simpsons" is a potential precedent that could color the broadcast networks' competition with cable networks, which increasingly schedule cutting-edge animated shows aimed as much at adults as at children. What faces the networks and the actors is the question of how important are the voices, and even personalities, of the performers portraying animated characters. Are they anonymous, perhaps interchangeable? Or are they as important to the success of an animated series as, say, the actors on "Will and Grace" and "Friends"? Animation might play a much smaller role on television if voice performers were to be paid as much as actors who appear in the flesh. Six years ago, during an earlier round of strained contract negotiations between Fox and the leading actors on "The Simpsons," the studio hired casting directors around the country to find replacements but failed, said David E. Weber, the lawyer for Hank Azaria (who provides the voices of Moe, Apu and other characters), and John S. Kelly, the agent for Yeardley Smith (Lisa), in a joint interview. "The issue is twofold," said Mr. Kelly, a partner in Bresler-Kelly & Associates in Los Angeles. "The personalities that the audience identifies with for each of these characters don't come from the drawings but from the personalities of the characters, which are provided by the actors. The second thing is there are 40-some regular characters on the show. They're all voiced by these six actors." According to the financial analysis developed for the actors, Fox, which has financed the series from its start in 1989, has earned $2.5 billion to $3 billion from "The Simpsons," mostly from syndication, advertising, foreign license fees and merchandising. Several television agents said "Friends" might generate comparable figures in syndication. "In contrast to numerous other successful shows, none of this is being distributed to the actors," said Mr. Weber, a partner in the Beverly Hills law firm Offer, Weber & Dern. "There's no back-end position at all," he said, using an industry term for profit sharing, "or the upfront fees have not been significantly raised as a recognition of past contributions to the financial success of the show." "What we're really asking for is what's customary in the television business for actors on successful shows," he continued. "We're not getting it." But the Fox executive said it was "an enormous stretch" for the actors on "The Simpsons" to compare themselves to stars like Ray Romano of "Everybody Loves Raymond" or the cast of "Friends." Those performers, the executive said, are significantly identified with their characters, perhaps to the detriment of their future careers. Sitcom casts, he added, work almost exclusively on their shows, while the actors on "The Simpsons" generally work two half-days for each episode, leaving them time to play other roles in films, the theater and television with relative ease. "They get paid extremely well," the executive said. Aside from Ms. Smith and Mr. Azaria, the actors in negotiations are Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart) and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns and others). They were initially paid $3,000 an episode, their representatives say, and now earn about $125,000 an episode. The actors are seeking $360,000 an episode, as well as a percentage of the show's profits. "The bottom line is these people have been working on the show for 15 years," Mr. Weber said. "It started at such a low end that it was impossible to see this length of success and this length of service to the show. So there's a lot more to be made up for in the long run." Recent sitcom stars like Mr. Romano, Jerry Seinfeld and Michael J. Fox have shared in the profits of their series. The arrangement allows them to continue to earn large sums from syndication fees after the shows cease production. Actors on hit shows who are not granted profit percentages are often given huge pay packages instead. Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards earned about $600,000 an episode in the final year of "Seinfeld," said several television agents. In the final two years of "Friends" each member of the cast has been earning more than $1 million an episode, they said. Like many other successful network comedies, "The Simpsons" is partly owned by its creators. Matt Groening, a comic strip writer and artist, invented "The Simpsons" as a series of short vignettes for "The Tracey Ullman Show" on Fox. James L. Brooks, the writer and producer, helped turn the show into a half-hour series and and is still an executive producer. They have each earned at least $150 million, perhaps far more, from deals that cover not only syndication rights but also licensing, merchandising and video rights, said people with knowledge of the financial arrangements. (Potentially lucrative DVD rights are not covered in such deals, which date to the early 1990's.) The Fox executive said it was unclear how much of the forthcoming season of "The Simpsons" would be cut. Production was set to begin in March but has been delayed. A March 19 letter to the actors' representatives, signed by Neal S. Baseman, senior vice president for business affairs at 20th Century Fox Television, said "continuing negotiations at this time" would "not be in the best interests" of the studio. The negotiations have been suspended. The actors and their representatives have hired Sitrick & Company, a Los Angeles public relations firm that often deals with corporate crisis management to press their case for higher pay. The actors' representatives and Sitrick executives declined to name the television industry financial consultant who wrote the detailed 12-page report on Fox's revenues from "The Simpsons." Sitrick & Company said the author was a respected financial analyst who worked for several television studios, including Fox, and therefore did not want his name made public. The report says that Fox's syndication earnings from "The Simpsons" are close to $1 billion and that the network's prime-time advertising revenues from the series have exceeded $500 million. If, as planned, "The Simpsons" remains on the Fox schedule through at least May 2005, the show will have completed 16 seasons, passing "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" as the longest-running sitcom on television. "Ozzie & Harriet" ran from 1952 to 1966. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. STATION OWNER GUILTY IN GUN DISPLAY By Chris Lewis, April 13, 2004 Nashville City Paper http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=9&screen=newsprint&news_id=32245 John Heidelberg, the owner of radio station WVOL, has been found guilty of misdemeanor assault for displaying a gun during a meeting with employees nearly two years ago. The conviction carries a punishment of up to a year in jail - less than the three to six years of jail time he would have faced under the felony aggravated assault charges sought in a grand jury indictment last June. Heidelberg, who is credited for giving Oprah Winfrey her first radio job, pulled out a gun in a closed-door meeting with employees in July 2003. Heidelberg said put the gun in his pocket because he was concerned for his safety when confronting deejay Jimi Bruce about a personnel matter. Bruce sought criminal and civil charges against Heidelberg, saying he feared for his life when Heidelberg came at him with a gun in hand. In a written ruling issued on Thursday, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Seth Norman said although it was clear that Heidelberg displayed the gun, "it was not done in such a manner as to threaten the victim." But Norman also said he didn't believe Heidelberg was acting in self defense. Bruce said the verdict offered some satisfaction. "I prayed that at least (Heidelberg) wouldn't get acquittal, because this vindicates a lot of the things that he's tried to say about me that has [cast] doubt about my character," Bruce said. Heidelberg's attorney, Bryan Lewis, said he is still digesting the judge's opinion. He said his client would be a good candidate for probation when he faces sentencing at an undetermined date. "It's been my client's testimony since day one it was never his intent to place (Bruce) in fear. His intent was for his protection and to have the gun in his pocket," Lewis said. Copyright 2000-2004, The City Paper LLC. (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) WVOL'S OWNER CONVICTED OF MISDEMEANOR ASSAULT CHARGE By SHEILA BURKE Staff Writer Charge reduced in gun incident involving DJ Nashville businessman and radio station owner John Heidelberg, who was accused of threatening a disc jockey with a gun, has been found guilty of simple assault. Heidelberg, who was credited this year as the man who discovered talk- show host Oprah Winfrey, had been facing a felony charge of aggravated assault. Instead, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Seth Norman convicted him of the misdemeanor assault charge. ''We are happy that Mr. Heidelberg was not found guilty of a felony,'' the radio station owner's attorney, Bryan Lewis, said yesterday. Heidelberg, 60, owns R&B station WVOL-AM 1470. The businessman still maintains that he never intended any harm to the former disc jockey, Lewis said. The former DJ, Tauleib-Rashaad Wynn, who goes by the radio name Jimi Bruce, accused the station owner of threatening him with a gun and firing him after a meeting on July 30, 2002. In a phone interview yesterday, Wynn expressed mixed feelings about the decision. ''This has been a long kind of traumatic ordeal for me. There's a little justice here. At least, he was found guilty of something.'' At a bench trial last week, Heidelberg testified that he reached for his gun and put the weapon in his pocket because he became frightened of the DJ after he had fired Wynn. Heidelberg has a valid handgun permit. Wynn has said the owner fired him and threatened him with the gun simultaneously. In his ruling, Judge Norman found that despite the display of a weapon, ''it was not done in such a manner as to threaten the victim.'' But, because the DJ said he was placed in fear as a result of the incident, the judge found Heidelberg guilty of simple assault. The ruling came Thursday afternoon. Heidelberg's attorney said he was still studying the opinion. The radio station owner gave Winfrey her first job. She was hired to work at WVOL as a teenager to read news copy. Earlier this year, Winfrey acknowledged Heidelberg on her show Copyright 2004 The Tennessean (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. R Tashkent A04 --- It looks as though the Uzbek- language version of the Radio Tashkent schedule has been updated for A04. see http://ino.uzpak.uz/uzb/other_uzb/radio_broadcast_uzb.html As far as I can tell the English and Russian versions are still showing winter frequencies, at least for English transmissions. 73s (Dave Kenny, UK, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ESHITTIRISHLAR TO'LQINI Tillar Vaqt (UTC) Chastotalar Inglizcha 01.00-01.30 9715, 7190 12.00-12.30 17775, 15295, 9715, 7285 13.30-14.00 same 20.30-21.00 11905, 9545, 5025 21.30-22.00 same Nemischa 19.35-20.30 11905, 5025 Urdu 12.30-13.00 17775, 15295, 9715, 7285 14.00-14.30 same Xindcha 13.00-13.30 17775, 15295, 9715, 7285 14.30-15.00 same Forscha 16.30-17.00 9715, 7285, 6190 18.30-19.00 same O'zbekcha 02.30-03.30 9715, 7190, 5025 15.50-16.30 9715, 7285, 6190, 5025 17.30-18.30 same Arabcha 17.00-17.30 9715, 7285, 6190 19.00-19.30 same Turkcha 06.00-06.30 15200 17.00-17.30 9530 Dari 01.30-02.00 9715, 7190 15.20-15.50 9715, 7285, 6190 Pushtu 02.00-02.30 9715, 7190 Xitoycha 13.30-14.00 5060 14.30-15.00 same Uyg'urcha 14.00-14.30 5060 [interesting to see the Russian, Turkish, and Mission: Impossible influences in Uzbek; can you figure out all the languages?] (via gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {4-070} ** VENEZUELA [non]. RADIO NACIONAL DE VENEZUELA Thought that I might add something more to the R. Nacional de Venezuela chaos. I monitored them this afternoon with good signals on 13740: 1913 (4/15/04) tail end of a program featuring "música de Venezuela" into a "R. Nac. de Venezuela -- Antena Nacional" ID. They were still going strong with another program featuring vocals by a female balladeer and what sounded like sacred music of some sort when I tuned out at 1930. 13740, as far as I can tell, is not listed as a Cuba frequency (??). The 17705 reported by César Objío is). This is "curiouser and curiouser." (Jim Clar, Rochester, New York, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked 11760 sometime between 2200 and 2300 April 15, but no sign of RHC or RNV this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. I thought there was something odd about this item in 4- 064: ``É boa a sintonia, da programação em espanhol, da Voz do Vietnã, às 2130, em 9550 kHz. A dica é do José Moacir Portera de Melo, de Pontes e Lacerda (MT). (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX April 6 via DXLD)`` And now I realize what it is: 9550 is an RHC frequency; could Cuba have resumed relaying Vietnam, as well as Venezuela and China? Needs checking for strength here (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 6220.19, euro-pirate? April 11, 0308-0410+, tune-in to continuous US pop, Euro-pop music. No announcements heard. Fair; still here at 0630 check but very weak (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Merlin with their test loop in English with music, on 17700, April 14 at 1403 and later; only fair signal. UK site? You never know. Refers to http://www.vtplc.com/merlin which I have always found terribly uninformative insofar as actual frequency usage. Perhaps something non-official will be showing up here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) (See 4-070 U K} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL +++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Glenn, I was glad to hear COM last night on WBCQ. I think the idea of running COM in place of WOR is an excellent one, and I hope you will continue it until RFPI is back on shortwave (Tim Hendel, AL) PUBLICATIONS / POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++ SHORT WAVE MAGAZINE (UK) LONG, MEDIUM & SHORT --- The untimely death of Brian Oddy has resulted in one silver lining: the unreadable format of logs in Britain`s SW Magazine has died with him. Unique among SW publications, the old format was in paragraph style, going from 11 meters on down. The new editor, Martin Peters, has changed to Tables, i.e. frequency order (already in use for LW, MW, Local Radio, and Tropical bands). There is still ``no room`` for any program details whatsoever, but the Short Wave Table, now in ascending frequency order, can be a handy reference, altho inevitably 2-3 months old in this slick magazine. In the April issue it takes up two pages of very fine print, in six columns. {respectful disagreement: 4-070} PLT --- WHEN TECHNOLOGIES COLLIDE, with yet another initialism standing here for Power Line Transmission, is a feature article in the April issue, entirely from the British point of view, featuring BBC research on the subject, and a list of further reading which does not even refer to the ARRL, or NASWA! -- At least not in print. The links are at http://www.pwpublishing.ltd.uk/swm/PLT/ SWM`s news website: http://www.pwpublishing.ltd.uk/swm/news/ can probably also lead you to subscription information. And there`s a very active yahoogroup, tho broadcasting is seldom a topic: swm_readers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ENOUGH OF THE UTILITIES ALREADY! (rant, questions) All right, I've had enough. Sheesh! DXLD has made note of the sweeping noises on 60m, and it's also made mention of some noises in the 22m band. And today, I read a nice log of Radio Damascus on 13610 kHz from a guy in PA. Oh goodie. Every time I check for it here in Florida, I hear a weak something in the background, but mostly it's shwoop shwoop shwoop shwoop. Congratulations to the guy that heard Radio Damascus, though. I tune in to 9560 this morning (1100 UTC) to hear some kind of data transmission, and it goes on and on and on like the transmission that used to haunt BBC 12095 kHz for years and years. I can't quite get an ID on the station on 9560 kHz because whatever data transmission is twice as loud as the legitimate station underneath it. I ask, what's the deal? Did the 31m band get reallocated upwards without my knowledge? Is this some vengeance placed on the shortwave bands by utility operators in response to all of the SW operators that have operated out of band over the years? I mean, if I had a ute, turned on my radio and heard RKI, I would reason that interference from RKI would diminish the readability of my signal, and I'd choose some other frequency. Much like hams on the 41m band in the 1990s, I wonder how they can fire up their $3000 rigs with 0.1-microvolt sensitivity and not hear what I can hear on my $200 portable. I've already tried to get answers to the ham-interference question by asking hams why they do it, never getting a comprehensive or pleasant answer. I'm sure that the ute-interference question would go down just as well. Is there any recourse? Should I be writing to the FCC, or is there an international organization that is better suited to such tasks? Perhaps you might be keen to the philosophy of this kind of interference and what goes through the minds of the people who cause it (Michael Semon, Lakeland, FL, April 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Some of the `swbc` bands, or portions of them, are not exclusive. That apparently applies to licensed civilian services such as CODAR ocean wave radar, which is what you hear interfering with Syria on 13610. 9560 certainly ought to be exclusive for broadcasting worldwide. Unfortunately, this does not apply to the US (and no doubt other) military, and I expect, US government. They feel they have the authority to operate wherever they like (much like invading other countries). The utility transmissions probably can work despite the broadcast interference since they can get by with much narrower bandwidth slightly to one side, or the mode is robust enough not to be bothered by broadcast transmissions. Also, as point-to-point services, they only have to succeed with one recipient at the other end where the broadcast QRM you hear may not be a problem. As to the damage done to the broadcasters and listeners, they could not care less. There`s also Cuban jamming against R. Martí on 9565 which could be bleeding over and seem like a ute (Glenn to Michael, via DXLD) K9AY ANTENNA EXPERIMENTATION IN ALBERTA Another enjoyable DXpedition at Don Moman`s QTH, SW signals were below the average; Nigel Pimblett and Mickey Delmage logged some great MW stations, Nigel had several Australian MW hets and some audio. I managed to hear a few TIS signals, Custer's Last Stand TIS-Montana on 1610 and a Washington Department of Highways TIS on 1610, both 10 watts! We had the opportunity to do some experimenting with K9AY wire lengths; many of you know the excellent performance of this antenna on MW and lower Tropical Bands. Our dimensions were not the standard ones; we used 64 and 96', both not the recommended 3' 3 3/8" (1m) above ground, ours approximately 1' (.304m). Don found that not grounding using a ground rod did not affect the performance one way or the other; the use of radials may or may not! Using both the homebrewed George Maroti version and two Wellbrook units. Believe what you have heard about this antenna, buy or build your own, just get one! The antenna itself is dirt simple to cut, requiring only one support (one K9AY was suspended from a inclined rope off a tower), one insulator (at the apex) and with the small footprint of this antenna you can have a compact, highly portable antenna that rivals and/or exceeds the performance of 1000'+ beverage antennas. Follow the tried and tested dimensions of the K9AY and you WILL be very pleased with the performance of this great antenna! Thanks to Guy Atkins, John Bryant, Andy Ikin, George Maroti, Don Nelsen and Walter Salmaniw for all your help in getting us hooked on the K9AY. 73. (Joe Talbot, VA6JWT, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) QUESTION OF THE WEEK "What is the best technically sounding radio station you have listened to? Why do you feel the station sounds good?" (NRC-AM via DXLD) I presume that this question is in reference to audio quality rather than program execution. Of the radio stations I listen to, my vote goes to 740 CHWO Toronto. Why? I don't know. I guess you'd have to ask the engineering department at CHWO why it sounds so good; probably some combination of audio processing and top-notch transmission facilities. It definitely sounds the best on my car radio. Back when 1560 WQXR New York was classical, it too had superior audio quality. The worst? Probably 1030 WBZ Boston. It sounded much better before IBOC, when it was running AMax quality AM Stereo (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, http://members.aol.com/baconti/bamlog.htm NRC-AM via DXLD) Several real stations come to mind. WJR-760 in Detroit has always had a clean signal, void of compression and limiting artifacts. The same could be said about WQXR-1560 (when Herb Squire was CE there), and especially when he was running the Kahn stereo system, where they paid attention to the individual sidebands. As far as "non-real" stations, I have to brag that WNRC sounds pretty good. The key to making sure that AM sounds good banks on several factors. First, aggressive compression really does a lot of damage. There is a lot of truth to "compression fatigue" by listeners who listen to a station over a period of time and are annoyed at the content. In tests, people will perceive program content to be noise if they listen for prolonged periods of time. To me, the compression should be to maintain reasonable program level while not modifying the original program dynamics. Limiting is really subjective. Again, some people limit in order to gain the perception of power or being louder than someone else on the dial. Limiting should be done to prohibit overmodulation shoots. If you can hear a difference in the content while adjusting limiting, then the limiting is too aggressive. Transparency should be a factor over being louder than others in the market. The path between the audio board and transmitter must be clean. Plus or minus 1 dB from 30 to 30,000 hertz, distortion less than .1%, (in addition to IMD), and noise less than 80 dB. All can be achieved with conventional technology. The transmitter needs to also be set up correctly. In today's PNP world, it's hard to not set up one correctly, but I have seen a lot of transmitters mis-tuned into the common point or there be some other factor that degrades the transmitter's performance. Usually when this happens there is distortion in the signal, or problems with linearity. Finally, the antenna system needs to present a perfect load to the transmitter. The power distribution, not only at carrier frequencies, but also on sidebands must be efficient. Those in Toledo that remember how WHND-560 sounded before the redesign, you know how program content can be distorted (Fred Vobbe, Lima OH, ibid.) Hi Bruce. While I'm not the best at the tech part of the station, here is the meat and potatoes of the transmitter. The major addition to the transmitter by CHWO was the OPTIMNOD 9200 which CBC never had. "The original building continues to house the current transmitters. The transmitter, a Continental 317C, was manufactured and installed by Continental Electronics in 1975. The power for the station starts with 6146's driving a pair of 4-400's, which drive a pair of huge EIMAC 3CX35000 finals. For spares it uses 4CX35000 rebuilt EIMAC tubes. The "DOHERTY" modulation system also starts with 6146's driving a pair of EIMAC 4CX2000 tubes which "Screen Modulate" the pair of 3CX35000 finals. The only equipment added by CHWO was an OPTIMOD 9200 audio processor to provide a loud and clean sound at the transmitter. It transmits in an omni-directional pattern at 50,000 watts day and night." (Brian Smith - am740 @ rogers.com AM 740 - http://www.am740.ca Reception Reports - http://www.odxa.on.ca/chwo.html Yahoo Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AM740/ ibid.) ###