DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-123, August 16, 2004 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2004 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1241: Tue 1600 on WBCQ after-hours http://wbcq.com repeated weekdaily Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO 1241 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1241h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1241h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1241.html WORLD OF RADIO 1241 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1241.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1241.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1241 in the true SW sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_08-11-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_08-11-04.mp3 FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1242: Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB [or maybe 5105; see USA] Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825 ON DEMAND: from early UT Thursday, change 1241 above to 1242 CONTINENT OF MEDIA 04-06, available from August 15: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0406.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0406.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0406.html Also from http://www.DXing.com --- browse their site and / or Universal Radio while listening === http://www.universal-radio.com (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0406.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0406.rm DX/SWL/MEDIA programs updated Aug 15: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** ALASKA. Award-winning Catholic station KNOM [780] has a place on their website to click to report sexual misconduct in the Fairbanks diocese, a brave move (George McClintock, Ask WWCR Aug 6 via DXLD) That`s http://www.knom.org and there is another link to Information on complaints against Fr. Jim Poole, SJ, including some brand new info: http://www.knom.org/pooleinfo.html --- Several friends have asked us to provide additional information and updates on the charges against Fr. James Poole, SJ, who was KNOM's founder. Father Poole lived in Nome between 1966 and 1988 and was formally retired from KNOM in 1998. We have access to only limited information which we can release, but we offer the following. As of August 2004, three women have filed formal complaints with the Diocese of Fairbanks and the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, claiming sexual abuse by Father Poole when they were children. A few others have come forward, not seeking damages. Today, Father Poole is living in the Jesuit retirement community in Spokane, Washington. [go to site for direct linx] Letter sent to all KNOM contributors by general manager Tom Busch on March 16, 2004. Free Adobe Acrobat Reader required. Lawsuit filed by "Jane Doe" on March 15, 2004, in html format Lawsuit filed by "Jane Doe 2" on June 16, 2004 Text of Associated Press story April 19, 2004 Text of Associated Press story August 7, 2004 Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's largest newspaper has printed three stories on the accusations, March 15, 2004 April 19, 2004, June 17, 2004 and August 8, 2004. They charge a fee to view articles which are older than seven days, and will not allow us to reprint them. Search for the word "Poole" from their main page. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Use the link "advanced search" and search for the word "Poole." Among search results are articles of March 16, March 25, June 17, 2004, August 7, 2004 and August 11, 2004. Like the Daily News, the News-Miner charges a fee to view archived stories. National Catholic Reporter's abuse tracker page, which includes at least partial texts of the above and additional stories. A message from KNOM general manager Tom Busch: We continue to pray for everyone involved, for healing and Christ's peace. I welcome you to call me at 907-443-5221, or send me an e-mail at tbusch @ knom.org KNOM has not been named as a defendant in any of these cases, and no money contributed to our mission will be paid out in settlements. Thank you for your prayers and support for our mission. May God greatly bless you! Tom (via gh, DXLD) ** ALASKA. Grants to Existing Facilities: KICY, 850, Nome, CP granted to increase nighttime power to become U10 50000/50000 CH 50000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, Aug 16 NRC DX News via DXLD) As the high number implies, U-10 is a rather rare antenna designation. The new 2004-2005 NRC AM Log defines it: Unlimited Time Operation --- Non-Directional Days and Nights; Directional during Critical Hours, and this very station is given as an example (perhaps the only example?). Question is, why would they need it to be direxional only during critical hours in this very remote location, and what is its direxionality? Maybe there`s a Siberian station which would otherwise cause interference on a nearby frequency? The only possible candidate in WRTH 2004 is a 20 kW in Petropavlovsk/Kamchatsky on 855, but that seems unlikely; KNOM fortunately is almost halfway between the 9-kHz steps in the Eastern Hemisphere system. More likely KNOM has to protect KOA in faraway Denver, with its U-1 non-direxional priority, tho there are four lower-powered stations, in Alberta, Washington, California, and Hawaii, and none others west of Denver. The 850 listings in the AM Log say the direxional antenna is used at 0300-0700 ELT, tho I expect Eastern Local Time is the farthest thing from their minds in Nome. That would be 0700-1100 UT during DST, and 0800-1200 UT during standard time. I went to the convenient KNOM site above to confirm what the local time is there, but could not find anything about it, unlike sexual harassment. By its longitude, 165+ west, Nome ought to be on UT -11, right in the middle of that zone slice, and I can remember when it was. Then the state started messing with its timezones, plus DST was adopted. Now the bulk of AK is on UT -9 in the winter and UT -8 in the summer, far ahead of where it ought to be, and this includes Nome way over on the west coast per http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/results.html?query=Nome That means that by the local clock the critical direxional hours are 2300-0300 in the summer, which would be 2000-2400 if the clocks were on UT -11 as they ought to be. Nome is at 64+ degrees latitude, slightly south of the Arctic Circle, and in fact further south than Fairbanks, so not quite subject to the midnight sun but the CH corresponds more or less from sunset in Nome (widely variable) = midnight in Denver, to sunrise in Denver (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. Re 4-122: Hello Everyone, see BC-DX #679/680 item also, and schedules given below. On Aug 12/13/14 I noted a very c l e a n audio signal on even 11615 kHz, switched on my receivers here around 1342 UT, and heard then TWR Russian from 1345 onwards. But on Aug 12/13 I missed the daily Albanian service regular on air for a single hour at 0800- 0900, so obviously there are more work on the transmitter hall or the [old R Tirana] antenna installation farm at Shijak site, I guess. At Cerrik four antenna beams were in use in past years[Nineties] {33, 90, 300/305/310, 350 degrees, and non-dir of course}, but I think much more beams were in use during the Sixties and Seventies, when R. Tirana had a huge schedule of 16 foreign languages beside of Albanian. And did re-broadcast of Radio Peking five hours daily on two parallel frequencies, (i.e. 7120, 9500, or 9780). So, I guess the 90 degree beam was once used for the daily Indonesian service from Tirana. 73 wb ALBANIA 6235 0500 0515 28,29 CER 100 350 23456 SLO ALB TWR TWR 6235 0515 0530 28 CER 100 350 1234567 PQL ALB TWR TWR 6240 1500 1545 28 CER 100 350 1234567 PQL ALB TWR TWR 6240 1615 1630 28 CER 100 350 2356 CZC ALB TWR TWR 7240 1615 1630 28 CER 100 350 2356 CZC ALB TWR TWR 7355 0200 0230 30,40 CER 100 90 1234567 PES ALB TWR TWR 7380 0515 0530 28 CER 100 350 1234567 PQL ALB TWR TWR 9435 2000 2100 18 CER 100 350 23456 2604-060804 SWD/NRN ALB TWR 9735 1500 1545 28 CER 100 350 1234567 PQL ALB TWR TWR 9945 1530 1600 29S,39N CER 100 90 1234567 ARM ALB TWR TWR 9960 1625 1810 30,40 CER 100 90 1234567 PES/QSQ ALB TWR TWR 9975 0200 0230 30,40 CER 100 90 1234567 PES ALB TWR TWR 11615 1344 1459 28-30 CER 100 33 1234567 RUS/RUW ALB TWR TWR 11865 0645 0820 27 CER 100 310 1234567 ENG ALB TWR TWR 12075 1625 1810 30,40 CER 100 90 1234567 PES/QSQ ALB TWR TWR 12080 1530 1600 29S,39N CER 100 90 1234567 ARM ALB TWR TWR (HFCC) (updated Febr 1, 2004 version) Aug 15, 2004 from http://www.bclnews.it/a04schedules/twr.htm 5985 1400 1700 28SW CER 50 0 ALBANIAN ALB ALR ALR 6100 1800 1830 28SW SHI 100 0 123456 ITALIAN ALB ALR ALR 6115 0145 0200 7,8 CER 100 305 234567 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 6115 0230 0300 7,8 CER 100 305 234567 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 6130 1700 1715 39NW CER 50 0 123456 TURKISH ALB ALR ALR 6130 1715 1730 28SE CER 50 0 123456 GREEK ALB ALR ALR 6135 2115 2130 28SE SHI 100 0 123456 SER/CRO ALB ALR ALR 7110 0800 0900 28 CER 100 0 ALBANIAN ALB ALR ALR 7110 2115 2130 28 CER 50 0 123456 SER/CRO ALB ALR ALR 7130 2130 2200 27 SHI 100 310 123456 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 7160 0145 0200 7,8 CER 100 305 234567 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 7160 0230 0300 7,8 CER 100 305 234567 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 7185 1730 1800 28 SHI 100 350 123456 GERMAN ALB ALR ALR 7210 1845 1900 27 SHI 100 310 123456 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 7210 1900 1930 27 SHI 100 310 123456 FRENCH ALB ALR ALR 7240 1800 1830 28SW CER 100 0 123456 ITALIAN ALB ALR ALR 7260 1700 1715 39NW CER 100 0 123456 TURKISH ALB ALR ALR 7260 1715 1730 28SE CER 100 0 123456 GREEK ALB ALR ALR 7270 1400 1700 28 CER 50 0 ALBANIAN ALB ALR ALR 7270 2300 0330 7,8 SHI 100 300 ALBANIAN ALB ALR ALR 7270 2300 0330 7,8 CER 100 305 ALBANIAN ALB ALR ALR 7295 2030 2200 28 CER 100 350 ALBANIAN ALB ALR ALR 9520 1845 1900 27 CER 50 310 123456 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 9520 1900 1930 27 CER 50 310 123456 FRENCH ALB ALR ALR 9540 2130 2200 27 CER 50 310 123456 ENGLISH ALB ALR ALR 9570 1730 1800 28 CER 50 350 123456 GERMAN ALB ALR ALR 9575 2030 2200 27,28 CER 100 310 ALBANIAN ALB ALR ALR (HFCC) 0515-0530 1234567 PQL 6235 100 350 28 0515-0530 1234567 PQL 7380 100 350 28 0530-0545 12345 SLO 6235 100 350 28/29 0645-0750 6 ENG 11865 100 310 27 0645-0820 7 ENG 11865 100 310 27 0715-0820 12345 ENG 11865 100 310 27 1342-1357 1 RUS 11615 100 33 28/29/30 1342-1427 67 RUS 11615 100 33 28/29/30 1342-1457 2345 RUS R 11615 100 33 28/29/30 1357-1427 1 RUW 11615 100 33 28/29/30 1427-1457 1 RUS 11615 100 33 28/29/30 1445-1500 7 PQL 6240 100 350 28 1445-1500 7 PQL 9735 100 350 28 1500-1530 1234567 PQL 6240 100 350 28 1500-1530 1234567 PQL 9735 100 350 28 1533-1548 67 ARM/EAS 9945 100 90 29S/39N 1533-1548 67 ARM/EAS 12080 100 90 29S/39N 1533-1603 12345 ARM/EAS 9945 100 90 29S/39N 1533-1603 12345 ARM/EAS 12080 100 90 29S/39N 1606-1621 12 45 CZC 6240 100 350 28 1606-1621 12 45 CZC 7240 100 350 28 1625-1740 1234567 PES 9960 100 90 30/40 1625-1740 1234567 PES 12075 100 90 30/40 1740-1755 7 QSQ 9960 100 90 30/40 1740-1755 7 QSQ 12075 100 90 30/40 2000-2030 12345 SWD 9435 100 350 18 260404 060804 2030-2100 12345 NRN 9435 100 350 18 260404 060804 (TWR) (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The original HFCC registrations not fully reflect the actual schedule for TWR transmissions via Albania. See http://www.bclnews.it/a04schedules/twr.htm [as above] for what appears to be valid data. Right now (0745 UT) there is English on 11865 as given there. Again carrier stable on even frequency and fine audio quality, apparently from direct satellite pick-up rather than fed from Tirana through poor cable / overhead line circuits as it is still the case with Radio Tirana programming. With this good signal one can also clearly note the different audio processing in use now, without the enormous upper-mids boost they still have at Fllakë. This modulation reminds me in some way to Kashi; probably indeed Thales equipment was installed? (I understand it was said that the transmitters were installed by the Chinese. This statement not necessarily implies that they were manufactured in China.) By the way, the Swedish and Norwegian on 9435 was introduced when these Norea Radio programmes were transmitted via Stargard 1503, limited to June and July when the skywave propagation on mediumwave is poor during the evening. As we know Stargard is gone for quite some years now. I have once seen a picture of the station building (but not more, no antenna, no transmitter), it is or was of a style quite common in "the East" during the fifties/sixties. Now the Norea Radio programming goes out via Popovka-1494. Looking at the schedule I think the TWR schedule on 1494 also used to be more extensive years ago? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7110, 0700-0800 UT. For the first time 7110 kHz noted via new [tentatative] Shijak 100 kW unit, 0700-0900 UT today. I noted the [registered] 0800-0900 Radio Tirana Albanian relay on 7110 kHz today [Sunday 15th] also in 0700-0800 UT time slot, covering a Children`s Hour program, probably on Sundays only? So seemingly they need still weekdays for refurbishing the Shijak site, missed 7110 kHz in past week, when I checked it every day. 7110 suffered by much stronger Belarus Radio from Brest on co-channel (latter in \\ Minsk 6040). Shijak signal was rather weak here - like a 20 kW domestic signal -, so I assume that a poor old non-dir antenna is in use for that service, or the old Cerrik 50 kW was used. Maybe meant for the merchant fleet in Mediterranean basin? Usually the afternoon service from Cerrik at 1400-1700 UT on 7270 kHz has much stronger power here in Central Europe. Silly frequency selection, even if most of the 41 mb channels are free at this time of the day, i.e. only 7110, 7160 TWR, 7190 DW, 7200 BUL, 7250 VAT, and 7265 SWR-D are occupied then. R Bulgaria 7200 in Albanian and S-Cr langs was much stronger. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15475.98, RN San Gabriel, 2020 9 Aug; S2 pop ballads with muddy studio audio making it difficult to follow; continued to 2059:30 when signal was obliterated by Voz Cristiana sign-on; transmitter off at 2103 (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, 41.64 N 93.66 W, R8B, R7, 6790/GM-13, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. OLYMPIC COPYRIGHT RULES SILENCE BROADCASTS Olympic copyright rules have led major Australian broadcasters to silence their Internet streams, ZDNet of Australia reports today. National broadcaster ABC and major Sydney radio station 2GB have almost completely shut down their Internet radio streams for the duration of the Olympics, because their rights to broadcast coverage do not extend to the Internet. More details are in today's issue of "RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter," online now at http://www.kurthanson.com (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Explaining what ``almost`` means; specifically at: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,39156403,00.htm [including:] "'I found it extremely frustrating that we had to take nearly all the streams down, even those that were unlikely to have Olympic material. Its news, it's in the public domain, but in the end the risk outweighs the frustration.'" (via gh, DXLD) ** AVES ISLAND. YV0D LOGS. The YV0D online log search is now up and running at: http://dx.qsl.net/cgi-bin/logform.cgi?yv0d Also, visit the following Web page for pictures and logs at: http://www.radioclubvenezolano.org (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) In case you are wondering, it`s pronounced AH-vayss and means `Birds` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Um dos espaços mais tradicionais da música brasileira de raiz é o Na Beira da Mata, levado ao ar pela Rádio Brasil Central, de Goiânia (GO). Anote os horários: de segundas a sextas, entre 0800 e 0955. Também das 1900 às 1955 e entre 2000 e 2055. A apresentação é de João Veloso. Freqüências: 4985 e 11815 kHz. BRASIL – A programação que vai ao ar, pela Rádio Baré Ondas Tropicais, de Manaus (AM), em 4895 kHz, é da agência de publicidade Proclip. De acordo com Paulo Roberto e Souza, de Tefé (AM), vai ao ar das 2000 às 1200. Endereço: Av. Tefé, 3025, Japiim, CEP: 69078-000, Manaus (AM). E-mail: proclip @ argo.com.br BRASIL – Atenção ouvintes de todo o mundo! A partir de 17 de agosto, todas as emissoras de rádio do Brasil estão obrigadas a veicular propaganda eleitoral visando as eleições municipais de 3 de outubro. Anotem os horários: das 1000 às 1030 e entre 1500 e 1530. O último dia para a apresentação da propaganda obrigatória será 30 de setembro. BRASIL – Para quem acompanha as emissões da Rádio Cultura, de Manaus (AM), que vão ao ar, entre 1000 e 0200, em 4845 kHz, o Paulo Roberto e Souza, de Tefé (AM), repassa a direção da emissora: Rua Barcelos, s/nº, Praça 14, CEP: 69020-200, Manaus (AM). E-mail: radiocultura @ hotmail.com (all: Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 16 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9630, Radio Aparecida, 2201, Portuguese, Program "Encontro DX". 2229 Identificación: "A Rádio Aparecida apresentou Encontro DX; voltaremos o próximo sábado à mesma hora". Also on 6135. 24322 14 August. BRASIL, 9630, Radio Aparecida, 2201, Portugués, Programa "Encontro DX". 2229 Identificación: "A Rádio Aparecida apresentou Encontro DX, voltaremos o próximo sábado à mesma hora". También se escucha en 6135; 24322 Agosto 14. El programa "Encontro DX" se transmite todos los sábados entre las 2200 y las 2230 horas por todas las frecuencias de onda corta de Rádio Aparecida: 11855, 9630, 6135 y 5035 kHz (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, España, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6160, CKZU Vancouver noted off the air in local mornings (12-13 UT) on both 13 and 15 August. Did not check on 14 August (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, RW [random wire?], Cumbre DX via DXLD) 6160 CKZU Vancouver. Off the air again this morning. VOA Philippines dominates until 1300, then the frequency is silent. Have not checked in local evening yet, but I have never heard them in the evening, even when they are on (Wilkins, Aug 16, ibid.) Called CBC Vancouver and spoke to Dave Newbury, their engineer. They weren't aware that this outlet was off but were going to check. Doesn't seem that they have any audience if this can be off for days and no one calls to complain. It shouldn't be this way, because I believe that the station is the only option for hearing CBC in some of the outlying coastal areas of BC and Alaska. (That certainly was my experience when sailing them a few months back.) I just don't think it is really marketed to the potential audience (Hans Johnson, WY, ibid.) Never heard any mention of it on CBU webcast IDs. They probably view it as just another of countless LPRT`s they can`t possibly identify individually (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. As the Athens Olympic Games get underway, Chinese people are turning their eyes to the ongoing preparations for Beijing's own Olympics in 2008. Why was the construction of the capital's national stadium brought to a temporary halt? How are things going with the partners and sponsors selection? Chinese people are now wondering how to hold the best-ever Olympics and make the most of its looming economy. Details, during the August 17 "Biz China." (Jim, CRI/English http://pw2.netcom.com/~jleq/cri1.htm Aug 15, swprograms via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. USA, 15724.88, Guangdong Today via WRN/WRMI, [Sat] Aug. 14. *1600-1615* Radio Guangdong relayed via the WRN. This program consisted of a newscast, then a feature about traditional Chinese medicine, with closing contact information (web site and email address) off with ID for Radio Guangdong coming to you on WRN. This station offers a special QSL for reception reports directed to their station about their programming (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, Cumbre DX via DXLD) This station not otherwise on SW! (gh, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. GOOD MORNING, COLOMBIA - RADIO REACHES THE REBELS By Andy Webb-Vidal Published: August 5 2004 04:00 In the plaza of San Vicente del Caguán, in southern Colombia, a child's balloon bursts. Passers-by start, and edgy soldiers patrolling the streets finger the triggers of their rifles. The security scare passes, but an eerie calm lingers over the town, an oasis of government control in territory traditionally held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), the 17,000-strong guerrilla army. "There is more confidence now than ever before," insists Edwin Valdés, mayor of San Vicente, home to the Farc leadership during failed peace talks with the previous government. "But people still feel a bit nervous." Mr Valdés, 29, removes a sweat-sodden bulletproof vest from beneath his shirt. As in other parts of Colombia, the people of San Vicente are grateful for the state security forces' territorial reconquest since Alvaro Uribe, the hardline president, took office two years ago. But they also fear its uncertain duration. "Our mission is to recoup this key area of the country," says Col Rodrigo Perdomo, commander of the army's 9th Mobile Brigade. "We've recovered a lot of territory, but there are still operations to be done." Occasional grisly forays into town serve as stark reminders that the guerrillas are not far off. After a warning from the Farc, Mr Valdés's general-secretary was killed in June, his body riddled with 40 bullets. But Lt Leonardo Leyes, the deputy police constable, says there is reason to be optimistic. "When we arrived we found a culture of silence. Today people confidently come forward to denounce crimes." Four "terrorist" incidents have hit San Vicente this year, the police say, compared with 23 in all of 2002 - a reduction mirrored across Colombia. Civilians say that a spirit of co-operation from the army, whose troops are put through rigorous human rights and good conduct courses, has made a difference. But military missions to Farc strongholds are only part of the story. Psychological methods and the media are also proving effective. One demobilised Farc fighter argues that the government forces' most powerful weapon is not armoury, but the airwaves. Javier Tapiero, a 22-year-old rebel from San Vicente, turned himself in last month after tuning in to the country's third most widely heard radio network. The army says 30 per cent of guerrillas who desert do so as a result of listening to Colombia Mía AM, the military's expanding national radio network, which broadcasts a blend of music, news and soft propaganda. "A lot of muchachos want to leave the Farc, but the comandantes tell them that the army will kill them if they do," says Mr Tapiero. "I hope they hear that I am all right, so they desert too." Col Adalgiza Serrano, who directs the army's radio, says the idea for the network came from the Farc itself, which for years has operated its own pirate stations from the jungle. The army's system has expanded from a set of low-range mobile transmitters in the late 1990s to a satellite-linked network of 32 stations today, including equipment that jams Farc transmissions. Throughout the day, the team of camouflage-clad disc jockeys churn out a blend of popular salsa and vallenato songs, interwoven with messages exhorting listeners not to be "slaves to the Farc" in eight indigenous languages. According to the defence ministry, 301 outlaws deserted in July, bringing the total for the year to 1,661. Gen Carlos Ospina, military commander-in-chief, says the balance of the conflict has shifted in favour of the state - probably irreversibly. "Strategically, the Farc are on the defensive, which explains their sporadic tactical offensives," he says. "That doesn't mean that we have won. But it does mean we are heading in the right direction." Indeed, the army has now embarked on a much more gruelling effort to penetrate the Farc's vast heartland, that stretches deep into the Amazon. Under Plan Patriota - the biggest military offensive in Colombia's history - 15,000 troops are scouring a 52,000sq km theatre of operations south-east of San Vicente. The offensive is shrouded in secrecy, and the going is tough. Unofficial reports suggest dozens of soldiers have been injured by landmines and booby traps. While analysts agree that security in many areas is improving, they are sceptical of the eventual gains of Plan Patriota's forceful push into the south. "The big question is, will it last?" asks Alfredo Rangel, a security analyst in Bogotá. "The guerrillas have suffered some blows, but they remain intact. They will retreat to where the military simply cannot reach them." (Financial Times via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CUBA. Hi Glenn, There were still no broadcasts from RHC audible today, August 15th, on 11760 9820 9655 or 9550 between 0600 and 0700. I couldn't hear 5025 either, but that could have been due to propagation - or the lack of it. But, jamming was still loud on Martí frequencies 7405 9805 and 11775. Maybe these signals take priority over broadcasts? (Noel Green, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have noticed the absence of Radio Havana Cuba for the past day or so. I do not find this to be so unusual considering the Hurricane that went thru Cuba. However I do find it strange that 1180-AM Radio Rebelde is still going, and the Cuban jamming of Radio Marti Shortwave still continues (George Thurman, TX, rec.radio.shortwave via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Program production (Radio Habana Cuba and the various home service networks) and transmitter ownership in Cuba are different structures: the transmitters are operated by the Ministry of Information and Communication, since 1996 by a subsidiary called RADIOCUBA, while the radio programs are produced under the roof of INSTITUTO CUBANO DE RADIO Y TELEVISIÓN (subordinated to the Ministry of Culture). The transmitter operator RADIOCUBA btw has its own website http://www.radiocuba.cu which is still under construction; the menu indicates that it will contain a.o. transmitter details at a later stage. The program producers (Radio Habana Cuba etc) are not involved in jamming activities (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) They all work for the same dictator (gh, DXLD) I noted this too; but accompanied by a further anomaly. BBCWS was on 6000 instead of 6005 where it belongs. Sunday evening (eastern NA time); early Monday morning UT (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Aug 16, swprograms via DXLD) Really? I checked 9820 and 6000 sometime Sunday evening (UT Monday), don`t remember just when, and did not hear RHC or BBC on 6000. RHC still missing early UT Tue Aug 17; damage must have been rather serious (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. World Music Radio from Denmark is back on 5815 kHz after a break of a few weeks. Heard from tune-in about an hour ago (1730 UT) with excellent reception here. Usual test format consisting of a good mix of music interspersed with IDs in English. 73s (Dave Kenny, Aug 15, BDXC-UK via DXLD) World Music Radio on the air again, weak on 5815 around 1800 UT Aug 16; traces of something maybe on 15810 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5815, World Music Radio back on air. 2038-0305, Pop music with sporadic identifications "World Music Radio". Sometimes transmission cuts off abruptly. Signal fair to good. 35333 14-15 August. DINAMARCA, 5815, World Music Radio de nuevo en el aire. Escuchada entre las 2038-0305, Música pop con esporádicas identificaciones "World Music Radio". Varias veces la transmisión se cortó repentinamente. Señal mediana a buena. 35333. 14-15 Agosto (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, España, DX LISTENING DIGEST) World Music Radio back on 5815 kHz --- Stig Hartvig Nielsen of World Music Radio informs us that from today the shortwave transmissions on 5815 kHz have been resumed from the site near Karup in Western Jutland, Denmark. The antenna has been moved some 300 metres to avoid local interference. Besides shortwave, WMR is also available worldwide via the Internet, and will be available locally in Eastern Jutland, Denmark on FM 104.2 MHz from mid September 2004. The results from the test transmission on 15810 kHz (500 W) - which ended June 17 - were less successful. Transmissions on 15810 kHz may resume mid September from a new transmitter site, but definitely not from the current site. # posted by Andy @ 19:55 UT Aug 15 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** DEUTSCHES REICH [non]. VOICE OF CONTROVERSY SILENCED North Bergen's Hal Turner gives up controversial website, radio show http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12688292&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523589&rfi=6 By Jim Hague 08/15/2004 NO MORE HATE - Controversial radio talk show host Hal Turner decided to remove himself from the public spectrum, both on radio and on his website that proclaimed racial, ethnic and religious slurs, with Turner vowing to become simply a "private citizen." North Bergen resident Hal Turner, who caused controversy over the last four years with his Internet and shortwave radio show and website that exhibited racial and religious comments, has decided to fold up shop and return to private life. Turner ceased production of his radio talk show and discontinued his website at the end of May. "I'm resuming my place as a private citizen," Turner said. "I look forward to the peace and quiet of private life. That's all I have to say about it." Throughout the tenure of his controversial show, Turner caused a host of heated problems, including a threat from a group that planned to storm the radio studio in his home, and protests being organized in front of his home by a national organization that defends social and racial equality. It caused headaches for town officials and even Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, who had to monitor the protests because of the threat of massive weapons being displayed and possibly used. There was a highly publicized rally last September. Turner was first cast into the public spectrum in 1999 when he ran for Congress against Rep. Robert Menendez. Soon after, he developed the website mentioning all sorts of racial, ethnic and religious slurs, and the radio show, which was broadcast on shortwave radio station WBCQ, based in Maine, as well as over the Internet. The website frequently posted any negative newspaper articles that cast Jewish people, African-Americans, and homosexuals in a bad light. He often used epithets to describe them. His comments on the air and on the website, which could be best described as offensive to most, caused controversy and gave Turner some publicity in local and national circles. However, Turner apparently ran into some problems with the owners of the radio station that broadcast his show for a regular fee. The radio station did not monitor the content of the show. But according to regular listeners, Turner was blasting the owners of the station. He said that after he saw the Mel Gibson movie, "The Passion of the Christ," he told listeners that he was no longer able to do business with a Jew. Alan Weiner, the owner of WBCQ, is Jewish. According to listeners, the claim infuriated Weiner and the show was discontinued. WBCQ didn't offer any comment about Turner, other than a simple statement: "After harshly criticizing his supporters, listeners, and WBCQ, Mr. Turner left the airwaves on March 22, 2004." Turner continued the website and the Internet radio show until the end of May, then faded away. Daryle Lamont Jenkins, the spokesman for the New Brunswick-based organization One People's Project, a group that protested outside Turner's home last September, said that he was aware of Turner's removal from the media outlets. "We've been following it closely," Jenkins said. "We weren't sure whether it was a game that he was playing when he said he was ceasing production and going back to private life. I really wanted to give him a ring and ask him if he's out of the game for good. He needs to make it known that he is no longer associated with the people he was involved with, the people in hate politics." Jenkins was asked if he thought his group had anything to do with Turner's demise. "I don't think it was just us," Jenkins said. "I think there was a lot of pressure from a lot of different groups. I also think the man has other demons he has to deal with personally." Jenkins said that he has been involved with Turner's behavior since 1999, and the two have gone against each other many times. In an interview in September, 2003, Turner said Jenkins "is obsessed with me," and called Jenkins "a militant Negro." After Jenkins organized his protest rally last September, Turner posted this frightening message on his website: "Help Hal Protect His Home This Saturday," the message read. "Savage Negro Beasts, mongrel mestizos, hook-nosed jews and other vermin plan to protest The Hal Turner Show in front of Hal's home. They will be protesting my protest of the illegal aliens." It continued, "Further, since this is my private property, I do hereby authorize my supporters to bring handguns, rifles and shotguns as well as mace and other chemical spray. Naturally, I urge you to bring plenty of ammunition. If you can come, please let me know in advance so I can plan on proper deployment of weaponry in tactical assault positions on balconies, atop retaining walls and on the roof. Those with sniper rifles and scopes can take up position farther away." Jenkins said, "There's one less person to deal with. But there are still so many other people who hate, just in New Jersey." ©The Hudson Reporter 2004 (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GOA. See INDIA ** GUAM. 11980, AWR Special 500th Broadcast via KSDA QSL. Full data (with site), special endorsement sticker of the first AWR Station, KFGZ, 833 kHz, from 1923 QSL Card. Also sent stickers, decals, schedule, pocket calendars, and a full sheet of AWR Radio stamps. This for my report sent to their UK address. Reply in 10 days time (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9705, All India Radio-Panaji, Goa. 0007-0045*. Aug. 15. Female's feature on the entertainment industry in India to 0013. Upcoming program preview, ID and Indian sitar music. Station ID at 0029, news items including mention of today being their Independence Day, and activities planned, plus dignitaries to visit, "that is the national news." More program previews and commentary. Pop music to program preview and transmission frequencies. Movie theme music to ID at 0043, and more chat on the national holiday. Station off at 0045. 15040 INDIA, All India Radio-Delhi. 0200-0225. Aug 15 // 13620 (Bangalore). Speech from Prime Minister on Independence Day, from flag hoisting ceremony at Red Fort in Delhi. Also noted on // 11620 (Bangalore) // 15135 (Delhi) // 11830 (Delhi) however, best on 13620. Speech continued till final check at 0225. Not much luck on reported // programing on scheduled; 6020, 6110, 7115, 7140, 7150, 7180, 7210; except maybe a "Tentative" on 7290 Thiruvanathapuram (Gayle Van Horn, Brasstown, NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WORLDSPACE LAUNCHES SATELLITE RADIO SERVICE 14/08/2004 Middle East Global satellite radio provider, WorldSpace, has opened its regional headquarters with a view to launching its services across the Middle East. The Washington-based company offers over 60 digital quality audio stations providing a mix of music, market-specific multi-lingual news, current affairs, talk shows, financial information, and weather reports in a number of languages including Arabic, English, French German, Hindi, Malayalam, Swahili and Tamil... http://www.gmr-online.com/homenewsDetail.asp?disciplineId=&articlesId=267 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 9960, SRI LANKA, R. Farda, 2020-2034, August 13, Arabic-sounding [really Persian] and English pop music w/ "breathless" ID's between selections, YL and OM with news, soundbites at 2030. Fair, booming in. I used USB to avoid a bit of QRM (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel - Windows Media --- As previously scheduled, the IBA website has transferred their media from RealAudio to Windows Media audio, in order to improve performance. You can get to the new audio from the IBA's homepage: http://www.iba.org.il They have not yet added streams of the other networks which they said that they will be adding. As of now, the IBA TV English news is not back on their website. [Later:] The Engilsh IBA TV is now available on the IBA website as well. I received the following email from the IBA website mailing list: ==== http://www.iba.org.il ``The IBA launches today its new broadcasts system window and you are kindly invited to enjoy it!`` (via Doni Rosenzweig, Aug 15, DXLD) [Later:] IBA streaming media - continued. The direct Israel Radio "Media Window" URL is currently: http://bet.iba.org.il/index.asp?classto=10 Today, the IBA website has added live REQA (aka REKA) and Reshet Alef (a.k.a. Aleph) Windows Media streams to what they already had. The 0400 UTC (Midnight EDT), 1010 UTC (6:10 AM EDT) and 1700 UTC (1 PM EDT) English news broadcasts can now be heard live on the web via the Reshet Alef webstream. As previously mentioned, the latest of these broadcasts can be heard on demand from the same website. The remaining Reshet Hey (aka Hei) / External Service English broadcast at 1900 UTC (3 PM EDT) is still available live at the israelradio.org Reshet Hey live streaming feed (which happens to carry REQA when Reshet Hey is off the air): http://www.israelradio.org/livestream.htm israelradio.org still has the on demand 1900 UTC English broadcast at: http://www.israelradio.org/english.html The French and Spanish broadcasts can also be heard live on Reshet Alef. REQA carries Amharic most of the day, also Russian and a little Yiddish. Overnight Israel Time, they play continuous Israeli music. You can see which 'shortwave' language is broadcast on which local network at what time, here: http://israelradio.org/sw.htm For some reason the IBA TV English news is gone again. It seems the "Media Window" is still in its "rolling out" stage. They still haven't rolled out the Reshet Gimel webstream yet. Reshet Gimel is the Israeli music network (Doni Rosenzweig, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290, Offshore Music Radio, 1838, Very nice old pop music, Identification: "This is Offshore Music Radio". Advertisements. Female presenting the music. Good signal 45444. 14 August. LATVIA, 9290, Offshore Music Radio, 1838, Programa con bonita música pop de antaño, Identificación: "This is Offshore Music Radio". Anuncios. Locutora. Buena señal 45444. Agosto 14 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, España, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. SARAWAK - 4895 RTVM Kuching 1223-1234 Aug 15. Lite pop vocals, YL announcer in listed Iban. Good signal - can't tell if // to usual 7270, since the latter is now clobbered by the CH station noted by others (Taiwan, I think). (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, RW [random wire?], Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MALDIVES. The previous item referred to powers in watts, so I assumed the August 18 test would be from MW or FM transmitters in the Maldives. The following makes it clear these are SW transmissions, so no doubt the powers are meant to be in kilowatts, and perhaps from the site we suggested, UAE (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Things have gone mad in Maldives with over 500 people arrested. We have been so busy. Test broadcast on SW with WRN is going out on Wed evening in Malé. Everyone is just hoping that it will go through. WRN were unsure whether they need 100w or 250w for transmission. So they will do the 100 w first half hour and 250 in the 2nd half. The Maldivian people are so relying on this. Thanks so much for your help. I will let you know after Wed. Best Regards (Dave Hardingham, Friends of Maldives, Aug 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ============== Frequency will be 11525, and time has changed to 1630-1730, per WRN. Minivan Radio - means Independent Radio. Broadcasts will be daily (David Hardingham, Friends of Maldvies, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ============== 11525 is a clear channel in Central Europe, at least on Monday 16th. Closest services: 11500 BUL Plovdiv unit still on at 1620 UT, starts German at 1630. 11510 ARM VOR in French via Gavar, 190 degrees southwards to Africa, suffering by UTE underneath. 11545 CYP ? English number station to NE/ME, I guess M5 "Lincolnshire Approach[?]" melody service, seemingly serving from Akrotiri territory. 11530 Grigoriopol, Denge Mezopotamya ends at 1600 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALDIVES. Maldives: Off Again, On Again? --- On Friday, August 13, Reporters Without Borders http://www.rsf.fr expressed its outrage at an unusual action by Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Apparently, he cut the entire country off from the Internet in the wake of demonstrations against his government at the end of last week. "This grave and irresponsible step is unprecedented anywhere in the world and President Gayoom has embarked on a spiral of repression that is extremely worrying," said RSF, calling on the international community to urgently press for a halt to the crackdown and for the release of three detained journalists of the e-mailed newsletter Sandhaanu who have vanished since the protests. The British-owned telecommunications firm Cable & Wireless, which handles local Internet access, confirmed the government had cut off all Internet connections. About 90 people, including members of parliament, are thought to have been arrested after the demonstration. Checking at 12 UTC on August 16th, the website of the Voice of the Maldives http://www.vom.gov.mv seemed to be working though. In a move related to the unstable situation on the island, a UK based organization called Friends of the Maldives has announced it will start test transmissions on Wednesday 18 August. Minivan Radio, the Free Radio of the Maldives, will transmit a test broadcast between 2100-2200 hours Male time (i.e. 16-17 UTC), but no frequency has yet be released. [SEE ABOVE] The press release, quoted by BBC Monitoring, claims the first half an hour will be "at 100W and the second half hour will be tested at 250W [sic]. Do not be concerned if you cannot receive the first half of the radio programme or even the second half. We will persevere". That power is indeed very low, so either it is an FM transmitter on the island, or a converted ham radio transmitter operated on short- wave. The clue will come when they announce the frequency. # posted by Jonathan Marks @ 12:50 UT Aug 16 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** MALDIVES. PRESIDENT REACTS TO DEMO BY SWITCHING OFF INTERNET ACCESS | Text of press release by Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) on 13 August Reporters Without Borders expressed outrage today at Maldivian President Abdul Maumoon Gayoom's action in cutting the entire country off from the Internet, in the wake of demonstrations against his regime over the past two days. "This grave and irresponsible step is unprecedented anywhere in the world and President Gayoom has embarked on a spiral of repression that is extremely worrying," it said, calling on the international community to urgently press for a halt to the crackdown and for the release of three detained journalists of the e-mailed newsletter Sandhaanu, who have vanished since the protests. The British-owned telecommunications firm Cable & Wireless, which handles local internet access, confirmed the government had cut off all internet connections. About 90 people, including members of parliament, are thought to have been arrested after the demonstration. Source: Reporters Sans Frontieres press release, Paris, in English 13 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MALDIVES. POLICE ATTACK PROTESTERS CALLING FOR RELEASE OF JAILED CYBER-DISSIDENT | Text of press release by Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) on 13 August Reporters Without Borders expressed disgust at today's violent break- up, by Maldives police, of a demonstration by several thousand people calling for the release of political prisoners, including three cyber- dissidents of the e-mailed newsletter Sandhaanu. "Crushing this demonstration contravenes all the promises made by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. since June, to set up a democratic and transparent political system," it said. "We demand that the government ends such repression at once, does not prosecute any of the protesters and frees opposition figure Naushad Waheed and the Sandhaanu cyber- dissidents." Police attacked the protesters with truncheons and iron bars after President Gayoom announced that the organisers had been identified and would be punished. Many demonstrators were arrested, a state of emergency declared and a curfew imposed. Waheed and the cyber- dissidents then disappeared. The protest had begun late on 12 August in the capital, Male, in response to the arrest in the previous days of five political dissidents - the best-known of whom, Mohamed "Fulu" Yusuf , was released soon after the demonstration started. Some of the protesters went to the homes of Waheed (detained in December 2001) and the three cyber-dissidents - Mohamed Zaki, Ahmad Didi and Fathimath Nisreen - who were picked up in January 2002. All four, who were released into house arrest several months ago, went to the demonstration which was staged in front of the National Security Service headquarters and addressed the crowd. A leaflet was handed out criticizing the lack of press freedom in the country and quoting Reporters Without Borders, which has put President Gayoom on its worldwide list of "predators of press freedom." The protesters also called on Gayoom to resign. The British-based human rights group, Friends of Maldives, said state security agents had gone to the offices of the state-owned TV Maldives and the radio station Voice of Maldives to supervise reporting of the events. Source: Reporters Sans Frontieres press release, Paris, in English 13 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4810, Radio Transcontinental de América, 0205-0302+ Aug 9, some religious songs followed by music program with occasional announcements in Spanish by a woman announcer. Fair signal with some CODAR slop (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 15 via DXLD) Had this one been off? Not seen reported for a while (gh, DXLD) 4810, Radio Transcontinental (presumed), Mexico D.F., 0950+, August 14, Christian songs and religious anthems "non stop". Report at 1030 with a religious talk in Spanish by male. 24432 and for short moments with QSA 3 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Play-DX via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6239.65, USA, 2148-2230, Radio Garbonzo, Aug 14. ID was given as R. Garbonzo at 2148 and several other times but then ID as Radio Free Speech at 2155 as relay service. Then to Golden oldies Radio at 2200 with mention of parallell 1710 but unable to copy. Gracie Allen and George Burns with Jack Benny program at 2210. Fairly nice copy at S9 level and very little fading. However noted drifting around on occassion. ID at 2016 as the Voice of Shorwave Radio with postal address as PO Box 109, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214 (Bob Montgomery, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 15 via DXLD) Unusual for a NAm pirate to use this frequency area; inspired by Voz de la Resistencia, with which it is not to be confused? (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. QSL letters from FM/TV stations comment that they have also received a report from an Italian DXer! (The notorious Bellabarba hoaxster). I just got one this week from KOFM in Enid OK! (Jim Renfrew, NY, Aug 14, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) 103.1; I must clue them in (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. Another time I happened to catch KFOR-TV running its 4- translator ID (animated, BTW with expanding wave rings in background) was 2107 UT Mon Aug 16 within Jeopardy (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. An unfilled niche in Tulsa AM radio has been filled :-( KMUS-1380 noted this morning with "AM 13-80 Radio Disney" semi-ID, local ads and R. Disney programming. 100000w.com indicates an effective date of 7/29/04 from transmitter site just north of the Tulsa city limits At least I can get a fair null on this one. 73, (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, R8, Quantum Phaser, 2-130 foot wires, Aug 15, NRC-AM via DXLD) Thus depriving Muskogee, SE of Tulsa of one of its two AM stations. I suppose the signal barely reaches Muskogee now, if anyone cared. Surely a call change is in the works --- but wait, ``MUS`` is close enough to ``Mouse``, as Disney likes to pick call-signs somehow connecting with the company! What a lucky break (gh, DXLD) KMUS, Muskogee, CP granted to erect six new towers about 15 miles north of their current site at N36-15-59 W95-58-15 with U4 7000/250 and change city of license to Sperry (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Aug 16 via DXLD) Muskogee is farther than that from Tulsa (gh) Bruce, the CP for the move from Muskogee to Sperry called for an increase in daytime power from 1 to 7 kw and a decrease in night power from .5 to .25 kw. Must have been a mixed blessing for you. Sounds like they invested in a lot of steel and real estate with 6 new towers. I also noticed that Radio Disney has recently been added to the music section of my cable TV line-up (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, ibid.) As it has to my DirecTV music choices (BILL Hale, TX, ibid.) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, CRN 1236-1255 8/15. Presumed with religious talk to 1243, then music to 1255 tune-out. Fair at best and deteriorating (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, RW [random wire?], Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4960, Catholic Radio network, 1150, /1250-1322 Aug. 15. Heard through the static clashes as early as 1150 with religious programming. From 1250 to 1322 fade-out a program of continuous religious hymns played with no ID. Signal was amazing strong during sunrise enhancement (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PUERTO RICO. Grants to existing facilities: 1520, WVOZ, San Juan, CP granted to increase night power to become U4 25000/25000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Aug 16 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. I can only hope that the following link will indeed bring up a recording of the German service of Radio Moscow in 1993 (when the station was officially labelled Radio Moscow International), opening with ´´Shiroka strana moya rodnaya´´ and, not to forget, the famous ``Govorit Moskva``: http://www.radioeins.de/_/sendungen/apparat/020518_a2.ram Back then the lyrics of this song were quoted/explained in a German service programme. In this programme the comment was made that one could wonder if the composer and author will still consider these lyrics as true, but this question will remain unanswered because they are gone for a long time now (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THAT is the 10-note IS I have been referring to, wondering about its name! -- something about `...my homeland``. Previous discussion under USSR (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SCOTLAND [non]. U S A. WBCQ: Radio Six International Program Schedule, August 15-28 [From Tony Currie at radio six international via Elayne; Radio six international runs daily at 7 PM ET (2300 UTC) on WBCQ 5105.] Programme schedule for Radio Six International Aug 15 - 28 SUNDAY Aug 15, 2300 NEWS, 2303 WORLD PIPE BAND CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS, 2310 TARRY AWHILE with Tony Currie MONDAY Aug 16, 2300 NEWS, 2303 TONY CURRIE WIRELESS SHOW live from Glasgow, Scotland TUESDAY Aug 17, 2300 NEWS, 2303 COLLEGE OF PIPING with Rab Wallace, 2350 WORLD PIPE BAND CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS WEDNESDAY Aug 18, 2300 NEWS, 2303 THE JAZZ PROGRAMME with Paul Sawtell THURSDAY Aug 19, 2300 NEWS, 2303 JOHN CAVANAGH'S ALBUM SHOW This week, the new album from Bronze FRIDAY Aug 20, 2300 NEWS, 2303 RANDOM PLAY, 2357 GIG GUIDE SATURDAY Aug 21, 2300 NEWS, 2303 ALL SCOTLAND with Tony Currie Prog 3: "Spreading the Word" (Live) SUNDAY Aug 22, 2300 NEWS, 2303 SOUNDWAVE with John Cavanagh (Live) MONDAY Aug 23, 2300 NEWS, 2303 TONY CURRIE WIRELESS SHOW TUESDAY Aug 24, 2300 NEWS, 2303 SEQUENT SOUNDS WEDNESDAY Aug 25, 2300 NEWS, 2303 THE JAZZ PROGRAMME with Paul Sawtell THURSDAY Aug 26, 2300 NEWS, 2303 JOHN CAVANAGH'S ALBUM SHOW FRIDAY Aug 27, 2300 NEWS, 2303 RANDOM PLAY, 2357 GIG GUIDE SATURDAY Aug 28, 2300 NEWS, 2303 ALL SCOTLAND with Tony Currie Prog 4: "Rockin Through the Rye" (Live) SUNDAY Aug 29, 2300 NEWS, 2303 THE LIVELY LOUNGE with Tony Currie (via Larry Will, dxldyahoogroup and http://www.wbcq.com via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 15745, SLBC. 0116-0140 Aug. 15. Elvis 50's instrumentals at tune-in. Male's religious devotional program of inspiration (his words). Address in India for listeners. Station ID, meter bands and operating frequencies at 0131. More 50's tunes, morning show intros and upcoming program times and preview. Announcer reading listeners letters, greetings and messages at 0138. Same routine up to 0200 with ID and English newscast. SINPO 44344 (Gayle Van Horn, Brasstown NC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Back from excursion to 15748 ** SUDAN. QSL from 4750 R Peace, South Sudan --- Some time ago, a friend of mine visited New Site, South Sudan. He hand-delivered my 9 March 2004 reception report to the staff at the Radio Peace (4750) transmitter site (which, I believe is some 10 km from New Site). In return he received a handwritten confirmation letter. That letter now arrived to my letterbox, mailed from outside Sudan. As the letter says, there is no e-mail neither postal service to the station. What I've heard, many people there use PO Boxes in Loki, Kenya, which is the frontier town before the border. It is about two hours drive from New Site. So there is a faint chance to get a letter through routing it "via Loki, Kenya". Here's what the letter says (two last names of the signer were a bit difficult to read). ------ [all sic:] "24th July 2004 Dear Jari Savolainen I am so please to receive your reception report to our radio. It's frequency is found escactly as you mentioned in the report. We have two periods of broadcasting, 5:30 AM Sudan Local Time and 7:00 PM Sudan Local Time each period is two hours. The station is using ready cassetts from local languages, especial Arabic and Spot Light English Language. The programes are most enjoyful to the listeners of Radio Peace, especially those who understand these languages and I hope it's so enjoyful to those who listens to Spot Light English. We are stil in the bushes so - we have no facilities of making an e- mail or postal address however, I will provide you with the following, hoping that your reply could reach us. With many thanks Augustino Makude Anur New Site Kapoita County Equatoria Region Radio Peace NEW SUDAN" ------- (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would be UT+3, so 0230-0430 and 1600-1800 UT (gh) ** U K [non]. The BBCWS relay via WYFR was back on sometime in the mid-evening of Sat Aug 14 (UT Sun 15) on 11835 --- at least I assume it was WYFR rather than Delano at the earlier hour, and also found some RTI and WYFR frequencies back from power outage, tho could and would hardly check every single one of them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Kim Elliott is on VOA Talk to America UT Monday Aug 16 (via Chris Hambly, Victoria, DXLD) ``In the second half of the program, Kim Andrew Elliot from the "IBB Office of Research", discusses the recent on-air survey of listeners to VOA News Now; the results may surprise you`` per http://www.voanews.com/talktoamerica/ Look for it in the audio archive http://www.voanews.com/TalkToAmerica/article.cfm?objectid=04558F09-09B0-4851-83611AE07C539019&title=Talk%20To%20America%20%2D%20Program%20Archives The second of three segments. Looks like they run about a week behind in putting shows up (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. / UZBEKISTAN: VOA ENDS UZBEK-LANGUAGE BROADCASTS | The following report in Uzbek and dated 28 July 2004 appears on the VOA News web site http://www.voanews.com --- Since the Voice of America has turned into a multifaceted media system and is focusing on TV programs, radio broadcasts in Uzbek will not be aired as of Saturday, 31 July. The Uzbek service will continue its work by broadcasting programs via satellite through the region's private TV companies. Thus, we hope that you will watch our TV programs. Voice of America is always at your disposal. Source: VOA News.com Washington D.C., in Uzbek 28 Jul 04 (via BBCM August 15 via DXLD) IWPR COMMENTS ON VOA ENDING UZBEK-LANGUAGE BROADCASTS | The decision of the Voice of America to stop beaming radio programmes to Uzbekistan "has been met with an equal measure of bewilderment and disappointment by its loyal audience," the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) reported on its web site on 13 August. In Issue No 307 of its "Reporting Central Asia" newsletter, the IWPR added: "The move, coming at a time of renewed violence in the country, has left listeners complaining that they have lost an important source of news about Uzbekistan - a rare commodity in a country so dominated by state-controlled media. "The end of Uzbek-language programmes from the US government-funded broadcaster could not have been timed worse. The last broadcast went out on the evening of 31 July - a day after suicide bombers attacked the US and Israeli embassies and the Uzbek prosecutor's office in the capital Tashkent." The government of Uzbekistan developed close ties with the US after 11 September 2001 by making an airbase available to American forces engaged in the campaign in Afghanistan. But relations with the international community have remained troubled by concerns over human rights, the IWPR recalled. It went on: "People in Uzbekistan have little access to independent news: apart from VOA, only Radio Liberty, the BBC and Iran offer programmes in Uzbek. Russian-language programmes from such external broadcasters are also widely understood, but the content is not specific to Uzbekistan. "IWPR's investigations suggest that the decision to axe VOA's Uzbek programmes was not, as might have been suspected, related to the complexities of US-Uzbek relations. "In a final broadcast, Uzbek service chief Nusratullah Lahib explained that the reason was the failure to reach a wider audience, principally because VOA was still broadcasting to Uzbekistan only on difficult-to- hear shortwave frequencies, rather than mediumwave (AM) or VHF." "In March 2004, a group of independent American experts visited Tashkent to check the quality of broadcasting and conduct an audience survey. Their analysis showed that not everyone has access to the short waves on which our programmes are broadcast. That is why we failed to gain a big audience," the IWPT quoted Lahib as saying. Brian Mabry, a senior adviser with the VOA's International Broadcast Bureau, told IWPR that although dedicated radio programming had halted, the station "continues to have a strong Uzbek-language presence". Mabry said Uzbek service staff were still making programmes, but now for a different medium - television, through which VOA says it can reach a much wider audience. The IWPR report said: "Since the end of 2003, VOA has been making regular programmes in Uzbek which are relayed by private TV stations - currently 15 of them - in the country. Access to commercial outlets has clear benefits, according to Mabry, because `the tightly- controlled media in Uzbekistan means US international broadcasting has to rely predominantly on shortwave to reach the country with radio'." Another rationale for VOA ending its radio broadcasts is that another US government-funded broadcaster, Radio Liberty, already enjoys better access to the airways, the IWPR report continued. "While VOA has moved to broadcasting in Uzbek on television, its sister broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty [RFE/RL] continues to reach Uzbekistan, broadcasting by shortwave and mediumwave radio. RFE/RL broadcasts seven hours of Uzbek-language radio daily," it quoted Mabry as saying. But listeners such as human rights activist Bakhtior Hamroev told IWPR that the new TV programming was no substitute for the old VOA news bulletins, which contained information that would otherwise go unreported in local media. Mabry told IWPR that the two vehicles now used by VOA were a five- minute weekday programme called "Scenes From America" and a half-hour weekly magazine programme, "Exploring America". But Hamroev complained that "`Scenes From America' talks about culture, art, education, science and so on. There is not a word about politics in these 'portraits'." Although the shortwave radio audience may be small, the audience for the new commercial TV stations is also restricted by the low average income in the country, IWPR noted. Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting web site, London, in English 13 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. Here is an update on WBCQ 9330 from Elayne via the crew in Monticello: ---- ALL MONDAY, August 16 PROGRAMS SCHEDULED ON 9.330 WILL BE BROADCAST AS FOLLOWS: 3:00 pm - Patriot Trading Group - to 5.105 4:00 pm - Financial Survival 2000/Discount Gold and Silver Trading - to 17.495 6:00 pm - Patriot Trading Group - to 17.495 9:00 pm - 11:00 pm - The Christian Media Network - WILL NOT AIR If the 9.330 transmitter is not up on Tuesday, August 17 or Wednesday, August 18, Monday's schedule will also apply. In that case, WORLD OF RADIO normally scheduled from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm on Wednesdays on 17.495 will be broadcast on 5.105 [also on 7.415] (Larry Will, Aug 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) About Planet World News at 1845 UT being an hour earlier than before, as I recently remarked --- I guess it is not; I was thinking in terms of the winter timing when it began, 1945. See also DEUTSCHES REICH [non], SCOTLAND [non] (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. To all interested parties: The hurricanes are gone (for the moment), and Miami escaped the worst part of Charley. There was no significant damage here, although the west coast of Florida is another story. This morning we have been doing some tests of 6870 kHz, and everything sounds good. So as of 10:00 p.m. Eastern time tonight (Sunday), WRMI will be on 6870 kHz to North America, replacing 7385. We have been announcing the change for a couple of weeks, so most listeners should be expecting to find us on the new frequency (Jeff White, WRMI, 1429 UT Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That must be why 15725 was missing when checked August 15 around 1330. So look for World of Radio at 0230 UT Monday on 6870. [Later:] 6870 confirmed on UT Mon Aug 16, in the clear tho atmospheric noise pretty bad here; the ute noise still on 7385 and better heard now without QRM from WRMI. Oh oh, AWR Wavescan at 0230, instead of WOR, which ran at 0300. Must be a tape mixup (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, tape mixup. Sorry about that. Good to know the noise is still on 7385 and not on 6870. We never have found out what it really is. There's a guy at the FCC who has access to the classified government frequency assignments, but he's not allowed to tell us what they are - -- just to tell us whether we can use a particular frequency or not. He, like Larry Van Horn, seemed a bit surprised that they ever authorized us to use 7385 in the first place, although he didn't come right out and say it. So I'd say there's a fairly good chance that it's coming from the U.S., although not definite (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Am I wrong or isn't 6870 an emergency frequency in the U.S. (Federal Aviation Administration) and elsewhere? Cf. http://www.wunclub.com/files/mla.html 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I searched this large page for 6870 and found that and other entries: FAA Recovery Communications/National Radio Communications System (RCOM/NARACS) HF SSB Network (U=USB/L=LSB) Frequencies (including ALE): 5860.0U 6870.0U 6870.0L 7475.0U/L 7611.0U/L 8125.0U/L 9114.0U/L 11637.0U 13457.0U 13630.0U 15851.0U 16348.0U kHz 1. FAA Southern Net meets on Wednesday at 0900 ET on 6870 kHz LSB The Spanish Air Force operates a SAR service around the Spanish mainland and from Gando AB in the Canary Islands. They make extensive use of HF for communications during rescue missions and during exercises. The following frequencies are used: 6737.0 USB(HJ) 4738.5 USB(H24) 3137.0 USB(HN) [HJ = day, HN = nite, Frenchly] They also use the worldwide general calling/emergency frequency of 2182.0 kHz. The Canarias Rescue Coordination Center (RCC), due to the much larger area they cover, also uses 11406 kHz. They can also by heard on the following frequencies (these are used by request from the network users): 2763.0 3855.0 4790.0 6870.0 9001.0 9437.0 kHz ====================================================================== BTW, searching for 7385 on this page turned up nothing (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: None of that particularly worries me. First of all, who knows how much of that data is really correct, or still current, or still used? Secondly, VOA was assigned (and apparently used) 6873 for years, I believe as an SSB feeder; in fact, it's still assigned. Also, the FCC person who checks out out-of-band frequencies for military and other uses indicated to us that the only concern they had was whether VOA planned to use the frequency. We checked with VOA and found that they are no longer using it and have no plans to use it in the foreseeable future. We are using 6870 on the condition that if VOA wants it back at some time in the future -- which is unlikely -- we will have to move elsewhere. Further, 6873 is on a list of pre- approved out-of-band frequencies for HF broadcasting by the FCC. We didn't want to use the odd 6873, of course, so we were given the choice between 6870 and 6875. We chose 6870, but could always request a change to 6875 if necessary (Jeff White, WRMI, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI off-frequency on 15724.88 with R. Guangdong relay: see CHINA [non]. See also UK [non] ** U S A. Orlando belted and the storm take aim at me soon. 1570 WVOJ (ex: WGSR) Will be on normal power schedule. Orlando proper is slowly pulling out of the worst of the hurricane. TV Broadcast 6 there is working literally on flashlights and counting on outside crews in the thick of it for feedback. Studio is dark. That's Broadcast 6 in Orlando. 105.9 Deland Orlando, FL WOCL is broadcasting a blank signal, they were rebroadcasting WESH TV 2 Daytona Beach-Orlando. 107.7 Mt. Dora- Orlando was broadcasting another Orlando TV Station (or was it clear Channel WFLF 540?) and is having a hard time staying on the air. Flager County (Palm Coast where I live between Daytona Beach and St. Augustine, FL is waiting in the calm. A stiff band came through but was short lived. All loose stuff is stowed and we're ready. No local AM here anywhere nearby. We are expecting 85 mph sustained, not too bad. Orlando Int'l Airport recorded 105 mph (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, Flagler County, FL, Waiting for action... 0207 UT Aug 14, NRC-AM via DXLD) WKMG TV 6 Orlando, FL is hurting. They are operating the studio out of a remote truck, left the air transmitting blank black screen and no audio, asking folks to tune 87.7 FM for the interim. Now they're back, using a board in a remote truck feeding the transmitter, handheld mics at the desk (one actually will work of two), the newscasters passing the mic back and forth. Little to no graphics, switching to video footage patched from the truck. Interesting stuff tech wise. The hosts are kind of confused but running with it... Barely a breeze here at the RadioRanch... Palm Coast, FL (Ron Gitschier (Running VCR on the Orlando/Daytona TV BC stations.) 1031 UT Aug 13, ibid.) 80 mile an hour winds sustained was all I got along with the rain. Living in a concrete block home (stucco exterior) and ceramic tile roof certainly helps to a degree. In fact, when the rain wasn't blown into my front window, I didn't even know of the wind. The insulation works pretty good for sound as well, apparently. Sandy and I were really surprised. We recently built this house and am pleased with it to date. The only pain is pumping the extra rain water out of the pool (to the "nth" power). The kids aren't doing enough cannonballs. The local LPFM, WFBO-LP 93.3 had its antenna blown over at the beach with the last of the stronger gusts and got back on about 12 hours later. Electricity for us was out for 19 hours. Everything in the fridge held. 5,000 more customers in our city still are waiting for power. I haven't noticed any broadcasters off the air aside from WFBO- LP our very, very deep playlist oldies station. Once they got the engineering issues taken care of and the programming computers/systems on, they started passing community information, the only station here in Flagler County, the non-comms were carrier only. Listened to 1150 WNDB Daytona Beach, FL. Their phone service was out and was using studio/transmitter generators, and simulcasting on their other Black Crow stations (93.1, 95.7, 103.3) and the normal simulcast 1490 WNDA Deland, FL. WOKV 690 had Saturday morning news blocks. I didn't catch the advertised simulcast with sister oldies WKQL 96.9 "To reach those outside of our night pattern". WOCL 105.9 Deland-Orlando, FL simulcasted a television station (Active Rock formatted). Much use of the EAS system was evident on many stations. Sound the all clear horn. Regard all further alarms (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL, 1955 UT Sun 15 Aug 2004, ibid.) Hard to believe that a station in a major market like Orlando, would have no generator capacity. More than likely, it didn`t work. Someone in engineering will probably catch hell over that one. Ch 10 in Tampa was similar, but they had to evacuate by order of the police because of their studios being so close to the waterfront (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, Aug 14, ibid.) It was interesting. They stayed with some poor chap in 90 mph+ winds in Sanford for the lack of studio lights and switching main control to an ENG truck outside the bldg to feed the transmitter pipeline. The anchors were quite bewildered and WKMG took the storm on the chin --- engineers seen literally running around like excited gerbils in the background. (Usually we call Sales folks gerbils...lol) I Rolled video on it. They asked viewers to tune 87.7FM (vice switching to other locals and local Bright House Cable News 13. Ch 10 Tampa: Smooth move on choosing a location for the studio (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL, less a few palm fronds, 2001 UT Aug 15, ibid.) ** U S A. HURRICANE CHARLEY RESPONSE REAFFIRMS AMATEUR RADIO`S VALUE NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 16, 2004 --- An as-yet unknown number of Amateur Radio operators remain in emergency mode today as Florida recovers from the devastating blow landed August 13 by Hurricane Charley. Authorities ordered the evacuation of an estimated two million people ahead of the storm. . . http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/08/16/100/?nc=1 (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. We extract a few interesting items from the latest AM Switch in NRC DX News; see also ALASKA, OKLAHOMA, PUERTO RICO. Grants to Existing Facilities 1160, WYLL, IL, Chicago, CP granted for U4 50000/50000. The station will erect a new six-tower site approximately 28 miles south of the present day/night site for night operations, making them another two- site operation. The new night pattern is directed north toward 003 degrees [remember when it was WJJD, daytime allowed to stay on in evening until Salt Lake sunset? And see next entry ---gh] Amendments to Construxion Permits Submitted 860, KTRB, CA, Modesto, station has a CP to move to San Francisco with U4 50000/40000. This amendment asks for U4 50000/50000. 1160, WYLL, IL, Chicago, licensed for U4 50000/5000, stations has a CP for U4 50000/50000 CH 50000. This amendment drops the CH designation. 1550, WRHC, FL, Coral Gables, station has a CP to change city of license to Kendale Lakes, FL with U4 25000/5000 and change frquency to 1560 from a new site. This amendment changes the coordinates of the proposed site, plus slightly alters the day and night patterns. If granted, they will retain the power and antenna parameters listed above, but from N25-41-58, W80-28-33. [This station operated for years illegally on the wrong frequency 1560 instead of 1550, or was it 1550 instead of 1560? ---gh] Amendments to Applications Submitted 980, KICA, NM, Clovis, Licensed for U1 1400/172, KICA submitted an applicatin to increase daytime power to become U5 50000/172, but the FCC denied the request citing coverage overlaps with KSVP-990 [Artesia NM] and KMSR-990 [Farmersville TX]. This amendment alters the proposed direxional pattern to alleviate the overlap. Other Actions 1170, WWVA, WV, Wheeling, Capstar the licensee of WWVA, submitted a letter withdrawing the proposed move of this station to Stow, Ohio. The FCC has complied and the application has been dismissed as of July 19. Hear and Thar [sic] KLEY, 1130, Wellington KS, has been fined $3,200 for not powering down to their nighttime-authorized one Watt. What was the special occasion? The owner had entered into a contract to carry Nebraska University football games in their entirety and the FCC monitors just happened to be listening when the signal should have been at the 1 Watt level. And it wasn`t! (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Aug 16 via DXLD) not KU? ** U S A. 830, KFLT, AZ, Tucson, 7/14 into 7/15, station in unusually loud and clear all night with religious programming; apparently was running day power [50 kW vs. 1 kW! ---gh] (Mike Riordan, Salt Lake City UT, Domestic DX Digest, NRC DX News Aug 16 via DXLD) Sometimes I think the FCC should just drop the concept of reduced night power altogether since it seems to be so poorly observed and just let stations run the same power day and night. I`ll say it again: if you`re not cynical when it comes to the FCC, you don`t understand the situation correctly (ed. Harry L. Helms, Las Vegas NV, ibid.) ** U S A. Radio World magazine is reporting that Entercom Communications Corporation plans to convert 80% of its stations to IBOC over the next four years. The company has six stations converted now, one FM in Boston and five FMs in Seattle. Clear Channel has also committed to converting most of its stations. Entercom has equipment on order for converting eight more stations, five in Portland and three in Denver, this year, according to John Donlevie, Entercom executive vice president and general counsel. Conversion costs for the company are running from about $100,000 to $150,000. The company hasn`t released what additional markets it will convert, but will likely focus on transitioning its FM stations first. Entercom, an Ibiqity investor, has 104 stations (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Aug 16 via DXLD) ** U S A. NICE TO SEE THEY'RE LISTENING: AirAmerica has apparently taken Update advice, by hiring Mike Malloy to hold court weeknights from 10 PM-1 AM ET. Mike is a veteran Liberal talk-show captain; it was suggested here earlier this year that AA avail themselves of his talents. AA execs are patting themselves on their collective back, after seeing the jump in ratings on Portland affiliate KPOJ/620. KPOJ's nine-fold jump in audience numbers has also caught the attentions of owners Clear Channel. AA will be allegedly residing on CC's KPOP/1360 in San Diego, which has played host to a relatively successful Nostalgia-based full service format. CC has also busted an AA move in Miami, landing the Lib-net on WINZ/940, whilst returning those heritage call letters to the City of Pastels. (WINZ had suffered from various News-talk based format failures over the past twenty-odd years, the latest being a Sports incarnation.) CC will also place AA on a Santa Barbara facility, KTLK/1340; this in combination with the San Diego placement will render AA pretty much listenable along the Pacific coastline, from Point Conception to below Ensenada. Now, in what's becoming a fine AirAmerica tradition, the San Diego start date has been pushed back, from this past Monday (August 9) to August 23. Whether they'll make that date is anyone's guess. TAKING A STAND?: Is, apparently, Demo. Pres. hopeful John Kerry, who told a St. Louis journalism-related convention that he is against what he calls, "the ongoing push for media consolidation". Kerry promises an administration that will strive for, in his words, "as broad and diverse (of) an ownership (strategy) as possible". Kerry asserts plans to emphasize Minority participation in broadcast ownership, through the appointments of like-minded FCCommissioners. The esteemed AllAccess tells us a number of Media-honchos have jumped onto the Kerry bandwagon, among them, Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan, Inner City Broadcasting's Percy Sutton, Viacom's Tom Freston, Warner Music's Edgan Bronfman Jr., as well as ex-FCC chairmen Reed Hundt and Bill Kennard. The Update's staff of political analysts predict NO recognizable changes in policy, regardless of who benefits from this November's scheduled coup-de-'etat. The Almighty Dollar will win out as top policy-making influence. To quote Gomer Pyle: "Surprise, surprise!!" XM will debut an adjunctive Public Radio channel in September, featuring the dulcet tones of Bob Edwards in the mornings. You may recall, Edwards was recently (and very unceremoniously) ousted as host of NPR's Morning Edition, after some 26 years. Also inked to the new pub-channel is Larry Mantle, of Pasadena's KPCC/89.3; additional programming is supplied by Minnesota Public Radio, Chicago's WBEZ/91.5 (specifically "This American Life" with Ira Glass), and Boston's WBUR/90.9. INSANITY ON THE DIAL: Arguably, this is the craziest frequency allocation scheme ever exposed to the Update. San Diego gonzo- broadcaster Jaime Bonilla has rented out his KURS/1040 to Gospel purveyors --- and has put his 1040-displaced Westwood One/Big Band format on the very NEXT frequency, now heard over XESDD-1030, from just across the border. This will effectively kill potential audiences for BOTH outlets, as each screws up the other's signal, from Ensenada to Orange County. Folks living within a couple of miles of the 1040- stick, in downtown San Diego, will have unimpeded Gospel for entertainment; the 1030 signal is powered by a few more watts, and just might make it interference-free (relatively, anyway) as far North as the U.S./Mexican border. Icing the cake is daily hash-interference blanketing 1030, from L.A.'s IBOC-Digital KTNQ/1020 --- which has promised to file its own interference complaint with the FCC, against the Mexican 1030 outlet. This whole move was orchestrated by the same guy (Bonilla) who wisely took over the nearly-empty 1700 spot with his Tropical-flavored XEPE, a couple of months ago. Nearby, Chris Carmichael of http://www.sdradio.net checks in to tell us of ongoing Pirate broadcasts on 96.9 FM, as well as recurring 'casts on 106.9. I've also heard of yet a third Jolly Roger in SD, on 98.5. None have been received so far at the San Fernando Valley listening post; it's worth mentioning that 106.9 is wiped out by Digital/IBOC hash spilling over from KROQ-FM/106.7. DIGITITIS: The BBC Radio 2 net has announced plans to add Digital broadcasts in parts of the UK, later this year. They and many other nations use a system centered on 220 MHz signals (just above our TV- Channel 13); Canada and some others use an "L-Band" system, bouncing around 1470 MHz in the microwave region. The U.S. leads the way with the IBOC plan, which makes a mess out of many analog (usual AM & FM) frequencies. Ironic this is, nearly twenty years after the National Radio Standards Committee made a big stink out of adjacent-channel "splatter" on the AM band. The net effect, was that domestic AM stations were forced to roll off transmissions at the 10 kHz bandpass level, which effectively (from an audiophile's perspective) killed AM Stereo, along with the very fact that AM (passing 15 kHz, on the par with good human hearing) by nature sounds better, more natural, more balanced than FM as both leave their transmitters. Ibiquity, the firm behind IBOC ("In Band On Channel) digital, has many well-heeled corporate investors --- now, THIS has nothing to do with anything, does it???? AN ISLAND OF QUALITY: In a sea of garbage ---- referring here generally to KNX/1070, and specifically to Michael Jackson. In case you've been on Pluto, the veteran class-talker is now featured during drive-time interview vignettes on the Infinity newser, thus earning deserved credit for programmer David G. Hall. Among his subjects have been Disney mousehead Michael Eisner, Texas-based columnist Molly Ivins, yet another Texan, former Gov. Ann Richards and others. One will hear Michael's pieces replayed throughout the 24-hour broadcast day on KNX. It's all a homecoming of sorts; MJ last worked for KNX in 1965, with a nightly four-hour show homing in on the Watts Riots, and other key issues of the day. RESTLESS IN SEATTLE: Without previous laurels to rest upon, was Fisher Broadcasting's KOMO/1000, dogged for years by Entercom's KIRO/710's propensity to eat up the ratings with their excellent news-talk presentation. A year or two ago, KOMO went to an all-news format, with lots of hard work and meager results. Let this now be a lesson to programmers, regarding the idea of sticking with a format...KOMO and KIRO are tied at a dead heat, at the top of the Arbitron Spring book for Seattle. All is not lost for the Entercom folks, though; their KTTH/770 talker is just a little over one rating point behind the other two 50,000 watt giants. (KOMO can easily be heard for sampling most nights anywhere between Fresno and Alaska; KIRO's directional signal favors the frozen North much more than it does the Left Coast, unfortunately.) Revenues are way up at KOMO, as well, partly due to their coverage of the Seattle Mariners. IN CHICAGO, WGN/720's veteran farm reporter, Orion Samuelson, is back on full-schedule, after a couple of medical scares this year. "The Chicago Sun-Times" scribe supreme, Robert Feder, informs us of Orion's run-ins with flesh-eating bacteria found in his throat (which may cause nightmares among some of you), and a dangerous blood clot found near his heart. All this not only took OS off the air, but also kibboshed his considered-run for the open Senate seat from Illinois -- - for which everyone in the state except Greg Maddux, Sammy Sosa and Mancow was once courted, by someone or another. Until the next, Peace and Prosperity. -- GREG HARDISON (excerpts by gh from Broadcast Band Update Aug 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The complete Update appears in the dxldyg ** U S A. Kudos to Todd Manley, production czar at WGN-AM (720), on the release Thursday of "WGN Gold -- 80 Years of Radio Memories." Celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Tribune Co.-owned news/talk station, Manley has produced a treasure trove of great moments and small delights culled from WGN's archives. It's a keeper. Rick Kogan's splendid essay about WGN complements the CD's liner notes. To order the CD for $10 (including postage and handling), see: http://wgnradio.com Proceeds benefit the Neediest Kids Fund. http://www.suntimes.com/output/feder/cst-fin-feder131.html (Robert Feder, Chicago Sun Times Aug 13, via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. DTVs on channel 2 [for TVDXers` benefit]: CO Grand Junction KREX, 800w/28m, STA 90w/-98m (not likely!) FL Tallahassee WTWC, 9200w/583m, known operational GA Wrens WCES, 30000w/436m MI Kalamazoo WWMT, 6900w/305m, known operational NV Las Vegas KVBC, 27700w/384m, STA 10000w/386m, I think Matt Sittel has seen this one NY Elmira WETM, 10000w/363m, STA 270w OH Cleveland WKYC, 8000w/296m, known operational SD Florence KDLO, 3700w/241m, known operational SD Rapid City KOTA, 7100w/185m, seen by multiple DXers -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, Aug 7, WTFDA via DXLD) ** USA. The Trinity channel in Houston, KETH-14, is making full use of their DT channel 24. I had a chance to look it over on a DT receiver. Instead of HD, they are running four separate programs, all religious: their main channel of course, one called Church Channel, and two others. There are some technical problems, like one of them was missing left or right from stereo audio (George Thurman, TX, Aug 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. 9595/6140, R. Montecarlo ha estado inactiva estas últimas semanas. Hablo en particular de la frecuencia en 49 m, porque la de 31 hace rato que no la escucho (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, ago 16, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. 11905, Radio Tashkent International at 2130 with Interval Signal, ID as "Radio Tashkent International" At 2131 their complete broadcast schedule for English transmissions was given. At 2133 to 2144 a few commentary type programs. Hard to make out the content due to low modulation. A local music program at 2144. At 2148 a nice ID followed by an interview with a US student from Utah whom is visiting Uzbekistan as part of his studies. Interference by Swiss Radio International at 2155. ID at 2157 then off air. 333 Aug 8/04 (Mick Delmage, AB, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 15 via DXLD) [non] VOA ended Uzbek language broadcasts: see U S A ** VENEZUELA. We may not be able to hear RNV via Cuba yet again, and if we could, there may not be any current news on it, but their website is full of info on Chavez` victory: http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias/ For anything at all about this on US TV, I`ve had to watch Univisión, but even they seem to be giving at least as much coverage to the Dominican Republic (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DICK CHENEY, HUGO CHÁVEZ AND BILL CLINTON'S BAND --- Why Venezuela has Voted Again for Their 'Negro e Indio' President Baltimore Chronicle Monday, August 16, 2004 http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=362&row=0 There's so much BS and baloney thrown around about Venezuela that I may be violating some rule of US journalism by providing some facts. Let's begin with this: 77% of Venezuela's farmland is owned by 3% of the population, the 'hacendados.' I met one of these farmlords in Caracas at an anti-Chavez protest march. Oddest demonstration I've ever seen: frosted blondes in high heels clutching designer bags, screeching, "Chavez - dic-ta-dor!" The plantation owner griped about the "socialismo" of Chavez, then jumped into his Jaguar convertible. That week, Chavez himself handed me a copy of the "socialist" manifesto that so rattled the man in the Jag. It was a new law passed by Venezuela's Congress which gave land to the landless. The Chavez law transferred only fields from the giant haciendas which had been left unused and abandoned. This land reform, by the way, was promoted to Venezuela in the 1960s by that Lefty radical, John F. Kennedy. Venezuela's dictator of the time agreed to hand out land, but forgot to give peasants title to their property. But Chavez won't forget, because the mirror reminds him. What the affable president sees in his reflection, beyond the ribbons of office, is a "negro e indio" -- a "Black and Indian" man, dark as a cola nut, same as the landless and, until now, the hopeless. For the first time in Venezuela's history, the 80% Black-Indian population elected a man with skin darker than the man in the Jaguar. So why, with a huge majority of the electorate behind him, twice in elections and today with a nearly two-to-one landslide victory in a recall referendum, is Hugo Chavez in hot water with our democracy- promoting White House? Maybe it's the oil. Lots of it. Chavez sits atop a reserve of crude that rivals Iraq's. And it's not his presidency of Venezuela that drives the White House bananas, it was his presidency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. While in control of the OPEC secretariat, Chavez cut a deal with our maximum leader of the time, Bill Clinton, on the price of oil. It was a 'Goldilocks' plan. The price would not be too low, not too high; just right, kept between $20 and $30 a barrel. But Dick Cheney does not like Clinton nor Chavez nor their band. To him, the oil industry's (and Saudi Arabia's) freedom to set oil prices is as sacred as freedom of speech is to the ACLU. I got this info, by the way, from three top oil industry lobbyists. Why should Chavez worry about what Dick thinks? Because, said one of the oil men, the Veep in his bunker, not the pretzel-chewer in the White House, "runs energy policy in the United States." And what seems to have gotten our Veep's knickers in a twist is not the price of oil, but who keeps the loot from the current band- busting spurt in prices. Chavez had his Congress pass another oil law, the "Law of Hydrocarbons," which changes the split. Right now, the oil majors - like PhillipsConoco - keep 84% of the proceeds of the sale of Venezuela oil; the nation gets only 16%. Chavez wanted to double his Treasury's take to 30%. And for good reason. Landless, hungry peasants have, over decades, drifted into Caracas and other cities, building million-person ghettos of cardboard shacks and open sewers. Chavez promised to do something about that. And he did. "Chavez gives them bread and bricks," one Venezuelan TV reporter told me. The blonde TV newscaster, in the middle of a publicity shoot, said the words "pan y ladrillos" with disdain, making it clear that she never touched bricks and certainly never waited in a bread line. But to feed and house the darker folk in those bread and brick lines, Chavez would need funds, and the 16% slice of the oil pie wouldn't do it. So the President of Venezuela demanded 30%, leaving Big Oil only 70%. Suddenly, Bill Clinton's ally in Caracas became Mr. Cheney's -- and therefore, Mr. Bush's -- enemy. So began the Bush-Cheney campaign to "Floridate" the will of the Venezuela electorate. It didn't matter that Chavez had twice won election. Winning most of the votes, said a White House spokesman, did not make Chavez' government "legitimate." Hmmm. Secret contracts were awarded by our Homeland Security spooks to steal official Venezuela voter lists. Cash passed discreetly from the US taxpayer, via the so-called 'Endowment for Democracy,' to the Chavez-haters running today's "recall" election. A brilliant campaign of placing stories about Chavez' supposed unpopularity and "dictatorial" manner seized US news and op-ed pages, ranging from the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times. But some facts just can't be smothered in propaganda ink. While George Bush can appoint the government of Iraq and call it "sovereign," the government of Venezuela is appointed by its people. And the fact is that most people in this slum-choked land don't drive Jaguars or have their hair tinted in Miami. Most look in the mirror and see someone "negro e indio," as dark as their President Hugo. The official CIA handbook on Venezuela says that half the nation's farmers own only 1% of the land. They are the lucky ones, as more peasants owned nothing. That is, until their man Chavez took office. Even under Chavez, land redistribution remains more a promise than an accomplishment. But today, the landless and homeless voted their hopes, knowing that their man may not, against the armed axis of local oligarchs and Dick Cheney, succeed for them. But they are convinced he would never forget them. And that's a fact. --- Greg Palast's reports from Venezuela for BBC Television's Newsnight and the Guardian papers of Britain earned a California State University Journalism School "Project Censored" award for 2002. View photos and Palast's reports on Venezuela at http://www.GregPalast.com http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/081604GregPalast.shtml (via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. BUSINESSWOMAN SUES RADIO STATION http://allafrica.com/stories/200408161053.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Same story: HARARE HOME OWNER TO SUE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: REPORT Zimbabwe newspaper The Herald reports that a Harare businesswoman is suing the Voice of the People (VOP) radio station for damages after her house she leased to the station was destroyed in a bomb attack in August 2002. The report says that Ms Leah Ali, owner of 32 Van Praagh Avenue, Milton Park, in her summons filed at the High Court recently, is claiming a total of $1.22 milion, being the replacement value of her property. Ms Ali is claiming that the damages she suffered are a result of breach of contract or fault by VOP, Dr Faith Ndebele and the radio's executive director Mr John Masuku. The three are listed as respondents in the claim. Dr Ndebele has since resigned as a board member of VOP. According to the claim, Ms Ali entered into an agreement with VOP to lease her property to the radio station for $70,000 a month. The house would be used as an office. It was agreed at the time of the contract by VOP that the premises, in good condition at the commencement of occupation, would be returned to Ms Ali upon the expiry of the lease in the original condition with reasonable wear and tear excepted. However, the premises were destroyed in a bomb attack. At the time of the destruction, Ms Ali claims, VOP used her house as a studio in breach of the contract that stipulated the radio station would use the house only as an office. The newspaper report describes Voice of the People as "an American- sponsored propaganda pirate radio station specialising in anti-African hate language." In fact, VOP is an independent radio station that broadcasts to Zimbabwe via the Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station because independent broadcasting is not permitted in Zimbabwe. It is widely believed that the bombing was carried out by persons working for Robert Mugabe's government. More on this story: Zimbabwe Media Dossier: Voice of the People [more than a year old] http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/zimbabwe-vop.html # posted by Andy @ 19:14 UT Aug 16 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. SW Radio Africa back on 6145 kHz A note on the Web site of SW Radio Africa, which broadcasts to Zimbabwe from studios in the UK, says that the station has returned to 6145 kHz instead of its alternative seasonal frequency of 4880 kHz. Broadcasts are daily at 1600-1900 UT. # posted by Andy @ 10:05 UT Aug 16 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ###