DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-138, September 10, 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 1245: Fri 0200 on ACBRadio Mainstream repeated 2-hourly thru 2400 http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.html Fri 2300 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sat 0000 on SIUE Web Radio http://webradio.siue.edu Sat 0800 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacific http://www.wrn.org Sat 0855 on WNQM Nashville 1300 Sat 1030 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1830 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sat 2030 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sat 2030 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sat 2300 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sun 0230 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0630 on WWCR 3210 Sun 1000 on WRN1 to North America, webcast; also KSFC 91.9 Spokane WA, and WDWN 89.1 Auburn NY; maybe KTRU 91.7 Houston TX, each with webcasts Sun 1100 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1500 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1900 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sun 1930 on WWCR 12160 Sun 2000 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Sun 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0230 on WRMI 6870 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous 1244] Mon 0430 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Mon 0900 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Mon 1600 on WBCQ after-hours http://wbcq.com repeated weekdaily Mon 2100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB [maybe, repeated Tue, Wed] Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO 1245 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1245h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1245h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1245.html WORLD OF RADIO 1245 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1245.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1245.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1245 in the true SW sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-08-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-08-04.mp3 [this week WBCQ got a download instead of phone feed, better quality] ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. HURRY UP FOR AIR PORT BLAIR QSLS Dear Friends, Those interested in receiving verifications from the exotic station, AIR Port Blair of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, better make it fast. The Station Engineer, Mr. K. S. Venkatesarlu, who is now very promptly replying to reception reports by email and post is being transferred by December 2004. (Who knows how the new Engineer will be?!) The station operates on SW with 8.6 kW as follows: 4760 2355-0300 1030-1630/1700/1730 7115 0315-0346(Sat 0415, Sun 0505), 0700-0930(Sun 1000) (Note: AIR Leh also operates on 4760 at s0100/w0213-0430 1130- 1630/1700) Send your reception reports by email with your full postal address to: pblairpb@sancharnet.in To avoid any confusions, it is suggested to write the date/timings in Indian Standard Time also (IST = UT +5.30 Hours) (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Sept 10, dx-india via DXLD) see INDIA ** AUSTRALIA. Australian MW in Arctic Norway --- Nice opening towards Australia this afternoon Sept 10, with 702 ABC Sydney, 1620 4KZ (+ unIDs) and 1701 2NTC logged. Presumed 2ME heard on 1638 around 1620- 1700 UT. From the world's northernmost DXer (Bjarne Mjelde, Location: Berlevag, Norway - N71 E29, http://www.kongsfjord.no --- Receivers: Icom IC-R75 (mod), JRC NRD-525's, Collins/EAC R-390A, Icom IC-746Pro (mod), Racal RA6790/GM; Antenna: K9AY, beverages, dxing.info via DXLD) ** BARBADOS. See GRENADA [non] ** BOLIVIA. 4845.04, Radio Municipal, Caranavi, Caranavi-La Paz. 132 kb. 9/9 2004. Yesterday morning I identified the Bolivian station on 4845.04 kHz as: Radio Municipal, La Paz. I also wrote perhaps "Provincia Caranavi-La Paz". I have received confirmation from the Bolivian DXer Rogildo Aragão. He identified the station the same morning as I did with the same name and QTH: Radio Municipal, Caranavi, Caranavi-LaPaz, Bolivia. Chuck Bolland, FL(USA) (DX LISTENING DIGEST) has identified the station as Radio Fides so perhaps there is some sort of cooperation between Municipal and Fides? Listen to my recording from Thursday with clear IDs. I heard the same IDs also this Friday morning. Comments and Recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time? ** COLOMBIA. 6010, La Voz de tu Conciencia, 0620 Sept 10, Religious songs, commentary, male voice, Identification: "Están escuchando La Voz de tu Conciencia". 24222 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. I noted Radio Congo on 5985 in French at 0440 past 0500 on 9 September with a good signal, thanks to a no show of WYFR. Radio Congo ID at 0445 and mentions of Chaîne Nationale just after 0500 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. R. Tangazeni Kristo, Aru, 4845: The station told me that they are currently broadcasting at only 30 watts of power, so no wonder that we haven`t seen loggings of the station yet. They also gave some details of the FM operation. I have updated the news item on this one at http://www.dxing.info/news/2004_08.dx#rtk (Mika Mäkeläinen, Sept 10, dxing.info via DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Rebelde was a very strong signal at 0626 tune in today on 5025. A long weather report from the Instituto Meteorológico was broadcast and then the usual dance music. There is still no trace of the RHC English transmission ending at 0700 on 11760 9820 9655 or 9550. 73s from (Noel R. Green [Blackpool-UK], Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checked RHC around 1350 Sept 10, found fair signals but weak modulation in Spanish both on 6000 and 15230; when on, the Venezuela relay at 1900 on 13740 has had good modulation unlike RHC itself, but missing again Sept 10. Suspect it was from Bejucal or Titan rather than Bauta site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. FRUSTRACION EN SANTA CLARA (CUBA) PORQUE NO SE TRANSMITIO TV MARTI --- EXTRAIDO DE LA EDICION "CUBANET" SANTA CLARA, 8 de septiembre (Guillermo Fariñas, Cubanacán Press / http://www.cubanet.org ) - Santaclareños de a pie quedaron defraudados este sábado 4 de septiembre porque TV Martí no transmitió debido a que el estado de la Florida era azotado por la fuerza del huracán Frances. Los pasados 21 y 28 de agosto desde un avión militar C-130, comenzaron las transmisiones de prueba de la hasta ahora bloqueada TV Martí. El hecho cierto es que la señal se ha observado en la isla cautiva y ha creado un fenómeno social de sobreposición al temor sociológico, inculcado en la población criolla por los que detentan el poder. La agencia de prensa Cubanacán Press ha podido comprobar que las emisiones televisivas se recibieron en los municipios de Manicaragua, Placetas, Corralillo, Santa Clara, Quemado de Güines, Ranchuelo, Camajuaní, Caibarién y Santo Domingo. Por otra parte, en la sureña provincia de Cienfuegos se observó en Cruces, Palmira, Aguada de Pasajeros, y la cabecera provincial, también se pudo ver TV Martí. No obstante, la emisión del 28 de agosto fue interceptada en la ciudad de Santa Clara, donde dicen haber colocado un equipo para interferir la señal foránea. Esta información ha sido transmitida por teléfono, ya que el gobierno de Cuba controla el acceso a Internet. CubaNet no reclama exclusividad de sus colaboradores, y autoriza la reproducción de este material, siempre que se le reconozca como fuente. Cordiales 73's (via Oscar de Céspedes, FL, Sept 9, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 749 kHz, Radio Caravana [Guayaquil, nom. 750] 0300 UT, SINPO 34333. Locutora: ``22 horas, cero minutos,`` noticias. Locutora continúa propagandas. Noticias, locutora sobre el huracán Ivan entre otras. "Y recuerden, Caravana noticias, en todo tiempo y en todas partes". Receptor Sony ICF-SW 7600 G, antena ferrita (Héctor Álvaro Gutiérrez, desde Lima, Rep. Perú, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Power reductions on TV transmitters: This could apply to East German UHF transmitters, too. Various sites once listed with 1000 kW are shown in current tables only with 400...500 kW ERP anymore. One of the few stations with no changes of listed powers is Calau --- see http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/cal.htm --- always some 355 kW on ch. 53 and some 580 kW on ch. 23. I could imagine that elsewhere old 20 kW transmitters were replaced by new 10 kW ones, but this is of course only wild speculation (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GHANA. GHANAIAN MEDIA BODY PLEDGES TO RESOLVE CRISIS AT NATIONAL BROADCASTER | Excerpt from report by Ghanaian GBC radio on 9 September [Presenter] The executive secretary of the National Media Commission [NMC], Seth Mac Badji, says the solution to the current crisis in GBC is not beyond the commission. Speaking to Teye Kitche [GBC Radio One reporter], Mr Mac Badji said the commission will deal with the situation so as to prevent a crisis. [Mac Badji] [Words indistinct] we have on hand is not beyond the capacity and the capability of the NMC to handle and I can assure you that we will deal with it [words indistinct]. The commission will meet in an emergency session this afternoon to discuss the issue at 1 p.m. [1300 gmt]. Soon after the issue, you can believe that the meeting will address the situation and come out with a solution to it. [Passage omitted] Source: Radio Ghana, Accra, in English 1300 gmt 9 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) GHANAIAN LABOUR BODY CONCERNED ABOUT JOURNALISTS' INTERDICTION | Text of report by Ghanaian GBC radio on 9 September The GBC [Ghana Broadcasting Corporation] Union of the TUC says it is concerned about the way the GBC board handled the interdiction of the director of television, [Charles] Kofi Bucknor and four staff of the corporation. A statement issued by the divisional vice chairman of the union, Louis Darko, after an emergency meeting of the executive in Accra, supported the unconditional recall of the five interdicted personnel as directed by the National Media Commission. The statement also condemned the action of the GBC board and management which attached conditions on the recall of the four journalists and the continued leave of absence of the director of television. The four journalists and the director of television were interdicted last week for airing a news item on Ghana Airways. Source: Radio Ghana, Accra, in English 1800 gmt 9 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** GRENADA. 535 | GRENADA | GBC, St. George's, SEP 2 0054 - accented English talk; barely above static crashes (Report from Mark Connelly - Times / dates = UTC, Rockport, MA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Just to reconfirm they are (errr, I`m afraid, were) on 535, not 530 (gh, DXLD) ** GRENADA [non]. Broadcasting to Grenada --- Found this on Yahoo: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040910/nyf077_1.html COMMUNICATIONS: Limited telecommunications is available. CBC Radio 900 AM of Barbados and Radio Tambrin of Tobago on 92.1 FM have started broadcasting to Grenada. The Cabinet of Barbados directed the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation to expand its 900 AM service to Grenada. It has established a toll free number for Grenadians to telephone (800-744-8222) and it has increased the power of its transmitter to cover Grenada. (snip) ========== CBC is the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation. The press release, dated Sept. 10, came from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency in Denville, N.J. (Ricky Leong, Montreal, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. ¡¡¡ Qué bueno que dentro de la ignoracia y el desprecio que hacen la mayoría de emisoras latinoamericas, especialmente las que están en la banda tropial y en los 49 m. hacía los DX-istas, queden todavía emisora como RADIO VERDAD de Guatemala, que son bien pocas !!! GUATEMALA, 4052.5, Radio Verdad, Recibida carta aérea con bonitos sellos de Guatemala conteniendo tarjeta QSL con datos completos, en la que se hace constar que en el momento de la transmisión sintonizada transmitían con una potencia de 650 watts, precioso banderín de la emisora, recibo justificante de haber enviado 1 US $ "por su ofrenda voluntaria para la Estación Eductiva Radio Verdad", carta firmada por Dr. Edgar Amilcar Madrid, Director Gerente, que copio más abajo, pues me parece de interés, carta reseñando todos los países de los que han recibido reportes, carta explicativa de como sintonizar Radio Verdad en onda corta y dos folletos, todo ello en 23 días. Junto al informe de recepción se envió 1 US $ para ayuda del franqueo de la carta de respuesta. La transmisión captada por mí en la costa de la provincia de Lugo, España, con un receptor Grundig Satellit 500 y una antena de cable de 8 metros. Dirección: Radio Verdad, Apartado 5, Chiquimula, Guatemala. La carta principal, firmada por Dr. Edgar Amical Madrid dice lo siguiente: "Apreciado D. Manuel: Muchas gracias por su lindo reporte. Ya tengo reportes de 306 diferentes lugares, en 44 países (reseña a continuación todos los países) y siguen llegando más. Salimos al aire el 25 de febero del año 2000 a las 5.00 p.m. y hemos transmitido con potencias que van desde 280 asta 1050 watts. Es admirable que alcance Europa, Asia, Africa y toda América. Tengo ya bastantes reportes de Europa y muchos de los Estados Unidos y Sud América. También de Japón y Australia. No podemos aumentar la potencia, porque el gobierno no nos lo permite. Le interesará saber que nuestro transmisor es un Omnitrónix fabricado en Italia, de 1 Kw, del tipo Solid State. Tenemos una antena bipolar de 75 metros de longitud, colocada sobre dos pequeñas torres a sólo 6 y 12 metros de altura, con el objeto de no perder de alcanzar a la ciudad más cercana, Chiquimula, lo cual estamos logrando bastante bién. Nuetra estación es de carácter educativo y evangélico, no lucrativa, tratando de ayudar al desarrollo de nuestras comunidades. Tenemos más de cuatro años de trabajar intensamente para prepararar la programación y sólo música selecta. Comenzamos a transmitir a las 5.00 de la mañana, hora de Guatemala, y salimos del aire a las 12.00 de la noche. Le adjuntamos nuestra hoja de reportes recibidos, nuestra tarjeta de recepción (QSL card), nuestro banderín. Nuestra frecuencia es de 4047.5 a 4057.5, haciendo un promedio de 4052.5 Megahercios, SW1, banda de 75 metros, desde el Monte Horeb y el Cerro de la Gloria, en Chiquimula, Guatemala, Centro América. Todavía no tenemos siglas de identificación, porque el gobierno tiene suspendido el reglamento correspondiente, pero probablemente serán TGAV, que significan: TG= Transmisones Guatemaltecas, A= Identificación de la región oriental de Guatemala, V= nuestra identificación particular como "Radio Verdad". El 6 de junio del año 2002, un rayo destruyó la mitad de nuestro transmisor de onda corta, y estábamos en el aire sólo con la mitad que quedó buena, transmitiendo con sólo 280 watts, y no habíamos podido encontrar repuesto para los transmisores quemados, en los Estados Unidos ni en Europa, pero, después de 10 meses, logramos conseguir los transistores y reparamos el transmisor. En esto días hemos estado transmitiendo con 810 watts. Ahora estamos procurando conseguir una frecuencia de A. M. para servir mejor a la audiencia local, y los trámites van muy avanzados. Malas y Buenas Noticias: El lunes 3 de mayo, 2004, se quemaron los transistores de salida de nuestro transmisor, debido a la caída de un rayo, y pasamos fuera del aire casi todo el mes de mayo. El 28 de mayo, salimos al aire otra vez, pero con sólo la mitad de nuestro transmisor, con sólo 280 watts, porque la otra mitad se volvió a quemar al momento de conectarlo. También se quemó el compresor- limitador. El 9 de junio cayó otro rayo y quemo nuestra consola. Gracias a Dios, el 15 de junio volvimos a salir al aire con los dos módulos, pero con sólo 500 watts, y nuestro compresor ya reparado. Ahora estamos transmitiendo con 650 watts, y ya instalamos 7 puntos más de pararrayos, con las cuales se ajustan 9 puntas y una tercera torre de pararrayos. Que bueno que usted nos sintoniza. Agradezco profundamente su reporte, el cual nos anima a seguir adelante. Yo soy catedrático universitario jubilado, graduado de George Fox University, en Newberg, Oregon, EE. UU. (1965). Tengo varios otros grados académicos de la Universidad Estatal de Guatemala, y soy Doctor de Filosofía Teológica y Rector del Seminario Teológico Quákero. Que Dios le bendiga. Dr. Edgar Amilcar Madrid, Director Gerente." (via Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR relay FM test. 17680 (Bangalore 500 kW) on before 04, 17730 (Delhi 250 kW) *04. Programs split at 0430. 17680 very good. 17730 poor with terrible modulation. 17680 abrupt sign-off 05 (no announcement), 17730 sign-off about 0502. English entertainment programming from FM, contemporary Indian music, no English (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR News at 1430 in English heard only on 9575 Delhi and 4970 Shillong. 5 minute news program (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR Sports news at 1435-1445 heard only on 9575 Delhi and 4850 Kohima. Olympics news in English (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR News at 1500 in English heard only on 4850 Kohima and 4880 Lucknow. 5 minute news program (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR Frequency Survey: (freq/location/time) ID where not tentative is by music and language type; t = tentative 3223t Shimla 1450; 3365 Delhi 1453; 3390t Gangtok 1455; 4760 don`t know which location, likely Port Blair 1454; 4775 Imphal 1454; 4850 Kohima 1455; 4880 Lucknow 1456; 4895 Kurseong 1457; 4910 Jaipur 1457; 4940 Guwahati 1458; 4970 Shilong 1458; 4990 Itanagar 1506; 5010 Thiruvananthap. 1508; 7255 Aligarh assumed (this shows not on at that this time in WRTH, but is a 250 kW powerhouse --- look for this first when chasing India) 1510; 9575 Delhi 1511; 10330 Bangalore 1514. I did not hear 10330 as often through the day as expected. Many times it was silent when otherwise listed (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. RESCUE RADIO: HURRICANE FRANCES VS. HAM RADIO Hurricane Frances pounded Florida with high wind and heavy rain after it smashed across the state`s East coast. Close to 4 million residents lost power and telephone service. Cellular phone networks that survived Frances`s gale force winds quickly became overloaded. Enter ham radio. Amateur Radio Newsline`s David Black, KB4KCH has been following the story from our South-East bureau in Birmingham, Alabama: When Hurricane Frances hit Florida on Labor Day weekend, the storm ripped roofs off buildings, toppled trees and cut power to about 4 million people. Also lost was part of the states telephone and cellular service. This created a communications vacuum. But hams affiliated with SATERN (the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network), ARES, and the Hurricane Watch Net were expecting Frances. Radio amateurs had been tracking this storm as it ravaged its way across the Caribbean. And it was ham radio that let the world know of the destruction the giant storm had caused as it hit some of the islands: ``Roger roger. On Elutheria Ill say about 40 percent of the structures have damage. In the Rainbow Bay area where I live I would say about 70% of the homes here have structural damage. Over.`` Once a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph, Frances had weakened to a Category 2 storm as it neared Florida. Winds dropped to a peak of 105 mph as it made landfall at Sewall`s Point, north of Palm Beach, around 1 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, September 4th. Ham radio operators affiliated with the Hurricane Watch Net tracked its approach: ``This is KA5E with the Hurricane Watch Net. We are currently taking measured weather reports out of the affected area for Hurricane Frances. Do I have any stations on with updates or significant weather reports. KA5E, over.`` The powerful storm hit Florida with ferocious winds and sheets of rain. The hurricane was so large and slow moving that its western outer edges had began arriving on the east coast on Saturday morning. On Sunday morning its eastern edges were still pounding the coast from which 2.5 million people had been told to flee. Repeaters interconnected using IRLP and Echolnk were pressed into service to help coordinate the latest round of evacuations: ``KC4PNC KB1CYO net control. Go ahead sir,`` ``They have called for mandatory evacuation for Hillsboro county for manufactured homes and also mobile homes. They have not ordered a mandatory for low lying areas but they are strongly recommending it.`` And as evacuees poured into shelters, communications volunteers were needed. A call was put out over the interlinked repeater network and the hams responded ``We are looking for any volunteer Amateur Radio operators to help with shelters. We have eight shelters open right now. Those are being manned. However, since its a declared evacuation all of the other shelters will be opened and we are looking for volunteers to man those shelters. KC4PNC.`` As Frances path of destruction hit Florida`s central Atlantic coast counties, blinding rain squalls drove clouds of sand into the air. At the same time high waves thundered onto the beaches. One ham watched as his rain gage was torn away and white caps pounded ashore: ``Any kind of rainfall accumulation?`` ``No, that gage blew away but I can tell you that we are in a high tide area right now and I can see the tides up about a foot and a half and I have water coming over my seawall. But its not a problem. We are still at a much higher elevation. The water is over the seawall along the Intercoastal Waterway.`` As palm trees rained coconuts and then toppled over and buildings suffered extensive damage there was also a tragedy at sea. And the U-S Coast Guard turned to Amateur Radio for help: ``I want to remind the net that the Coast Guard has asked us to lend assistance in the search for the Anna Marie. It is a vessel that went down off the coast of Sarasota this evening about 10 to 12 miles out. Any assistance or any information on the Anna Marie that went down with the crew 10 o 12 miles out of Sarasota, the U.S. Coast Guard would appreciate your assistance.`` At airtime it`s not known what happened to the Anna Marie nor the fate of its crew. But as the search continued, there was yet another threat. Early on Sunday the 5th, the massive weather system spawned a tornado, and the warning went out over the IRLP ham radio network: ``The tornado is expected to be by Bostwick by 2:45 Eastern, Forholm by 3:00 a.m. and that`s all I have.`` As that twister touching down the National Weather Service office in Jacksonville issued a tornado warning for Northern Clay County including the city of Orange Park. Also affected were St. Johns, Clay, and Putnam Counties. And as dawn was breaking radar picked up a developing tornado near Doctors Inlet moving West at 45 mph. Only some damage to roofs was reported. But reporting weather was not the only chore radio amateurs were involved in. Another as health and welfare. Letting worried relatives and friends know about those stuck in Frances path. Many like this central American station who was happy to hear that the hurricane was headed away from his daughters location: ``OK. Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate that information. We are here in a location where we do not have any TV or any other communication. We are on the beach on the West coast of Panama. So thanks very much I do appreciate it. This is HB1XRO and the handle is Bob.`` By Monday afternoon, Frances had crossed the eastern Gulf of Mexico and made its second landfall in Florida`s northwest Panhandle section some 20 miles south of Tallahassee. Now it only a tropical storm with sustained wind near 65 mph. Damage was mainly to power and telephone lines. At that point the forecasters were predicting the storm would move north-northwest at about 8 mph, and was not expected to regain hurricane strength. Frances soaked Georgia, dumping 11 inches of rain in a 24 hour period in the town of Patterson. Media reports blame Frances for at least seven deaths in Florida, including two people who were killed Saturday when the roof of he building they were in collapsed. There were also two deaths in the Bahamas. One of these was a teenager who was reportedly electrocuted when he tried to hook up a generator to a power mains that was still on. With thanks to the hams who supplied the storm audio over the Internet used in this report, I`m David Black, KB4KCH at the South- East bureau in Birmingham Alabama for the Amateur Radio Newsline. (ARNewsline(tm) September 10 via John Norfolk, dxldyahoogroup) RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO PREPARES FOR IVAN And it`s not over yet. As we go to air Hurricane Ivan is making its way cross the Caribbean and could strike the United States. CQ`s newsdesk reports that Amateur Radio at the National Hurricane Center, WX4NHC, was to be reactivated for Hurricane Ivan at 2 PM EDT Thursday, Sept. 9, and will be active on Friday-Sunday 8 AM-11 PM EDT. The Hurricane Center will be on the Hurricane Watch Net on 20 meters as well as the VoIP Hurricane Net. The latter is a combination of IRLP and Echolink stations. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica are the next locations in the path of this extremely dangerous Category V Hurricane which now has maximum sustained winds of 160 MPH per the latest advisory issued at 5 AM EDT Thursday morning. VoIP Net Control Station Rob Macedo, KD1CY, says they are trying to coordinate with the IRLP node owners on the Cayman Islands and Jamaica on usage of their nodes and liaisons to those affected areas. Currently there are no Echolink or IRLP nodes in Cuba. National Hurricane Center advisories indicate that the path of Hurricane Ivan is not clear after it passes over Cuba on Sunday. Residents in the affected area should monitor the situation closely. There is a possibility that the hurricane`s forward progress could slow and emergency nets may be activated for an extended period of time. It also means that ham radio communications volunteers could have a lot more to do in the coming days (CQ via ARNewsline(tm) via John Norfolk, dxldyahoogroup via DXLD) More of these are on the dxldyg, not all reproduced here ** IRAQ. Tonight's edition of 'All Things Considered' on NPR had a segment on the American forces operated 'Freedom Radio' which broadcasts to US troops in Iraq, on 107.7 mHz FM. The audio clip is available at http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=09-Sep-2004&prgId=2 (Matt Francis, Washington DC, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Amateurish ** IRELAND [non]. NO SW Broadcasts of the 2004 All Ireland Hurling and Football Finals --- RTÉ very much regrets that it is unable to facilitate the international shortwave broadcasts of the 2004 All Ireland Hurling and Football finals. RTÉ has been unable to secure permission to transmit these matches worldwide this year. We are acutely conscious of the disappointment this may cause to international listeners and are hopeful of resuming these broadcasts in the future. source: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ 9th September 2004 The Hurling All Ireland Final is on the 12th of September, My own home county Cork will face Kilkenny, who are going for three in a row. I have often used the shortwave broadcasts to listen to the finals in the past when away from Ireland. The commentator always made reference to listeners abroad during the match including hellos to people listening abroad. With web broadcasting live however, I doubt RTE will return to leasing time on shortwave in the future (Jonathan Murphy, World DX Club email group via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** IRELAND NORTHERN. HISTORY OF RADIO IN ULSTER HITS THE AIRWAVES By Eddie McIlwaine 10 September 2004 http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=560194 Two Ulster heroes will be recalled by veteran broadcaster John Bennett when he introduces the second episode of Eighty Easy Listening Years on BBC Radio Ulster tomorrow at 11 am. [1000 UT Sat Sept 11] The eight-part anniversary series produced by Stephen Douds is the story of radio in Northern Ireland, since the BBC went on the air here in 1924. Researching the series for the past several months Bennett - the first voice on Radio Ulster when the new-style station was launched on New Year's Eve 1974 - has dug up interviews and recordings featuring the triumphant return to home town Belfast of the Royal Navy's James Maginess. He was the only Ulsterman to win a VC in the Second World War when he took part in a daring, James Bond-style underwater attack on a Japanese cruiser. And Bennett will also play again an interview with Harry Gregg, the former Manchester United goalkeeper who was the hero of the Munich Air Disaster which killed many of the Old Trafford players in a crash in 1958. The 80th anniversary of the wireless will also be featuring the 1953 Ulster visit by the young Queen on her Coronation tour on which she listened to Lambeg drums being played for her at Hillsborough Castle. On the programme too will be Brian Keenan, interviewed soon after he was released from captivity in Beirut in 1990. This episode of the hit series is called In the Public Eye and will deal with people who made the news right from those early days in 1924. "It's amazing how ordinary life in Ulster has been reflected on radio down the years," says Bennett today (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** JAMAICA. Live Jamaican Radio --- It seems that several Jamaican radio stations available on the web offer live streaming audio, but on a subscriber basis only. The website Hurricane City is streaming live audio from Jamaican radio station Power 106 through their website at: http://www.hurricanecity.com Simply click on the "Tune In Now" circle in the top right-hand corner of the front page. Listening here now at 1300 UTC, Sept. 10. Excellent audio! [Later:] I just noticed that the Power 106 audio is available free, for the present time, at: http://www.go-jamaica.com/power/ It looks like this might normally be a pay service, but given the approaching storm, it seems that they have made it free access (Sheldon Harvey, QC, Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Can I just point out that Internet audio services usually have limits on the number of people who can listen simultaneously. This is often quite low, and demand will be high at the moment. Bear in mind that while you are using up bandwidth, you might be preventing Jamaican citizens or expats from logging on to find out the latest situation. (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Jamaica should never have quit ZQI on SW, where there are no such issues (gh) SUBSCRIPTION-FREE POWER 106 RADIO AVAILABLE ONLINE As a severe hurricane approaches the island, BBC Monitoring observes Kingston-based radio station Power 106 FM available with a live audio stream accessible from the Go Jamaica portal web site at http://www.go-jamaica.com/power The station was observed at 0400 Jamaican local time (0900 gmt) carrying its usual overnight fare of continuous music interspersed with occasional jingles and station identifications. Several Jamaican radio stations are available live on the Internet, but Power 106 FM is unusual in not requiring a subscription in order to listen. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 10 Sep 04 (via DXLD) ** LAOS. RNL, 6130 fair, QRM de 6128±. 1230 local music with YL announcer, SE Asia language. 1300 very strong spillover from 6128. This was a Sunday, so no English or French. Music after 13 was more 'modern'. Could not find 4661(4640). (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. Remembered just in time to tune in 9515 for Hmong Lao Radio, at 0157 UT Fri Sept 10 and indeed very strong, with some deep fades, nice Lao music and before 0158 into some kind of native flute and closing announcement in a Thai-like language. Speaks well for Rampisham UK site --- hey, BBC WS could use that to broadcast to North America, novel idea (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Re: ``9290, 29.8 1200, Der Störsender via Latvia mostly with nice music presented in German and English. Stoer is a small river between Schweriner See and Elbe, that's why the somewhat curious name. Web site: http://www.rrws.de ... Interesting phenomena that so many producers lease time via Latvia. ... I thought Störsender meant jammer, literally noise-sender`` --- Well, stören means literally interfere, so it would be an interfering sender. Anyway the term Störsender absolutely equals the English jammer. On the other hand the mentioned Stör river (today rather a canal, at least shown in maps as such) indeed exists, only it flows into the Elde, a small river not to be confused with the much larger Elbe. So Der Störsender is a play upon words if the producers of these programs live in the Schwerin area as the explanation seems to suggest (the referenced URL is unreachable at present, so it is impossible to find out). The phenomena in question could be explained by the middleman who brokers the Riga-Ulbroka station and apparently belongs to the offshore scene. I guess such program producers would still not dare to ask for airtime what they probably still consider to be the postal office (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. Hi guys, this may be a bit late reply but due to my travelling schedule I managed to get it today 10th of September 2004: Minivan Radio (Independent Radio) via DTK Jülich on 13855 is booming in here in Cairo around 1620 UT, an OM talking in a language mentioning EU a lot, followed what sounded like an interview with an OM. China and Malaysia mentioned as well. Around 1628 a website was mentioned, http://www.friendsofmaldives.co.uk No interference at all, crystal clear transmission; I'd give it a solid SIO 444. 1635 ID Minivan Radio after a short musical sounds like an IS :) 1638 the EU is mentioned again, a song sounds like it was a live concert. I like the music though I don't get the lyrics :) 1642 a guy reading names, most of them are Arabic / Muslim names; they even mentioned my name "Tarek" :) followed by another music break 1648 a guy talking about how to enter banned site --- free proxy sites mentioning Google, Lycos, proxy server, email, Friends of Maldives, Maldives Democratic Party ...etc. 1650 a YL speaking in English what sounded like a poem talking about people's rights and justice, followed by another music break and ID by a YL, website mentioned again and the e mail as well as admin@friendsofmaldives.co.uk followed by another song 1659 off the air suddenly. All the best guys from Cairo (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still the one and only program produced? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 1570 kHz, Radio La Poderosa (XERF) 0354 UT, SINPO 33333, locutora: mencionado nombres de oyentes en usa y otros sitios. Saludos a Fernando de Dallas. (locutora) "a ustedes que siempre están en sintonía de La Poderosa", continúa música soft (baladas en inglés y castellano). 0410 ID amplia por locutora. Es la primera vez que oficialmente escucho una emisora mexicana. Receptor Sony ICF-SW 7600 G, antena ferrita (Gutiérrez, Héctor Álvaro, desde Lima, Rep. Perú, Sept. 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. RN, 5005 (no other frequencies heard including 6100). 14 local music, 1414 announcer Nepal, 1415 English "Radio Nepal" into news by YL. This lady`s soft voice has been the bane of Nepal chasers for years. Very difficult to pick up details, but I got a few. News lasts until 1425 and is national and international. They also give the weather (who needs ACCU Weather?!) (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Radio Netherlands via WRMI now only on Sat/Sun - Jeff White of WRMI writes: "As of tonight, a lot of the WRN hours that we carry are going to be replaced by Brother Stair, who has purchased 0400-0900 UTC seven days a week on 6870, plus 1200-1400 UTC Monday- Friday on 15725. This will obviously affect a lot of the WRN relays we have been carrying from various stations, including RNW. We will still carry WRN on weekend mornings and afternoons as before." Radio Netherlands will therefore be heard on Sat/Sun ONLY at 1200-1300 UTC on 15725 kHz. This is not an "official" relay, so does not appear in our published schedule. # posted by Andy @ 07:13 UT Sept 10 (Media Network blog via DXLD) How many other stations whose relays via WRMI also have changed or been cut, will notify their listeners like this? How about zero? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Bonaire back in full operation --- We're pleased to report that our Bonaire relay station is back in full operation following the disruption because of Hurricane Ivan. All transmissions are back according to the regular schedule (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, 0710 UT Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9625 and 11655 were heard to open up today [10th] just before 0700. I assume via Bonaire as only two transmitters are scheduled from there at this time. Both were giving the usual good strength signals despite a beam of 230 degrees, and 11655 was delayed when compared with 9625 - maybe to avoid power surges? (Noel Green, England, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, full operation did in fact resume at 1900 UT yesterday. One of the three transmitters relies 100% on water cooling, and it was necessary to check that the pumps were working correctly before it could be activated. The other two transmitters have air cooling. To avoid confusion, the 2200 RVI transmission was switched to Flevo, and Bonaire was told not to broadcast it even if the third transmitter was already available. Otherwise someone would either have had to wait in the office to remove the Flevo transmission from the computer, or we could have had two transmissions going out at the same time. Slightly delaying the audio on some frequencies is indeed a standard procedure which helps avoid power surges (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. KOSU --- OKLAHOMA STATE NETWORK COMING SOON --- NEW PUBLIC RADIO STATION TO SERVE TULSA AND NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA WITH KOSU PROGRAMMING Public Radio Capital and nationally recognized award winning KOSU 91.7 FM ``Oklahoma`s Public Radio`` announced a change in the ownership and programming of Ketchum, Oklahoma commercial station KGND 107.5 FM. Public Radio Capital (PRC), which broadens the reach of public radio nationwide through partnerships with educational institutions and public broadcasters, has entered into an agreement to acquire KGND, pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. PRC has entered into a programming agreement with Oklahoma State University’s (OSU) non-commercial station KOSU to program the channel with state and national news programming, specialty programs and classical music. ``PRC has worked with educational institutions and broadcasters for several years to secure new channels for public radio,`` explained Marc Hand, managing director of Public Radio Capital. ``PRC was established to help stations like KOSU expand its public service. Just as the Trust for Public Land steps in to buy a property to preserve land for public enjoyment, this was an opportunity to acquire a channel to provide an important public broadcasting service in Northeast Oklahoma.`` Craig Beeby, general manager of KOSU added, ``We are thrilled our current listeners will hear us from Southwest of Oklahoma City to Northeast of Miami, Oklahoma and our programming will cover parts of four states and reach 4 million people in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.`` The sale is expected to close during the final quarter of this year and KOSU will begin non-commercial programming after PRC completes financing for the purchase and receives necessary approvals from the FCC. ``KOSU has attempted to serve the Tulsa and Oklahoma City metro areas long distance with our one facility since 1971,`` says Beeby. ``The station’s ultimate goal is to improve service in all directions. The second station provides the opportunity to improve the signal strength into the major metro areas as well as many rural areas not served before by public radio or KOSU.`` In another project, Public Radio Capital and KOSU are teaming up to improve the quality of signal serving the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Beeby says, ``We will improve our signal with a new broadcasting facility. This is in response to listeners in our fringe broadcast areas who for years have been requesting a stronger signal. The two stations will allow KOSU to become not only a statewide network but a regional resource. It’s exciting for our listeners.`` This second phase of expanded service is expected to launch in the Spring of 2005 after KOSU receives necessary approvals from the FCC and PRC completes construction. ABOUT PUBLIC RADIO CAPITAL Public Radio Capital (PRC) has a primary purpose: to partner with educational institutions and public broadcasters to broaden the reach of public radio to millions of listeners. PRC has already achieved results with public radio stations secured in Albany, Baltimore, Denver, Frederick (Maryland), Nashville, Portland (Oregon), Sacramento, Seattle, and outside Boston and Chicago. These channels represent partnerships with educational institutions and local public broadcasters helping to build stronger public radio program services for larger and growing audiences. Other PRC projects will target new arrangements and program services in at least 15 other states within the next few years. ABOUT KOSU 91.7 FM KOSU 91.7 FM is listener supported and owned and operated by OSU. KOSU is a public radio station serving Stillwater and the state since 1955. As the first National Public Radio member station in Oklahoma, KOSU`s mission is to provide quality programming from OSU to significant audiences as well as to be a vital source of information, ideas, and cultural experiences enriching people`s lives through lifelong learning. The station has a full-time State Capitol correspondent, is recognized nationally for news journalism xcellence, and is known internationally for outstanding management. KOSU programming can be heard on the web at http://www.KOSU.org Listeners with questions and comments may contact KOSU via email using kosu@kosu.org (KOSU mailing list Sept 10 via DXLD) Great news! While 91.7 gets into Tulsa somewhat, it`s subject to dropouts behind buildings and in valleys, of which there are a lot of both; I was just wishing they had a translator in Tulsa. FM Atlas XIX from summer 2003 shows 107.5 as KGND, K-Grand, 100 kW at 299 meters. This seemingly undercuts KWGS` second outlet on 88.7, KWTU, per FM Atlas planned with only 5 kW ERP at 325 m, which was still not on the air August 29 when I was in Tulsa for the Overground Film Festival, and whose website http://www.kwtu.org still only forwards to KWGS. KWTU was planned to bring full service classical back to Tulsa. Of course, the more the merrier when it comes to public radio! But this still leaves the NW quadrant of OK grossly underserved (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Estimado Glen Hauser!!! Cordiales saludos, y que al recibo de este e-mail se encuentre bien de salud, y halla ternido buenísimos DX. ********************************************************************** 10 de setiembre 2004 Lista de Estaciones de O.M. de Lima - Perú 540 Radio Inca 560 Radio Oriente (Sin Señal) 580 Radio María 600 Radio Cora (No Se Escucha Su Señal) 640 Radio Del Pacífico 660 Radio La Inolvidable 700 Radio R-700 730 RPP [Radio Programas del Perú] 780 Radio Victoria 800 Radio La Inolvidable (En Paralelo) 820 Radio Libertad (Sin Señal) 830 Radio Moderna (Radio Papa) 850 Radio Nacional 880 Radio Unión 900 Radio Kebuena 930 Radio Moderna (Radio Papa) En Paralelo 960 Radio Panamericana 990 Radio Latina (Sin Señal) 1080 Radio La Luz 1110 Radio Sonora (Radio Antarqui ocasionalmente se menciona) 1130 Radio Bacan [Bacán ? No accents in the original --- gh] 1160 Radio 1160 (Radionoticias) 1200 Radio Cadena 1250 Radio Victoria 1300 Radio Comas 1320 Radio La Crónica (también se menciona Radio Nacional cuando está en cadena con Radio Nacional) 1340 Radio La Luz (en paralelo, La Señal Que Te Bendice, bendición) 1400 Radio Callao Superadio (Sin Señal) 1420 Radio San Isidro (Sin Señal) 1440 Radio Imperial 2 1470 Cadena Peruana De Noticias (C.P.N.) 1500 Radio Santa Rosa 1530 Radio Milenia 1550 Radio Independencia (emisora de muy baja potencia, sin señal) 1590 Radio Agricultura Esta verificación se realizó el día 10 de setiembre del 2004, en la mañana (sólo en la mañana). "Lima-Sur". Para ello se utilizó un receptor Panasonic RX-ES 30 digital (ferrita). Debido a arreglos en casa no fue posible usar otro receptor para hacerla más precisa todavia. Sólo utilicé un radiograbador digital y le entraba algo de noise (alimentación red eléctrica) Hector Alvaro desde lima -Peru ********************************************************************** Lista de Estaciones de F.M. de Lima Este República del Perú, setiembre 2004 88.30 Radio Telestéreo 88.90 Radio Kebuena 89.70 RPP 90.50 Cadena Peruana De Noticias (C.P.N.) 91.10 Radio San Borja 91.50 Radio Andina Stéreo 91.90 Radio Okey 92.50 Radio Studio 92 93.10 Radio Ritmo 93.70 Radio La Inolvidable 94.30 Radio 94.30 (sin nombre) Ex América 94.90 Radio A 95.50 Radio Zeta 96.10 Radio Miraflores 96.70 Radio Corazón 97.30 Radio Moda 97.70 Radio María (Cono Sur) aquí no llega su señal 98.10 Radio 1160 (Radionoticias) 98.70 Radio La Caribeña 99.10 Radio Doble Nueve 100.10 Radio Stéreo 100 101.10 Radio Panamericana 102.10 Radio Oxígeno 102.70 Radio Filarmonia 103.30 Radio Unión 103.90 Radio Nacional 104.70 Radio Viva FM 105.50 Radio Fiesta 106.30 Radio Mar Plus 107.10 Radio Inca 107.70 Radio Planeta Esta verificación se realizó al este de LIMA - Peru (Héctor Álvaro Gutiérrez, desde Lima, Rep. Perú, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Emisoras de Onda Media DX, 9 de setiembre 2004, Lima Sur: 1236 kHz, Radio Líder, 0215 UT, SINPO 34433, ID locutor: ``Radio Líder en los 1240..... la combinación perfecta``, continúa música (en su frecuencia original tiene QRM + ) [Arequipa -- gh] 1310 kHz, Radio Libertad, 0315 UT, SINPO 34333, Perú, ID locutor mencionado a Radio Libertad varias veces. Receptor Sony ICF-SW 7600 G, antena ferrita (Héctor Álvaro Gutiérrez, desde Lima, Rep. Perú, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No encuentro alistada en WRTH 2004 ninguna peruana de este nombre en 1310, aunque bien puede haber una aún no conocida. ¿Sabe en qué ciudad? En el resto de Latinoamérica, sí encuentro una en Honduras --- ¿puede ser? (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOR previews: THIS IS RUSSIA (on the air as of Monday, September 13th) --- In the next edition of THIS IS RUSSIA we will be telling you about the Soviet Army's Yassy-Kishinev operation during World War Two. You will also hear a story about the city of Kitezh, a holy place in Russia. Tune in to THIS IS RUSSIA on Monday, September 13th at 03.10, 08.10, Tuesday at 06.10, Wednesday at 07.10 and 17.10, Thursday at 20.10, Friday at 06.10 and 17.10, Saturday at 04.10 and Sunday at 05.10 and 16.10, all times UT (via Maryanne Kehoe, swprograms and ODXA via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. PAPERS LAUNCH JOINT 11 SEPTEMBER WEB SITE | Text of report in English by Saudi newspaper Arab News web site on 10 September London: Coinciding with the third anniversary of the events of 11 September, Arab News and Al-Sharq al-Awsat have launched a joint location on the Internet to focus on the Arab point of view on the tragedy. This new site is in English and targets the world by showing opinions and articles and in-depth analyses and the aftermath of the events as well as the war on terror. This site is: http://www.arabnews.com/9-11 http://www.aawsat.com/9-11 The site, which was the first done by the department of electronic publication at the Saudi Research & Marketing Group, which was announced by the Chairman Prince Faysal Bin-Salman, includes a list of Arabic articles of well-known writers from Al-Sharq al-Awsat and Arab News. In addition, there is a link to the hearing session of the 11 September Commission and the full report of the final report issued by the Commission. Also incorporated are voice links to the hearing sessions related to the events and the kingdom's war against terrorism and terror financing. The site also includes a seminar on Saudi-American relations in addition to many links to archives for 11 September events and developments. Visitors to the site will be able to post their direct responses on the articles published on the web site and interact with the writers through their comments. The site will be continuously updated to add more subjects and replies. Arab News web site http://www.arabnews.com Al-Sharq al-Awsat web site http://www.asharqalawsat.com Source: Arab News web site, Jedda, in English 10 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. Re: ``The Presov transmitter on 1071 kHz is no more, and it empties the channel quite a lot, at least here in the middle of Europe. Iran and Euzkadi heard last night (5 SEP 2200... = midnight CEST when Presov left the frequency)`` --- Whooops, I should have known in advance in order to tape it! I fired up the radio on 1071 immediately after reading this at 2030 and immediately heard what I think was Egypt. Actually the programming previously carried on 1071 now goes out on 702, run with only 40 kW now. Complete frequency list as of Sep 6: http://www.slovakradio.sk/portal/program2004/index.php?page=mainVysielace&menu=menuMain&head=headMain (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. GOVERNMENT SAYS RADIO REFORM WILL HAPPEN DESPITE PROTESTS | Text of report in English by Ko Shu-ling entitled "GIO Says Radio Reform Will Happen Despite Protests" published by Taiwanese newspaper Taipei Times web site on 8 September Determination: Despite objections from opposition lawmakers and the BCC, the government reaffirmed its commitment to restructure the airwaves by late next year The Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday reiterated its resolve to push for reform of the nation's airwaves, despite protests lodged by opposition lawmakers and the nation's largest radio conglomerate, the Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC). "We expect to encounter backlash and opposition while we're pushing for reforms, and we fully understand their grievances," GIO head Lin Chia-lung said at a press conference yesterday afternoon. "However, our stance and determination on the matter will not be swayed by irrational criticisms voiced by a few politicians." Lin made the remarks in response to criticisms made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hung Hsiu-chu and Taipei City government spokesman Yu Tzu-hsiang . Hung said the GIO's reform policy was "a means to create political confrontation" and called it "poison covered with sugarcoating." Yu berated the GIO for neglecting professional opinions and failing to negotiate with the city before making decisions. The BCC also vowed to take legal actions against the GIO should it insist on reclaiming two of its channels reserved for special purposes. The GIO announced late Monday night [6 September] that it will terminate a 55-year-old policy, formulated during KMT rule, that allocates high-powered radio frequencies to government-owned stations - including BCC and the Taipei Broadcasting Station (TBS) - for the purpose of broadcasting government propaganda into China. With the recovery of frequencies from the BCC and other public stations, the GIO plans to restructure the country's airwaves in a bid to better manage the radio industry. The GIO plans to complete the three-stage restructuring process by the end of next year. After returning the designated channels, the BCC will remain the industry leader, with 27 AM stations (17.4 per cent of the total number) and 11 FM stations (5.1 per cent). Currently, the BCC occupies 25 per cent of the nation's AM stations and 13.96 per cent of its FM stations. Through the party-run Hua-Hsia Investment Holding Co, the KMT owns a 96.95 per cent stake in BCC and a 65 per cent stake in China Television (CTV). It also has a 10 per cent stake in Taiwan Television (TTV) and full ownership of the Central Motion Picture Corp, the Central Daily News and China Daily News. The KMT is required by the Broadcasting and Television Law to sell its stakes in China Television (CTV), the Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC), the Central Motion Picture Corp, the Central Daily News and China Daily News by 26 December next year. Source: Taipei Times web site, Taipei, in English 8 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) NATIONALIST PARTY DISAGREES WITH GOVERNMENT DECISION TO PRIVATIZE RADIO | Text of report in English by Wang Chung-ming entitled "GIO set to diversify broadcasts by opening up local airwaves" published by Taiwan News web site on 8 September The Cabinet's decision to have the Government Information Office take over frequencies used in past decades to block Chinese Communist Party broadcasts was a step forward in making Taiwan's airwaves more efficient, GIO Director-General Lin Chia-lung said yesterday [7 September]. But soon after Lin announced the GIO policy and asked local broadcasting companies on Monday [6 September] to return the frequencies, critics accused Lin of becoming a friend of the CCP. KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu said Lin's move would allow broadcasts from China to interfere with Taiwan's households, and argued that the government should permit the Kuomintang-owned Broadcasting Corporation of China to maintain its hold on the frequencies. According to Lin, the BCC should return its agricultural and music channels in accordance with the GIO's new policy by December next year. Lin later told reporters that to achieve that goal, reallocating those frequencies to other private companies would allow for a more efficient utilization of the airwaves, instead of issuing new operating licences for those frequencies to the BCC again. Lin attributed China's current ability to jam frequencies to a chaotic distribution of available airwaves. "If we reallocate our frequencies efficiently with regard to the intensity of the different air waves in separate local areas, it will help us resolve the problem," Lin stressed. He added that the existence of Taiwan's illegal underground radio stations was also due to the inefficient utilization of available frequencies. "As long as we implement the new policy, it will be much harder to jam frequencies, helping maintain broadcasting order." Should the CCP launch intensive waves to interfere with Taiwan's frequencies, Lin stressed, the government has prepared counter measures to deal with the attacks. Using complementary measures of guidance and funding, the GIO will offer a buffer period of one and half years for the six local broadcasting companies affected by the plan to complete their corporate transformations and care for their workers, the GIO head said. Source: Taiwan News web site, Taipei, in English 8 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) GIO RENEWS LICENCE FOR BCC RADIO STATIONS, BUT WITH PROVISOS | The Government Information Office (GIO) decided on 8 September to extend the broadcast licence to the opposition Kuomintang (KMT)-owned Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC), but on condition the corporation return 14 of its 69 frequencies to the government by the end of the year, eTaiwannews web site reported on 9 September. The report said that the GIO also asked the BCC to relinquish, within the coming two years, 17 other frequencies that were once used for jamming radio broadcasts from the People's Republic of China, and which are now used by the BCC's music and Baodao (Precious Island) stations. The 17 "jamming" frequencies should have been returned to the government by the BCC in 1992. Hsu Cheng-kuang, chairman of the GIO broadcasting licence review commission, stated that the committee had recommended a two-year extension broadcast licence up until 31 December, 2004, to the BCC's popular music, news, rural and Hakka-language networks, the report said. The report also included a statement from GIO Director-General Lin Chia-lung saying that he expects the government office to complete the process of recovering government frequencies, restructuring the radio networks and reallocating frequencies by the end of 2005. More information regarding the BCC radio network can be found on its web site at http://www.bcc.com.tw Source: eTaiwannews, web site, Taipei, in English 9 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. FTV NEWS CHANNEL STARTS ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN | Text of report in English by Taiwanese newspaper Taipei Times on 10 September Targeting foreigners living and working in the country, FTV [Formosa Television] will as of today [10 September] begin airing its nightly English-language news programme. From 13 September onwards, FTV English news will be aired on FTV News station at 11 pm [1500 gmt] and will be rerun at 6 am [2200 gmt] the following morning on FTV's terrestrial station. In addition, the programme will be aired on International Community Radio Taipei FM 100 the following morning from 5:30 am [2130 gmt] to 6 am [2200 gmt] from Tuesday to Friday. The news anchors selected for the programme are Jinny Chang and Jeffrey Mindich. "After this reorganization, FTV's English-language news is going from 15 minutes to an hour long. This news programme will serve as a window through which Taiwan's national image is presented, as well as providing an environment to learn English. The news programme is not simply a replica of the Chinese-language news programme, but has its own specialized team, which handles everything from production to conducting interviews," Government Information Office (GIO) Director- General Lin Chia-lung said at the programme's launching ceremony yesterday at the SPOT-Taipei Film House. Organizers said the location was selected due to its past - between 1949 and 1978 the house served as the US ambassador's official residence. "I hope that this news programme in the future may serve as a cultural export to promote Taiwan. Right now, Taiwanese news programmes aired overseas are in Chinese, which foreigners may not understand," Lin said. FTV's chief said the English-language news programme was produced out of good will, rather than a desire to make a profit. "So far, FTV has put 50m Taiwan dollars [1.47m US dollars] into its English-language news programmes. FTV is the only television station in Taiwan which still produces news programmes in English. However, despite the lack of a financial return, FTV insists on presenting local and international news in English, hoping to connect with the world and echoing President Chen Shui-bian's desires," said FTV general manager Chen Kang-hsin. FTV News web site can be found at http://www.ftvn.com.tw Source: Taipei Times, Taipei, in English 10 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** TIBET. CHINA TIBET INFORMATION CENTER Mentions Tibet's international radio service... http://www.tibetinfor.com.cn/english/news/2004-9-10/News02004910105152.htm (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Tibetan People`s Radio has many audiences of Tibetan, English and Chinese programs both in China and foreign countries. From January 1, 2004, Voice of China`s Tibet, an external program, began to broadcast the Ballad of King Gesar in Khamba. In particular, on May 1, 2002, the external programs were completely rearranged and Holy Tibet, an English program, was launched. Soon, many audiences of Tibetan and English programs sent us letters to congratulate the good news from the world ridge from over 40 countries in the world including Sweden, Italy, Nepal, Uruguay, Spain, Luxemburg, UK, France, Germany, US, Japan, India, Russia, Sikkim, Greece, Finland and others. Echad Roseche, a German audience, said in his letter on October 12, 2002 that, ``it is a good media to introduce Tibetan custom and culture through short wave. I am looking forward to gaining more knowledge more about Tibetan custom and culture and I like your beautiful music.`` (China`s Tibet [sic] Magazine, via DXLD) ** U K [non]. Message from Dan Elyea: It is our understanding that the BBC Mexico replacement transmission is coming out of Ascension Island. (Evelyn Marcy, WYFR, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks so much to both of you for taking the trouble to check this out for me; you must have a lot else on your minds. Referring to 11835 at 0000-0300, formerly via WYFR (Glenn) ** U S A. Dan Elyea at WYFR tells me that they closed down well before Hurricane Frances arrived, as their antennas cannot sustain winds over 30 mph (George Thurman, TX, Sept 8, WORLD OF RADIO 1245, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems awfully low velocity for that (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Ex-VoA director speaks out. Ex-diplomat used Voice of America to reach out --- Morton Smith, who returns to Aloha every year to spend his summer, talks about his career's highlights and struggles Thursday, September 09, 2004 The (Portland) Oregonian JILL SMITH http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/metro_west_news/1094299258270760.xml?oregonian?wbn Morton Smith has choked down ox meat and hosted diplomatic parties in Southeast Asia. He has negotiated international broadcasting deals and taught senior military officers in Washington, D.C. And each summer, he comes to live in Aloha [Oregon?]. Smith, 73, was a foreign service officer with the U.S. Information Agency. He handled media inquiries and cultural exchange programs in Korea, Burma, the Philippines and Singapore, where he also was deputy ambassador for the United States. Later he worked for the Voice of America, a government-sponsored news broadcasting network aimed at the world outside the United States. He retired in 1993 and is a consultant to Radio Free Asia. Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Smith specialized in Southeast Asian studies at Yale University, then he was drafted in 1953. "I was the only Burmese-speaking Jeep driver in the U.S. Army," he says. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., and on a trip to Portland he met a Beaverton girl named Angelina. They married 49 years ago. The Smiths come back to Aloha for two months each summer to visit Angelina's three sisters and to enjoy the natural surroundings. The rest of the year they live in Washington, D.C., near their children and grandchildren. Was ox meat the hardest thing for you to eat in Southeast Asia? No. (laughs) There were unspeakable parts of animals. Were your diplomatic parties lavish? Not at all. My wife had to work her tail off to get food on the table with our Chinese cook. A lot of people think of foreign service as luxury homes. You get some of that. But our first home in South Korea, we had no electricity most of the time and we had a kerosene refrigerator. When did you hook up with the Voice of America? I went to VOA in 1983, after my tour in Singapore. A big deal of what I did was to negotiate agreements with foreign governments to permit Uncle Sam to use their radio relay facilities. After a year, I was asked to take over a massive $1.3 billion modernization program to build new relay stations around the world. That's when I became a deputy director at the Voice. Then I became the acting director, where I got involved in the program side. I didn't write anything, but I looked over shoulders. The VOA mission talks about objectively presenting the news. Does it present the downside of American policies? Absolutely. Most people believe the Voice of America is the voice of official America, the voice of the U.S. government. It is most definitely not. I don't feel the Voice is close enough at times with U.S. policy. What are some cases where you disagreed? I vividly recall an instance where a feature writer had done a piece about United States' nuclear policy in the South Pacific, and the piece I felt was too heavily pointed against U.S. policy. We had this vigorous discussion of what the piece should be and should not be. I knew I wasn't going to win. Who listens to you? Do you hear stories from your audience? The most important was the end of the Cold War. People like Lech Walesa in Poland (former president and founder of the Solidarity movement) and (former President Vaclav) Havel in Czechoslovakia and (former Soviet President Mikhail) Gorbachev in Russia -- they all made public statements, unsolicited, saying a big element in the demise of communism in Europe was the broadcasts of the Voice of America and the BBC. Some of the same facilities that used to broadcast Soviet propaganda against the United States now are being used by Voice of America to broadcast to (third-world) countries on our behalf. People who listen to VOA and Radio Free Asia generally are denied free access to information by their governments. Even today, Radio Free Asia broadcasts . . . in Mandarin are jammed by China. It doesn't get through as well as we'd like, but there are call-in shows. People (in China) actually pick up the phone, they call a number in Hong Kong and say, "Listen we heard this and this broadcast, and we believe such and such." What information are the Chinese not getting from the government channel? The Chinese government tried to shape the news relevant to the SARS epidemic by withholding news of it, then considerably (underreporting) the scope of the epidemic so people wouldn't panic. Radio Free Asia has on its staff one of the former labor leaders in China who comments on labor affairs where there is a lot of unrest. Has Voice of America changed since Sept. 11? Yes. Alhurra is an Arabic language TV station (and) Radio Sawa is a radio station spun off from Voice of America. The concept was, "We will get the younger people in the Middle East attracted by giving them features about American life with music and entertainment, and then we will give them news as well." One of the ways to create these new entities is reducing the budget for others. They had to reduce a lot of other languages, some of the Eastern European languages which are no longer Communist states. They also reduced the number of hours of worldwide English, which I think was a great mistake. What's your view on the Iraq war? I specialized in the Far East, so anything I may think about the Middle East is not based on my own experience. But I feel very strongly that the experience of many Americans who have worked in the Middle East over the years and have developed language and area expertise, who understand the nature of the problems of the societies we're dealing with, I think all that accumulated national expertise has been sadly ignored. This is especially true with regard to what happened after the "mission was accomplished." That's where the expertise should have been factored into the planning. Can you remember any times when people told you Voice of America made a difference? In South Korea, two young middle school boys would come to the door and wanted to practice their English, so my wife would sit with them once a week. That was in 1956. A few years ago, I was on a trip to Korea. I was at a reception in the ambassador's house, and a very well-dressed gentleman comes over to me and says, "You're Morton Smith, aren't you?" He introduces himself and says, "My friend and I used to come to your house and your wife would help me with our English." He teaches English on the Korean Broadcasting System (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** U S A. AM RADIO STATION TURNS TO THE LEFT CITIZEN-TIMES.com By Tony Kiss, Entertainment Editor Sept. 8, 2004 10:36 p.m. http://www.citizen-times.com/cache/article/print/61038.shtml ASHEVILLE - A new style of liberal talk radio is coming to Asheville next week, as daytime-only station WPEK/880-AM drops its "adult standards" music format and joins the edgy Air America network. The station, formerly known as "The Peak," will morph into "The Revolution." Instead of nostalgic singing by Tony Bennett and the Four Tops, the station will air left-leaning talk shows by Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and others, said Brian Hall, director of news talk programming for Clear Channel Asheville, which owns WPEK. The station is licensed to Fairview but has studios on Patton Avenue in West Asheville. Clear Channel also owns Asheville's WWNC/570-AM, which airs conservative talk shows by Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and others. Hall is also WWNC's program director. The change is because of lack of listeners at WPEK, Hall said. "The ratings just weren't there" for nostalgic pop, he said. "This will be satisfying a demand that a lot of people have. It's a natural fit for Asheville. "People listening to the current format will be shocked. Those who will listen to the (new format) are not currently listening to the station. This will be a lot of fun." The change was praised by Wally Bowen, a local media critic and director of the Mountain Area Information Network, which has its own "progressive" low-powered FM Asheville station, WPVM/103.5-FM. "Air America will broaden the range of political speech available to Asheville-area listeners," he said. It's the fourth format since March 2002 for WPEK, which is on the air only from sunup to sundown. The station originally carried conservative talk shows, but Clear Channel moved those programs to the more powerful WWNC, and WPEK took a classic country format. That format was later switched to nostalgic pop. The new liberal talk format will include both Air America shows and programs from the Jones Radio Network. The weekend schedule at WPEK is still being planned, but one current music show will survive - John Roten's Saturday morning "Mountain Music Time," Hall said. Air America has just 28 stations, including an affiliate in Chapel Hill, and the signal is also carried nationally on the Sirius and XM satellite radio services. Because WPEK must leave the air at sundown, some Air America shows will not be heard here, including the weeknight "Majority Report," hosted by actress Janeane Garafalo but a "best of" program may air on weekends, Hall said. Format change at WPEK Starting Monday, Asheville's WPEK/AM-880 will drop nostalgic pop music and begin running liberal talk radio programs including many programs from the Air America network. The new format: [EDT = UT -4] "Morning Sedition," 6 a.m. "Stephanie Miller," 9 a.m. "The Al Franken Show," noon "Ed Schultz," 3 p.m. "Randi Rhodes," 6 p.m. until sundown when station must leave the air. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2004 Asheville Citizen-Times (via Brock Whaley, Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. MEDIA MUSINGS: TO AIR IS LIBERAL By Rob Thomas September 9, 2004 http://www.madison.com/tct/features/index.php?ntid=9700&ntpid=0 Liberal radio listeners must feel like a high school nerd who, after years of being unable to get a date, suddenly finds the entire cheerleading squad fighting for his affections. For years, the political spectrum on talk radio stretched from the right all the way to the far right, with Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity syndicated in almost every market. There were a few liberal success stories, such as Jim Hightower and Randi Rhodes, but by and large conservatives had a stranglehold on the medium. While their grip remains awfully firm, that may be starting to change. In fact, Madison now is in the surprising position of having two radio stations openly skirmishing over which one gets to call itself "Madison's Progressive Talk." One is Clear Channel's WXXM/FM 92.1, the former "hot adult contemporary" Mix 92.1, which today is being re-christened The Mic 92.1, "Madison's Progressive Talk." The lineup will feature the most prominent personalities of the left-leaning Air America syndicated radio network, including Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, and Rhodes, as well as a local voice in Stuart Levitan (who occasionally contributes to The Capital Times). Last Thursday, when Midwest Family Broadcasting's WTDY/AM 1670 heard of Clear Channel's plans, it began calling itself "Madison's Progressive Talk." Clear Channel operations manager Mike Ferris says Clear Channel has trademarked the phrase, and has sent a cease-and- desist order to WTDY. "They got wind of it and started using it on the air," Ferris says. "Sneaky, sneaky. We're serious. It's one thing to play hard, but it's another thing to play fair." But WTDY program director and morning host John "Sly" Sylvester says his station is not backing down, and will continue using the phrase on the air. "Clear Channel's all angry because that's what they've been calling their different stations around the country -- Portland's Progressive Talk, Albuquerque's Progressive Talk and they're very mad that we got to it first," Sylvester says. "But you can't trademark something that you don't have up on the air. Our lawyers are dealing with that, and we are not going to be stopping." The dust-up over a phrase underscores how much radio stations around the country want to capture progressive listeners. One reason is based in politics; liberals see how effectively conservatives get their message out through the airwaves on talk radio, and want a competing voice to be heard just as loudly. "People have figured out that conservatives have effectively mobilized their base through talk radio," Sylvester says. "It's how they spread the word. Using entertainment to spread a message can be fun and profitable. It was just a matter of time before that happened." The other reason is financial, not surprisingly. Radio stations believe there's an untapped market of left-leaning listeners out there who would flock to a news-talk station that reflected their mind-set. "People of a liberal slant, my God, there's nothing out there for them," Ferris says. "That's why they've embraced public radio, because at least it's fair and balanced. This is an opportunity to bring programming to the market that heretofore has been unavailable." With The Mic, Madison will become the 27th city in the country to broadcast Air America programming. It's also the first Air America station to be broadcast on FM, not AM, which Ferris thinks will attract a different kind of listener. "I think we're able to reach out to a new audience, an audience that doesn't use the AM band that much or doesn't go down to that end of the FM dial," Ferris says. "Most people I know who are younger, they don't get into AM talk. It's not until people get older. They've heard "Sweet Home Alabama" for the millionth time, and they don't need it anymore, and they start looking for a little more companionship, that commonality of who's thinking like me." WTDY is countering Clear Channel's plans by dropping right-wing Fox news personality Sean Hannity and moving up Fargo progressive personality Ed Schultz from evenings to afternoons. Liberal talk show host Stephanie Miller will take over Schultz's slot in the evening. "As talk radio has become more and more a sea of right-wing wackos, I think the audience has finally recognized the need to balance that with some good left-wing wackos," Miller says on her Web site. "I'm thrilled to be able to meet that need." Sylvester says WTDY will keep Fox news commentator Bill O'Reilly. Doesn't that run against the notion of "progressive talk"? Sylvester says O'Reilly is somewhat of a maverick. "If we're the Kennedy family, he's Arnold Schwarzenegger," Sylvester says. Both stations are emphasizing their Madison connections. Ferris says Clear Channel essentially allows its stations to operate as franchises, shaping programming that reflects their community. He says Levitan's two-hour slot from 5 to 7 p.m. is the beginning of the station's local focus. The initial success of Air America, which made its debut in March and has posted big ratings in markets like New York City and Portland, has helped convince Clear Channel that there's an audience for progressive talk around the country that could be tapped, Ferris says. "Clear Channel as a whole is understanding that there's an audience for this and there's a need for it," he says. "The need is a matter of saying these people are disenfranchised with what's available on the dial. If you have an underperforming radio station in your group, let's take a risk, a calculated risk." Sylvester scoffs at WXXM's attempt to position itself as Madison- grown, noting that WTDY has nine hours of local programming every weekday compared to WXXM's two hours, and that the station will be a presence at local progressive-minded events like Fighting Bob Fest and the Labor Day festivities at the Madison Labor Temple. He also questions the sincerity of Clear Channel, which critics have called "radio's big bully" in getting into the progressive talk game. "Our company's here in Madison," Sylvester says. "The money that they make here in Madison goes to Texas, and their owners are big supporters and contributors of George Bush. I find that a little disingenuous for them to be pretending to support the progressive movement when they don't. They are just using this to make money. I think it has to be more than that." Whichever station prevails in the struggle over who gets to call itself "Madison's Progressive Talk," the ultimate winner seems clear: the radio listener with a "Kerry/Edwards 2004" sticker on his back bumper (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: "The Washington DC Metro area has grown so large it takes four transmitters to cover it (Tom McNiff, Burke, Virginia, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Would not be so with one decent frequency and transmitter (gh)" Interesting premise -- wonder if it would be cheaper to purchase one high-powered FM station capable of reaching the entire region? My experience listening to WTOP on my travels to the South are that, much below Springfield, VA, the Warrenton outlet (107.7) is superior to AM 1500. Facts are that the Washington, DC metro area now covers a 120-mile-wide swath of territory due to the prevalence of many companies locating beyond the I-495 Capital Beltway, especially to the west of the city. The Frederick acquisition also makes sense, because Frederick is very much a bedroom community for the northwestern suburbs of Washington, and the Radio-Locator contour map for WTOP shows Frederick as too distant for reliable reception, especially at night (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since arriving in the DC area a couple of years ago, I've always been intrigued by the varying quality of signals from stations that endeavour to reach the greater Washington metropolitan market. There are some FM stations that I listen to quite well while commuting around the District, but that are inaudible at my home in northern Virgnia. Some of the AM talk stations put in quite poor signals around downtown and on this side of the Potomac. WTOP is probably dominant on 1500 AM wherever I go around town, but there's a few blocks downtown where the 107.7 MHz FM outlet in Warrenton puts in an especially big signal! It's an interesting mish-mash of signal strength patterns and transmitter locations for a range of stations all competing in the same market (Matt Francis, Washington DC, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MPR TO BROADCAST 'MEMORIAL' --- CONCORDIA PRODUCTION WILL AIR ON ALL STATIONS http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/local/9625029.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp MOORHEAD - Saturday, Minnesota Public Radio will broadcast Concordia College's performance of Dr. Rene Clausen's composition "Memorial (September Morning)" on all MPR classical music stations. The broadcast will be aired at 1 p.m. [CDT = 1800 UT] on KCCM 91.1 FM in Fargo-Moorhead, KCMF 89.7 (F/M) in Fergus Falls, Minn., and KQMN 91.5 FM in Thief River Falls/Crookston/East Grand Forks/Grand Forks Clausen, conductor of the Concordia College Choir, was commissioned by The American Choral Directors Association to write the piece capturing the emotional and spiritual elements of Sept. 11, 2001. The performance was recorded at the ACDA Festival in New York City on Feb. 14, 2003. Written for baritone solo, mixed chorus and full orchestra, the piece is approximately 25 minutes long and uses portions of a series of prayers written by Dr. Roy Hammerling of the Concordia religion department. (c) 2004 Grand Forks Herald and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) See also SAUDI ARABIA ** U S A. Is there any other market whose stations are as averse to using their OTA dial positions as Fort Myers/Naples? WBBH 20 is "NBC2," WZVN 26 is "ABC7," the UPN LPTV on 4 and 9 is "UPN 8," WFTX 36 is "Fox 4," WGCU 30 is "PBS 3/DT 31" and even the lone full-power V in the market, WINK 11, is just "Wink-TV." You could search the "ABC7" and "NBC2" websites until you're blue in the face without ever finding any acknowledgment of "channel 26" or "channel 20." I'm not convinced that's a very smart idea right now, when presumably many of their viewers still have no power and are watching the stations on battery-operated OTA TVs, if they're watching at all. They're certainly not finding anything on channels 2 or 4 or 7... s (Scott Fybush, NY, Sept 9, WTFDA via DXLD) All of Canada? |grin| With decent weather settling in down there (hopefully not temporarily!) I wouldn't be surprised if they *are* finding something on channels 2, 4, and 7. WPBT, WFOR, WJXT, WTVY, WJCT, WJHG, WFLA-DT, pile of Cubans.... Even after the electric utilities get the power back to the Florida victims. I'm betting it'll take cable a lot longer to get back in business (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, ibid.) Many of the stations in both San Diego and Palm Springs, CA are more prone to use their cable slot in their IDs/logos than their OTA channel --- especially in Palm Springs, where even the TV Guide has for years basically ignored the fact that the CBS and NBC stations are on 36 and 42 OTA (Dave Williams, OR, ibid.) Palm Springs, CA is just as bad. Very confusing. Our local Fox in Topeka (LPTV 43) went the other way. They are channel 6 on cable and called themselves "Fox 6." Now they are "Fox 43." (Dave Pomeroy, KS) Survived Frances here in Lake Worth FL -- NO INJURIES, little damage. Didn`t DX --- sorry, no power and other problems (like 110 mph winds). Most stations on TV were using each others` feed so on some screens there were at least 4 diff logos. Most FM were rebroadcasting TV, i.e. WQCS 89.9 was using WPTV-5, and so on. Now it is predicted Ivan the Terrible will be over Lake Okeechobee Sat. (I'm about 35 miles East of the Big Lake (Ken "Not a Happy Camper" Simon, in Sunny South Florida, Sept 9, WTFDA via DXLD ** U S A. MICROSOFT CREATES STATIC OVER NEW RADIO FEATURE Benny Evangelista, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, September 6, 2004 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/06/BUGVJ8I6VN1.DTL Software giant Microsoft took center stage last week when it began selling songs online, but another feature of its new MSN Music service is quietly raising eyebrows in the radio industry. Microsoft is using playlists from more than 900 local radio stations around the country to create its own soundalike Internet stations -- stripped of local DJ chatter, traffic, weather and commercials. The new MSN Radio offers Internet stations playing most of the same songs heard on over-the-air outlets like Berkeley's KBLX, "The Quiet Storm''; New York's WNEW, "The Mix 102.7''; or Chicago's WLUP, "The Loop.'' "It results in a more pleasant experience because you don't have the ads or the DJs,'' Rob Bennett, senior director for MSN Entertainment, said during a press briefing last week. But radio industry experts said creating stations that sound like local radio outlets presents a possible trademark infringement problem, much like selling a generic soft drink that's "just like Coca-Cola'' with the same ingredients. "I'm surprised they would co-opt the brand names of every radio station in America without permission,'' said Bill Conway, program director and station manager for San Francisco's KOIT-FM. Conway was surprised when he learned from a reporter that Microsoft was using his station's call letters and well-known slogan, "Lite Rock, Less Talk,'' to promote a mimicked version of KOIT. Tom Taylor, editor of the industry trade magazine Inside Radio, said Microsoft's attempt to compete with local stations "will be threatening'' to some radio companies. "Radio stations will see this as piggybacking on their hard-earned brand awareness and potentially cannibalizing their success,'' Taylor said. On Thursday, Microsoft released a public preview of MSN Music, which can be found at beta.music.msn.com, and as a part of the new Windows Media Player 10 software. Most of the media attention was focused on the service's catalog of downloadable songs, which competes with the market-leading iTunes Music Store from Cupertino's Apple Computer Inc. But what was largely overlooked was MSN Radio, which, like iTunes, provides a wide selection of Internet radio streams with different music genres. The key difference, however, is a section called "Local Stations,'' which provides Internet radio programmed by computer to duplicate the songs found on local stations in major markets. Microsoft buys its lists of radio songs, called playlists, from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, a division of the Nielsen ratings service, which monitors more than 1,200 radio stations in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It is one of two services used by station managers and program directors to track what's being played by competitors and in other markets. Microsoft, however, feeds the playlists into computers, which automatically generate playlists to create the soundalike MSN station. The song lists are changed to adhere to rules that are different for Web radio casts and to exclude songs that Microsoft does not have rights to distribute on the Internet, Bennett said. MSN Radio promotes these online channels as being "like'' a favorite local station, "but with fewer ads, no DJ chatter and less repetition.'' The "S.F.-Oakland-San Jose'' section offered 11 stations, including ones designed to sound like KYLD Wild 94.9, Alice 97.3 and K101's Star 101.3. The free version intersperses brief Microsoft audio commercials for MSN's subscription service, which for $5 per month provides the same Internet radio stations with no advertising and at a higher-quality sound. When asked about the potential trademark problems, Microsoft said in a statement released through a spokesman that "the use of station names is applied only to indicate the top artists on a station, and we believe it's simply a factual statement about the radio station, similar to many other public radio charts on the Web. If any radio station has concerns about this usage, they should contact Microsoft directly." John Allers, program director at San Jose's KCNL-FM, known as Channel 104. 9, had two messages for Microsoft upon learning of the KCNL clone. "I appreciate them calling attention to us to those who may not have discovered us yet,'' Allers said. But he added that "if you're trying to take away our listeners,'' the programming that makes a station's personality and connection to listeners can't be duplicated by a computer. Robert Unmacht, a Nashville radio industry consultant, said Microsoft's attempt to compete with local radio stations is just the start of a new digital entertainment battleground. While MSN Radio now requires a computer tied to the Internet, there is movement to make high-speed wireless Internet connections widely available. "I think we're headed toward broadband radio,'' said Unmacht, a founder of In3 Partners of Nashville. Microsoft, he added, "is five or 10 years ahead of where they need to be, which is smart because broadcasters are thinking just 13 weeks ahead.'' (via Harry Helms W5HLH, Wimberley, TX EM00, NRC-AM via DXLD) Microsoft vs. Clear Channel will be an even more entertaining fight than Godzilla vs. King Kong (Harry Helms W5HLH, Wimberley, TX EM00, ibid.) ** URUGUAY. Very likely loggings of SODRE, 9620+ in Europe and North America: see UNIDENTIFIED in this sisue and previously ** VIETNAM. 9630 weak // 5975 v good, Hanoi, National Service, Vietnamese, 2215 Aug/24 (David Norcross, Hong Kong, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5035 clear // 6165 QRM, Xuan Mai, Hmong Service, 2220, heard in Hong Kong, Aug 24. 6165 fair QRM // 5035 weak clear, 1223, 8/30, heard in Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC (David Norcross, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6381v, a Lai Chau Provincial, 1200, Vietnamese (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Frequency survey: 5597 Lao Cai, not hrd; 5925 Xuan Mai // 549 Hanoi 1224, little girl chattering away in Vietnamese; 6347t Yen Bai, music under jamming sounds; 6490 Cao Bang & 6665 Lao Cai not heard (David Norcross, Chengdu, Sichuan, PRC, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. ``Intruder Signal`` on 40 Meters Remains a Mystery for Now http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/09/09/103/?nc=1 NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 9, 2004 --- An unidentified signal that`s been showing up on the 40-meter phone band on or about 7238 kHz has mystified amateurs in the western US and Canada, where it`s been heard frequently for the past few weeks. Although it resembles a steady carrier, a closer inspection suggests that the intruding signal actually is a series of closely space signals. Don Moman, VE6JY, in Edmonton, Alberta, says he`s been hearing the signal quite loud at his QTH. ``This signal looks a lot more interesting than it would sound --- just a broad tone/hum/buzz, depending on where you tune,`` he said. One spectrogram from VE6JY showed perhaps a half-dozen or more discrete signals. ``It`s certainly loud enough out here, peaking broadly south-southwest from Edmonton,`` he said. Moman was using a 5- element Yagi and was hearing the signal at 10 dB over S9. That conforms with observations reported by Bob Gonsett, W6VR, at Communications General Corp (CGC). He says engineers at the CGC lab in Fallbrook, California took a quick look at the intruder September 6 at around 2120 UTC and found ``several close-spaced CW carriers --- perhaps from one specially modulated transmitter, perhaps from transmitters at different locations,`` he reported. CGC reported the signals appeared on 7238.063, 7238.150, 7238.237 and 7238.412 kHz, with the 7238.237 kHz signal being ``the strongest of the group.`` ...to hear an audio clip of the ``mystery`` signal in the vicinity of 7238 kHz as heard at the QTH of VE6JY in Alberta [MP3, 00:20] [go to above URL and click link] While no one`s sure what it is, the FCC HF Direction Finding Facility has been able to determine that it`s coming from somewhere east of Prescott, Arizona. FCC monitoring indicates the ``buzz`` is centered on 7238.1 kHz with a bandwidth of about 1 kHz and spikes spaced at about 90 Hz apart. Reports to the International Amateur Radio Union Region 2 Monitoring System indicate the signal has been heard from about 1700 to 2130 UTC, although Moman reported hearing it at around 0300 UTC and said the signal even went off the air for a few seconds while he was listening to it. Jack Roland, KE0VH, in Colorado also heard the signals for a couple of evenings this week. ``Something is not right there,`` he remarked. High Noon Net Manager Bill Savage, N5FLD, in Albuquerque, New Mexico said several net participants --- in Nebraska, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota and Arizona --- were able to hear the mystery signal. Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, dxldyahoogroup via DXLD) INTRUDER WATCH: STRANGE SIGNALS AT 7238 kHz According to Bob Gonsett, W6VR, for the past three weeks, hams in the southwestern U.S. have been reporting a mysterious signal in the 40-meter band. One party described it as a ``mechanical sound.`` Another speculated that it was ``data.`` Engineers at Communications General Corporation in Fallbrook California took a quick look at the situation on September 6th. And at 3:20 P-M Pacific Daylight Savings Time the company found several close-spaced CW carriers. The four strongest signals at CGC`s lab were on 7238.063, 7238.150, 7238.237 and 7238.412 kHz. The signal on .237 was the strongest of the group and the frequencies reported should each be accurate to better than plus or minus 30 Hz. Communications General says it is not sure if the signal was coming from one specially modulated transmitter or from transmitters at different locations. Bob Gonsett adds that it will be interesting to learn the source or sources of these transmissions. (W6VR, CGC via ARNewsline(tm) September 10 via John Norfolk, dxldyahoogroup via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 9620.97, SODRE?? Thanks Noel Green tip in Cumbre, heard from 0708 to 0815+ with classical music. What appeared to be a piano concerto around 0712. M announcer in muffled voice 0717-0718. Back to more classical music. Sounded like a different M announcer briefly at 0722, and more music. Possible canned announcement at 0738. Signal picked up nicely after 0743, but trailed off after 0750. If an ID announcement would have been given at that time, I could have copied it!! Went over ToH with classical music. Finally, another announcement at 0813 by M and it did sound like SP, but just too weak then. Quite weak most of the time, but it did peak around 0715, and 0743. Insignificant het QRM from a station on 9620, but gradually strengthening and making it impossible after 0815. I hope this is SODRE. Like Noel, I haven't heard this in decades either!! 9 Sept. 73's (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ IBC 2004 EXHIBITION OPENS TODAY For a few days every September, Amsterdam becomes a magnet for the world's broadcasters as the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) opens its doors. This year's convention is now under way, and closes on Tuesday. IBC was originally held in the UK, but outgrew the available facilities, and the decision was taken to move the venue to Amsterdam's RAI Exhibition and Congress Centre. The exhibition and accompanying conference focus on topics related to content creation, management and delivery. International Broadcasting Convention http://www.ibc.org.uk # posted by Andy @ 07:48 UT Sept 10 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ###