DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-189, December 23, 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 1258: Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Fri 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Fri 2200 WOR WBCQ 7415 Sat 0000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0030 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sat 0900 WOR WRN1 to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar, Telstar 12 SAm Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1130 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 1928 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 Sat 2030 WOR R. Lavalamp Sat 2130 WOR WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0430 WOR WRMI 6870 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0930 WOR WRN1 to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0930 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1030 WOR WRMI 9955 Sun 1100 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1500 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 2000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sun 2030 WOR WWCR 12160 Sun 2100 WOR RNI Mon 0330 WOR WRMI 6870 Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [1257] Mon 0530 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Tue 1000 WOR WRMI 9955 Tue 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ONDEMAND [from Friday]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO 1258 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1258 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1258.html WORLD OF RADIO 1258, mp3 in the true SW sound of 7415 [from UT Thu?]: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-22-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-22-04.mp3 ** ANTIGUA. Spectacular BBC Antigua relay opening Wednesday 22 December, From 1414 UT: 30.38 MHz AM BBC World Service 2nd harmonic Antigua FK97 relay 15.190 MHz YL talk with deep fades. 1437-1459 - 'Music from Around the World' with DJ Charlie Gillet featuring African soul music from Kenya 'The New Sound of Africa' Q4-5 1500 - Hourly beeps and time tone. 'This is the BBC.' Then BBC News. Drop to S3, lost audio at 1509. 1547-1600 - YL Jane Little, music S4 > 6. 'Heart and Soul' program with opera, Q5 es QSB, interview with Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon. Time beeps and tone on hour. Schedule shows 15.190 programming 1100-1700 UTC. I usually pick it up after 1300 and lose it after 1600. 15.190 MHz AM - BBC full scale on Alinco DJX-2000 with same antenna at 1609 with YL, OM news (Jack Sullivan, Central New Jersey, FN20, Receiver: ICOM R-7000,Antenna: OE-254/GRC 30-88 MHz bicone, harmonics yg via DXLD) As pointed out by another subscriber, it's odd to be picking up the harmonic with such strength and clarity when the band above 25 MHz is mostly dead for other signals except for sporadic F2 openings of brief duration. He lives in the same part of the US as I do and he has failed to confirm my reception reports. As a test today, I plugged by OE-254/GRC onto my Alinco DJX-2000 during the reception reported below. I copied the 15.190 MHz BBC transmission full scale (S9+??? dB). (The antenna is effective for reception between 10 and 160 MHz). I copied many BC harmonics during the last peak as I posted here: Voice of America, Voice of Russia, Deutsche Welle, etc., so I am very familiar with this kind of reception. I don't know what DW's Americas broadcast status is at the moment, as they were said to be dropping NA service last March. But I would expect to run into the VOA harmonics in the 30 MHz band, etc., as they are on the air during the same time window. I have not heard these or other BC harmonics other than the Voice of Nigeria several weeks ago. My ICOM R-7000 is a triple conversion radio with IFs of 778.70 & 10.70 MHz & 455 kHz. I live near a number of busy radio towers and in a highly built up area but have never had vany problem with spurious or phantom signals. Any comments on this topic would be greatly appreciated (Jack Sullivan, ibid.) Hi Jack, I'm sure you're reception is genuine. The R7000 is a stunning receiver. I think you're just lucky! Condx terrible here today; everything very fluttery and unstable, MW & shortwave both probably the worst December reception I can ever remember. Things are totally unpredictable. All the best for the holidays (Tim Bucknall, UK, ibid.) At 1504 UT on 23 Dec I am receiving the 30.38 harmonic (BBC news) on the Alinco Q5 with signal strength varying from about S3 to S9+??? dB with fading. The fundamental 15.190 is S9+??? dB. The only way to differentiate the harmonic is the fact that is significantly weaker than the fundamental. So there is no problem with the ICOM. And it is doubtful that these weak signals are generating rectified, mixed or spurious products in the antenna. 1504-1521 UT - 30.38 MHz AM BBC World Service via Antigua FK97 2nd harmonic news YL, OM talk, interviews. The 30.38 signal is still there at 1642 but it is just breaking the squelch on peaks. You can hear the programming if you open the squelch. I am receiving both the 15.190 fundamental (S9+??? dB) and this harmonic on a different receiver, an Alinco DJX-2000. This eliminates the possibility of something being wrong in either radio as they are of completely different design & construction. The only way to differentiate the signals is the harmonic being weaker and more subject to fading and noise. This may also rule out problems with an otherwise excellent antenna as it seems to doubtful to several sources that I've checked with that the weak signals found here could generate rectified, mixed or doubled products (Jack Sullivan, NJ, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. Glenn: The Dig Radio relay on RA commences at 0730 Mon., the 27th. They run M-F and until 1100 each day. This is a summer "silly season" only program on RA, so will likely run only until mid- Jan. (John Figliozzi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS [and non]. Got a reply from Mr. Donald Rolle of ZNS radio today. He indicated that a DX test could not be accommodated on the date requested, but that he would attempt one during a future maintenance period. He also mentioned that ZNS is currently running 35 kW due to an operational problem. [1540 kHz, nominal 50 kW] Keep your fingers crossed that he will remember us when time comes to do the maintenance. This continues my focus on approaching split frequency stations and clear channel powerhouses to do DX Tests. Frankly, I'm not hopeful, as most of the big guns have contractual issues with their overnight programming making DX Tests difficult for them to do. We'll see. I'm also working hard on getting a station in Alabama to do a DX test. This seems to be a state that is frequently requested. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, IRCA CPC Chairman, Dec 23, IRCA via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN [non]. Re: 17785 kHz Voice of the Cooperation Council from the Kingdom of Bahrain. 0800-0957 on Dec 20th, 21st. BSKSA Riyadh is scheduled here at 0800-1000 UT in French. Powerhouse signal usually here in Stuttgart Germany, RIYADH, 500 kW 270 degrees. Usually that`s in direction of 'French' speaking states in N Africa (SYR, LBN, TUN, ALG, MRC) and further south on Saharan belt, as well as France/Suisse target too. Transmission ended at 09.56:30 sign-off today Dec 21 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 21, WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DXLD) About the ID, Mauno it's a really unique one coz simply it is "Sout Majlis Altaawon min Mamlaket Al Bahrain" (Voice of the Cooperation Council from the Kingdom of Bahrain). One notice. The YL didn't announce the official name of the GCC which is "Majlis Attaawon alkhaleeji" she only said. "majlis altaawon"!! with no mention of al Khaleeji which means the "gulf". Today was the final session of the Gulf Cooperation council gathering in Bahrain, and they were having meetings for the last 2 days or so. So that transmission is specially for the annual meeting of the GCC. What really makes me wonder is, that the Saudi King "Fahd" used to let his deputy "The Prince Abdullah" attend these meeting but this year due to the commercial agreement between US and Bahrain, Saudi Arabia decided not to attend this year's meeting in Bahrain. As according to the rules of the GCC all the commercial agreements should be between all the countries of the GCC and the other party. No sole agreements between one of the countries of the GCC and any other country. So in that case as long as the political relations is not going on so well, wonder why did the Saudis let Bahrain use their transmitters to transmit this special network. All the best my friends. Yours (Tarek Zeidan, SU1TZ, Cairo, Egypt, Dec 21 via Wolfgang Büschel, BDXC-UK via WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. R. Santa Cruz, 6134.79, Dec 17 0946-1000+ Spanish ballads, 0950 ID. Singing dogs with `Jingle Bells`, adstring. Very good [see also BRAZIL for another nearby offset below 6135] (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Aparecida, 6134.88, Dec 16 0757-0810+ Portuguese announcements, ballads, 0800 ID. Good; very weak on \\ 9630.02 [see BOLIVIA for another nearby offset below 6135] (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Battle for AM licence in Vancouver http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2004/n2004-11.htm 6. Vancouver, British Columbia --- Application No. 2003-1174-6 Application by I.T. Productions Ltd. for a licence to operate a commercial AM (ethnic) radio programming undertaking in Vancouver. The new station would operate on frequency 1200 kHz with a transmitter power of 25,000 watts. By condition of licence, the applicant proposes to direct ethnic programming to a minimum of 11 cultural groups in a minimum of 17 different languages per broadcast week. (snip) 7. Vancouver, British Columbia --- Application No. 2004-1100-2 Application by Mainstream Broadcasting Corporation for a licence to operate a commercial AM (ethnic) radio programming undertaking in Vancouver. The new station would operate on frequency 1200 kHz with a transmitter power of 25,000 watts. By condition of licence, the applicant proposes to direct ethnic programming to a minimum of 32 cultural groups in a minimum of 16 different languages per broadcast week. The Commission will only proceed with this application at the public hearing if advised by the Department of Industry, at least twenty days prior to the hearing, that it is technically acceptable. (...) (via Ricky Leong, QC, DXLD) ** CANADA. CHEV-1610 (again) --- Recently there was discussion about the defunct (?) CHEV-1610 when my new local on 1610 (CHSL-Voces Latinas) was starting up. For those of you who are curious, CHEV has a new website at http://www.chevradioam.com The website claims they have been serving Markham, Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area since 1997 and that CHEV is an official "Emergency Broadcast Station". They are supposedly carrying all home and away games of the Markham Waxers of the Ontario Provincial Junior "A" Hockey League. This league is one step down from the Major Junior "A" Ontario Hockey League, which you can hear on stations like 560-CFOS, 980-CKRZ, 1070-CHOK and 1290-CJBK. According to the schedule the next game scheduled is a home game tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:30 p.m. against the Collingwood Blues. I'll post something if I actually hear anything! (Niel Wolfish, Toronto, Dec 22, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CUBA. Increased power on 560: see USA [non] ** CZECH REPUBLIC. RADIO FREE EUROPE TO STAY AT CURRENT CZECH LOCATION TILL END OF 2007 | Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 22 December: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) will use the building of the former Federal Assembly in Prague's centre till the end of 2007 and then it may be moved to another, safer place, under an agreement passed by the government today, Lubos Sikula from the government press office told CTK. It has not yet been decided from where RFE will be broadcasting from 2008. The US administration has therefore asked the Czech government to prolong the lease contract. The radio station, funded by the USA, broadcasts in a number of languages to the countries which do not observe the freedom of speech. Its removal from Prague's centre started to be talked about and safety precautions were tightened after the 9/11 attacks in the USA. The lease contract was closed in 1994 for five years with a clause allowing for the extension till the end of this year. Although there is the symbolical one-crown lease, under the contract the radio station covers the maintenance costs. The new contract does not change the conditions. The maintenance costs amount to roughly 54m crowns a year. Beyond the contract, the RFE/RL has made some changes in the building such as modernization of elevators, doors and toilets, Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said recently. (One dollar is 22.768 Czech crowns [korunas].) Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1629 gmt 22 Dec 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Latest Recordings 22/12: 3279.54 kHz, La Voz del Napo, Tena --- Quito 22/12 2004 *** Wednesday edition: This is my first recording of a shortwave station made with my new DSP radio Ten-Tec RX 350D. I had problems at first with the synchro- detector but after I made a so called "hard reset" (back to factory settings) it´s working wonderful. On this recording made this Wednesday morning you can listen to a very nice song-ID from Radio María - as you know LV del Napo is relaying "Radio María Ecuador" many hours every day. Comments and recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Christmasday Show of SWR Moi, Joulupäivän ohjelmasisällöstä vastaa SWR:n tonttulauma muutaman vierailevan tontun avustuksella. Tonttuina joululähetyksessä toimivat mm. RarioJaska, Dj. Lasol, Esa, Pasi, Kimmo, Dj. Miki, Janne ja muut jotka paikalle sattuvat eksymään. Joulupäivän lähetyksen aikana jatkuu myöskin keskiaaltojen testaus, taajuus on 1602 kHz. Ohjelmassa on luvassa mm. joulukuulumisia livenä ympäri maailmaa. Mitä todennäköisimmin jouluaiheista musiikkia soitetaan mahdollisimman vähän, koska sitähän soittavat kaikki muut radioasemat... Luvassa siis tavalliseen tapaan monenlaista musiikkia, niin klassista ja progea, kuin myös iskelmää. Saattaa olla että jouluna esiintyy jälleen myös SWR:n koekeittiö, sekä viiniraati, joka maistelee jouluiset ja ei niin jouluiset viinit ja juustot. Lisäksi jouluohjelman aikana kaikkien "lahjattomien" kuulijoiden iloksi arvomme ylläri-lahjoja jotka eivät sopineet pukin rekeen... Jouluterveisiä lähetyksessä luettavaksi voi lähettää sähköpostilla aseman info@ osoitteeseen tai tekstiviestillä numeroon 0400 995 559. Samaiseen numeroon voi myöskin soittaa lähetyksen aikana. HUOMIO! Toivottavasti 22. 12 myrskyt eivät ole aiheuttaneet vahinkoja antennifarmilla. Jos jonkin aaltoalueen antennit ovat vaurioituneet, tosiasia tulee olemaan, ettei kyseisellä bandilla ole lähetystä. Programs on Christmas day will provide to you SWR elves: RarioJaska, Dj. Lasol, Esa, Pasi, Kimmo, Dj. Miki, Janne and possible visitors. At the Christmas time we don't have "real" program schedule, but probably you will heard all kind of music from pop and classical music to progressive rock from our frequencies on short- and medium waves. For example following programs are planned to came out from SWR studios: letterbox, wine & cheese review and of course season greetings. Phone number to SWR studio during the transmissions is +358 400 995 559, phone calls and short messages are very welcome. OBS! We really hope that 22nd Dec. storms in western Finland has not caused any damages to our antennas. If there is damages it is possible we can not take some of our bands in use. With best regards, (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, Dec 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See http://www.swradio.net/fin/tietoja.htm for tentative schedule on 5980/5990/6170 and 11690/11720 (gh, DXLD) ** FINLAND [and non]. From website http://www.radio756.0catch.com (after tip by Roy Sandgren on the SWEDX mailing list; the website includes also various photos of the m/v St. Paul): Radio 756 AM & SONNET RADIO, Åland, Scandinavia The MV St. Paul will be the home of Radio 756. Currently moored up in the fishing harbour in Korvic, Mariehamn, Åland. The St. Paul will be going through a refit from next spring. It's planned to have two studios and a UHF link to the main Studio and Transmitter site 8 km away. Radio 756 plan to use the 10 kW license on 756 kHz and SW frequencies for Pan-European coverage. LATEST NEWS: Due to the recent discrepancies with the 603 kHz Licence with Pirate Radio 603 & Radio Scandinavia, all radio licence applications have been frozen until May 2005. This has delayed our application for 756 KHz. For more information email: radio756 @ hotpop.com Notes by Bernd Trutenau: --------- Note-BT 1: 756 kHz is licensed for Mariehamn, Finland (Åland Islands) with 10 kW in the Geneva Frequency Plan 1975. Note-BT 2: Sonnet Radio Europe was a Cyprus-based operation with UK background which in autumn 2003 was announced to start on shortwave, but did not make it to the air. The website of the production company RTIDigital http://www.rtidigital.com with information about this project is no longer active. The project involved a.o. Mike West who joined the team of Pirate Radio 603 in Finland in autumn 2004. (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** FINLAND. This message is from: http://www.anoraknation.com/ --- PIRATE RADIO 603 AM WILL BE DOING SOME CHRISTMAS SHOWS! Mike Spenser Wednesday, 22 December 2004 18:20 That's right kiddies! Pirate Radio 603 AM will be back for some great music on Christmas Eve and Christmas day and Boxing day and forever after! Tune in as before through Shoutcast and search by just typing in "Pirate Radio 603 AM".... might even get the webcam going! Some live, some prerecorded but great rock and roll, blues, R&B and of course some cool tRaSh! Might even be able to take some calls. Will be sent from South London so if anybody wants to drop by and join in be my guest! All the best and wait for the real thing soon...Pirate Radio again! Ho Ho Ho! and a bottle of Rum --- Mike Spenser (via Radiostrike, Italy, shortwave yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. DW musical Xmas/NY specials in the German service, time of first airing and then repeated 4-hourly: Sat Dec 25 0910-1000 Xmas Concert from Bonn Sun Dec 26 0710-0800 DW Choir Xmas Concert Sat Jan 1 0830-1030 New Year Concert (DW via Rich Cuff, from monthly pdf grids, WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DXLD) ** GERMANY. RE: Zehlendorf 693 --- reports in DXLD 4-188: This station is very strong in the western part of the Netherlands, and has once again ruined reception of BBC Radio 5 Live on 693 after dark. It's so strong that it must also be causing some co-channel interference in parts of the UK. 693 is by far the stronger of the two 5 Live mediumwave frequencies, and 909 suffers splatter from Slovenia on 918. Fortunately I can receive 5 Live on satellite (Andy Sennitt, Dec 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. VOA probably withdrawing from Berlin At Berlin interesting, to say the last, developments unfold around the 87.9 dial position, AFN's old FM frequency now run with an ERP of 1 kW from the Fernsehturm (TV tower, site listed as "Alexanderplatz" in WRTH) facility. Amongst the current users of 87.9 is the university station Uniradio 87.9, founded in 1996 by 14 universities and colleges from Berlin and Potsdam. But in the meantime most of them withdrew from the operation of Uniradio 87.9 for financial reasons, by now the station is run only by Freie Universität and two colleges anymore. Uniradio 87.9 broadcasts from 7 to 9 PM and is meanwhile considered by the commercial Star FM otherwise using this frequency as a thorn in their flesh. Now the original licence of Uniradio 87.9 has expired, and Star FM lobbied MABB, the media authority of Berlin and Brandenburg, to remove Uniradio 87.9 from this frequency. Certainly it did not really help Uniradio that the operators of the station simply forget to apply for a renewal in time, and some observers wonder if they really were so stupid to forget it or if rather Freie Universität, Hochschule der Künste and Alice-Salomon Fachhochschule grew tired of the station as well, of course not telling their student broadcasters this. Anyway the MABB council decided on Dec 10 that Uniradio can use 87.9 only until Jan 31. After then they will have only a single hour of daily airtime, 7 to 8 PM, anymore, on the poorish 97.2 outlet covering only parts of Berlin. Strangely this decision was officially released by MABB not earlier than today (Dec 22). Now some interesting statements were made by Uniradio 87.9 on air: VOA "repeatedly emphasized" that they are not interested to continue their presence in Berlin beyond the expiration of the current licence in April 2006. Hence the frequency will be put on tender in late summer 2005. Also National Public Radio will file a bid again, and NPR is willing to cooperate with Uniradio (I gather that already some communication between NPR and Uniradio took place). Uniradio feels that NPR could have a realistic chance to get the frequency because they would continue the tradition of American presence on 87.9, unlike the race for 106.8 where NPR was a real outsider. It remains unclear so far who "repeatedly emphasized" that VOA will withdraw from Berlin. Probably it was Helmut Drück, IBB's trustee in Berlin who officially helds the licence (by the way, Mr. Drück was the last director of RIAS Berlin until it ceased to exist by the end of 1993), but so far this is only wild speculation. Anyway I hardly see a precedence for this: Now "they" are going to axe not only shortwave transmissions but also rebroadcast arrangements. If foreign services are not even interested in using local FM outlets anymore ... It must be added that Star FM programming is carried on 87.9 only by means of a cooperation agreement with IBB. Star FM has to relay the VOA news throughout the day, and after 9 PM VOA News Now is carried in full. So it could be indeed a Pyrrhic victory for them to get rid of Uniradio. And re the above mentioned 97.2 outlet, I would like to add that the 0.5 kW power level still mentioned in WRTH 2004 is obsolete. It was used for some temporary transmissions, but for regular operations a mere 0.1 kW could be coordinated. In the same way 104.1 is run with 0.2 kW only. Both frequencies originate from the facility on the postal office building at Berlin-Kreuzberg --- see http://www.dxradio-ffm.de/Kreuzberg1_X.jpg --- established in the eighties for new FM outlets. Background: The Stockholm and Genève FM schedules provided for the West Berlin outlets powers and antenna heights sufficient to cover Berlin, not more, simply because the concerned stations had no responsibility to serve the area beyond Berlin (yes, the legal reality was as simple as that). It had been agreed with the GDR to keep the status quo for the existing SFB and RIAS transmitters, but when bringing new outlets for commercial broadcasters on air the international coordinations had to be observed, and this was done by establishing this transmitter site. During the nineties all former Kreuzberg frequencies were transferred to Fernsehturm, the transmitters went silent for years, but now they were find useful to squeeze two further outlets into the already crowded band. Finally a note about DAB: Kaufradio meanwhile withdrew from DAB and is now webcasting only. And the Potsdam-based BB Radio for it's part withdrew from the Brandenburg state DAB ensemble, leaving a mere four programs in this only ensemble covering the whole of Brandenburg rather than only Berlin and the surrounding region (the infamous "Berlin-Brandenburg" from the reports about DVB-T). By the way, MABB now posted also an English version of their statement re DAB, following the large attention it found beyond Germany I assume: http://www.mabb.de/start.cfm?content=Presse&template=pressemeldungsanzeige&id=789 (Kai Ludwig, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Hi Glenn, Long time listener, and first time e-mailer. I wish to know what the status is of RAI in Rome on 11800? They have not been on the air. I think they dropped 9675 as one of their frequencies. Their web site still has them listed as being on 11800 during our prime time here in the USA, but I have not received their broadcasts. Don't tell me that RAI, the international broadcaster from the country that gave us Marconi, is going the way of the BBC, DW, SRI, Radio Norway, RVI, Kol Israel and a host of others by abandoning its Shortwave (North American) audience for the "wonders" of the internet and satellite??? Oh God I hope not! Any information you know of regarding RAI's status would be appreciated. Thanks, Merry Christmas, and good DXing (ON SHORTWAVE) in 2005 (Vince Ponzio, KA3NRX, Pittsburgh, PA, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Talking about the 0055 English broadcast; anyone hearing either frequency? (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY [non?]. IRRS, 5775, 2215-2300* Dec 17, Free Speech Radio News, 2229 IRRS ID and Milano address. 2230 UN Radio news and programs; 2244 Mid-east type music; 2300 abruptly off. Very good, but very distorted signal for 5 minutes at 2230-2235 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. Hello there from Milano, Italy, This year we will air two special Christmas broadcasts from IRRS-Shortwave on 100 kW on Christmas day from 0900-1200 CET (1300 UT) and a repeat on Dec 26, 2004, in the evening, Central European Time. Listeners outside of our main target area may try to tune into 13,840 and 5,775 kHz, and take advantage especially of the special occasion when we use 100 kW on 13,840 kHz during early morning and daytime CET. Al programs are part of the International Public Radio and European Gospel Radio initiatives promoted by NEXUS-IBA. Please check http://www.nexus.org/IPAR and http://www.egradio.org for more details, and send reception reports, and comments to these broadcasts to reports @ nexus.org. We will gladly forward them to our broadcasters for verification. IRRS-Shortwave 100 kW Shortwave to Europe, N. Africa and Middle East Date: Saturday Dec. 25, 2004 Freq: 13,840 kHz 0800-0830 UT (0900-0930 CET) Medialine with Henry Brice http://medialine.150m.com/ 0830-0930 UT (0930-1030 CET) Radiosix's Record of the year, from Glasgow, Scotland http://www.radiosix.com 0930-1030 UT (1030-1130 CET) Radio 510 International presents: Radio Casablanca http://radiocasablanca.gmxhome.de 1030-1100 UT (1130-1200 CET) ReachingUp Radio from San Francisco http://www.reachingupradio.com 1100-1115 UT (1200-1215 CET) A visit with Adele, Christmas program http://www.egradio.org 1130-1230 UT (1230-1330 CET) Radio Rasant http://www.radiorasant.org 1230-1300 UT (1330-1400 CET) Christmas at the NEXUS-IBA studio in Milan http://www.nexus.org And a repeat also on 100 kW Shortwave as follows: Date: Sunday Dec. 26, 2004 Freq: 5,775 kHz 2000-2030 UT (2100-2130 CET) Medialine with Henry Brice http://medialine.150m.com/ 2030-2130 UT (2130-2230 CET) Radiosix's Record of the year, from Glasgow, Scotland http://www.radiosix.com 2130-2230 UT (2230-2330 CET) Radio 510 International presents: Radio Casablanca http://radiocasablanca.gmxhome.de 2230-2300 UT (2330-0000 CET) ReachingUp Radio from San Francisco http://www.reachingupradio.com All broadcasts will be in parallel with our Internet streaming service at http://mp3.nexus.org and http://www.egradio.org Please check our regular schedules at: http://www.nexus.rog/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules/ With best season's greetings to all! 73 de Ron -- Ron Norton, NEXUS-IBA support, P O Box 11028, 20110 Milano, Italy ph: +39 02 70606603 - fax: +39 02 70638151 e-mail: ron @ nexus.org http://www.nexus.org (via Tim Gaynor, NRI, via WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4810.0, XERTA, seems to be them with an extended Holiday schedule. Noted Dec 21 (Tue.) at 0533-0602 and Dec 22 (Wed.) at 0244 and 1133-1211. Mostly music with Spanish vocals and some Spanish talking but didn’t note an ID. Ranged from poor to fair. Usually they are on only during the weekend (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. See NEW ZEALAND ** NETHERLANDS. SATURDAY 25 DECEMBER *** Mailbag Unzipped *** Kathy Clugston presents a special Christmas Day programme of letters and feedback sent in by Radio Netherlands listeners. (The programme follows a five-minute news summary). Broadcast times (UTC): 10.00 (Pacific/Asia/Far East), 12.00 (Eastern USA), 14.00 + 15.30 (South Asia), 18.00 + 19.30 + 20.30 (Africa), 22.00 (Europe), [next UT day:] 00.00 (Eastern USA), 01.00 (Central USA), 04.00 (Western USA) *** Classic Dutch *** A special Christmas Day edition of our classical music programme, with Helene Michaud. Dutch Soprano Johannette Zomer is a rising star on the Dutch baroque music scene. After a successful career as a microbiologist, she traded the laboratory for the stage. She says baroque 'fits her like a glove'. You can hear her sing and talk about her favourite baroque recordings in a special Christmas edition of Classic Dutch. Broadcast times (UTC): 10.27 (Pacific/Asia/Far East), 12.27 (Eastern USA), 14.29 (South Asia), 18.27 + 20.00 (Africa), 22.29 (Europe), [next UT day:] 00.27 (Eastern USA), 01.27 (Central USA), 04.27 (Western USA) SUNDAY 26 DECEMBER *** Vox Humana *** Ode to Joy It was a favorite of the Nazi Party, it was adopted by communists to celebrate Marx's ideals, it was played at the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it's currently the anthem of the European Union. Few pieces of music have been adopted by so many disparate groups. So what is it about Beethoven's 9th Symphony, and the 4th movement in particular - the Ode to Joy - that so inspires us? Broadcast times (UTC): 10.27 (Pacific/Asia/Far East), 12.27 (Eastern USA), 14.29 (South Asia), 18.27 + 20.00 (Africa), 22.29 (Europe), [Next UT Day:] 00.27 (Eastern USA), 01.27 (Central USA), 04.27 (Western USA) (RN Previews via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. It`s happening again: the US network Fox Sports Radio being relayed on SW by RNZI on 9870. Dec 23 at 1458 heard heavy American accented sports talk, no pause at hour top, but automatic timesignal. Then into lots of commercials, including Claim Jumper Restaurant, Southern California used cars online at powerdirect.com, 1504 traffic report on KXTA, high wind warning for L.A. ID mentioned frequencies 690 and 1150 [XETRA and KXTA respectively], 1506 Loan Warehouse online, 1507 ``Extra Sports time 7:03``!! So buffering delay of 4 minutes?? Why in the world would anyone in NZ in the middle of the night want to listen to this mostly commercial crap, interrupted by irrelevant talk about American stupid ballgames and local weather and traffic? -- Let alone across the Pacific? Have RNZI lost their minds? Is there nothing else they could run to fill time? Here`s their excuse: (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI PROGRAMMING TAKES A BREAK OVER CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR. 21 Dec, 2004, 1933 UT During this time we will be carrying National Radio a relay of RNZ’s domestic service. We will also have coverage of Cricket commentaries from Radio Sport of one day matches of Sri Lanka vs New Zealand. See our Sports page for details. Pacific Bulletins will be broadcast on 29, 30 and 31 December and 5, 6 and 7 January from 1700 to 2200, 0100, 0300 and 0800 UT. [0600-1100, 1400, 1600, and 2100 NZDT] Regular RNZI News and programmes will resume on 17 January, 2005. © RNZI 2004 (http://www.rnzi.com Dec 23 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. SPECIAL CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR PROGRAMMES FOR NIGERIA "The Voice - Africa" will be broadcasting across Nigeria with a series of special holiday broadcasts for you on 15650 kHz (in the 19 metre band) between the hours of 1700 and 2100 (local time) that is 1600 to 2000 UTC / GMT. The special programmes will run from Thursday December 23rd 2004 through to Wednesday January 5th 2005. Voice Africa presents a variety of programmes packed full of contemporary Christian music with an Urban Gospel feel. Features focus on who Jesus is for us today, sport, entertainment, health and education. On ``The Voice - Africa`` there are live presenter-led programmes throughout the day focusing on sport, entertainment, health and education. The programmes are relevant to an English speaking audience. The Voice - Africa inspires the listener to think about the purpose of their lives and how Jesus has a transforming part to play. On our daily 2 hour broadcasts to Nigeria you will hear a selection of current programming, so if you enjoy Hip-hop, RnB, Gospel and great entertainment, tune in and let us know what you think! We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments on The Voice - Africa for Nigeria to us via email at radio@voiceafrica.net Listeners with a mobile phone can send an SMS text message to the programme via +44 778 148 8271 The mailing address is The Voice – Africa, POB 3040, B70 0EJ, ENGLAND (Christian Vision/Voice via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Received an unsolicited E-QSL from the English Desk of VOT, apparently picking up on my previous monitoring of their new frequency, really 5960, reported via George Poppin --- The Voice of Turkey/English Section QSL Card Name of the Listener : Glenn Hauser Date of broadcast : November 25, 2004 Hour(s) : 23.00-23.40 Frequency : 5965 Kilohertz (Glenn Hauser, Dec 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA [non]. R. Rhino International, 17870 via Germany, Dec 16 *1500-1530*, sign-on with IDs, 1503-1515 English news concentrating on security, politics and oppression in Uganda. 1515 US pop and country music. 1515-1530 more English news about humanitarian help and human rights violations in Uganda. Fair-good; Mon-Fri only (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC SHUTS WEBSITES TO ASSIST CHARTER RENEWAL PITCH Owen Gibson, media correspondent Monday December 20, 2004 The Guardian http://media.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5089334-112198,00.html The BBC is closing a string of successful websites, in order to reinvest the money in projects that have a clearer public service focus. It will announce today that its network of sites, which are hugely successful but continually provoke complaints from commercial rivals, will be slimmed down to help make the case for charter renewal. In an interview with the Guardian, the BBC director of new media and technology, Ashley Highfield, said that he was planning to save #6m, a tenth of the corporation's annual online spend, by closing sites that cost too much and aped commercial rivals; there are likely to be consequent job losses. Among site closed will be one devoted to US sport, and one on local history deemed poor value for money. A cult TV and film site devoted to shows such as The Simpsons and Buffy will be pruned to concentrate on upcoming BBC shows like Dr Who. And the funding for the wide-ranging BBC Lifestyle site, which covers everything from parenting to antiques, will also be cut substantially. On its network of local Where I Live sites, the BBC will promise to reduce duplication and work more closely with online rivals such as regional newspapers. "In order to free up the required funding we must start to behave more like television and radio, decommissioning sites or cutting back on funding, or even archiving them as circumstances change," said Mr Highfield, whose new media department was one of those recently earmarked by the director general, Mark Thompson, to move to Manchester. Today's announcement is the second wave of site closures announced since Philip Graf delivered a government commissioned review of BBC Online earlier this year, which praised its wide reach but warned that it overstepped its remit in places. Following the report a fantasy football game, a soap opera portal, a surfing site, and various others were closed. But the BBC governors told Mr Highfield to go further and cut 10% of all online spending to reinvest in new projects. "It is an ongoing process for bbc.co.uk. These changes build on the first steps we took in July to close those websites which we felt did not offer sufficient distinctive public value for the investment required," said Mr Highfield. The money saved through the cuts, to be made by the end of the next financial year, will be reinvested in ambitious projects such as the Creative Archive, making many of the BBC's archived programmes available through the internet, and the interactive media player, which will provide web users with BBC television and radio shows from the previous seven days on demand. Media Guardian, page 12 (via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U K. Xmas with Kenny -- 10.00 Christmas Day morning on Capital Gold "Join the inimitable Kenny Everitt on what would have been his 60th birthday for a collection of some of his funniest moments." http://www.capitalgold.com/schedule.asp?day=7 (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) I am pleased someone is airing a programme devoted to Kenny. I always wonder, while shuffling around my Anorak archives, if KE had survived to this day if he would be revered with the same esteem nowadays. In commercial radio the requirement to entertain people has all but vanished and replaced by comparatively mundane presentation in which the news, weather and traffic and travel are the main identifiable features with little else in-between. Zany humour, in the nicest possible taste, just does not seem popular anymore. It's a bit like the TV series 'Are You Being Served' it's repeated as a classic over and over again, where more modern material seems mediocre by comparison and is quickly forgotten. The mind boggles of what KE may have created if the present-day digital recording, editing and acoustic effects had been available to him during the 1960's. As far as I am aware no other radio DJ has achieved success in producing a similar show, which itself suggests there is no longer a demand for it. Much of KE's act involved poking fun at other people: Perhaps now with the prospects of stations being sued over anything that could be remotely considered derogatory plus the current regime of political correctness ---- the fire in the wireless has been allowed to become extinguished (Andy Cadier, ibid.) ** U S A. Kim Elliott`s appearance on VOA`s Talk to America will be on Fri Dec 31 at 1600-1700, NOT Sat Jan 1 as previously reported, and unfortunately mentioned on WOR 1258 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. Hello Glenn, I've just put together the VOA English broadcast schedule, featuring the program lineup and frequencies on the same page, available as a pdf file at my new website: http://kimandrewelliott.com Season's 73s and all the best for 2005, (Kim Elliott, DC, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also check out his press links, sarcastically referenced on home page; skeds: http://kimandrewelliott.com/voa_english_schedules_intro.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) E.g.: ** U S A. THEY'RE STILL BASHING CHARLOTTE BEERS. From five different directions, no less. Common Dreams, 13 December 2004 Published on Monday, December 13, 2004 by CommonDreams.org DON’T BRAND THE U.S., UNCLE SAM --- THE BACKLASH AGAINST CHARLOTTE BEERS’S AMERICA-BRANDING --- by John Brown http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1213-24.htm (via http://kimandrewelliot.com via DXLD) ** U S A. WEWN spur report, Dec 23 at 1510 check around 9955: carriers around 9947, 9939, and almost exactly on 9930 interfering with KWHR; yet another on 9921.72 hetting a 9920 station; assuming the previously measured offset of multiples of 8.32 kHz still apply (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Greetings!! WWRB- shortwave is about to resume normal operations! We have been very busy installing multiple VHF / HF Aircraft communications antennas for our Co-located Aviations communications facility: Airline Transport Communications, Inc. (ATC) We have been very busy building two new studios, installing automation live assist software & computers , testing a new 100 KW transmitter on 3.185 MHz, Re-aligning our antennas for a much lower takeoff angle for our new Christian broadcasters. Building 3 new 190 feet high towers for the Aircraft communications business (tower footings & guy anchors installed ready for tower sections stacking), will be adding another shortwave broadcasting antenna (will make 7 individual antenna systems for shortwave broadcasting. All of our broadcasting antennas can be used for the Aircraft communications facility). The WWRB web site has been updated at http://www.wwrb.org The FAQ section has been changed to educate new and existing Christian broadcasters as to the inner working of shortwave broadcasting : An educated broadcaster is our best client (SM) (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meaning service mark, or smile? (gh) WWRB, 5015, 0150-0200+ Dec 17, spur from 5085 with English religious programming; also heard WWRB spur from 5050 on 5120, both in at fair level (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. More on Latino Radio Service, 1660 kHz at Urbana, IL. http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/g-cziko/lrs/ I had a party to attend at Urbana today, on the way to and from there, Latino Radio was noted playing Mexican music, I have no idea about the program source this time (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, Dec 21, WTFDA AM via WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: KFI tower collapse --- A whole bunch of photos of the collapse are here: http://www.earthsignals.com/images/kfi/index.htm 73, (Bruce, WB3HVV, York, PA, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) And http://www.oldradio.com/archives/warstories/ (Barry Mishkind - Tucson, AZ, ibid.) I was looking at the pix, very interesting and thanks for the pointer, Barry. One thought ... I was particularly interested in the 1994 overhead shot and the comparison to the 2004 shot with the relevant points identified. I would have thought a station with KFI's stature and longevity would have taken steps to secure the roughly square piece of land that the tower and the radials are sited on. And they would have done this decades ago. The early view of the tower base, looking to the horizon shows a total absence of buildings, at least in that quadrant visible in the photograph. The 1994 shot plainly shows trenching for radials in nearly half of the arc around the main tower base, even for this low- res shot which is probably only 1 m resolution. The transmission lines for both towers are plainly seen. In the 2004 picture it is presumed that the transmission lines were buried as there are new structures visible in those areas, and it is quite likely that radials were disturbed or removed to allow the new buildings (post-1994) to be constructed. The only thing I can think of is that the land is so exceedingly valuable that KFI owners took the money and ran with it. Sale? Lease? I would have thought they owned that whole square chunk. What did they get for letting these factories come in? Must be "pennies" to them. Just think if that plane had hit one day later, and the drop pattern of the tower was just a bit different. There could easily have been 15 or 20 fatalities on the ground. "Can you spell LIABILITY?" What kind of liability issues does an operator of a KFI face, when they open themselves up like this, by letting third parties set up their own businesses well inside the fall zone of such a tower? (worst case, failure at the base and the tower falls linearly, so the fall zone is a 750 foot radius circle.) (Bob Foxworth, FL, NRC-AM, WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DXLD) ** U S A. ON THE RADIO - Ben Fong-Torres Sunday, December 19, 2004 What's up with radio in the Bay Area? Is it worse than ever, or is it as entertaining, useful and valid as it's ever been? It depends on who's talking. Many listeners believe that radio has become bland since the consolidation of stations into fewer and fewer corporate hands -- devoid of personality, overloaded with commercials and programmed with the safest music, played over and over. With options like video games, online music sites and digital players like the iPod, radio, to them, is so yesterday. But there are others who believe that radio still matters, that it's still creative and that, among the various forms of broadcast media, it's still unbeatable for communicating quickly and intimately, for spreading news and information as well as entertainment and advertising messages. Unfortunately for radio, the believers are mostly people who work in the industry. For this update on Bay Area radio, which includes profiles of all the stations in the city and its immediate area, The Chronicle spoke with several radio executives about the state of the industry, the challenges they face and the trends they see. Tony Salvadore has been in radio since 1968, and in San Francisco since 1982, when he joined KFOG as its sales manager. He is now a senior vice president and market manager for Susquehanna Broadcasting, which has four stations here: KFOG, KSAN and KNBR at two AM spots. "Every station in this market is living with 1999 and 2000," he says. "The salad days of radio, the dot-com era." Then came 2001 and the dot-com and Nasdaq crash. And, finally, Sept. 11. "The last three years," Salvadore says with a sigh, "have been difficult." "It's not just the Bay Area," says Jack Swanson, program director of KGO, the top-rated station in the market, and its sister station KSFO. "Around the country we've seen a relatively flat economy since 9/11. Radio always reflects the overall economy." Radio also reflects the mood and whims of the government, which years ago opened the door for media companies to gobble up stations and now is on their backs over such matters as indecent content. "Radio's gotten bashed a lot over the past years," says Steve DiNardo, general manager of Live 105 (KITS) and Alice (KLLC). "The fundamentals are that there are still millions of people listening, and there are very few better ways to connect a local advertiser with a local audience that's appropriate for his or her product or service. Radio still feels very relevant to me and to the communities that we're serving." But according to various researchers, those communities are shrinking. A study by the Future of Music Coalition cited research indicating that the time an average listener spends listening to the radio has dropped to a 27-year low. DiNardo believes that younger listeners still use radio, but not as much as young people did 10 years ago. Many are moving to alternative sources for news and music, including devices like the iPod. Salvadore has a 15-year-old son who spends a lot of time with his iPod. "But," he says, "he hasn't given up terrestrial radio, because of the kind of new music it provides, the one-on- one interaction it provides, that kind of thing. The magic of radio is that it's a content provider that's hard for anyone to duplicate." Swanson also has a teenager who downloads music. "The future is iPods and MP3s," he says. "It's certainly a problem for the music stations. With news- talk, I'm more optimistic. In terms of age composition, talk radio's no older than it was 25 years ago. At age 35, people seem to shift from music to information." Besides digital music players, radio faces challenges from Internet radio and two satellite companies, XM and Sirius. Each offers wider programming choices than terrestrial radio, and no commercials -- but subscriptions cost $10 to $13 a month. That fact, says Raechel Donahue, veteran rock disc jockey and programmer, keeps the satellites secondary to traditional radio. "Most people can't pay for radio," she notes. Salvadore doesn't see satellite radio as a serious competitor. "They have a different business model," he says. "They're not really in the advertising business; they're in the subscription business." Swanson notes that Sirius has about 800,000 subscribers nationally. "We have 800,000 listeners a week." And with tuners requiring mini- satellite dishes, he adds, "You'd need five radios and five subscriptions, or you'd have to carry your tuner from room to room." (In recent weeks, a portable satellite radio has been introduced by XM, which has more than 2 million subscribers.) Even if new media options are taking listeners away, says DiNardo, "I don't think it's an indictment of programming. Everybody's lives are carved up because there are more things that are angling for our time and attention." Still, there have been vocal criticisms about radio in the post- consolidation age, about the homogenization of music formats and programming and, most of all, about the huge clusters of commercials that can amount to more than 20 minutes an hour on some major stations. Clear Channel, a Texas company that owns more than 1,200 stations, including 11 in the Bay Area, made news earlier this year with its announcement of plans to cut back on commercials and promotional announcements beginning in January. "Their decision is positive for the business," Swanson says. "Of course, they neglect to say they started the problem! But to their credit, they'll roll back." As for radio trends, DiNardo points to high-definition radio, which offers CD-quality sound (but requires new tuners). "We're very excited about that," says DiNardo. "That's going to quell the notion that radio has become obsolete." Swanson, on the nonmusic side, is not so sure about digital radio as a savior. "You remember AM stereo and quad FM?" he asks rhetorically. "Radio needs only to consistently deliver unique programming to succeed. It's the software, dummy. It's the talent." Ben Fong-Torres is a freelance writer whose Radio Waves column appears every other Sunday. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/19/PKG1FA8U8P1.DTL (c)2004 San Francisco Chronicle (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ON THE RADIO AM & FM - Ben Fong-Torres Sunday, December 19, 2004 KQED 88.5 FM http://www.kqed.org/radio The most listened-to public radio station in the country, KQED says it reaches 745,000 listeners a week. Although many listeners protested when the station switched from classical music to all-news and information in 1987, the format clearly has worked. Kathryn Baron, morning anchor and reporter, blends in with the NPR show "Morning Edition" and is followed by the wide-ranging interview show "Forum," hosted by Michael Krasny (10 a.m. and 10 p.m.). Other major KQED productions include "California Report," hosted by Scott Shafer; and "Pacific Time," covering Asian issues, with Nyugen Qui Duc as host. Terry Gross' popular "Fresh Air" interviews are on at 1 p.m. and repeat at 7 p.m. On Saturdays, "Car Talk" is on at 10 a.m., "This American Life" pops up at noon and "A Prairie Home Companion" hits the air at 6 p.m. Sunday shows include "City Arts & Lectures" at 1 p.m. and "Le Show" at 11 p.m. _________________________________________________________________ KPOO 89.5 FM http://www.kpoo.com Once known as "Poor People's Radio," KPOO is in its 31st year as a listener-sponsored community station. It is, says Jerome Parsons, host of "JJ on D Radio," the only African American-owned and operated noncommercial station west of the Mississippi and the first black- owned station to go online. On its site, Poor People's Radio Inc. says the station "caters to the needs of populations traditionally underrepresented in the mainstream media." In addition to broadcasting a wide variety of music not typically heard on commercial stations, KPOO focuses on topics of concern to minorities, women, gays and lesbians, low-income households and youths. KPOO broadcasts the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency meetings at 4 p.m. Tuesdays; programs include Donald Lacy's "Wake Up Everybody," Bobby Web's Tuesday morning blues show and Wanika King's "Uplift," featuring John Coltrane music. Besides jazz and blues, KPOO airs gospel, R&B, hip-hop, reggae, salsa and world music. _________________________________________________________________ KUSF 90.3 FM http://www.kusf.org Among alt-rocking college stations, KUSF is one of the best, and it's got the awards to prove it. Located on the USF campus and broadcasting mainly rock for 25 years, KUSF drew on the talents of disc jockeys and programmers from KSAN, including Richard Gossett, Beverly Wilshire, Kate Ingram and Howie Klein. Under programming coordinator Ingram and faculty adviser Steve Runyon in the mid-'90s, KUSF was the first station to stream over the Internet. Today, KUSF carries on with a motley crew of students and nonstudents taking DJ shifts from midnight to 6 p.m. After that, it's "cultural" programming, including "Chinese Star Radio," the long-running "Shoestring Radio Theatre," "New York Metropolitan Opera" (10:30 a.m. Saturdays and "Big Lou's Polka Universe" (10: 30 a.m. Thursdays). But it's alternative rock, and its fans, that drive the station, and its big deal every year is the Rock 'n' Swap meet, usually in August. _________________________________________________________________ KALX 90.7 FM http://kalx.berkeley.edu UC Berkeley's station is free-form, 24/7, with a wide variety of mostly student DJs spinning whatever music they want, plus news and a dozen home-grown talk shows. The DJs range from first-timers working the overnight shifts (and 9 a.m. Saturdays) to Lady J, who impressed critic Greil Marcus so much with one recent blend of doo- wop, Britpop and mountain music that he gave her the top four slots on one of his "Real Life Rock Top 10" lists. Local bands play at KALX's studios at 9 p.m. Saturdays. The station also covers Cal sports, and one historical highlight came in 1978, when the then-poor Oakland A's couldn't find a commercial station to carry their games. KALX (with Larry Baer, current Giants vice president, at the mike) broadcast the season's first games -- on all of 10 watts -- until the A's landed another station. KALX is now at a modest but audible 500 watts. _________________________________________________________________ KCSM 91.1 FM http://www.kcsm.org Unlike other stations operated by a school, KCSM is a full-time music station, and it plays jazz -- none of that "smooth" stuff, but straight-ahead, mainstream stuff, plus Latin, avant-garde, some big band and swing, and the occasional interview. KCSM, owned by the San Mateo County Community College District, has programmed jazz since 1988, and, especially with the demise of KJAZ in 1994, stands as one of the last all-jazz stations in the country. It is second only to KQED in popularity among Bay Area noncommercial stations. Women run the station and dominate the airwaves, from Alisa Clancy, director of program operations, in the morning to program director Melanie Berzon in the afternoons. Jayne Sanchez and Alicia Lopez flank an hour of NPR jazz programming at 9 p.m. Familiar voices that pop up on KCSM include Bob Parlocha (overnights), Sonny Buxton, John Rogers, Dick Conte, frequent Pink section contributor Jesse "Chuy" Varela, Marian McPartland, Mal Sharpe and Clifford Brown Jr. _________________________________________________________________ KALW 91.7 FM http://www.kalw.org San Francisco has two NPR-affiliated stations. KQED's the dominant one, but KALW, owned by the San Francisco Unified School District, does an admirable job, especially in producing local shows and in offering a wider variety of music programming than KQED. The first FM station in the city (established in 1941), KALW is the flagship station for Sedge Thomson's "West Coast Live" on Saturdays; daily, there's the call-in show "Your Call" with Laura Flanders and Farai Chideya at 10 a.m. Music programs cover blues (Mark Naftalin), New Age (Stephen Hill), folk (Joann Mar and Bob Campbell), Celtic (Fiona Ritchie), roots (Suzanne Vega) and world/jazz/fusion (Dore Stein). "Writer's Voice Radio" spotlights authors and the book biz, and "Invisible Ink" is a "radio 'zine," according to general manager Nicole Sawaya. Also fun: Harry Shearer's "Le Show" and the quiz show "Minds Over Matter," played by Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik, along with Gerald Nachman and moderator Dana Rodriguez. _________________________________________________________________ KPFA 94.1 FM http://www.kpfa.org For all of the turbulence that has marked its long history (including a staff lockout in 1999), the fact is, KPFA and its parent company, Pacifica Foundation, have had a long history in community radio. In fact, the Berkeley station is credited with the concept of listener-supported, noncommercial community radio, beginning in 1949. Now, as then, the station (and sister KPFB at 89.3 FM) offers news, information, and alternative musical and cultural programs, including the "KPFA Evening News" anchored by Aileen Alfandary and Weyland Southon, "Democracy Now" with Amy Goodman, "The Morning Show" with Andrea Lewis and Philip Maldari, "Flashpoints" with Dennis Bernstein, and "Against the Grain" with C.S. Soong and Sasha Lilley. Bonnie Simmons, Larry Kelp, David Gans, Derk Richardson, Davey D and T-Kash, Johnny Otis and Tom Mazzolini are among the hosts of a wide variety of music shows, and Larry Bensky hosts "Sunday Salon." Programs are archived and available on demand on the Web site. . . [this very long article goes on to cover most, but not all of the other FM and AM commercial stations in the Bay Area, recommended!] http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/19/PKG1FA8U9K1.DTL (c)2004 San Francisco Chronicle (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. FAT LADY SINGS FOR OPERA SHOW Radio --- By DAVID HINCKLEY, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/264384p-226392c.html Tomorrow night at 10 on WQXR (96.3 FM), George Jellinek will start his weekly program "The Vocal Scene" with some of the great farewell songs of the opera. Then at the end of the program, he'll add his own. After 36 years on WQXR and just past his 80th birthday, Jellinek has decided it's time to draw the curtain. He will do periodic specials for the station, but he's ending "The Vocal Scene," which since 1968 has spotlighted classical music vocals, primarily opera. "To say I've enjoyed doing the show is an understatement," he says. "I have loved doing this show. If I were younger, I wouldn't dream of giving it up." His show has worked an interesting niche in the classical music world, where, as he points out, much of the focus is on symphonies and chorales. He's pleased he has helped showcase another part of the field. "I had a letter 16 years ago from a retired teacher, who said, 'I've figured out what makes you tick. You're a teacher masquerading as an entertainer.' That summed up exactly what I've tried to do." The classical music world is not without clouds today, however, and timeless as the music has proven, Jellinek expresses concern about its future reach. "I'm apprehensive, of course I am," he says, citing declines in recordings, radio airtime and classical music education for young people. As a life-long collector, he finds the drop in recordings most distressing. "There has been a sharp and steady decline," he says. "It's all the mergers in the music business. They have cut back and cut back until finally they have destroyed the industry." On the radio, New York still has WQXR, part of WNYC and some college stations. But on the whole, classical music has been disappearing on radio, too, and Jellinek ties that to the declining number of young listeners who know it. "People must be exposed to it when they are young," he says. "If some parents can't do it, schools should. But they don't. "I don't mean you teach classical music to the exclusion of other forms. They can coexist. When I was young, my friends and I enjoyed popular music - Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman - and still developed an appreciation for classical music. "Today you don't find that. Young people perceive a gap between popular and classical styles that is too wide to bridge." He doesn't think classical music will disappear. But if we don't find a way across that bridge, he says, "Future generations will miss out on untold beauty and pleasure." Like what George Jellinek has provided for the past 36 years. Originally published on December 22, 2004 (via Joel Rubin, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Vocal Scene finale was Thu Dec 23 at 0300 UT Friday. WQXR has resumed streaming, when checked Dec 22, but only on AOL (free to subscribers) and Netscape (2 hours free per day once player is installed!) (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Some more personally selected holiday specials on webcasting public radio stations for the next two UT days, times and dates strictly UT here. I spent two hours going thru the websites, skipping over widely syndicated shows of carols, etc., concentrating on more unusual programming, and some I have not yet heard that might be worthwhile. A few more stations have put up holiday pages; latest list at http://www.worldofradio.com/calendar.html#advance UT FRIDAY DECEMBER 24 1400-1500 KSUI DW Xmas Special 1500-1630 many Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols, live, BBC Radio 3 & Americanized on MPBN VPR NCPR WAMC WHYY WQED WETA WUOL WKSU WYSU WBNI WBHM WPLN WBEZ WPR-M KSUI WOIf KVLU KWTU KCSC KHCC SDPB CPR KBYU etc. 1500-1800 WOIa Doug Brown`s Xmas Carol 1600-1730 KBAQ FONLAC 1600-1730 KUNC FONLAC 1630- WUOL DW Xmas Special 1630- WOIf DW Xmas Special 1700-1800 WQED Carnegie Mellon Holiday Concert 1700-1830 NWPR FONLAC 1730- SDPB South Dakota Symphony Xmas Concert 2000-2100 KANU KU Holiday Vespers 2000-2100 KBAQ NPR Xmas around the Country 2000- KUNC Xmas Stocking 2200-2300 KCSC Xmas at El Pardo 2300-2400 KSUI Xmas at El Pardo 2300-2400 WDIY Crazy College 2330-0100 KANU FONLAC UT SATURDAY DECEMBER 25 0000-0130 WPRm FONLAC 0030-0100 KGOU Car Talk Xmas Carol 0100-0200 WETA NPR Xmas around the Country 0100-0230 WBNI FONLAC 0100-0300 WOIa Xmas Stocking 0100-0500 WAMU Xmas Eve Recollexions – old time radio episodes 0200-0330 KUMR FONLAC 0200-0400 KWTU Xmas around the Country 0230-0400 WPRm Pipedreams – Holiday International 0400-0530 KSUI Pipedreams – Holiday International 1230-1400 KPBS FONLAC 1500-1600 MPBN NPR Xmas around the Country 1500-1630 WETA FONLAC 1505-1515 BBCWS Queen`s Xmas Message to the Commonwealth 1600- WDIY Car Talk Xmas Carol 1600- WHYY Xmas Stocking 1600-1730 WUOM FONLAC 1700-1830 WOIf FONLAC 1700-1830 WQED Xmas in Cologne, DW 1700-1900 WAER New Age Holiday 1700-1900 KUNI Xmas Stocking 1800-1900 VPR NPR Xmas around the Country 1800-1900 KANU KU Holiday Vespers 1900-2200 WYSO Excursions 2000-2200 WPLN-AM Xmas Stocking 2100-2200 KBAQ Sweet was the Song 2100-2300 KPBS Xmas Stocking 2200-2300 WAMU Tour of Mt Vernon 2230-2330 WUOL In Performance – Derby City Brass Band 2300-0100 KCSC World Music Journal 2330-0100 WUOL Pipedreams – Holiday International (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. DISNEY WORLD: A POSTCARD FROM THE EDGE 12-21-04 By Mike Kernels, Staff Writer News & Record http://www.news-record.com/news/local/kernels_ad_122104.htm (via Greg Hardison, DXLD) ** U S A. CNN announcing about 1600 today that the FCC is looking for a pirate in Wash. DC intending to disrupt the Bush inauguration. No word on AM or FM etc. (Bob Foxworth, Dec 22, NRC-AM via DXLD) Here is a URL. The station is WSQT on 1680. It has been active in the past at other politically controversial times. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/22/pirate.radio/index.html (Bill Harms, NRC-AM) viz: PIRATE RADIO CALLS FOR INAUGURATION PROTESTS Wednesday, December 22, 2004 Posted: 5:52 PM EST (2252 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An unauthorized radio station in the nation's capital called for "massive protests" in the week leading up to the January 20 presidential inauguration. The station broadcast Wednesday at 1680 AM and identified itself as "Guerrilla Radio, WSQT." During the identification message, an announcer said, "WSQT is a project of urban activists in the D.C. area working on housing issues, homeless issues, issues of war, issues of occupation both at home and abroad, and issues of the environment that we all have to live in." After being tipped by a reporter, an official with the Federal Communications Commission said enforcement investigators will try to pinpoint the transmitter using direction-finding equipment. A man responding to a request for an interview sent to an e-mail address that had been mentioned on the radio told CNN the station uses a homemade transmitter and a concealed antenna. "It's about $40 in parts from Radio Shack and the Dumpster," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon. The caller's voice sounded similar to the voice heard on the broadcasts throughout the day. Other programming featured rap music with urgent, unsettled lyrics that were generally shouted instead of sung. The station's poor audio quality made the vocalizations nearly unintelligible. An unidentified announcer said, "It's time to say no to Bush and no to a ban on abortions." The announcer also called on the Supreme Court justices to "get off your butts" and free people unfairly imprisoned on drug convictions, and further stated that "we know you can hear our signal up there, and all you people in Congress." There is no authorized radio outlet in the Washington area on the frequency used by the protesters, federal records show. CNN monitored the signal on a conventional car radio as far away as the Maryland suburbs, about 10 miles from downtown Washington. An FCC monitoring station is within reception range of the signal, the agency official said. Day of demonstrations planned A number of anti-Bush groups have planned protests around Inauguration Day. Organized events range from demonstrators turning their backs on President Bush to war protests. The anti-war, anti-racism group known as ANSWER has announced a demonstration along Pennsylvania Avenue as the president travels from the U.S. Capitol to the White House. A statement at http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org calls for participants to claim spots by 9 a.m. Another group has urged demonstrators to come to the official public ceremonies and then, at a set time, to turn their backs collectively on the president. The group is organizing on the Web at http://www.TurnYourBackOnBush.org A third group, http://www.ReDefeatBush.com seeks to focus attention on perceived voting irregularities in the November election. CNN's Paul Courson contributed to this report (via Ken Kopp, dxldyg via DXLD) There have also been reports that the Republicommies have been doing everything they can to shut protesters out of the inauguration parade route (gh, DXLD) PIRATE RADIO IN WASHINGTON DC PROTESTS BUSH [same as above] Pirate radio calls for inauguration protests --- Dec. 23, 2004 http://www.indiadaily.com/breaking_news/17810.asp (via Pete Costello, Dec 23, DXLD) Here are some links found about the pirate WSQT DAWN counterinaugural call on WSQT http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2004/12/3026.phphttp://radio.indymedia.org/news/2004/12/3026.php "War on Trees" http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/100234/index.php WSQT callout for Free, and a morale booster author: WSQT Guerilla Radio 1680 AM in DC http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/303794.shtm WSQT's new crystal controlled 40 watt rig http://liveradio.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/1904.php (via Pete Costello, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. I noticed a much stronger signal from Cuba on 560 when I visited Central Florida in November. Also noted at night here in Atlanta (Brock Whaley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: CUBAN RADIO SIGNAL INTERFERES WITH WQAM --- By Charles Elmore, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, December 21, 2004 You're in your car, heading out for a Monday night Dolphins game. You dial up a pre-game radio show. Reception is awful. What gives? Cuba is jamming the broadcast. It's not necessarily a government plot, but it is an irritant to international relations as far as many sports fans are concerned. The source of the trouble is a Cuban station over which American regulators have no control, and it's stepping on WQAM-560AM in Miami. Fans in Palm Beach and Broward counties suffer most. "There is a station at the same frequency as WQAM, and their power has increased," said George Corso, chief engineer at WQAM. "They're annoying the daylights out of us." WQAM has received dozens of calls and e-mails, mostly from Palm Beach and northern Broward counties, he said. WQAM's signal is weaker there, and more vulnerable to interference, particularly at night. The signal of the Cuban station on the same 560AM frequency has been measurably stronger since October, Corso said. The interference was noticeable at the beginning of the 2003 World Series, and then seemed to subside until it came back with a vengeance recently. WQAM has measured the problem and reported it to the Federal Communications Commission, but the agency has no jurisdiction over a station in Cuba. "We're telling people to write their congresssman," Corso said. A call to the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, the equivalent of a Cuban embassy, was not returned Monday (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. See UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS below UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 04510 ni 1851 222 variété italienne? Dec 22 04 (Patrice Privat, France, HCDX via DXLD) ni == unID Every day something crazy in your log on various mailing lists, please can you tell me something about your equipment? Many thanks (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) This is the 3rd harmonic of an Italian MW station. I can hear it regularly here in South Germany and could also hear it on the base frequency 1503 kHz. The exact frequency is 4508.99. They play mostly Italian pop music. I never could hear an ID (perhaps I did not wait long enough). There is always heavy Utility QRM in the USB so it is heard better in LSB. 73, (Günter Lorenz, Freising, Germany, Icom R75 + magnetic loop, ibid.) Concernant votre écoute Michel sur 4510 kHz, j'ai noté à l'instant une station sur 4509.0 avec de la musique non-stop, c'est sûrement l'harmonique trois de Télé Radio Stéréo à Rome qui émet sur 1503; le signal est très bon ici en Auvergne. Cette station est aussi réputé pour son harmonique 4 sur 6012 kHz. Rien par contre sur l'harmonique 2 (3006). 73's Franck F4LKC (via Michel Lacroix, HCDX via DXLD) Today for the first time I know that many DXer "regularly" listen an Italian station on 4510 but no trace of this transmission in any log. No stop Italian music on 1503 also here in south Italy with weak signal, QRM from Spain and from an Arabic station with Holy Qur`an. I listened Italian music on 1503 kHz, I listened also an ID but I want to verify again. No signal on 4509-10 (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) Very good reception here in Denmark of the Italian station on 4509 kHz - from tune in at 2330 till now 0230 UT. S 6-9 with a few deep fades and occasional utility QRM - otherwise SINPO: 35444. No IDs at all during two hours of listening. Now at 0230 UT I can also receive the station on 1503 kHz - but with a lot of interference, mainly from the UK. Best 73s (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Denmark (Using 200 metres of long wire pointing towards Italy), ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Listening now (0027) on 10500 DSB new mystery transmission: tape loop of Yosemite Sam screaming VARMINT, I'M A GONNA BLOW YA TO SMITHEREENS. Also reported on // 3700, latter heard mainly on WCNA. Loop repeats every 40 seconds. Some monitors report hearing odd data bursts in between repeats of the loop; I sometimes hear a little buzzing thing just before it starts. Doubt there's any real data there, probably just a prank. No other info available. [Later:] Mystery Yosemite Sam followup... The loop hops around on four different frequencies: 3700, 4300, 6500 and 10500. One frequency every 10 seconds. Still no idea of its purpose or location (Al Quaglieri, UT Dec 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Over the last day or so, numerous folks on the Worldwide Utility News server have detected someone who sits on one frequency, sends a brief transmission that sounds like Yosemite Sam (yes, the Bugs Bunny cartoon character - which is what they're calling the station) then seems to jump frequency. This started yesterday afternoon and continued into the evening. Perhaps there will be more today. It is indeed still active, I am hearing 6500 and 10500 now at 1555 UT. I have a short website created with what information has been learned, as well as with a recording of the transmission, for those who cannot hear it. [6-second wav file, 296 kb] The URL is http://www.spynumbers.com/YosemiteSam.html It's obviously a work in progress! (Chris Smolinski, Black Cat Systems, http://www.blackcatsystems.com Dec 23, The ACE Pirate Radio List, Hot news for pirate, clandestine, and illegal radio fans! Via DXLD) I was hearing it in the 1800-1900 hour Dec 23 on 10500, but not afterwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This has also been on 3700 DSB (USB and LSB without carrier) for several weeks. I hear it on this frequency at night & early morning. [Later:] Duh! I should have looked at the website before posting. Well anyway I've noticed that on 3700 when the station is active there is some very sloppy hand-sent CW being sent. At times you can't make any sense out of what's being sent, or what they're trying to send. I'll see if I can try to copy it some time. ===== (Tom Sevart N2UHC, Frontenac, KS, http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc ACE via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Just a note to thank you for all of the time and work you put into this hobby of ours. I mainly utilize DXLD, and sometimes listen to WoR on the audio files. It would be nice if I had more time to seek out items and contribute more often, but time shortages sometimes make this difficult. If I were to name my favorite station for idle listening this past year, it would probably be the ZNBC in Lusaka, on 4910 KHz. I believe they sign on at 0300 utc, and usually average 43354 signals here on my old Hammarlund HQ 129X. I also use them as a relative indicator of 60m conditions, not to mention their compelling selection of music. Hope you have a wonderful Solstice season (I second your Tip for Rational Living, btw) and all of the best in 2005 (Steven Zimmerman, Milwaukee, WI, Dec 22, with a pending PayPal contribution) Christmas greetings Dear fellas: To each and everyone of this big DX Family all over the world, please accept my humble greetings from Costa Rica. Though we don't necessarily communicate with each other on a daily basis, we are a bunch of brothers who enjoy reading each other's loggings. A very special mention to Mr. Glenn Hauser, who has been a constant company on the airwaves for so many years, and who has built this brotherhood site that has become a worldwide club like very few. Blessings to you all for each day in 2005. Best Regards (Raúl Saavedra, dxldyg via DXLD) COMMENTARY ++++++++++ DON´T LIKE THOSE EMAIL VERIES? For a DXer and his "visual arts album" it is a problem that out of sight is also out of mind, or as the Spanish say, "Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente". I can understand the frustration with a DXer receiving an email verie from someone-I-can´t-remember-his-name @ hotmail.com saying "thank you ever so much for your report; indeed, you were listening to our station", etc. etc. From time to time I have been asked to help. By scrutinizing the message one can usually find some linguistic evidence of the country of origin. Then there are also the internet search engines. Usually, I can come up with the right answer even though the listener can provide no clue as he has been sending out lots of reports. Many stations will refuse to send out written veries (they may be pirates, or almost) but they will be happy to acknowledge reports on the air. You set the date and time, tune the frequency and keep your recorder handy, and the station will provide the rest. I can assure you that such moments are thrilling and listening to those veries again is a real treat ... to your ear (Henrik Klemetz, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS OF 2004 - RADIO NETHERLANDS WEB SITE Andy Sennitt report on significant media stories covered by the Radio Netherlands weblog in English published by Radio Netherlands web site on 22 December [Even tho you may read it here, please click on the original, which also has illustrations of various station logos:] http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/features/media041222.html International broadcasting It was another year of depressing news as international broadcasting on shortwave continues to downsize, and is not always replaced by services on other platforms. Prasar Bharati - parent organization of All India Radio - said it was considering pulling the plug on its External Services Division. The station admitted that some of its language services receive practically no listener mail. So far, all the services are still on the air, but the future doesn't look promising. The Voice of America announced the end of regular programmes in Bulgarian, Estonian, Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian, along with many broadcast feeds to affiliate stations in Central and South-eastern Europe. It also made substantial cuts to its English output. This led to a petition being sent to members of Congress signed by more than 460 VOA employees, nearly half the workforce. The petition accused the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) of "dismantling the nation's radio beacon" and called on Congress to investigate the board. It accused the BBG of launching new services in the Middle East with no editorial accountability at the expense of VOA programmes serving the same areas, and cutting back on broadcasts to Eastern Europe and in English around the world. Radio Romania International stopped broadcasting in Hungarian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek and Portuguese, but re-launched its services in other languages, which it said "is a result of the end of the Cold War, and the ongoing reunification of Europe." Swiss Radio International finally disappeared completely from shortwave, and has been replaced by the swissinfo web site. Radio Slovakia International is another station whose demise was announced, but like so many other international broadcasters it received a temporary reprieve until the end of 2004. But as I write this, the situation from 1 January 2005 is still unclear. Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal in Brussels joins the list of endangered services, and is due to close its foreign language radio broadcasts and most of its Dutch output at the end of March 2005. There's a slim chance this will not happen, but the staff appear to have accepted the worst. There are also reports of unease at Egypt's Radio Cairo, where a lot of foreign language services are said to be under threat, though the station has not yet announced any details. In a year when we received mostly bad news about international broadcasting one of the smallest stations, Radio New Zealand International, bucked the trend. It was announced that the NZ Government is to provide NZ 2.64m dollars [1.8m US dollars] capital in 2005 - 2006 for a new digital shortwave transmitter. An additional NZ 421,000 dollars [3,000 US dollars] will be provided next year and in subsequent years to cover operating costs. In what must be the year's strangest international broadcasting story, Germany's Deutsche Welle celebrated the 10th anniversary of its web site by adding pages in a new language - Klingon. The Klingon reports on the Deutsche Welle web site are supposed to underline the station's philosophy of multicultural, intergalactic openness. "We should celebrate our 10-year presence in the online universe with a cross- border language," DW director Erik Bettermann said. "This should help users from other galaxies get an impression of Germany." There was good news and bad news for Radio Australia. First the good news, with the Australian General Election approaching, the opposition Labour Party announced that, if elected, it would lift Radio Australia's budget by AUS 6m dollars [4.5m US dollars]. It said the extra funding for the ABC's international radio service would restore Australia's voice in the region. The AUS 6m [4.5m US dollars], to be provided over two years, would be added to Radio Australia's current budget of AUS 11m dollars [8.4m US dollars]. But the bad news came on the morning after the election, as the Labour Party didn't get elected to office. Dutch broadcasting Several regional public broadcasters announced staff and programming cuts as details emerged of their financial plight. There was more bad news for Dutch public broadcasters when the European Commission said it suspected that the Dutch government had spent 110m euros [148m US dollars] too much on public broadcasting since 1992, and said that it planned to hold an investigation. Commercial broadcaster Radio Veronica received a lot of publicity when it launched Operation Iraqi Sunrise, a week of live breakfast shows broadcast from Dutch military base Camp Smitty at Al Samawah in Iraq. Presenter Adam Curry was forced to delay his departure due to what he called a "media circus" at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. There were security concerns, and questions were even asked in parliament, but the broadcasts went ahead without major problems, and were even praised by the Dutch Defence Minister. Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) finally re-started in the Netherlands, but only the public broadcasters are committed to it. The major commercial stations say that the cost of the new FM licences that came into effect in mid-2003 means they cannot afford to invest in DAB at the present time. Last year's redistribution of radio frequencies also hit government coffers. Minister of Economic Affairs Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, told parliament in March that the exercise had cost the government 55m euros [74m US dollars], and that could rise to 75m euros [100m US dollars], as more of the consequences work their way through the system. The extra costs arise from the construction of booster transmitters to solve the reception problems of public broadcasters, legal advice and possible damages still to be incurred from ongoing procedures involving unsuccessful licence applicants, and the cost of hiring experts to deal with the various problems that arose. Public broadcaster NOS [Nederlandse Omroep Stichting] formally apologized to Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, after it inadvertently broadcast the wrong version of his televised speech to the nation following the death of Princess Juliana. Viewers saw him start the speech, pause and then start again. For Sky Radio, which dominated the commercial radio market here for many years, 2004 was a bad year. Ending 2003 with its highest ever audience, the continuous music station lost about a quarter of its listeners during 2004, and has been replaced in the number one position by Radio 538. On 1 July, Radio 10 Gold started using the high power mediumwave transmitter at Flevo on 1008 kHz, thus providing not only national coverage in the Netherlands but also beyond. The station's celebratory mood was abruptly changed six weeks later when its popular Programme Director and presenter Tom Mulder suffered a brain haemorrhage. He is currently undergoing therapy and hopes to be back at work in the course of 2005. But there was also some good news for Tom. He won this year's "Oeuvre" special prize as part of the Marconi Awards at the National Broadcasting Congress. It is equivalent to a lifetime achievement award. Also in August, one of the main mediumwave transmitter masts at Lopik was removed with explosives, following the signing of a covenant in which transmitter operator Nozema agreed to limit the total power of transmissions from the site to avoid interference in nearby homes. Only Arrow Rock on 675 is now broadcast regularly from Lopik, with a 40 kW reserve transmitter for Radio 747 allowed under the covenant agreement. Other highlights In Hungary, the National Radio and Television Commission had to launch an investigation after a drunken radio presenter caused outrage by remarking that he would "exterminate all Christians." As a result of his indiscretion, the station - Tilos Radio - was banned from broadcasting for 30 days. Cultural differences and translation problems were highlighted when Chinese Central Television [CCTV] ran into problems trying to introduce the popular American television series "Friends" to Chinese audiences. Qin Mingxin, deputy director of the international department of CCTV's Entertainment Programme Centre, admitted he liked the programme, but said there was too much talk about sex. "I had thought the play focused on friendship," he said. 2004 got off to a terrible start for the BBC, when the Chairman and Director-General were forced to resign as a result of a bitter dispute with the Government over comments made about its report about WMD in Iraq, a document used to justify the invasion last year. The situation turned to tragedy with the suicide of arms expert Dr David Kelly whose comments to BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan had sparked the row. At the end of the year, the BBC was back in the headlines when the new Director-General, Richard Thompson, outlined "a new vision for programmes and content focused on "excellence", plus radical plans for funding the ideas and transforming the BBC into a simpler, more agile and creative digital broadcaster." That was the first sentence of the press release, but the second is the one that grabbed the headlines, "An initial 2,900 jobs could go and extra resources to invest in programmes will also be released through new ways of working, productivity gains, new technology and efficiencies, as well as overhead cuts." One of the more bizarre stories that we covered was the news that the International Telecommunication Union has decided to keep the 160- year-old morse code in line with current trends. It now has a new character to denote the "@" symbol used in e-mail addresses. Irish public broadcaster RTE launched its longwave service of RTE Radio 1 on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 2004. The transmissions on 252 kHz are intended primarily for listeners in the UK. In the run-up to the November US Presidential Election, a new liberal talk network called Air America launched on 31 March. The network got off to a shaky start, but survived the early months and is now well established. In the UK, the BBC surprised everybody by becoming an offshore broadcaster for a week - Pirate BBC Essex took over the mediumwave frequencies of BBC Radio Essex to broadcast special programmes marking the 40th anniversary of the start of Radio Caroline. Another offshore broadcaster, the Superstation, operated on FM in the Orkney Islands on a 3-month Restricted Service Licence from the radio ship MV Communicator. Indeed, in the first few days the service was so restricted that hardly anyone could hear it. The operators of the station pronounced it a success, but immediately put the ship up for sale at 25,000 US dollars, which includes the mast but no radio equipment. Would suit someone who owns a very large bath. A new radio station focusing on the Middle East launched on mediumwave in France. Ciel AM, which has been operating on the internet since 2002, broadcasts on 981 kHz in Paris and on 1161 kHz in Strasbourg and Toulouse. In October, shock-jock Howard Stern, one of the most popular US radio personalities, said that he will broadcast his show on Sirius Satellite Radio beginning in 2006, after being dropped earlier this year from several stations that objected to his often off-colour humour. This is all part of what has been called "Nipplegate". At half time during a live broadcast of the Superbowl, US singer Janet Jackson showed a bare breast for several seconds, leading to what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said was a deluge of complaints. In December, it was revealed that virtually all of them were from members of one organization - the Parents Television Council. But it started a major clampdown by the FCC on any radio or TV programming it deemed "indecent", with large fines for any network or station that transgresses the new rules. Hate Radio made an unwelcome return to the headlines when international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that the state media in Ivory Coast have become the exclusive mouthpiece of the government and its allies, and are being used to promote street demonstrations. RSF said that with few exceptions, the reports carried on Radio Cote d'Ivoire (RCI) and RadioTelevision Ivoirienne (RTI) have strayed completely from journalism into propaganda. Interspersed with nationalistic songs, phone-in contributions and interviews, RCI presenters flatter the "patriotism" of their listeners. In Germany, the Media Authority of Berlin and Brandenburg announced that it was dropping DAB [Digital Audio Broadcast] and looking for a higher quality alternative. The widely reported announcement brought a furious response from the World DAB Forum, which accused the Media Authority of "becoming more and more isolated from the rest of Europe - and, indeed, the world - in its support for other technologies at the expense of DAB digital radio." Source: Radio Netherlands web site, Hilversum, in English 2359 gmt 22 Dec 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ 2004 LONG BEACH ISLAND [NEW JERSEY] DX-PEDITION, NOV 5-7, MW/LW http://www.radiodxing.com/ (via Bruce Collier, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ LF CONFERENCE STILL UNDER CONSIDERATION Decisions to be made in December. Carl-Henrik Walde, Secretary of the Swedish National Committee of URSI, says response to his earlier announcement of a possible LF conference near the site of SAQ in Sweden has been enthusiastic, but somewhat limited in numbers. He writes, "We have tried to estimate the number of participants and I always come up short of what we really need. That said, we are in the process of finding sponsors. Without such support, it will not be possible to keep the cost sufficiently low. We might have 'VLF05' as a seminar as I think that the most important thing is to offer a gathering in a suitable meeting area." He adds, "I hope you will still set aside space in your 2005 calender for VLF05. We still have hotel rooms." Walde and other planners are due to meet in Varberg, the proposed venue for the gathering, this month to establish the scope of the conference or seminar. Invitations, if the event is to be held, will possibly be e-mailed in January. The event is planned for the end of June and first of July, 2005, to include the 80th anniversary of SAQ's formal inauguration on July 2nd. (The station actually began handling traffic on the first of December, 1924, for those interested in historical side notes.) To learn more about the possible event and to offer your thoughts, please read the earlier announcement http://www.lwca.org/library/lowdown/Varberg2005.htm For additional information on the Nordic HF04 conference, SAQ, or the Varberg area, see the following: HF04 http://www.nordichf.org SAQ http://www.alexander.n.se (click Union Jack) Town of Varberg http://arberg.se (click Union Jack) SAQ Articles in English http://hem.passagen.se/sk0mt (click TSA logo to proceed, look for Grimeton 2/3 down in left column) (LWCA via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ICOM LAWSUIT http://www.co.medina.oh.us/judgecollier/jury_verdicts_2004.htm 4-5-04 ICOM of America, Inc. v. Rapid 2 Way Case no. 03 CIV 0078 In this case, the Plaintiff, ICOM America, claimed the Defendant owed $114,000 to Plaintiff on an account for products sold and shipped to Defendant. Plaintiff sold Defendant hundreds of hand-held radios and accessories. Defendant, Rapid 2 Way, purchased these radios for rent and sale in its business. Defendant acknowledged that it owed money to Plaintiff on account, however Defendant claimed the Plaintiff supplied it with substandard and defective radios causing damage to Defendant’s business. Defendant claimed Plaintiff committed fraud in its representations regarding the radios. The Plaintiff was represented by Kenneth Baker, Esq., and Michael Slodov, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio. The Defendant was represented by Bruce Hall, Esq., of Medina, Ohio and Gregory Beck, Esq., of North Canton, Ohio. Verdict: After a thirteen day trial, the jury awarded the Plaintiff $92,915.95 on its claim on the account and attorney fees. The jury awarded the Defendant $579,131.83 on its claim of breach of contract and breach of warranty. The jury awarded the Defendant $774,321.50 on its claim of fraud. The jury further awarded $1,045,837 in punitive damages along with attorney fees (via Robert Frost, Dec 17, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Will They Eventually Take Christmas Off Radio? In response to: http://radio.about.com/od/christmasradio/a/aa122204a.htm Like most "Christians" you appear to have completely missed the point on this issue. I'm not going to debate the issues related to whether nativity scenes and/or Christmas trees should be allowed on public property. If religious zealots wish to fight for that right and ultimately win, fine. But they should also realize they are simultaneously fighting for the rights of Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Satanists, or any other special interest/religious group, to promote themselves in the same fashion, at the same time, on the same public property. Somehow, I doubt that's what they really have in mind. That being said, who really believes the notion that radio licensees selflessly run their stations entirely in the public interest? (Hint: Nobody!) Ever since Reagan deregulation and elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, radio has been viewed as a business model with which the consumer has a tuning knob and an inherent choice about whether or not to listen to a certain station, or to turn the radio off completely. If people aren't listening, this fact is ultimately reflected in stations' ratings, which in turn drives radio advertising revenue. Consumers are increasingly turning off their radios or on to alternative media, such as internet streaming and satellite radio. If an individual doesn't like Christmas music, they simply tune out or turn off. They have a choice! Meanwhile, there is no inherent choice when visiting publicly owned property. It's not Christmas that is under attack. It's the flagrant promotion of Christianity in inappropriate places without choice. Therein lies the distinction you and many others seem to miss. Happy Holidays! (Ken Kopp - KKØHF, KS, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###