DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-059, April 4, 2005 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 2005 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 1269: Tue 0600 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] WORLD OF RADIO 1269 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1269 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1269.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1269.html WORLD OF RADIO 1269 in true shortwave sound Alex`s mp3: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_03-30-05.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_03-30-05.mp3 ** ALASKA. Amendments to Applications Submitted: 1450, NEW, Unalaska, originally for U1 1000/1000. This amendment requests U1 5000/5000 at a new transmitter site and antenna only 95 feet tall (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News April 4 via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 0145 and 0230 on 6115 and 7160 [English to NAm], quite difficult due to side splatter from 6110 and 7155 (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTIGUA. ´´mothballing the two [sic; I thought it was four --- gh] 250 kiloWatt transmitters´´: Yes, four transmitters, two each were reserved for Deutsche Welle and the BBC, respectively. See also http://www.dxradio-ffm.de/WELT.htm at about two thirds of the page. Each transmitter consists of three cubicles. These Marconi B 6122 rigs were also in use at DW's Sines and Kigali sites but meanwhile replaced by new transmitters there. For now good night, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. On Mar 27 Voice International changed name to CVC. Initial monitoring shows the same programming with a variety of pop music, short discussions on real-life issues. Targets Indonesia, India, China, Asia in general. Very slick urban-type programming, commercial type announcements, numerous promotions inviting listener participation, multitude of prizes. New url: http://www.cvc.tv (Christer Brunström, Christian SW Update on HCJB DX Partyline April 2, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) So what does CVC stand for? Christian Voice/Vision Coöpted? Their website seems to have been fully updated to reflect the new name, but never found any expansion. Probably another meaningless corporate initialism, as their stealth evangelism evolves (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Australian Carriers on 1638 Continuing up the Australian X-Band, I looked at 1638 tonight. There are 4 stations listed here in Pacific Asian Log and no other Asian stations at all. Two fuzzy carriers appeared from when I switched on rather late at 1842 and both gave a superb display of everything you'd expect: 1637.993 visible from at least 1842, strengthening and broadening noticeably from 1932 to a peak around 2005 then fading out by 1920, shifting up by about 1 Hz during this time 1638.032 visible from 1842, started brightening significantly from 1925 with very pronounced spectral broadening, slight positive shift, peaking at about 1952 then fading out by 2010 The times when they flared up would be consistent with Brisbane (sunrise at 1957) for 1638.032 and Sydney (sunrise at 2007) for 1637.993. Radio Lebanon in Sydney has been reported on 1637.995. The Speclab plot is available at http://www.skylight.demon.co.uk/1638Mar30 If anyone has any more information about the exact offsets of the Australian 1638 stations or any other thoughts on these two, I'd be interested to know. Regards, (Jack Weber, UK, March 31, MWC via DXLD) Just curious. Is anyone else sceptical. I have seen the carriers here on spec lab, but is it really a few hundred watts from down under?? This at a time when there is no sign of top band ozzy ABC stations, at least that was the case here??? How often are there 2 way QSOs on ham top band with Ozzy Hams?? Don't think I personally have even heard any VKs. I know that it is only carriers detected by the software and not full communication as such, but .... I hope it proves to be correct (Ken Baird, Scotland, ibid.) Yes, it sounds rather incredible, but when you consider other x band stations which get through on a regular basis, i.e. Texas on 1700, then you start to wonder what is lurking at carrier level. Didn't Steve Whitt monitor 1660 not so many years ago and caught what he thought were the carriers from all the North American stations on that channel? I've been involved with carrier detection on band 1 TV for a couple of years and it's been surprising what has been received - and I'm talking about stations which have been later identified correctly so proving positive identification. It's a lot easier on band 1 as the offsets are deliberate and much more widely spaced. Who would have thought so many regular transatlantic signals would've been possible on these frequencies a couple of years ago? We hear audio from these stations too! Even FM has produced transatlantic sporadic E openings. We are entering a whole new era of DXing possibilities it seems. Ideally we would like to confirm one of these carriers by having it strong enough to catch an audible ID, so ... I think the only way we could be more certain is if we are able to listen to these stations via one of the javaradio terminals and check for parallel broadcasts and sign-ons / sign-offs and check over several days, etc. Time will tell if these are indeed the DX catches we think they are. With people like Tony Mann on the other side of the world checking the carrier offsets, etc. we should be able to build up a more complete picture as time progresses. I am no expert with the Spectrum Lab software and I am therefore trying to familiarise myself with these new medium wave frequencies and their many carriers. I will definitely be on 1639 later. Cheers (John Faulkner, http://www.skywaves.info ibid.) Hi Ken, It is mindblowing, I'll give you that! The 120 mb stations are all in the Northern Territories so wouldn't be much helps as a props indicator, sadly. G0FYD in BlackPool has been working the Perth area on Top Band recently; to be honest, I was shocked when he told me how regular the Perth Area is audible. I'm sure You, Paul & Martin will be the first to get some audio from the Aussie MW stations when Condx improve ;-) All the best (Tim Bucknall, ibid.) Ken, It's not really as unlikely as it seems. It's all to do with bandwidth - in order to hear intelligible audio you'd need say 2 kHZ or more of bandwidth. That means you're also hearing 2 kHz or more of noise. An FFT spectrum analyser starts with a similar bandwidth but then divides it up into thousands of individual segments and measures the level separately in each of those. When you do that, the s/n ratio increases enormously in just the same way that you get better s/n when listening to CW with a narrow bandwidth filter than you do if listening to am through a wide filter. The FFT is also integrating those levels over several seconds which further improves the effective s/n ratio. Each observation will be different, but just taking my 1638 plot from last night as an example, I used a sampling rate of 11025 Hz (which gives an overall bandwidth of 5512.5 Hz), an input decimation factor of 2 (which halves the overall bandwidth down to 2756.25 Hz) and an FFT input length of 65536 (which divides that overall bandwidth into 65536 separate channels of 0.0841 Hz each). With a bandwidth as narrow as that, noise becomes almost irrelevant. Using such a narrow bandwidth you'd be able to see stations of much less than 400W from the other side of the world. It's simply that in such a very narrow band, whatever tiny amount of signal is present represents a much larger proportion of the total received energy. As the bandwidth goes up, the signal stays the same, but it accounts for an ever decreasing proportion of the total received energy. Ultra-narrow bandwidth techniques are used for communication with space probes and also by amateurs, for example on the 136 kHz band where they send very slow morse that gets across the Atlantic on just a few Watts. The only limitation is that whatever modulation you use must fit into the very narrow bandwidth (or you integrate multiple receivers, which is another option). If all you're looking for is a carrier, then the bandwidth can be as narrow as you want and the weediest signal can get above the noise. Propagation would have to be thousands of times better to give any detectable audio even from much more powerful Australian amateurs on topband or the ABC stations around 2.3 MHz. If you could hear Australia, then you could be sure the carriers will show up well, but seeing carriers is absolutely no indication that you'll be able to hear anything. With no modulation, it's obviously impossible to prove that any carrier comes from a particular station, but there's certainly enough circumstantial evidence to make it virtually certain. I think Steve Whitt's work on 1620 brings some of those carriers into the realms of certainty and I'd be prepared to bet on my two 1638 carriers. Regards, (Jack Weber, ibid.) Ken, I was sceptical until I got enough "circumstantial evidence". However one can do the maths to show the viability of this method of monitoring. It all boils down to the effective reception bandwidth. When we DX we probably have an effective bandwidth of 2 to 3 kHz. When Spec Lab is set up mine has an effective bandwidth of less than 0.5 Hz. That is about 5000 times narrower than SSB reception and 500-1000 times narrower than most CW operators. Since I'm only looking for the carrier, as I close the bandwidth down the amount of noise and QRM falls proportionately and so the S/N ratio improves and weak signals become visible. Of course there is a catch. The narrower the bandwidth, the less information I can receiver. That is why DXers use ultra slow morse in very narrow bandwidths (viz 136kHz and EME transmissions). The navy does the similar when transmitting ELF signals to submarines. As a very rough estimate, I think the best Aussie signal I could see was still 10-15 dB below audibility. However that means if the station was using 4-14 kW rather than 400 W I'd be hearing them! Perhaps Martin Hall has got 10dB S/N advantage over me due to his location and set-up? 73s (Steve Whitt, ibid.) The 1638 story so far... (I will update this in an hour or so) http://www.skywaves.info/temp/1638-1.jpg (John Faulkner, ibid.) If you check my 1638 scan from yesterday http://www.skywaves.info/temp/1638-1.jpg note how the presumed Brisbane carrier at 1638.032 peaks between 18:40 and 19:00. I could actually *hear* the carrier quite easily, indicating this cannot be too far behind being able to hear the audio. All we need are slightly better conditions to Australia and I reckon someone will be able to hear the audio. Perhaps Martin can check up there in the land of DX? This will make a nice "UK FIRST" (John http://www.skywaves.info Faulkner, all MWC via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. R. Austria International on 9870: [English] Sundays 0035, 0113, 0133; weekdays 0045, 0113. Times vary 1-3 minutes start-up (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Radio Belarus heard this evening in English at 1930-2000 UT on 1170, 7105 and 7280 kHz. As usual station announcements gave the times as two hours ahead of UT and the web site is also a real muddle with what appears to be the winter time grid, although with the correct A05 frequencies. The full English schedule may now be something like this: 1930-2000 Mon.Tue.Thurs.Fri on 1170, 7105, 7280 kHz 2100-2130 Sundays on 1170, 7105, 7280 kHz 0100-0130 Mon.Tue.Wed.Fri.Sat on 5970, 7210 kHz 0130-0200 Sundays on 5970, 7210 Can anyone confirm the frequencies for the 0100/0130 transmissions (or is it 0200/0230?) 73 (Dave Kenny, Caversham, UK, April 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Belarus, 7105 at 1935. News in English read by male with identification at 1935 and 1939. Signal 30-40dB over s9, cyclic fading of 10dB or so, with distortion. Co-channel music heard very faintly underneath, too weak to identify (Sean Gilbert, UK, EDXP-FORUM, via Signal April 4 via DXLD) Date? ** BRAZIL. A Equipe de Língua Portuguesa da HCJB --- A Voz dos Andes sonha montar uma emissora de ondas curtas no Brasil, conforme informações de Francisco Wiens, dadas a Marcelo Bedene, de Curitiba (PR). O plano seria instalar a emissora na região Nordeste (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX April 3 via DXLD) We`ve had at least one report before about this plan (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Radiodifusora Roraima reactivada luego de más de dos meses; escuchada este 02/03, a la 0114 UT, en los 4876.32 kHz, con SINPO 33433. Transmitía MPB y comentaba un locutor con llamadas al aire. 73s y buen DX (Adán González Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ¿MPB? ** CANADA [and non]. At least one significant frequency change for RCI A-05 after the Week of Confusion: for morning broadcasts, 17800 again replaces 17820. I wish they`d stay on 17820, since 17800 has co- channel a lot of the time, with a low het, probably Nigeria. 17820 has been taken over by DW which could surely go somewhere else in the A seasons. So let`s pull out the English portion of the RCI schedule for the rest of A-05, heavily edited by gh to remove all the duplication and in this version, irrelevant French headings. When we are looking up English programs, do we really need LUN as well as MON??? However, surely there will be program changes later for the summer tnx to CBC: UTC / kW AZ TARGETS / PROGRAMS 0000-0057 KUN 9690 100 177 South East Asia MON: Tapestry TUE-SAT: The World at Six / As It Happens SUN: The Vinyl Café 0000-0029:30 SAC 9755 100 240 United States / Caribbean / Mexico SAC 11990 250 176 SAC 13710 250 272 MON: The World This Weekend TUE-SAT: The World at Six SUN: The World This Weekend 0029:30-0159:30 SAC 9755 100 240 USA / Mexico / Caribbean / S America SAC 11990 250 176 SAC 13710 250 272 MON: The Maple Leaf Mailbag / Writers & Company TUE-SAT: As It Happens THU: Dispatches at 01:30 UTC SUN: Madly Off in All Directions / Global Village 1200-1259 YAM 9660 100 270 Asia / China YAM 15170 300 235 MON: Writers & Company TUE: Night Time Review WED: Night Time Review / Wire Tap THU: Global Village FRI-SAT: Night Time Review SUN: Quirks & Quarks 1200-1459:30 SAC 9515 100 268 Central and Eastern USA / Cuba / Haiti SAC 13655 250 240 SAC 17800 100 189 MON-THU: The Current / Sounds Like Canada / Outfront FRI: The Current / Sounds Like Canada / C'est la Vie 1300-1329 YAM 9660 100 270 Asia / China YAM 15170 300 235 MON: Spotlight TUE: Media Zone WED: The Maple Leaf Mailbag THU: Spotlight FRI: Business Sense SAT: Scitech File SUN: Business Sense 1300-1559 SAC 9515 100 268 Central and Eastern USA / Cuba / Haiti SAC 13655 250 240 SAC 17800 100 189 SAT: The House / Vinyl Café / Quirks & Quarks SUN: The Sunday Edition 1500-1557 KUN 11675 500 283 India RMP 15360 500 90 URU 17720 500 212 MON: Canada Today / Media Zone TUE: Canada Today / The Mailbag WED: Canada Today / Spotlight THU: Canada Today / Business Sense FRI: Canada Today / Scitech File SAT: Business Sense / Scitech File SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag / Spotlight 1800-1859 WER 9530 250 150 Sub-Saharan Africa KAS 9780 100 239 WER 13730 250 165 SKN 15255 250 180 KAS 15420 100 239 MON: Canada Today / Media Zone TUE: Canada Today / The Mailbag WED: Canada Today / Spotlight THU: Canada Today / Business Sense FRI: Canada Today / Scitech File SAT: Business Sense / Scitech File SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag / Spotlight 1900-2159 SAC 17765 250 240 South East USA / Cuba / Haiti MON-FRI: The Roundup / The World at Six / As It Happens SAT: Definitely Not the Opera SUN: Tapestry / Cross Country Checkup 2000-2059 HBY 5850 350 245 Europe SKN 11765 300 110 SAC 15325 250 60 MON: Canada Today / Media Zone TUE: Canada Today / The Mailbag WED: Canada Today / Spotlight THU: Canada Today / Business Sense FRI: Canada Today / Scitech File SAT: Business Sense / Scitech File SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag / Spotlight 2230-2259 KIM 9525 100 225 China KIM 9870 100 305 YAM 12035 300 235 MON: Media Zone CTSS TUE: The Maple Leaf Mailbag WED: Spotlight THU: Business Sense FRI: Scitech File SAT: Media Zone SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag 2230-2259 SOL 1179 300 MW Northern Europe MON-FRI: Canada Today SAT: Media Zone SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag A05 (Digital Radio Mondial - DRM) 1300-1330 FLE 7240 40 123 Central & Eastern Europe MON: Spotlight TUE: Media Zone WED: The Maple Leaf Mailbag THU: Spotlight FRI: Business Sense SAT: Scitech File SUN: Business Sense 2100-2200 SAC 9800 70 268 Northeast United States MON-FRI: The World at Six / As It Happens SAT: Vinyl Café SUN: Writers & Company ASC: ASCENSION ISLAND KUN: KUNMING, CHINA SOL: SÖLVESBORG, SWEDEN FLE: FLEVO, THE NETHERLANDS MOS: MOSBRUNN, AUSTRIA URU: URUMQI, CHINA HBY: HOERBY, SWEDEN RMC: RADIO MONTE CARLO VOL: VOICE OF LEBANON KAS: KASHI, CHINA RMP: RAMPISHAM, UNITED KINGDOM WER: WERTACHTAL, GERMANY KIM: KIMJAE, REPUBLIC OF KOREA SAC: SACKVILLE, CANADA WOF: WOOFERTON, UNITED KINGDOM SKN: SKELTON, UNITED KINGDOM YAM: YAMATA, JAPAN Issued on March 14th, 2005 / This schedule subject to change without notice / Effective April 3rd (07:00 UTC) to October 30th, 2005 (07:00 UTC) (via Bill Westenhaver, via Rich Cuff, DXLD) ** CHINA. CRI not going 24/7 apparently --- I sent them the following question, which they answered on the "Listener's Garden" program: "We were pleased to have CRI representatives with us at the 18th Winter SWL Festival. I hope they enjoyed their visit with us! I have heard that CRI plans to be on shortwave 24 hours/day -- Does this shortwave broadcast target North America or the world as a whole? I would also be interested in information regarding any programming changes planned for the launch of the spring 2005 schedule in one week." Their answer: ``Shortwave 24 hours a day? I haven't heard of it. But we are indeed planning for programming changes, for example, we're thinking of shortening most feature programs from 25 minutes to 15 minutes. Certainly we'll tell you about the changes once they're finalized`` (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, April 2, swprograms via DXLD) At the end of 2004y CRI Russian announced that they are planning to introduce 24/7 World (!) Service in the Russian language. No time frame was given, though. But I'm sure that English will have a priority in becoming a round-the-clock service. Among all major international broadcasters CRI is the only station that doesn't have to worry about the lack of funds. What they have right now in terms of programming, hours on the air and transmitters is only the beginning (Sergei Sosedkin, IL? Swprograms via DXLD) Internally, CRI staff have told me that the Russian service is the most important. English listeners will be somewhat miffed, but their section is the largest, most media aware. Partly this is the effort to make China international and English is a major trade-language if not used otherwise. English is used as "foreign" as media for foreigners and a few hip kids in Chinese media. English is CRI's most wide-spread language, along with French. Geopolitical considerations enter into everything (Dan Say, ibid.) ** CHINA [and non]. China Radio International --- The complete A-05 schedule for all languages, dated April 4, 2005 is now on the following web site, http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/ (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actual direct link; why try to hide it? http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/ch/cri.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 24 hours after my last report, I was listening carefully to HCJB Spanish on 11710 at 2359 UT April 3: the ID definitely claimed to be on 11880 for the Americas and 21455 for the Pacific, even tho it was still on 11710. Don`t the announcers ever listen to their own broadcasts, at least to know what frequency they are really on? No reply yet to my inquiry as to whether 11880 is about to replace 11710, which today I was not hearing at 2100 or 2200, but after 2300. If and when 11880 comes up, it will then be a problem for Egypt, q.v., which unexpectedly appeared on 11885, and also squeezed by Habana on 11875 (Glenn Hauser, April 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] Now heard from Doug Weber at HCJB that the 11880 announcement is a mistake which will be corrected (but it was again uttered April 4 at 2359); he is still looking for some other frequency to move to. On April 4 around 2355 the het was back on 11710, no doubt RAE as on weekdays. On DXPL April 2, Allen Graham said he would be out of town next week and the beginners` special DXPL with Rich McVicar would be [rerererere]rerun on April 9. I saw a post on condiglist that AG has already been spotted in Bolivia (Glenn Hauser, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non]. HCJB plans SW station in NE BRAZIL: q.v. ** EGYPT. R. Cairo heard on new 11885, English to North America, ID at 2354 April 3 in the presumed 2300-2430 broadcast; somewhat muddy modulation, but good signal and no interference. Recheck 2403 with dead air, then ``al-kitab, al-kitab`` so presumably bookish Arabic lesson. Let`s hope this is not a punchup error for 11855 where they were last summer and were blocked by WYFR, as they would be now. Fortunately, HCJB does not really plan to move to 11880, despite the announcements I have been hearing at 2359. No, April 4 after 2300, Cairo was again on 11885, tho with worse reception than the day before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT [and non]. RADIO SHIP PLANNED TO BROADCAST FROM ALEXANDRIA According to the website of Kabbary Antenna Technology, makers of the Crossed Field Antenna (CFA), the world's first longwave radio ship - 500 kW SP CFA at 162 kHz & MW 558 kHz connected to a 100 kW transmitter - is planning to transmit songs & music programmes from Alexandria in Egypt. The website also claims that the CFA installation on the Isle of Man planned for 279 kHz will achieve a much wider target area of transmission than planned. The site says that groundwave transmission can reach the USA and East Asia countries for some periods of the day !! Crossed Field Antenna website http://www.crossedfieldantenna.com/ (Thanks to Mike Brand for alerting us to this) # posted by Andy @ 10:37 UT April 4 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Looks like reality is on the blink again (Ray Woodward, 04.04.05 - 3:01 pm, ibid.) And it wasn't even April Fools Day (haweeha, 04.04.05 - 4:55 pm, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. This must be an error (or maybe a one-time special program?), but it is a positive one. I'm hearing DW in English with news and now a special edition of Newslink covering the life of the Pope. It's on 11955 out of Bonaire, which is scheduled to carry the German Program (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, 0109 UT April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, audible here too just up from NHK Bonaire on 11935 I was monitoring for upcoming new DX segment; DW in English at least until 0200. Yes, 24 hours later 11955 was back in German (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815.0, 2127-2209, 29/3 Angmassalik R, Tasiilaq. KNR program in Vernacular, talks, jingle 21340, songs. Not // to Danmarks R. 2200. 23331 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, @tividade DX April 3 via DXLD) I repeat, this was supposed to have shifted due to DST one UT hour earlier on March 27 to end at 2115* (gh, DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH. JAPÃO VIA GUIANA FRANCESA – Os problemas técnicos, na emissão das 0230, em português para o Brasil, da Rádio Japão, em 9660 kHz, foram solucionados. Em três de abril, a transmissão iniciou com o sinal e foi encerrada também com a identificação, após os locutores fazerem as despedidas. O que se verificava, até bem pouco tempo, é que a emissão iniciava atrasada e o sinal era cortado antes da hora (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX April 3 via DXLD) But see UK [non] ** ICELAND. 12115, Rikisutvarpid 2303-2315 April 2. Talk by man in Icelandic. Joined by second man, and occasionally a woman. Good, readable signal with little interference. SINPO 34323 (Jim Evans, TN, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) USB? ** IRAN. Noted VIRI`s ``Voice of Justice`` broadcast on unannounced 9495, coming up at 0130 UT March 31 / still announcing 6120 and 9580 for this; reception poor at this QTH (of course pristine via satellite); nothing on 6120 tho I`ve heard them weakly there; 9580 blanketed by CRI relay / never mention being available on the Telstar 5 sat for NAm, only Hotbird for Eur / once reported problems with Internet reception; don`t know if that`s been corrected (not having that facility) / for me VIRI continues to provide interesting & informative listening / IRIB TV available on the same bouquet, but with my limited Farsi. . . (Loren Cox, Jr., Lexington KY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another station that continues to touch base with listeners is IRIB, the folks in Iran, which continue to call me on a regular basis to do interviews (that's what I get for accidentally including my phone number on my e-mail signature!) Recently I was getting ready for work, eating my breakfast at the table at 7:30 a.m. my time or thereabouts, and the phone rang. Yes, for the seventh time, this was someone from Iran (a woman, actually) wanting to do an interview with ``one of their regular foreign listeners.`` I tried to explain that this was a bad time, but she insisted, saying it would only take a few minutes. And once again my other half razzed me up, saying that any hope I have in the future of getting security clearance went out the window. I tried to defend the interview, saying it's all in the best interest of goodwill and world peace (Sue Hickey, Newfoundland, CIDX Forum, April Messenger via DXLD) Half-hour time-zone solidarity ** ISLE OF MAN. See EGYPT, believe it or not ** ITALY. 15725, R. Mi Amigo (via IRRS), from 1126 Apr 2 (is on Saturdays only), fadey and choppy; full IRRS ID at 1130, ID for Mi Amigo at 1137, mentioned frequency, several clear IDs at 1149, saying would be on to 1600, gave E-mail address as radiomiamigo @ amserve.com (tnx John Herkimer for deciphering) and postal address (which I did not get). All rock music, "Guitar Man," "Knocking At Heaven's Door," numerous songs I did not recognize. ID again 1200, and still in at various levels until around 1330 when I tuned out (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. R. Japan`s new DX program, within Hello from Tokyo, started at 0145 UT Monday April 4 on 11935 via Bonaire toward the south, so not very good here. In only 6 minutes Mr Toshimichi Ohtake was interviewed about what went on at the Winter SWL Fest, and included a recorded greeting from ex-NHK-worker Ian McFarland. At 0151 into ``What`s the Frequency, Kenneth?`` by REM, but there were no frequencies or other actual DX news on the segment. Supposed to be monthly on the first Saturday plus repeats, but not in May, presumably due to obligatory holiday break, delayed until a sesquimonth from now (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks Glenn. I checked my email in time to catch the program on 11935 from about 0140 to 0157 finish. Had an S-8 to 9 throughout on the Sat 800 whip. Good to hear Ian McFarland for a bit on there. I still miss his program SWL Digest on RCI (Michael McCarty, OH, dxldyg via DXLD) ** KURE ISLAND. KH7K. The following press release was made public on March 1st: We are pleased to announce a DXpedition to Kure Atoll, at the extreme northwestern end of the Hawaiian Islands, during Sep-Oct, 2005. The callsign for the operation will be K7C. Kure is currently #10 on DX-Magazine's Most-Wanted List, and #1 on the German DX Foundation's list. The radio team includes Bob/KK6EK (Expedition Leader), Garry/NI6T (co-organizer), Alan/AD6E (co-organizer), Mike/N6MZ, Ward/N0AX, John/N7CQQ, Charlie/W6KK, Franz/DJ9ZB, Max/I8NHJ, Alan/K6SRZ (Expedition doctor), and Kathryn K6DZL (Educational program), plus two more radio operators to be selected. The team will be QRV with four stations on all bands/modes, including 6m and RTTY. In addition to the radio operations, the group is developing an innovative real-time interactive web-satellite-based system called .DXA'. This system will enable the DXer to see and interact with activities of the operation as they happen using any web browser. The group also will be carrying out several scientific projects in collaboration with naturalists on the atoll to help restore and protect its fragile ecosystem. Finally, the group is developing an educational program that will utilize the DXA resource to enable students to learn from and interact with the onsite team. The project is being strongly supported by ICOM and the Pacific DX Group (Kimo KH7U and Patrick NH6UY). The team and project will be visible at Visalia and Dayton. QSL Manager is Tom, N4XP, Trustee of the Dudleys DXers of NorthEast Georgia (K4TSJ), Box 1, Watkinsville, GA 30677. The team welcomes comments and suggestions, pilots, programmers, and contributions. The project is being managed by Cordell Expeditions, a nonprofit research organization with a 25-year history of successful expeditions to remote oceanic sites. For more information, please E-mail info @ cordell.org (use ``Kure7Cordell`` in the Subject line) or any member listed above, and look at the full description on http://www.cordell.org (click on the 2005 Kure Expedition link). For more information about this release, please contact: Dr. Robert Schmieder, CORDELL EXPEDITIONS, 4295 Walnut Blvd., Walnut Creek, CA 94596 (925) 934 3735 KK6EK @ cordell.org (OPDX? Via Ham Radio Report, April CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. R. Vilnius, half-hour English: to NAm 2330 on 9875, 0030 on 11690; Eu 1800 on 666, 0830 on 9710 (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Below is a monitored (but still incomplete) schedule of the Voice of Mongolia: 0830-0900 Japanese 12085 0900-0930 Mongolian 12085 0930-1000 Chinese 12085 1000-1030 English 12085 1030-1100 Mongolian 12085 and 990 1100-1130 English 990 1130-1200 Chinese 990 At 1050 strong carrier appears on 12085 kHz; broadcast in Arabic starts at 1100. Either Mongolian Radio leaves the frequency by this moment, or it too weak to intercept. Station announces the following scheme in English: 1000 12085 kHz 1500 12015 kHz 2000 12015 kHz (MIDXB No. 417 - Feodor Brazhnikov, Irkutsk, Russia via Signal April 4 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Can anyone confirm Radio Netherlands in English on 7385 at 2227 and give the origin of that transmission. Heard them there yesterday (4/3) but can't find a listing in any of the usual databases (maybe I am just missing it!). Thanks for the help (Jim Clar (Rochester, NY, dxldyg via DXLD) As we have reported here, WRMI has moved back to 7385, and has resumed relaying WRN on weekends. RN is scheduled at 2200-2300 UT on WRN. So that is what you had, and many other stations will be heard at various times on 7385, but you are really listening to WRMI. 73 (Glenn, ibid.) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. 6100.0, 0947-1010, 27/3 CKZN, St. John`s. English, music, CBC ID, talks, jazz prior to 1000. Adjacent QRM. Fade-out. 14431 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, @tividade DX April 3 via DXLD) Amazingly late fade-out. This was sorted in frequency order between 6080 and 6115, but I still suspect it was a typo for 6160; of course, the typo could have been made by the transmitter operator, but if so this should have been outpointed (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. WHO'S AFRAID OF OPERA? WITH VERONICA HODGSON http://www.kccu.org/opera For the past several years, KCCU has received requests to air opera programming. Until now, financing and logistics have prevented us from fulfilling these requests. Now, thanks to sponsorship from our members and generous support from the Archer Community Foundation and the Southwest Oklahoma Opera Guild, we are proud to announce the debut of KCCU`s ``Who`s Afraid of Opera?`` Did you know that both critics and the press wanted Georges Bizet arrested after the première of his opera Carmen? Or that one famous Tosca, grabbing for a knife in the fruit bowl, instead pulled out a banana and then proceeded to stab Scarpia with it. On ``Who`s Afraid of Opera?,`` you`ll take a trip behind the scenes of operatic stories, performers, history and legends. In addition to substantive commentary and information, you`ll learn fun trivia; and, you`ll hear the best recordings of great operatic performances. If you are already an opera lover, then this is your program. If you don`t know much about opera ``Who`s Afraid of Opera?`` is a great way to test the waters. Information about each opera aired is listed below. Simply click on the opera you wish to know about. Included are recording numbers, cast lists, and pictures. Most importantly, the website includes a synopsis of each opera written by local scholars, and SOOG members Drs. John Morris and Sherry Newell. ``Who`s Afraid of Opera?`` will première on Monday, April 4 at 9:00 pm right after NPR`s Performance Today. [0200-0400 UT Tuesdays, WEBCAST] Who's Afraid of Opera -- 2005 Line-up 1. Carmen by Georges Bizet 2. The Daughter of the Regiment by Gaetano Donizetti 3. Turandot by Giacomo Puccini 4. Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 5. Susannah by Carlisle Floyd 6. Faust by Charles Gounod 7. Otello by Giuseppe Verdi 8. Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 9. Les Contes D`Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach 10. Wagner Scenes (from operas by Richard Wagner) 11. Eugen Onegin by Peter Tchaikovsky 12. Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Gioacchino Rossini 13. Tosca by Giacomo Puccini (also from KCCU Newsletter via Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD) See also RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** OKLAHOMA. Petitions for Reconsideration for Applications [previously denied] 1210, KGYN, Guymon, had applied to move to Oklahoma City with U4 50000/10000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News April 4 via DXLD) So they keep trying to get outta Guymon (gh) ** OKLAHOMA [and non?]. Note: Those born again prudes in the House GOP seeking to tax porn shops and escort services but did not include Cox Cable for the rancid core porn available 24/7 at $9.90 a pop. That tax would raise a fortune for domestic abuse (Frosty Troy, Observerscope, Oklahoma Observer March 25 via DXLD) ** POLAND. Polskie Radio External Service English programs, from http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/ramowka.asp?rId=10 NEWS FROM POLAND: All the latest news events as they happen. News, comment, reports and correspondents' dispatches. Includes Press Review. Monday to Friday 12.00, 17.00, 19.30 Saturday and Sunday news bulletins at 12.00 EUROPE EAST: Reports from a network of correspondents all over the region. How are Romanians, Bulgarians and Croats getting ready for EU accession? Is Ukraine firmly on a path toward democracy? Are Eastern Europe's ethnic minorities better off in the EU? Saturday 9.00, 17.00, 19.30, Sunday 3.30, 12.05, Monday 9.30, Tuesday 3.30 INSIGHT: CENTRAL EUROPE: A co-production devoted to European integration by Radio Polonia, Radio Budapest, Radio Slovakia International, Radio Slovenia International and Radio Prague. With Kerry Skyring. Saturday 12.05, Sunday 17.00, 19.30, Wednesday 9.00, Thursday 3.30. INSIGHT CENTRAL EUROPE HAS ITS OWN COMPREHENSIVE SITE http://ice.radio.cz/ice AROUND POLAND: There's more to Poland than Krakow and Warsaw. How about hiking in the remote Bieszczady mountain range? Go ice skating in the Land of a Thousand Lakes. Or meet the European bison in Bialowieza Forest. Join Danusia Szafraniec on a trip around Poland. Monday 17.20, 19.50, Tuesday 9.00, Wednesday 3.30, 12.20 LETTER FROM POLAND: An irreverent look at Poland by Londoner, Peter Gentle. Tuesday 17.20, 19.50, Thursday 9.00, 12.20, Friday 3.30 DAY IN THE LIFE: Bogdan Zaryn interviews anyone from government minister to polar explorer to Miss Poland. Wednesday 17.20, 19.50, Thursday 9.30, Friday 4.00, 9.50, Saturday 4.20, Tuesday 12.20 FOCUS: The arts in Poland presented by Agnieszka Bielawska and Michal Kubicki. Thursday 17.20, 19.50, Friday 9.00, Saturday 3.30, Monday 12.20 BUSINESS WEEK: Is Poland still roaring like an 'East European Tiger'? With Rafal Kiepuszewski. Friday 12.20, 17.20, 19.50, Saturday 9.45, Sunday 4.15 BOOKWORM: Polish contemporary writers and literary classics. Monday 9.00, 17.30, 20.00, Tuesday 3.30, Wednesday 12.30 MULTIMEDIA SHOW: News, chat and interviews for those passionate about radio, hosted by Slawek Szefs and Marek Lasota. The cutting edge of broadcast technologies, including Sirius satellite car radio and MBN that allows you to listen in on your mobile phone in the States. Tuesday 17.30, 20.00, Thursday 12.30, Friday 9.10, Saturday 3.40 DISCOVERING CHOPIN: Feeling highbrow? Join Elzbieta Krajewska for a classical music feast. Wednesday 17.30, 20.00, Friday 9.30, 12.30, Saturday 4.00 SOUNDCHECK: New and classic Polish pop, rock and jazz releases. Thursday 17.30, 20.00, Saturday 12.30, Tuesday 9.10, Wednesday 3.40 IN TOUCH: Tell us what you think about Radio Polonia programmes. Snail mail, email or phone the team: Slawek Szefs, Peter Gentle and Ann Flapan. Goodie bags to be won in monthly competitions. Friday 17.30, 20.00, Sunday 9.35, 12.35, Monday 4.05 FROM THE WEEKLIES. Saturday 17.30, 20.00, Sunday 9.00, , Monday 3.30 CHART SHOW: With Michal Zajac. Saturday 9.30, 17.30, 20.00, Sunday 4.00, Monday 12.30 REQUEST SHOW: Ann Flapan plays the music of your choice. Sunday 17.30, 20.00, Tuesday 12.30, Thursday 9.05, Friday 3.35 CLASSIC SHOWS: FLASHBACK Memorable moments in Polish history. Monday 9.20, Tuesday 3.50 COOKERY CORNER Tuesday 9.30, Wednesday 4.00 TIME OUT FOR POETRY with Irish writer Barry Keane. Wednesday 9.50, Thursday 4.20 PROMINENT POLES Wednesday 9.25, Thursday 3.55 DISCOVERING CHOPIN Tuesday 9.35, Wednesday 4.05 OPERA COLLECTION Wednesday 9.30, Thursday 4.00 THE CLASSICS with English composer Brian Locke Thursday 9.35, Friday 4.05 The frequency schedule has already appeared in DXLD; check http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/czestotliwosci.asp?rId=10 if you have yet to see it. Here is the description of the MULTIMEDIA program from its website, http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/kategoriaGB.asp?kId=149 (times on this page have yet to be updated to DST, so I omit them): MULTIMEDIA SHOW News, chat and interviews for those passionate about radio, hosted by Slawek Szefs and Marek Lasota. The cutting edge of broadcast technologies, including Sirius satellite car radio and MBN that allows you to listen in on your mobile phone in the States. Hi, I'm Slawek. I`m constantly being torn apart between the aura of romance in good old hum-buzz-crackling & fading of traditional SW transmitting and the infinite possibilities of ultra modern and impeccable radio on-line. My interest in these spheres started in the end Seventies while in the army. My assignments dealt with satellite communications, but thanks to my HAM operator colleagues I managed a brief encounter with amateur bands. Now, in Multimedia, I capitalize on this as well as the expertise of Marek Lasota, deputy director of IAR – the Polish Radio`s News & Information Agency (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) Is the L in Slawek crossed? Came over funny once (gh) ** PUERTO RICO. Petitions for Reconsideration for Applications [previously denied] 740, WI2XAC, Ponce, application is U1 500/100 for this `experimental synchronous` station for WIAC 1660, NEW, Mayagüez, application for U1 5000/185 1660, NEW, Ponce, application for U1 5000/185 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News April 4 via DXLD) Er, there`s already a PR on 1660, WGIT; also to be synchronous?? (gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Schedule on the RRI website has now been updated for A05: FREQUENCIES OF THE ENGLISH SERVICE SCHEDULE VALID FROM MARCH 27TH, 2005 --- All hours UT, Frequencies kHz WESTERN EUROPE 0630 - 0700 9655 11830 1300 - 1400 11830 15105 1800 - 1900 9635 11830 2130 - 2200 7165 9535 2300 - 2400 6140 7265 We also broadcast for listeners in Western Europe via satellite Hot Bird 6 on 11 62328 MHz, vertical polarization, azimuth 130 East NORTH AMERICA 2130 - 2200 9645 11940 2300 - 2400 9645 11940 0100 - 0200 6040 9690 0400 - 0500 (West coast) 9780 11820 THE PACIFIC AREA 0100 - 0200 11820 15430 ASIA 0400 - 0500 15140 17860 (via Dave Kenny, April 4, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Radio station Tikhiy Okean will return to the air soon. The respective agreement has been signed by Vladivostok administration head Vladimir Nikolayev and General Manager of "Vladivostok" television/radio company Valeriy Bakshin. Operation schedule will be published later (from http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/ru/news/20050318/culture/article13515/ via Igor Ashikhmin, Primorskiy kray, Russia, via open_dx via Signal April 4 via DXLD) ** SAMOA AMERICAN. Petitions for Reconsideration for Applications [previously denied] 648, WVUV, Leone --- Seems to have been deleted from the FCC`s on-line resources, but they`ve submitted a request for reconsideration for an application. Looking at the Auction 84 list, they asked to move to 720 with U1 5000/5000, but must have missed an FCC cut-off date for refiling on the new forms. We`ll keep an eye out for this (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News April 4 via DXLD) ** SCOTLAND. New 5815, 2220-2255, PIRATE, Sat 27-03, WMR, Weekend Music R, Scotland English chatting and laughing by two men, talk about WMR history. 35343 Heard again Sun 28-03 0955-1000 and 1535-1600. This Scottish pirate has nothing to do with World Music R in Denmark, says Stig Hartvig Nielsen! (Anker Petersen, Denmark, @tividade DX April 3 via DXLD) ** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO [non]. I think I`ve found Radio S-M, English to NAm at 0100, behind CRI English to NAm on 9580; [Later:] Yes, *very low* signal and buried by CRI; does fade in/out at times (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Spain gone? There doesn't seem to be an A05 schedule for any of the foreign language services on the REE website, although the Spanish A05 frequencies have been updated. I emailed REE several days ago but have not received any reply, and am wondering if the English service has been dropped from SW. Has anyone heard the REE broadcasts in English to Europe since the start of A05, or for that matter any of the other foreign languages? 73s (Dave Kenny, UK, April 4, dxldyg via DXLD) That`s the way to do it! Just cancel a service without any advance publicity, avoid all the letter-writing campaigns, and see if anybody notices. Nothing heard on 6055 or 15385 at 0000 UT April 4 either; of course, they could have moved to a new unknown frequency. Ditto, nothing on 6055 or 15385 after 0000 UT April 5 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Spain is coming in pretty good tonight at 0000 on 15385 with a little bit of interference (Daniel Sampson, WI, UT April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also very well received here in New Zealand on 15385 at 0000 UT April 5 with slight interference (Philip van de Paverd, ibid.) Could be the transmitter for this was down for a few days; no doubt they could not spare any one of several on the air at same time in Spanish! At 0037 UT April 5, I could hear a weak, fluttery signal with Catholic chanting on 15385, likely REE rather than VOA Mandarin, which is supposedly not Catholic; along with clicking, direct jamming or spur from 15330 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [earlier:] REE, one hour English at 0000 on 15385, has co-channel interference (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard Spain April 1st 1900-2000 in French to Africa on 9570 with good signals, at 2000 they continued in English to Africa, they must have changed the beam as they were very weak and I could not copy the schedule. Tonight French to Europe noted 1800-1900 on 9665. English to Europe heard opening 2000 on 15290 though quite weak. They announced the same schedule as they used in A04, weekdays 2000-2100 on 9570 to Africa, 15290 to Europe, Saturdays 2105-2200 and Sundays 2100-2200 on 9840 to Europe, 9570 to Africa. However tonight Spain signed on in Arabic at 1900 on 9570 and still in Arabic 2030 (Mike Barraclough, UK, April 4, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SUDAN. A selection of frequencies continue to be registered with the HFCC for Sudan Broadcasting Corporation for a site known as Al Aitahab, but as far as I know, only 7200 is in use currently: 4995 2200 1130 SBC 38S,47,48 20 6150 1000 1800 SBC 38S,47,48 20 7200 0300 0830 SBC 38S,46E,47,48 100 7200 1100 2200 SBC 38S,46E,47,48 100 9505 0300 0830 SBC 38S,39,48 100 9505 1100 1700 SBC 38S,39,48 100 9505 1800 1900 SBC 27,37NE,38W 100 9505 1900 2300 SBC 38,39,48 100 11835 0300 2200 SBC 38,47,48,52N,53N 120 15170 0300 2200 SBC 38E,39SE 300 (via Craig Seager, July 2004 - Australian Radio DX Club - 13 via DXLD) {oops, this was not the only strange thing about the latest(?) April 2005 pdf issue of ADXN just received, with strange date headers and footers; anyhow, Sudan is still AWOL} ** SUDAN [non?]. 5895 Radio Peace --- Thanks to Christer Brunström's tip via DX Listening Digest 5-058 I monitored 5895 on 4 Apr. At 1530 there was a strong open carrier little bit offset. That seems to be some ute station, as it once had brief morse traffic. Just prior 1700 another, weaker carrier appeared and there was a male announcer. Then there was religious program in English, mainly by female voice, male voice only gave some titles of the program. The ute carrier was annoying and I couldn't get any positive ID. At 1717 I left the frequency for a while and when rechecking around 1728, the station was gone. The ute carrier was alone on 5895. This might be Radio Peace from Sudan, time fits with Christer's information. Needs more monitoring (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SURINAME. 4990.0, 2219-2237, 27/3, R. Apintie, Paramaribo. Dutch, phoneins, Hindu pops. Improved signal. Het with PERU 4990.9. 34332 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, @tividade DX April 3 via DXLD) ** SWEDEN [and non]. We have to renegotiate our contract with Teracom, who own the transmitters we use in Sweden, in the next few months; we have the option of going elsewhere such as to VT Merlin for SW transmission. I have not been heard on the air for six months since I`ve been presiding over transition to a new website (George Wood, Radio Sweden, on VOA Talk to America April 1, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 12085, R. Damasco, 2332-2346, español, ID "Aquí Damasco, radioemisora de la república árabe de Sirya", boletín informativo, "damos por terminado el boletín informativo correspondiente al dia de hoy", referencias a Juan Pablo II y su visita a Sirya en el 2001, música local. SINPO 32332. 9330, R. Damasco, 2354-2358, español, repaso a los diarios, frecuencia encontrada de casualidad; no me consta en ningún listado, tentativa en 13610 kHz sin señal. SINPO 44333 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, UT April 3, Noticias DX via DXLD) A problem for WBCQ! (gh, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. QSL card from Fu Hsing Broadcasting Co., Taiwan (15250 kHz) is now shown in my home page http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/QSL0504.html with some explanation in Japanese (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [and non]. RTI in English: Au/NZ, Indonesia 0800 9610 China 1600 11815 Europe 1800 3965 2200 9355 Japan, Korea 0200 15465 1200 7130 North America 0200 5950 9680 0300 5950 0700 5950 Philippines 0200 11875 0800 9610 South America 0300 15215 South Asia 1600 11815 SE Asia 0300 15320 1100 7445 1400 15265 (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. VOT got a new director some weeks ago, Miss Ingan Asena, [sp?], formerly chief of German section. She has been to EDXC conferences, is very fond of international radio, hopes to develop contacts with DXers around world. English at 03 on 6140 7270 to NAm, also good here (Luigi Cobisi, Italy, European Perspective, HCJB DX Partyline April 2, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA [non]. Checked for R. Rhino International Africa`s promised return after hiatus, April 4 at 1500 on previously used 17870 --- no show, nor anywhere else on 15 or 17 MHz in cursory search. Then I check website http://www.radiorhino.org and find: ``News Update 04/03/2005 21:10:34 NOTICE: With effects from April 7th, RRIA resumes its transmission and broadcasts. However, to avoid similar disruption as experienced twice already, your donation is highly appreciated as we enter the third phase for the total liberation of Uganda.`` However, the Programme page, http://www.radioirhino.org/htm_material/programm.htm altho headed as updated 03/24/2005, actually shows a schedule from 2003y! as 17870 M-F 1500-1530, so maybe that will again be in effect from Thursday. Content: ``News Items and Topics (Regular Programme): Monday to Friday: Africa`s immigration and Africa's diasporas, gender, society, culture, religion, health, diseases, poverty, illiteracy, education, economy, environment, politics, wars, insecurity and peace.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. BBC WS English A-05 Time is UT. Daily except where indicated --- From web site April 4 Caribbean and Central America 2200-0100 5975 0300-0400 5975 1000-1100 6195 1100-1300 11865* 1200-1300 9605 1300-1400 15190 2100-2200 15390* 2100-2130 11675* Mon-Fri *includes Caribbean programmes Mon - Fri. South America 0200-0300 12095, 9825 5975 1100-1200 11865* 1200-1300 15190 2130-2145 11720+ Tu/Fri * includes Caribbean programmes Mon-Fri. + Calling Falklands West and Central Africa 0300-0500 7120 0300-0700 7160 0400-0706 6005 0500-0800 11765 0630-1000 15400 0800-1000 17830 1000-1100 17830, 15400 Sat-Sun 1100-1130 15400 1100-2300 17830 1500-2300 15400 North Africa 0500-0600 6195 0500-0700 9410 0700-1700 15485 0800-1500 17640 1600-1800 15105 1600-1900 12095 1700-2200 9410 1900-2100 6195 East Africa 0200-0400 9750 0300-0400 6005 0300-0500 12035 0330-0600 15420 0500-0530 17885 0530-0600 17885 Mon-Fri 0600-0800 17885 Sat-Sun 0700-0800 17640* 0800-1900 21470 0800-1400 17885 1300-1400 15420 1400-1700 21660 1500-1530 15420, 11860 1615-1700 15420, 11860 Sat-Sun 1700-1900 11945 1700-1745 9630, 6005 1830-2100 9630, 6005 * Europe programmes Southern Africa 0300-2200 6190 0300-0400 6005 0300-0600 3255 0300-0500 7120* 0600-1600 11940 0800-1900 21470 1700-2200 3255 1900-2100 12095 *West Africa programmes West and Southwest Europe 0000-2400 648+ 0000-0430 198 0400-0600 6195 0400-0700 9410 0500-0700 12095 1600-0900 12095 1500-2200 9410 1600-2100 6195 2000-2100 1296 + North West Europe only during daylight Central and Southeast Europe 0300-0600 6195, 9410 0500-0600 12095 0800-1500 17640 1500-1800 15565 1600-1800 12095, 9410 1700-1800 6195 0200-2300 1323 (E. Med. only) Eastern Europe 0400-0500 9410 0400-0700 12095 0500-0700 15565 0800-1500 17640 1200-1800 15565 1600-1800 12095, 9410 1700-1900 6195 Middle East and Gulf States 0200-0600 11760 0400-0500 9410 0200-0230 1413 0300 -0400 1413 0500-0730 15575 0800-1500 17640 0700-1400 11760 0730-0900 15575 Sat-Sun 0900-1500 15575 1400-2000 15310*(-18:00) 1500-1800 15565 1700-1900 12095 1745-1830 1413 1900-2100 1413 0200-2300 1323 * South Asia programmes. Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia 0100-0300 17790* 0100-0200 9410* 0200-0600 11760 0200-0230 1413 0300-0400 1413 0300-0730 15575 0730-0900 15575 Sat-Sun 0900-1200 15575 0700-1400 11760 0800-1500 17640 0900-1200 15575 1200-1800 15565, 15310* 1300-1400 1314 1700-1900 12095 1745-1830 1413 1800-1900 15310 1900-2100 1413 2200-0100 1314 * South Asia programmes East Asia 0000-0030 17655 0000-0300 15360 0000-0530 15280 0300-1030 21660 0300-1400 17760 0500-1030 15360 0900-1030 9605 1000-1600 9740 1300-1600 6195 1400-1600 7105 2100-2200 6110 2100-2400 5965 2200-2400 11685, 9605 2200-2300 6195, 11955 2300-2400 15280 2300-0030 11945 2330-2400 6035 Southeast Asia 0000-1030 15360 0000-0200 6195, 9410+ 0500-0800 17760 0500-0900 11955 0900-1600 9740 0900-1700 6195 1600-1800 3915, 7160 2100-2200 3915 2100-2400 6195 2200-2300 7105 2200-0100 9740 2200-2400 11955 2300-0030 3915 + South Asia programmes South Asia 0000-0100 1314, 5970 0000-0200 9410 0000-0300 11955 0000-1700 17790 0000-1800 15310 0200-0230 1413 0300-0500 12095 1300-1700 6195* 1300-1400 1413, 1314 1500-1830 5975 1600-1830 9510 1745-1830 1413 1900-2100 1413+ + Middle East programmes * East Asia programmes (via Bernie O`Shea, ON, April 4, DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC 9605? Hi Evelyn, I have tried without success the past two mornings to hear BBCWS in English on 9605 via WYFR, around 1230 UT. Is this actually on the air, or have there been further changes in when you relay BBC? Regards, (Glenn April 3 to Evelyn Marcy, WYFR, via DXLD) I checked with Dan Elyea --- there has been no change (Evelyn, ibid.) Checked 15190 again this morning April 4, the BBCWS English hour via French Guiana, and at 1330 during the news, more random audio dropouts, preventing one from hearing a critical word here and there! Same thing on another GUF relay during Caribbean Report at 2124 on 15390, which also has a continuous generator(?) whine. How much longer will this go on? I`m sure they don`t care back in London. At least this makes a good tip-off as to what relay site be involved (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. REINO UNIDO – A prometida reprise da última emissão do programa BBC & Você, da BBC Brasil, em ondas curtas, para o Brasil, ao que tudo indica, não ocorreu, em três de abril. No momento em que era para ser irradiado, entre 2230 e 2300, as freqüências de 9870, 11965 e 15390 kHz estavam mudas, no Sul do Brasil, algo que nunca havia acontecido. Quem não acompanhou, durante a semana, pelo sítio da emissora, pode, a partir de agora, buscar o áudio apenas no sítio Amantes do Rádio (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX April 3 via DXLD) !! Even after publicizing a special broadcast to make up for the previously missing SW farewell in Portuguese, this too was a no-show!! I suspect a dire lack of communication between the Portuguese program producers and the transmitter operators for something one-off so unusual, which could have been broken at any point in the management and engineering chain. How embarrassing (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also JAMAICA in next issue ** U K [and non]. Re: What does it mean to be a public service international broadcaster? The difficulty in all this -- and the overwhelming pressure brought to bear by the social bias favoring the commercial sector in general -- is amply demonstrated by the slow drift toward commercialism evident in what has been at least up to now ostensibly public service broadcasting. The growing importance of advertising (euphemistically rebranded "underwriting" despite the increasingly more aggressive adverts popping up throughout) as a funding mechanism, the pursuit of programming on the basis (increasingly) of larger general audiences rather than specific constituencies. As a society, we have decreased our "general" support in the form of government grants (ie: general taxpayer support) in favor of voluntary pledge drives, reliance on corporate support and other funding that represents a creeping commercialism that is gaining momentum and erasing the distinction between public and commercial broadcasting. I think the decline of "truly" public broadcasting can be largely traced to a general social shift away from and suspicious of publicly supported (in the form of taxes mostly) services and in favor of commercially provided services. The subtle, but real, differences between the two have been smoothed --- some by misrepresentation and ideological argument and some by the actions of the managers and stewards of public broadcasting entities themselves. In other words, if you believe (and can get the larger society to believe) that commercial broadcasting can and will produce everything that public broadcasting traditionally has and still to some extent does now (whether that belief is supportable by fact or not), then what reason is there for public broadcasting to exist? More to come as the conversation develops. [Later:] I think the fault found -- at least from this writer -- was with the evident confusion of the two concepts. Or maybe the more correct description would be a sloppy merger of the two that fails to understand the subtle, but real differences between the two orientations. As I alluded to in an earlier communication, it has become almost a lazy indulgence today to call every human endeavor a "business" and then to somehow cobble all of the rationale and terminology associated with that characterization on things that don't lend themselves to that kind of discipline. People are always looking for their own form of "unified field theory", but doing so belies the world's complexities and the requirement for rigorous and diligent stewardship that changes with the underlying circumstances. In the case of what we have known as "public broadcasting", whatever consensus once existed to support, nurture and justify such an enterprise doesn't seem to be there any longer --- at least not in sufficient quantity or quality to protect it and allow it to develop further along those "traditiional" lines. PS: If this makes no sense to you, blame it on the hour and my recent considerable travel. :-)) (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, swprograms via DXLD) Let me guess, you voted for Kerry? Of course my point is to challenge the underlying assumption that "truly public broadcasting" is inherently more fair than the private sector. It isn't, naturally. Yes, its motivations may be more altruistic, but that's anything but guaranteed. A truly public broadcaster still has to serve the goals of its supporters in order to get funding, and even governments have agendas. Everyone has their own set of biases, even organizations. Do you really think the "old" BBC was fair? No, although we're discussing a matter of degree here, the 'Beeb" has always served its government supporters. Now, it's being pushed to reach a larger audience (Scott Royall, ibid.) Is this pursuit of larger general audiences wrong? After all, it could be argued that those audiences are attractive targets because they, too, have been abandoned or underserved by commercial broadcasters --- or that the pursuit of larger general audiences reflects better stewardship of public resources. Can we extend the line of thinking to public service international broadcasting? Many here (myself included) believe the BBCWS has "gone off the tracks" -- that it is making decisions incompatible with its public service status. The BBCWS in English serves two audiences -- the expat audience and the global non-British English-speaking audience. Do the differing needs of these two audiences warrant different strategies? Aside from coming across as inconvenienced shortwave radio enthusiasts and nostalgia buffs, how do we convince those who oversee the BBCWS that their train has gone off the tracks? Maybe what we can do is point out that the major media choices -- reflecting commercial standards and policies -- have resulted in distortions as to what is reported -- in fact, making society less "world-aware". How do we take some of these principles -- which are based on the structure of the USA radio marketplace -- and apply these back to the BBCWS (and others) to help them see the errors of their ways? (Rich Cuff, PA, ibid.) I think the WS has largely abandoned any sort of special services for its expat communities (maybe with the exceptions of the Falklands and Caribbean services. You don't hear much British news anymore, though some programs like People and Politics probably have that orientation to some degree. I think where they've gone off the rails primarily is in their distribution strategy. They think it's OK that most of the 5 million in NA only hear a newscast now and then. A newscast does not a service make. If you want impact (IMHO), you want the listener that stays with the service for hours on end (an exaggeration I make for effect) -- not the casual run-in. We can talk about their recent penchant to give, say, the Michael Jackson trial and stories like it more attention than they deserve; but that's a nit compared to the distribution issue. I don't think we can. I know that's defeatist, but it would take a wholesale change in their leadership in my estimation. This train seems determined to transform itself into a competitor in the commercial broadcast environment. If the employees inside can't muster enough effective opposition (or a mutiny) to force change, what chance do longtime listeners have? It's not like the effort hasn't been there. And --- truly --- I think BBC management's characterization of us is disingenuous. They know the complainers are more than just hobbyists or traditionalists. But it suits their purposes to frame us that way (John Figliozzi, ibid.) I don't know what relevance who I voted for has to this discussion, but you've inadvertently proved one of my points. :-)) People like neatness, organization and pigeon-holing. If you can figure out who I voted for, then you can build your own "unified field theory" about everything else I might think or believe. Not so fast, Sherlock... |g| Programming developed "for its own sake" will, by definition, be different than that developed primarily "to make a profit". Some think one is better than the other. I'm not claiming that. What I am claiming is that we need both orientations. One isn't inherently better than the other. The bias today is that the commercial sector is better -- more efficient with resources, serves the interests of the majority --- put it anyway you like. At another time, the claim might have been (as it was in the UK for decades and enforced by law) that the public service approach is better. All I want is both. Is that asking too much? Or is your argument that we should each be required to pay only for that which we're willing to pay --- or which we agree we obtain a direct benefit from. If I accept that, then will you accept that IF I hate what's going on in Iraq...I should have no responsibility to pay for it? (John Figliozzi, Clifton Park, NY, ibid.) Well John, here is where the old adage about making the horse drink the water must be applied. I mean, the BBC itself acknowledges that it routinely transmitted false information as part of the WWII war effort. It was also certainly not without bias during the Cold War. Neither of these examples are considered as negatively impacting the BBC's reputation, but they do show that Auntie isn't above being a propaganda tool. I also seem to recall a row in the late 80's accusing the BBC of bias against the former colonies in Asia, including sacking announcers from those countries. I am amused by how the latter has supposedly changed. If that doesn't suggest to you that the BBC is now serving different masters, I can only conclude that you're not a thirsty horse (Scott Royall, ibid.) :-) Point well expressed and well taken. I thought you were saying that this was the BBC's primary raison d'être, which now I can see was not your precise point. I guess I would parallel this to what, say, NBC has done at times when an unflattering story about GE arises. P.S.: How 'bout a beer? (John Figliozzi, ibid.) Ah, but you do not address my point. Namely, there can never be "programming for its own sake." All we do is in service of some goal, and the most altruistic goals are also the most elusive and ill- understood. I submit to you that there is no true altruism, for even its most ardent seekers derive some element of satisfaction from their efforts. Dogs are the purest example of real altruism I can think of on this planet, and even they are responding to an instinctive hunger to work with their humans. What I'm saying, John, is that all programming serves someone's goals. It wouldn't be created if it didn't. That means, therefore, that "public service" is a real misnomer, because SOMEBODY had to decide what message to air. The "problem" is, you're more comfortable with the highly oblique approach of the old BBC (and still evident today at RA and RNZI). I agree that sort of method is often very easy to listen to, with the message so highly polished that we can easily regard it as our own. Where do you think Orwell got his ideas? He was a fine observer of British government. The fact remains that another entity's message is still being sent. Your objection comes from the basic fact that the masters of the Beeb have decided to go for another audience. Bummer, dude. No question about that. Yet, we weren't paying the weight so we have no voice. Paying and having a voice still wouldn't guarantee getting your way, either. You see that every time you go to the polls in the US or buy stock in a company. All paying does is to give you a vote you didn't have before (Scott Royall, ibid.) BTW, I let something pass that I shouldn't have. I very much disagree with your assertion that the BBC has always served its government supporters. That opinion may jibe with a preconceived notion by some about public service broadcasting, but it is wholly unsupported by any factual data -- at least in the sense you apparently meant it (John Figliozzi, ibid.) Indirectly, we do have a voice. No, not in the populist sense. As part of the listening community, we do at least have a chance to influence what's said -- because, broadcasters, like small children, crave attention. If there's no attention, there's no listeners -- unless you want to be like Radio Pyongyang and not care if nobody hears you. This assumes we're part of the (sorry, folks) target demographic. If the BBCWS believes we're not part of their target demographic, then they are entirely correct to abandon shortwave to these parts. Scott is right in that we have no *direct* voice -- since we are not taxpayers nor voters in the UK. I am hopeful of being able -- someday -- to compare the rationales we're developing here with what the BBCWS uses (or used) as its rationale after digging through their double-speak (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) Well John, here is where the old adage about making the horse drink the water must be applied. I mean, the BBC itself acknowledges that it routinely transmitted false information as part of the WWII war effort. It was also certainly not without bias during the Cold War. Neither of these examples are considered as negatively impacting the BBC's reputation, but they do show that Auntie isn't above being a propaganda tool. I also seem to recall a row in the late 80's accusing the BBC of bias against the former colonies in Asia, including sacking announcers from those countries. I am amused by how the latter has supposedly changed. If that doesn't suggest to you that the BBC is now serving different masters, I can only conclude that you're not a thirsty horse (Scott Royall, ibid.) A smattering of thoughts on public service, BBCWS, and VOA Forgive me for being "late to the party" on these topics, but I've been also trying to get some thoughts together before I spoke. "Public service" to me has two different meanings, depending upon whether I'm thinking of a domestic focus or international focus. In a domestic focus (such as the NPR-related FM public radio stations in the U.S.), it seems to me that public service radio has meant both listener supported (i.e., the listener, the "public", is the "owner") and as a service that meets the needs of the underserved audiences not covered by commercial radio. (The latter has often meant classical radio, but can mean other things.) Very few of these stations, although "public radio" in label, have truly served the "public" if, by my expectation, the programming would mean something for everyone. That would be ideal for something labeled "public" - different programming at different times of the day that variously meet needs/interests of young, old, classical listeners, non-classical music, news, etc., all in one station. Even "public radio" in many places unfortunately has been in reality "niche radio," just like the commercial stations, although they may be serving the needs of a minority of the population. In an international perspective, "public service" has also meant two different things to me - either propaganda in practice or a truly independent (at least in theory) public perspective on events. The BBC WS, Radio Netherlands, and a few others are in my opinion in the latter. Most international broadcasters probably fall in the former. To me the disheartening aspect of the "retreat from shortwave" hasn't been the loss of propaganda, but has been this loss of an independent (okay, non-U.S.) voice that so much needed in the U.S. and other places, not just in news (although that is very important), but also in providing a variety of perspectives and viewpoints expressed through a full-range of programming. The BBC WorldService was/is particularly valuable to me as they still represent the most independent, far reaching source of information - and is usually where I want to look first for an international response to something. That they have willingly (at least up until now) provided this largely this news and programming to all the world was something I cherished, and still do, which makes it hurt all the more when they want to retreat from that mission. I bring the VOA in with this point (Kevin Anderson, Dubuque IA USA, K9IUA, swprograms via DXLD) As under USA, 5-058 ** U S A [non]. NEW LOGO FOR RFE/RL | Text of press release by Association for International Broadcasting on 29 March Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty today introduced a new company logo - a silver torch with burnt-orange flame, symbolizing its modern, universal engagement in the fight for democracy. The new logo was unveiled to employees during a ceremony in Prague. During the ceremony, RFE/RL President Thomas A. Dine explained the rationale that guided the company's year-long efforts to replace the blue and silver Freedom Bell that had been RFE/RL's mark for more than half a century: "Today's markets require a new and fresh identifying symbol, appealing to new and younger publics." Dine also stated that "The flaming torch symbolizes the light of truth and information in our multimedia array of information products -- on radio, television, the Internet, cell phones and in print media." The logo comes in several colour combinations of background, lettering and image - all silver on orange, silver and orange on white, all orange on silver, all black on white. It was created by the New York City-based design firm Chermayeff & Geismar, which has designed logos for several U.S. government agencies, as well as multinational conglomerates. Each of RFE/RL's 27 broadcast languages, for the first time, has a separate logo in the service's own language and script - Radio Azattyk for Kyrgyzstan, Radio Svoboda for Russia, Radio Europa Libera for Romania, etc. Dine said all printed and online publications, promotion items, television programs, and advertising will be in the language of the broadcast: "This lends new power and coherence to our brand name in the increasingly competitive markets where we operate." Dine concluded his remarks by noting that "symbols and metaphors change, but RFE/RL's mission of spreading democracy and freedom does not. The power of free thought was a potent antidote to communism and such light in a dark world is a dynamic and inspiring countermeasure in today's world of Islamic jihadists and authoritarian dictators... [ellipses as published]. Let RFE/RL's logo of a flaming torch illuminate democracy's spirit and strength in the 21st century". Source: Association For International Broadcastion (AIB) press release, London, in English 29 Mar 05 (via BBCM April 4 via DXLD) Like http://www.rferl.org/about/organization/newlogo.asp And here it is, slightly later than previously anticipated: http://www.rferl.org/ Apparently based on the flame from the Statue of Liberty (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. On WBCQ, Allen Weiner says PBS/NPR are ``communist`` (as if he, like so many, would know what that would really mean); actually the ``worst`` that c`d be said about those two networks is that they are a little right of center, but they`re ``improving`` by drifting farther in that direction / with the loss of Bill Moyers, no voice approaching progressive viewpoint can be found there / Lehrer calls such people ``whiners`` / PBS essentially just another commercial network, only with some Brit drama and some science shows as they play the ``elitist appeal`` game (Loren Cox, Jr., April 1, Lexington, KY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RADIO FREE NASHVILLE BEGINS BROADCASTING [illustrated] by Anna Thompson 03 Apr 2005 Pasquo, TN: Nashville has a new voice called Radio Free Nashville and today is it's birthday. In a fitting tribute to spring, the rosebuds and dogwoods began their bloom, and with the sun shining bright, over one hundred low power radio activists hoisted a new 85 foot radio tower up to begin broadcasting community radio in a celebration reminiscent of May Day. On a hill in Pasquo, Tennessee, which is just outside of Nashville city limits the end of a seven year struggle to bring community radio to Nashville was over and a new phase was beginning with the arrival of low power fm radio enthusiasts from around the country for a Prometheus Radio Project "Barnraising."... http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/4888/index.php (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. AIR AMERICA SHIFTS TO RIGHT ON DIAL http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/12124.html Air America, the liberal talk network that had been broadcasting on KTRC 1260 AM since November, has a new home on the dial -- KVSF 1400 AM. Meanwhile, the 1260 AM signal is now simulcasting a new Albuquerque talk station, KAGM, which features Albuquerque broadcasting personalities Larry Ahrens, Dianne Anderson, Chris Jackson and Phil Sisneros. Both stations are owned by American General Media, a Bakersfield, Calif., corporation that owns several stations in the Santa Fe- Albuquerque area. The changes took place Tuesday afternoon. (Free New Mexican April 1 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Q-C TALK RADIO MAKING LEFT TURN STARTING MONDAY By Sean Leary http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=236593 Starting next week, right-wing conservative commentators will have some contrary competition on area radio. A progressive talk station featuring Air America's Al Franken, Janeanne Garofalo, Randi Rhodes and more will debut at 5 a.m. Monday on WKBF-AM 1270, formerly Classic Country 1270. "The Quad-Cities has been clamoring for a new talk radio station like this, and we think (Progressive Talk 1270) will satisfy that need," said Rod Evans, program director for the station. "We are excited about coming to the heart of the Midwest," said Jon Sinton, president of Air America Radio. "This area now has an opportunity to voice its local and national concerns." The 24-hour syndicated chat outlet kicks off its day with Air America's a.m. show "Morning Sedition" from 5 to 8 a.m., followed by Stephanie Miller [not AA] from 8 to 11 a.m., Al Franken from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Ed Shultz [not AA] from 2 to 5 p.m., Randi Rhodes from 5 to 6 p.m., "The Majority Report" with Janeanne Garofalo from 6 to 9 p.m., and Lionel from 9 p.m. to midnight. Repeats of the day's highlights will run from midnight to 5 a.m. The station also will feature some sports programming, including Swing of the Quad-Cities games. A locally based show is a future possibility as well. "I think it's going to be a very successful station," said general manager Larry Rosmilso, who also heads local Clear Channel stations Q106, WLLR-FM, Mix 96, All Hit 98.9, KUUL-FM, Sports Talk 1230 and conservative talk station WOC-AM 1420. "Right now, progressive is the hottest thing in talk radio. Most markets where progressive talk has gone on, it's found a very strong niche." The success of Air America, which went on the air in March 2004 to provide a populist and progressive counterpoint to the predominantly right-wing conservative landscape of talk radio, has paved the way for stations such as Progressive Talk 1270, Mr. Rosmilso said. "Everybody was waiting to see if Air America was gonna last ... and it's done very well," he said. "I think a lot of people thought after the election that it was going to go away, but it's gotten even stronger." A study of the Quad-Cities showed that there was a large, unserved audience looking for this type of radio, Mr. Rosmilso said. "This market is predominantly a Democratic market, especially in Illinois," he said. "We did some research and found out a lot of people in this market wanted this --- both advertisers and listeners. "We're finding that progressive stations are pulling in the younger demographics that the right wing stations do not," he added. "So this gives the market an opportunity to have a voice for the younger people on talk radio, rather than it just being for the older listeners." (Quad Cities Online via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Grants to Existing Facilities: 1260, WSUA, FL, Miami – CP granted to add two towers to their standing four, in order to increase power levels to become U4 50000/20000 Petitions for Reconsideration for Applications [previously denied] 1620, NEW, NJ, Toms River, for U1 10000/1000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News April 4 via DXLD) ** VANUATU. In Glenn Hauser`s Listeners Notebook it was learned that New Hebrides would be renamed Vanuaatu when it became independent in May. Various different spellings were noted leading gh to quip, ``Well, I hope they decide on the spelling by then.`` (FRENDX: Twenty- Five Years Ago (April 1980), April 2005 NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** VATICAN. The Vatican's largest budget item: Vatican Radio --- It was mentioned on Friday's "Marketplace" public radio program that the largest percentage of the Vatican's budget actually goes to Vatican Radio, in part because the Pope's travels come out of the Vatican Radio budget (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, April 4, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Well, that makes sense. BTW, I`m glad the poor old man is no longer suffering, but what are all these secular, commercial networks doing pre-empting their programming to show the corpse being paraded thru the Vatican, and all the rest for three more weeks? Now would be a perfect time to raise questions about whether there`s any merit to Catholic theology, whether Mr Wojtyla, who lucked into the best rôle on earth, was a victim of excessive imagination or wishful-thinking -- - but everybody accepts it as a given. Was his entire career based on false, or at best unproven assumptions? Where is the objectivity of these so-called journalists? Why don`t they say ``allegedly`` when talking about religious doctrine? ``As Catholics believe`` is a cop- out. And why are his fans so distraught and shocked? The man was 84 and had obviously been ailing for some time. And how is it that mourners are so anti-death, if they also must believe in a wonderful afterlife, PJP2 now in the company of Jesus, etc., etc. (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re ´´http://www.ratzer.at/Vatican_020505.mp3 [not found by the time I checked --- gh]´´ --- The file has been renamed since and is now http://www.ratzer.at/Vatican_020405.mp3 Perhaps we should also add explicit credits to Christoph Ratzer and mention the index page for a lot of other recordings he posted on his website: http://www.ratzer.at/audio.php Re: the folks at Radio Vatican and what they are doing: The editors of the German service did and do a really good job. On Friday and Saturday they kept posting the latest news on their website through the whole night. The broadcasts were apparently live, judging from some goofs, and the official announcements were interpreted in ad-lib studio talks. Since a picture is worth thousand words: by the editor to the left in the foreground at http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/ted/chisiamo.asp Not bad. Here is an interview with Pater Eberhard von Gemmingen, the head of Radio Vatican's German service: http://www.radioeins.de/_/meta/sendungen/apparat/050402_1.ram This was done live on Saturday at about 1615, when fortunately the Pope was still alive. (May sound cynical, but only to those who were never involved in broadcasting work.) (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS US. Petitions for Reconsideration for Applications [previously denied] 1690, NEW, Amalie, application for U1 10000/1000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News April 4 via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7460. R. Nacional Saharaui, 2303-2319, español, ID "Radio Nacional Saharaui, voz del pueblo Saharaui", comentarios y música española. SINPO 24332 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, UT April 3, Noticias DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Sunday April 3 around 1900 UT on 11910 or 11920, surprised to hear strong signal with black gospel music (George Thurman, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Only likely candidate per HFCC A-05 is WWRB, and that would be another new frequency for them: 11920 1700 2300 4,9 WRB 65 45 1234567 270305 301005 D USA WRB FCC (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ COUNTRY PROFILES FROM BBC, STATOIDS BBC News has some great country info on line, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/country_profiles/default.stm For what appears to be every country, they have posted an audio file of the national anthem, biography of leaders, history timeles, links to media in the country, and such Statoids.com also has country info to keep users of a related book updated: http://www.statoids.com/statoids.html and http://www.statoids.com/details.html (Kevin Mikell, IL, April NASWA Journal via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ HD Radio Update KCCU has ordered the HD Radio equipment for Lawton and Wichita Falls and it should be installed in March or April, 2005. The conversion of all five KCCU radio stations is no small task. Engineer Charlie Thurston and GM Mark Norman have to design, purchase, and install this new technology. KCCU will be testing the new service over the next few months. CPB and NPR announced that Kenwood Radio and Boston Acoustics will be producing radios for public radio stations which will include the Tomorrow Radio channel and a data screen. Kenwood and several car radio manufacturers have several HD Radios available now and more are on the way. Major car radio manufacturers have made announcements that the HD Radio and satellite radio options will be available on almost all car models next year. KCCU will be the first radio station in Lawton and Wichita Falls to provide HD Radio service to listeners. Plans are now being developed to put HD Radio transmitters in the other KCCU markets as soon as the CPB funding is granted in the next grant round. ``We believe this new service will enhance what KCCU has to offer, and we are excited to get started. This is the fist major improvement in the FM broadcast signal from a technical standpoint since FM radio was developed in the 1930s,`` said Norman. ``We want to thank the KCCU listeners for their contributions to help with the conversion of the KCCU stations to HD Radio. MESSAGE FROM KCCU`S GENERAL MANAGER: INTERFERENCE ON YOUR FM RADIO Have you noticed radio stations are not as easy to listen to as they used to be? In the last few years, the FCC has packed the FM dial with more and more stations. Several years ago, the FCC adopted rules that allow non-commercial stations in the 88.1 to 91.9 MHz part of the FCC dial to deliver their signals via satellite to any location in the entire US. At the same time, it allows the non-commercials stations to operate on frequencies much closer together than on the commercial dial which is from 92 to 108 MHz. As if all the facts above are not bad enough, the FCC also has allowed several other things to evolve which have made it a challenge for stations in the FM dial to deliver service to listeners. Several other pieces of electronic equipment now interfere with your FM radio in your car and at home. A few common problems are listed for your information. New interference problems for car and home radios; 1 Did you know that if you are charging your cell phone while driving in your car, you can often hear a buzz or a cycling hum while the phone is charging? If you hear this, just unplug the charger on your phone to determine if it goes away. You can charge your phone at home, or when you are not listening to the radio. 3 Satellite radios from XM or Sirius, installed in a car in an aftermarket situation use a small FM transmitter built into the XM or Sirius radios to broadcast a signal into your FM radio from within your own car. THIS CAUSES MAJOR PROBLEMS FOR SEVERAL REASONS. First, XM and Sirius have used the lower end of the FM dial to broadcast their signals to your original equipment radio on 87.9, 88.1, 88.5, 88.7 or 88.9 FM. What this means is that when you turn on your satellite radio, you cannot hear the FM stations, like KCCU, on the bottom end of the dial. Recently, I was in a Ford truck with an XM radio where this problem wiped out all of the stations on the car radio except the very strongest high-power FM station. The only solution is to make sure your satellite radio is turned off if not being used. Just switching, or trying to switch, to FM will not stop the interference. The satellite radio must be turned off. We hope new radios with satellite and HF built into the factory-installed radios will solve this problem. 5 It has been found that the new stop lights set to sense when a car stops at an intersection send out an RF noise. If can cause your radio to fade or buzz at a stop light, yet work fine when you are driving. You can sometimes count the clicks as the lights change from red to yellow to green [sic] (Mark Norman, GM, KCCU, Lawton OK, Spring 2005 newsletter via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) THE FIGHT FOR SCANNING RIGHTS Welcome to the April column. Thanks to N. Hall we can read the following articles out of Texas where leaders from the local media outlets have gotten together to see if they should pursue legal action against Wichita Falls, [which] switched over to a new digital dispatch system and will soon encrypt every transmission, to regain access to the police dispatch calls. For the latest in scanning info, be sure to visit the Strong Signals webpage at http://www.strongsignals.net COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FIGHT MAY BE FIRST IN U.S. --- March 24, 2005 VIA KFDX TV 3- Wichita Falls, TX & N. Hall via Strong Signals What may be a test case all over the United States of media rights versus city government is quickly approaching legal action. Yesterday, Wichita Falls switched over to a new digital dispatch system and will soon encrypt every transmission. So, on Monday, leaders from the local media outlets, including KFDX, will meet to decide whether to pursue an injunction against the city. We spoke to someone down at City Hall and she basically said they feel bullied by the media that is threatening a lawsuit. And, then on the media side, we hear the city waited until the very last minute, Tuesday, to inform the media that codes would not be given to the media so that the encrypted transmissions could be de scrambled. So far, the city has not offered up a case where what’s about to happen in Wichita Falls has happened anywhere else. And so, it is possible this controversy will soon draw national attention. Because of new digital technology, Wichita Falls police officers will soon be able to keep their radio traffic away from law breakers, who for years have used scanners to track them. But unlike possibly any other city anywhere, Wichita Falls plans to encrypt every transmission from the media as well, and that has media representatives very concerned. KFDX News Director Chris Huston states, ``I don`t think the public really understands that the police right now encrypt certain radio frequencies, and that`s fine. Highly sensitive frequencies, involving drug officers for example, we don’t listen to those. We don’t want to. Those are already protected. What we are concerned about is encryption of routine, regular police frequencies used to cover, usually matters of some sort of urgency. Because of costs, and because of the need to communicate with other towns in Wichita County, Chief Deputy Cecil Yoder says the Sheriff’s Department will not change over to a digital radio system as well. But, like every other person in local law enforcement who has spoken out so far, he says he would like to. We asked Chief Deputy Cecil Yoder, ``In all of your years of experience, can you think of even one time the media having access to the traffic has put a law enforcement officer in danger, or resulted in a law enforcement officer being hurt?`` Chief Deputy Yoder responded, ``No, not putting one directly in danger, or not causing one to be injured as a result of that. But, I can think of many, many, many times where we have had to alter our operations so that we would not have the media following us around and interfering and hindering our operation.`` KFDX News Director Chris Huston continues, ``The fact remains that the greater public good requires us to fulfill our role as informing the public in the event of emergency situations, also, in the sense of our performing our watchdog role over government and police. To throw those out because of a highly theoretical possibility, that to my knowledge has never resulted in a point to the safety of an officer, is over reactive, and more to the point, I think illegal. We spoke to the chief of police in Lawton [OK] this afternoon. He says they too are very interested in the same digital system. But, like other cities, including San Antonio, Austin, and even Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he says they are only interested in encrypting scanner transmissions from the media in very high risk situations. Police Chief Dennis Bachman could not be reached today for further comment and Public Information Officer Cindy Walker says she and others throughout the department have been instructed not to talk to the media on the subject. ELSEWHERE, SWITCH TO DIGITAL HAS ALLOWED MEDIA ACCESS --- March 24, 2005 - VIA KFDX TV 3- Wichita Falls, TX & N. Hall via Strong Signals Both Abilene and Corpus Christi have made the switch to digital, but they say they are not having nearly the same troubles we are. Robert Gonzales, who is an Assignment Editor with KRIS in Corpus Christi says, ``The city allowed us to purchase the same radios that the police and fire department were using, and they also made arrangements to have those scanners programmed so we could pick up police and fire calls.`` Tom Vodak, News Director at KTAB in Abilene says, ``You’ve got to be able to know where the police are going, what’s happening. You’ve got to know where the fires are. People of Wichita Falls have a right to know what’s going on.`` At least two city councillors agree with the police argument that encrypted scanners will make officers safer. They say that safety is more important than any right to information. Councillors Mike Norrie and Charles Elmore say the police department’s public information office will offer all necessary information to the media. They say that may not be as fast as hearing developments on the scanners, but it should be adequate. Mike Norrie, District 3 City Councillor states ``If one officer is at risk of being hurt, shot, and killed just because we want to get the information out a little earlier. I have no regard for that.`` Charles Elmore, District 5 City Councillor says, ``The police have a right to private communication. They have a need for private communication and now they have the facility.`` Both councillors say they are open to a possible compromise to let the media hear some scanner activity, but they say it is important to get the encrypted system up and running first (via Scanning Report, April CIDX Messenger via DXLD) RadioYourWay great for radio junkies By Ron Harris, Associated Press Writer | March 31, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO -- Today's technology consumer devours lots of different media, and that has taken the luster away from some old-fashioned information stalwarts -- namely AM/FM radio. These days, I'll squeeze in time for my favorite radio programs right after I'm done reading a boatload of e-mails, listening to voicemails (home and work), uploading digital photos to my blog, reading my RSS feeds and updating my Netflix queue. Oh, and did I mention that my cell phone ringtones are getting stale? Thankfully, Pogo Products' latest gadget, RadioYourWay LX, has worked plain old radio programming back into my busy day. RadioYourWay is about the same size, shape and color as a full-sized iPod, though lighter. It's an AM/FM radio that can be programmed to record the radio programs you want and save them on its internal memory for later playback -- on the go. Think of it as a pocket-sized VCR for radio. . . http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/03/31/radioyourway_great_for_radio_junkies/ (via gh, DXLD) But will it tune SW??? Of course not!!! (gh) THE FIRST WIRELESS REMOTE CONTROL The wireless remote is today the primary means for operating our entertainment devices, but what was the first one? Probably the Philco ``Mystery Control``, described in the Jan 1939 issue of Radio & Television, used for radio tuning and volume control / rather complex mechanically, radiated electronic impulses activated it (Loren Cox, Jr., April 1, Lexington, KY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn: -- Here's hoping for many many more years of your invaluable service! -- (GREG HARDISON, Calif.) ###