DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-008, January 11, 2006 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 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2005 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid5.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 For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html FIRST SW AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 64: Days, times strictly UT Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Thu 0000 WOR WBCQ 18910-CLSB Thu 2130 WOR WWCR 7465 Sat 1700 WOR WWCR 12160 [NEW from Jan 7] Full schedule, including AM, FM, satellite and internet, with hotlinks to station sites and audio: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND [from Fri]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WOR Extra 64 summary: http://www.worldofradio.com/com0510.html WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml ** BELGIUM [non] / GERMANY. TNT Radio. A followup message sent to info @ tntradio.be was replied by jurgen.vanlandeghem @ e2e.be Juergen van Landeghem. He says that they have not answered the previous mails due to technical problems with the internet connection. He informs too that they are going to stop the SW broadcasts to continue only as an internet radio on http://www.tntradio.be (Artur Fernández, Malgrat de Mar, Spain, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4716.8. R. Yura 12/30 from 0045-0155, Dec 20, Spanish ann surprisingly easy to read - many IDs of "Radio Yura, La Voz de ??" (".. del Ayllu" according to DBS-7. Ed), Bolivian and native vocal/instrumental music, 0132 TC, frequency announcement and location, varied music until open carrier from 0144. Some SSB QRM around 0100 but otherwise clear. Heavy flutter fading. Signal was fading after 0100, but seemed to rejuvenate after 0130. 2-34533 (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) DBS-7 says s/off 0200v. (DSWCI Ed). Also heard 1005, Dec 31, string of news and local annouoncements in Spanish, mentions of various Bolivian towns, fair (John Herkimer, Caledonia NY, ibid.) They sent me 3 weeks after a follow up, a QSL-letter, pennant and sticker (Max Van Arnhem, Netherlands, ibid.) 4902.8, R. San Miguel, Riberalta, 1010-1030, Dec 28, Spanish announcement, canned promo with ID, TC, remote caller talking about festival, fair at tune in, gave up in noise at 1030 (John Herkimer, NY, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) Radio San Miguel seems on a slow drift down in frequency. Once it hits 4900.00 they seem to re-tune the transmitter to 4905.00 and then begin the drift again (Bob Wilkner, FL, in Dxplorer, ibid.) ** BOLIVIA. 5745.17, Radio Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza, 0002-0010, January 08, Spanish. Christian songs, announcement about the programation, Identification as: "...Radio Virgen de Remedios, desde Tupiza, Bolivia", 34433 5967.62, Radio Nacional de Huanuni, Huanuni, 2255-2301, January 07, Spanish. Pops & romantic songs. Short announcement by male in spanish, 33433 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Re 6-006: Dear Glenn, Your "Anhangüera" station on 11830v kHz must be R. CBN Anhangüera, Goiânia GO, on 11829.9 kHz, logged on 11 Jan 0942-1035 rated 34433 while airing newscast "Jornal da CBN"; they were still audible at recheck at 1235 albeit underneath an unID (presumably WYFR?) in Brazilian Portuguese to Brazil. The audio is not good. At the same time, i.e. prior to 1000 on 11 Jan, another Goiânia station, viz. R. Brasil Central 11815 kHz, was putting a formidable 55444 when carrying their news bulletin "O Mundo em sua casa``; barely audible and with QRM later at recheck at 1240. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, Radio Burkina (also IDing as RTB!), Ouagadougou JAN 10, 2124 - FF announcer presenting a nice mixture of Afropop, souskous and R&B until 2156 when I hear some IS followed by newscast at 2200 with political news. SIO 342 with fadings and minor growl from a computer in the neighborhood. Around 2202, powerline QRM begun to be heard at which point, I switched to AM broadcast band listening on my Sanyo MCD-S830 (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Contacting CBC from the USA --- In DXLD 6-007, the CBC toll-free number, for Canada only, was mentioned. It should be noted that US listeners can contact CBC Audience Relations in Toronto by phoning 416-205-3700 (Bill Westenhaver, RCI Audience Relations, Montreal, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Canada - elections coming up --- January 23rd is election day in Canada. I'm not certain how broadcasters will handle the news/reports but it is possible that there will be modified programming to cover the election. Can any Canadian resident enlighten us? 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, MWC via DXLD) http://www.elections.ca/ Hi Steve, Indeed, our national elections are coming up in less than two weeks, on the evening of the 23rd. Our polls will close at 2000 local time in each time zone, so that will mean live results coverage will commence around 2330 UT in Newfoundland, 0000 UT (24 January) in the Maritimes (NS, NB, PEI), 0100 UT in Quebec and most of Ontario, 0200 UT in western Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 0300 UT in Alberta and eastern British Columbia, and 0400 UT in most of British Columbia. It's been our experience that poll results are usually all in within about two hours in each zone. CBC Radio One will be live with results throughout the evening, and the election is predicted to be close right across the country, with many tight races. That may extend the coverage well into the wee hours. In Canada our electoral districts are called "ridings" and there are 308 of them. The CBC's web site, http://www.cbc.ca has a good resource of riding names by province. DXers will hear references to ridings by their one, two, or even three-word combination names. And we've got some dillys. My riding is simply called Miramichi. But there are ridings like Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, and Random-Burin-St.George's in Newfoundland, and Haute-Gaspésie-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia, Montmagny- L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup, and Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata- Les Basques in Quebec. Mouthfuls for sure. The election coverage starts before election day, though. In fact CBC in New Brunswick on 1070 kHz is running special programming this coming Monday, January 16th, on democracy and trust in Canada's political institutions. The producer of that program told me today that they even got permission to depart from regular national programming during the period. The show will air between 1900 and 2030 local time, 2300-0030 UT. I will be a panelist on that show, in fact, and will gladly QSL, hi hi. So, election night, your all-news stations like CINW 940, and the two French Montrealers on 690 and 730 will certainly be running coverage, as will the Toronto news stations on 1010 and 680. The Newfoundland stations, public and private, will almost all be on with results, also. 1070 in Moncton, NB will be the big gun for us here, and 1140 in Sydney will have some national programming, with special local hits near the hour and half hour. I'd be happy to assist with any other questions! I'm quite the politics junkie here, so I'll be busy on election night, and not likely DXing either! 73 (Brent Taylor, Doaktown, NB, MWC via DXLD) ** CANADA. REM reception of CHWO --- I swear ... no kidding ... around 8 pm tonight, with the radio OFF as I was having my early-evening nap, I dreamt that I was listening to CHWO AM 740 and taking notes for the 8th anniversary QSL card, and the first song was a big-band 40s version of Blue Moon. I've since woken up and prepped my report from about 15 minutes. The radio is still on, and the big band show (which I did not know in advance would be on) just played a 40s-type big band version of Blue Moon. Too freakin' weird. Brian, does this REM reception qualify for a QSL or do I have to send in a report of a reception generated from an actual radio? (Saul Chernos, ON, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Re: ``New, 5035.0, 0525-0610 fade out, 08-01, R. Centrafrique, Bangui (tentative) (ANKER PETERSEN).`` I tried that one January 09+10 in the evening, found a carrier on 5035 but no audio within the utility QRM, just some splatter from Burkina 5030 which made me think at first that there was audio 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHECHNYA. CHECHEN REBELS PUBLISH NEW WEBSITE Chechen rebels have set up a new news agency website, the Chechen Times, the rebel Kavkaz-Tsentr agency reported on 10 January. The new website supports Chechnya's independence and will cover Chechnya and the Caucasus, Kavkaz-Tsentr said. A welcoming message on the Chechen Times website at http://www.chechentimes.net assured its readers of "absolute support for the president, amir of the Military Committee - Majlis ul-Shura, commander-in-chief of the army of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and its bravest mojahedin on their right path by providing unbiased reports on the events in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and outside it". The Chechen Times did not say whether it was linked to the http://www.chechentimes.org website that has not been updated since May 2005. Source: Kavkaz-Tsentr news agency web site, in Russian 11 Jan 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA [non]. Maurice "Peripheral" Strong... "Lobbyist's ties to Strong under scrutiny" http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060111.wxpark11/BNStory/International/ (via Carlos Coimbra, ON, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. European direction findings of R. República on 6010, 6135 and 7110 all indicate a transmitter located in Florida or in central England (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) Well, we know it is not Florida, so that makes it one of the VT Merlin sites in UK; we may have Hans Johnson to ``thank`` for arranging this and the consequent jamming of R. Mil, 40m hamband (gh, DXLD) ** DENMARK [non]. The Prophet.doc --- The Prophet´s Face Original page from Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten now reprinted in Norway by Magazinet and Dagbladet: http://www.magazinet.no/default.asp?menuid=&linktype=2&linkid=21839 http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2006/01/10/454375.html http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2006/01/09/454292.html (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) None in English; illustrated ** ECUADOR. HCJB OPENS WEBSITE TO CELEBRATE ITS 75TH BIRTHDAY Pioneer missionary radio broadcaster HCJB World Radio will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2006, holding a variety of activities throughout the year to commemorate its initial broadcast from Quito, Ecuador, on Christmas Day, 1931. HCJB World Radio President Dave Johnson will launch the year of special events with a programme for staff around the world at 1500 UT today, in combination with the mission's monthly day of prayer. On Sunday, 1 January, HCJB World Radio launched its 75th anniversary website in English http://www.hcjb.org/75 while a Spanish site http://www.vozandes.org/75 will begin at a later date. Public events planned for Ecuador include the Quito Day concerts December 1-3, an open house and sharathon December 7-9 and a special Spanish service at 2100 UT, the time of the first actual broadcast on Radio Station HCJB. A series of events for donors will also be held across the US with cities and dates to be announced. A 75th anniversary book will be released in September, highlighting not only the history of HCJB World Radio, but today’s ministries and the future vision. It will be a hard-cover, 9-by-12-inch, 96-page full-colour book with many high-quality photos. A Vision Video in both Spanish and English will also be available to celebrate the vision through the mission’s various presidents, past and present. Together with local partners, HCJB World Radio now has ministries in more than 200 cities in more than 100 countries with Christian broadcasts in more than 120 languages and dialects. (Source: HCJB World Radio) # posted by Andy @ 10:15 UT Jan 11 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Happy semi-sesquicentennial! ** GABON. Today I heard RTG on 4777 in French with good signal till sign-off at 1900 UT. Regards, (Harald Kuhl, QTH Goettingen, Alemania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Subject: Re: DRM on 1485 --- Like Chris I have also noticed the unusually high strength of the DRM signal on 1485 from a relatively low-powered 300W transmitter in Germany. It seems to me that DRM interference to AM signals is much higher that would be the case from an equivalent-powered AM transmitter. For example the DRM from Croatia on 594 kHz is causing havoc, even in western Europe, although a similar-power AM transmitter in Croatia on this frequency was barely even audible in the UK. When Germany was conducting DRM trials on 693 kHz a couple of years ago, the interference to BBC Radio 5 was much worse than when the German transmitter operated in AM. I wonder if part of the reason for this may be that the DRM modulation is very intense compared to AM, its like a constant white noise, whereas the intensity of AM varies depending on the programming, and it not such a steady, constant, noise. Certainly DRM is very troublesome to AM signals and I'm really surprised, given the interference it can cause, that the ITU has permitted it to be used within existing AM broadcast bands. It should have been allocated its own separate spectrum to avoid this problem. But unfortunately its probably too late now to change this. Hopefully the London tests on 26 MHz will be successful as 26 MHz is a good place for DRM - well away from any AM broadcasts! 73s (Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK via DXLD) I'm sure that this is certainly part of it. Also, with AM, at least 50% of the total power is the carrier. So, it is already much less "noisy" per output watt as it were (if you follow my meaning...) (Andrew Tett, ibid.) ** GUINEA. Re: ``RTG Conakry began its arriving after 2100 on 7215, (Raúl Saavedra)`` I think this should read 7125. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, of course ** INDIA. ANALYSIS: CHANGES AND CHALLENGES FOR INDIAN BROADCASTERS IN 2006 | Editorial analysis by Steve Metcalf of BBC Monitoring Media Services on 11 January The year ahead is likely to see a number of developments in India's broadcasting scene, including an expansion of FM radio, increasing competition between satellite and cable TV providers, and changes in the structure of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati. It will also see the implementation of new satellite downlinking guidelines for foreign broadcasters. FM Phase Two The government has begun to announce the results of the bidding for over 330 FM licences in 90 cities across the country. This has attracted interest from a number of major domestic and international media organizations, including the BBC. BBC Worldwide has invested 4 million pounds in a joint venture with Mid Day Multimedia which was awarded licences in seven major cities. The new stations are expected to be operational within 12 months. Industry sources have estimated that this second phase of FM expansion could attract investment of over 500 million US dollars. A significant percentage of this will come from abroad, since the government recently eased the restrictions on foreign investment. Revenues from radio advertising are forecast to jump from 40 million to 150 million dollars in the next two years, the Financial Express reported on 6 January. The initial opening up of radio to private broadcasters was not a total success. Of the 108 FM frequencies made available in 2000, less than thirty ever became operational. The government responded by moving from demanding a fixed licence payment from operators to a revenue-sharing model for the current round. This is likely to produce substantial savings for successful bidders. New satellite venture India's most advanced telecommunications satellite, Insat-4A, was successfully launched from French Guiana on 22 December. With 12 Ku- band and 12 C-band transponders, it is the first Indian-built satellite to meet the needs of direct-to-home television services. All the Ku-band transponders, capable of providing up to 150 channels, have been leased by Tata-Sky, the DTH joint venture between the Tata and Star groups, which has been in the planning stage for some time. It will join the DTH services already provided by Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan and Zee's Dish TV. Indian space officials say that future satellite launches will provide 225 active transponders by 2007 and revolutionize DTH broadcasting, PTI reported on the launch day. The growth in DTH services poses a threat to India's cable TV industry. New regulations on content sharing mean that programming must be made available for distribution on both platforms. Although cable is now available in over half of television Indian households, growth in 2005 was sluggish. The chief executive of Hathaway Cable, one of the biggest operators, in an interview with Indiantelevision.com said that the industry had been slow to move from analogue to digital transmission. This had resulted in clogged bandwidth as the number of television channels increases and thus makes DTH satellite an enticing alternative for viewers, especially in the more affluent urban areas. Changes to public broadcaster The Indian government has been looking at ways of making Prasar Bharati, which controls Doordarshan and All-India Radio, more financially self-supporting. At present it is reliant on government aid for over half its expenditure. The Business Line newspaper quoted Chief Executive Officer K.S. Sarma as saying on 25 December that he hoped a "viable financial structure" would be in place within three months. This structure would allow the autonomous broadcaster to enter alliances with private operators and borrow money from a variety of sources rather than just the government. Doordarshan received a boost in late 2005 when the government introduced new satellite downlinking guidelines. These included the stipulation that the public broadcaster should be entitled to share transmission of sporting events of national importance (i.e. cricket) with the rights holders. Doordarshan would retain 25 per cent of the advertising revenues from these broadcasts. However, nothing to do with Indian cricket and broadcasting rights is ever straightforward. The mandatory sharing rule is being challenged in the courts, and as the Pakistan-India cricket series gets under way both Doordarshan and All-India Radio find themselves restricted to broadcasting highlights only. Content regulation But while the government appears ready to give the national public broadcaster more autonomy, and to allow more foreign investment in the media sector, it also seems keen to maintain or even increase its regulatory powers. The new downlinking guidelines specified that, by May 2006, foreign satellite channels must have a registered corporate presence in India. This will not only make them liable to pay tax on revenue generated in India, but also subject to Indian content regulations. A cabinet statement reported by the PTI agency on 20 October said that the guidelines would provide a mechanism to determine the suitability of content seen by Indian TV viewers. News content is already subject to some regulation - it is not allowed at all on private FM radio and foreign TV broadcasters must not carry programming designed specifically for Indian audiences. As the Indiantelevision.com website's year-end review for 2005 put it: How the government handles the issue of content regulation "particularly whether Indians are mature enough for adult fare and movies on TV" will be an indicator of things to come. Source: BBC Monitoring research 11 Jan 06 (via DXLD) ** IRAN. IRAN'S KHUZESTAN PROVINCIAL RADIO BOOSTS SIGNALS | Text of report by Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Khuzestan Provincial TV on 11 January We have happy news for the audiences of Khuzestan's provincial radio. Signals providing the programmes of Khuzestan's provincial radio will be boosted in the near future so that they can be received even the province's blind [remote] spots. On the threshold of the auspicious Id al-Ghadir and Id al-Adha [two religious festivals], the programmes of Khuzestan provincial radio will, in the near future, be received on medium wave, 711 kHz. Thanks to the efforts of the technical employees of the Khuzestan Centre of the Voice and Vision, some changes have been made to the aerial of Beyt ol-Moqaddas transmitter and it is ready for operation. Source: Khuzestan Provincial TV, Ahvaz, in Persian 1315 gmt 11 Jan 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) Listed at 200 kW in WRTH 2006; so how much power has it now? (gh, DXLD) ** IRAN. RUSSIAN TV REPORTS MEDIA OPPRESSION IN IRAN | Text of report by Russian Ren TV on 10 January [Presenter] In Iran itself the reaction to world community's dissatisfaction [with the Iranian nuclear programme] is calm. There are neither private newspapers nor television channels there, but the Iranians believe that their journalists are more free than in America. They have only one taboo, criticizing the state, only because some news may be harmful to the Islamic republic. Sergey Tugushev reports on the Iranian freedom of the press. [Correspondent] Making this video was risky. Armed men detained the camera crew. The Iranian special services did not like the fact that the cameraman was filming the parliament building and ordered to erase the recording. Here are some stills which survived by miracle. This is not a military base or a secret airfield, but the machine-gunners were guided by a simple instruction: no filming of the government premises! There are harsh restrictions on journalistic work in Iran. [Mohammad Honardust, captioned as first vice president of state television and radio, speaking to camera in his office] We think that this is absolutely normal. Iran has been at war with world imperialism headed by the United States for almost 30 years. These restrictions are only natural in the war period. [Correspondent] The Iranian television broadcasts a lot of religious and children's programmes and few political news. The reports about the government are like discussions of the dead: either good things, or nothing. [Maryam Behbur, captioned as Iranian state TV news correspondent, speaking to camera] Censorship exists everywhere. To some extent there is nothing wrong with the fact that it exists here. Some news are harmful to society, and they should not be reported. [Correspondent] Local journalists do not see a big problem in state control over practically all media. The general director of [Iran's] biggest news agency, IRNA, claims that there is no government pressure on journalists. Correspondents may write about everything, the situation is even better than in many Western countries, he says. [Ahmad Khadem, captioned as general director of state news agency IRNA, speaking to camera in his office] I worked in New York for six years, and can responsibly tell you that the Iranian media have much more freedom than the media in America. [Correspondent] When asked to give an example, he recalled the latest critical report published a month ago [December 2005]. Nobody but the president himself was reproved. [Hodzhad Murtadzhi, captioned as editor of the IRNA department of politics, speaking to camera in a newsroom] He proposed to raise the tax on businessmen, the Majlis did not support him, and we reported about this. [Correspondent] But the Iranian president is a figurehead. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the real power belongs to the Spiritual Leader. No media outlet has ever dared to criticize him. [Nargiz Akbardaryan, captioned as news presenter of the Voice of Iran radio, speaking to camera in Russian] That's because his position is right and principal. [Correspondent] The editorial office of Iran's oldest newspaper, Ettela'at, occupies a big building in the centre of Tehran, and has a circulation of several million copies. The newspaper is financed by the state but is regarded as the country's most independent one. Critical remarks about any Iranian state official can be found in it, but the Spiritual Leader remains untouchable. It is he who appoints the editor-in-chief of this independent newspaper. Viner Akhmadulin came to Tehran from Ufa [Russian republic of Bashkortostan] three years ago to study at the department of journalism. He also works part-time on the radio. He was quick to grasp the local requirements. [Akhmadulin, captioned as news presenter of the Voice of Iran radio, speaking to camera] He [an Iranian journalist] cannot exceed the limits. [Correspondent] What limits? [Akhmadulin] He cannot criticize the existing regime, it's clear for everybody. [Correspondent] After finishing his studies, Viner will return to Russia and become a journalist. The young man is confident that with his Iranian experience, he will easily accommodate himself to the Russian media environment. Source: Ren TV, Moscow, in Russian 1630 gmt 10 Jan 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** KENYA. CHINA BUILDING ITS FIRST FM RADIO STATION ABROAD IN NAIROBI (09 January 2006) Workers with China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television install radio equipment in Nairobi, Jan. 7, 2006. China is stepping up building its first FM radio station abroad in Nairobi. The station is expected to open at the end of January. Programs of 20 hours made by China Radio International (CRI) will be broadcast to the city in both English and Swahili (People's Daily Online via http://www.kimandrewelliott.com via MD. AZIZUL ALAM AL- AMIN, BANGLADESH, dxldyg via DXLD) WTFK? Really the first? ** KURDISTAN [non]. DENGE MESOPOTAMIA --- DATE: 10-01-2006; TIME: 1615-1635 UT; FREQUENCY: 7590 KHz; SIGNAL: VERY GOOD; LANGUAGE: KURDISH; PROGRAM: MUSIC ID. NEWS; TX SITE: SAMARA (RUSSIA) # posted by SWL STATION I0-5639 @ 16:31 (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Hello Glenn, tuned to Radio Vilnius [9710] on 1/11, at 0900 UT and noticed English. Lithuanian is usually between 0900-0930 and then English 0930-1000. They signed off, and English was on again at 0930. Good signal in English, though. Regards (Christopher Lewis, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ahá --- they had two tapes cued up already at 0900 and started the wrong one --- a common operational error by the inexperienced. Then they are faced with the no-win choice of whether to play the missed one at the later time, or get back on schedule ASAP (gh, DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. Re 6-006: R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 4845 kHz "back on the air"?! It's being noted on a daily basis for quite a while, the same applying to their daytime outlet of 7245, which, however, is carrying weaker audio making it hard to copy due to the already reported (by me) adjacent QRM (mostly DRM signals). The former outlet, i.e. on 60 m, is Africa's strongest & cleanest 60 m band signal, at least in this part of SW Europe, with that of Burkina Faso 5030 coming second. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEGEM, Metepec, 1600 kHz. FD QSL letter for Spanish report & US$, v/s Lic. Edgardo Benítez Calada, Director de Radio Mexiquense, Av Estado de México, km 1.5 Fracc. La Virgen, Metepec, México (Craig Edwards, PO Box 60, Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory 0811, Australia, mwdx yg via DXLD) Perhaps for previous DX-pedition logging in Queensland? (gh) ** MYANMAR. 5986, Myanma R, Yangon. While in Vietnam in November, I reported the program in English at 1430-1600 and sent a reception report to their English Section with 3 IRCs and a postcard from wintry Denmark. After only 31 days I received a registered letter with a full data QSL-card with a printed, but outdated schedule (mentioning 4725 instead of current 5040 kHz) stamped by Ko Ko Htway, Director of Radio, and a personal letter signed by Moe Theint Theint Wai, English program. She (he?) wrote: "Dear Sir, I'd like to extend my greetings and best wishes to you and all your club members in advance. It's a great pleasure to receive your letter on 8th December that you're tuning into Myanma Radio on 15th November 2005. In fact, you've tuned to our evening transmission of English Programme, Myanma Radio. We're so pleased to hear from you that you've listened to our transmission clearly. Thank you very much for your appreciation. ``English programme usually starts at 2100 hrs. Myanmar Standard Time (= 1430 UT. Ed). Music, article and other interesting programmes comes before news. 2145 is the news time. Slogan of objectives of the State: 4 political objectives, 4 economical objectives and 4 social objectives with the tune of Myanmar Harp follows the news. And then, only melodious tune called "Porfolio for easy listening" follows. I attach my letter with our Radio verification card. Give my regards to all of your friends and associates. Merry X'mas and Happy New Year." It is noted that the name of the station is Myanma Radio and Television and not Myanmar Radio and TV. This was mentioned nine times in my verification! But the name of the country is Myanmar. The postal address (Pyay Road, Yangon) and e-mail address mrtv @mptmail.net.mm were given in the letter as in WRTH 2006. But FAX is +95(1) 534211 and Telephone is +95(1) 535553, but perhaps these are directly to the English Section? On Jan 04 I checked 5986 here in Denmark at 1430-1600, but Myanma R was totally covered by QRM: On 5985 I heard R. Canada Int. in French broadcasting via Yamata with QSA 4 at 1430-1500. From 1500- past 1600 5985 was used by the Voice of Russia in Russian broadcast towards the Middle East and heard here with QSA 3. During the whole period there also was strong disturbances from 5990 where R Tele Luxembourg is broadcasting to Europe in DRM-mode and heard with QSA 5. I have more than 200 broadcast countries (according to the EDXC Landlist) verified. Thus new verified countries are rare. I got the last one 2½ years ago and with this highly appreciated QSL, Myanmar became my country no. 213 verified (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) But not all, it seems, from home QTH (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Re: ``VON began its French program at 2100 on 7255 // 15120. It seems the latter has to be turned off at this time, but the person in charged forgot to do it till 2104 (Raúl Saavedra)`` Sure they were //? Frequently in recent months they switched over late, but then the program began late on the scheduled frequency (around 30 sec. after switch-off of the other), indicating that there was only one transmitter used. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. 1314 kHz: Caros amigos, Recebi ontem uma informação de um dos nossos amigos DXistas da Europa, informando que voltaram a existir as possibilidades de confirmação de informes de recepção de emissoras da Noruega. Na página 319 do WRTH Edição 2006 (recém-lançado) existe a referencia do seguinte na 3ª linha (quase que imperceptível): ``V: by DXLC. QSL-post + 2 IRCs, E-reps to nrk_qsl@dxlc.com rec.`` Entenda-se aqui a possibilidade de se ter a emissora de ondas médias da Noruega confirmada que nesta época tem sido sintonizada depois das 0300 UT com bom sinal pela freqüência de 1314 kHz. Uma boa pedida para quem gosta dos QSLs. 73s, (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo, SP, BRASIL, radioescutas via DXLD) And they accept or prefer recordings (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Dart: to OKC Channels 4, 5 and 9, failing to cover a packed Moral Budget event of all religious denominations at the Capitol to protest $50 billion in social services cuts, including Medicaid. They should have told them it was a grass fire. OETA covered it. From Highlights and Lowlights of 2005: Highlight: The only TV station staffing the Capitol was the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority news department. Their 6:30 pm report is the most professionally delivered and balanced in the state. If you want to know what is going on in Oklahoma, OETA is a must. NPR`s KOSU remains the only quality radio news operation in Oklahoma (Frosty Troy, The Oklahoma Observer Jan 10, via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. KOKC, Oklahoma City, OK, 1520 kHz. Full data QSL (yaaaah QSL cards still exist!!!) for $US, v/s Dee Garrison, 400 E. Britton Road, Oklahoma City OK 73114. Cheers (Craig Edwards, PO Box 60, Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory 0811, Australia, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. STATE'S OLDEST RADIO STATION SWITCHES TO SPANISH By Mel Bracht, The Oklahoman http://www.newsok.com/xml/rss/1729493/ WKY-AM 930, Oklahoma`s first radio station, switched Monday to Spanish language programming. Spanish broadcasting WKY is rebroadcasting the signal from another Citadel Communications- owned station, KINB 105.3 FM out of Kingfisher. Until now, the Kingfisher station's Spanish-language format could not be heard throughout the metro area. The other Spanish-language radio stations in the Oklahoma City metro area are: Name, City, Owner 106.7 FM La Zeta, Okarche, Tyler Media 1410 AM KZUE, El Reno, Nancy Galvan The station dropped its news/talk format and began simulcasting Spanish station KINB-FM 105.3, also owned by Citadel Communications. ``We looked at our profile at KINB (La Indomable), and at the growing population for Latinos in Oklahoma City, and realized the success we could reach between our La Indomable listeners and our advertisers,`` Citadel Oklahoma City operations manager Chris Baker said in an e-mail Monday. ``Merging KINB and WKY now gives us one of the biggest regional Mexican signals in the Southwest. Today, we received calls from listeners in Ada, Enid, and Chickasha, to name a few communities around the metro who can now listen to La Indomable.`` WKY, reportedly the first radio station west of the Mississippi River, had been a news/talk station since it was acquired by Citadel from The Oklahoma Publishing Co. in December 2002. OPUBCO bought the station in 1928. Under Citadel ownership, WKY¹s local news/talk was a distant second behind news/talk leader KTOK-AM 1000, which carries syndicated talk show hosts, including Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Among news/talk stations in the summer Arbitron ratings, KTOK had a 4.2 share of the audience for listeners 12-andolder, followed by WKY, 1.7, and KOKC-AM 1520, 0.9. WKY also has carried Oklahoma City Blazers and Oklahoma RedHawks game broadcasts, but planned to cut back on its sports programming under the new format, Baker said in an e-mail. Blazers spokesman Josh Evans said the team expected WKY will carry the remainder of its games this season. Citadel launched KINB in July 2004 in response to the growing Hispanic community. According to the American Community Survey, Oklahoma City¹s Hispanic population had grown to almost 61,000 by 2004. WKY morning show host Mark Shannon, a longtime Oklahoma City morning personality, said he was notified of the format switch Sunday night. ``There are a lot of people who want to reach that Spanish market,`` Shannon said. ``They (Citadel) were having good luck with a nothing signal.`` In the summer Arbitron ratings, KINB trailed rival Spanish station KTUZ, 2.9 to 2.1, among listeners 12 and older. KZUE of El Reno did not show up in the ratings. Shannon said Citadel bought out the last two years of his three-year contract. Excluding Shannon and afternoon personality Ron Black, the other on-air personalities for ``Supertalk WKY`` --- Jim Traber, Brad Copeland and Dax Davis --- also work for other Citadel stations. The demise of ``Supertalk WKY`` left Oklahoma City with only limited local talk, early mornings and late afternoon on KTOK. KOKC also emphasizes syndicated programming. Reaching the Hispanic population KINB broadcasts from Kingfisher with a signal of less than 1,000 watts. Skip Stow, market manager at KTUZ-FM 106.7, known as "La Zeta" and owned by Tyler Broadcasting, said KINB had a hard time reaching the south side of Oklahoma City, where so many Hispanics live. "Being licensed to Kingfisher puts them pretty far out of the metro," Stow said. "I think they realized they had some coverage problems." WKY's 5,000-watt signal will reach a lot of Hispanics, not just those on the south side, said Oscar Quiroga, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Council on Latin American and Hispanic Affairs. "Fantastic," Quiroga said of the format switch. "I thought that was great news because, according to what I read, it's going to be reaching all the way up to Kansas." Arthur Valdez, an Oklahoma City real estate appraiser who recently joined the Governor's Advisory Council, also welcomed the format switch. "Anything to help the Hispanic community get more informed is greatly appreciated and needed," Valdez said. Whether WKY will fill that need by providing more Spanish-language news remains to be seen, he said. "That station is basically music," Valdez said of La Indomable. "There's several small radio stations that provide music. I think it's also important to provide the news." Nancy Galvan, who owns KZUE in El Reno, the metro area's first Spanish-language station, also welcomed the competition and said it would not affect her station because of its unique format of traditional music and news. "La Tremenda and La Indomable, they're the same. No news," Galvan said. "Every hour, I have the news." Patricia Fennell, director of the Latino Community Development Agency, said she hopes WKY eventually will add Spanish-language local news. "I think down the road they will be more attuned to what's going on in the community. I think that will evolve," Fennell said. For now, the addition of a new Spanish-language station shows the growing economic power of the city's Hispanic community, Fennell said. "Especially in the corporate world, so many people see the economic potential in the Latino community. That's what drives this." (via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) Now the question arises, is the heritage callsign WKY in danger? It`s hardly Hispanic-friendly; make it KINB (AM)? (gh, Enid, DXLD) SUPERTALK 930 WKY OFF THE AIR FOR GOOD: LIBERALS CHEER CONSERVATIVES DISAPOINTED From http://www.wkygorilla.com/dailyrant.php The circle is complete - it's been a wild ride, hasn't it? Wow. WKY makes the massive move to a completely different format - a Spanish format. It's a business decision that was made and I certainly understand. The Hispanic population is growing and our sister station was making a ton of money in advertising. I completely understand. It kinda stinks, but I hold no grudge nor ill-will. Our Spanish station is doing very, very well, and the incredible range of the WKY signal will help out immensely. La Indomable means, "The Unconquerable." They have made significant strides in the market and are only going to grow big-time in the next few months. I have greatly enjoyed being a part of the WKY family and though I won't be on the air, until I find another "gig," I'm still part of the family. Everyone has been kind and wonderful throughout. I am eternally grateful to Mark Shannon, Dax Davis, Chris Baker, and Larry Bastida for having faith in me for as long as they did (Jay, Jan 9, http://www.okctalk.com/f18-oklahoma-city-radio-and-tv.html via DXLD) What's odd is that it's not actually a simulcast; when I dialed up both WKY and KINB (105.3), they were playing the same song, but a few seconds apart (windowphobe, ibid.) LaWKY? WTF? Now we have yet another signal wasted on Mexican crap? When are we going to be more like Houston and have half of the signals in town in a language catering to those that aren't even in the US legally? Is this in the LEGAL PUBLIC'S interest? I bet old man Gaylord is spinning in his grave about now.. P.S. http://markshannon.com/DUH.htm pretty well sums it all up. [editorial cartoon] "If this continues all we will speak to are Mexicans." (The Insultant, Jan 9, radio-info.com OK board via DXLD) That is fairly interesting. This would be Citadel's first Spanish station, I think. That market has a pretty small Hispanic population, but we are seeing AMs that are unprofitable going Spanish in places like Omaha and even Indanapolis and Memphis (David Eduardo Gleason, CA, ibid.) It's actually Citadel's second or third spanish station (depending on how you look at it). La Indomable 105.3 (the station AM 930 is simulcasting) and a La Indomable on the AM dial that Citadel owns in Iowa (okcradio.net, ibid.) RIP 93WKY --- Kind of interesting... 93WKY... Oklahoma City 93KHJ... Los Angeles Two stations that dominated for years in the respective markets. Two stations that fell from the top. Two stations that really had a chance to be big if they would have done it right. Both had heritage three letter calls... both have been turned over to Spanish language programmers... both are on 930 AM. As for 'KY.... That was the one signal that back a few years ago when Citadel got ahold of it had the potential to really give KTOK a run for its money. In other places like Little Rock and Nashville and even Knoxville and Chattanooga they hire some of the brightest and best air personalities to anchor their stations, and with great success. But in Oklahoma City, instead of building on the great WKY tradition set forth in what.. the 1940's or so... they throw a few extra dollars at the jocks on their other stations and say, "Hey... do a talk show..." Instead of going out and hiring a real radio news department to be first on the scene and get into a street war with KTOK... they rely on News 9 and whatever else they could gather up. They had one last chance to really do it up right and glean what remnants were left of the three letters that really meant something to Oklahoma over the years. But that would have taken a heavy investment in talent and resources... and God forbid that corporate radio pay top dollar for someone that would bring in something fresh and new to the market. If put the money and effort into WKY that they put into the Sports Animal with qualified talkers and a real news department... KTOK might just have a big chunk of its market share tuned into 930 AM right now. But that would be something fresh and new, and we can't have that. Here's to the glory days. http://www.reelradio.com/gifts/dwwky68.html#dwwky68 (Mediamogul, Jan 10, ibid.) I'd love to see the WKY calls resurface on FM (93-point something of course). Play a 50's early 60's format, use the old WKY jingles, give KOMA a run for their money, like in the old days. Probably will never happen. Just dreaming (mediavet, ibid.) Semi-off-subject, but I was just wondering: if a station with grandfathered calls (i.e. our west-of-the-Mississippi W stations) dropped them for something else, would the FCC allow another operator to pick them up in the future? I.e. is OKC permanently allowed to use those calls again? Of course, if somebody east of the Mississipp snatched them first, then we'd be screwed (until they swicthed calls, of course). I don't know if they're gonna blow out WKY's calls, but I do observe that W X and Y are the most-syllabic letters in Spanish. Obviously half the country is saddled with "double-yew", but all the rest of the letters flow off the tongue. While in this instance, we've got "dob-lay-vay kah ee-gree-ay-ga" in Spanish, which doesn't exactly flow too well (not to mention taking 3 seconds to say WITHOUT the frequency). (hello4, ibid.) Owners today (they are "owners" not "broadcasters") have no sense of heritage or history. WKY and KOMA-AM are two of America's great radio stations. Sad to see them go. But boys, we live in a voice-tracked, pipe-it-in radio world and that is why I got out. I miss the business I got into, but I don't miss the business I got out of. Maybe someday.... (radio55, ibid.) I feel the same way with Journal Broadcasting who dumped KVOO-AM's legendary calls for those horrible KFAQ calls. I'm tired of corporate broadcasters who are brainwashed by thier consultants/advisers that another cheap cookie cutter format will bring huge ratings and profits when they are miles away from people in that city want to hear. BTW Why couldn`t Chitadel move the Sports Animal to WKY and put the Spanish format on WWLS? The Sports Animal would finally have a good city grade signal that would get into downtown offices. Lets hope the "new" WKY winds up being a ratings disaster (Billy G, ibid.) Indeed another sad day. Thank god I remember back in the day when radio was competitive. It's too bad to see that the collapse of radio continues with the dollar proving greater than the programming. WKY needed 5 years to start doing damage and they were on their way. KOKC is awful, KTOK is weak in areas specifically in the afternoons. WKY's pulse on the street was good, people started talking about them And Ron Black was doing well in his two year radio career. If KTOK doesn't make an attempt to hire Ron Black I'll be surprised. "Talk about people in management that are totally out of touch" I recently had lunch with an Unnamed individual who works close with the state and capital who told me that most everyone he knew listened to WKY because they talked about the local issues more so than anyone else on the dial. This was from someone really close to the picture of politics and government and people who are sitting on huge amounts of old money. And now to see another idiotic move like this in this market only proves that radio here is truly out of touch with it's audience. This reminds me of the time when KOFM switched to Magic and it ended up that KOFM had the highest ratings in the next book but it was too late. Although today you can't argue with Magic's success, they've proved Consistency with females 25-54 and are great at what they do. Keeping consistency. History shows that Oklahomans like consistency and over time they grow to listen more often. The only losers here were the listening audience. Greediness wins over patience. Pass the Burrito. While there is nothing positive to say about friends being fired in this business, there is an oxymoronic side to this format change that I find quite amusing. While local radio decision makers continue to pull ridiculous moves of the likes of WKY, I have to laugh when I see GM's cringe when you bring up XM OR Sirius Radio. They absolutely balk at it. What makes this move priceless is knowing the "The Phil Henry Show" is live from 6 to 9pm on XM Satellite Radio Channel 152. Thanks Bastida for another great reason to listen to XM Radio. Even more ironic is just last week Phil said on the air how stupid it was that he was on and off the air in Tulsa and went further by saying how great it was to be on in Oklahoma City. L M A O! (Summers, ibid.) City of License: Oklahoma City Power: 5 kw Website: http://www.laindomable.com Notes: This station was licensed as WKY on March 16, 1922. It was an experimental station before then. It was the dominant top-40 station in the 60s and 70s (consistently beating then-KOMA-AM 1520). In the 1980s and 1990s, the station shifted to Adult Contemporary (then MOR), country, then easy listening, Christian adult contemporary then finally settling on talk. From 2000-2002, the station also flirted with sportstalk, with two local sports talk shows in the drive time periods. In 2003, WKY was sold to Citadel after being owned by The Oklahoma Publishing Company since 1928. In the past few years, Clear Channel Radio was operating the station through an LMA. Since Citadel's purchase, WKY has shifted to an all-local news/talk operation during the day. Some syndicated programming and local pro sports are broadcast at night. In January 2006, Citadel flipped the station to a simulcast of its Regional Mexican sister station on 105.3 FM. There is one really good aircheck of WKY at reelradio.com. Audio Archive WKY Weather Jingle (believed to be from the 60s) – dependable-wky-60s.mp3 WKY Legal (2002) -- wky_2002_legal.mp3 (236kb) WKY Legal (Feb. 2003) -- wky_feb_2003.mp3 (890kb) Previous Call Letters/Formats: WKY (News/Talk -- Super Talk 930 WKY -- March 3, 2003-January 9, 2006) WKY (Talk Radio 930 WKY, Hot Talk 930 WKY -- ??-March 3, 2003) (Varying formats including: Top-40, Country, Easy Listening and Adult Contemporary Christian) Previous Logos (for visual and audio links: http://www.okcradio.net/okc-930.html via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. PAKISTAN CLOSES OVER 40 ILLEGAL RELIGIOUS RADIO STATIONS IN NORTH-WEST | Text of report by Pakistani newspaper Dawn website on 10 January Swabi [North-West Frontier Province], 9 January: At least 41 illegal FM radio stations have been closed down by law-enforcement agencies accusing them of inciting hatred and spreading sectarianism in Swabi district, sources told Dawn on Monday [9 January]. The stations were located in Salim Khan, Purmolai, Safroona, Gandaf, Tandkohi, Zaida, Murghuz, Baja, Panjpir, Maneri Bala, Maneri Payan, Sahmansoor, Turland, Dagai, Palodand and other areas. An official said police stations concerned had been asked to seize equipment from illegal radio stations in their areas. All of the stations had been established by ulema [clerics] in religious institutions and they were broadcasting programmes in the mornings or evenings. All the programmes were based on Islamic teachings and they had a significant influence among women. Police officials said some ulema were using their programmes to target each other. Source: Dawn website, Karachi, in English 10 Jan 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL (cf. DXLD 6-006). RDPi with a "silly ball game" relay: I've noted you mentioning this before - what do you exactly mean by that? It must have been some match report like many stations carry; consequently, any similar relay from ANY station can be termed as "silly" too, true? The parallel 11825 kHz 300 kW is beamed to Africa, so no wonder the signal in NAm is weaker than via the intended 15540 kHz 300 kW. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Certainly. From my point of view, ALL ballgame broadcasts are silly, a total waste of effort, time and money. Sometimes I feel less charitable and call them ``stupid``. Ballgames, and people`s obsession with them, account for probably the greatest diversion of human effort away from anything productive (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Re 6-007: RWM still active?? Yes, at least on 4996. I couldn't hear 9996 due to slop from a station below. I did copy the CW ID at 2039 on 4996. RWM IDs in CW at 9 and 39 minutes past the hour (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Jan 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yep, still there. At 2109 on 4996 with not so strong signal (usually real loud here) and also on 9996 just audible. I don't know if it's propagation or have they reduced transmitter power; usually the 5 MHz is much too strong here (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) ** SENEGAL [non]. ID at the end of the French language transmission, "West African Democracy Radio, la radio pour le dialogue". Also on 17860, although not as strong as on 12000, at 0900 in English, and at 1000 in French, with co-channel interference by TRT, Ankara, from 1030 until s/off at 1100. More info at http://www.osiwa.org/fr/programs/special/radio (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Jan 11, HCDX via DXLD) ** SIKKIM. 4870, AIR Gangtok, 0317-0330, Jan 09, Indian songs with local IDs at 0330 (Kyriakos Dritsas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) Ex 3390! (DSWCI Ed, ibid.) So one of them has finally made the big QSY; how about the others? (gh, DXLD) ** SINGAPORE [non]. Aside from the issue of whether WS is really on UT Sat or UT Sun, or parts of both, AMP`s monitoring of AWR item in 6-007 was a last-minute addition. Now I notice that two of the frequencies don`t match previous info 2130 11980 Guam 21441 2230 11655 Guam 35444 Greetings! AMP (Adrian Peterson, IN, Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In 6-005 we had: 2130-2200 11960 KSDA 2230-2300 11855 KSDA (Bob Padula, Victoria, Jan 6, dxing.info via DXLD And in 5-220 we had: 2130 11960 100 KSDA 2230 11855 100 KSDA (Adrian Peterson, IN, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The schedule at http://schedule.awr.org/AWR_Winter05.pdf after a bit of hunting does show 2130 on 11960, not 11980; and 2230 on 11655, not 11855; and indeed 11960 has been reported several times as colliding with Star Radio, Liberia via Ascension. 11655 might get thru to NAm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Thank you for your observations, and yes, I think you are right. I have checked against other sources and I think that what is listed below should now be correct. After I sent the email message to you this afternoon, the latest edition of DSWLC Window came in, and I note Bob Padula's comments [below] about a one week delay for the broadcasts from Guam. That is probably the reason why it appears that Wavescan was not heard on Sunday during this past weekend. UT kHz Unit SINPO 1130 11915 Guam Checked but not heard in Indy 1200 15110 UAE 1/2 5 3 4 1/2 1530 9530 UAE Not yet checked in Indy 1600 9585 Guam Checked but not heard in Indy 1600 12065 Guam Checked but not heard in Indy 1630 11980 Guam Checked but not heard in Indy 1730 9980 Guam Checked but not heard in Indy 2130 11960 Guam 21441 2230 11655 Guam 35444 Greetings! AMP (Adrian M. Peterson, IN, Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Following logs indicate WS is/was on UT Sundays, not just ``local Sundays`` = UT Sat for most, as Bob Padula previously claimed --- gh] 9530, AWR, Singapore via Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates, 1530-1559*, Su Jan 01, New "Wavescan" presented in English by Rhoen Catolico with introduction of the team from Japan SW Club. Scheduled Sundays, 55555. [site for this moved to UK, before or after this log???] 9585, AWR, Singapore via Guam, *1600-1629*, Su Jan 01, New Wavescan" was heard very weak under a pulsating utility station, 13111. 9980, AWR, Singapore via Guam, *1730-1759*, Su Jan 01, New Wavescan" was not propagating to Denmark. 11915, AWR, Singapore via Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates, *1130-1159*, Su Jan 01, New Wavescan" was heard weak with same programme as mentioned on 9530, 25232. 11980, AWR, Singapore via Guam, *1630-1659*, Su Jan 01, New Wavescan" was not propagating to Denmark. 12065, AWR, Singapore via Guam, *1600-1629*, Su Jan 01 or Mo Jan 02, New Wavescan" was not propagating to Denmark. 15110, AWR, Singapore via Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates, *1200-1229, Su Jan 01, New Wavescan" was heard weak under China R International in Chinese, 21321 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) You may send reception reports for QSL to our region address: AWR Asia/Pacific Region Office, 798 Thomson Road, Singapore 298186, Republic of Singapore (Rhoen Católico, AWR WS, Jan 04, ibid.) The first Radio EDXP program over AWR's Wavescan was broadcast on Jan 08 at 1200 via Abu Dhabi on 15110. The second release was also via Abu Dhabi [sic] on 9530 at 1530. These transmissions were coordinated by Merlin-VT. The Wavescan transmissions from KSDA carried only Christmas music and religious content. It would appear that the Wavescan transmissions from KSDA may be delayed by one week, and I have referred this situation to the Producer in Singapore. As a matter of interest, the EDXP segement was submitted on Jan 05 and recorded at the Singapore studios on Jan 6! (Bob Padula, Jan 9, ibid.) ** SLOVAKIA. PRESIDENT WANTS TO SAVE SLOVAK RADIO FOREIGN SERVICE | Text of report by Slovak radio on 11 January President Ivan Gasparovic has said that none of the Slovak governments cared sufficiently for Slovaks living abroad. After a meeting with the delegation of the World Association of Slovaks Living Abroad the president said that he personally wanted to take steps to ensure that the Slovak Radio foreign service is preserved. The president said he planned to hold talks to discuss this topic with the ministers of finance and foreign affairs, as well as the [statutory] representative of [public service] Slovak Radio. Source: Radio Slovakia, Bratislava, in Slovak 1600 gmt 11 Jan 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SVALBARD [and non]. Good polar conditions --- Just had a weak but clear signal from Svalbard on 1731 kHz, and marginally detectable audio from Berlevag on 1695 kHz; 1710 was v good; traces of audio from Vardo on 1713kHz. Zilch from Jan Mayen on 1743 or Hammerfest on 1635. All at 2310 UT Jan 10. 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, MWC via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. Re Trans World Broadcasting resumed at 1000-1030 on 11795: On Jan 06 I heard the ordinary programme of the CBS Mainland Network, scheduled via Huwei *0600-1000* in Mandarin, at 0910-0930 with 35333. At *0930-1024* it was covered here by the co-channel Voice of Turkey in Farsi, but at 1024-1030* Mandarin was heard again with 35333 in a talk, a song and closing announcement 1029. I suppose the latter was Trans World Broadcasting (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 11 via DXLD) ** TOGO. A station on 5047 at 2035 reported recently by Michel Lacroix of France in A-DX list, checked that one on Jan. 10 and found a very weak carrier, should be observed! 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. UNIONS LOBBY MPS OVER WORLD SERVICE CUTS John Plunkett Wednesday January 11, 2006 MediaGuardian.co.uk http://media.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5371423-111190,00.html Trade unions protesting at plans to axe 10 of the BBC World Service's 43 foreign language services have taken their fight to Westminster. About 100 members and supporters of the National Union of Journalists lobbied MPs over the closures, which will result in about 270 job losses including 50 at its London headquarters, Bush House. The NUJ said the cuts were "short-sighted and unpopular". MPs have called on the World Service director, Nigel Chapman, to explain the changes at a meeting next month. "It is not too late for a change of heart," said the NUJ general secretary, Jeremy Dear. "The government must wake up and realise that these services are incredibly important to these countries, especially those that are emerging democracies." The £25m of savings will be pumped into the World Service's new Arabic TV channel. "We are not opposed to this," said Mr Dear. "But we believe the government should at least provide the initial funding rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul." Among the NUJ supporters was an adviser to the Thai education minister, who presented a 3,500 strong petition to MPs urging against the axing of the Thai language service. Several of the language services being closed - the Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak, Sloven and Kazakh outputs - have already stopped broadcasting. However, the NUJ says none of the closures is reversible [sic! Means irreversible!] (Media Guardian via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U K [non]. ABC NEWS TO BECOME EXCLUSIVE US DISTRIBUTOR FOR BBC NEWS BROADBAND AND WIRELESS ABC News has signed an agreement to become the exclusive representative for the BBC for distribution of BBC News on demand broadband and wireless content in North America. "ABC News has enjoyed a long and beneficial relationship with the BBC in newsgathering," said David Westin, president of ABC News. "We are pleased to be expanding that relationship into the new, digital world." "The demand for BBC content in the United States is growing all the time," said Richard Sambrook, director of the BBC's Global News division. "ABC News, with its track record of high journalistic standards and technological innovation, is a natural partner for us as we begin to meet that demand." "ABC News and the BBC share a desire to reach consumers anytime, on any device and anywhere across the globe," said Bernard Gershon, senior vice president and general manager of the ABC News Digital Media Group. "Together, we look forward to meeting this mutual goal." The BBC will offer approximately 40 on demand reports per day for broadband and wireless distribution in North America. This marks the first time a US news network has joined an international news organization to leverage content offerings, and expands an established relationship between ABC News and the BBC that began in 1994. # posted by Andy @ 14:42 UT Jan 10 (Media Network blog via DXLD) This means all the BBC stuff will be behind the content firewall of ABC news's website via Real Networks RBN streaming network, which does all the video for BBC plus the audio (Lou Josephs, 01.09.06 - 4:06 pm, ibid.) ** U K. RADIO FAX LAUNCHES AUDIO BLOG/PODCAST I'm very pleased to launch the new Radiofax web site, http://www.radiofax.org complete with audio downloads. Being Radiofax we have tried to move with the times so are offering downloads in an audio blog / podcast style. Along with Trevor, I was the producer of the original Sparks programmes and each week (or three) I will be updating the site with programme extracts from the extensive archives we have. We will also be adding some music programmes. For speech extracts, I'm selecting items of historical/anorak interest and there are some items that haven't really dated from when they were originally broadcast in 1992. All have been remastered (as they say) from the original tapes so are of pretty high quality. For example, amongst the first offerings we have: * Detailed comment on the Crossed Field Antenna. (oh how topical!) I'm afraid we had this debunked back in 1992 and have not seen anything in the intervening 14 years to change our minds. * The Churchill Tapes, are they genuine? (about the controversy over the wartime speeches) * An exclusive 90 minute music programme from Andy Bradgate of Radio Caroline fame, where he had a chance to play some of his favourite music. The fantastic response from listeners, the way they cared about the speech based output and the devotion of housebound, disabled and blind listeners in particular, led founder and sponsor Trevor Brook to feel the project to have been one of the most worthwhile things he has ever done. There is lots more to come so please bookmark us or latch onto our RSS feed. Cheers, Andy, Radiofax - The best thing to happen to radio for 20 years - Radio Listener's Guide 1992 (Andy Burnham, Anorak Nation via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) Brief history of the station which tried to obtain a private shortwave licence in the UK also on the site (Mike Barraclough, UK, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio fax also used to rebroadcast Media Network, taken off air via Flevo if I recall (Jonathan Marks, 01.11.06 - 3:21 pm, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. VOA heard with a fascinating weekly feature about the English (or rather, American) language; it was UT Wed Jan 11 at 0647 on 7295, immediately following Earth & Sky. But when else can we hear it, and where can we find the title? Here is the 7-page VOA English program guide. http://www.voanews.com/english/About/upload/Fall05ProgramGuide%20_English.pdf It is apparently within the half-hour Africa News Now, weekdays at 0630-0700 which is on 1530, 6080, 7295 and 11835. There it is: ``Wordmaster``, which appears numerous times on UT Wednesdays. Here`s the blurb, which does NOT show the time I actually heard it! Apparently the 0630 semihour is a repeat of the 0500: ``Wordmaster --- VOA's Avi Arditti brings you the fascinating stories of words and phrases found in today's English language. Wednesday 0117, 0217, 0406, 0517, 1217, 1317, 1417, 2217, 2317 UT Sunday 2217, 2317 UT`` Most of these are being entered with frequencies in the next revision of Monitoring Reminders Calendar; how many more are missing? Here is the page linking to other VOA language regional schedules in pdf: http://www.voanews.com/english/About/ProgramGuide.cfm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Has anyone heard KJES lately? Come to think of it, I haven`t run across its OCD programming on 11715 for some weeks as I bandscan just about every morning. Here is the full schedule per FCC B-05: 7555 0200 0300 KJES 50 335 2,3 1234567 301005 260306 7555 0300 0330 KJES 50 20 3,4,9 1234567 301005 260306 11715 1400 1500 KJES 50 70 3,4,9 1234567 301005 260306 11715 1500 1600 KJES 50 350 2,3 1234567 301005 260306 11715 1600 1700 KJES 50 150 10 1234567 301005 260306 15385 1900 2000 KJES 50 270 55,58,59 1234567 301005 260306 15385 2000 2100 KJES 50 100 11 1234567 301005 260306 All are authorized 7 days a week, but we know they had not really been operating daily. Are they now on the air ANY days of the week, or has there been another breakdown? FWIW, there are no logs of it in the Jan 5-11 period at http://www.shortwavelog.com/Community/ No logs of it in the International Band section of the Jan NASWA Journal, covering roughly mid-Nov to mid-Dec. Nor any logs of it for the entire 2005y by DSWCI members at http://www.kdscholz.de/dswci/logs2005.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WINB --- We'll be making two frequency changes in the coming days: 9265 will be replacing 9320 at 1100-1300 and 2300-0400. The FCC has asked us to leave the channel after Andrews AFB base said that WINB was causing interference to their communications. This change will start at 1100 on Jan 12th. 13570 will be used seven days a week in the period of 1600-2100. We had been using 9740 Mon-Fri at this time. This change will start at 1600 on Jan 23rd. Reception reports are welcome to winb40th@yahoo.com We are especially interested in reports on 9265 as this is a new frequency for us (Hans Johnson, WINB Frequency Manager, Jan 10, HCDX via DXLD) Wow! Despite all the real DX information he might have to contribute, this is the only posting by him on HCDX I can find in the archive of the last few years. The Cumbre tradition of insiders vs outsiders. I suppose that means WWRB and its B.S. service will also have to get off 9320; note 9265 is already used by the virtually inaudible WMLK in the 17-21 UT period (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 96.7 FM Clearwater (?) pirate back on --- Noted with clean current Urban radio hits songs, gaps between trax (audio via a CD changer?), and again, no announcements. Abruptly (again) pulled the plug at [this time] 8:58 p.m. January 10 local (0158, 11 January GMT). Great audio, stereo (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re WBCA 1110 cheating: It can be "malfunctioning" until someone tells them about it. Pretty hard for a daytimer to claim a malfunction, when they ought not to be on at all. That's more like a "wardrobe malfunction" than an equipment problem. Something's exposed that shouldn't oughta be.. Once they are notified, or if the station is a bonafide daytimer with no post sunset paperwork, then "cheating" fits pretty darn well. How would you describe the "Friday Night Football Authorization"? A scheduled malfunction? It's all semantics. A rose by any other name (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Tulane's WTUL 91.5 helped by Stanford University STANFORD HELPS REVIVE TULANE RADIO STATION By Lisa M. Krieger KNIGHT RIDDER Posted on Sun, Jan. 08, 2006 http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/13578273.htm Scattered across the nation by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans music lovers are now able to hear the sounds of one of their favorite radio stations, courtesy of a computer at Stanford University. WTUL-FM, an alternative music station based at Tulane University with listeners across the Crescent City, has been silent since late August. Its equipment was not damaged, but the old metal building that housed the studio, damaged by four feet of flood water, was condemned and then destroyed. The campus suffered heavy damage and is slowly reopening. But earlier last month, WTUL's music became available to anyone, anywhere, who has a computer connection, speakers and a certain type of plug-in streaming-audio software. Acting as a relay station, a server at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics uses streaming audio to link listeners by computer to radio programs made by Tulane students, New Orleans locals, faculty and staff DJs, now at more than a dozen universities. Additionally, the Stanford server is sending the shows to an ad hoc studio in a New Orleans coffee shop, Cafe Rue de la Course, where WTUL DJs are beginning to broadcast over the radio. The Stanford music will be particularly welcome at night, when the city's 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. curfew sends the coffeehouse DJs home. "It's been awesome," said Carr Wilkerson, 39, a Burlingame native and Stanford grad who is on the music faculty at Tulane. Since Katrina, he has been back at Stanford and working to put WTUL online. "There are a lot of savvy people hanging around Stanford who helped make this happen," Wilkerson said. "People really wanted to help." The August storm forced Tulane to close its doors and send students packing. Power was off. E-mail was down. So was the radio transmission tower. Wilkerson moved to Stanford, where he had a chance to teach a class on building electronic musical instruments. WTUL general manager Jeremy Kutner, 22, landed at Columbia University. Other radio staff were welcomed at Dartmouth College, the University of Texas-Houston, Louisiana State University and elsewhere. "When we finally got all settled in, this idea popped up: 'How can we get our radio station on the air as quickly as possible?'" recalled Wilkerson. He brainstormed with Conner Richardson, a Tulane graduate student and WTUL electronic-music DJ, located at Dartmouth. "We didn't have access to a studio, we didn't have access to the transmission tower ... but we thought, we can maybe figure out how to start streaming," he said. WTUL is the largest student media outlet on the Tulane campus, with fans all over the city and beyond. Pre-Katrina, its 1,500-watt signal could be heard even in the outlying suburbs. "We play anything you wouldn't hear on Top 40," Kutner said proudly. Programs ranged from jazz and opera to reggae, even country-and- western. On his four-hour weekly slot, Wilkerson played 20th-century classical music, much of it created through computer-generated electronics. "For us, the radio station is the highest priority" in rebuilding the campus, he said. "It's a way to disseminate information. It's something familiar -- voices from the old New Orleans." So the young staff members realized they had to figure out how to revive their broadcast. They turned to Stanford for help, believing that the university's commitment to computers and music would make it the perfect partner. Critical to their success at Stanford was Argentine-born composer and electronic engineer Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, the center's system administrator. In New Orleans, a station engineer put the computer and audio systems together by scavenging hardware from the now-demolished studio. When listeners connect to WTUL, they are connecting to the Stanford server; the programmers connect to the servers, as well. Content producers upload show files to yet another server, where Wilkerson goes and retrieves them. Wilkerson worked to create what he calls "a jukebox thing," putting sound files in a directory so that the streaming software can cycle through it, playing and streaming the music online. This is how the inaugural show on Dec. 22 was accomplished, featuring a pre-produced show by a WTUL starlet named "Poptart," playing first "I Want A Cookie" by the experimental music band Evolution Control Committee, followed by a passage from author William S. Burroughs. Already, new shows are being produced by dispersed students and sent to Stanford. "There is lots of energy," Wilkerson said. "People love it so much." The Tulane students and faculty have learned a lot from the hardships of Katrina, Wilkerson said. But Stanford is learning something, as well. Stanford may replicate the WTUL project, using its own resources, he said. "Now they're thinking about creating their own broadcast -- a way to create their own Internet station where music created by CCRMA composers can be heard." (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. 01/09/06 - A transmitter fire at KARR AM 1460 Kirkland, which shares facilities with the nightime transmitter of KKDZ AM 1250 Seattle is off air due to a fire. KKDZ is continuing, reportedly using its daytime transmitter site (Northwest Broadcasters http://members.shaw.ca/nwbroadcasters/recentnews.htm via DXLD) Hmmm, looks like we had this story before they did in the local area. Actually our tip came in a posting on the same site 12/28, but you had to read the item linked to find out about the fire which was actually way back in mid-December (gh, DXLD) ** VATICAN. Radio Vaticana --- Ciao a tutti, vi segnalo che ho pubblicato oggi sul mio sito HF Archive un nuova pagina dedicata agli impianti onde corte e onde medie che operano all'interno della Citta del Vaticano nella palazzina Marconi. Ci sono foto dei trasmettitori e degl impianti che vengono usati per il servizio locale in onda media e quello europeo in onda corta. Ecco l'indirizzo del sito: http://mediasuk.org/archive/index.html Saluti, Andrea Borgnino IW0HK http://www.mediasuk.org/iw0hk http://www.mediasuk.org/archive http://www.biciurbana.org (bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Ciao! a proposito di Radio Vaticana --- alle 1730-1755 UT su 6185 kHz non c'era Radio Vaticana --- che è successo ??? VOT Turchia arrivava benissimo in Italiano SIO 454 con il Degen 1103 in ITALTURKO --- "...apuntaminto ala prosima puntata" (Dario Monferini, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re Morocco? ``Bryan, was this really on 5982, or 5980, where scheduled at 0000-0500? 73, Glenn Hauser`` My best reception was very much at 5982; I assume the intended frequency was 5980, however (Bryan Cain, OH, ODXA via DXLD) Side- tuning to avoid BBC 5975, no doubt. It`s the carrier frequency that counts (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 6-007: ``9270.106, 27.12 1410, unID in AM, the same station I reported earlier, then in American, this time an unID lang (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` 2 x 4635, Tajikistan, Yangi Yul. 1400-1100 UT ????????? 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think this has already been reported on 3rd harmonic, so looks a good bet. Now SA needs to measure 4635 to three decimal places, preferably when 9270+ is also in. Soon to be blotted by WINB on 9265; see U S A (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I enjoy both of your programs, WOR and COM and record and listen to them each week, propagation allowing. Keep up the good work!! Regards, (Bruce Burrow, AB7WH, Snoqualmie, WA) COMMENTARY ++++++++++ THE DECLINE OF SHORTWAVE BROADCASTING Continuing the thread in 6-007 under UZBEKISTAN: The trouble with FM, Andy, in my view (as consumer rather than producer of content, granted), is that the "gatekeeper" role has switched from the country producing the broadcast to the host country. And all it takes is a change in government for that host country to decide that the BBC, say (or Radio Netherlands) has become an unwelcome component of that country's mass media. This, unfortunately, tends to happen more often in countries most starved for alternative voices. Shortwave broadcasts are easier to get around an unfriendly regime. 73 de (Anne Fanelli, Elma NY (and a Radio Netherlands listener :-)), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes indeed, that is a very good point and one which we often make. But maybe I didn't make myself clear - the FM stations I was referring to aren't necessarily the ones carrying international broadcasts, though several international broadcasters do indeed have a strong FM presence in many countries (BBC, DW, RFI etc.). The point I was trying to make is that when local FM stations start up in places that previously didn't have FM, a lot of people simply start listening to the local FM station and don't bother with shortwave any more. Listener mail to Radio Netherlands has dropped enormously in the past few years, and I suspect the same is true of other international broadcasters. It's also true that when there's a political crisis, many of these local stations are forbidden to carry news, and people who have shortwave radios will tend to listen to international broadcasts to find out what's going on in their own country. The Catch 22 is whether the international broadcasters can afford to sustain a regular service on the off chance that it might suddenly be needed. The problem at Radio Netherlands, and other smaller broadcasters, is how to balance the need for traditional shortwave with the demand for services using new technology such as podcasting, digital satellite, etc. Audience profiles for shortwave that I've seen put the average age of SWL's at over 50 - in other words, it's not attracting younger people. We've all been hoping that DRM might inject a bit of new life into shortwave, but delays in getting receivers into the market place are causing serious concern. It's a very difficult, and quite a depressing time, in our industry. We do appreciate the loyalty of our shortwave listeners, but the numbers and demographics are not healthy. However, having said that, there are absolutely no plans at the moment to make further cuts to our shortwave services, beyond the 40% transmitter hours that we had to chop a couple of years ago. And that was for purely financial reasons (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Truro/Radio Lotus Although it happened some years ago, the obituary of veteran broadcaster Goolam Majam, a South African Indian, illustrates the point I was trying to make yesterdat about shortwave vs FM: "Together with other popular radio personalities such as Julie Ally, Majam became a household name in South Africa when Radio Truro became the first station broadcasting to Indians in the country on a daily basis, even if the quality was not what it should have been because it came via a shortwave signal from Swaziland, since the government at the time did not allow broadcasting by anyone other than the SABC. "Hundreds of thousands of local listeners remained glued to their radio sets in the days before the advent of Radio Lotus on FM to share listeners' comments and requests, as well as Majam's presentation of the Hindi Hit Parade and Quwali programme. "The arrival of Radio Lotus sounded the death knell for Radio Truro, although it tried valiantly to survive for a few years more." http://www.thepost.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=154&fArticleId=3060363 (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Andy, FM has been around, here in the USA for years and still there's a large audience existing for shortwave if my senses serve me correctly? And there must be enough of an audience in other areas because shortwave stations keep popping up here in the States, albeit they are religious. I am supposing that these religious stations here in the USA get their funds from contributions. I have heard a couple of them selling items over the air too. In my opinion (here I go again), I'd say that if the station's personnel are motivated enough, they will find a way to broadcast. Always blaming problems on the lack of money or the listeners is too easy. By the way, the BBC's English Service is my main choice for listening. There is continuity (Chuck Bolland, FL, ibid.) Video killed the radio star My input on this thread (following comments by Andy, Chuck and Anne on the decline of shortwave). Apologies for length: 1. The villain of the piece is not FM, but TV. The arrival of TV in a market has an enormous impact. The collapse of the BBCWS audience in India over the past 10 years was the result of the widespread adoption of satellite TV over the same period, even amongst the poorest classes. 2. The same thing is poised to happen in Africa, the single remaining most important SW market. The biggest hurdle to the adoption of TV is not poverty (mobile/cell phones have taken off remarkably well in Africa) but the availability of mains electricity. For example, less than 15 per cent of Kenyans are on the mains. As soon as people get electricity they tend to get a TV, and the radio gets turned off (remember, we're often talking about a situation where a familiy of six or more will be living in two small rooms, so everyone is obliged to listen/watch the same thing). The radio is still used at work, in the fields and markets, on the buses, in cars (in short, when people are busy) - but that prolonged evening radio listening period is lost for most people in an instant. 3. Another example is the Arab world. My view is that Arab audiences have not stopped listening to western radio stations because they're western but because they're radio. Visiting Cairo last year I passed miles and miles of downmarket apartment blocks. The roofs of ALL of them were crammed with satellite dishes (and I'm sure they weren't for satellite radio). 3. We in the UK and North America have trouble understanding all of this because we never experienced a prolonged peacetime situation in which a very substantial proportion of the population was listening daily to foreign stations. (On a side note, even in WWII British listening to foreign stations was mainly done on MW, and the same was true during the Cold War.) If you don't have that experience of observing "ordinary" people listening to SW, it's difficult to understand why they stop doing so. 4. Chuck: I must challenge your assertion that there's still a "large audience" for SW in the USA. All the professional research says otherwise. There are certainly plenty of SW stations, but that's not the same thing. I'll leave my thoughts on DRM to another time. (Chris Greenway, UK, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ADVENTURES IN AMPLITUDE MODULATION - PART 4 The latest installment [about shortwave, mainly US paranoid]: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/01/adventures_in_a.html (via Ken Kopp, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MW OFFSET TUNING I was hearing so many hets tonite that I had to find some of my old "Foreign Broadcast Activity Charts" and annotate them (Nick and others, now that brings back memories --- Cardinal Divide, Pembina Forks, 7 Mile Flats etc). One hates to waste a "lot" of time in chasing hets especially if you're missing the few that have turned into audio while you're trying to decide if that was really a het or not. This is what works best for me - I just set the fast SSB tuning step to 9 khz and make sure the radio is started 1 kHz off of the standard 9k split. The radio here is the ICOM 756PROIII, and I normally just use the slow rate of 10 Hz, but momentarily pushing the TS button puts you into fast - which is now set to 9 kHz steps. If I tune up from the bottom of the band I'd use USB and start 1 kHz low. This produces a 1 kHz beat note that is readily viewed using your computers sound card and any one of a number of free audio spectrum analyzer programs out there. I happen to like Spectran by IK2PHD and IK2CZL. A small download; just use Google to find it. You can use any offset you like, just that 1 kHz is an nice even number for the next step. The steady 1 kHz het will be easily visible in many cases even when covered by splash. If your sound card (and radio) are accurately calibrated you can measure the station`s carrier frequency easily to at least 1 Hz resolution, and without ANY test equipment. We do cheat a bit and use the tones that WWV transmits in case you were wondering. Just tune in the 500 Hz tone - first in AM to verify your sound card`s accuracy, then in SSB to determine how far your radio is off. Then either calibrate your radio or do the necessary math. My old sound card (5 years old with a slow PII-400 computer) is around 0.1 Hz off or less. And the ICOM can be calibrated to about 1 Hz before the control gets too finicky. Another neat feature is the ability to see multiple carriers. For example, 855 had 3 carriers, 1 dominant and 2 much weaker 20 minutes ago, now there are only 2. If we had a database of precise carrier frequencies, we could even make an educated guess to who generated them. This could be equally useful on domestic channels too. A quick scan - every 9 kHz split - of the band was completed in around 5 minutes, which included making notes. No TA was of audio level now, but 44 channels were easily noted as having hets. 1314 had the best with a carrier rising about 20db above the noise. 73 (Don Moman, VE6JY, near Edmonton Alberta CANADA, ICOM 756PROIII, beverages, IRCA via DXLD) MEDIUMWAVE OFFSETS DATABASE Here's a database maintained by Günter Lorenz: http://www.myradiobase.de/mediumwave/mwoffset.txt 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, IRCA via DXLD) also longwave A BEAUTIFUL QSL-CALENDAR 2006 Hallo Glen[n], Adrian Peterson recommended me to tell you something about the QSL-card calendar 2006. The calendar is a DIN A 4 wall- calendar and very decorative, we like it very much. It shows many QSL- card from never existing broadcasting stations and some are very rare. So it could be something for collectors too. The publisher is the Rhein-Main-Radio-Club Germany, one of the leading DX-clubs of Germany. We published this fine QSL card calendar 2006 at our 30th anniversary October 2005(att.) Detailed information and some photos from the RMRC and the calendar you will find at our homepage http://www.rmrc.de By the way Rhein-Main-Radio-Club organized the EDXC Conference 2003 at Königstein near Frankfurt, where Adrian held a lecture. Best wishes and a Happy New Year 2006 (Harald Gabler, RMRC CEO DrGabler @ t-online.de Rhein-Main-Radio-Club e.V., Postfach 700849, 0558 Frankfurt, Germany http://www.rmrc.de Jan 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Two QSLs illustrated per page, including Martinique, St Helena, Fiji. By ``never existing`` I guess he means that some of them are no-longer existing SW stations. I have three of them myself. Nice collexion, but not much use as a calendar, as days of week are not shown, just a list of days in each month, not in weekly grids (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITIONS [non] ++++++++++++ NHULUNBUY (GOVE), NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA by Craig Edwards, December 2005 Nhulunbuy in Northern Australia is a remote coastal location where not many Australians will ever visit because it's so difficult to get there. It's the kind of place where serious DXers would love to go and do their 'once in a lifetime' DXpedition. I can imagine this place being like Newfoundland, Miscou Island or Grayland for North American DXers and Lemmenjoki, Kongsfjord or Parkalompolo for Europeans. I'm not sure if anyone has ever been DX'ing from this location, but I'm glad I have. This article is not a 'large-scale week-long DXpedition' report, but rather it's the first instalment of hopefully many DX reports from a place I have just moved to live for the next for 3 years. . . http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/nhulunbuy_2005_12.dx (via DXLD) WORLD OF TELEPHONY ++++++++++++++++++ IVR CHEAT SHEET Tired of navigating phone menus? Paul English has done the world a great service by putting up a website that gives directions to actually "empower" you to speak to a live person at companies that really don't want to talk to you at all. Click the following to access the sent link: http://paulenglish.com/ivr/ (Tom McNiff, Burke, Virginia, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ REMAPPING CONFUSION ON DTV The remapping system can get pretty confusing for DXing. During some tropo openings I can get KWCH-DT 19 [Wichita] on the Win TV-D but not always on the RS STB. The analog channel for KWCH is channel 12. When I go to channel 19 on the STB I usually end up with KCPT-DT 18 being remapped from channel 19 as KCPT is analog 19. If I go to channel 12 I can end up with KOLN-DT on channel 25. This has happened many times and I still do my primary DTV DXing on the Win TV-D which does not remap. The Samsung HDTV sets will do better sometimes but they are not as good with weak signals as the Win TV-D or the STB. I bought three STB's and have kept two giving one to an adult daughter and her family in nearby Lawrence, Kansas. I tried "their" STB during a tropo opening on an unconverted analog set and found several Dallas area DTV stations scanned in. I was getting Tulsa and Wichita but never saw the Dallas stations that day. I am wondering if someone at Radio Shack headquarters in Ft. Worth had tried it or if the Dallas area stations were actually in. I have seen Dallas/Ft. Worth stations here in digital, but not all of the stations scanned. It's a whole new world (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, WTFDA via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ DIPLEXING Glenn, Here is the closest diplexed pair I have been able to uncover: WHKT 1650 Portsmouth, VA WCPK 1600 Chesapeake, VA (h-l)/h = 3.03% I'm still looking for directional candidates, but so far 1370/1500 San Jose [CA] appears to be the winner. [Later:] Glenn, I overlooked one close to home, as it wasn't one of ours, but done by my distinguished colleague Tom Jones: KLFE 1590 KTFH 1680, both Seattle Although KTFH is non DA, KLFE is a 2 element DA nighttime. As you can see from this and the previous example, the expanded band has been the cause of some pretty demanding diplexing situations (Ben Dawson, WA, Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE LINE NOISE BATTLE The most hated customer of Memphis, Light, Gas, & Water.... may be me. Gosh, I don't want to jinx things, but it may be that the lion's share of my MLGW line noise issue has been handled. According to FCC Part 15, utilities may not cause harmful interference to licensed services, and they can be fined if they do. I have had a nasty, nasty noise source off their lines for months. After numerous phone calls and much general consternation, we may have knocked it down. Now, it was no easy task. MLGW drug its feet. And, I can understand why -- it occupied a full pole crew (4 guys; two trucks, and an RF engineer in a van) for almost a week if you string all the visits together. I can't imagine the cost. But, as I write, 2 meters (yup; that's where it was most annoying) is as quiet as a mouse. Will it last? We'll see... The moral to this story? If you have line noise issue, bug the stew out of your utility utility until its handled. Document the interference, and send requests in writing to establish a paper trail. Oh, and if you're a non-ham with issues, it might be worth your while to get at least a Tech license. It will substantially increase your legal standing (Peter Baskind, J.D., LL.M., N4LI, Germantown, TN/EM55 WTFDA via DXLD) TECHNOLOGY TWEAKS FACE OF RADIO Via an article forwarded to this list by Kevin Redding: ``While many Sioux Falls radio stations have dabbled in computer technology and offer listeners some downloading opportunities, executives say the key to their long-term success is in providing local weather, news and commentary. ``The thing we have over satellite radio, and what will keep us going strong, is that we are local,`` says Cumulus radio personality Chad McKenzie. ``The satellite announcer, who probably is pre-recorded anyway, has no idea what is going on around here. That’s where we have the edge.`` In that quote are two "articles of faith" shared by many terrestrial AM/FM broadcasters: 1) Listeners put greater value on live announcers than pre-recorded ones; 2) Listeners want "local" programming/content in some form. Is really there any validity to those two assumptions? Have you ever listened to a station, realized it was a pre-recorded program, and turned the dial, in disgust and anger, searching for a live announcer? I've never done it; has anyone here? Likewise, is there really a preference for "local" programming? If it really exists, how do you explain the success of Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, and other non- local fare? How come 10 million people are paying $13 a month for the non-local (and often prerecorded!) content of XM and Sirius instead of all that local content available for free on AM/FM?? And, outside of all-news stations, who does local news on AM/FM these days?? I suspect "listeners want live announcers" and "listeners want local programming" are just as dubious as such now-disproven axioms as "People want real computers like Data General or DEC, not some toy like those Apple II boxes" and "Americans want real cars, like this Buick with power seat covers, and not some cheap Jap junk from Toyota." I know many broadcasters believe those first two propositions are true, but do listeners really care about either?? ------------------------------ (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, http://futureofradio.typepad.com/ ABDX via DXLD) SCANNER SCUM WEB PRESENCE Just in time for Kulpsville. People can find out the latest about that crazy group of radio hobbyists The Scanner Scum. http://www.tjarey.com/radio/scannerscum.html The site is under construction but bios and articles are being added every day. Give it a look and tell all your friends (or maybe your enemies as the case may be). See everybody at Kulpsville.!!! (T.J. "SKIP" AREY N2EI http://www.tjarey.com Jan 11, HCDX via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field generally ranged from quiet to unsettled levels with some active to minor storm periods observed at high latitudes. Solar wind speed ranged from a high of about 450 km/s early on 02 January to a low of near 350 km/s midday on 05 January. The Bz component of the IMF did not vary much beyond +/- 5 nT for the entire period. A brief period of southward Bz to -7 nT on 06 January resulted in some active to minor storm periods at high latitudes midday on the 6th. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 11 JAN - 06 FEB 2006 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 24 January – 01 February. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. Active to minor storm periods are possible on 23 – 24 January due to effects from a recurrent coronal hole wind stream. Otherwise, quiet to unsettled conditions are expected. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2006 Jan 10 1853 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2006 Jan 10 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2006 Jan 11 78 5 2 2006 Jan 12 78 5 2 2006 Jan 13 78 5 2 2006 Jan 14 78 5 2 2006 Jan 15 78 5 2 2006 Jan 16 80 8 3 2006 Jan 17 80 5 2 2006 Jan 18 80 5 2 2006 Jan 19 80 3 1 2006 Jan 20 85 3 1 2006 Jan 21 85 5 2 2006 Jan 22 85 5 2 2006 Jan 23 85 15 3 2006 Jan 24 85 15 3 2006 Jan 25 85 8 3 2006 Jan 26 85 8 3 2006 Jan 27 80 10 3 2006 Jan 28 80 5 2 2006 Jan 29 75 5 2 2006 Jan 30 75 5 2 2006 Jan 31 75 3 1 2006 Feb 01 75 3 1 2006 Feb 02 75 5 2 2006 Feb 03 75 8 3 2006 Feb 04 75 8 3 2006 Feb 05 75 5 2 2006 Feb 06 75 8 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via DXLD) ###