DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-086, June 16, 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 NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO Extra 68: Fri 2030 WWCR 15825 Sat 0400 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 WRN 13865 DRM via Bulgaria Sat 1430 WRMI 7385 Sat 1600 WWCR 12160 [or later] Sun 0230 WWCR 5070 [start varies 0225-0235] Sun 0530 WRMI 9955 Sun 0630 WWCR 3215 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Wed 0930 WWCR 9985 Complete schedule including non-SW stations and audio links: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: 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 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS June 13: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html MUNDO RADIAL, junio-julio: (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0606.ram (descargar) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0606.rm (descargar mp3) http://www.obriensweb.com/mr0606.mp3 (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0606.html Además desde el 16 de junio en WWCR 15825, viernes y lunes 2114 TU; y en WRMI 9955, domingos 1030. En segmentos vía Radio Enlace de Radio Nederland los viernes y domingos, y sábados, lunes universales NOTE: Your editor has been taking a few days off, so this issue does not contain all the latest info piling up in my inbox. It will take a while longer to get caught up, if ever (gh) DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ALGERIA [non]. Re 6-085, UNIDENTIFIED 9710: There are transmissions of TDA via U.K. sites on air at present. 0400-0600 7260 Rampisham, 9540 Woofferton. 1900-2000 9765 Rampisham, 11810 Woofferton. 2000-2100 9765 Rampisham, 12025 Woofferton. 2100-2300 7150 Rampisham, 9710 Woofferton. Seemingly TDA means RTA Algiers? [Later:] Hi Glenn, couldn't find any matching Algerian program at 1900 and at 2000 UT. LW 252, and MW 890, 980 kHz are totally different in program content. I don't know what TDA mean, I guess it means Telediffusion Algerienne. I hope Tarek will be keen to identify this Arabic broadcast service. Rampisham 9765 kHz audio feed seems different, contains a light echo. But Woofferton audio is excellent. So, maybe, fed on different satellite equipment to both facilities. RTA Algiers via Woofferton-UK site on 11810, 2000-2100 UT. \\ 9765 via Rampisham. ENRS Kor`an programme, address according Google search engine: ENRS, Radio Algeria 3, Rue De L'Oasis Hydra Algiers Algeria ENRS bc organization from Algeria, see WRTH 2006 entry on page 100: Entreprise Nationale de Radiodiffusion Sonore (Radio Algerienne) (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTA Algiers heard signing-on 11810 kHz at 1900. Started with national anthem, then "Huna El Djazair" followed approx 30 seconds later by "Idha'atu Quran al-Kareem" [Holy Koran Radio]. Reception was good on 11810 kHz, poor on // 9765 (Dave Kernick, UK, June 14, HCDX via DXLD) I guess this is a domestic Qur`an program relay. ID's like "Huna El Djazair" followed approx 30 seconds later by "Idha'atu Quran al- Kareem" [Holy Koran Radio]. First test on ISS-France in mid Jan 2006, then Merlin around Feb 1st 2006, and then again ISS-F in mid February 2006, now via Merlin U.K. again, in June 2006 (Büschel, ibid.) There were several items in January and February issues of DXLD about the tests via France and UK, along with projected schedules if made permanent, which never materialised (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) * * * HISTORY * * * Bassil Ahmad Zoubi of the ASBU explained that one of the organization's members, Algiers, has ceased SW broadcasts "until further notice" because of technical problems (Jeff White FL- USA, HFCC report in NASB NL via dxld, Mar 7, 2003 via Büschel) RTA is currently broadcasting on SW via VT Communications transmitters in the UK. Wolfgang Bueschel (BC-DX) reports the schedule [as above]: Algeria itself has been off shortwave for several years, but RTA tested earlier this year via VT Merlin (UK) and TDF (France). It is not clear if the current transmissions are more short-term tests or the start of a regular service. Programming is from RTA's Holy Kor`an network in Arabic. Heard last night at 2115-2135 with fair reception here on both 7150 and 9710. ID heard at 2130 "idaat al kor`an al karim" (Dave Kenny, June 15, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 6080, RA/ABC, June 10, 1403-1409, RA news (world, national and sports), IDs for RA Overseas Service, 1405 ABC`s ``Saturday Night Country`` with DJ Johnno, playing C&W songs. Fair, // 7240 (good). (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SINGAPORE ** BOLIVIA. R. Mallku, 4796.4, 0950-1005+ June 9, presumed with possible ID, CP music, Spanish announcements; poor with sweeper QRM (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Tupi, Curitiba, 6060.02, 0800-0815+ June 11, tune-in to Portuguese religious programming. 0804 ID, Portuguese religious music. 0808 preacher. Poor in noise; very weak // 9564.96 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Noticias del Radio Brasil [sic, in portuñol, ¿or is it españuguês?] La radio cultura de Campos dos Goytacazes, ciudad de la provincia del Rio de Janeiro Brasil, puede volver sus emissiones en ondas tropicales, La cultura fue la primera emissora del Rio a hacer transmissiones en onda tropical en la frequencia 4955. La radio termino sus emissioenes bajo la información de que lo hizo por questiones economicas. Pero un grave erro a sido logrado por la diretoria de la emissora: una coleción com mas de 500 tarjetas de oyentes de todo el mundo a sido jogado fuera, en la basura. Ahora la información de que puede volver ao aire en 4955 e las tarjetas??? La Radio Globo del Rio de Janeiro una de las potencias del radio Brasileño puede quitar definitivamente sus emissiones en onda corta. Ja non hace transmissiones regulares en 11805 khz e debe terminar sus transmissiones en 6030. La emissora alega questiones de ordem economica e que com la NET la onda corta non es una opción para los dias de hoy! [contradicted below] Una otra emissora que descartó totalmente su retorno a las transmissiones fue a Radio MEC, del gobierno Brasileño. La misma tenia transmissiones regulares en 17875, 11950, 9600 y 5990 kHz. El gobierno alega razón economica e el advento de la NET. El curioso es que nel Brasil solamente 30 por ciento de la populación tiene acesso constante a la computadora. Por otro camiño, la Radio Educadora de la ciudad de Limeira-San Pablo, informó que queda fuera del aire, por problemas tecnico e que volverá em breve a sus transmissiones en 120 metros en qrg 2380. Es hoy la unica emissora del Brasil a mantener emission regular en 120 metros de 21 horas hasta 10 horas GMT. Es una buena "pagadora" de QSLs. Informacion: escafúra del Brasil swl py10130 (via Diney Escafura, Brasil, June 15, Noticias DX via DXLD) also contradicted below Prezados, Gostaria de saber qual é a fonte da informação dada a respeito da Rádio Globo, do Rio de Janeiro (RJ)? Pergunto uma vez que, em 04/06/2006, publiquei em http://www.romais.jor.br informação sobre a emissora tendo como fonte o engenheiro Gilberto Küssler, do Departamento Técnico da emissora. Como podem ver na informação, que reproduzo abaixo, a Rádio Globo, do Rio de Janeiro, "não pensa em terminar com suas emissões em ondas curtas". Muito pelo contrário, de acordo com Küssler, a emissora planeja reformular seu parque transmissor. Küssler passou as informações, em e-mail, ao colega Edson Ferreira, que reside em Paulo Afonso (BA). Outrossim, informo, ainda, que na data de ontem (14 de junho), pude monitorar a Rádio Globo, pela freqüência de 11805 kHz, de forma regular, por volta de 1300 UT, quando estava no ar o apresentador Loureiro Neto, apresentando um boletim do repórter Francisco Daiello a respeito da Copa do Mundo. BRASIL - A Rádio Globo, do Rio de Janeiro (RJ), está mantendo no ar os transmissores de ondas curtas "dentro do possível". Foi o que o Gerente de Transmissores da emissora Gilberto Küssler informou a Edson Ferreira, de Paulo Afonso (BA). Segundo ele, "os equipamentos são muito antigos e adaptados". Ressaltou, no entanto, que a emissora pretende, em breve, modificar o parque de transmissores de ondas médias. Em seguida, será a vez de "rever o parque de ondas curtas". Kussler também pediu paciência aos ouvintes das ondas curtas até que tudo seja implementado. Questionado por Ferreira a resposta da confirmação QSL, o Gerente de Transmissores informou que estuda a implantação de uma versão eletrônica de QSL para enviar aos dexistas. 73s, (Célio Romais, Porto Alegre, Brasil http://www.romais.jor.br Noticias DX via DXLD) And Célio also cites the recent reports of R. Súper Alvorada on 2460, so Limeira 2380 would not be the only active Brazilian on 120m (gh) ** BULGARIA. Noticias DX por Radio Bulgaria, 11 Junio 2006. América Central. Un horario de verano ha comenzado a regir ahora en Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras y El Salvador y ha provocado, lógicamente, cambios en los horarios de transmisión radial. Esto se refiere a las emisoras que transmiten por las bandas tropicales y a Radio Imperial, salvadoreña, que emite por la banda de 16 metros de onda corta. Por Rumen Pankov, Versión al español: Mijail Mijailov (via José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This item appears to be ripped off without credit from one of my earlier reports, as on Mundo Radial, Radio Enlace, minus the subsequent correxion that El Sal did not go to DST after all. And as for R. Imperial, it has not been confirmed active in many months (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** CHILE. Hi Glenn, The National Security Archives at George Washington University recently released a nice, interesting declassified cable sent in 1974 from the US embassy in Santiago about Pinochet's Voice of Chile. I wrote a full report on my madridkid blog site. Check it out! http://madridkid.blogspot.com/2006/06/when-us-embassy-predicted-failure-of.html Thanks, (Marty Delfin, Madrid, Spain, June 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: WHEN THE US EMBASSY PREDICTED THE FAILURE OF PINOCHET`S AMBITIOUS VOICE OF CHILE SHORTWAVE PROJECT Just days after dictator Augusto Pinochet inaugurated the powerful Voice of Chile on January 15, 1974, a U.S. diplomat told his superiors in Washington that he had reservations about the effectiveness of the shortwave radio station and predicted that it would fail because it wouldn`t be able to attract enough listeners. This revealing appraisal is contained in a recently declassified cable sent by an American Embassy official in Santiago and obtained by George Washington University`s National Security Archive. The diplomat, who signed the missive using only his last name Villarreal, described Pinochet`s plans for his station as ``grandiose.`` Just four months earlier, Pinochet, with the U.S. government`s backing, led a bloody coup that toppled Marxist President Salvador Allende. ``This is a major propaganda effort by the government of Chile,`` Villarreal wrote Washington on January 17, 1974. ``Junta seems determined, however, to fight critics abroad and attempt to correct what they see as a distorted image of Chile peddled by former Allende supporters and fellow-travelers.`` On the morning of September 11, 1973, Allende was cornered inside La Moneda Presidential Palace in downtown Santiago just less than two hours after broadcasting an emotional last-stand speech on Radio Cooperativa. In another part of the city, a faction of the Chilean army was confiscating new Soviet-made transmitters that had been supplied to the Communist-backed Radio Recabarren and Radio Magallanes, Villarreal`s cable explained. The powerful 70 kilowatt transmitters were then set up across the street from the Defense Ministry and put to the Junta`s use at Radio Nacional de Chile. During the inauguration ceremony, Pinochet said the station`s purpose was ``to let world know of heroic Chilean struggle to save the country from the totalitarian claws of Soviet imperialists,`` the diplomat summarized. With domestic transmissions on 1140 kHz, Radio Nacional would begin broadcasting as the Voice of Chile in several languages including English on shortwave throughout the 1970s from Radio Cooperativa`s studios. Villarreal identified Col. Eduardo Sepulveda, ``the Junta`s prime communications man`` who would later become the Chilean consul in Miami, as head of the station`s board of directors. Station manager Gabor Torey and press officer Francisco Barahona were both hired from Radio Minería by the Junta`s secretary general. ``Although plans for Radio Nacional are grandiose, knowledgeable radio contacts doubt efficacy of international broadcasting effort pointing to high costs, limited listening audience and past failures to mount shortwave efforts from Chile,`` Villarreal reported. Villarreal`s observation was correct. By the mid 1980s, the Voice of Chile suspended its international broadcasts and in 1990 Pinochet was voted out of office in a referendum. The eight 100 kilowatt Harris shortwave transmitters that once belonged to the Voice of Chile were purchased in 1998 by Christian Vision, a religious broadcaster, for its Radio Voz Cristiana and are in use today. posted by Madridkid @ 2:34 AM June 14 (via DXLD) ** CONGO DR [non]. R. Okapi, 11690 via South Africa, 0438-0559* June 9 & 11; tune-in to vernacular talk, later French. Occasional ``Okapi`` jingles. Some African folk music. ``Okapi`` jingles at sign-off. Very weak at tune-in but slowly improving to good signal strength by 0455 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. INFORMATIVO SOBRE LA VIEJA CENTRAL DE LOURDES Hola Amigos: Aquí encontré hoy este informativo periodístico que tal vez sea de interés para todos los que se interesan por la radio en la perla de las Antillas. Cordiales 73s, (Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, June 16, Noticias DX via DXLD) CUBA NIEGA ACUSACIONES DE GUERRA ELECTRÓNICA CONTRA EEUU Reuters América Latina - UK --- LA HABANA (Reuters) - Cuba desmintió el miércoles un informe atribuído a la CIA según el cual la isla libra una silenciosa y sofisticada guerra electrónica contra Estados Unidos. La supuesta información de la CIA, citada el fin de semana por el diario estadounidense Nuevo Herald, dice que Cuba ha invertido millones de dólares desde 1991 para penetrar y espiar telecomunicaciones y redes informáticas de Estados Unidos, su enemigo a sólo 150 kilómetros de distancia. Granma, el diario del gobernante Partido Comunista, dijo el miércoles que los centros de espionaje electrónico identificados por la inteligencia estadounidense son, en realidad, inofensivas universidades, escuelas y sindicatos. El Nuevo Herald dijo que Cuba construyó a mediados de la década de 1990, con ayuda de Rusia, un complejo de espionaje de 750 millones de dólares en Bejucal, un pueblo 20 kilómetros al sur de La Habana. Según el diario, la base es operada con la colaboración de expertos de China "En realidad no es más que la Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas donde estudian cerca de 10.000 alumnos, entre ellos un buen número de ciudadanos de otros países y a la que cualquier persona puede entrar y visitar sin regulación alguna," dijo Granma. Según el Nuevo Herald, la base de Bejucal permite a Cuba interceptar las telecomunicaciones de Estados Unidos, además de penetrar y manipular sus redes informáticas. La universidad de informática de Bejucal fue construida en el 2002 en las instalaciones de lo que fue la Base Lourdes, un centro de escuchas de telecomunicaciones estadounidenses operado durante la Guerra Fría por la Unión Soviética. El Nuevo Herald también menciona instalaciones en Cojímar, un suburbio al Este de La Habana donde el escritor estadounidense Ernest Hemingway solía pescar y desde donde hoy, de acuerdo con el informe atribuído a la CIA, Cuba realizaría experimentos con armas electrónicas. "Allí la mayor acumulación de equipos electrónicos que pude encontrar fue en una escuela donde los niños de primaria aprenden computación," dijo Granma. "Esto puede haber sido considerado peligroso por parte de la CIA," comentó. Según cifras oficiales, en Cuba hay 377,000 computadoras o 3.4 por cada 100 habitantes. Alrededor de 900,000 cubanos tienen acceso a internet o a una intranet de páginas locales. Cuba bloquea con interferencias las ondas de Radio Martí, una emisora de radio y televisión creada a mediados de la década de los '80 por el gobierno de Estados Unidos para difundir propaganda e información contra el gobierno comunista de la isla. Cuba considera a Radio Martí es una agresión radioelectrónica. Jueves, 15 de Junio del 2006 CORDIALES SALUDOS / GOOD LUCK / (via JUAN FRANCO CRESPO, STAMP JOURNALIST (AIPET), SÀLVIA 8 (MAS CLARIANA), E-43800 VALLS-TARRAGONA (ESPAÑA-SPAIN-ESPAGNE-SPANIEN), Noticias DX via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. CZECH REPUBLIC/USA: PRAGUE BACKS PLANNING CHANGES FOR NEW RFE/RL SITE Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 14 June: A new seat of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) can be built in Prague 10-Hagibor neighbourhood, deputy Prague mayor Jan Buergermeister (Civic Democrats, ODS) told CTK today. The City Council has proposed that the necessary change to the zoning plan in this respect be approved, Buergermeister added. The RFE/RL will move from the former building of the Federal Assembly on Wenceslas Square in Prague centre, from where the RFE/RL has broadcast since 1995, to Prague 10 where the Orco Property Group will build a new house for the radio station. Prague representatives will deal with the change to the zoning plan concerning a half-hectare area in late June. Now the plots are registered for sport purposes. The relocation of the US-funded radio station from Prague centre started to be discussed after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001. Since then the RFE/RL seat has been guarded and its area has been protected by concrete barriers. Czech and US officials agreed to move the radio to a district outside the centre in order to raise the safety of the station and its surroundings. The RFE/RL's relocation is planned for the end of 2007. In about two years it is to start broadcasting from the new premises. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1636 gmt 14 Jun 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. BBC WORLD SERVICE FM BROADCAST UNDER THREAT The Czech broadcasting council has ruled that the BBC World Service has broken license regulations by sharing its local frequency with a Czech Radio station. The Council says the BBC acquired the license for the FM frequency on the basis that its broadcasts would contain programmes from its own Czech service. The BBC Czech Service, however, was discontinued earlier this year. The BBC - on the airwaves in this country for over 15 years - will now broadcast in English only and faces the threat of losing its license. (from http://www.radio.cz/en/news/80130#3 via gh, DXLD) I found the above after seeing a much more detailed story about this in Spanish: http://www.radio.cz/es/articulo/80109 (via José Bueno, Spain, Noticias DX via DXLD) See also Media Network ** DENMARK. DANMARKS RADIO 1, 243 kHz LW, transmitter site Kalundborg. QSL CARD, letter, home service schedule, stickers, 9 days. V/S Erik Koie (OZ3YI). Sent: my SWL QSL card, CD recording the transmission, 1 €. Address: Radio House, Rosenørns Alle 22, DK-1999 Frederiksberg. You can see all the pics on http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com/ 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, June 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) also letter, stickers ** GAMBIA. 648 kHz, Gambia Radio, Banjul APR 17 2145 - Glimpses of African talk, fades, news at 2200, definite English at 2204, news ended at 2222, then African music with few (or no) breaks between songs, ID as the "Gambia Radio and Television Service in Banjul" at 2230; initially very weak but up to SINPO 44433 at 2230. APR 17 2220 - End of African news in English, then African steel drum vocals, at 2230 ID, "You've been listening to the Gambia Radio and Television..." (Newfoundland DXpedition 16, April 11 - 19, 2006, Round Cove, Cappahayden (46 53'N 52 57'W), Logs by Jean Burnell and Bruce Conti, Receivers: Drake R8A (with RCA Lyra mp3 recorder), Drake R8B (with MWDX-5 phasing unit, Pogo Radio Your Way LX mp3 recorder), Icom R71A (with Radio Shack cassette recorder), Antennas: 350 m towards northern Europe, 350 m towards eastern Brazil, NRC International DX Digest June 9 via DXLD) ** GIBRALTAR. 1458, R. Gibraltar, Wellington Fort (36 08'N 05 21'W) APR 14 2204 - BBC World Service programming; SINPO 34343. APR 18 2120 - BBC World Briefing parallel 3915 kHz. [2536mi, 4081km] (Newfoundland DXpedition 16, as above) ** GREECE. ERT S.A.: THE VOICE OF GREECE A06 SHORT WAVE TRANSMISSION SCHEDULE Effective from 06/01/06 to 10/28/06 (00:00) UTC GMT/UT Frequencies Language(1) from Avlis 1, 2 and 3 transmitters only EUROPE 0000-0500 7475 9420 Gr 0500-0600 12120 *7475 9420 Gr 0600-0700 12120 15630 9420 Gr 0700-0900 12120 15630 9420 Gr 0900-1000 12120 15630 9420 Gr, Eng 1100-1200 15630 Gr 1200-1800 15630 9420 Gr, Eng 1800-1900 *15630 9420 Gr 1900-2400 7475 9420 Gr Foreign Language Transmissions 1300-1900 665 AM MEDIUM WAVE Gr,Ar,D,Rus,E,R,Tr,Sc,Bg,Al,F,Pl,Eng CANADA-BRAZIL 2300-0600 9420 Gr INDIAN OCEAN 2300-0200 *15650 Gr 0200-0500 *17520 Gr ATLANTIC OCEAN 0600-1000 12120 15630 9420 Gr, Eng 1100-1900 *15630 Gr, Eng 1200-2100 9420 Gr, Eng 2100-2300 7475 9420 Gr 2300-0600 *7475 9420 Gr NORTH AFRICA 2300-0600 9420 Gr 0500-1000 12120 Gr, Eng JAPAN 2300-0200 15650 Gr AUSTRALIA 2300-0200 *15650 Gr 0200-0500 *17520 Gr NORTH AMERICA 2300-0600 *7475 9420 Gr ZONE PANAMA, NORTH AFRICA 2300-0600 *7475 9420 Gr (*) Transmission ends 10 minutes earlier Gr=Greek, Eng=English, Al=Albanian, Ar=Arabian, Bg=Bulgarian, D=Germam, F=French, E=Spanish, Pl=Polish, R=Romanian, Rus=Russian, Sc=Servocroatian, Tr=Turkish (John Babbis, MD, USA, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So they still have the multilingual service, but on MW only. Makes sense to take it off SW, right? All the mentions of English are misleading --- presumably referring only to one hour on Saturday and one hour on Sunday. Canada-Brazil target on 9420? What a combo. In fact, per another version of the schedule showing azimuths, 9420 is only at 323 degrees at all times; hard to see how this would include Brasil (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Those 2 hours of English are about all that you are going to get out of Voice of Greece. That medium-wave outlet is Radio Filia, Athens 3, with 15 kW on 665 kHz. and on FM at 107, neither of which will get you too far into Europe. But, this seems to be a local affair, only for the foreign workers in Greece, and thus there would be no need to put it on short wave. I copied the below from their web site: Regards, (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: PROFILE --- FILIA 665 [AM] & 107 FM --- Multilingual program (12 languages) Greece, which was a sending country of migrants in the 60's, through its successful European course, transformed itself into a receiving country of workers from every corner of the planet. The changes in Greece's cultural and social map, that took place in just a short period of time, comprised a challenge for us all. State radio thus decided to respond to these challenges and provocations decisively and creatively. Just two years ago, an idea was born by the General Director of State radio at the time, Giannis Tzannetakos, having as a framework the foreign language department of ERA-5, a pilot program in 12 languages aimed at reaching out to foreign workers in Greece. This successful project's continuation is the program we are inaugurating today, "FILIA" on 665 AM and 107 FM. Its aim is to firstly allow migrants from 121 countries to maintain ties with their countries of origin and to be informed daily in their own languages, thus creating a communication bridge and embracing each and every migrant and refugee living and working in Greece. "FILIA" will also serve as means of eliminating prejudices and xenophobic tendencies that often lead to racist phenomenons [sic!], as in many European countries. The goal of the new state radio station is to contribute to the establishment of a mutual feeling of acceptance and solidarity between locals and migrants, through news broadcasts and of course music, adding just another stone to the structure called FILIA of the people. During these times of globalization, language for our people is the basic element of existence, the beauty of individuality. Our radio may not be able to drastically influence the conditions or rather the complex issues created by the migrant phenomenon. It can, however, positively contribute in cultivating an environment where racism and xenophobia cannot thrive. "FILIA" therefore, will speak in 12 languages, Arabic, Russian, Rumanian, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Albanian, German, Spanish, French, Polish, and English, firstly, with news from the countries of origin and not translations of the Greek news bulletins and reports and write-ups from the source of the headlines. In addition, there will be analysis and commentaries with the objective views of Greek State Radio. We would also like to emphasize our significant agreement of collaboration with the BBC World Service and our cooperation with volunteer non-governmental organizations such as "The Doctors Without Borders" and the "Doctors of the World" as well as with the migrant communities such as the Albanian Migrant Forum. The news and information bulletins in 12 languages will soon be included on ERT's web site in view of the Olympic games in 2004 (via John Babbis, DXLD) Yes, they had been caught relaying BBC WS news in various languages, a source of confusion when was on SW; discussion continues: (gh, DXLD) GRECIA. En el día de hoy he intentado captar el servicio en español de La Voz de Grecia a las 1430, sin señal por las frecuencias de 7430, 12105 y 15650, en las frecuencias de 9420 y 15630 emisión en paralelo en griego y en la frecuencia de 9935 otra emisión en griego diferente a las anteriores. Se desconoce pues cual es la suerte que ha corrido los servicios internacionales de Grecia (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ya se informó en DX-Mix Bulgaria que anularon todos los idiomas extranjeros en la frecuencia anterior de 7430. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Gracias Glenn, entonces no hay frecuencia de reemplazo. Quiere decir que La Voz de Grecia ha eliminado sus servicios en idiomas extranjeros definitivamente? 73 (José Miguel, ibid.) Saludos José Miguel. Tanta vara con la tal Voz de Grecia y lo que me queda claro es que durante mis mañanas, alrededor de las 1400 a 1500 es una emisora regular en 15630, aunque su señal ha venido defeccionando de hace un par de meses para acá. Cuando sí se le escucha ricamente es en período nocturno, valga decir alrededor de las 0200 hacia las 0400 en 9420 // 7475 // 5865, aunque esta última estaba fuera del aire anoche, Miércoles 14 de Junio. Todas estas son transmisiones en griego, aunque una vez leí por ahí, no hace mucho tiempo, que contaríamos con un servicio en español a las 2300 en 9375 según creo recordar, pero esto nunca se materializó. Qué sabés vos al respecto? 73s (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) Saludos Raúl, realmente poco sé al respecto, según las últimas noticias es que han eliminado el servicio en Onda Corta, ahora sólo en Onda Media, yo tenía la esperanza de encontrar una frecuencia de reemplazo a 7430, pero no es así; sí también se confirma la salida de la Onda Corta de Radio Serbia y lo de Radio Eslovaquia no lo para nadie, en poco tiempo van a desaparecer muchas emisoras, demasiadas. Un abrazo, atentamente (José Miguel, ibid.) ** INDIA. AIR SW Carrying World Cup --- World Cup English football commentary on AIR 3390, 4760 and 4970 so catch them if you haven't got Sikkim, Andamans and Shillong! Extended coverage at 1935, 2000 -- (G. VICTOR A. GOONETILLEKE, 4S7VK, June 14, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Highway Advisory Radio in India --- The Financial Express of Bombay, India (12 June 2006) is reporting plans are underway to set up Highway Advisory Radio stations on portions of National Highway 8. No frequencies are listed. Link: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=130262 If they could just do one for their rail system, several thousand more people would still be alive annually (Mike Hardester, Jacksonville, North Carolina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4869.92, RRI Wamena, (presumed), 1018-1035 June 15. Noted music with a woman with Indo comments as music played. Seemed to be a feature of some kind. Signal was good. Didn't hear an ID, however RRI Sorong is usually faded out by this time, so suspect this is Wamena (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545 http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) Per http://www.tdp.info/ins.html Wamena is 8 degrees further east, and 3 degrees further south than Sorong, but fadeout times should be determined by local sunrise in Florida. Slightly different azimuth of arrival may be in play, but this is around sundown in Papua so both stations would be fading in, not out from that end (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 7289.87, RRI-Nabire, Jun 09, 0750-0812*, 24442-34343, Indonesian, Music, ID at 0759, 0800 Jakarta news relay, 0812 sign off (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9525, VOI, June 10 and 11, 1337-1357 & 0945-0957, Indonesian music, economic news followed by national and world news, 1357 covered by sign-on of strong station with Chinese music. Assume VOI signed off at 1400. Fair-good, better than reception in Shanghai. 9680, RRI Jakarta, June 11 (Sun.), 1003-1023, KGRE English program #5110, about unique animals (Australian sugar glider and Indonesian komodo dragon), songs ``Walking the County`` and ``Jeans On``, presented by Kevin and Fiona. Fair (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525 also well heard here after 1300 June 16 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. World Cup --- Hi, Glenn! I know you have little use for silly ball games, but you can't put the World Cup in the same bag as the World Series, the Stanley Cup or the Tests at the Oval. It's a different story, and thank heavens it exists to bring the whole world to the table every four years. It's like a bunch of guys getting together on Tuesday night to play cards for beans; it's the companionship focused around the sport. Where else can you see Mexico playing Iran, like yesterday? Or Switzerland playing Togo? FIFA's membership is way higher than the UN, even. The whole world slows down during the tournament; in some countries, during games, traffic is a lot less than normal, and when the country itself is playing, it's almost nonexistent. Here in Toronto, being so multicultural, it's an event that causes people to fly their national flags on their cars! Just imagine the scene in Sydney tonight, when Australia scores their first goal in World Cup history at 12:45 AM local, and then the same player scores another 5 minutes later to win the game and another player adds another 3 more minutes later, when they had been losing the game right almost to the end because of a referee's mistake... Everybody in the world follows this, even if their country isn't playing, with the possible exception of India, Pakistan and a few more where cricket is the game. It's a reunion, and if you were just to look at the crowd in the stadium, you'd see. Best regards (Carlos Coimbra, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Soccer is no worse and certainly no better than hockey or cricket. A worldwide reunion for friendly (?) competition is just fine with me; I only wish it were about something the least bit intellexual and which might, just might, advance human knowledge. Why is brawn so much valued over brains? I`d settle for a philately competition, a geography bee, or anything with a scientific connexion. NOTHING whatsoever is accomplished by anyone winning, let alone playing, a stupid football game. Those who think this matters are severely and sadly self-deluded. Whatever country may ultimately win proves nothing about its intrinsic value, and if anything, there is a negative correlation (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Me too, I wish I didn't play lottery as it's set out, which involves just pure luck. I would much prefer that prizes were given out based on Jeopardy-type questions, because I'd stand a much better chance. As it is, the village idiot is at the same level with everybody else. And as far as physical sports, I prefer the much more individual game of tennis, which admittedly involves strength, but also finesse, and this over team sports. I don't give a damn over which soccer team wins national competitions (I wish they'd all lose, with all the foreign players they import). But go and try to get a nation enthused about something brainy! It's like trying to get one's municipal governors to say "Let's build a great damn hospital to put our city on the map"!! They know about building stadia and pharaonic projects, but not what really matters. Look at the civil strife in Ivory Coast: they've even stopped fighting and have united behind their first-timer soccer team. And it's only once every four years, darn. At least at the WC they play the national anthems when it's more appropriate, as opposed to before every baseball, basketball or whatever match, when national teams aren't even facing each other. Somehow, I don't get enthused about the Olympics, so there must be something about seeing these direct contests between football styles. And BTW, soccer on ABC isn't the greatest: they throw in all sorts of political commentary, and as you well know, American networks almost ignore the competition, focusing practically exclusively on American athletes. The difference about soccer is that the sport most commonly practiced in the world, so nearly everybody knows the rules, hence the wild interest. It'll be over on July 9th, so "only" a bit more than 3 weeks. Best regards and I'm glad to hear your voice sounding OK lately, as I recall you were a bit hoarse not too long ago (Carlos Coimbra, Ont., June 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. NOAH SAMARA CONNECTION TO DEMOCRAT IN BRIBERY PROBE --- Time Picayune New Orleans: Firm lent Jefferson at least $50,000 Business pressed FCC to launch satellite Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, who is at the centre of a federal criminal bribery probe, received a personal loan from a satellite radio executive who has had business before the federal government, financial records released Wednesday show. Noah Samara, CEO of WorldSpace Inc., loaned Jefferson between $50,001 and $100,000, according to Jefferson's financial disclosure form for 2005. The date of the loan is not given, but Samara's company was pressing the Federal Communications Commission to let it launch a new satellite last year. Samara's company, which delivers satellite radio in poor countries, has not been mentioned in any documents released in the federal investigation of Jefferson's role in a telecommunications deal in West Africa. Asked whether the company had received a subpoena in the case, WorldSpace spokeswoman Judith Pryor said, "We're not talking about that." Jefferson also declined to comment when asked about Samara. The annual financial disclosure report comes a day before House Democrats are expected to decide whether Jefferson, who has not been charged, should remain on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. The 50-member Democratic Steering Committee last week recommended that Jefferson be removed from the tax-writing panel. The 203-member caucus is expected to do the same and, if approved, it would require a vote by all 435 members of the House. Federal investigators say Jefferson demanded bribes to promote telecommunications deals in West Africa. Agents said they have videotape of Jefferson accepting $100,000 from a cooperating witness for a bribe intended for a Nigerian official and that $90,000 of that cash was later found in the freezer of the congressman's Capitol Hill home. Jefferson has said there is an "honorable explanation" that eventually will be revealed. Full story: http://snipurl.com/rusd Worldspace statement: The headline to a news report published today incorrectly stated that Worldspace made a loan to Congressman William Jefferson. The loan referred to in the report was a personal loan made in 2001 by Noah Samara, the Company's Chairman and CEO, to Congressman Jefferson. The loan, which is a matter of public record, is not related to any Company business. Worldspace and Mr. Samara have cooperated fully with the Department of Justice's ongoing investigation of Congressman William Jefferson. http://snipurl.com/rusp (via Mike Barraclough, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. Re Kai Ludwig`s recent report. Since today, IRIB uses for German 1730-1830 new 7540 in addition to 11855 and 15085, asking for reports on the performance of this frequency. New 7540 produced an excellent signal on Sunday evening (June 11) as so did // 11855 and 15085 but, as Kai remarked, audio quality was better on 7540. Today (June 12) I heard another new frequency - 11555 in Italian until close down at 0728. This was at excellent strength and with good audio quality too. Parallel 13770 was weak but 15085 good. So now we have Iran 11555 til 0728; KWHR 11565 from 0700; Pakistan 11570 until 0700 and WYFR 11580 all audible in this part of the band. (Noel R. Green (NW England), June 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. The kicker on NBC Nightly News June 15 was about Kristen King, a cute southern girl who is a big hit on AFN with her Country Convoy show. It`s 2:43 and titled, strangely enough, ``Voice of America``. Geez, don`t NBC know this name is already taken? Look for it at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ And don`t mess with the player, try to enlarge it, after it starts running, or it`s likely to crash IE. I wonder how long these things remain accessible? BTW, it keeps on playing other stories about Iraq (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Sligo European Radio - On the air this Sunday Hello Short Wave listeners. Sligo European Radio will be broadcasting once again on Sunday June 18th 2006 between 0700 GMT (0800 BST) and 1000 GMT (1100 BST). This transmission will be on our usual frequency of 9330 kHz on the 32 Metre short-wave band. All listeners are invited to send us reception reports to our e-mail address: sligoeuropeanradio @ hotmail.com and if you can include a 2 or 3 minute, good quality MP3 recording of our output as an attachment to your reception report e-mail, we would be delighted to hear from you. Looking forward to hearing from you, hearing from us. Yours sincerely (Chris Jensen - Sligo European Radio, June 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. What is your favorite "Foreign Language" station/program? Hi All, I thought I'd see if I can "stir up" some dialog between members of the list, or at least "inject my thoughts" here. As SWL's I'm sure that we've all listened for extended periods to programs in which we didn't understand the language. It goes with the territory! Perhaps some of us have developed favorites, for whatever reason. Maybe it's a taste for exotic or unusual (to us) music. Hams and SWL's are the only people in the world who can listen to the WWV time transmissions for extended periods and not get bored. Kind of like watching paint dry ;-) Anyway, why not tell us about your favorite "foreign language" program, one in which you DON'T understand the language. For example, if you're bi-lingual and Spanish is your second language, a Spanish Language program DOESN'T count. One of my favorite Foreign language programs comes from Radio Japan. It's in Japanese, and I don't know the name of the program. But here's a description of it. I heard it this morning (California time) at 1630 UTC on 9535. It can be found on NHK at various times/frequencies. Always an interesting program. It sounds like a "Game Show" with a music theme. They play a short segment of music, chimes go "ding-dong" then the participants talk. Today I recognized Elvis' rendition of "Love Me Tender". And also the Japanese version of "Save The Last Dance For Me". I've heard this program many times on various frequencies and it makes one want to learn Japanese. However, I have a TERRIBLE time with languages! 73 de (Phil, KO6BB Atchley, DX begins at the noise floor! Merced, Central California, 37.3N 120.48W CM97sh swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** KENYA. 1386, KBC Maralal (01 06'N 36 42'E) APR 17 0300 - Good; "This is KBC Radio" into march/anthem, and "Topping the news..." [6148mi, 9894km] (Newfoundland DXpedition 16, April 11 - 19, 2006, Round Cove, Cappahayden (46 53'N 52 57'W), Logs by Jean Burnell and Bruce Conti, Receivers: Drake R8A (with RCA Lyra mp3 recorder), Drake R8B (with MWDX-5 phasing unit, Pogo Radio Your Way LX mp3 recorder), Icom R71A (with Radio Shack cassette recorder), Antennas: 350 m towards northern Europe, 350 m towards eastern Brazil, NRC International DX Digest June 9 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. RADIO VERITAS CONCERNED ABOUT SECURITY'S ACTION The Inquirer (Monrovia) June 14, 2006 Posted to the web June 14, 2006 The Catholic Radio Veritas has expressed serious outrage about what it described as a dangerous trend that seem to be emerging by presidential guards and other state security forces. Radio Veritas said presidential guard and state security forces, in recent times, intimidated, manhandled and harass journalists including two of its reporters, George Watkins and Jallah Grayfield. According to a release, the management of Radio Veritas its the two reporters were subjected to security abuse at the Executive Mansion in which the two were briefly detained. The station said, last week at the Robert International Airport, its Executive Mansion Correspondent Grayfield was maltreated by presidential security officers along with other local reporters when they had gone to cover the arrival of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from a visit to Switzerland. "Radio Veritas considers these actions as a threat to press freedom, something that brings back fresh memories of yester years and the most recent past. "The station is carefully studying the serious implications of these actions on our reporters and we are tempted to seriously contemplate instituting a news black out not only on the Executive Mansion but the entire Liberian government until this government brings to a halt the reckless behavior of its security forces," the release concluded. Recently, the Press Union of Liberia wrote President Sirleaf raising similar issue (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 1000, XEOY, R. Mil, Iztacalco, México DF (19 23'N 99 07'W) MAY 6 0459 - Choral national anthem, man: "Desde México D.F. transmite Radio Mil." Good, trace of KOMO. 1000, XEHPC, R. Mil, Hidalgo del Parral, Chih (26 57'N 105 40'W) MAY 11 0535 - Doowop music, 0540 time check by a man, "12:40 en Radio Mil desde Hidalgo del Parral... de Marco Antonio Solís, ¿A dónde vas?" into romantic song by Solís, "Las 12:43 en Radio Mil," 0544 ad, "En Radio Mil, el rebelde de rock... El 12 de mayo en el Teatro Metropolitan," into romantic vocal. Very good, mostly clear, occasional possible Brazilian; remarkable for listed 500 watts. New. 1700, XEPE, Cash 1700, Tijuana (32 32'N 116 59'W) MAY 8 0600 - La Hora Nacional. 0700 back to English business news. Note that XEPE does not carry La Hora Nacional at the same time as 1090 XEPRS [0500 UT Mon] although both are in the same time zone (Richard Wood, Keaau BIHI, 19 38'N 155 02'W; FRG 100, long wires 350-ft northeast, 175-ft north/northeast, NRC International DX Digest June 10 via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. 7145, 0815-0825, June 16, Nice 10-15 db over s9 signal on their new frequency here in TN. 41 meters seems to propagate here better than 31 meters, but this is the first time I've caught them on 7 MHz. Dateline Pacific and RNZI ID at 0825 (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They have been using 7145 for quite some time at a later hour, often and easily heard here around 1300 (gh, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 1026, Jigawa Radio, Dutse (11 47'N 09 25'E) APR 18 2129 - In a mix of three stations, ID in English as "Radio Dutse" at 2129, African talk at 2151 mentioned "Abeocuta" a couple of times, African music at 2158 to 2200, then likely religious talk (mentioning "Allah" a number of times) to 2203, then ID in English "Jigawa Radio in Dutse," and may have gone off at that moment; SINPO 22432. Other stations on the channel were Spain and a station in Portuguese that peaked around 2132. This latter station was likely Mozambique. [4330mi, 6969km] 1062, Anambra Broadcasting Service, Onitsha (06 08'N 06 48'E) APR 18 2059 - Very weak talk, fuzzy ID as "Radio Adamawa" at 2100; SINPO 154X1. APR 18 2155 - Good; urban contemporary vocal, 2200 ID, "This is Anambra Broadcasting Service..." into news in English. [4500mi, 7242km] (Newfoundland DXpedition 16, April 11 - 19, 2006, Round Cove, Cappahayden (46 53'N 52 57'W), Logs by Jean Burnell and Bruce Conti, Receivers: Drake R8A (with RCA Lyra mp3 recorder), Drake R8B (with MWDX-5 phasing unit, Pogo Radio Your Way LX mp3 recorder), Icom R71A (with Radio Shack cassette recorder), Antennas: 350 m towards northern Europe, 350 m towards eastern Brazil, NRC International DX Digest June 9 via DXLD) ** OMAN. R. Sultanate of Oman, 15140, *1402-1430+ June 10; sign-on with English news in progress. 1407 ID and techno-pop dance music; Barry Manilow`s ``Copacabana`` song. 1423-1427 news report, then back to pop music. Poor, weak in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3325. Radio Bougainville (formerly R. North Solomons). Buka Island. News in English heard on 6/15 at 1000 with many items on PNG. Strongest PNG signal on 90 meters logged at this midwestern QTH in 18 months. Still strong at 1033. Other (unidentified but likely) PNGs heard from 0951 to 1025 on 6/15: 3905 R. New Ireland, very good signal; 3315 R. Manus; 3385 R. East New Britain (Steve Bass, Columbus, Ohio, DSWCI Member NO. 3638E. Icom 746PRO Transceiver and Wellbrook 330S Loop Antenna, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** PERU. R. Visión, 4790.26, 0115-0145+ June 11, tentative. Spanish religious programming with talk and some Spanish religious music. Poor, weak with slight wobble in carrier and swisher QRM. Rdif. Huancabamba, 6536.37, 0150-0203* June 10, Spanish talk, announcements, ID. Abrupt sign-off. Weak, poor in noisy conditions. R. Unión, Lima, 6114.86, 0730-0750+ June 11, Spanish ID announcements, pops, some OA music; fair-good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** QATAR [non]. WHEN THEY'RE DAMN GOOD & READY! --- Seems Al-Jazeera missed the projected launch date of their new English-language, worldwide TV channel, and is taking its sweet time for a make-good. The Qatar-based service plans to serve up its fare via bureaus in Washington, London, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and at home base in Doha, Qatar; backers vow the product will be palatable and objective. Ex-ABC Newsman Dave Marash and well-known British journalist David Frost (remember the Nixon Interviews??) have inked as the highest-profile personalities of the new Net, which is apparently bedeviled by facility construction delays, as well as clearance issues: Evidently not one U.S. Cable system has signed on to carry the new service. The BBC World Channel has debuted in the New York area via Cable (not to be confused with the widespread BBC Americas channel); also CCTV9, the English service from our buddies in Beijing, is carried on some Time-Warner systems, notably in the western San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Al-J's Commercial Director Lindsey Oliver made note of the myriad delays in refusing to set a new target date. "The glib answer is to say we'll launch when we're ready", she said to the AP (Greg Hardison, Broadcast Band Update June 15 via DXLD) The full UD, much more, appears in the DXLD yg ** RUSSIA. 9765, R. Tikhiy Okean (R. Station Pacific Ocean), June 14, *0835-0900*, chimes IS, Russian programming (news, interviews, etc.), Russian folk songs, many IDs, 0859 sign-off announcement/phone number/website. Has consistently be fair-good, but conditions for the //12065 vary a lot from day to day, from very poor all the way up to good (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. Saludos cordiales, en la web de Radio Serbia y Montenegro: http://www.radioyu.org/ Se puede apreciar que ya han eliminado a Montenegro; ahora sólo anuncian a Serbia, también en el noticiero del servicio en español, la emisora se identifica como Radio Serbia. Sigue sin escucharse señal alguna en Onda Corta (José Miguel Romero, Spain, June 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE [and non]. How important was that rugby game, caught my attention this Wednesday June 14 as I was checking 6080 to see if clashing between Radio Australia and Radio Singapore persists at 1145. Well, no sign of RSI at all, not even in the background, just this match // 9580 // 9590 and surprisingly 12080 Brandon was still there, with its fake (?) 10 kW at a time propagation is not so favorable from Down Under on this frequency (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still hearing the RA/RSI mix on 6080 around 1230 June 16. It may serve RSI right for having previously usurped RA`s frequency, but it is the listeners who lose (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. 14th June, 5930, 0100-0130, R. Slovakia in English barely readable at sign on to good and readable at sign-off, then into Slovak. Just a bit of winter play around. Regards (Ron Killick, Christchurch. NZ, Sony ICF6800W, 40m LW, HCDX via DXLD) That`s 1 pm local time; indeed a winter solstice thing (gh, DXLD) ** TANZANIA. 1377, R. Free Africa, Mwanza (02 30'S 32 56'E) APR 12 2103 - Deep-voiced man in Arabic-influenced African language, ID at 2107; SINPO 22432, under France. [6150mi, 9898km] (Newfoundland DXpedition 16, April 11 - 19, 2006, Round Cove, Cappahayden (46 53'N 52 57'W), Logs by Jean Burnell and Bruce Conti, Receivers: Drake R8A (with RCA Lyra mp3 recorder), Drake R8B (with MWDX-5 phasing unit, Pogo Radio Your Way LX mp3 recorder), Icom R71A (with Radio Shack cassette recorder), Antennas: 350 m towards northern Europe, 350 m towards eastern Brazil, NRC International DX Digest June 9 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT ESSAY CONTEST 2006 deadline extended Dear VOT listeners: We apologize for the inconvenience about the essay writing contest 2006 whose topic is: "Can religions play a guiding and constructive role in dialogue between civilizations?" We have revised the deadline to June 30th. For your information. We wish you good luck... (Voice of Turkey English Section, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Previous deadline was June 15: We look forward to hearing from you until June the 15th, which is the deadline. You can also send in your entries via e-mail. They should not exceed three pages (via Sakthivel, DXLD) No: religions are the problem, not the solution (gh, DXLD) ** U K. SWITCH IN UK RADIO TERMINOLOGY? When did the UK begin to switch their radio terminology? When I grew up there, "AM" was "medium wave" and stations were referenced in wave length rather than frequency. Radio One was on "247 Medium Wave", Radio Caroline was on 199 (later 259 I think). I assume that it changed as imported radios began to appear more frequently. Does anyone know if the BBC made an official decision to change, if so when? -- (Andy K3UK O`Brien, Fredonia, New York, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Andrew, The change in radio language in the UK was a very gradual process, although the current language has now been established for many years. It all started around the time of the 1978 frequency reorganisation. Your comment about the greater availability of imported radios may have some truth, particularly when keypad tuning came in with sets such as the Sony ICF2001 in the early 1980s. I recall some instances where stations on the same frequency would announce slightly different wavelengths. For instance, on 1359 kHz, BBC Radio Solent would refer to it as 221 metres, whereas Essex Radio would refer to it as 220 metres. Incidentally, did you realise that Radio Caroline was *never* in fact on either 199, 259, 319 or 389 metres. Those wavelengths were just announced so that they would rhyme with Caroline. Some other UK 60s pirates also, whether knowingly or otherwise, announced their wavelengths incorrectly, notably Radio City, which was nowhere near 299 metres. Also, some of the stations were not properly tuned, thus creating heterodynes which would annoy those of us trying to listen to them (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, ibid.) Andrew - you don't say when you "grew up" here in the UK but AM was not used to describe the medium and long wave bands until recent times. AM stood for amplitude modulation and FM for frequency modulation as they still do of course. If we were listening in the AM mode then as you say it was given as "247 metres medium wave" or good old "208 on the medium wave" or "1293 metres or 1500 metres on long wave". And as far as I'm aware, all of the pirate stations used to announce their wavelength and not their frequency. Paul David's comments are quite correct concerning what was announced by them - "Caroline on one nine nine" is easy to remember and near enough. And the correct wavelength for 1359 kHz is 220.75 metres but why announce that mouthful! Round it down - or up! Frequency modulation incidentally was "VHF". You are probably right in that the AM/FM terms and frequencies instead of wavelengths came about as a result of the importation of radios so marked. The BBC must have made the decision to change to these terms but I can't recall when or if they announced they were doing so, but my guess would be that frequencies began to be announced some time during the 1980's. Also, as you remark, an advertised 'AM radio' usually only receives the medium wave band and not long wave - buyers beware! 73 (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) I occasionally hear older members of staff on BBC Radio 5 Live saying "909" and "693" metres - or rather, I did. They hardly seem to mention the mediumwave channels now. I agree with Noel, the BBC just seemed to change from wavelength to frequency without ever explaining that they'd changed their policy. I remember telling the guys at Radio 210 in Reading, which launched in 1976, that they'd regret calling their station after its wavelength, especially since reception was much better on FM. So, at least at that stage, wavelength still dominated the mindset of broadcasters in the UK (Andy Sennitt, ex-UK, ibid.) I recall at the time of the 1978 MW reorganisation, which involved a quite separate reorganisation of BBC national radio frequencies, that the vast majority of local stations didn't even mention the frequency changes, even though they would involve at least short breaks in transmission to allow the changes to take place. After all, the wavelength as announced on air would be the same. I recall Bob Holness on LBC specifically stating that on a day of major wavelength changes at the Beeb, LBC listeners need have no worry as their station would remain exactly where it was which, for your average listener with an analogue tuning dial, was correct. Talking of the Reading station, as most of you no doubt know, even to this day their FM service is called Two Ten FM, whereas their MW service is known as Classic Gold 1431 and 1485 (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, ibid.) ** U S A. Dan Robinson, VOA Congressional Correspondent, recently appeared on the ``progressive`` Thom Hartmann Show, discussing threats to VOA English. 11 minute .rm file is in the new Pertinent Shows folder in files area of the dxld ygroup (Glenn Hauser, June 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I believe I'll take up the Yankee Doodle Dandy Project. Please ask your listeners to send bare-bone facts about their findings to: wd9inp @ isp.com 73 de (Charlie Taylor, NC, June 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Heard VOA's closing on 9535 today. Time was 1200 to 1230 with the Spanish service from Greenville, NC according to the Passport. "This is the Voice of America, Washington, DC signing off." This followed with the "Yankee Doodle Dandy`` theme music with full orchestra in a marching tempo. Don't know if you're still keeping track of these? (Chuck Bolland, FL, June 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS 11705 R. Sawa via Tinian Jun 10 1511-1522 43443 Arabic, Talk and music, ID at 1514. 13625, R. Sawa via Tinian Jun 10 1314-1358* 33443-43443 Arabic, Music and talk, ID at 1315, etc, Thanks for tip from S. Aoki via NDXC BBS. 15225, R. Sawa via Tinian Jun 11 *0100-0123 43443-44444 Arabic, Music and talk, ID at 0103, etc. 21500, R. Sawa via Tinian Jun 11 0603-0630 55444 Arabic, Music, etc. ID at 0605, etc (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) R. Sawa abandoned SW a couple years ago. Can anyone confirm this? Also seems unlikely they would use a site so far away from the Arab world as Tinian. Or maybe just using Sawaudio for tests? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. AFRTS TUNES OUT CONSULTANT'S CALL TO ELIMINATE TALK RADIO SHOWS --- By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Thursday, June 15, 2006 http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=37938 WASHINGTON --- American Forces Radio listeners could hear some music changes in coming months but won`t lose their talk radio, according to the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for internal communications. Allison Barber said officials won`t follow a media consultant`s recommendations that military radio drop Rush Limbaugh, National Public Radio and other talk shows in some markets in favor of potentially more popular music offerings. A report from Lund Media Research commissioned by military radio officials had recommended breaking away from the one-music, one-talk format in regions with two radio stations, instead replacing it with two music stations playing more popular genres and dropping country music. The consultants recommended a politics/country music station only for regions with more than two stations. But last week, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service officials decided not to make any immediate programming changes based on those suggestions. ``This research is a good benchmark for us --- but there are recommendations that we¹re not going to implement,`` Barber said. ``And the issue of taking political talk off of the radio is something that we`re not going to do.`` The Lund report, compiled over the last six months, noted that talk radio was less popular among younger troops and less useful for attracting new listeners than Top 40 and hip-hop music stations. Barber said the talk radio offerings have already undergone majo r changes in the last year --- officials added Ed Schultz, Al Franken and Sean Hannity in December --- and officials need to see how the military audience reacts to those lineup changes before any other major decisions. ``We take a look every quarter at what new shows might fit our criteria, but for now that process for talk radio will stay the same,`` she said. She said that officials are considering shuffling the music offerings available worldwide, ``mixing it up to see how the audience responds to some of those (report) suggestions.`` That could leave uncertain the fate of country music, which the Lund consultants identified as appealing to a smaller portion of the armed forces than hip-hop and pop. The survey also noted that country music is more polarizing than any other music options --- loved by some, hated by others --- which makes it more difficult to mesh with other programming. Barber said the current music stations are flexible in their programming, allowing officials to make incremental changes and see how the audience reacts. But no definite changes have been announced. The analysis of the radio broadcasts, which included a survey of 1,125 military radio listeners, is the first major review of the over-the- air offerings in more than a decade. The goal, Barber said, is to find the best ways to have important command messages interspersed in the radio shows. Officials are also looking at other technology, such as podcasts, to get those alerts out. Barber said the Pentagon Channel podcast had about 181,000 downloads last month, showing it can be ``a real tool for us to communicate with listeners.`` (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) see also IRAQ If you love classical music, you are out of luck with AFRTS (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WNYW PODCAST IS NOW ONLINE --- Lou Josephs advises that the first podcast featuring archive material from WNYW, Radio New York Worldwide, is now available. Lou describes it in the WNYW blog: "34 Mb of Les Marshak, a composite of several Music from New Yorks. An added bonus of Ken Lamb doing the Caribbean/South America music from NY - this started in Nov 1968, and the tape you hear is from early 1969; it's complete with IDs. And one very interesting thing about WNYW during this period, someone thought it was a good idea to eliminate the transmitter site from the ID. And yes they did get a fine for that from the FCC." The link to the podcast (MP3 format) is at http://s1.upload.sc/request/902af7e73e779976ba93539eee071847 WNYW blog: http://wnywradio.wordpress.com/ (Media Network blog June 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. WEWN, 5810, 0230-0245+ June 8, no longer heard on 5035. English Catholic programming, ID; very good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brian says he is off for another summer of travelling to drum & bugle corps shows and DXing should resume in late August (gh) ** U S A [non]. ESTADOS UNIDOS VIA CHILE – Durante o decorrer da Copa do Mundo, a CVC – A Sua Voz não irá apresentar a edição do Rádio DX das sextas-feiras. É que a emissora estará dando prioridade para o campeonato mundial de futebol. As edições dos sábados e segundas- feiras universais, no entanto, irão ao ar normalmente. Aos sábados, às 1100, em 6110 kHz e, nas segundas-feiras universais, às 0000, em 11745 kHz. Rádio DX fala do dexismo e do mundo das ondas curtas! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX June 11 via DXLD) When this restarted there was no Friday airing, but I see it is back during the 1400 UT hour ``every`` Friday --- except now pre-empted by stupid ballgames: 1400-1500 UT Audio Mix/Radio DX (Todas as sextas) 15525, per their grid (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Shortwave Overnights, Free Speech Rock and Roll program Sun. 1 am-3 am [EDT = 0500-0800 UT], 7415 doing well. It seems shortwave listeners really crave good music on the bands. Cheers, (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. COMMENTS: From William Hassig: with the FCC imposing six- digit fines for certain words, the use of these words by pirates is probably a bad idea. Half million dollar fines would be catastrophic to most pirates. Discretion is the better part of valor. Enjoy Life, (Greg Majewski, editor, Free Radio Weekly June 10 via DXLD) Viz.: UP ON THE HILL: Congress stands on record as giving near-unanimous approval to measures raising indecency fines against broadcasters tenfold, to possible liabilities of $325,000 per violation. As we speak, approval by President Bush is fully expected. Some wags note that the "good" thing about this bill, is that it does NOT call for fines to be levied against individual performers --- a move which most assuredly would have smacked of Third Reich/Beijing-style totalitarianism. In a recent commentary distributed to the industry, "Inside Radio"'s Brian Maloney recently raised some extremely valid questions. To paraphrase: 1) Why was this measure not subject to greater debate among lawmakers? ((The Update asks whether a plurality of our alleged lawmakers even understands the issues at hand --- public discourse vs. personal responsibilities might be a good start!)) "IR" goes on to speculate that no Representative, up for election this year, wants to be seen as "pro-smut" again, reflecting the general intelligence levels of the overall debate! The piece obliquely refers to the Star & Buc Wild-WWPR/105.1 incident last month (in which Star boasted plans to molest a rival's young Daughter) -- without noting that Star was immediately removed from all employment by station owner Clear Channel; though it does correctly point out the magnitude of outrageous statements such as Star's, as opposed to the lasting traumatic effects of accidentally glimpsing Janet Jackson's sagging mammary, during the NFL championship game a couple of years back. The other most-valid concern, 2) Why weren't the fines structured to be a little more market-relevant? The best example given was the obvious effect of a $325,000 penalty against a small market "mom-&- pop" operator, vis-à-vis the "pocket change" required of a corporate NYC or L.A. broadcaster, in the face of such developments. Sounds to me as if the broadcasting industry needs to hire a few good lobbyists --- unless it's just plain too late! The FCC has upheld its initial fine against CBS, based upon the above- mentioned item involving Janet's breast. In denying CBS' appeal, the Commission asserts propriety of the $550,000 fine against CBS. AllAccess reports the decision as a tacit rejection of CBS arguments, that current indecency statutes are "too vague". FCCommissioner Jonathan Adelstein dissented, but only because, he says, the actions did not go far enough. Fines were issued against CBS-owned stations exclusively; Adelstein thinks every station carrying the incident should be nailed. MEET THE NEW BOSS: Bob Shomper, to be more precise, the new Program Director at Chicago's legendary WGN/720. Bob now works at a Real Station, coming to the Windy City from Disney's WBAP/820 in Fort Worth. Not a lot of help needed there: WGN came in at a solid #2 in the last Arbitron ratings survey. - Incidentally, will WGN wind up on the block??? The Chandler family, owners of some 12% of stock in the (Chicago) Tribune Corp. wants to break up the entire mess, saying that publishing and broadcasting operations are "incompatible". God only knows how much the 720 stick would fetch on the market; Tribune also owns a number of scattered TV stations, including of course WGN-TV/9 in Chi-town, and KTLA/5 in Los Angeles. OOOPS: Seems Purdue University has a problem with their PubCaster combo, WBAA (AM 920/FM 101.3). Seems the problem has something to do with the lack of a Broadcast License. AllAccess shares a story from the "Lafayette (Ind.) Journal-Courier", which reports the FCConfirmation that the NPR affiliate somehow failed to renew its AM & FM licenses in 2004. A University spokesman insists the paperwork was filed in a prudent and timely manner; the FCC says otherwise...and may still slap Purdue with a fine and/or license revocation, for the apparent oversight (Greg Hardison, Broadcast Band Update June 15 via DXLD) The full UD, MUCH more, appears in the DXLD yg ** U S A. CLEAR CHANNEL ADVERTISING "BLINKS" --- June 12, 2006 http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=229150 By now most people are familiar with Clear Channel Radio's "Less Is More" initiative when it comes to commercials, but is a one-second spot taking the idea too far? Clear Channel is reportedly discussing the idea of one-second spots, dubbed "blinks," with marketers and media buyers. The company's Creative Services Group has already crafted a demonstration for the concept using the McDonald's jingle, minus the "I'm lovin' it" language, and placed it between one Hip-Hop song and another, according to Advertising Age. The group also created a blink for the Mini Cooper with a horn honking and a voice saying "Mini." Other well-known branding sound effects that could fit into the one-second spot are the Intel chime and the NBC bells. "It really is to find new uses of radio for advertisers who are continually asking us to demonstrate that our medium can successfully extend brands, can successfully reach the consumer with touchpoints that are new and surprising," Jim Cook, SVP/Creative for Clear Channel Radio, told AdAge. So far the idea seems to be getting mixed reviews. Jim Gaither, Director/Broadcast at Richards Group, said he has been in conversation with Clear Channel about three-second spots. "It's not building a brand; it's refreshing a brand," he said to AdAge. "You can't use a one-second campaign for something that generally has not been advertised before." He also noted that a blink is best suited to a marketer's core customer, because those are the people for whom the blink will have the most impact. However, Andrew Goldstein, a copywriter at Zimmerman Advertising, is unsure whether advertisers would want a sound effect thrown into music programming. "You're not going to know it's connected to the brand, and it's going to lose its value," he said. Horizon Media's Lauren Russo agreed, saying, "I can't see any advertiser, any agency paying for a spot that's one second," according to AdAge. With the blink concept still in the early stages, Clear Channel has not yet decided on pricing and package information. And another obstacle could be the ability to track such short spots to verify that they aired. Right now, TNS Media Intelligence can only track broadcast spots that are five-seconds or more in length (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Sounds like a spin on the "Max Headroom" blip-vert. Compress an entire 30 second ad down to 1 second and blast it at the viewer. As I recall, it worked great, except some viewers' brains overloaded and their heads exploded. One hopes CCU won't go quite that far (Jay Heyl, ibid.) This would be subliminal advertising, once considered illegal if not dangerous. Or is one second too *long* to be strictly classified as subliminal? (gh, DXLD) Another version: BLINK-AND-YOU`LL-MISS-IT RADIO ADS Oliver Burkeman in New York, Wednesday June 14, 2006, The Guardian The world's biggest radio company is planning to launch the world's smallest advertisements - one-second spots that will be over by the time you realise they have begun. . . http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1796786,00.html#artic le_continue (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) To me these "blink-and-you'll-miss-them" radio ads are nothing more than a subliminal form of brainwashing, and I think the writer is spot on when he says that US voters cast their ballots on the basis of name recognition, i.e. they recognise a name (or should that be "brand"?) but tend to know nothing of the issues. I suspect, moreover, that the same is true in the UK. What a ringing indictment of tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee democracy! The UK authorities should intervene to ensure that the type of ads discussed in this article are banned in Britain (Roger Tidy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1690, Atlanta new format, calls, news --- Noted June 12. 1690 legal is now "WMLB Avondale Estates-Atlanta", the former calls and format on 1160. Not sure of the calls now on 1160. The sun is not up yet. 1690 now has an eclectic format, "The voice of the arts." Heard a long piano solo 0455-0502 EDT, then dead air followed by the new legal, and "Girls just want to have fun." You just never know on this station. DX'ers hearing a very odd mix of music on 1690, have Atlanta. As noted by the formatics above, the top of the hour CBS Radio news is gone. 1690 does plan to continue Al Franken from Air America 1200- 1500. [EDT = 16-19 UT] Format on 1160 will be a simulcast of 1690 and/or Biz news for now. CBS Radio news still on 1230 in Marietta north of Atlanta, until skywave kills it, and on WBBM or WCBS in the evening, unless propagation favors Fidel (Brock Whaley, Lilburn GA, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KUNM Albuquerque has had problems uploading the June issue of Zounds pdf to their website so have sent me the day-by-day previews for the rest of the month. KUNM webcasts in Quicktime and/or Real via http://www.kunm.org Times are MDT = UT -6. Thanks, Mary B! Friday, June 16 8 a.m. Straight to the Heart: Radio Conversations, ``Learning from Failure.`` Corrales-based consultant and soon-to-be author Kate Mulqueen brings sharp insight and gentle humor to a conversation about overcoming failure. She does so with a collection of targeted anecdotes as host Ron Chapman facilitates a discussion probing the cultural meaning of success. Straight to the Heart is produced for KUNM by Ron Chapman, an internationally accredited speaker and national award winning radio commentator. 10 p.m. Afropop Worldwide, ``Afropop Vignettes: Dance Party Extravaganza.`` Back to back with our summer concert preview show, we hit the dance floor with classic tracks from Afropop Dance Parties down through the years. Saturday, June 17 6 a.m. New Dimensions, ``We`re Not Who We Think We Are,`` with Christian De Quincey. Christian de Quincey recommends we forge a bond between the mind and the heart, and ``feel our thinking.`` Program #3136 9 a.m. The Children`s Hour. What`s on the Kid`s Stage at the Albuquerque Folk Festival? Tune in for a sneak preview of the performers who will give it their all, including Jeanne Page and the Harp Kids. They`ll be up in our studios playing live. 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Albuquerque Folk Festival. A live broadcast from the 8th annual event that features folk song and dance from all over the world. We`ll go live during Folk Routes starting at 10 a.m. with interviews and impromptu music, including a performance by the Sandia Hots. We`ll come back at 3 p.m. for special performances by Ronstadt, Ramírez and The Santa Cruz River Band, and also the Jenny Vincent Trio. Wow! More info at http://www.abqfolkfest.org Sunday, June 18 11 a.m. Sage Health On Call, ``Using Kinesiology: The Master Technique and How it Benefits You.`` Live call-in program on alternative, indigenous and holistic health. Janet Hall, CKP, AHG, ASK, and owner of the Alternative Wellness Center in Albuquerque, will speak with KUNM listeners about getting to the cause of what is preventing you from enjoying great health and success. Janet is a certified kinesiologist, herbalist and nutritional counselor. Program host is Chester Brown, Jr., martial arts instructor from the Navajo nation, and Program Coordinator for the UNM Department of Special Studies. Producer and co-host is Halima Christy, MA, director of GoldenSage Alternative Health Associates. 6 p.m. Radio Theatre, ``The Shadowman.`` Episode 3 of the adventures of Emile Song, Special Detective, in a futuristic world filled with power, greed, science, and metaphysics – all of which are about to collide. Wednesday, June 21 8:30 a.m. Bioneers, ``Mother Ocean: Every Breath We Take.`` Mother Ocean, the very source of life, the keystone of the planet`s complex ecological balance and climate, stands in dire peril. The world- renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle reminds us of the imperative of protecting and restoring the ocean. Marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols illustrates how the ``Ocean Revolution,`` led by countless heroes worldwide, is working to restore and conserve the creatures and life of the seas. Friday, June 23 8 a.m. Back Roads Radio. There is one indisputable commonality – admittedly or not -- that we cannot dismiss. An element of ourselves to which we give great energy, fuss over, rarely accept, and wrangle into our desires. Some find it a gauge of a successful day, others may find its mercurial quality frustratingly challenging. See where you fall in this universal obsession over Hair. Back Roads Radio is a production of Viewpoint Productions and hosted by Judy Goldberg. 10 p.m. Afropop Worldwide, ``Afropop Worldwide Vignettes: South America.`` We dig into the Afropop Worldwide archives for some choice, compelling moments from our programs profiling music scenes in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil. Saturday, June 24 6 a.m. New Dimensions, ``Turning America On,`` with Steve Bhaerman. The internationally known author and humorist outlines ways we can take action so that our country once again becomes the kind of superpower worthy of the respect of the citizens of the world. Program #3146 9 a.m. The Children`s Hour. It`s officially summer on the Children`s Hour and we`ll learn the science of summer, learn about activities unique to summer in New Mexico and we`ll keep you cool with some hot summer tunes. Sunday, June 25 11 a.m. Crossing East, ``Frontier Asians.`` The legacy of the frontier is the towns, farms and ranches settled by Asian Americans. This program features the early West with miners, buckaroos, farmers and doctors. Crossing East is a documentary series on the history of Asian American immigration, from pre-America to post-9/11. 6 p.m. Radio Theatre, ``Dream House, Part I`` by Patrick Redden. The first of a series of short radio dramas about Dream Houses, from Tsunami Radio Theater. Wednesday, June 28 8 a.m. Bioneers, ``Transforming Tragedy: Linking Personal with Planetary Healing.`` As every person now carries a ``body burden`` of toxic chemicals, it`s inescapably evident that what we do to our surroundings ends up back in our cells. We are the environment. Environmental health visionary Michael Lerner believes that environmental health will be the central human rights issue of the 21st century. The wounds we all carry in our bodies are the same wounds we inflict on the earth. A global movement is now arising for healing both person and planet. Friday, June 30 8 a.m. Peace Talks. This month we talk about a community in southwest Albuquerque that has turned itself around with a dramatic decrease in its crime rate. Leading the effort to unite the community and working closely together are the neighborhood association, the police, and members of the state legislature. Joining the conversation will be Jeannette Baca, President of the Alamosa Neighborhood Association, Captain Conrad Candelaria of the Albuquerque Police Department, State Representative Dan Silva and Johnnise Pena, a teenager who has grown up in the neighborhood. Carol Boss is the host; Paul Ingles, the producer. Peace Talks is produced by the non-profit Good Radio Shows, Inc. All the programs in the series can be heard online at http://www.peacetalksradio.com 10 p.m. Afropop Worldwide, ``Merengue, Dominican Music and Dominican Identity.`` In a story described as stranger than fiction, merengue emerged as an Afro-European folk tradition in the Dominican Republic, but rose to its present prominence in association with the long-ruling dictator, Rafael Trujillo, who mandated the style as the national music in 1936. This program will feature rare interviews with historic figures, including the late composer Julio Alberto Hernández, who wrote classical music based on merengue in the 1920s, as well as interviews and music of post-1970s merengue stars, many of whom moved their bases to the United States. These include Wilfredo Vargas, Juan Luis Guerra, and Millie Quezada, the first female merengue star. Our featured guest for this Hip Deep edition of Afropop Worldwide will be author and musician Paul Austerlitz (via gh, DXLD) ** VATICAN [and non]. Subject: Benedict --- Hi, I'm listening to Vatican Radio on 9625 via EWTN. I can't see this listed on Vatican Radio, EWTN or your site but there it is, received 0900 UT onwards on the South coast of the UK. Receiver Philips D2999 with short internal random wire with tuner, and Racal Syncal 30 with short internal random wire antenna (Tony G7TXU, UK, June 4, via Daniel Sampson, DXLD) Glenn, Have you heard anything about Vatican Radio being relayed via WYFR or WEWN? Tony says heard Vatican on 9625 at 0900 via EWTN. The only thing I've been able to find is for WYFR from the ILGRadio database which list Portuguese at the time he heard it. Below was my reply (Daniel Sampson, Prime Time Shortwave, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tony, Are you sure this is via EWTN (WEWN)? The only listing I can find is from the ILGRadio database. This list Family Radio (WYFR) on 9625 from 0800 to 1245. English 1100-1200. During the time you mention it has Portuguese 0800-0900. I'm not aware of WYFR relaying Vatican Radio (Daniel Sampson, Prime Time Shortwave, June 10, cc to DXLD) Daniel, WEWN does relay Vatican in Spanish a couple times a day, tho this is a little-known fact, not appearing on VR`s own schedules. I assume we are talking about English here? Language not mentioned. Cannot imagine WYFR relaying Vatican, Protestant vs Catholic [but then I could not imagine WYFR relaying BBC until it happened]. WEWN`s current frequency schedule can easily be checked on their website. I have not done so just now, but they certainly were not using 9625 in English the last I looked at it. Altho 9625 is not listed for Vatican now in several sources I checked, it seems to me they used to use this frequency, and they have made a number of changes lately. Possibly they have resumed it (Glenn to Daniel, via DXLD) Then I wasted several minutes trying to find a comprehensive Vatican transmission schedule on the VR website (gh, DXLD) Hi Dan, Can I first say how much I enjoy your site. I use it almost daily. Yes I'm very sure about this, they gave an ident on 9625 kHz, "This is Vatican Radio broadcasting via EWTN". I first noticed it on the Philips D2999 and confirmed it on the Racal. A good solid signal on both. Best regards, Tony (via Dan, DXLD) Glenn, Tony seems to sure of what he is hearing with an ID. I tuned in last night and at 0800 was hearing a broadcast in what I believe was Portuguese. Lots of mentions of Brazil also. I didn't catch an ID. The broadcast stayed on through the English hour through 1100 where I heard a WYFR ID during the English hour. Lots of QRM at that hour with the CBC Northern Quebec Service signon. Difficult to believe that WEWN and WYFR would be using the same frequency at the same time. I couldn't confirm what Tony heard as I only heard the Portuguese? station (Daniel Sampson, ibid.) Can anyone resolve this? (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. 1039.61 | La Voz de Carabobo, YVLB, Valencia, JUN 14 0032 sports-related Spanish teletalk / interview; good. Report from Mark Connelly - Times / dates = UTC / 2006 [Connelly*R-MA] = Rockport, MA, USA (GC= 42.667 N / 70.621 W) (= 42 40' N / 70 37' W) (Granite Pier) Receiver: Drake R8A Antennas: cardioid array on roof of car = Vertical: 3 m whip (MFJ-1954) to 81:1 transformer to DX Engineering RPA-1 amp + Loop: broadband, in vertical plane, square, 2 m per side, to 1:1 transformer to DX Engineering RPA-1 amp, peak east- west, null north-south Accessories: DXP-6 (phasing unit), Pogo Radio YourWay LX (MP3 recorder) NRC-AM via DXLD) One item from his usual long report of TAs and LAs --- so if you hear a 390 Hz het on WHO, this would be it (gh, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. VOICE OF THE PEOPLE TRIAL DELAYED AGAIN IN ZIMBABWE The government of Zimbabwe has once again postponed the trial of Radio Voice of the People (VOP) journalists, trustees and board members nine months after their arrest and confiscation of their equipment. The government failed once again to produce witnesses. The trial of the VOP staffers and board members, accused of operating a radio station without a licence in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), was set to start today at the Harare Magistrates Courts but failed to kick off as the State failed to produce witnesses in support of its case. Executive director John Masuku and fellow VOP board members, David Masunda, Nhlanhla Ngwenya, Lawrence Chibwe, Millie Phiri, Arnold Tsunga and Isabella Matambanadzo are all supposed to go on trial accused of contravening section 7(1) of the BSA which prohibits broadcasting without a licence. All of them are out on bail and are expected back in court on the 25th of September. Zimbabwean prosecutors say the VOP bosses established an office in Harare, which they equipped with computers and other broadcasting equipment so they could produce news programmes. The news programmes are packaged in Zimbabwe and transmitted on shortwave via the Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station. VOP chairman, David Masunda, told zimbabwejournalists.com it was disheartening that the government was buying time and wasting tax payers resources by dragging them to court and continually postponing the case. This, he said, was hampering the VOP’s efforts to start producing news programmes again since the State confiscated their equipment and is holding it to use as exhibits in the trial. ``We are very disappointed that the State has once again failed to produce witnesses when it had indicated that it was ready for the trial,`` said Masunda. ``We know that the government of Zimbabwe knows it has no case against us and so they are trying to buy time so they can also continue to hold onto our computers and recorders for they know without them we cannot resume operations. They should just drop the charges because they know we have no case to answer. The government is just wasting everyone’s resources, including the taxpayers` money.`` He said the case is also meant to weigh down heavily on the journalists and the board members so that they give in to the government and give up, but this is not going to happen as they are resolved to start broadcasting again in the near future. Masunda said many Zimbabweans, including their listeners have been very supportive and have been keenly following the case. The independent radio station which has been hounded by the government over the years under the country’s oppressive media laws, surviving bomb attacks, experiencing police raids and arrests, frequency jams and related issues, last week won an international media award formerly held by the BBC World Service. Association of Zimbabwe Journalists in the UK chairman, Forward Maisokwadzo, said journalists from Zimbabwe should unite and continue to pressurise the Zimbabwean government to stop harassing the media and to give back the VOP equipment. He said it is grossly unfair for the government to stretch the case to September knowing fully well the lives of many people and their extended families hinge on the survival of the radio station. Maisokwadzo said this proves the government is failing to piece its case together against the VOP hence the continued postponements. The VOP operates as a communications trust and broadcasts a daily programme into Zimbabwe, providing a lifeline for up to half a million listeners hungry for a free media. It was established in June 2000 to give ordinary Zimbabweans a voice on issues that affect them on a daily basis and is run by Zimbabwean-based trustees who include journalists and lawyers. Its day-to-day affairs are managed by Masuku, a BBC-trained veteran broadcaster (Association of Zimbabwe Journalists via Andy June 15th, 2006, 16:26 UT, Media Network blog via DXLD) And: KEY WITNESS DELAYS TRIAL OF ZIM RADIO BOSSES --- June 15 2006 02:27PM http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=qw1150373167417B253 # Harare - The trial of seven directors of an independent radio station charged with violating Zimbabwe's tough media laws was postponed on Thursday after a key witness for the prosecution failed to turn up at the court. Prosecutor Justin Uladi said an expert from the government broadcasting authority who was due to give evidence at the start of the trial was in Switzerland on business. Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa protested at the delay questioning why the witness had travelled overseas when he knew he was expected to attend the trial. "This is unacceptable," Mtetwa told the court. "Since January the prosecution has been telling us and even yesterday (Wednesday) they said they are ready for trial and we keep getting these postponements." The seven directors of the Voice of the People (VOP) radio station were arrested in December and January and briefly detained at Harare's main police station, accused of possession and operation of transmission equipment without a licence. The seven - Arnold Tsunga, Millie Phiri, Isabella Matambanadzo, David Masunda and Nhlanhla Ngwenya, Lawrence Chibwe and John Masuku - are now due to stand trial beginning on September 25. The shortwave radio station is one of only two independent broadcasters which have managed to circumvent Zimbabwe's repressive media laws by using transmitters outside the country to carry their programmes on shortwave. Most of VOP's programming is in the two main languages - Shona and Ndebele - placing it among the few independent media able to reach the large rural population who have no access to newspapers. Zimbabwe has four radio stations and one television station all controlled by the government. Plainclothes police in December ransacked the radio station's offices in central Harare, arresting staffers Maria Nyanyiwa, Takunda Chigwanda and Nyasha Bosha and held them in cells for four days. The three employees are also to face trial alongside the seven directors. Under the strict broadcasting laws passed in 2001, radio stations are required to register with a government-appointed board. A breach of the laws attracts a ZIM$5-million (about R333) penalty or a jail term of up two years. VOP broadcasts into Zimbabwe on shortwave from its transmitter in Madagascar. Its offices were firebombed in August 2002 (via Mike Hardester, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 11566, YL Spanish numbers station, a regular on this frequency, but Friday June 9 at 1312 there seemed to be two YLs at once, causing numbers to overlap and to pause at odd places. What a messup; would go crazy trying to copy message (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 25001: Hello, a bit off-topic, but I just hear a timesignal station 25000 kHz. According to my lists all former stations using 25000 kHz went QRT before. No WWV/WWVH-announcement- format. The frequency is a bit high, more 25001 than 25000 kHz but that could be a mistake from my counter. I can't believe that`s a 5th harmonics from 5000 kHz? or? 73, (Tom - DL8AAM, June 13, 7:17 AM [zone?] HF Beacons via David Vitek, harmonics yg via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ CAR RADIO ANTENNAS Hi Glenn, Perhaps of some interest - there are photos and details of aerial performance at the bottom of the Reception Advice page here: http://www.radiojackie.com/stuff/receptionadvice.html This is also new in the last year: http://www.radiojackie.com/bandscan.html All the best, (Trevor Brook, Surrey Radio Electronics / RadioFax, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ FULL US HOUSE OKAYS TELECOMS BILL WITH BPL STUDY LANGUAGE INTACT Newington June 9 2006 --- On a 321 to 101 vote, the US House of Representatives on June 8 passed the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006. The House-passed bill, HR 5252, left intact language that required the FCC to study the interference potential of BPL systems. US Rep Mike Ross, WD5DVR (D-AR), one of two radio amateurs in Congress, sponsored the BPL study requirement, "Study of Interference Potential of Broadband over Power Line Systems," contained in Title V, Section 502 of the complex bill. HR 5252 now goes to the US Senate, where a separate--and very different--telecoms bill, the Communications, Consumer's Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 (S 2686) is still in committee. . . http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/06/09/4/?nc=1 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The KN4LF Daily LF/MF/HF Radio Propagation Outlook #2006-007 has been published on 1800 UTC Thursday June 15, 2006 at http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf6.htm This propagation outlook is very large and it might run into trouble getting posted on eLists/Groups, so I direct you to my website above where it has been published. --... ...--, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Retired Meteorologist & Space Plasma Physicist, Lakeland, FL, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to active levels at middle latitudes while high latitudes reached minor to major storm conditions. The period began with the solar wind at about 380 km/s and the IMF Bz fluctuating around +/- 3 nT. Quiet conditions prevailed on 05 June. Early on 06 June, solar wind speed reached a low of approximately 330 km/s. Thereafter, wind speed began to increase while the IMF Bz began to fluctuate between +/- 10 nT as a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream moved into geoeffective position. The geomagnetic field responded with unsettled to active periods with periods of minor to major storm conditions at high latitudes. Solar wind speed at this time reached a high of around 660 km/s and continued to remain elevated, while the IMF Bz calmed to around +/- 5 nT. By 09 June, wind speed started to decline. Conditions at middle and high latitudes were mostly quiet to unsettled at this time with an isolated minor storm period observed at high latitudes. From 09 June until the end of the period, middle latitudes remained quiet while high latitudes were quiet to unsettled. The period ended with the solar wind speed around 420 km/s. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 14 JUNE - 10 JULY 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 04 – 10 July. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet to unsettled for the majority of the forecast period. Recurrent coronal hole high speed wind streams are expected to rotate into geoeffective position on 14 June, 28 June, and again on 03 – 05 July. Unsettled to active periods are expected on 14 and 28 June while active to minor storm conditions are expected on 03 - 05 July. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2006 Jun 14 0024 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 Jun 13 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2006 Jun 14 75 8 3 2006 Jun 15 75 12 3 2006 Jun 16 75 10 3 2006 Jun 17 75 8 3 2006 Jun 18 80 8 3 2006 Jun 19 80 5 2 2006 Jun 20 80 5 2 2006 Jun 21 80 5 2 2006 Jun 22 80 5 2 2006 Jun 23 80 5 2 2006 Jun 24 80 5 2 2006 Jun 25 80 5 2 2006 Jun 26 80 10 3 2006 Jun 27 80 8 3 2006 Jun 28 75 12 3 2006 Jun 29 75 10 3 2006 Jun 30 75 5 2 2006 Jul 01 75 5 2 2006 Jul 02 75 5 2 2006 Jul 03 75 20 4 2006 Jul 04 75 20 4 2006 Jul 05 75 20 4 2006 Jul 06 75 15 3 2006 Jul 07 75 8 3 2006 Jul 08 75 5 2 2006 Jul 09 75 5 2 2006 Jul 10 75 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via DXLD) ###