DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-161, December 30, 2007 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 2007 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 1388 **flexible times Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0930 WRMI 9955** Tue 1130 WRMI 9955** Tue 1630 WRMI 7385 Wed 0830 WRMI 9955** WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: 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 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALBANIA. Re 7-160: Other Radio Tirana Link http://rtsh.sil.at/ but not official site. Available schedules in Albanian for "diaspora" and foreign language but not real B07 period, and short station info. Cordially (Tomás Méndez, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, With regards to the mention of the absent website / URL for Albanian Radio TV it is now at http://rtsh.sil.at/ For whatever reason they are now using the Austrian country code (.at) instead of Albania's (.al). I have enjoyed many years of W-O-R but I couldn't resist checking out with Yahoo! and there was the URL. Regards, (Ray Mirowski, Island Lake, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It appears that Press Now (which also runs Radio Zamaneh, if that name rings a bell) set up http://rtsh.sil.at years ago, when a website of its own on servers in Albania was still just a dream, and forgot about it since. The schedule dates back to before spring 2004, and between 2002 and 2004 for German 1930-2000, 7185 was in use instead of 7215. So that's really a piece of history. The problem with the new website is that neither Google nor Yahoo (did not try further search engines) bring it up when searching for "radio tirana", nothing over at least seven pages. A search for "rtsh" first brings up the dormant Press Now site and the new, current URL only as fifth or sixth hit. Radio Tirana's foreign service is internally considered as third program, but only empty pages are there for Programet Radio III. So much for easily replacing shortwave by web audio, requiring just some little bit of training in putting material in a CMS (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 29, ibid.) ** ANGOLA. Re 7-160: I tried the audio streams on the website of RNA, but indeed no server connection for them. If you want to give it a try: Canal A is supposed to be on http://196.29.201.134:8090 and Rádio Luanda on http://196.29.201.134:8091 in WMA format each, at least the script at http://www.rna.ao attempts to launch a Windows Media Player (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. Re 7-160: Tonight 927 is as close on 927.0 as I can tell, i.e. within less than +/- 20 Hz (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Re 7-160, R. Tacana: more about this place from a German TV Documentary: TACANA VILLAGE WITHOUT SELF-SUPPLY AND WITHOUT FUTURE http://web199sigma.dynamic-kunden.ch/am-indios/Bolivien_Tacana-ENGL.html [German, French and Spanish versions also available] EMAIL VERIFICATION REPORTED IN NORWAY IN DECEMBER 2006 BY OLE FORR http://la6eia.blogspot.com/2006/12/cp-radio-tacana-tumupasa-47816.html Sat, December 02, 2006 CP.. RADIO TACANA, TUMUPASA 4781.6 VERIFICATION Very surprised when I opened up my inbox and found an email from Sr. Roberto Carlos Chávez Ch., Director, Radio Tacana this evening. In an attached word doc. he verifies my reception of Radio Tacana. I have heard Radio Tacana several times and the signal was very strong on the 24th January 2006. I send them a snail mail letter in the beginning of February and nothing happened until now. A big thanks to Roberto for one of my best QSL’s this year (all via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Contrary to previous seasons, R. Cultura FM, São Paulo, is not carrying the Metropolitan Opera. Sunday program listings for 1500 local (1700 UT) show Teatro da Opera, but these are classic recordings, not current Met produxions. Nor is Met running at the live time of Sat 1830v UT. The Met itself thinx RCSPFM is still an affiliate: http://www.operainfo.org/stationfinder/lat_am.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, 0150-0200, 25-12, R. Burkina, Ouagadougou. French phone-in program in an extended Christmas Night broadcast - just like a year ago! 35343 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, using an AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. It's a great last Saturday night (0300) of '07, for CBC Radio One, coming clear on 9625 without the usual splatter from REE 9620. But, their web audio is running close to a minute behind of short wave, when I noticed the news reader talking about a hockey game with score Sweden 4 - Canada 3. Holger Petersen started his Saturday Night Blues Special paying homage to the just late Oscar Peterson (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, UT Dec 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC - Snap Crackle and Pop Jan 1 --- From Roy Forbes: Greetings, Snap Crackle Pop fans, I'm thrilled to announce - the tradition continues. Paul Grant and I will hit the airwaves one more time with a New Years morning edition of Snap Crackle Pop. Tune in to CBC Radio One on Tuesday, January 1, 2008 from six to eight-thirty AM [1000-1230 UT + 1/2/3/4 hours on timezone delayed webcasts] for two and a half hours of tantalizingly entertaining radio. We'll be spinning all three speeds - 33, 45 and 78 rpm. We'll start the first hour with some John Coltrane, moving along with a few lively morning tunes, a couple 'end of the party' numbers, finishing up with a short feature on songwriter Johnny Mercer. As always, the second hour will be nothin' but a Shellac Shack Shuffle - all 78s between 7 and 8 AM (7:30 and 8:30 AM in Nfld). You'll hear some fine jazz, blues, rock and roll, C&W and more during that rapidly rotating hour. The last half hour positively rocks as Paul and I re-visit my days as a high-school sock-hop 45 spinner. We're talkin' Paul Revere & The Raiders, Country Joe & The Fish, Moby Grape, Wes Dakus & The Rebels etc - all from original 45s. All in all, it's gonna be a heckuva lot of fun as Paul Grant and I celebrate the coming of a brand new year. And, folks- thanks, always, for your excellent and entertaining e- mails, both to me and to the CBC. Your solid support is a big part of why Paul and I have kept on doing this Snap Crackle Poppin' thing since September 1996. Keep the letters comin' and we'll keep on doing the shows. And, please - feel free to forward this note to anyone on your own mailing list who might like to have a listen to SCP. Cheers and a big loud HAPPY NEW YEAR from Paul Grant and from me, Roy Forbes PS. If you'd like a weekly fix of tunes from my 'slightly cluttered basement' you can tune in every Monday evening (six PM, Mountain Time [0100 UT Tuesdays]) to Roy's Record Room on the CKUA radio network - via your AM or FM radio if you're in Alberta, via your computer at http://www.CKUA.com if you're anywhere else in the world. I've put together some special shows for the Christmas Eve and New Years Eve editions of RRR. Here's a link to the RRR section of the CKUA website for more info. http://www.ckua.com/programs/roysrecordroom/index.html And, feel free to let me know if you'd like to be on the RRR e-mail list. PPS. If you're at all partial to Mince Meat Tarts, click here http://www.royforbes.ca/tart.html PPPS. If you want to keep in touch with what I'm up to, check http://www.royforbes.ca/dates.html "Never play anything that ain't right. You may not make any money, but you'll never get hostile with yourself." Advice from black pianist Reginald DuValle in 1916 to a young Hoosier with a passion for music – Hoagy Carmichael. http://www.royforbes.ca Roy Forbes, Box 38724, Metro RPO, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 3N1 CANADA (via Fred Waterer, Dec 25, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Re CHIN 1540? On 1540 today (Dec. 30) at 0745 UT there was a much better signal peaking to good strength, and remarkably steady for long periods. But where was it from??? The programme was Gospel style music intro by a male voice - too soft spoken to understand, unfortunately, for the amount of QRM that was present. However, I thought he was speaking in accented English. Music went 'through' the hour (0800) and now became more popular and with reggae tunes which even I recognised! There was a co-channel at times with American accented English fading in and out. By 0900 UT reception was still possible but too poor to copy much of it. According to the CHIN schedule, their Caribbean programme is replaced on Sunday by Spanish - I didn't hear that language. But the language seems to finish at 0130 local (0630 UT?) when replaced by The Doctor Love Show in English. Clicking on the show only brings up a virtually blank page with no details, and onto English reveals - no English! I also tried the ZNS web page only to find that it's "under construction", and password protected for Staff. So, depending upon what Doctor Love was doing, what I heard could have been ZNS. If so, many moons have passed since I last heard that one (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I expect the MWC guys in the UK are familiar with telling these stations apart (gh, DXLD) I found this reference to Dr Love at a website called "The Black World Today" "While a few Toronto DJs like Roy Greene of CHRY-FM 105.5, Duke Delford Blithe/Dr Love on CHIN-FM 1540 and CHIN FM 100.7, Milton Blake and this writer from CKLN-FM 88.1 have been spinning the CD for more than a year, Toronto's urban station took a pass on it." http://www.tbwt.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=40 One site seemed to suggest he is from Jamaica originally, and is an occasional Cricket reporter on The Fan 590 (also in Toronto). FITZROY GORDON Dr Love of Cricket and Radio Host Chin Radio & Score TV has a great love for all sports. Thinks Brian Lara is the greatest player in the world. Regular guest on the International Sports Report. http://www.isr590.com/columnists.asp (Fred Waterer, Ont., ibid.) ** CATALUNYA. Re R. Barretina: En una breve consulta a San Google: he aquí una info suplementaria. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=246089185 Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, Spain, playdx yg via DXLD) Beware: music launches auto, how rude! Now we know: R. Barretina has a blue-eyed cat (short for Catalunya?), on 6308 kHz, is 35 years old, straight, and married, and Salma Hayek is a Friend! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD [and non]. Re 7-160: Right Glenn, RNT 4905 signal tends to enhance every minute after sign-on, contrary to what happens with other Africans on 60m at their local sunrise. First noted around 0520, but was remarkably strong and in the clear by 0600, which is certainly a nice listening for their music after a long absence. This time Mauritania 4845 was still there altho a little diminished in comparison. 73s/Happy Holidays (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mauritania is so far west, that sunrise enhancement there may not come until 0800 UT or later when we are not listening or it has signed off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4905, RNT N'Djamena, 12/29, French, 0537 male talks, presumed news, mentions of "Sudan", "union des journalistes", "sindicate par communication SPC", "Chad", talks about fight against child mortality, 0545-0549 male mentions "action sociale de la solidarité", studio alternating recorded outside audio talks about job's better conditions. Strong and clear signal, 44444. Checked others Africans on 60 meter band around 0530 like 4770 R. Nigeria, and 4777 R. Gabonaise; RNT was the strongest (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP, Brasil (23 33 S, 46 51 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mr. Hauser; I think I have been hearing Chad on 4905 around 0500 two times in the last few days. Like you, I have not heard an ID, but the announcers are speaking French playing uptempo pop and Afropop music. Both times were with a good signal. 73 (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Joe, Yes, must be; there have been many other reports of it now (Glenn to Joe, via DXLD) Viz.: NEW 4904.97, 0645-0731*, TCH, 28-12, Rdif. Nat. Tchadienne, N'Djaména- Gredia. French short announcement and Afropop, audio faded out 0720, carrier was switched off at 0731* which corresponds to their schedule, 25232. Also 2115-2230* 28-12, Rdif. Nat. Tchadienne, N'Djaména-Gredia French announcement, Afropop, National Anthem 44444 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, using an AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 7-160: Doesn't the other report clearly say that they just repaired the old transmitter? (Mauno Ritola, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4220, presumed Qinghai PBS, 2327-2348, Dec 27, vernacular. Announcer between wailing vocal ballads and flutes with what appeared to be a call-in program. Poor under band noise and data bursts (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Wires, or feedlines, were apparently crossed again Sunday morning Dec 30: at 1426, I found that the Aló, Presidente program from Venezuela was on 13760 which normally carries the regular RHC service. 13760 was // 13750, and weak 13680, 11670 which were an echo apart, as well as 11875 under WEWN. 17750 inaudible if on, under WYFR. RHC itself was still going with separate program on 11760, 11805, 12000, 15370 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Dear FRS Friends, Season's Greetings from all of us at FRS- Holland. We wish all of you a merry Christmas. May 2008 become a healthy, successful and radioactive year for all of you. Thanks for your support in the past year. Next Sunday December 30th, FRS-Holland will take to the airwaves with another 4 hour seasonal broadcast. We will be on 6220 kHz 0800-1200 UT. In addition we are on 5815 kHz 1000-1400 and 2000-2400 UT. Programs will be presented by Jan van Dijk, Mike Anderson & Peter Verbruggen. Mike Anderson will present his debut show DX-Welle in German. Jan van Dijk will be doing the German Service plus an extra 30-minute 2007 review. Peter V. presents an extra long FRS Magazine flashing back to December 1991 and news from the world of radio in a new edition of FRS Goes DX. Ingredients: great music from the past 4 decades, radio news, 2007 review, listener's letters from November, a listeners competition, the 'Phrase that Pays', New Year Greetings and much, much more. FRSH on a Sunday means fun & enjoyment. All the best, Peter Verbruggen on behalf of the entire FRS Crew being Bobby Speed, Mike Anderson, Jan van Dijk, PV & Paul Graham A Balance Between Music & Information Joined to one Format.... FRS-Holland, P O Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, The Netherlands e-mail: frs.holland @ hccnet.nl e-mail: frs @ frsholland.nl (via Tom Taylor, Dec 29, DXLD) FRS Holland, 6220 via Mystery Radio at 0800 with S7 max and 355(2-4)3 with a music stop. An IS with a pitched audio from instrument. Man saying 'you wanna be free including a countdown, and saying international program. At 0815 'we wish you a merry Christmas' rock song, an email address at 0838, 99 flashback, song from Queen 'show must go on' , about Michael Jackson, TEN spelled by letter, Radio NY International, and several pirate radios mentioned (Zacharias Liangas, 30th Dec, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tonight the complete 4 hours will be once again aired on 5815 (2000- 2400 UT). Enjoy your Sunday with FRS-Holland on your dial. 73s, (FRS Team, Dec 30, via Roberto Scaglione, shortwave yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re 7-160: One report about AFN frequencies at Würzburg: "104.9 still switches from NPR [Power Network with Mon-Fri relay of All Things Considered] to The Eagle at midnight as it always used to be the case, but I will have to listen a bit more to find out which local content is on air now." http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,485588,551882,sv=1#msg-551882 I understand that this 104.9 transmitter is an own one at Leighton Barracks while 1143 and TV on ch. 47 are Media&Broadcast transmitters (the 1143 audio had been borrowed to test co-located 1386 in late 2003), but that's just from hearsaying. Tonight it so happens that AFN's Kaiserslautern transmitter on 1107 clearly dominates the frequency: It's about four seconds ahead of 873 with noticeably different modulation (to my taste 873 is already overprocessed, sounds like they have installed a new Optimod 9200 or 9300 and cranked it up). Seems that the Kaiserslautern transmitter still has a direct feed from the studio while Weiskirchen now takes its audio off Hotbird. At 2000 they relayed news (from ABC if I got it right), chopped them rudely off during wrap-up and fired up the next song ("Pure Gold Oldies" says the program schedule) without any jingle or whatever in between. Automation is a pest in itself, but things get really nasty when it is done so crudely. Pointed out in this forum as well, effective Dec 19: "Today the Burg mediumwave transmitter on 1575 kHz started to air test signals in order to record the parameters of the distribution channel. The measurements will be done daily between 05:00 and 06:00 [CET, = 0400-0500 UT], probably until February 29 2008. At other times the programming of OldieStar and Voice of Russia will be aired as usual." http://www.digitalerrundfunk.de/archiv/archiv.php?content=2003&&id=616 No explanations about this "recording the parameters of the distribution channel" are given; maybe it is related to the circumstance that the results for DRM via the NVIS antenna at night are disastrous if I recall correct what I read in passing (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. 8734-USB, Olympia Radio, 2354-0011*, Dec 27, English / presumed Greek. Loop of YL with recorded announcement, "This is Olympia Radio. Call live on 7, 806, 1272, 1640 and 2217". Message then repeated in Greek. Fair at best (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4053, Radio Verdad, Chiquimula, beautiful signal 12/29 at 1254 UT tune-in with wonderful guitar and vocal music, ID by woman 1257 and mention of "programa de las amigas," followed by non-stop musical selections until 1315 tune out. Outstanding signal for listed 800 watts, no fading or interference, a pure delight to listen to! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ABDX via DXLD) See RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM; it`s really 4052.5, or very close to that, its nominal. As they will tell you, their officially assigned channel is 4050-4055 (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. New Years Eve/Day --- I wrote an article about chasing the New Year around the world for Monitoring Times in early 2006. You can find it here: http://www.monitoringtimes.com/Aroundin-24-hrs.pdf Radio Austria International annually broadcasts the traditional New Year’s Day concert of beautiful Strauss waltzes by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. While this wonderful and festive event can be seen and heard on public television and radio in the United States, there’s something really special about hearing it live and direct on shortwave with commentary in German. The concert starts at 1015 UTC and can continue to 1200 (John Figliozzi, Dec 98 Monitoring Times) BBC Radio 3 also carries this live, online. Early on the morning of the 31st of December, here in Ontario, one can follow the New Year as it progresses around the Globe. New Zealand and Australia kick things off at 1300 UTC. Harold Sellers reported a couple of years ago that: NHK Radio Japan chimes in “at 1500 including special programming taken from the NHK Tokyo service in Japan. Check regular NHK Radio Japan services in the 1100-1530 UT time span.” Kim Elliot of VoA has heard midnight rung in 2300 UT via Deutsche Welle and Spanish National Radio. Tune in to the BBC at 2357 to hear the chimes and all twelve peals of Big Ben. As midnight moves around the world, the BBC announcers will send greetings to this place or that place that just entered the New Year. 0500 UT is midnight in the Eastern Time Zone. With the advent of internet radio, one can “fill in the blanks” from countries whose radio broadcasts wouldn’t necessarily be audible here at midnight in their countries. Check out http://www.timeanddate.com to see when midnight might arrive in any particular city/country. New Years’ Day also features year-end reviews from many stations. Radio Moscow (as it was then known) had a very enjoyable program one year featuring members of the staff sending greetings and singing songs (Auld Lang Syne) off key. However the most interesting program I have ever heard on New Years’ Day was a Deutsche Welle program about Germany facing the New Year of 1945, as the war came to its inevitable end and Germans faced an uncertain future at the hands of the Allies. It was one of the first opportunities I have had to explore “the other side” of the war. The program reproduced some of the programming of the time, the music, etc. For a “history geek’ such as myself it was very interesting indeed! So there you have a brief look at the kinds of programs available during the holidays. At midnight Dec 31, tune across the FM band. In the minute following midnight you will hear U2’s “New Years Day” on almost every station. I counted 13 one year! And check my website for updates (Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. Orthodox Christmas is celebrated in a number of countries including Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia (and all former republics of Yugoslavia), and others on January 6. Try some of these around this time of year, as each country has for all intents and purposes a “state” church (Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Some websites for hearing FM stations online: http://SnapFM.com http://www.live-radio.net/us.shtml http://radiotime.com/index.aspx (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. RADIO ARCTICA --- CLANDESTINE: While looking for Europirates over the Christmas holiday, I was hearing a station IDing as R. Arctica. First heard on Christmas Day on 6200 from 1227 to 1240 using a Web receiver in the UK. Checked on my own receiver and was getting a signal there at 1244. The next day, 26 Dec., heard it at home again on 6204.87 at 0731. Later at 0915, heard it on the UK Web receiver. So apparently it can be heard both in Europe and North America. The programming defines it as more of a clandestine than a pirate. They claim the transmitter is near the Arctic Circle. Uses both English and Russian. Very interesting anti- exploitation of the Arctic programming. E-mail is radioarctica @ yahoo.com Web site is http://www.radioarctica.net.tc/ 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Dec 29, HCDX via DXLD) Check the guestbook for other reception reports and/or attempt to download a 19.4 MB mp3 file, which runs 28+ minutes. Repeats same messages several times with some unusual music. .tc domain? That`s Turks & Caicos, rather unArctic as long as it is Cunadian (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Arctica also heard here in UK on evening of 27 Dec on 3932.27 kHz at 2053 tune-in to past 2200 UT. Had faded out or gone off air at 2215 recheck. Weak signal so announcements difficult to copy but could hear the distinctive music which matched that audible on the programme available to download via their website http://www.radioarctica.net.tc (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK AOR 7030+, longwire, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Quite good signal from the new Coltano transmitter on 657 tonight, although it's still not on a par with the 600 kW on 900. What about 846 from Santa Palomba? Still on air, but must run really low power, the signal is so weak that at times slope from 837 and 855 almost eats it up (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JOHNSTON ISLAND [non]. Has anyone heard anything about Susan Meckley, W7KFI, the 73-year-old grandmother who was sailing across the Pacific with plans to activate this rare island, among others? Last summer she paused in Hawaii both because of the typhoon season and unexpected jaw surgery. She was supposedly going to resume the voyage around November 1, but I have seen nothing at all about this in the ham DX bulletins. Don`t get anything new by googling, and her e-mail address via her qrz.com website w7kfi @ winlink.org bounces as 554 (Glenn Hauser, OK, Dec 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. SENDING OUT SIGNALS TO LONG-ISOLATED NORTH KOREANS --- DEFECTORS WHO ONCE WORKED FOR GOVERNMENT OF KIM JONG IL NOW BROADCAST FROM SOUTH OF THE DMZ By Francine Uenuma washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Sunday, December 30, 2007; A27 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122900579_pf.html SEOUL -- Trained as a military propagandist in North Korea, Kim Seong Min has turned his skills against the government that once forced his allegiance. From a small radio studio in Seoul, he and a handful of other North Korean defectors deliver daily broadcasts to people who remain behind in the isolated communist state run by Kim Jong Il. "To give food provisions, if the Kim Jong Il regime still exists, is merely prolonging their lives in a state of slavery," said Kim, founder and director of the station known as FNK, for Free North Korea Radio. "But broadcasts . . . give an opportunity to change their own future, and provide food for the spirit." The North's estimated 23 million people have little accurate information about the outside world. Listening to foreign news sources is illegal, part of a government effort to block infiltration of subversive ideas. But as more North Koreans buy low-cost radios brought in from China, violating that ban has become easier. Kim said he fled to China in 1996 after attempts to contact a relative in Seoul were discovered. As an illegal immigrant, he was apprehended by Chinese authorities, jailed and severely beaten. Sent back to North Korea for public trial (and almost certain execution), he made his second escape, he said, by jumping off a train traveling 50 mph. For the next eight days, he ate grass roots and rode atop train cars to get back to China, where he lived for several years before making his way to Seoul. Now he passes his days trying to hasten the end of the government he built his career promoting. FNK's two-hour daily broadcasts are a rare entity -- by North Koreans, for North Koreans. All told, Seoul has three privately run radio stations targeting the North: Open Radio for North Korea, Radio Free Chosun and Kim's FNK, the only one run by defectors, who are helped by a committed South Korean staff. Washington-based Radio Free Asia and Voice of America also broadcast to the North. "The problem in North Korea is the mind-set," said Tae Keung-ha, president of Open Radio for North Korea. "Isolated for half a century, they have no ability to compare their situation with other countries and other people." His station's broadcasts avoid overtly political messages in favor of cultural subjects. While for some North Koreans "politics is a matter of life and death," others turn away from it, he noted. "We want to broaden our base as much as possible. For that purpose our radio programs are soft." Kim Yun-tae, director of Radio Free Chosun, said his station takes a similar approach. "At first we were doing more propaganda broadcasting, but we changed our minds," he said. Added Kyounghee An, the station's international manager, "We don't think we can cause the collapse of the regime directly. . . . We think after listening, people can compare their real situation to Kim Jong Il's propaganda and can change their minds, step by step." Radio Free Chosun broadcasts North Korean domestic news as well as stories of escapes, revisions to North Korean textbooks and dramas about Kim Jong Il. The two stations run by South Koreans have defectors on staff who try to make the broadcasts palatable to a North Korean audience, smoothing out political and cultural differences in language, for instance. Tae, of Open Radio, said those staffers can help listeners make sense of such unknown words as "Starbucks," or explain that in a capitalist economy, "a pizza deliveryman is not someone who is a slave but works for other consumers." Of the three, FNK is the most openly hostile to the North Korean government. In the words of vice director Lee Kuem Ryong, North Korea "is a big jail for everyone in the country." For its staff of defectors, the work is highly personal. Most, after all, are recent escapees. Kim Seong Min coordinated internal propaganda for a North Korean military brigade, producing plays and shows promoting the government and its programs. Announcer Eun Kyung Kim was also a propagandist, spreading Kim Jong Il's ideas by loudspeaker from a vehicle before escaping across the Yalu River with her son on her back. Reporter Kyeong Il Cheong, who was caught and sent to a labor gulag after his first escape, sometimes mentions his status as a graduate of the elite Kim Il Sung University in an attempt to give his words greater credibility. The stations have Web sites, but with Internet access all but unknown in the North, the sites target South Koreans. "Our two main focuses are to tell the North Korean people the truth about South Korea, and the South Korean people the truth about North Korea," said FNK's Kim. FNK has used the Internet to disseminate secretly shot footage of executions and of children scrounging for scraps of rice in villages affected by famine. The station obtained video images of members of an underground church praying (a grave offense in a nation where the leaders are supposed to be revered as divine) but decided to withhold it to protect the safety of those pictured. At its inception, FNK provoked a bellicose reaction from across the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean Peninsula. A written statement attributed to Kim Jong Il said the staff's actions "should never be forgiven" and promised to "punish the traitors." Staffers have received threats in the mail -- axes covered in fake blood, dolls stabbed with daggers and ominous letters. There are opponents in the South as well: Student groups have held violent protests outside the station's offices, at one point injuring Kim so severely that he was hospitalized. Determining how many people are listening to the stations' broadcasts is impossible. Though jamming is an impediment, improved signals and electricity shortages that stop the jamming limit North Korea's ability to block broadcasts completely. "The only way to get information about North Koreans listening is through the people who go from China back into North Korea regularly, but those people are difficult to meet," said Kim of Radio Free Chosun. The South Korean government, eager to encourage good relations with the communist capital, Pyongyang, discontinued most of the programs its Korean Broadcasting System aimed at the North. But it has taken a hands-off approach to the private stations, broadcasters say, allowing them to operate but offering no financial support. All three services indirectly receive about $200,000 in U.S. government funds annually through the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy. To qualify for the grants, the private broadcasters "had to get training on international standards of broadcasting," said John Knaus, the endowment's senior program officer for Asia. Defectors are prohibited from religious evangelizing or calling for violent action against the North Korean government. Despite the difficulties they face, the broadcasters say they remain committed to breaking through North Korea's wall of silence. Kim Seong Min, who displays a stack of letters expressing gratitude and asking for help, says that each individual affected by his station is important: "We are going to keep broadcasting, even if one person listens to that radio." (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Like all astute international broadcasters, they learned that propaganda doesn't work (Kim Andrew Elliott, Dec 30, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. NETHERLANDS [non]. The Mighty KBC will continue on SW daily from January 1st, 2008 2200-2300 UT on 6265 kHz, and not on 6235 kHz as previous announced. Eric van Willegen from KBC Radio: "Radio Administration has just informed us that they refuse to authorize us to use the frequency of 6235 kHz, they say the frequency is too close to some protected frequency of 6225 kHz. The Mighty KBC will move to 6265 kHz, starting the first of January 2008." BTW, the last MW show from KBC [1386 kHz via Lithuania] was aired to-night (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) formerly weekends only (gh, DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. See CHAD ** MEXICO?? 4800, XERTA (presumed), 1102-1154 29 Dec. Apparently testing on the NF. Intermittent audio with non-stop music. Sounded like LA music style at tune-in, but definitely MOR orchestral music at 1122. No announcements. 1130 odd music, then what sounded like Herb Alpert at 1131. 1134-1136 "Jinglebell Rock". Longer deadair 1137-1141. [I?] Came back at 1151 and found possible promo with canned talk by M ending with what certainly sounded like XERTA. Poor audio quality and frequent audio cut-outs were annoying. Decent strength but rumbling carrier seemed a little distorted. Sounds like a ute trying to broadcast. CODAR QRM. Seemed like a good LA morning but unfortunately I got to receiver too late. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Estoy escuchando a esta hora 12:37 Central Time con un SINPO de 5 a XEYU Radio UNAM que habìa estado fuera del aire ayer y anteayer (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, Colima, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9599+, 1837 UT. Both of us have found XEXQ to be missing from 6045 for about two weeks now (Glenn Hauser, OK, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Estoy escuchando a XEOI aquì en Manzanillo, Colima, con mucha claridad y al menos ayer no percibì a ninguna hora interferencia alguna, excepto la ya conocida de Radio Suecia [6010 via Canadá] (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, Mexico, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just recalled what happened when I visited Radio Mil in 1987. I showed them a report from a friend of mine who had been hearing them on 1000 AM. The letter was a single-sheet single-spaced letter and contained a reasonably well worked out R/R. But the text was compressed. The man in front of me patiently read the letter and after the minute and a half it took him to reach the end, he asked me, "Y ¿qué es lo que quiere este señor?". I also remember that I heard the Radio Mil SW signal in Marbella, Spain, in 1992. A subsequent report to the station required 2 f/ups, which I believe were sent directly to Julián, but in the end I received a f/d QSL and some other colorful info which I framed and put on my wall in my previous QTH in Luleå (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Dec 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. MUZZLING FRCN KADUNA Daily Trust (Abuja) COLUMN 26 December 2007 Posted to the web 28 December 2007 By Mohammed Haruna, Kaduna http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200712280029.html Currently the management of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria(FRCN) under its Director General, Mr. Ben Egbuna, has been restructuring the corporation, based on the recommendations of the FRCN Reform Implementation Committee that was set up in September last year. The report of the committee had criticised the existing structure as suffering "from some inherent weaknesses which tend to negate its mandate." These weaknesses, it said, included (1) "weakening the corporate effectiveness of the FRCN by stressing UNDUE AUTONOMY" of the zonal stations (emphasis mine), (2) the incongruency between the three linguistic zones and the country's new-fangled six territorial geo-political zones, (3) the ineffectiveness of the professional departments in responding to problems when they arise and (4) the overburdening of the director general with responsibilities of the professional departments because the heads were remove from the headquarters. The solution the reform committee recommended essentially was to end the autonomy of the zonal stations with headquarters in Enugu, Ibadan and Kaduna and effectively curtail their reach. On the surface this looked consistent with the mandate of the corporation which is to "Uplift the People and Unite the Nation". In reality, however, the restructuring was the same long running war that has been waged by the federal authorities against the FRCN Kaduna for no worse crime than the fact that it has been the most effective radio station in the country. This war started in 1978 when the then military head of state, General Olusegun Obasanjo, tried to end its autonomy and shortwave broadcast. The move provoked a huge uproar. Group Captain Usman Jibrin, the military governor of the host North-Central State, who led the resistance lost his commission and his job. To ballance the equation, Chief Olu Adebanjo, Obasanjo's minister of information who ostensibly initiated the idea also got the boot. Three years later the war took another guise under President Shehu Shagari. This time an executive bill was sent to the National Assembly for the establishment of a Medium Wave station for each of the existing 19 states. The bill was apparently meant to kill two, actually three, birds with one stone; provide jobs for the boys of the ruling party, overwhelm the voices of the opposition parties in the states they controlled and, of course, strangulate the FRCN Kaduna. It was instructive that Shagari's adviser on information was the self same Adebanjo who seemed to have started it all under Obasanjo. Once again the station's huge listeners rose as one against the bill and it was subsequently shot down. Any one who thought that was the last to be heard of the moves against the station had another think coming. In June last year Leadership reported that the then director general, Chief Kevin Ejiofor, instructed the station to stop broadcasting on short wave. The director general later denied the charge. However, a memo he had sent to his board of directors for restructuring the FRCN gave the game away. "The span of control" he said in the memo, "is clearly unmanageable for the Kaduna national station which superintends both the North-West and the North-East geo- political zones." The current attempt at restructuring the FRCN is clearly the latest in a long line of attempts, first from Lagos and now from Abuja, to curb the reach and the autonomy of FRCN Kaduna. This attempt is not only being carried out by a director general who had come to his job through subterfuge, the attempt itself is as illegal as it is unwise and costly. When Mr. Eddie Iroh left the FRCN as director general soon after Obasanjo started his second term, Iroh brought in Ejiofor, a pensioner he had recruited as the executive director of FRCN Enugu, to act as the D.G. As a pensioner it was difficult, if not impossible, to confirm him. As a result the then minister of Information, FRCN's parent ministry, Mr. Frank Nwekeh Jnr., appointed KMPG, a major consultancy, to help recruit a new D.G. through advertisement. Subsequently KMPG shortlisted seven candidates as suitable for the job out of the 93 that had applied. Nwekeh Jnr, then recommended two out of the seven to the president to choose from. These were Mr. Jimmy Atte, presently NTA's executive director of News, and Mr. Ben Egbuna. then Voice of Nigeria's executive director of News. The president chose Egbuna. In the memo seeking Obasanjo's approval Nwekeh Jnr. lied to his boss; he said none of the corporation's executive directors applied. Three, Ademola Elegbede, S.A. Shuaibu and Yusuf Nuhu did. Worse still Mr. Egbuna whom he recommended along with Mr. Atte never applied and was therefore not among the seven shortlisted by KMPG. Chances were that the president never knew he was lied to by his minister when he approved Egbuna whom Nwekeh Jnr. clearly preferred from the tone of his memo which emphasized the fact that Egbuna was an alumnus of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies that the president had midwifed in his first incarnation as military head of state. Clearly Egbuna had come to his job with unclean hands. And the job itself, as I've said, is as illegal as it is unwise and costly. It is illegal simply because it is being done without amending the existing law that established the corporation. This law recognises only three zones along linguistic lines with headquarters at Enugu, Ibadan and Kaduna. The law also gives them autonomy within the overall control of the corporation's headquarters. Under the subsisting arrangement, the three zones between them broadcast in English and the three national languages of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, in addition to about 20 minority languages. The idea was that listeners in these languages that cover the vast majority of Nigerians can be informed and entertained regardless of where they lived in the country. Another major objective was to counter the propaganda of the main global radio stations like the BBC, VOA, Deutch Welle, Radio France International and Radio Moscow all of which broadcast in Hausa, the single largest audience in the West African subregion. And so contrary to the claim by the FRCN management, the new territorial structure was more likely than not to defeat the corporation's objectives. This is why is unwise. As for the extravagance of the exercise, this is obvious from the fact that of the 32 FM stations to be established under it most of the 18 or so that are already operational have been far from cost effective. A small fraction of the billions of Naira spent on them would have given the tax payer more bang for his Naira if they had been spent on strengthening FRCN Kaduna and on reviving those of Enugu and Ibadan that have since collapsed. The FRCN Kaduna started as a regional station, Radio Television Kaduna (RTK), under Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Northern premier. It served Nigeria well as an effective counter to Biafra's successful propaganda during our civil war of 1967 to 1970. It apparently became a victim of its success when it was taken over by the federal military authorities in 1971 following the abolishing of the old National Broadcasting Corporation which could not match Biafra's propaganda. To ballance the regional equation the RTK's counterparts in Enugu and Ibadan were also taken over. For some inexplicable reasons the authorities in these regions failed to support their zonal station to the extent that Kaduna did, invariably leading to their collapse. Since then in a series of moves which clearly smack of a policy of beggar thy neighbour or dog in a manger or both, those who seem envious of FRCN Kaduna's staying power and success have tried to kill it instead of reviving the other zonal stations. Because these moves are illegal, unwise and costly the FRCN management should reverse itself. Otherwise the federal authorities should call it to order (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) With identification “This is Radio Nigeria Kaduna”, the National Anthem and announcing FM frequencies at 0430 hours was received the beginning of the morning broadcast of this station on 4770 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, R. Bulgaria DX Dec 28 via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. SCAM BEHIND RADIO PAKISTAN FIRE http://www.pakrealestate.com/news/viewdetail.aspx?News_ID=1063 Radio Pakistan Karachi has started its transmission service more than a fortnight ago from its new building of Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) located just opposite the Civic Centre Karachi. After the raging fire, this place was not fit for transmission purposes. Informed sources told The News on Tuesday and said only senior news producers were at the moment working in one room in the Radio Pakistan Karachi building as most of the places for the coverage purposes were in the city. But programme on air were being done from the PCB Building, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Sources said at present this building was occupied by the Accountant General Sindh office but they would vacate this place very soon. It would be decided later that when this small news section would be shifted to the PCB building. City District Government Karachi (CDGK) sources said as per records this land was the property of the city government and very soon the CDGK would try to get its possession and declare this a heritage building. History of Radio Pakistan Karachi is in this building. In a couple of days or after Eid-ul-Azha a presentation would be given to City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal, for acquiring this land. The CDGK is the owner of this land worth billions of rupees. The raging fire of Radio Pakistan Karachi had destroyed 15 studios but now a controversy has erupted over the land ownership. Now it is clear that the whole building of Radio Pakistan has been declared dangerous for transmission as well as other radio business purposes. Informed sources said some people were considering disposing of this land at throw away prices. CDGK sources said no one would be allowed to sell this prime land. The officials at that time claim that land of present Radio Pakistan Karachi and the Veterinary Hospital were owned by the District Local Government Board Karachi and later it was transferred to the District Council Karachi. Late G M Syed used to sit as President of the District Local Board at that time in these two premises. The present land today is supposed to be owned by the city government. Radio Pakistan's former officials say that this land where now the building has been destroyed due to the raging fire and this land are owned by Radio Pakistan and it was purchased either by the district local board or District Council Karachi, but yet no documentary proof is there in this regard, officials said. But when it was purchased there was a binding that this land will only be utilised for the construction of Radio Pakistan building but now the building after the fire is looking like a haunted place and is in complete darkness. It is reported that behind this huge fire there is a big conspiracy as some Radio Pakistan officials of Lahore and Islamabad have plans to sell this land worth billions of rupees, despite that it has been declared a heritage building. According to real estate agents present the land of Radio Pakistan Karachi and the Veterinary Hospital is worth billions of rupees. However, former KMC official when contacted by The News said the city district government was the successor of all the district councils accordingly ownership right of both the lands of Radio Pakistan Karachi and Veterinary Hospital are the property of City District Government Karachi (CDGK). The former official who desired to remain anonymous said under section 80-81 the CDGK was the successor of the district council, thus the land was owned by the CDGK. Replying to a question he said no one could sell this land without the consent of the CDGK (via Alokesh Gupta, India, Dec 29, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7324.96, Wantok R. Light, Dec 25 0746-0804, 34443-44444, English, Music, ID at 0802 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** SERBIA [non]. Re 7-160: Wish someone would check at 0130-0200 whether they are really in Italian, or Serbian. I tried tonight but barely audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, UT Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, it's 0130 UT this Sunday and I'm listening to R. Serbia International on 7115 in Italian. The reception is good at my location. Regards (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, UT Dec 30, ibid.) Thanks, Jean-Michel; hope you were awake anyway. I tried again at 0145 Dec 30, and the intonation sounded Italian, but too little signal, too much noise to be sure on 7115. Checked webcast at 0150, and it was certainly in Italian, but we already knew that. I suspect they have no particular reason to broadcast Italian to NAm; it just happens to be on the 24-hour satellite program rotation which they are picking up, between Serbian and English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES. Really delighted with a clear, strong and so early reception I'm getting in 9630 from BBCWS in my local afternoon, 2030Z, from Mahé, Seychelles. Well, after all is pointing in my direction; clashing with weaker REE Noblejas. But it's remarkble I've never before had the Beeb with such a signal on 31m. I should attribute to a great opening, but Africa #1 is not doing so well on 9580, so... 73s and Happy Holidays (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica. Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD, Dec 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. FUHSING BROADCAST STATION (TAIWAN): PART 1 Also for a bit of variety members can also see a recent picture of the FuHsing studio/admin building in Taipei in 2006 (Go to the Studio Album in our PHOTO section on our Yahoo Groups Website). The picture is taken looking southward. Behind the small mountain in the background is the RTI head office, some 25 minutes walk away. An odd thing about this studio site is the polished reflective motorised entrance gate to this complex. I think it might be a 'Feng Shui' thing, in a sense reflecting/keeping evil away. The security of this complex was probably the tightest of all radio stations I had visited in the Taipei region. I don't think visits to the site by listeners would be that common. In fact it took (persistent me) about 3 attempts to visit the site. My first on-site visit resulted in a woman approaching me from behind, speaking English, saying that "you shouldn't be here" & "you can't visit" and appearing very uncomfortable speaking to me. She did however say that you have to telephone the station. It was this occasion that the photograph was taken. A week or so later I asked a Mandarin speaking friend to telephone the Fu Hsing Radio station for a visit, but basically after a frustratingly ten minute talk we were informed that I couldn't visit Later during my visit I was again in the area & thought I would try my luck with the military security guard at the entrance gate. Must have been my lucky day as he contacted a young lady at the station who came out wanting to know what I wanted & where I was from. That done she went away & after what appeared to be a 10 minute wait two other station employees greeted me with poor English & lead me to a small, but comfortable guards room adjacent to the entrance gate. We communicated with quite some difficulty & exchanged gifts. The two staff members were apologetic about my difficulties contacting the station, but like most Taiwanese very friendly and cordial. As you probably have wondered no I wasn't permitted to enter the building. Later in another short article (when time permits) I'll provide further details of the station with more images. Regards (Ian Baxter, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** THAILAND. New Dynamic English with good signal Dec 29 at 1507 on 15460. At first I thought this was one of those services to Sudan, but it`s just VOA Special English, scheduled this hour via Thailand at 166 degrees, presumably for Indonesia rather than Australia? No, CIRAF targets are SE Asia, Indonesia, Australia, NZ, but not New Guinea. Why are we teaching English to the Aussies and Enzedders? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. JEFFREY GEDMIN --- A VOICE FOR FREEDOM COMMENTARY: THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW By MATTHEW KAMINSKI December 29, 2007; Page A11 http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB119888868033256747-lMyQjAxMDE3OTI4OTgyODk4Wj.html Prague --- Can radio change the world? It used to. On the walls at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty here hang pictures of Solidarity rallies in Poland and a smiling Vaclav Havel. The message isn't subtle, or inaccurate: This legendary U.S.-funded broadcaster helped win the Cold War. The glory days are past at RFE/RL, and for American public diplomacy as a whole. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, when history ended and freedom triumphed (or so it seemed), Munich-based RFE/RL landed on the chopping block. It was saved, on a threadbare budget, partly thanks to then Czech President Havel. In gratitude, he offered cheaper digs in a communist-era eyesore here in Prague that previously housed the Czechoslovak Parliament. Yet in the public mind, the station founded in 1950 by the likes of George Kennan and John Foster Dulles might as well be gone. "We're trying to revive it," says Jeffrey Gedmin, the broadcaster's new president. Doing that, and making the station a valued tool of U.S. foreign policy again, won't be easy. The neoconservative expert on Germany, and longtime denizen of Washington's think-tank world, makes an energetic pitch. In his nine months in office, Mr. Gedmin has told anyone who'll listen that government-funded, robust "surrogate broadcasting" -- a stand-in where the real thing is missing -- matters as much as ever. "Massive evidence suggests that it irritates authoritarian regimes, inspires democrats, and creates greater space for civil society," he says. The mission at RFE/RL, a pioneer in U.S. international public broadcasting, didn't end in 1989. It merely moved further east and south. (The Europe in its name is an anachronism; the original Central European stations were shuttered years ago.) RFE/RL broadcasts in 28 languages to some of the highest-priority and most difficult countries for U.S. foreign policy today. It's the most popular station in Afghanistan (with a 67% market share in a country where radio is the main source of information), and one of the last free broadcast outlets in Russia, Central Asia and Belarus, and the American voice in Persian in Iran. But there are several strikes against them. The first is the new "media rich" environment. With so much competition from the Internet, podcasts, widespread satellite television and radio -- none of which existed in Cold War days -- the surrogate stations, such as RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia or Radio Marti for Cuba, are struggling to hold on to listeners and influence, along with the rest of old media. In addition, the "surrogates" suffer from an existential crisis of their own. The nine-person Broadcast Board of Governors, the federal agency responsible for all government-supported international stations, is bipartisan, but deeply politicized and with a reputation for micromanagement. Recent years saw the division blurred between surrogate (epitomized by RFE/RL's stations) and traditional public diplomacy broadcasting that had been the preserve of the Voice of America, which as the name suggests is tasked with explaining U.S. policies to the world. The board experimented with different approaches, pushing a commercial radio model on the stations intended to win young listeners with music and playing down the old staple of serious programming about politics, the economy and culture. Old timers were aghast. "The war of ideas has been demoted to the battle of the bands," noted one participant at a McCormick Tribune Conference earlier this year on the future of U.S. international broadcasting. The quality and professionalism of the stations have come under attack as well, most notably at Radio Farda, the Iranian service, until recently run jointly by RFE/RL and Voice of America. Alhurra, the television broadcaster to the Arabic-speaking world, got into political trouble earlier this year for airing interviews with terrorists. Its director resigned. The final strike is structural. Government-run agencies tend to be bureaucratic and inertia-bound; in other words, wholly ill-suited for the fast-paced media world. Marc Ginsberg, an Arabic-speaking former U.S. ambassador, says "public diplomacy needs to evolve" and tap the best of America's private sector expertise in Hollywood or on Madison Avenue. Mr. Ginsberg cofounded a nonprofit television production company, Layalina, which makes shows that are then sold to Arab-language networks in the Middle East. Its "On the Road in America," which followed four Arabs on a 10-week trip across the U.S., was one of the most popular shows in the Arab world this year. Mr. Gedmin, 49, spent a chunk of his career at the American Enterprise Institute and then ran the Aspen Institute Berlin before taking his current job in Prague. He agrees with a lot of this criticism. Early on he shuffled personnel and pushed RFE/RL back toward its original "surrogate radio" role with the caveat, he says, that when appropriate, the stations shouldn't shy from trying to explain America to a world so rich with anti-Americanism. "Our mission is news," he says. "It's not psy-ops, it's not U.S.-G [government] line, it's news. But we tell [local staff] two things. It has got to have a purpose -- to be promoting democratic values and institutions. We also tell them to shoot straight. It's indispensable for credibility in our markets. The moment that any country like Iran thinks that we are a front for the Bush administration or for U.S. policy we will lose credibility." He acknowledges some people in the U.S. won't like it. Aware of the political damage done by Alhurra to the reputation of U.S. international broadcasting, Mr. Gedmin quickly adds that anti- Americanism isn't tolerated and dares anyone to provide proof of it at his shop. But émigré-run stations are prone to factionalism and to broadcast what sometimes sounds strange to American ears. "You've got to create space to let them find their own voice to talk to their own people," Mr. Gedmin says. "It is not my voice. My voice doesn't translate well into Persian." Radio Farda is the priority fix. He wrested full control over the station from Voice of America upon taking office, and put in new Iranian management. Next he looked at the programming. "The editorial content was very weak, and very underwhelming, and in some cases just downright misguided," Mr. Gedmin says. "When I came they thought, 'Oh my gosh, Washington, Bush, neocon.' All I did was I sat down with them day after day and said, 'What kind of groups do you want to reach inside Iran?' And they said, 'Labor, students, women -- a political class open to political change.' And I said, 'Do we do that?' 'Not really,' they said. 'Ok, so what are the issues [they care about]?' I asked." The response: "Economy, corruption are very big. Human rights." Radio Farda has moved to push these different kinds of stories more forcefully. Its news and commentary is now supposed to be geared at an elite audience. There as elsewhere, the idea behind surrogate broadcasting is to inform as well as to start a conversation and encourage critical thinking inside those countries by injecting independent news and ideas unavailable in the local media. Mr. Gedmin cites the coverage of fuel rationing this summer in Iran, which the state-run broadcasters avoided. "We sent reporters to gas stations who went up to people who said, 'I've been waiting for five hours in my car and this government is giving my money to Hezbollah. I'm furious.' We put it on the Web site, we put it on the radio. We had about three hundred calls." Mehdi Khalaji, a former Farda staffer now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who put out a critical report about the station just before Mr. Gedmin took over, says quality control and training remain a problem. "[Mr. Gedmin] needs to hire impartial journalists to monitor Radio Farda," he says. Mr. Gedmin says attracting top journalists to Prague, and on contracts paid in the sinking U.S. dollar, is a challenge. But he says the station is now on the right track. Most of the region covered by Prague-based stations is on the wrong track, marked by rising authoritarianism (and anti-Americanism), particularly in Russia. Prague has, reprising the role played by Munich, become one meeting point for people interested in championing the free press and democracy in Russia, the Caucasus, Iran and Central Asia. In October, the station marked the one year anniversary of the assassination of Russia's best-known journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, with a large conference. A small research team, though a shadow of its Cold War self, looks at media and political trends in its new region. It's probably too small. The McCormick Tribune report notes "substantial analytical research capability" is a "prerequisite for fully effective 'surrogate' broadcasting." Mr. Gedmin says the radio needs to push further into cell phone texting, podcasts and other new technology to deliver its programming. He hired a new editor for its dowdy Internet site. With the crackdown on independent voices in Vladimir Putin's Russia, the Russian-language Radio Liberty will have to find new ways to broadcast radio, television and written news and analysis into the country through the Web. "The Russians are kicking us off the air," Mr. Gedmin says. "Pretty soon we're going to have to go to an Internet strategy. If we get it right, it could be the refuge for liberal thought in Russia." Its effect is hard to gauge and a source of dispute -- in the target countries and in budget battles on Capitol Hill. Radio Farda is listened to by about 13.5% of the radio audience, according to telephone surveys. For all 28 services, the average is 10%. "We care about audience size," Mr. Gedmin says. "Never misunderstand me. But you can't measure our success by audience size alone." As far as its importance goes, Mr. Gedmin cites all the efforts made by governments to jam the radio signal, block the Web site and publicly denounce RFE/RL. Its journalists, as others in repressive countries, take considerable risks to do their jobs. This year, two RFE/RL reporters have been killed and one kidnapped (and freed after two weeks) in Iraq, two went missing for several weeks in Turkmenistan, two fled Russia, one was detained in Iran for eight months, and two Afghans were threatened with beheading by the Taliban and one kidnapped. A 26-year-old reporter for the Uzbek service was shot and killed in October in front of his office in Kyrgyzstan. He had told colleagues in Prague that he had been followed by Uzbek security. Skeptics notice the early changes. "Jeff's the best thing to happen to RFE/RL in a decade," says Enders Wimbush, a vocal critic who headed Radio Liberty in 1987-93 and currently works at Washington's Hudson Institute. Yet the outcome of Mr. Gedmin's battle to convince Congress that American taxpayers ought to pick up more of the tab won't be known for a while. Its budget, at $77 million this year, is down from $230 million in 1995, when the U.S. cashed the "peace dividend." None of Mr. Gedmin's successors managed to get Capitol Hill to commit any new resources in 12 years. How to put American public diplomacy in support of democracy back in high gear is an immediate challenge, no matter who ends up living in the White House. Mr. Gedmin wants to get international surrogate broadcasters back into the discussion. "At a time when everybody is arguing 'soft power' is so important, this kind of broadcast is the ultimate in soft power," he says. "It costs peanuts. And it has a measurable impact of success." Mr. Kaminski is editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe (Wall Street Journal [Murdochian], via David Cole, OK, Mike Cooper, DXLD) The "but" that boggles U.S. international broadcasting. Jeffery Gedmin, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, quoted: "Our mission is news. It's not psy-ops, it's not U.S.-G [government] line, it's news. But we tell [local staff] two things. It has got to have a purpose -- to be promoting democratic values and institutions. We also tell them to shoot straight. It's indispensable for credibility in our markets. The moment that any country like Iran thinks that we are a front for the Bush administration or for U.S. policy we will lose credibility." Matthew Kaminski, Wall Street Journal, 29 December 2007. [as above] Great paragraph, until the part about "promoting democratic values." To be sure, democracy is wonderful. But either your purpose is to provide credible news, or it is to promote democracy. It can't be both. A comprehensive, objective, balanced news service does contribute to democracy by providing audiences with the knowledge they need to institute democratic institutions in their own countries, and to participate in that democracy thereafter. If that's what Gedmin meant, then he should have said so, because it's a damned important distinction. Elsewhere in this piece, Voice of America is the fall guy: (Kim Andrew Elliott, Dec 29, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) "Radio Farda is the priority fix. [Gedmin] wrested full control over the station from Voice of America upon taking office, and put in new Iranian management." VOA is dismissed as (Kim, ibid.) "traditional public diplomacy broadcasting ... which as the name suggests is tasked with explaining U.S. policies to the world." (ibid.) Once again VOA has been mischaracterized (and will anyone at VOA or its parent IBB set the record straight?). Most of VOA's audience is accounted for by most of VOA's content, which is news that is more comprehensive and credible than the news that audiences get from their state-controlled domestic media. Furthermore, VOA provides the full diet of news, about the world and (competing competently with the "surrogate" stations) about the audiences' own countries, all from the convenience of one station (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) V also THAILAND ** U S A. THE RETURN OF TALK --- LATE-NIGHT TV IS BACK ON THE AIR Idiot Box, By Devin D. O’Leary http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=21669&scn=film&fullstory=y It was probably inevitable, but late-night talk show hosts will be returning to the airwaves starting Wednesday, Jan. 2. Dismissing the Writers Guild of America strike, Jay, Dave and the rest of the lot will be back behind their respective desks starting this week. Actually, “Last Call with Carson Daly” was the first show to openly defy the strike, returning to ABC in early December. Not that anyone noticed. The return of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “Late Show with David Letterman,” on the other hand, marks a major turning point for today’s blighted TV landscape. Letterman was the first to hint at a comeback. His show is not actually produced by his network conglomerate CBS but is an independent production of Letterman’s own Worldwide Pants company. That means the striking Writers Guild can negotiate an independent agreement on the show. Although CBS and its parent corp. Viacom have dug in their heels, refusing to bow to Guild pressure, Letterman’s company has reportedly agreed to all the Guild’s demands regarding alternate distribution (DVDs, streaming video, etc.). The agreement includes Craig Ferguson’s late-night show, which is also produced by Worldwide Pants. Believing there’s strength in numbers, NBC quickly announced Leno and O’Brien would be coming back on the same night as Letterman. Unlike Letterman, NBC’s stars are technically strikebreakers and will have to operate without their writers--all of whom are currently walking the picket lines. Leno and O’Brien--both members of the WGA--say they continue to support the strike but cannot allow their 200 or so non- writing staff members to be laid off. Up until now, both stars have been generously paying the salaries of their unemployed coworkers. The move is not without precedent. After two months of forced vacation, Johnny Carson returned to “The Tonight Show” during the 1988 writers strike. What these shows will look like remains a mystery, though. A strike does not prevent talk show hosts from using old jokes or ad libbing with guests, but scripted sketches and lengthy monologues will almost certainly be absent. Also, there is the nagging question of what stars will be willing to cross picket lines to appear on these shows. Studios are desperate to promote their major holiday movies, but bookers for the talk shows have allegedly been struggling to find A- list guests. Donald Trump will be happily plugging “Celebrity Apprentice” on Wednesday’s “Late Show with David Letterman,” but most Hollywood publicists seem to be taking a wait-and-see attitude about rushing clients back onto the talk show circuit. So where does that leave the next tier of talk shows, Comedy Central’s much-missed “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report”? They’re supposedly returning on Jan. 7. Although those shows rely far more on political and literary guests than movie stars, both are heavily scripted and it remains to be seen how far Stewart and Colbert will get by simply winging it, sans-script. Oh well. At the end of the day, some talk is better than none (Albuquerque Alibi Dec 27-Jan 2 via DXLD) ** U S A. James Dobson, Rush Limbaugh, Ed Schultz, etc. I am cross- posting this to several broadcast lists, so I can get a wide range of replies. As many of you know, I am finishing up my PhD, and currently at work on my thesis, which is also related to the book I'm working on for Greenwood Press -- about the history of talk shows. I was wondering if any of you carry any talk, be it rightie, leftie, or religious at your stations. (If you listen to talk regularly, that's fine too. Your opinion would be helpful.) Please note, before we get into ideology wars -- my question is NOT about which talkers you agree with or which talkers you think are swine. It's also not about who's correct on the issues and who's totally wrong. All I am trying to find out which talkers are still influential, which ones still get audience response. Because it's for the introduction to the book, I want to be certain that it's neutral and factual. In fact, the book itself is a reference work, and will discuss talk shows from both sides of the ideological divide, as well as giving some interesting biographical facts about some of the most famous hosts over the years. Question 1: have you found at your station that any one talker who gets the lion's share of response from the public? (This includes any of your market's local talkers, if you have any who stand out -- I'd love to know more about how local talk is doing... and yes, that includes sports talk or any other kind of talk...) Question 2: are religious talkers like James Dobson still as influential today as they were, say 10-15 years ago? I ask because studies show the audience for talk radio in general is declining somewhat, and I was curious to see if that's just true for the mainstream (non-religious) talkers of the world, or if it's also true for the religious hosts. And finally, Question 3: Is there a talker whom YOU find credible or interesting or listenable, whether you agree with him/her or not? Thanks for your input, and feel free to respond off-list if that's more comfortable for you. I want to thank all of you for helping me out in the past, and I do hope some of my posts have been helpful to you in return! I wish everyone on the list a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008!!! (Donna Halper, dlh @ donnahalper.com Dec 29, ABDX via DXLD) Since she did not post this to DXLD herself, when replying, please make sure she knows you saw this in DXLD (gh) Donna, your book sounds interesting. Something you might also want to address in your book is the apparent scarcity of the political middle- of-the-road talker, if such exists. Almost everything on the air is extremely conservative or extremely liberal. (From a marketing point of view, perhaps middle-of-the-road talkers would be boring, and draw poor ratings?) (Dick W., ABDX via DXLD) Oh you are a person after my own heart. I grew up, as I recall in the preface to my book, listening to talkers who believed very strongly that a talk show should be INFORMATIVE and not just ideological. I have fond memories of listening to talkers who had guests from both sides of the issues, and while they might personally have favoured one side, they didn't insult the other. I loved the late great David Brudnoy of WBZ, for example. David by his own admission was a rightie. He disliked the Clintons with a passion. And yet, if you wrote a positive book about a liberal or left wing subject, he would treat you with the utmost in courtesy and civility when he had you on as a guest. He might disagree, but he was never rude about it. Today, almost everybody seems to have staked out their own turf and their job, as they see it, is to insult and annihilate the other side. I can't get used to it (Donna Halper, ibid.) MOR talkers: Jim Bohannon, WWI; Milt Rosenberg, WGN. Both lean somewhat to the right, but are fair and courteous (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ACTIVELY BROADENING SPECTRUM OF CLASSICAL MUSIC LISTENERS By John von Rhein, Tribune music critic, December 30, 2007 http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-1230_coty_jvrdec30,0,3002364.story The signature commitment to quality classical music broadcasting that has made WFMT-FM 98.7 the most cultured radio station in North America is alive and well as it enters its 57th year of broadcasting this month. Reaffirming that commitment is the man at the top -- Steve Robinson, completing his seventh year as general manager of the WFMT Radio Network. What Robinson, 60, has done is to adapt the station's offerings to a rapidly shifting broadcasting environment, making WFMT less stuffy and more appealing to a broader spectrum of listeners and listener tastes. Under the stewardship of Window to the World Communications (the parent company of WFMT and WTTW-Ch. 11), the WFMT Radio Network has grown to become the largest fine arts radio syndication company in the nation. The array of classical, jazz and folk programs it produces and distributes is unmatched in the domestic radio industry. Robinson's most salient achievement has been to expand the amount of live broadcasting that emanates from the station's performance studio as well as from venues around Chicago and across the globe. "This year has brought the most live broadcasts we have ever done," reports the general manager. "Our emphasis on live music really differentiates us from any other [classical] station in the country." He's right. WFMT is providing regular exposure to a greater number of Chicago classical groups and individual musicians than ever before. And that doesn't mean more airtime only for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera, even though both cultural behemoths resumed their WFMT-syndicated broadcast series within the last 14 months. Important smaller organizations such as Music in the Loft and the Chicago Chamber Musicians also have raised their profiles significantly thanks to Robinson's initiative. At a time when the Internet is siphoning away customers and advertising dollars from the Old Media, including radio, in slow degrees, Robinson is working hard to boost WFMT's online presence. Three months ago the WFMT network started streaming its programming around the clock without charge. The advent of mobile broadband technology means that listeners can access high-speed, CD-quality audio online and from other sources. With this in mind, Robinson is working to make certain WFMT embraces the latest advances in radio's deepening relationship with cyber-technology. Robinson says WFMT -- an anomaly among broadcasters in that it's a station airing commercials that's run as a non-profit organization -- never could have survived without the unwavering support of its audience: a cumulative weekly listenership of 367,500, according to the latest Arbitron ratings. The station's longevity and, indeed, prosperity, stand as a significant achievement amid a national classical radio market that is perceptibly shrinking in some areas of the country. Indeed, WFMT fans appear to be more than willing to put their money where their loyalty is. According to Robinson, approximately 45 percent of the station's $8 million budget is derived from listener donations to the tri-annual Fine Arts Circle membership campaigns. The most recent weeklong fund drive last month raised more than $600,000 from fans listening via radio and the Web. With a dedicated and growing cadre of classically inclined mavens who clearly endorse what Robinson has done with a station they have long held sacred, "there will always be a WFMT," Robinson says, beaming confidently. - - - [caption?] INSPIRATION "The FCC 'loans' radio stations their licenses to broadcast for the public good, and that's a big motivation for me. It's what shapes WFMT's mission. What's hard to put into words is the joy all of us feel in creating radio programming that makes a difference in people's lives." To access WFMT online, go to http://wfmt.com (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Back in 1961, Heritage automation was located in Bellingham WA. It offered 18 hours of fine (classical) music a day, and was heard in 21 markets: Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Seattle, San Diego, Atlanta, Denver, Portland OR, Memphis, Grand Junxion, Montgomery, Dallas, St Louis, Milwaukee. Heritage was a division of International Good Music, Inc., of Bellingham (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. FL Miami *89.7 WKCP (ex-WMCU), and W270AD 101.9 West Palm Beach, classical, ``South Florida`s State for Classical Music.`` ``It`s probably a nice addition after WTMI 93.1 Miami died.`` Affects also *95.3 Miami, *96.9 North Miami (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. NJ, Burlington, WJJZ 95.7 adds HD. The HD2 channel is classical music 24 hours a day. Peter Nero, conductor Philadelphia Pops, will be the official voice of the HD2 channel. ``It will be interesting to see how many classical music listeners buy HD radios to be able to listen to this.`` [another unattributed contributor quotation, par for the course in] (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. TN, Memphis, WKNO-FM *91.1 is now ``in sparkling HD, with its HD-2 being music and talk (programmed the opposite of main channel), HD-3 is BBC audio fulltime (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. SC, Columbia --- visiting the USC recently was Marian McPartland. She`s nearly 90, cannot walk, but enjoys visiting stations which have carried her show, Piano Jazz, on NPR. Her radio programs continues, after nearly 30 years, to be produced by SC Educational TV [of which radio is a mere subsidiary --- gh]. With more than 650 shows to her credit, McPartland says there are only a few music greats who have eluded her taping. ``I`ve been chasing Stevie Wonder for years. I hope to get him before I die,`` she said (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. NY, Long Island City, 87.9 is a pseudo-FM station, WNYZ-LP (TV), which is supposed to inhabit the TV audio sphere, roughly 87.75, with a TV graphic or picture. It`s said to have migrated to 87.9 to be easier to receive on FM radios, with no TV picture. It is believed to operate with close to 20 kW audio power (far more than the 10% audio power allowed a low band TV station, translator or low power TV station). Has had Russian programming, but said to be changing to rock, English, and broadcasting in FM stereo (not TV audio stereo). Said by Wikipedia to be broadcasting from atop the Citicorp Building in LIC, Queens (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. OR, Portland, KPTV (Channel 12) is back with its 78.67 kHz SAP. ``Not only does it now light up the indicator on my Sony ICF-36 [modified radio], but it also is once again available on my VCR and my new Panasonic DMR-EZ37 DVD recorder/ATSC system`s analog tuner. The programming on said SAP still appears to be merely a simulcast of the main audio, with very little descriptive audio or Spanish. KPTV`s Pro channel still seems to be there as well.`` (Nov-Dec FMedia! via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. See CUBA UNIDENTIFIED. 4685 à 4720: Sinais de radio-bóias (os mesmos sinais verificados há algumas semanas entre 4795 e 4810 kHz), 35543 (Rudolf Grimm, Ibiuna, SP, Brasil, Conexión Digital Dec 30 via DXLD) Radio buoys, he says. No time or description, but sure looks like CODAR range to me, not buoys. Who identified this as buoys? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Every shortwave listener should know the name of Glenn Hauser. Whether you consult his DX Listening Digest yahoo group, his website http://www.worldofradio.com or his radio program World of Radio, they all will provide you with up to date and accurate information (Fred Waterer, Ont., Programming Matters, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) Thanks so much for your good work during 2007. You maintain high standards in a field as much full of dross as gold nuggets, and I wish you and yours the best regards for the season and a great 2008. Thanks also for putting up with some of our deliberately challenging media releases - designed to carve out a sensible niche for us in a world of radio babble! Cheers, (David Ricquish, NZ, Dec 21) Tnx to Fred Jodry for a MO in the mail to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 (gh) Le saludo atentamente, Sr. Hauser. Mi nombre es Eduardo Peralta, un joven de 18 años de edad que descubrió el maravilloso mundo de la escucha de la onda corta a fines de 2005, cuando tuve por primera vez un muy humilde receptor portátil que sigo usando hoy día. Si bien este aparato no posee las ventajas de otros de mejor calidad, cada día me sorprendo con las cosas que puedo escuchar. (De hecho, ayer a la noche sintonicé por primera vez la emisora Radio Pio XII, y hace unos pocos minutos escuché la WBOH). Este mensaje es para agradecerle por su labor tan desinteresada para informar a los diexistas, y por su excelente programa radial. Nuevamente le agradezco su labor. Saludos desde Buenos Aires (Eduardo Peralta) Estimado amigo Glenn, la presente es para hacerte llegar un caluroso saludo de Fin de Año. Una vez más, felicitaciones por la admirable labor de llevar día a día DXLD y tu enorme contribución al mundo del diexismo y la onda corta. Éxitos y mucha salud para el venidero 2008. Hago extensivo este mensaje a todos los colegas de la lista. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, Dec 29) Thanks to Robert McEntee for a donation to woradio @ yahoo.com via PayPal (gh) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FURTHER ETÓN E5 OBSERVATIONS I made my initial logging on Radio Verdad-4053 [see GUATEMALA] this morning on my Eton E5, and then tuned it in on my ICF-2010, comparing the reception on each set. It was a revelation --- the internal noise of the E5 is significantly less than on the ICF-2010. While the signal strength was essentially the same on both, the E5 audio sounded much "cleaner" than the ICF-2010. I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise; the ICF-2010 synthesizer circuit is about 24 years old and there have been quantum leaps in frequency synthesizer design since then. Nonetheless, this is the sort of thing that doesn't show up in receiver specs nor is noted often in tests, but does have a big impact on how a received signal sounds (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX via DXLD) NVIS ANTENNA ALSO FOR RECEPTION QUESTION NUMBER TWO, it Came from Trinidad and Tobago, another beautiful Caribbean nation that I have had the nice opportunity of visiting and sharing time with many of the local enthusiastic radio amateur operators. Listener Mark, who tells me that he picks up our 9550 kiloHertz Caribbean edition, tells me in his e-mail that he wants to know more about the Near Vertical Incidence Skywave antennas, that are now so often mentioned in amateur radio publications. Well amigo Mark, NVIS or Near Vertical Incidence Skywave antennas are becoming very popular among radio amateur emergency networks, because they will provide reliable communications at short distances on the 80, 60 and 40 meters bands, while using average power outputs of between 20 and 100 Watts. As you well know, when a tropical hurricane impacts upon one of our island nations, electricity distribution networks are disconnected by the power company for safety reasons, and you must operate using batteries or a diesel or gasoline engine coupled to a generator. When using battery power, you want to keep the power output as low as possible, and this is why the NVIS mode is so effective. Here in Cuba we have found that by installing a highly effective NVIS antenna, we can keep communications going while the stations are running between 20 and 50 Watts, and when conditions are good, we can switch down to 10 Watts and keep the emergency net operating. An effective NVIS antenna for the 80, 60 or 40 meters bands is not too difficult to design and install, and one nice feature is that you won’t need tall masts to make it work nicely. NVIS are also very useful at noisy locations, because they don’t pick up signals at the lower take off angles. Well amigo Mark, NVIS systems are first of all low profile antennas, they are easy to install, and above all, NVIS systems can be built very easily and at low cost by anyone. My NVIS 40 meters band antenna is a nice example of what I am talking about. Many Cuban amateur radio stations have built it and keep it ready all the year round, but especially from June to the end of November during the Atlantic and Caribbean Tropical Hurricane Season (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Dec 29 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) FM BAND EXPANSION The following is from a colleague, Wayne Plunkett, a broadcast consultant who is also a DXer. I might add one question to his missive, below - is the space presently used for channels 5 and 6 in any way slated or potentially for other use? - Saul As time moves forward for the full implementation of Digital TV in the US, we wish to advance some interrelated ideas and would be interested in any and all comments. From the 2005 WTFDA Station Guide we see there are only 36 US stations combined for the 5 low band TV channels showing as DTV assignments (excluding GUAM) and we understand that the number still somewhere around + / - 40 stations. This will seem like a colossal waste of valuable spectrum for such a relative few TV stations when one considers the hypersaturated situation on the nearby FM band in all the major markets in North America. So why not reassign at least the Channel 6 bandwidth (if not Channel 5 beside) from TV to FM to relieve the intolerable logjam on the latter band. We note accordingly to the previously referred to station list, there are only 3 assignments for US DTV stations on channel 6, namely: Anchorage, Alaska KYES-DT New Haven, Connecticut WEDY-DT Weston, West Virginia WDTV-DT Has anybody knowledge of such a proposal ever been seriously considered at the FCC level or whatever? We realize such a move would no doubt be vigorously opposed by most present commercial stations, the NAB, etc., but often that is the case with otherwise logical situations. Interestingly enough, there is an article in the December 1945 Radio Craft describing the then just approved by the FCC reallocation of a large quantity of spectrum, including the moving of the FM band up to 88-106 Mc/s. The author of this article speculates that FM might soon encompass down to 78 Mc/s. but does not indicate how this additional 10 Mc/s. will be compensated for in the TV band. Now some 65 years later, we're wondering the same thing under very different current circumstances. So, the point of all this -- is our proposal to extend the FM band viable and does it have any real chance of success? Your comments may influence what lobbying efforts are carried out with Broadcasting Industry Bigwigs and Federal Government officials in Canada in 2008 (via Saul Chernos, WTFDA via DXLD) How can one be a consultant in this day and age and not be online? I googled on ``Wayne Plunkett`` and got only a few hits, archived transcripts of testimony in CRTC hearings about allowing new low-power stations in various markets, e.g. Halifax (gh, DXLD) The Association of Maximum Service Television [it`s Telecasters -- gh] (AMST) wants the FCC to continue FM protections of Channel 6 TV and possibly Channel 5 spectrum. It does not want to turn those allotments over to FM after the February 2009 DTV transition (Bruce Elving, Nov- Dec FMedia! via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see GERMANY; HD/IBOC: see USA ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV DROP DEAD DATE [more just above] How certain are we that 2009 will indeed be drop-dead for US TV analog? (Saul Chernos, Ont., WTFDA via DXLD) For full-power analog, pretty much absolutely. The spectrum above channel 51 has already been largely either sold off or promised to public-safety users, and they're not going to put up with any delays at this point in getting access to the spectrum they've paid for. Everything else pretty much flows from that - the only way to clear off that spectrum completely is to go DTV-only, and the industry won't tolerate anything that would allow some stations to stay on in analog while others are forced off. There are also a fair number of stations limping along with dying analog transmitters who don't want to invest in new ones just to get another year or two out of them. That doesn't mean there won't be some degree of political pressure to delay the drop-dead date - politicians will attach themselves to anything that looks good in the headlines, even in a non-Federal- election year - but the process is just too far along at this point to be delayed very much, if at all. The only real potential for delay that I can see is where negotiated channel elections and other complicated transitions are concerned. The FCC has been dragging its feet making a final ruling on cases like Syracuse, where the rules now say that WCNY (analog 24/digital 25) has to keep operating on those channels right up to 2/17/09, while WSTM (analog 3/digital 54) has to keep those channels operating right up to 2/17/09 - but the next morning, WSTM is supposed to be up and running at full power on its new permanent DTV channel, 24. Or here in Rochester, where WHAM-TV (analog 13/digital 59) is supposed to remain on the air with full-power analog until 2/17/09, then be on the air the next morning at full power on its DTV channel - 13! There are also antenna issues that need to be resolved - there are only so many tower crews in the country, and a LOT of antennas that will need to be moved on and off towers, and February is a bad time of year to be doing that in these (and many other) parts. I would imagine we'll see a few waivers to extend the deadline for stations in specific problem cases like these, and MAYBE even an overall delay of a few months to let the tower crews get into spring and summer, but the likelihood for any lengthy overall delay in the transition is small to begin with, and diminishing by the minute (Scott Fybush, WTFDA via DXLD) Y'know, what I think is a lot more likely to happen in these cases, is that WHAM will still be required to shut down their analog operation on channel 13 on 2/17/09. But they'll be allowed to continue operating their DTV on channel 59 for a few months (2-3-6) while they finish constructing the permanent DTV facility on channel 13 (Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ We received more reports of 10 meter surprises, probably due to sporadic-E, although it doesn't seem the season for it. Hank Pfizenmayer, K7HP of Phoenix, Arizona heard "horrible 40-meter noise wiping out FJ/OH2AM," so he switched to 10 meters to see if he could pinpoint the source with his beam. This was well after dark, and more than six hours after local sunset at 0632-0636z. He heard beacons from Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. W0ERE/B in Southwest Missouri was S9 from 5 watts into a vertical (ZCZC AP54 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 54 ARLP054 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA December 28, 2007 To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ??? Can it be that ARRL`s propagation specialist is not aware of the winter sporadic-E season?!?! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ITEM ONE --- No sunspots in sight at this moment, putting an end of what may now be surely described as the year of the solar minimum or as scientists like to call it, the Year of the Quiet Sun. Amigos, as 2007 comes to an end, the very quiet Sun tells us that the chances of solar flares happening during the next several days are practically zero, so the solar flux levels are going to stay at extremely low levels down during the first few days of 2008. ITEM TWO: TV DX winter season well in progress at this moment, with sporadic E skip events happening all around North America, the Caribbean Europe and Northern Africa. At least TWO recent sporadic E opening sent the maximum useable frequency up past the two meters amateur band , making reception of FM stations from more than one thousand miles away possible even with portable radios and their telescopic whip antennas. ARNIE CORO’S DXERS UNLIMITED’S 2008 HF PROPAGATION FORECAST Yes you heard it right, this is an advance of what should be happening next year on the HF bands. Expect low solar activity to continue during the first half of 2008, solar cycle 23 keeps fading away, but at the same time we should start to see more high latitude and reverse magnetic polarity sunspots that belong to the new cycle 24, overlapping with an eventual low latitude sunspot belonging to cycle 23. During the second half of 2008, HF propagation conditions will take a turn for the better and we will all be able to once again enjoy nice DX that will be heard better and better during 2009, 2010 and of course during the peak year of cycle 24, expected to happen sometime between 2010 and 2012, something that is difficult to predict right at this moment. Amigos HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 TO YOU ALL (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Dec 29 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Double-hop [sporadic E] at 50 MHz is common. I can work the West Coast from Memphis on 6m several times a year. But, from where I live anyway, the Caribbean is even more common. And Trinidad is high on the list of 6m relogs. And, power doesn't seem to be a big factor. I have worked the West Coast many times, and several Caribbean Islands at 5 Watts or less. Last Summer, I worked Anguilla (VP2E) as a new country at 5 Watts, first try (it was the radio that just happened to be hooked up when I heard the station). So, it could be a party. I wonder, though, if this time next year, when we see that relog of WPBT, will we be wondering if that's the last time EVER? (Peter, N4LI, Baskind, Memphis TN, WTFDA via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ SUPPORT FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT, SECURITY FOR ATHEIST/FEMINIST TASLIMA NASRIN Taslima Nasrin, prominent feminist, Atheist and secularist is seeking freedom of movement and speech in her newly-adopted refuge of India. Ms. Nasrin is an outspoken international critic of religious intolerance and oppression of women. Theocratic regimes and governments wishing to "not offend religion" have censored or banned her writings. Mobs of religious fanatics have been demanding her execution, and Ms. Nasrin -- a native of Bangladesh -- was forced to flee her homeland. She is currently hiding in India, but the government, catering to the demands of Islamic and other militant sectarian groups, has restricted her activities and movements. . . http://www.atheists.org/action/alert-26-dec-2007.html (via DXLD) ###