DX LISTENING DIGEST 2002 ARCHIVE HOME presents...
DX LISTENING DIGEST 2002 ARCHIVE
NOTE: Since this file is getting almost too big to manage, we are closing it at this point, containing all DXLDs for the first three months of 2002, now renamed dxldta02.html Its original name, dxldtd02.html now applies to the current to-date file, starting with 2-052, April 1, 2002. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ALSO NOTE: INDIVIDUAL DXLDS, JANUARY-JUNE 2002: On our own website we no longer have individual issues before July 1, 2002, just these massive quarterly archives. Individual issues are, however, still available at DXing.com, indexed here: http://www.dxing.com/dxrold.htm -- and 2001 archive is also there ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-051, March 31, 2002 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd02.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 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 WORLD OF RADIO #1124: (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1124.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1124.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1124.html NEXT AIRINGS ON WWCR: Mon 0100, 0600 on 3210; Wed 1030 on 9475 NEXT AIRINGS ON RFPI: Sun 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230 on some of: 7445-USB, 15039, 21815-USB CONTINENT OF MEDIA 02-02 is now available: (STREAM) http://www.DXing.com/com/com0202.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.DXing.com/com/com0202.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0202.html ON RFPI: Fri 1900, Sat 0100, 0700, 1300, 1730, 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, Tue 2000, Wed 0200, 0800, 1400 on some of: 7445-USB, 15039, 21815-USB ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 8700 (USB). Information R Feeder to Command Solo was still audible until about Mar 15 in the early morning and late afternoon with the usual programmes in Pashto and Dari (Groppazzi, Italy, and Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) 8700 USB. Unidentified station after Commando Solo is reported to have arrived back in the States. Mar 24, 1530 (fade in)- past 2310. Playing typical Afghani music. I didn`t listen continuously, but no announcements were heard. Signal strength less than previously (Noel Green, England, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) The Command Solo aircraft reportedly have left Afghanistan, but the feeder which I believe is at a U.S. Base in Saudi Arabia may still be in use (Ed. Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** ALASKA. ALASCA. HAARP -Escutei os sinais em 5800 kHz dias 26 (0740 UT), dia 27 (0845 h), dia 28 (0840 às 0900 e 0930 às 1000). Uai (mineiro tem que falar assim), estou escutando-os também hoje dia 29 de março em 3200 kHz e em 5800 khz às 0700 h. Pude perceber que os sinais em 5800 iniciam-se aos 30 minutos de cada hora e se extendem até aos 60 min da hora. De 30 aos 45 min os sinais são por 1'30" consecutivos com uma pausa de 30 seg. De 45 aos 60 min da hora, os sinais são continuos. Obs: Em 3200 kHz as transmissões comecam aos 0 min da hora e vão até aos 30 min (Nilson Couto, Betim - MG, Radioescutas via @tividade DX via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. March 29, 15425.55, LRA-36, 2105-2215, Latin American romantic type ballad music, with only occasional announcements in Spanish. I did hear announcements at 2123 and 2135. CD recording skipped at 2137. Signal was weak to begin with, but increased to fair level around 2144. Audio started dropping out at 2153. Definite ID announcement at 2200. I don't speak SS, but these are some of the words from my ID recording that I understand: "Transmite LRA ?? (pres 36)... Radio ? Arcángel?..." Then freq in kHz. was given "para todo ? " Played clip for Glenn Hauser who was fairly sure about station ID and 100% sure about ending slogan "para todo el mundo." This is a difficult one for us in N America to hear due to the frequency being too low for efficient mid-day propagation from Antarctica; however, the station was on later then usual, and I think there was a slight geomagnetic disturbance at the time, which pushed the MUF down. Signal was of fair strength and quite listenable at peak, but with rapid flutter, which would also suggest a degree of geo-magnetic disturbance (David Hodgson, TN, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Interesting observations, David. I have yet to hear them in Victoria between the usual 1800 and 2100 time frame. They were relatively well heard, however, during that test transmission a few years back for North America. Again that was a later transmission. Seems to be the same propagation characteristic as Radio St Helena. Consistently, the signal would be poor to non-existent, for the first hour, and then gradually increase, often to good to very good levels before starting to gradually fade during the last hour. Maybe they'll be on late again this Monday? (Walt Volodya Salmaniw, BC, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. 15475.5. LRA36, R Nacional, Base Esperanza, Mar 14 and 20, 2100, Spanish. Heard also on 14402.5 in USB. This may have been a switching error as the latter frequency is assigned to Base Esperanza, Base General Belgrano II and Base General San Martín for radiotelephone traffic (Maarten van Delft, Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. A nice QSL letter was received Mar 14 from Army station LTA. Address: Batallón de Comunicaciones 602, Ejército Argentino, Azopardo 250, piso 18, 1328 Buenos Aires. They are responsible for the relays of various broadcasting stations on 15820 (Maarten van Delft, Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 11423.15 LSB, R Bosques (presumed), 0237, Mar 30, Signal was weaker then usual, I suppose related to the elevated solar wind speed (600 kM/s). L Am pop and ballads, with announcements on the quarter hour, which is what I've observed in the past. I couldn't get enough signal to pick out individual words, so no ID this time. Switch to AM on 11423.95 at 0330. This operator is known to switch modes of modulation in the same transmission period. I caught only a few traces of AM audio on the peaks. Will try again over the next few weeks if solar/geo-magnetic conditions quiet down (David Hodgson, TN, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH AMERICA ** AUSTRALIA. New frequency for R. Australia, 2330 UT Mar 30 in English, is 15230, no longer on 15240. Remember when 15230 was a frequency of VLH/VLR Melbourne? (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes. But no surprise, RA website still shows 15240, undated and apparently not updated, and always totally inadequate in not showing exact times, just morning/daytime/evening! http://www.abc.net.au/ra/hear/swguide.htm (Glenn Hauser, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Voice International, Darwin now running Australia- produced programming, with English 1000-1100 on 13685 to China, and Indonesian heard on 15365 at 1026 with "Suara Internasional" ID in between DJ banter and pops. Also heard Mandarin on 13775 at good level at 1030, so now seem to be running at full steam (Matt Francis, Canberra, 31 March, ARDXC via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. The schedule of R Gaúcha, Porto Alegre differs from publication to publication, so your DBS-editor asked Samuel for help. He phoned Claudia Landell at Rádio Gaúcha who said that it now is on the air as follows: ZYE 850, 6020, 0900-0400 ZYE 851, 11915, 0900-0300 More information about Rádio Gaúcha: http://www.clicRBS.com.br (Samuel Cássio, Brazil, Mar 18, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, R TV Burkina, Mar 15, 16, 23, 24, 26, 1846- 0002*, French, songs, a communiqué regarding an EC foreign language interpreters request, a 2 minute newscast 1900, then Vernacular and French 1931 for an obituary; also heard later, 2250 radioplay in French. 2315, upbeat musical programme, talk by man, occasional mentions of Ouagadougou, sounded very professional. Very strong, like Mauritania, but with better audio. However, ended programme at 2359 and followed with a couple of minutes of their very interesting IS (with what sounds like birds in the background), same IS as on the Dave Kernick IS website, then off with no ID or NA. 55444 (Berg, D'Angelo, Gonçalves, Green and Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) 7230 R TV Burkina, Mar 11 and 14, 0824-1040 fade out, (signed off 0902 on Monday Mar 11), French/ Vernacular, traditional tunes and tribal songs. 25332 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC Radio 1 went into special (prepared in advance) programming at 1805 UT on the death of Britain's Queen Mother (Mike Cooper, GA, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UK! You mean Canada`s Queen Mother? ** CANADA. CBC Radio One previews for Monday, April 1: TOO FOOLISH FOR WORDS: Easter Monday on CBC Radio One, join host Russell Bowers for Too Foolish for Words, a salute to five centuries of spoken English. From the lyrical to the downright ludicrous, there are about two million words in the English language (don't you wonder who counted?), and the average adult uses only about a thousand. Learn a few more on Too Foolish for Words, Monday at noon (12:30 NT) on CBC Radio One. RICHARDSON'S ROUNDUP: Today on the Roundup....happy Poetry Month! Hear the poetry winners of the 2002 Canadian Literary Awards. As well, can we build an entire person out of Canadian place names? You've been calling and writing with your anatomical nominations. Join guest host Sheryl McKay on the Roundup at 2:06 (2:36 NT) on CBC Radio One. YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME: It's never too early to start thinking about summer getaways. Easter Monday, join host Theresa Blackburn for Your Home Away From Home, a two hour foretaste of your summer escape - from the little orange pup tent to the cottage by the lake and everything in between. Great stories and even greater music: Your Home Away From Home, Easter Monday at 4 p.m. (4:30 NT) on CBC Radio One. IDEAS: Tonight on Ideas...Regarding the Mexican Pet. You know the story about the Mexican Pet? How about the choking Doberman? You've surely heard The Hook. Even savvy urban folk fall prey to urban folktales. A panel hosted by Paul Kennedy, tonight on Ideas at 9:05 (9:35 NT) on CBC Radio One. (CBC Hotsheet via DXLD) ** CHECHNYA [non]. MOSCOW TO KEEP AN EYE ON RADIO LIBERTY'S CHECHEN SERVICE | Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 30 March: Moscow is so far making no pessimistic forecasts towards the launch by Radio Liberty of broadcasts in Chechen, but pledges to closely monitor the subject matter of the radio station's programmes. Presidential aide Sergey Yastrzhembskiy told Interfax on Saturday [30 March]: "We won't hold any position on the issue in advance but will be judging by deeds." Yastrzhembskiy emphasized that the decision to unveil Radio Liberty broadcasting in Chechen "carries a certain risk". "The North Caucasus is a very sensitive region for Russia and Chechnya is a painful point," the presidential aide said. In this connection, he said: "We will be closely monitoring the subject matter of programmes and the newsmakers' composition, and only then draw conclusions." Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1643 gmt 30 Mar 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ???? Did we miss something? Last we heard, the RL Chechen service had been postponed indefinitely; are they now going ahead with it?? Or is the above story mere posturing (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. Wavelength on CRI: The April 5th edition will feature an interview with Radio Pekin's first English announcer Wei Lin. She worked at CRI for more than 50 years. Wavelength airs at 0040 UT [Fridays] on CRI's domestic service and can be heard by listening to the live feed on our web site at http://www.cri.com.cn/english (Wave- Length, China Radio International, Beijing, China; Attention: Lu Feng and Keith Perron, e-mail: wavelengthcri@yahoo.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Ouvida a Voice of Strait nos 6115 kHz em 23 de Março às 0937 com noticiário em inglês, boa recepção (Samuel Cássio, São Carlos SP, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5957.6, Caracol, Mar 15, strong just after 1000 with extensive international and Colombian news, advertisements, mentions of Caracol, signal slowly drifting downward. Not there on Mar 17 (Jerry Berg, MA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6233/6260v: The main transmitter of La Voz de la Resistencia which was located in the rural zone of Vista Hermosa in the Meta department, Amazon Basin, 200 km southeast of Bogotá, was destroyed with several charges of dynamite by the Colombian antidrugs police on Mar 19. It was the main radiostation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). It was powered by solar energy and had a 23 metres antenna. The FARC will, however, be able to broadcast from similar transmitters in other regions dominated by this guerilla organization (Héctor Arboleda via Monferini, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) This could be a retaliation for the closure by FARC guerillas on Feb 28 of Government controlled radiostation Onda Zero in the southern Colombian town of Acevedo, Huila Department, when some 10 fighters from FARC threatened to blow up the station and then made off with a transmitter, antennas, and other equipment (Ed. Anker Petersen, ibid.) There was nothing in previous press reports we had about this being the SW transmitter, but mentioned only MW 660. Is it unwarranted to assume they were at same site? (gh, DXLD) ** C I S. NDXC`s Foreign relays on SW through facilities in the CIS is partially updated; I think only the entries in blue refer to A-02: http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/relay.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO, DEM. REP. 9550.0, R Okapi, Kinshasa; In South Africa nice and strong signal. Is coming through with a fair signal at 0900, so possibly on 24 hours/day? Was off the air Mar 20 and 21 (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. A-02 Schedule for Croatian Radio Starting March 31st 2002 you can listen Croatian Radio on these frequencies: (NB - mostly in Croatian) Europe 6165 0400-2300 Europe 7365 0400-0900 Europe 9830 0400-1700 Europe 13830 0900-2300 South America 9925 2300-0100 North America (East) 9925 0100-0300 North America (West) 9925 0300-0500 New Zealand 9470 0500-0700 Australia 13820 0700-0900 Copied from the Croatian Radio website. (via Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [and non]. PRAGUE: 31 March 2002 - 26 October 2002 Re-worked from R. Prague website today. CZECH 0830-0857 11600 S.W.Europe 21745 E.Africa/Mi.East 0930-0957 21745 S.Asia/W.Africa 1100-1127 11615 N.Europe 21745 S.Asia 1230-1257 6055 C.Europe 7345 W.Europe 1330-1357 13580 N.Europe 21745 S.Asia 1530-1557 5930 W.Europe 21745 E.Africa 1730-1757 5930 E.Europe/Asia/Australia 21745 C.Africa 1930-1957 5930 W.Europe 11600 S.E.Asia/Australia 2100-2127 11600 S.E.Asia/Australia 15545 W.Africa 2330-2357 11615 N.America 13580 S.America 0130-0157 6200 N.America 7345 S.America 0230-0257 7345 N.America 9870 FRENCH 0600-0627 5930 W.Europe 7345 S.W.Europe 0800-0827 9880 W.Europe 11600 S.W.Europe 1630-1657 5930 W.Europe 21745 C.Africa 1830-1857 5930 W.Europe 13580 W.Africa/S.W.Europe 2200-2227 11600 N.America 15545 GERMAN 0630-0657 5930 W.Europe 7345 Europe 1000-1027 6055 C.Europe 9880 W.Europe 1200-1229 6055 C.Europe 7345 W.Europe 1500-1527 5930 W.Europe 1630-1657 *5990 W.Europe ENGLISH 0700-0727 9880 N.W.Europe 11600 0900-0929 21745 S.Asia/W.Africa 1030-1057 9880 N.Europe 11615 N.W.Europe 1300-1329 13580 N.Europe 21745 S.Asia 1600-1627 5930 N.W.Europe 21745 E.Africa 1700-1727 5930 N.W.Europe 21745 C.Africa 2000-2027 5930 N.W.Europe 11600 S.E.Asia/Australia 2130-2157 11600 S.andE.Asia/Australia 15545 W.Africa 2230-2257 11600 N.America 15545 0000-0027 7345 N.America 11615 0100-0127 6200 N.America 7345 0300-0327 7345 N.America **7385 9870 0330-0357 11600 Mi.East/S.W.Asia 15620 SPANISH 0730-0757 9880 S.W.Europe 11600 1400-1427 11990 S.W.Europe 13580 1800-1827 5930 S.W.Europe 13580 1900-1927 5930 S.W.Europe 13580 2030-2057 5930 S.W.Europe 11600 2300-2327 11615 S.America 13580 0030-0057 7345 C.America 11615 S.America 0200-0227 6200 C.America 7345 S.America **7385 N.W. of SouthAmerica RUSSIAN 0400-0427 684 St.Peterburg 9865 E.Europe 11600 E.Europe/S.W.Asia 1130-1157 6055 E.Europe *15675 21745 E.Europe/S.W.Asia 1430-1457 *9430 E.Europe 11625 13580 E.Europe/S.W.Asia 1530-1557 *7235 E.Europe Transmitters at Litomysl l16E10 49N48 *Relayed via Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia 20E00 48N23 **Relayed via WRMI Miami, Florida 80W22 25N54 (Alan Roe, UK, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) English and Spanish portions also via (Ramón Vázquez Dourado, Spain) ** DENMARK [non]. 7490, R Denmark via Sveio, Norway, Mar 22, 1830- 1855*. The last programme produced by the Shortwave Section at Radio Denmark, edited by Karl Erik Jeppesen and with closing remarks by technicial adviser Erik Køie. 55555 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) By this ended 53½ years of own editorial production especially for Danes abroad. From Mar 23 nearly all items will be repeats from the main newscasts in the Domestic Service of Danmarks Radio. The next ``Stil ind`` (Tune in) with Erik Køie will be broadcast Saturday Mar 30 in each Danish broadcast from 1230 to 1730 after the news. Tune in and send him a report! (Cf. DX-Window no. 190) (Ed. Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5009.8, R Cristal, March 23, 1050 Spanish talk about the Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey, Mexico, ID "Radio Cristal ...Santo Domingo", good (Ron Howard, CA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) Also heard in Denmark Mar 24, 0130-0246* with surprisingly good signal like a local station! ID as ``Esta es Rádio Cristal`` and a lot of fiery bachata dancerhythms. Artist Francisco Vez had problems in singing ``Polititica – Polititaca``, because the tempo was so fast that he nearly stumbled over the words! The closing announcement mentioned that it was a program from R Pueblo broadcast over HIMI R Cristal in Santo Domingo, followed by the National Hymn of the Dominican Republic. 44444 ! (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING HCJB WORLD RADIO LIVE STREAMING On March 31, 2002, HCJB World Radio will terminate its multi-lingual Live Internet Audio Stream. We will be concentrating our efforts to provide on-demand archived audio of our programs which will better serve listeners who tune in via the Internet. We thank all of you who participated in our survey and who listened to our Live Stream at one time or other. Live Streaming may return at a later date in a different format, including special events. We welcome your comments. (HCJB Website March 31 via DXLD) Live stream still running at 0100 UT Sun March 31, but it was not DXPL; instead, some religious drama in Spanish, tho English was still appearing on the schedule. So I was forced to turn on a SW radio and confirmed new 11960, the hummy frequency for DXPL. Then at 0212 we checked 21470, the new service to India, and found it audible, tho poorly, with the mailbag show. In fact, HCJB website shows 0200-0330 as the new block to India, but times along the side are still 2330-0100!! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I'm wondering if anyone in India can hear HCJB's new retimed broadcast to India, 02-0330 on 21470? I've heard that the beam through Europe to India could make for interesting reception possibilities... so if you're able to hear it, share your thoughts with the group. DX Party Line should be heard on UT-Saturdays at 0200 on the above frequency, that's Friday night in North America (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, USA, dx_india via DXLD) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS [and non]. Hola! Te invito a leer (y también a escuchar y ver) el especial que hemos realizado sobre los 20 años de la guerra de las Malvinas o Falklands. Puedes ingresar a través de http://www.bbcmundo.com o directamente pulsando en http://www.bbc.co.uk/spanish/especiales/0203malvinas/ Si te gusta, recomiéndalo! Cordiales saludos, (Roberto Belo | BBC WS New Media, 701NE Bush House, The Strand, London, WC2B 4PH, UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 755 72864 | Fax: +44 (0) 20 7836 4332 E-mail: roberto.belo@b... [truncated by yahoogroups] Web: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice | http://www.bbcmundo.com (via Horacio Nigro, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Lots of stuff to read, but here is the page with audio links, including the ``Marcha de las Malvinas``: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/specials/newsid_1881000/1881019.stm (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. ``142nd DW Radio World DX Meeting`` with Uwe and Wolfram was heard as scheduled via webcast at 2335+ UT Sat March 30. They are still plumping for a weekly 10-minute show and have had lots of positive response from listeners. Had some DX tips from Roland Schulze, Philippines, including a Laos/Vietnam/Thailand broadcast pileup on 7145. But it will be another month until the next one. Closing with ``76 = Lord Bless You`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTNEING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 7265, SWR3, Rohrdorf and // 6030, Mühlacker, Mar 19, until 1100 heard with the usual good reception 45555, but at retune 1205- 1250 both transmitters were at low power (QSA2) and some adjustment tuning took place on 7265. Both stations were back to normal at 1315. I wondered what the reason was and wrote Wolfgang an e-mail (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) I phoned the transmitter site at Rohrdorf at Tel 49 7575 916-0. The guy was not willing to tell me much of the service. BUT they had as always put the regular SWR-3 program on air, using the RESERVE unit [Made by RIZ Zagreb Croatia] this day, not the regular SIEMENS Austria unit (ex R Bremen 50 kW unit, moved to SWR Rohrdorf in 1996/1997). Both transmitters handle 10 kW of power in an effective corner dipole antenna. But an old Rhode and Schwarz vertical 'creel' type antenna is still available for maintenance purpose, of broad band type, not very effective these days (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** GREECE. ERA-5 Athens really OOB 17905 kHz in the UTE band. \\ 15630 at 0830 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s All Greek to Me (music announced in English) timeshift confirmed, in progress at 1818 UT Sunday March 31 on 17705 via Delano (gh, DXLD) ** HONG KONG. I have been listening two early mornings now and have not heard a thing here from Hong Kong on 3940 at 0945 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, March 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. I'm very happy to inform you that on Mar 18 Mr Béla Szomraky phoned me from Budapest reporting about the new schedule of Radio Budapest. It's a remarkable success of our EDXC Conference in Budapest to notice that Italian, French and Spanish newscast are included in the new schedule with all existing languages. The Italian programme on Mar 31, 2002 will include a greeting from the EDXC Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General to all listeners. The EDXC portal at http://edxc.multimania.com will report about all frequencies. Someone told me the EDXC was unuseful. Hungary showed the contrary! (Luigi Cobisi, Firenze, EDXC Secretary General, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** ICELAND. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA [non]. 3903 USB. AFN off, possibly due to the unexpected DXers' enquiries, but, then, may be not so, as a very similar clean, strong QSA is being noted on USB, though airing a mere tone signal instead of relaying AFN. I tried it Mar 15 around 2300, and that's what I could hear (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) Also noted here (Anker Petersen, Denmark, ibid.) Dear friends, I just received a highly appreciated black and white QSL-card directly from AFRTS in Keflavik poststamped by Icelandic Mail on 27 MAR 2002. As far as I know, no one else has received it so far ! It verifies my report of 3903 kHz on 2nd March 2002 heard at 0525- 0605. With the report, I attached an IRC and my businesscard, and the reply arrived after 26 days in a handwritten envelope from Sig Jonsson, Naval Media Center, 235 Keflavíkurflugvöllur, Iceland - nearly the same address which is in WRTH2002 page 232 which I used for the report. The card is signed by the same person, probably with the full first name Sigdur which is Icelandic. In Danish it would have been Sigurd. On the rear side of the card is printed: Official Business. Department of the Navy Officer in Charge U. S. Navy Broadcasting Service Detachment EIGHT Box 25, Naval Station FPO New York 09571 Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. The following changes of AIR SW schedule has been monitored from today 31 March 2002 up to 1400 UT. HOME SERVICE 9575 replaces 9565 at 1330-1740 EXTERNAL SERVICE Add 5990 0100-0200 Sindhi to Pakistan. Add 7250 Panaji (?) Nepali 0130-0230 to Nepal. 9575 replaces 9565 1215-1330 Tibetan Add 11715 Nepali 0130-0230 to Nepal. 11775 Panaji replaces 11695 1215-1330 Tibetan, 1330-1430 Nepali. Add 11835 Panaji (?) Hindi 0315-0415 E.Africa 13685 replaces 13700 1000-1100 English to Australia (Jose Jacob, dx_india March 31 via DXLD) ** INDIA [non]. IBC-TAMIL -- LONDAN A02-SCHDULE WITH EFFECT FROM 31-3- 02 EVENING UTC 0000-0100 17495 KHZ; MORNING UTC 1230-1330 11570 KHZ (D. PRABAKARAN, LECTUERER, N.L. POLYTECHNIC, METTUPALAYAM-641301, TAMILNADU, INDIA dx_india via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. The French-language WRN feed is now available on Telstar 5 digital, next to WRN1 and WRN2. No reference to this on WRN Web site (Mike Cooper, Mar 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sunday March 31, WRN1 to NAm was still running on standard time (as it should, but not made clear), so at 1400 UT had Prague, not WORLD OF RADIO. However, at 1500, fill music and ``technical difficulties`` for half an hour, when WOR could have been inserted, but it already ran this weekend on Sat at 1500. Next week, it is supposed to be on Sundays at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** IRAN. TEHRAN CUTS INTERNET ACCESS. Just days before the two-week Norouz (New Year) holiday, the Telecommunications Company of Iran (which is part of the Ministry of Post, Telegraph, and Telephone) cut the phone lines of scores of Internet service providers. Mohammad-Amir Forughi, a Tehran-based expert on the Internet, told RFE/RL's Persian Service that the ISPs would not be able to question the legality of this action because the courts will not be in session during the holiday period. When a number of Internet cafes were closed in May 2001 there was speculation that it was because young Iranians were using Internet cafes (also known as "coffee-nets") to make cheap international telephone calls, which deprives PTT of revenues. In August 2001, Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolution Council decided that the government would control Internet access and it made the Telecommunications Company and Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting the main Internet distribution centers. A December article in "Aftab-i Yazd" expressed regret that President Mohammad Khatami had signed the act restricting Internet usage by people under the age of 18. The act also restricts public access to some political websites, according to the article. The article asked if the next step would be the banning of radios, since Khatami was silent on the banning of satellite reception equipment. In addition to using the Internet for international calls, some people in Iran use Internet chat rooms to communicate in real time with their counterparts in other countries. Contributors to a Persian-language "weblog" (http://www.hoder.com/i/) agreed that the major newspapers -- "Iran" and "Kayhan" -- had published reports about the interruption of telephone service for ISPs. They offered conflicting views on the impact of this. "Ehsan," for example, said he would not be able to send his message if the reports were true, and "Sina" said that he had used several ISPs successfully. "Alireza" and others confirmed the report about the phone cuts but said it was being unevenly enforced. "Omid" said that so far there is no problem, but "God forbid if this happens." ("RFE/RL Iran Report," 25 March, via RFE/RL Media Matters March 29 via DXLD) ** IRAN. Glenn, Today terrible jamming noted against clandestine Voice of Iran station, in Persian. Scheduled 1630-1730 Daily on 15690 via Issoudun, France, \\ 17525. (reported to be via France on 3rd winter channel 12065, on 8-Jan-2002). On 15690 strong super-wide Bubble jamming, unbelievable 116 kHz wide, from 15631 to 15747 kHz affected. Seldom wide appearance in international broadcasting bands. On 17525 kHz channel only a small two-time motocycle type noise jamming observed. 73 (Wolfgang df5sx Büschel, March 30, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 7480: On this frequency at *1759-1830* of March 17th and 18th I only heard Radio Payam-e-Doost with strong signal, clear identifications, web site address http://www.bahairadio.org and mail address with a Box in Virginia, USA. So, it's quite different from what I read on DX-Window 189 and 190. Unfortunately I wasn't able to turn on the radio before 1750 (Alessandro Groppazzi, Trieste, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) I checked up on this and I hear daily R. Barabari at *1659-1730* and R Payam-e Doost daily at *1800-1830*, both in Farsi, so the information that R. Barabari had prolonged its broadcasts until 1830 obviously was wrong. To me, it sounded like the same, powerful transmitter is used for both broadcasts, but is it located in Grigoropol` (Moldavia), Jerusalem (Israel) or Sitkunai (Lithuania)? All three have been mentioned recently (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. 11660, Voice of Islamic Revolution of Iraq (from VOIRI, Iran), Mar 26, 0355-0526*, Arabic political talks about Iraq, Arab songs, ID's at 0400 and 0525, closed with a patriotic song about Iraq. 45344. Heard in parallel on 7100 with 32332. 9790 was covered by RFI QRM (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel until 1 July. Moshe phoned and stated that it will be necessary for new funds to be found in July in order for them to continue the broadcasts. Cheers (George Poppin, San Francisco, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. RAI, Italy March 31-Oct. 27, 2002 English schedule: 0055- 0115 N. America 9675, 11800; 0445-0500 Africa 7235, 9875; 1935-1955 Europe 5970, 9745; 2025-2045 Africa 9670, 11880; 2205-2230 Japan 11900, 15625. (from a RAI pamphlet e-mailed from Roberto Scaglione via Daniel Sampson, Prime Time Shortwave, http://www.triwest.net/~dsampson/shortwave/ DXLD) ** ITALY. A list of Italian broadcasting on short and mediumwave is on http://www.bclnews.it -- it is today updated every hour. I need to know about Italian broadcasting on MW in USA. Many thanks (Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** LAOS. 4658.57, Lao National Radio (LNR), Houa Phan, Mar 04, 1157- 1230* in Laotian, at 1200-1229 relay of // 6130 from Vientiane. Local ID at s-off. Suffers co-channel QRM by a Chinese speaking station on 4658.8, also // 6130 suffers by co-channel Xizang PBS, Lhasa, Tibet. LNR had some transmitter power problems, and also covered sometime by the Chinese signal. Chinese station // on nearby weak 6110 signal too. On Feb 19, China was on 4660 and 6130, and LNR Houa Phan was on 4660.8. At 1232* both 60 mb stations signed off (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. UPDATE ON LATVIAN RADIO CHANGES Excerpt from report by Voice of Russia "DX Club" web site on 12 March Off to Latvia now. In front of me is a letter from Roland Straumal from Cesis district of this Baltic capital [Riga] (I quote):"... [ellipsis as published] Significant changes have recently taken place in local broadcasting. The first programme of Latvian radio in Lielauce in Dobele District is broadcast on 99.6 MHz and reception is good. Unfortunately, as of 4 January Latvian radio no longer broadcasts on mediumwave. It stopped broadcasting on 945 kHz despite the fact that the director-general of Latvian radio promised back in 2001 to continue mediumwave broadcasting for another four years at least. Incidentally, since the start of this year the first programme of Latvian radio is called Latvijas Radio Viens (which means Latvian radio -1). Since the beginning of January, Latvijas Radio-2 has been broadcasting from a new studio. What's more, its programmes are broadcast round the clock via transmitters in Cesvaine, Daugavpils and Rezekne. The second programme of Latvian radio - the Doma Square channel - is called Latvijas Radio Cetri Doma Laukums (Latvian radio-4 Doma Square) since 1 January. It broadcasts 24 hours a day but only via transmitters in Riga, Daugavpils and Rezekne, for the time being. The third programme of Latvian radio, Kfasika, since 1 January is called Latvijas Radio Tris Kfasika. It also operates 24 hours a day, but only in Riga, on 103.7 MHz. A new Riga transmitter has started to operate to relay plenary sittings of the Latvian parliament on 96.2 MHz. These programmes used to be broadcast on 945 kHz MW. [Passage omitted: in November last year Amadeus classical music radio stopped broadcasting]. A new radio station has appeared in Riga on 103.2 MHz, Radio Nova. It replaced Radio KNZ, a student radio station, which was warned by the national council for television and radio broadcasting after the replacement of its owner that its programmes did not correspond to its broadcasting plans - there were no news or information programmes. Source: Voice of Russia web site, Moscow, in Russian 12 Mar 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 6100, "Voice of Liberia" (so announced), 0630 Mar 19 with African music, mention of "Ambassadors of Music," upbeat anmts, greetings to lstnrs, ID 0641, TC, 0645 speech by female Reverend of United Methodist Church, African music again 0650, seemingly more brief religious speeches. TC 0656, music, ads 0657, TC 0700, more music, 0702 "Good morning from Monrovia, the news read by . . ." Signal a little fluttery, but not too bad overall (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. PRO-RAVALOMANANA RADIO STATION RAIDED | Excerpt from report by Malagasy independent newspaper L'Express de Madagascar on 25 March It was a very eventful weekend in Andapa [northern Madagascar], one of the districts of Sava, Antsiranana Province, where 10 individuals wearing military fatigues arrived in a Land-Rover on Friday [22 March] evening from Sambava [a port town in northeastern Madagascar that supports President Ratsiraka]. Early on Saturday morning, members of this commando unit raided a tiny pro-Ravalomanana [who has also declared himself to be president] private radio station where they took three people hostage before thoroughly thrashing them, according to witnesses on the ground. The group is then said to have left with its "prisoners" for Sambava at about 1000 [local time]. Faced with this situation, several high-ranking leaders of the local KMMR [Marc Ravalomanana's Support Committee] took precautions and hid themselves in the surrounding countryside. Fear amongst local residents must surely have climbed up a few notches when death threats were pasted, to be seen by all during the night of Saturday-Sunday, on doors of homes belonging to some Arema [ruling Association for the Rebirth of Madagascar party] leaders, including Senator Julien Rakoto, in what seemed to be a retaliatory action. In fact, for several weeks now, no effort towards any rapprochement or dialogue between the two warring camps [pro-Ravalomanana and pro- Ratsiraka camps] has taken place. Faced with this escalation of violence, which looked like it was headed for the worst, Senator Jean- Max Rakotomamonjy, representing Antsiranana Province (on a Leader Fanilo [Malagasy for "Torch"] party ticket), and a former Andapa mayor - under the same Leader Fanilo banner - yesterday morning took the initiative to invite local leaders and representatives of both camps to a meeting at his home. The meeting, which took place in the evening, at last saw the attendance of the Andapa deputy prefect, accompanied by his two deputies, the commandant of the local gendarmerie branch, the town police station's commandant, as well as prominent political leaders representing the two camps. Following a heated debate earlier on - the authorities present saying they had not been informed of the arrival of any commando unit - Senator Jean-Max Rakotomamonjy managed to make the participants see sense and a "non-aggression pact" was signed. According to the agreement, Arema leaders, who include Senator Julien Rakoto and the provincial council deputy chairman, Norbert Randroso, personally pledged, if necessary, to meet the Antsiranana provincial governor, as representatives of Sambava, and negotiate the release of the three "prisoners" who are KMMR members... Source: L'Express de Madagascar, Antananarivo, in French 25 Mar 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MALI. ORTM Bamako appeared around 0805 UT on odd v9633.98 ... 9633.96, Vernacular news, also on \\ 11960.00 even (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NAMIBIA. The only night frequency at the moment is 3270 (presumed 1700-0500) and the day one 6060 (presumed 0500-1700). Both frequencies (the same transmitter, I suppose) are quite undermodulated and the signals are much weaker than I would normally expect here. Could be that the last SW transmitter is on its way out? (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Hi Glenn, Please note that the English transmission to Europe and North America starting at 1030 UT ends at 1225, not 1125. Mea culpa. I will correct it ASAP (Andy Sennitt, RN, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 45,650 MHz VHF, La Voix du Sahel, Niamey, Mar 20, 0900-1400, regularly heard in FM-modulation on this unusual frequency. This is a so-called STL (Studio-Transmitter Link), i.e. carrying the signal from the studios in Niamey to the transmitting centre outside the city. Worldwide low-band VHF reception is possible as a result of the present sunspot maximum (Maarten van Delft, Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) Other Europeans frequently receiving it are equally convinced it is a semi-harmonic unintentionally radiated of 91.3 MHz (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Change in Okla. City frequencies: Greetings Glenn, WWLS 104.9 moves to 105.3 --- why, I don`t know; I can`t see the power is going to change any unless they like the Kingfisher transmitter being away from the OKC area to reach into the northern part of Oklahoma. I see on 1000000watts.com that the mile radius is 27.5 miles; I would appreciate your input on this. they have started announcing of the change today Saturday; I have not heard if 105.3 staff is moving to any place new (Bill Eckart, Mustang, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Can you tell me on what dates and times you will be broadcasting last year`s OK MOZART festival this spring?? Regards, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, to KCSC) Mr. Hauser: We'll be airing OK Mozart on Saturdays at 9:00 p.m. this year [0200-0400 UT Sundays]. The first broadcast will be April 13, and there are seven programs in the series this year. Thanks for listening, (Kent Anderson, KCSC-FM, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still don`t know about other usual outlets, KWGS Tulsa, and KOSU Stillwater; last year KCCU Lawton waited until May-June and then ran them consecutive days at 9 am. KCSC scheduling fits nicely into a gap between NY Philharmonic [non] Live broadcasts (gh, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. Terrible audio of R Pakistan Islamabad observed on 21465.00 EVEN !! at 0800 UT onwards, \\ EVEN 17520.00, lower strength, but better audio, what ever that mean... (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALESTINIAN MEDIA: GAZA TV CARRIES REPEATS, RAMALLAH RADIO OFF THE AIR Palestinian Satellite Channel Television in Arabic (Gaza), official television station of the Palestinian National Authority, has been observed since 2230 gmt on 29 March 2002 to carry a repeat of the programmes broadcast the previous night, focusing on the military situation in the Palestinian territories. Broadcast programmes consisted of newscasts, patriotic songs, phone calls from Palestinians praising the leadership of President Yasir Arafat, and demonstrations staged in Gaza in support of Arafat. Newscasts were carried at 0100 gmt in Arabic and O300 gmt on 30 March in English. An announcement urging Ramallah and Al-Birah citizens to donate blood for the wounded was repeated at 0242 gmt on 30 March. Palestinian radio Voice of Palestine in Arabic (Ramallah), official radio station of the Palestinian [National] Authority led by Yasir Arafat, is still off the air on its only FM frequency of 90.7 MHz. Wafa in Arabic, official news agency of the Palestinian National Authority, continues to carry reports on its web site, updating the situation in the PNA territories. Source: Voice of Palestine, Ramallah, in Arabic 29 and 30 Mar 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** PERU. 3375, R San Antonio de Padua de Callalli verified with a no data e-mail reply to 18 DX'ers from v/s Hno Rolando del Carpio Montalvo, Director. The reply took 23 days in response to a postal report with US$1.00 return postage. The v/s mentions the station is on the air 1000-1330 and 2200-0130. Rolando indicated a postal reply would be coming soon. His e-mail address is: san_antinio14@hotmail.com He gave the station's postal address as: Hno Rolando del Carpio Montalvo, Director, Radio San Antonio de Padua de Callalli, Apartado Postal 1817, Arequipa, Perú. I'm quite pleased with this one (Rich D'Angelo, PA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** PERU. 6956.73, R LV del Campesino, 0215, Mar 30, Andean folk music. As always, nice to hear this one. "Happy Birthday" theme music and station ID given @ 0215, through the static crashes. Then I guess Birthday greetings were made over the air by announcer (David Hodgson, TN, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Sign on and sign off times is a variable affair with some of the smaller Peruvians. If nonstop music is heard beyond "regular" schedule, it's probably that someone has paid for a couple of hours of "background music" for a private event, a birthday party, a wedding anniversary, or whatever. The next morning, such a station will typically sign on much later than usual, if at all (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, via Dxplorer, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Por sua vez, Isabel Saraiva (isabelsaraiva@r...), do Departamento de Intercâmbio e Contacto, informa que a RDP transmite, todas as segundas-feiras, o programa "DX Internet", dentro do Correio do Ouvinte. Vai ao ar por volta de 0025 UTC, em 13660 e 15295 kHz, freqüências especialmente destinadas ao Brasil (Célio Romais, @tividade DX Mar 28 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. A RDP INTERNACIONAL E AS ONDAS CURTAS No dia 22 de março passado tivemos a oportunidade de estar presente ao evento promovido em S.Paulo, pela RDP Internacional, com a finalidade de informar o público brasileiro, sobre a entrada em junho de seu novo transmissor de 300 kW dirigido ao Brasil e a Europa, que melhorará signficamente o serviço em OC dessa emissora. Tivemos a oportunidade de entrevistar para o Encontro Dx o sr. Jaime Marques diretor da emissora, que gentilmente nos recebeu na Casa de Portugal. O sr Jaime informou que a emissora aposta muito ainda nas ondas curtas e por isso a RDP fez um grande investimento em transmissores e na modernização das antenas. No evento ele informou que o Brasil tem uma grande participação nas emissões da RDP e por isso a emissora fez esse evento em S.P e no RJ, as duas maiores cidades do Brasil. Informou ainda que a RDP Int. pode voltar a emitir em outros idiomas num futuro próximo. Lamentavelmente os únicos dexistas/radioescutas conhecidos no evento eramos nós, apesar da RDP Internacional ter enviado a convites para os que escrevem a emissora. Além do sr Jaime Marques esteve presente outras vozes da RDP como a locutora Elisa Portugal o presidente do Instituto Camões e diretores da Casa de Portugal. O show foi muito bonito, com a presença de 3 cantores e 3 cantoras que vieram especialmente para o evento que na verdade foi uma amostra do show que a RDP apresenta anualmente em uma grande cidade portuguesa que leva o nome de Festa das Comunidades Portuguesas. Estamos remetendo para o site do SRDXC uma hora desse show , e acreditamos que nossos amigos da Paraíba possam disponibiliza-los para os interessados. O Encontro DX apesar de já gravado para até o mês de abril, irá fazer o possível para colocar ainda em abril a entrevista do sr Jaime Marques no AR e um trecho do evento (que inclui as palavras das autoridades e parte musical). Acreditamos que os colegas que ouvem emissoras internacionais deveriam ter uma maior presença no evento da RDP Internacional, pois seu diretor falou muito bem dos ouvintes que escrevem para os programas e da importância das ondas curtas. Sabemos que ouvir a RDP Internacional não é dexismo, mas o apoio as grandes broadcasting é importante, pois ajuda a formar adeptos para o nosso hobby. Afinal a maioria dos "cobras" começam ouvindo as grandes broadcasting (Cassiano A. Macedo e José Moura, Mar 30, radioescutas via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. RRI English March 31 - October 26, 2002 North America 0200-0300 9 510 11 940 Japan 0200-0300 11 810 15 105 New Zealand 0200-0300 15 180 17 815 North America 0400-0500 9 510 11 940 India 0400-0500 17 735 21 480 North America 0600-0700 9 635 11 940 Western Europe 0637-0656 7 105 9 625 9 550 11 775 North-East Africa 0700-0800 21 530 Western Europe 1400-1500 15 250 17 735 Western Europe 1700-1800 15 380 17 805 Northern Europe 1700-1800 11 740 15 365 Western Europe 2100-2200 9 510 11 940 Northern Europe 2100-2200 9 725 11 740 Western Europe 2300-2400 9 570 11 775 North America 2300-2400 11 740 15 105 (RRI website March 31 via gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. A bad co-channel clash on 15270 kHz at 0800-0827 UT, two stations performing on same level, Romania is there 8-9 UT, and the other ... Romania in Romanian 0800-0900 on 15270 15370 17790 17860, and maybe also on a 5th channel too. Same Sunday special only program at 0900- 1000 on 15180 15250 17745 17790 17840 21490 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Estimados amigos: Les comunicamos que al entrar en el horario de verano por estas latitudes, a partir del 31 de marzo y hasta el 26 de octubre de este año, "La Voz de Rusia" tendrá el siguiente esquema para sus emisiones en español: Hacia España: 2030-2100 UT 11630 y 7440 kcs. Nota: Desde el 01.09.02 se agrega la frecuencia de 9480 kcs. Hacia Centroamérica: 0000-0100 UT 11750, 9830 y 9665 (hasta 01.09.02) kcs. Nota: Desde 01.09.02 en este primer horario se agrega la frecuencia de 7180 kcs. 0100-0200 UT 9830 kcs. Hacia Sudamérica: 0000-0100 UT 12060, 12010 (hasta 01.09.02), 11510, 9965, 9860, 9830, 9480, 9450 (hasta 01.09.02) y 7330 kcs. 0100-0200 UT 12010, 11510, 9965, 9945, 9860, 9830, 9450 y 7330 kcs. Nota: desde 01.09.02, se agregan 9890 y 9470 kcs. en ambos bloques horarios. Agradeciendo su atención, les saluda muy cordialmente (Francisco Rodríguez "Frecuencia RM" LA VOZ DE RUSIA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. PUNISHMENTS FOR SPEAKING BAD RUSSIAN ON THE WAY? A special government council on the Russian language is preparing a draft law that may include fines for incorrect use of the mother tongue, gazeta.ru reported on 27 March. Education Minister Vladimir Filippov said the bill will be modeled on similar legislation in France. He said the council has asked a group of academics to contact media executives and editors to inform them about correct Russian usage. ("RFE/RL Newsline," 27 March via RFE/RL Media Matters March 29 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 11840-USB, R Sakhalin: From continued monitoring it now appears that their own program is 0900-1000 daily except Sunday; they break away from R Rossii (// 13705) at 0900 and pick it up again at 1000. Program is usually music and telephone talk. Finally got positive ID on Mar 22 (Jerry Berg, MA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) Now shift all that one UT hour earlier for DST, right? (gh, DXLD) ** SIKKIM. INDIA. 3390, AIR Gangtok, Mar 12, 1430-1500, English program with pops. Today the theme was "Old is Gold" with songs from Elvis, etc. English ID at 1430 announcing MW and SW (G. Victor A. Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** SOUTH AMERICA. PIRATE Radio Cochiguaz 11440 KHz USB March 31 0010 UTC relay of German pirate Radio Metropolis. SINPO 24332.Had transmitter problems, will try to return at 0400 (e-mail from operator) (Wade Smith, New Brunswick) Hi Glen, Radio Metropolis (Pirate??) copied here in NF... 31/03/02 - 0049 UT - 11440 KHz USB - Location given as somewhere in the Andes - music and then man gave station ID and reception report address (Europe) in phonetic alphabet. Signal was low but very clear with no IF. SIO 344 Regards, (Vernon Matheson - VO1VM RX - Kenwood TS450 ANT - Gap Vertical and 500' longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear friends of Cochiguaz, Our signal was put on 11440U kHz as usual. But, between 0028-0041 and also after 0114 the transmission was interrupted for a technical problem with our transmitter, but, fortunately now, after 0200 the problem was resolved. We will return as usual at 0400 31/3 with our programme relaying to Radio Metropolis with our usual power. Meantime, we inform you that our signal was heard in USA and Canada by recent reports received. FFFR, (Cachito, Radio Cochiguaz ,11440U khz http://www.geocities.com/rcochiguaz hard- core-dx via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. We gave up trying to second-guess what RUI will do as DST starts; English at 0100 should have moved to 0000 UT March 31, but instead we heard German at 0000; but English was not at 0100 either; instead, Ukrainian on the webcast, and also on 12040 ex-7375, which at least we were able to confirm at 0116; no big signal here for a megawatt, with adjacent 12045 stronger. So English apparently got elbowed out. What would happen at 0400/0300 UT? By 0300 the shift had been made and English was airing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Expect major programming changes to BBCWS in the coming days following the death of the Queen Mother. BBC1 television has suspended normal programmes. 73, (Andy Sennitt, RN, March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, at the risk of having a few tomatoes tossed my way, this appears to be a little "over the top". I mean it's nearly a six hour radio vigil at this point. Before anyone jumps on me, I realize fully the respect and love this woman commands--and deservedly so. But she was 101 years old and had been in declining health for some time. It's hardly a shock and not a "tragedy" in the hardest sense of the word. The WS has gone out of its way NOT to cover the UK in any signficant way over the recent past, and now it suspends regular programming to "analyze" the death of a 101 year old woman. I agree that some special programming is warranted, but this seems out of all proportion. One man's opinion...your mileage may vary (John Figliozzi, swprograms Mar 30 via DXLD) I remember getting a tour of Bush House (from a friend of mine that worked there about 10 years ago) and we were talking to the continuity announcer who was on duty that day. He was showing me the huge black binders underneath the control desk which were bio and background info on the major members of the Royal Family (including the Queen Mother.) He said that the informal mantra amongst the on-air folks in regards to a Royal death was "please, dear god, not on MY shift!" 73 (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, swprograms via DXLD) Yes, there was a long debate at the 100th (and before) of how much the BBC should do about this royal death and for how long. Many would just like to take notice and throw her in the bin, but the powers are of that era and class so it goes on, at Easter too. We may see a proper backlash by Monday. The Anti-royal Guardian news paper has some good articles about the prospects for coverage of Queen Mother's death and reactions. Try, for example, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4234038,00.html Crown imperious As the professional royal mourners prepare, is anybody paying attention any more? by Nick Cohen The Observer (London) Sunday August 5, 2001 (Daniel Say, BRITISH Columbia, swprograms via DXLD) I flicked through the channels last night - BBC2, BBC4, BBC5, BBC6, BBC WS and BBCWS Extra were all carrying the same programme. Why? BBCTV and BBC5 didn't feel able to cover the Lottery draw. Why? With all the years that they have been planning this the coverage was pathetic. There was nothing to suggest why she should be regarded as significant - her achievements seem to be that she pioneered the supposedly touchy feely Royal Family that we have now (and isn't that where their problems started?), and she was a big supporter of National Hunt racing. And this being the BBC we only got half the story. No mention of the King and Queen's wholehearted support for the disastrous policy of appeasement. And as for the wartime walkabouts and the remark that she could "look the East End in the eye" - well that would only be true if the whole East End had also decamped to Windsor and safety every night. The domestic coverage (I only listened to WS for about 20 minutes) also featured the usual suspects wheeled out on every Royal occasion - Dickie Arbiter, Ronald Allison (who ARE they?) and Stevas (less visible since his job as cheerleader for Charles's marriage become redundant). The impression given, rightly or wrongly, is that only a very few elderly people actually care about the Windsors. Perhaps that is true. Now it may well be the case that the Queen Mum was a wonderful person fully deserving of being mourned, but from the BBC's partial and fawning coverage, who can tell? (Nicholas Mead, UK, ibid.) ** U K. Re "I kept hearing this headline on BBC news. ``Placed in administration`` means nothing to me as a North American. Is that an euphemism? Going bust is the cause or effect? I guess like we would say, being in the hands of a receiver running it (gh, DXLD)" Glenn-- It's the Brit version of "in bankruptcy," but I don't know enough about their system to know if it's the equivalent of Chapter 7 (liquidation) or Chapter 11 (continuing to operate under the control of the court). Regards, (Chuck Albertson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. COMEDIAN BARRY TOOK DIES Sunday, 31 March, 2002, 11:07 GMT 12:07 UK Took helped write radio comedy Round the Horne Comedian and scriptwriter Barry Took has died aged 73. Took, who helped create classic radio comedy Round the Horne, had been suffering from cancer and died in his sleep at a nursing home in London. Took was behind a number of TV and radio shows He was a successful TV and radio presenter, hosting Points of View and panel games including The News Quiz. He died in the early hours of Easter Sunday, according to his youngest daughter, Elinor Holbrook. Took, also responsible for bringing the Monty Python team to the BBC, recently said: "There are people worse off than me. I've had a very long run. I'm fine really. I'm just old." He will be remembered with fondness for his sense of humour, Mrs Holbrook, 33, said. He was always funny, he had a great sense of humour "He was taken ill in December last year. I was with him yesterday and he wasn't too good at all," she said. He died at 0550 BST, she said, remembering her father by saying: "He was always funny, he had a great sense of humour." Took started his career as a stand-up comedian, but soon formed a writing partnership with Marty Feldman, who he had met while performing at a variety show at the old York Empire. The pair were the main writers on Round the Horne, the 1960s radio show that continued the comedy tradition started by The Goons. It starred Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams. Took also wrote a number of other radio shows, later moving to television with comedies including Bootsie and Snudge, which starred Alfie Bass and Clive Dunn. He became the voice of viewers when presenting TV's Points of View, and chaired BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz. In it, he kept the panel in order and the show proved such a success that it provided the basis for TV's Have I Got News For You? Took is survived by three other children - Mrs Holbrook's half-brothers Barry, 50, and David, 40, and her half-sister Susan, 46. ©2002 BBC News Online http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/tv_and_radio/newsid_1903000/1903696.stm Glenn, I recall listening to "Round The Horne" on BBC WS back in the late '60s. 73, (Ivan Grishin, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA will use 19000 kHz for an Uzbek program at 1230-1300 beginning 3/31. First VOA use of the band. df k4voa (Dan Ferguson, DC, via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Site??? ** U S A. WEBCASTS' INNOCENT AGE COULD COME TO A QUICK END From: http://www.cleveland.com/ 03/29/02 Fed up and feeling himself getting old in a young industry, Chuck Benjamin left the computer business at age 50 to devote full time to his longtime avocation of music. He wound up with a foot in both fields. These days, it gives him an unusual understanding of how ruthless both can be. Tuesday nights at 7:30, Benjamin broadcasts "The Innocent Age" on WELW AM/1330 in Willoughby. Drawing from his collection of every record on the Billboard Hot 100 since 1955, he specializes in music that listeners missed, or haven't heard in decades. He interviews artists, giving special attention to those the business forgot, and he takes requests. "I don't want to let the memories die," he said. "I think, as a society, we lost romanticism in the 1980s. I think it has survived in music, but you have to look hard to find it. All I want to do is help people go back to another time, when they didn't have a care in the world." By night, "The Innocent Age" reaches a comparative handful of eastern suburban communities. But because WELW simulcasts on the Internet, at welw.com, Benjamin has heard from listeners as far away as Australia. That's not unusual. Growing numbers of listeners find that "Internet radio" offers more than 10,000 outlets, from Net-only operations to simulcasts of over-the-air stations, and that it delivers an astounding variety of choices filling every conceivable niche - including those abandoned by corporate-controlled conventional radio. Benjamin, who also is the host of a weekly computer show on WELW, saw his future in radio on the Internet. But the future could end in a few weeks. Unless Congress gets involved and acts quickly, Internet radio will be killed in its infancy. The public interest - already reeling from a merger frenzy that has left control of entertainment and news in a very few corporate hands - will take another kick in the teeth. Here's why: In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, supposedly to update copyright law for e-commerce. A goal was to protect recording artists from the threat of "perfect digital copies" of their work trading for free on the Net. To make up for their lost income, the DMCA required Webcasters to pay royalties to record companies, in addition to royalties they pay songwriters. (Broadcast stations, in contrast, only pay royalties to songwriters. Congress decided about 75 years ago that performers and labels weren't entitled to royalties because of the promotional value of radio airplay.) A basic problem is that Internet radio - unlike Napster or various file-swapping operations - doesn't provide "perfect digital copies." Webcasts, like radio broadcasts, tend to serve more as a promotional spur for CD sales - often helped by direct links on Internet radio sites. "It's not close to good, let alone perfect," Benjamin said. "Most of them sound a little on the tinny side. You're limited by bandwidth." A bigger problem is that fee negotiations broke down between big record companies and loose-knit Webcasters. So a panel convened by the U.S. Copyright Office came up with a recommendation that Internet-only Webcasters pay labels 14 cents per song per listener for what they play. Simulcasting broadcasters would pay 7 cents per song per listener. Noncommercial simulcasters, like public or college stations, would pay 2 cents per song per listener. Over a year, a Webcaster averaging 100 listeners a day would owe $500,000. But the panel also recommended making the fees retroactive to 1998, and added record-keeping requirements that are a burden in themselves. It will be a real killing for record labels if the recommendations take effect as scheduled on May 20. Internet radio will die before even turning a profit. Webcasters, working through sites such as SaveInternetRadio.com, radiocrow.com and wcsb.org are urging listeners to write Congress. "I don't mind paying a fee, as long as it's realistic," Benjamin said. "But it's not like the artists would see a nickel of this anyway. It's just the big record companies. It's just plain blatant greed." © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. DUELING ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS ON CBS, NBC Continuing TV's current nostalgia craze --- and apparently hoping to take a little air out of similar festivities on NBC--CBS has scheduled the two-hour special "CBS ... 50 Years From Television City" for April 27, the first Saturday during the next ratings sweeps. NBC's three- hour 75th anniversary special, which will range from the network's beginnings in radio to the present day, is scheduled for May 5. The CBS program will be hosted by Carol Burnett, whose special during November drew blockbuster ratings. Among the other blasts from the past scheduled for sweeps, which begin April 25, NBC has an "L.A. Law" reunion movie, a Bob Hope special, a 10th anniversary special for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and a reunion of cast members from "The Cosby Show." NBC also will support its programming with a book, "Brought to You in Living Color: 75 Years of Great Moments in Television and Radio from NBC," to be issued in mid-April. ABC, meanwhile, will trot out a "Laverne and Shirley" special and an "American Bandstand" 50th anniversary show. ABC has canceled the critically acclaimed drama "Once and Again," announcing that the final episode will air April 15. Now in its third season, the low-rated program has bounced around the network schedule and been the subject of an Internet lobbying campaign (LA Times via Brock Whaley, March 30, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY'S REGIONAL ANALYSIS GOES ONLINE. Regional Analysis proudly presents our new website: http://www.regionalanalysis.org Log on for an in-depth look at all of RFE/RL's broadcast regions, read "RFE/RL Newsline" and 15 weekly analytical reports, and follow our briefings and roundtable discussions with policymakers and scholars (RFE/RL Media Matters March 29 via DXLD) ** VANUATU. At the end of November 2001 I visited the headquarters of Radio Vanuatu while on holiday in Port Vila. The transmitter site is on Emten Lagoon about 5 kilometres south east of Port Vila. The site houses a transmitter building containing two short wave and one medium wave transmitter and their associated antennas. The programmes are broadcast on short wave from a 10kW two channel Energy Onix Broadcast Transmitter Model HF-10K-2 tuned to 4960 and 7260. The signal is fed via coaxial cable to dipole antennas directed north and south to the islands in the group. 7260 is principally used from 1900 until 0600 hours, switching to 4960 at 0600 until the end of the transmission at 1115 (Sundays 1000). If one of the channels develops a fault, as happened while I was there, the other frequency acts as the standby. There is a standby transmitter tuned to 3945 kilohertz, but this is currently out of service because of shortage of spare parts to make it operational, and the date for its return to service is unknown (George Brown, Scotland, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. 5975, ZBC, Mar 13 and 15, 2030-2300, booming in with African Music, 2055 ID and news in Shona or Ndebele by man at 2100 (Korinek, RSA and Vaghjee, Mauritius, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) 6045, ZBC, Mar 15, 2200-2300, Shona and Ndebele (Korinek, ibid.) 6175, ZBC, Mar 15, 2200-2300, heard only that day. IDs as ``National Radio``. (Korinek) New frequency ? (Ed Anker Petersen, ibid.) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 7120, Voice of the People, via Talata, Madagascar, Mar 23, *0330-0430. Brief instrumental music and English ID. Signal surprisingly about even with co-channel RFE-RL in Armenian, but audio a little low. Following the results of the presidential election, station intends to continue this extra transmission which started early March., but with difficulty. As hoped, RFE-RL went off at 0357, but Voice of the People was much weakened by then and at 0400 got lost in the spillover between VOA 7115 and Voice of Russia 7125, both strong. I did hear a quick VoP ID (:33) and mention of Zimbabwe (:36) in the 0330 mix. Heard again Mar 24 when RFE-RL was much weaker due to poor propagation, but this time Voice of the People went right into introduction music and "Good morning and welcome to the program 'Let's Talk' . . ," without any real ID. Weakened quickly this night. (Jerry Berg, MA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6715 USB, mystery station (cf. DX-Window no. 189, 190). The Korean speaking religious station was operating Wednesday Mar 13 at 2112 and Sunday Mar 17 at 1940 (on air already) until sudden off 2018. This is a strange one (Green, UK and Groppazzi, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) On Friday Mar 15 I checked this frequency at about 2130 and there was nothing at all. At recheck at 2205 it was booming in. Perhaps it signs on around 2200 on Fridays? (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DSWCI DX Window Mar 27 via DXLD) 6715, UNID Korean Religious Station, 2302-2336* Mar 29, first time hearing what others have been reporting. Generally poor signal with talks and religious vocals with broadcast terminated during a piano instrumental (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Some A-02 observations. Hi Everyone, just came across an UNID Persian language station on 7300 kHz at 0930 UT. Not DW sce 9- 930. Will check it further. Music and freq selection looks like Bulgaria, but latest schedule sent out by Ivo doesn't fit such a Persian service from Sofia (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, March 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-050, March 29, 2002 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd02.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 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 WORLD OF RADIO #1124: (STREAM) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1124.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1124.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1124.html NEXT AIRINGS ON WWCR: Sat 0600, Sun 0330 on 5070; Sun 0730, Mon 0100, 0600 on 3210; Wed 1030 on 9475 FIRST AIRINGS ON RFPI: Fri 1930, Sat 0130, 0730, 1330, 1800, 2400 on some of: 7445-USB, 15039, 21815-USB AIRINGS ON WORLD RADIO NETWORK: Sat 0900 to rest of world; 1500 to NAm CONTINENT OF MEDIA 02-02 is now available: (STREAM) http://www.DXing.com/com/com0202.ram (DOWNLOAD) http://www.DXing.com/com/com0202.rm (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0202.html ON RFPI: Fri 1900, Sat 0100, 0700, 1300, 1730, 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, Tue 2000, Wed 0200, 0800, 1400 on some of: 7445-USB, 15039, 21815-USB WORLD OF RADIO SCHEDULE ANTICIPATED FROM APRIL 7, 2002 Those who need this info in advance may now find it along with the current schedule at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 8700 Information Radio, Diego García [sic], March 23 1535, 24222, Unidentified Male talk and local music, very weak signal rather than before. It seemed same program style as a month ago (Kazunori Watanabe, Tokyo, Japan Premium via DXLD) Here in Japan, there is nothing on 8700 today at 1355 now. But I heard it on 23 March 1535-1715. It seemed same program syle as a month ago (Kazunori Watanabe, Tokyo, Japan, March 28, hard-core-dx via DXLD) I listened to 8700 for some time early this morning (Thursday) around 0100. The programme consisted of the usual fare, modern Afghan pops and the occasional message in a local language. The only difference from the previous activity on this frequency was that the signal now consisted of USB plus CARRIER. This transmission actually was listenable in the AM mode. Reception was weak, in part due to a racket maker on the lower side (8702 silent at that time). At 1715 today (Thursday) there is a weak carrier on 8700, but the digital ute on 8702 is obliterating any possible audio. Today it's almost spring-like in Härnösand with 15 degrees above, but much of the winter snow remains, and can be expected to stay for another two or three weeks. The hours of daylight now are from 5 am to 7 pm, local time. Best 73's for now (Olle Alm, Sweden, March 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. I just found a picture which apparently shows the transmitter hall at Cërrik: http://www.transmitter.be/chi-gd5056.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. 7217, New frequency? National Radio, Luanda, Good Reception at 2100 March 27 with program in English (Mahendra Vaghjee, Mauritius, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Yes, first heard here on 15/3 with French at 2000, measured at 7216.8 on that day. Seems to replace 7245 (Craig Seager, Bathurst, Australia, ibid.) ** ANTARCTICA. Friday, March 29, on 15475.55, station with LA ballads, announcements at 2120, 2140, and ID at 2200, LRA36? On later than usual; went off around 2215 (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listening to his ID tape over the phone, I was almost convinced I heard ``LRA36, Radio Nacional Arcángel Gabriel....`` and definitely concluding as the music faded up, ``...para todo el mundo.`` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ANTIGUA. DEUTSCHE WELLE 3RD HARMONIC ON 10 METER AMATEUR BAND Glen[n], I was casually tuning the 10 Meter amateur band at approximately 7 PM CST 3/27/2002 (0100 3/28/2002 UT) on 29 MHz looking for amateur AM activity and was surprised to hear the musical tones of Deutsche Welle on 29.100 MHz. I monitored the programming until 7:45 PM. This apparent 3rd harmonic of 9.7 MHz (Antigua) mirrored the programming thereon. Signal levels were s9+. The receiving equipment here is a Yaesu FT1000MP and a Collins 51J-4. Antennas are a Cushcraft R7 amateur vertical (base at 15') and a 60' wire (at 15') with an antenna tuner. Signal levels were comparable on both setups on both frequencies. As a reality check, I contacted John Kaufmann by land line, K9KEU who lives about 20 miles to the south of me (Willowbrook, IL) and he verified reception of the 29.1 MHz DW signal (Frank J. Mercurio, Schaumburg, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, 3rd harmonics from 9 MHz broadcast stations fall all over the 10m hamband; if more hams tuned in AM, they might be encountered more often (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. DST ends in SE Australia this weekend, and some program changes affect R. Australia. Grandstand, sporting coverage, will run at 0200-0800 on Sat and Sun [certain frequencies only, I believe --- gh]; Australia All Over gets reduced by an hour local Sunday mornings, UT Sat 2000-2145. There is an additional half-hour version of Bush Telegraph, M-F at 1130. And in the local mornings and evenings, news on the half hour is being added at many times (John Westland, RA Feedback March 30, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. R. Benin, 7210.27, March 23 2230-2303* French talk, YL announcer, phone talk, variety of Afro-pops, French and US pops. S/off with NA, Fair. And March 24 *0556-0615+, s/on with local drums. NA at 0557 and vernacular talk followed. 0600 French ID, talk. Variety of local pops, US and French pops. Good. This on UT Sunday. I believe s/on is around 0500 on weekdays (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOTSWANA. 4820, R. Botswana, 3/24 0255 Cowbell and mooing IS for 5 minutes followed by man in language. Haven't checked for this one in a while. One of my favorite IS (Dave Tomasko, Downers Grove, IL, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** CAMEROON [non]. See MADAGASCAR ** CANADA. Thanks for the heads-up re the strike at CBC's French network. It's giving me the chance to hear some nice French vocal music without interruption via CJBC on 860. They even skipped the ID at 0400 UT, but they're doing quite well on a naked CC Radio here in Minneapolis. At about 0413, March 28, (i.e. Thursday evening local), they played an ID which began simply: Ici Radio Canada. The twist is that "Canada" was pronounced as in English, as if to make a point. Then, in good French, they continued, "La premiere chaîne vous propose une selection de musique..." etc., etc. (Max G. Swanson, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Glenn, This from today's Toronto Sun: http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/dunford_mar28.html March 28, 2002 IT JUST AIN'T JAZZ --- WHY RADIO VET TED O'REILLY QUIT By GARY DUNFORD -- Toronto Sun T.O's EXIT: "Who do you listen to for jazz in Toronto if not Ted O'Reilly" asks musicman Rob McConnell. An odd and public question, since he asked it on-air yesterday of O'Reilly himself. The radio vet wrapped his amazing, 37-year-run at CJRT -- re-branded as JAZZFM91 -- with yesterday's show. The station says O'Reilly retired. Ted says he quit. What's the difference? "The difference is, I don't want to work there any more," he says. "It's 37 years next Monday, and for about 35 of those years I loved working there. There was a community of purpose, a place that was dedicated to really good stuff -- and now it's another commercial radio station. It sounds like CHFI; it sounds like EZ-Rock." That's not a harsh judgment. To a listener, the broader sweep of JAZZFM91's increasingly formatted playlist is jazz without edge. Hummable. Upbeat. All-day audio wallpaper. Call letters out of music. Call letters into music. Cups. Contests. Promotions. "It's mainly the music," O'Reilly says of his exit. "The new program director accused me of playing music with too much improvising in it. That's bad when you're at a jazz station. They want music that people will turn on and leave on, in the background. They don't want anybody getting excited or angry." No surprises. ' Manipulation In short, JAZZFM91 aims to do for jazz what Classical96 does for the classics. Manipulate a music genre to offer a safe, attractive, one- stop for people in full flight from charted pop, rap and crap du jour. Offer melodies you know. Guitars. Standards. Diva vocalists. Keyboards. Lifestyle earfood. As the station actually calls it, Dinner Jazz. "Jazz is supposed to be a personal music and they're de-personalizing it," O'Reilly says. "They'll say this is what jazz is today. I don't think that's true. There's no reason why you can't play Louis Armstrong or Jellyroll Morton beside John Coltrane." Unless you're afraid they'll put distinctive thumbprints on the clean, portion-controlled plates of carefully selected dinner music entrees. "I'm tired of the uphill flight to keep what I think is good jazz on the air," O'Reilly says. "When you go to the absolute softest side of jazz music and take only that, then toss in other artists who aspire to be jazz artists, is it truly jazz?" Does Sting get airplay because he once hired Branford Marsalis? Does Frank Sinatra make the cut because he's kinda like jazz? As a teen O'Reilly was hooked by Miles Davis and big band swing. After graduating from Ryerson, he had radio gigs in Kitchener and Brampton, then joined CJRT in 1965. The station had 150 jazz LPs. Today it has 15,000, plus 12,000 CDs. It's the music library he says he'll miss most. In 37 years, Ted produced and recorded 250 concerts for broadcast, interviewed Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Mingus. He's produced albums for jazz labels, written for magazines, been the go-to guy for local musicians seeking promotion and support. He admits jazz is his religion, his calling. "They play jazz by the pound," says O'Reilly, whose concerts-for- broadcast and pointed interviews with players defined his run. "Put that piece in the computer, let the computer check the repetition factor ... the aim is daytime listening at the office." Bigger slice Indeed, JAZZFM91's determination to cut itself a bigger slice of Toronto's radio pie is raising eyebrows in broadcast circles. The "membership-supported" station runs pledge drives but also sells commercial advertising. Increases in listenership come at the ratings and ad expense of commercial rivals. Licensed to serve a minority taste, it aims at the majority. "I'm surprised Ted Rogers hasn't asked why he can't issue charitable tax receipts too," one wag jokes. Oddly, during JAZZ91 pledge drives, the titles most often requested by listeners are distinctive jazz classics, often by "dead guys" and farthest in spirit from the tuneful wash of the "soft jazz" that fills new release schedules. "I have resigned, but not retired," O'Reilly told listeners last night after spinning his favourite, 12-minute version of Jeepers Creepers, unlikely to be playlisted again. "'Til I speak with you again sometime, somewhere ... think nice thoughts." If you say so, Ted. But as one of those listeners with a JAZZFM91 charitable receipt in hand, I ain't thinkin' them this morning. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (© 2002 Gary Dunford, Toronto Sun, via Ivan Grishin, DXLD) Glenn, I recall listening to Ted's nightly "Jazz Scene" program from 10PM-1AM on CJRT-FM, back in the '70s & '80s. His voice was just perfect for that time of night! 73, Ivan http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1017270068308&call_page=TS_Letters&call_pageid=968332189003&call_pagepath=News/Letters (Ivan Grishin, DXLD) Mention of Ted O'Reilly in the middle of this jazz column. It sounds similar to what happened to Rukeyser, but not as extreme. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1017183667944&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News (Ivan Grishin, DXLD) ** CHINA. Voice of Strait. According to the reply from the station, the transmitting schedule is as follows: News and Politics Channel: 6115 kHz 2225-1700 UT (Wed 1000-1700) Literary and Life Channel: 7280 kHz 2225-1700 UT (Wed 1000-1700) Amoy Language Channel: 4940 kHz 2225-1700 UT (Wed 1000-1700) (via Ogino, Cumbre DX March 28 via DXLD) See recent report of 6115 with some English ** CHINA [non]. CLANDESTINE? from TAIWAN to CHINA. 15388 and 13750: New Star Broadcasting Station Channels 2 and 5 respectively. Heard at 1010 and 1110 March 29. Numbers transmission at TOH. After the transmission, there is a short pause before music start up and message in plain Mandarin by YL announcer, "We thank you for listening to our program. To enable the latest news to be delivered to you, the sponsoring organisation has requested us to solicit entries on the manufacturing of mpeg systems. Fees will be given for articles used. Submit your articles to w2798@hotmail.com or by post to P. O. Box 12587, Taipei. Thank you for listening." Some popular theme music follows. There is of course, no mention of what the sponsoring organisation is (Richard Lam, Singapore, Cumbre DX via DXLD) First time I have ever seen any kind of contact information for this one. (Cumbre Ed.) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI missing from 7445 around 0730 (Chris Hambly, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also missing earlier UT March 29 but 21815- USB audible past 0200. Hope it is just down for the long delayed antenna hoisting; 7445-USB back at 0307 UT check March 30 (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Glenn: concerning Fidel Castro's prodigal daughter's radio broadcasts from Miami. Ms. Alina Fernández is hosting a show titled Simplemente, Alina! on WQBA 1140 AM, 11.00 pm to 1.00 am EST [what days, local M-F?? currently 0400-0600 UT, soon 0300-0500]. Actually, she is not mentioned in a station's on-line schedule yet. - Her show is only 6 weeks old. So I had to call WQBA to find out her time slot. WQBA has both RealAudio and a webcam. But getting a live audio feed takes some extra clicks and a short registration. To listen, go to http://www.netmio.com/radio/wqba/listen/ and then push "power" button on a radio receiver image. To watch, go to http://www.netmio.com/radio/wqba/webcams/webcam43_en.html (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, March 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TALK RADIO IN MIAMI HAS A NEW VOICE: CASTRO'S DAUGHTER Marina Jiménez, National Post, March 27 Miami's hottest new radio talk show host is a perfect match for the city's large and vociferous Cuban community, routinely criticizing the Communist regime and the ageing dictator at its helm. But Alina Fernández isn't just another embittered Cuban exile. She is the daughter of Fidel Castro, a relationship that has brought her neither power nor fortune, and one she never mentions on air. Listeners just know. Simplemente, Alina!, broadcast Monday through Friday on WQBA-AM, is run on a shoe-string and though it can be heard in Cuba she doubts her father has ever listened to it. "I don't think so. He doesn't have so much time to waste," she laughs in a throaty voice during an interview from her home in Miami's Little Havana. Ms. Fernández, 46, escaped from Cuba eight years ago disguised as a Spanish tourist and later wrote a book about being the daughter of Mr. Castro. She sees her six-week-old show as an effort to re-establish the institutional memory of her generation. Full article at: http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020327/462641.html (via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, DXLD) ** DUCIE ISLAND. Ducie Island DXpedition is a wrap: The inaugural VP6DI DXpedition to the newest DXCC entity has come to an end. A 2.5- square-mile atoll, Ducie was approved for DXCC credit last November, but it took three trips, many months of planning and a big budget to make this operation a reality. The DXpedition was sponsored by the Pitcairn Island Amateur Radio Association. The VP9DI team was on the air for just over nine days, logging something on the order of 40,000 contacts. The crew was reported heading for Henderson Island (OC-056), anticipating arrival March 27. Team members will operate for approximately 24 hours using their individual call signs. Look for VP6BK/JA1BK, VP6XX/JF1IST, VP6AJ/K9AJ, VP6VT/K5VT, VP6TC, VP6DB, and VP6MW. According to the pilot stations, QSLs for Henderson Island and /mm QSOs go to the individual operators. VP6DI HF QSLs go via VE3HO, and 6-meter QSLs go to JA1BK. On-line log is available at http://www.big.or.jp/~ham/VP6DI but not all contacts have been posted. More information is available on PIARA`s DXpedition to Ducie March 2002 Web site (The Daily DX via ARRL March 27 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** FRANCE. Radio France Int'l schedule from March 30 to Africa. 0400-0430 M-F 11910, 11995; 0500-0530 M-F 11685, 15155, 17800; 0600-0630 M-F 11710, 17800, 21620; 0700-0800 M-F 15605; 1200-1230 15540ga, 25820; 1400-1500 11610, 17620; 1600-1700 11995ga, 12015ga, 17605; 1600-1730 11615, 15605 (RFI website via Daniel Sampson, WI, Prime Time Shortwave, http://www.triwest.net/~dsampson/shortwave/) ** HAWAII. My NZDXT item referring to the transmitter actually being atop Mt Haleakala was a misreading of the original item. The same storm which produced snow atop Mt Haleakala also brought high winds which resulted in an outage which knocked KNUI-AM off air for a week. Reception in the Pacific NW since clearly indicates KNUI is now back to full power, and indeed, is putting out an enhanced signal (David Ricquish, Wellington, New Zealand, March 28, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** HONG KONG. Don't forget about the special broadcasts for the yacht race. 3940 at 0945 and 2345 (Hans Johnson, Mar 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) How could we forget? It`s on the WOR MONITORING REMINDERS calendar... ** HUNGARY: Updated A-02 Schedule for Radio Budapest eff. March 31: Croatian to Eu 0400-0413 Daily 6025 2000-2013 Daily 6025 English to Eu 1900-1928 Daily 6025 7130 2100-2128 Daily 3975 6025 English to NoAm 0100-0128 Daily 9560 0230-0258 Daily 9570 German to Eu 1200-1258 Sun 6025 7220 1400-1458 Sun 6025 9850 1700-1758 Sun 5970 6025 1730-1758 Mon-Sat 3975 6025 1930-1958 Mon-Sat 3975 6025 French to Eu 0430-0443 Daily 6025 7165 2015-2028 Daily 6025 7235* (*) ex 9755 Hungarian to Eu 0500-1058 Sun 6025 (relay HS-1 Kossuth R) 0500-1558 Mon-Sat 6025 (relay HS-1 Kossuth R) 1100-1158 Sun 6025 1300-1358 Sun 6025 1800-1858 Daily 3975 6025 2200-2258 Daily 6025 Hungarian to NoAm 0000-0058 Daily 9800 0130-0228 Daily 9570 2000-2058 Daily 17690 Hungarian to SoAm 2200-2258 Daily 11755* 15455 (*) ex 9730 2300-2358 Sun 11755* 15455 (*) ex 9730 Hungarian to AUS 1100-1158 Sun 21560 2100-2158 Daily 15195 Italian to Eu 0445-0458 Daily 6025 7165 2030-2043 Daily 6025 11755* (*) ex 6170 2130-2143 Daily 6025 11885 Russian to Eu 0300-0328 Daily 3975 6025 1530-1558 Sun 6025 9575 1700-1728 Mon-Sat 6025 9575 1930-1958 Sun 6025 9575 Romanian to Eu 0345-0358 Daily 6025 1500-1513 Sun 6025 1615-1628 Daily 6025 Serbian to Eu 1645-1658 Daily 6025 Slovak to Eu 0415-0428 Daily 6025 1630-1643 Daily 6025 Spanish to Eu/SoAm 2045-2058 Daily 6025 6145 2145-2158 Daily 6025 11885 Ukrainian to Eu 0330-0343 Daily 3975 6025 1600-1613 Daily 6025 9575 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, March 29, via DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. AIR band scan 17OO-1725 UT in Finland Hi Glenn. I checked this evening ALL INDIA RADIO frequencies (+others) audible here in Turku, former capital of Finland. Here´s the list of the frequencies I heard: -5040 kHz JEYPORE -5010 No trace of THIRU... or Garoua, it was MADAGASCAR. -5005 R NEPAL -4980 UNID (Chinese?) -4965 CHRISTIAN VOICE with ID in EE 1715 UT -4950 SRINAGAR (?) -4940 GUWAHATI formerly known as GAUHATI -4920 + 4910 + 4895 + 4860 + 4840 + 4800 + 4790 (really UNID) 4775 kHz AIR IMPHAL. I checked my QSL-list. In the seventies I used to listen to Asian MW-stations while living in eastern Finland. I listened to AIR IMPHAL on 920 kHz on Sept. 30th 1973, they replied in a month with letter. -4760 kHz very poor. Best of 73´s and a HAPPY EASTER! (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, March 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. World Radio Network posted new schedules today for WRN1 and WRN2, available digitally on Telstar 5 Ku satellite. On the English-language WRN1, World Of Radio shifts from Saturday at 10 am Eastern to Sunday at the same time, in the slot formerly held by VOA's Communications World. Wales Radio International takes over the Saturday morning slot formerly held by WOR. In other changes, Radio Netherlands becomes available for 3 hours a day -- for an hour each at midnight, 8am and 6pm Eastern -- replacing RTE in the first two slots and Russia/RTE in the third slot. Radio Polonia at 1 pm is cut from one hour to 30 minutes, with Channel Africa (M-F), Network Africa (Sat) and Wales Radio International (Sun) airing at 1:30 pm. On the multi-language WRN2, RTE's hourlong broadcast in Irish at 8 am disappears from the schedule, and there are minor time changes for YLE Radio Finland. By the way, WRN Web site indicates the "WRN Boutique" has been closed for renovation since last August (Mike Cooper, Mar 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WRN AVAILABLE IN SOUTH AMERICA VIA TELSTAR 12 From 1st April 2002, WRN begins broadcasting a trial service to South America from the Telstar 12 satellite. This developments means WRN is now a truly global broadcast network covering most of the Earth's surface twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The footprint for Telstar 12 (see right) covers all of Central and South America with receive dish sizes between 60 to 100cm. The service will not be marketed to the partial footprint that covers the US and Canada - the service is not intended for this region. [eastern half of NAm] During the trial period from April 1st to December 31st 2002, we will initially be broadcasting a relay of our English and multi-lingual Africa Asia network as there is no customised feed as yet available to the satellite uplink site. Satellite Coordinates: Telstar 12 at 15.0 W, Transponder 35 (BVN TV) 11.974 Ghz Vertical Polarisation, Symbol Rate 3,400 Msym/s FEC 3/4, DVB MPEG2 NEW DESIGN, NEW NAVIGATION, NEW WRN WEBSITE! WRN is redesigning and relaunching its website and has commissioned Tornado Productions http://www.tornado.tv to undertake this work. Watch out for future announcements! (WRN press release via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. MARS --- NASA officials on March 27 released the first of what could be a daily flow of images of the Red Planet, snapped by a camera aboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The USD 300 million Odyssey was launched in April and arrived in orbit in October. It will eventually serve as a communications relay satellite for missions slated to land on Mars beginning in 2003. (AP) See: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey (SCDX/MediaScan March 28 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. Titanic special event reminder: Special event station GB90MGY will be on the air April 13-15 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. The call sign suffix recalls the ``MGY`` call sign the Titanic used on her fateful maiden voyage in 1912. The station will be active on all HF bands 80 through 10 meters--CW only--from 1030 UTC April 13 until 0647 UTC April 15-- the precise time in the UK that the Titanic sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic with a loss of more than 1500 lives. Members of the sponsoring Titanic Wireless Commemorative Group will operate GB90MGY from a replica of the Titanic`s wireless room. For more information, contact the Michael Shortland, G0EFO, Titanic Wireless Commemorative Group, msa-consult@dial.pipex.com or visit The Titanic Wireless Commemorative Group Web site http://www.gdrs.net/titanic The station will be set up in Godalming, Surrey, the birthplace of Titanic radio operator Jack Phillips, who stayed at his post sending out distress calls to alert other ships and saving more than 700 lives before he went down with the ship (The Daily DX via ARRL March 27 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** IRELAND. 9389.95, Laser Hot Hits, 0630 3/28, Several "Laser" IDs, by male DJ in passing. // 6220, but as expected, much clearer. Postal address, phone # and e-mail address given around 0635. Fair copy. I've read recently that they are using new transmitters, but not 100% sure this is not someone else relaying them. This is the first time I've heard them on this frequency. Fade out around 0700-0800 (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. MARCONI BLOCKED JEWS FROM IL DUCE'S ACADEMY Inventor of the radio helped in Italy's anti-Semitic campaign Rory Carroll in Rome, Guardian, Tuesday March 19, 2002 Guglielmo Marconi, the father of radio and Italy's scientific hero of the 20th century, has been outed as a fascist hatchetman for Benito Mussolini's anti-Semitic policies. Documents unearthed in Rome have exposed Marconi as a clandestine but willing enforcer of the dictator's campaign against Jews years before the persecution came into the open... http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4376828,00.html (via Bill Westenhaver, QE, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. UZBEKISTAN: Summer A-02 Schedule for Voice of Mesopotamiya in Kurdish: 0500-1100 NF 15675 TAC 100 kW / 256 deg, ex 15415 1100-1300 on 11530 TAC 100 kW / 256 deg, ex 1100-1700 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, March 29, via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. Glenn, The station on 5010.0 closing just after 1900 is Madagascar, heard tonight (28 March) very clearly in parallel with much weaker 3287.6. After the national anthem they play the usual and distinctive Madagascar interval signal which has been around for years and years. Here in Nairobi, 5010 is COMPLETELY CLEAR once Madagascar has signed off. I am very sceptical of these reports of Cameroon on that frequency. I think Cameroon has now left shortwave for good (Chris Greenway, Nairobi, Kenya, March 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. A-02 Schedule for R. Netherlands R. Netherlands sked 31 March to 27 October 2002 Retyped from website Dutch 0130-0225 AM 6010sa 11730fl 15315bo 0330-0425 NAM/AF 6165bo 9590bo 9845ma 15560ma 0500-0557 EU 1512wo 7125fl 0500-0757 EU 9895fl 0500-1700 EU 5955fl 9895fl 0559-0757 EU 11935fl 0700-0800 NZ/AU 9820bo 11655bo 0759-1700 EU 13700fl 13700fl 0930-1015 Surinam (mo-sa) 6020bo 1030-1125 AS/AU 13820ma 17575ma 21480ma 1228-1325 17495 1330-1425 AS/AU 9890pe 12065ta 13695kh 17580ma 21480ma 1630-1725 AF 6020ma 11655ma 1730-1825 EU/ME 9895fl 13700fl 15560fl 2030-2125 AF/EU15835ka 6015ma 6020fl 7120ma 9895fl 9895fl 11655fl 15315bo 17605bo 21590bo 2130-2225 AM 6020bo 9895fl 13700fl 15155bo 15315fl 2330-0025 AS 7280ma 9590si 17590kh Dutch (DRM tests) [more below...] 0530-0625 EU 11655bo 0630-0800 EU 15245bo 2030-2125 EU 15565bo English 0430-0530 NAM 6165bo 9590bo 0930-1130 AS/AU 9790bo 12065pe 13710ir 1030-1125 EU/NAM 5965sa 6045ju 9860we 1430-1625 AS/NAM 9890ma 11835ma 12075ta 15220sa 1730-2025 AF 6020ma 7120ma 11655fl 1830-2025 AF 9895fl 13700fl 2030-2230 EU 1512wo 2330-0125 NAM 6165bo 9845bo Indonesian 1130-1325 Indonesia 11690si 17580ma 21480ma 2130-2325 Indonesia 6120si 7285ma 9590ma Spanish 0130-0325 CAM 6165bo 9845bo 1100-1125 SAM 15450bo 1130-1157 SAM 6165bo 9715bo 1200-1225 CAM 6165bo 9715bo 2230-0125 SAM 9895fl 11720bo 15315bo Transmitters: bo = Bonaire fl = Flevo ir = Irkutsk ju = Juelich ka = Kaliningrad kh = Khabrovsk ma = Madagascar pe = Petropavlovsk Kamchatski sa = Sackville si = Singapore ta = Tashkent we = Wertachtal wo = Wolvertem (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Special DRM Demonstration for NAB During the Convention of the National Association of Broadcasters, our Bonaire relay station will be broadcasting a demonstration of the Digital Radio Mondiale system, beamed towards Las Vegas. The broadcasts start on Friday 5 April 2002 and end on Friday 12 April 2002. Bonaire will operate at 2330-0255 UTC on 15525 kHz with a DRM power of 10 kW. Content will be: 2330-0125 RNW English, and 0125-0255 RNW Spanish (Media Network newsletter March 29 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND: RNZI Frequency Schedule from March 31 to May 5, 2002: 1650-1750 Mon-Fri 6095 / 035 deg to NE Pacific, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Is 1751-1850 Mon-Fri 11725 / 035 deg to NE Pacific, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Is 1851-2050 Daily 15160 / 000 deg to All Pacific, also audible in Eur 2051-0458 Daily 17675 / 000 deg to All Pacific, also audible in WNAm 0459-0758 Daily 15340 / 000 deg to All Pacific, also audible in Eur 0759-1105 Daily 11675 / 000 deg to All Pacific 1106-1310 Daily 11675 / 325 deg to NW Pacific, Bougainville, E Timor, Asia 1311-1650 Occ`l 6095 / 000 deg to All Pacific (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, March 29, via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Re Defence Forces Broadcasts: The Armed Forces Canteen Council is a non-profit organization which operates facilities at military bases, the profits from which are used for a wide variety of activities. In this case, they include funding SW broadcasts via RNZI. It's similar to the Australian Army Amenities Service which funded a network of 22 radio stations in Australia, the Pacific, SE Asia and Japan during WWII. They had more mothers knitting and holding raffles so could afford more stations than NZers <grin> (David Ricquish, Wellington, NZ, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. NEW ZEALAND MUSIC QUOTA FOR RADIO 26.03.2002 4.00pm Regulating for New Zealand music quotas on radio is still an option if a voluntary code falters, Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs says. The code, launched today, will see radio stations playing on average 20 per cent New Zealand music by 2006. New Zealand music is applied to all music performed by artists normally registered as New Zealanders, including people performing in Australia and other countries... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=1291784&msg=emaillink (via Bill Westenhaver, QC, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Hi Glenn, Stumbled upon something which might be of interest to utility monitors: As of 1 May, the Meteorological Service of New Zealand is making changes to its weather radio facsimile services. They've been transmitting heretofore simultaneously on four frequencies, but due to needed transmitter maintenance, they'll be using only one frequency at a time from 1 May. Info, including links to PDF versions of the old/new skeds, may be found at: http://www.metservice.co.nz/forecasts/radiofax_changes.asp 73- (Bill Westenhaver, QB, March 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Progress(?) report on KXOK-TV 32, Enid`s ownly local TV station: some 10 pm newscasts have been missing without explanation, so the auction just keeps going. Good Morning Enid, however, at 7 am Friday had some news: we thought it looked different, and the reason is that they are currently originating from temporary studios next to the transmitter atop the Broadway Tower, as they still aren`t ready to move into Oakwood Mall. And Scott revealed that KXOK-FM started March 28 at 5:30 pm, on 104.7. Indeed it was on when we checked around 7:15 pm (all times CST) March 29, playing a cut from ``Tommy``. They plan to broadcast an Oklahoma Crude stupid ballgame live this weekend, but format if any is not yet clear. Close-in, it seems to have no trouble overriding KIXR Ponca City on same frequency, but I haven`t yet determined whether it is still officially LP, ex-KUAL. One of the few other locally produced TV shows so far is Doctor Fear, hosting monster movies at midnight early Saturday. He made a guest appearance on the morning show, reading a statement in (pig?) Latin (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. R. Sultanate of Oman, 15355, March 16 0300-0358* in English. Kor`an in Arabic with English translations and commentary on the recited verses. US pop music by Lionel Richie and others. Ad for contest to win a Toyota Corolla. Chimes and news at 0330-0342. Phone talk. Abruptly off at 0358. Fair-good. Barely audible one week later on March 24 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. Re R. América on SW 7300: But not all is ready. According to Tony Jones, obtaining a license in Paraguay is very bureaucratic and takes very long time (Nicolás Éramo, Argentina, Cumbre DX March 28 via DXLD) ** SAMOA AMERICAN. WDJD near Pago Pago, American Samoa is now conducting tests on 585 with 5kW power. Official sign-on date is April 13. I've asked the acting station manager, Vickie Haleck for precise dates and times for tests as well as an address for DX reports. The station is DX friendly, wants reports. Programs are 70% English/30% Samoan, ID slogan is 'for you and your family, 585 AM WDJD'. Check the April 2002 New Zealand DX Times for an exclusive front page article on WDJD, only the third MW station in 50 years in American Samoa (David Ricquish, Talkback, NZ DX Times / http://www.radiodx.com hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. The shortwave parallel frequencies for the 1521 Saudi Arabian are 9555 and 9870 kHz. I hear both the medium wave and shortwave stations best around local sunset. It is often the first TA signal to fade in because of its huge (2 megawatt) power and a transmitter site next to the Red Sea with a straight overwater trajectory towards us. At seashore sites in New England and eastern Canada, 1521 can come in 2 to 3 hours before sunset. 1 p.m. EST is my earliest reception (from Cape Cod) and 2:30 p.m. EST is about as early as I've noted them here in Billerica (about 15-20 miles inland from Ipswich, Marblehead, etc.) Sign-off is at 2300 UT (6 p.m. EST). Spain is usually what you hear on 1521 in Saudi Arabia's absence. Sometimes Czech, British, and even Chinese stations have been heard on this channel. When Saudi-1521 signs on again at 0300 UT (10 p.m. EST), there's more slop from WWKB-1520 than during the sunset receptions. If you're lucky (translate: super propagation + Beverage + beach), you can get some medium wave parallels to 1521, among these: 594, 648, 900, 1440. The 1512 Saudi station is not parallel to 1521. This one's usually good around 0200 UT (9 p.m. EST) if you aren't next to a 1510 pest like WWZN (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA, NRC-AM March 27 via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. There's some new Somali activity on 6750.25. It's in the Rahanwein language, so I need to check it out further. Regards, (Chris Greenway, Nairobi, Kenya, March 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA. Here`s another website with lots of testimonials about the alleged sins, to put it mildly, of Brother R. G. Stair: http://prophecy.sinfree.net/stair/stair.html If all of this is true, or for that matter, any of it, why hasn`t he been arrested and prosecuted? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN -- Coming up on Radio Sweden: Thursday: "The S-Files" celebrates Stockholm's 750 years Friday: Good Friday special -- Stockholmers and THEIR Stockholm Saturday: Fringe and mainstream forms of expression -- graffiti and circus Sunday: In "Sounds Nordic", the top 100 ABBA songs and celebrity wannabe Emma Robinson Monday: Easter Monday special "The Ice Brothel" Contrary to our reports on the air and on the web, our new shortwave frequency schedule actually goes into effect on Sunday March 31 (and not April Fool's Day), along with everyone else, when Western Europe switches to Daylight Saving/Summer time (George Wood, SCDX/MediaScan March 28 via DXLD) Who says SCDX has to be on Tuesdays? (gh) ** THAILAND. 8742.98, Thai Meteo Station 1220 playing interval signal. Very weak, best in USB. Still in at 1618 Mar 28 same level (Joe Talbot, Alberta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) I believe the last log of this was back in 1999 (- Cumbre Ed.) I think we had some last year if someone want to search DXLD (gh, DXLD) ** TUNISIA. Amateur station 3V8BB, Mike. 28494 USB 1540 - 1615 UT March 28, Good signal in Oregon. Working West Coast/Stateside/world. Said to QSL via YT1AD (Bill Flynn, Cave Junxion, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. I keep checking, and checking; UT Sun Mar 24 at 0100, there it was back on 7375, RUI in English to NAm! S 4/5. It was also there on 7375 at 0400 (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Glenn, I noticed a new "Real Audio Shedule" [sic] tag on the left side of the RUI web page. I thought that it would provide times of programs and languages used, but all they had was a general list of programs available in Ukrainian, English, German and Romanian. Perhaps it's still under construxion. [Later that same day:] I noticed that left-side tag on the RUI website now reads New Broadcasting Shedule [sic], and it brings up the new A-02 schedule (Ivan Grishin, Ont., March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. ITV Digital goes bust * A High Court judge agrees that ITV Digital, the crisis-hit UK broadcaster, can be placed in administration. Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/hi/english/business/newsid_1896000/1896732.stm (via Ricky Leong, Canada, DXLD) I kept hearing this headline on BBC news. ``Placed in administration`` means nothing to me as a North American. Is that an euphemism? Going bust is the cause or effect? I guess like we would say, being in the hands of a receiver running it (gh, DXLD) ** U K. 'THE SILENT KEY' RADIO PRODUCER WANTS FEEDBACK From RSGB: David Ellis, the writer and producer of the BBC radio feature 'The Silent Key' http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speech/silentkey/sk18.shtml that featured amateur radio, is keen to receive feedback on the programme. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the 23rd of February and is now accessible on BBC on-line with both sound (realplay) and visuals. David Ellis, producer, Silent Key, writes about the programme: 'Erik Davis, cultural commentator, freelance writer for 'Wired' and 'The Village Voice' contextualised the more spectral, invisible dimensions of radio/cyber spaces whilst chipping away at the utilitarian shell of technology (or in the case of radio, the 'furniture', the knobs, dials, and accumulated junk) and it was this aspect of his book 'Techgnosis' that inspired many of the ideas within The Silent Key. Davis's 'electromagnetic imaginary' becomes a 'sonic imaginary'. During our early recorded conversations (extracts of which are used) we speculated on what Davis described as 'an archaeology of signals' and the 'collecting mentality' as represented by the 66 postcards that initiated the search for Arthur Trigell a.k.a. A Silent Key or dead radio ham. The cards became the pointers to a life lived, perhaps lost, though not unrecorded. Behind these cards existed a shadow story, as yet undetermined, of radio itself and of experiments conducted in wooden huts, spare rooms beyond geo-political and class borders. (At one point during my search I consulted a graphologist in an attempt to identify the 'hobbyist's underloop'). Composer and previous collaborator on various performance-based work Richard Kilgour ('The Titanic Signals', 'K.2 The Mountain', `Ezekiels Tounge', Iain Sinclairs 'London Essay') introduced me in 1999 to electronic engineer David Donnard who "knew someone, in the know", someone who might consider acting as my guide into the Ham fraternity, into what has been called 'the true art of radio'. The someone was Prem Holdaway, a North London-based radio enthusiast, formerly a teacher of electronics and badminton coach, and currently an active ham. Inducted into the esoterica/techno-jargon of the 'knob culture' Holdaway led me to Doreen Barnes an Essex-based morse operator who is one of the key voices heard throughout the 45 minute piece. The poignancy of Doreen and her husband Dennis's life (Dennis is now a Silent Key) led me to what radio aficionados recognise as the "pivotal year of 1957", and specifically October 1957, as this was the year when the first orbital satellite 'Sputnik' began transmitting signals from space. (According to Doreen they were "akin to the sound of a baby hedgehog"). Of equal importance, though more terrestrial in its impact, was what became known as 'TOMMOROW'S MUSIC', or the sound of Joe Meek, the maverick early 60's record producer and innovator of 'tape-splicing, cranked-up echo effects and sound montaged British pop. Filtering his 'homebrew' habits (as a radio experimentalist in the 50's he constructed a T.V in the woods) into his recordings, he revved up the post-war pop charts with 'Telstar' and 'Jonny Remember me'. Some of these homebrew habits (or simulation of them) were consciously used whilst in the studio with sound engineer/producer Neale Gardner during the editing/mixing of SK. SK was always about detour, digression and delay. It took as its model a previous semi-improvised performed lecture called 'K.2-the mountain' which was my attempt to trace the origins of the Y.M.C.A which I had discovered had been founded by my great, great grandfather George Williams, a pig farmer turned haberdasherer who worked in London. Of George Williams I learnt next to nothing. Of K2 and the outdoor movement? Lots. The search for Arthur Trigell, the Silent Key of the title, or G3JAF, became the point of departure in this investigation into the lesser known history of radio and, with it, the murky spiritualism of 19th century table rappers, the analog circuitry g'd upped to receive disembodied voices from the past, Lithuania nationalism, Slavic hymns, rogue frequencies, thrummings, spheric utteraces, whistlers. The Silent Key is an assemblage (sound montage) of broadcast clichés, composed music, clicks, dictaphonics, and interviews etc. It's also about making radio without a handbook.' (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ?? (gh, DXLD) ** U K [non]. RUSSIA: Effective April 6 Radio Ezra in English will be on air at new time: new 2330-2400 Sat NF 17665 P.K 100 kW / 060 deg to NAm, ex 0900-0930 Sun on 12110 VLD 100 kW / 140 deg to Pacific [but the old broadcast ended some months ago, not just now --gh] (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, March 29, via DXLD) ** U S A. Stories about VOA: The Committee to Protect Journalists annual report, "Attacks on the Press in 2001," mentions VOA's reassignment of Spozhmai Maiwandi, chief of the VOA Pashto Service. http://www.cpj.org/ The CPJ report and its mention of VOA was reported by RFE/RL: http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2002/03/26032002091809.asp Freelance journalist Frank Smyth comments on the Spozhmai Maiwandi matter: Not many Americans have heard of Spozhmai Maiwandi, but many Afghanis have. A native of the Central Asian nation, she ran the Pashto service of the Voice of America for over a decade. VOA is the paid broadcast arm of the U.S. government, but Ms. Maiwandi is a journalist, and she aired more than just American propaganda. She reported the news, and, in a broadcast shortly after September 11, included the remarks of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar. That raised hackles in the Bush administration, and she quickly became a target. Soon, under Bush-appointed director Robert Reilly, VOA turned on Ms. Maiwandi. First she found insulting notes slipped under her door by anonymous coworkers, she said, producing a note that simply read: "This is no longer your office. Move your big [expletive removed] out of here." Then she was fired from the Pashto service, although in an Orwellian twist Reilly claims he gave her a promotion. "You are being given a temporary promotion," VOA's department of human resources wrote to Ms. Maiwandi. "This action is not a reassignment from your current position. Your position of record remains Chief of the Pashto Service," the note added, even though she would no longer run the service. Unfortunately the VOA case is only one of many examples in which Bush officials have manipulated the press... http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/5294 (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. VOA Pronunciation Guide: The Voice of America now has a searchable index on-line --- complete with audio. (It beats scouring the Beeb site, and listening to a whole story...) http://www.voa.gov/pronunciations/ (Tom Popyk, CAJ List via Ricky Leong, QU, DXLD) ** U S A. Another story of great men with feet of clay, like the recent reports of Marconi's anti-semitism [see ITALY] KEN RUSSELL FILM CASTS EDISON IN A POOR LIGHT by Chris Hastings (Filed: 24/03/2002) THE family of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, has attacked a new film by Ken Russell that portrays him as a ruthless sadist intent on destroying his closest rival. Mr Russell's new film biography of Nikola Tesla, who was one of Edison's greatest adversaries, will also undermine the scientist's claim to be the father of electricity and provide a very different picture of one of America's revered heroes... http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/24/wedis24.xml 73- (Bill Westenhaver, QB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I heard that you had an 80th anniversary documentary about WLW. Wonder if and when this will be in your audio vault? Or rebroadcast with advance notice. Regards, Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO to WVXU via DXLD) Dear Glenn, Thanks for your e-mail. The documentary will be publicly released as a 2-CD set with a 70 page booklet in early summer. I'd suggest that you keep checking out the web site for specific information about its availability. If we do another rebroadcast, we'll also put that on the web plus there will be a fair amount of on- air promotion. Thanks again for writing (Dr. Jim King, WVXU, March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VETERAN RADIO STARS TO DISCUSS ALABAMA`S OLDEST STATION From: http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2002/03/25/daily19.html 19:03 EST Tuesday The two familiar names noted mostly for their local television careers will participate in the 80th birthday celebration of Alabama's first radio station, WSY, which later became WAPI. The station is still going strong as NewsTalk 1070-AM, owned now by Citadel Broadcasting. The celebration will be held April 1, sponsored by the Birmingham- based Alabama Historical Radio Society (http://www.bham.net/ahrs) and Alabama Power Co., which started WSY to communicate with linemen repairing power lines. The discussion will be held in the main auditorium of the Alabama Power building on Sixth Avenue North downtown. The festivities include a 6 p.m. panel discussion with longtime radio industry personnel, including Lucas, known in the 1960's as "Weathergirl Rosemary" on WAPI-TV (now NBC13 WVTM). Lucas paired with longtime talk show host Dave Campbell on WAPI for the Saturday Football Cavalcade pre-game show in the fall during the 1960s and 70s. Another former WAPI announcer, Sterling Brewer, went on to fame as the host of "Live Studio Wrestling" on WBMG-TV (now CBS42 WIAT). Former station manager and announcer Everett Holley also will sit on the panel. "We're proud Alabama Power launched the first radio station in Alabama," says company president and CEO Charles McCrary. A museum exhibit of radio history, with antique radios owned by private collectors, will be on display April 1 through May 31 in the Alabama Power archives department (via Mike Terry, UK, DXLD) ** U S A. I found a link to LDS Radio Network, run by the Mormons. The network has two "streams". "LDS Radio" features religious talk and music, while "LDS Instrumental" provides non-interrupted, non- religious (AFAICT) music. I enjoyed LDS Instrumental the morning of March 27, but it went silent around 1700 (Perhaps the soothing music put the operator to sleep!) It's still not heard past 2230. LDS Instrumental http://www.ldsradio.com/instrumental.asx LDS Radio http://www.ldsradio.com/ldsradio.asx (Ivan Grishin, Ont., March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, The links to LDS Instrumental and Radio are down right now, so I assume they are now working to correct the problem with LDS Instrumental. (Grishin, 1516 UT March 27) LDS Instrumental is back as of 1700 today. But now that I listen again, I notice that it is playing mostly instrumental and choral religious music, something they didn't do yesterday. Maybe it's because today is Maundy Thursday? 73, (Ivan Grishin, Ont., March 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11490, WHRI Noblesville IN; 2119-2127+, 24-Mar; World Harvest Radio toe-tappin' Gospel music and religious program. 2x harmonic audible at noise level //5745 fundamental at S50!. (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. When Elephants Dance: Here's an excellent article about the state of the war on copyrights in the US, and how it may impact internet radio. Quite amusing in places, and well worth the read even though it is lengthy. http://www.farces.com/stories/storyReader$414 (Ray Robinson in L.A., Radio Caroline Mailing List via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. SAVING INTERNET RADIO From Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News Tech columnist: "Media conglomerates are in a merger frenzy. Telecommunications monopolies are creating a cozy cartel, dividing up access to the online world. The entertainment industry is pushing for Draconian controls on the use and dissemination of digital information... "The offenses against the public interest have been piling up, one after the other...The most recent outrage...is the music companies' scheme to control Internet radio or murder it if they can't. Net radio provides the variety and value that broadcast radio, so dominated today by a few behemoths, has almost utterly lost. Now it's going to disappear, if the greedy souls who dominate commercial music have their way -- just one more whack at the public interest to preserve the untenable business models of well-connected corporations. "I'd been hoping that Congress would come to its senses one of these days, and mitigate the damage it has done with laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [in .pdf form]. As prescient critics warned, the law has been abused by the entertainment crowd and its craven allies in the technology business to threaten scholars, curb free speech and even incite outrageous prosecutions. "I'd been hoping that lawmakers would see the danger of market concentration in telecommunications and media. No luck there, either. I'd been hoping that the courts might intervene. But courts are more political than we learn in our third-grade civics classes. Federal judges are nominated and confirmed by politicians who only occasionally peek out of the pockets of the special interests. Again and again, with few exceptions, judges are upholding laws that trample on tradition and rights. "There's no simple, all-encompassing solution to this dismal situation. Fighting for the public interest will involve work on a variety of fronts. It's essential, for example, that we put pressure on Congress and keep it there... "Here's my message to the record industry and its allies: I'm not a thief. I'm a customer. When you treat me like a thief, I won't be your customer." Read Gillmor's entire editorial in the San Jose Mercury News http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/2922052.htm (via RAIN via Mike Terry, UK, DXLD) ** U S A. Here's yet another Salon.com piece on Clear Channel Communications. 73- Bill Westenhaver WASHINGTON TUNES IN, By Eric Boehlert Critics accuse Clear Channel of shady radio deals and nasty concert business. Now the government is starting to pay attention... http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2002/03/27/beltway/index.html (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** U S A. A NEWSLINE FOLLOW-UP: A POLITICALLY DISORGANIZED 11 METER CLASS D SERVICE A few weeks ago we reported that the FCC has refused to hear an appeal by an Illinois CB operator convicted of Disorderly Conduct for interfering with a neighbors home entertainment electronics. In the days since that report first aired, it caused quite a stir on several Internet discussion groups. Everyone wants to know how a service that once boasted 3 out of every 5 Americans with radios in their cars could wind up where the local sheriff or policeman could take an operator off the air. After a bit of research, the answer seemed pretty clear. In one word: Politics. Here is Amateur Radio Newsline`s South East Bureau Chief David Black, KB4KCH, with part 1 of a multi part look at the strange political side of 11 meter CB. When it comes to having political representation, most communication groups are in good shape. Hams have the American Radio Relay League looking after their political well being. Broadcasters have the powerful National Association of Broadcasters. Cellular telephone companies have the CTIA. Even the General Mobile Radio Service, which shares frequencies with the Family Radio Service, has representation amid the Personal Radio Steering Group. So, what form of communications lacks representation? That would be 11 meter, Class D Citizens Band radio. What does CB have? This: (Sound from 11 meter CB) Give CB a listen, and you hear lots of people using a service without any structure or formalized representation. Some might even call it anarchy. (More sound from 11 meters) Ironically, CB`s lack of political power--as well as its inability to defend against bureaucratic attack--is not due to shortage of people using the airwaves. Many believe that next to cellular telephones, the second largest selling piece of 2-way radio equipment in the 20th century has been the CB radio. During the gas crisis in the 1970s, many cars sported some sort of 11 meter whip and a cheap CB radio under the dash. Low cost 11 meter radios by the millions were manufactured, imported and sold. The industry had hobby magazines and several newspaper style newsletters devoted to CB radio. CB operators outnumbered hams by at least 20 to one. And they outnumber GMRS users by 1000 to one. But CB was not able to defend itself from outside pressures either back then or today
