DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-116, July 21, 2002
        edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com

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WORLD OF RADIO #1140:
(ON DEMAND) http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/worldofradio.html
(DOWNLOAD)  http://www.k4cc.net/wor1140.rm
(STREAM)    http://www.k4cc.net/wor1140.ram
(SUMMARY)   http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1140.html

WWCR BROADCASTS: Mon 0000? 9475, Wed 0930 9475
RFPI BROADCASTS: Mon 0030, 0630, Wed 0100, 0700 on 7445-USB, 15038.6

NOTE: our main site http://www.worldofradio.com may have some down 
time in next few days. If so, check for latest info at
http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/anomaly.html

** ANTARCTICA. FACILIDADES Y FRECUENCIAS DE COMUNICACION
   Bases Antárticas Argentinas [with callsigns]

BASE JUBANY: HF: 4490 y 4705 KHz. AYQ743/AZD36/LTA 284 
 
BASE BELGRANO II: HF: 4490 KHz; 7980 KHz; 11440 KHz; 14402,5 KHz. 
HF: LTA 115

BASE ESPERANZA: HF: 4490 KHz; 7980 KHz; 11440 KHz; 14402,5 KHz. 
HF: LTA 116

BASE SAN MARTIN: HF: 4490 - 7980 KHz; HF: LTA 126 
 
BASE MARAMBIO: HF: 4490 KHz; 8980 KHz; 2455 KHz; 4705 KHz. 
 
BASE ORCADAS: [South Orkney] HF: 4, 5 y 6; 4490-8980 KHz 
 
(from http://www.dna.gov.ar/INTINFO/ARGPERES.HTM via Horacio Nigro, 
Uruguay, July 20, Conexión Digital via DXLD; gh excerpted HF only)

** ARMENIA. Dear Glenn, referring to your current World of Radio in 
which you mentioned some times/fq's of Armenia, I can tell you that I 
still hear them in English as follows:
1940-2000 UT on 4810 and 9960 kHz Mon-Sat
0810-0830 UT on 15270 kHz Sunday (but covered by co-channel Italy)
73, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, July 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. Voice International, 18 July 1300-1400+ on 13685 running 
a loop for an hour, about technical difficulties with English 
programming; would resume momentarily, but never did (Ron Trotto, IL, 
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. Radio Australia - special broadcast for Commonwealth 
Games (held in Manchester UK)  
   
Radio Australia is also broadcasting ABC Radio`s specialist 
Commonwealth Games coverage live to the Asia-Pacific region on a 
dedicated short wave channel – 11650 kHz – for the duration of the 
Games.

ABC RADIO`S COMMONWEALTH GAMES COVERAGE: 11650 kHz

[for any of us not in Suheevah, subtract 12 hours for UT]

Fri 26 July (opening ceremony): 8:00 am (Suva time)
Sat 27 July: 8:00 pm (Suva time)
Sun 28 July: 7:00 pm (Suva time)
Mon 29 July – Fri 2 August: 8:00 pm (Suva time)
Sat 3 August: 8:00 pm (Suva time)
Sun 4 August: 7:00 pm (Suva time)

Coverage closes at 7:00 am each day, 9:00 am for opening and closing 
ceremonies

For more information on Radio Australia’s comprehensive coverage of 
the 2002 Commonwealth Games visit the Radio Australia Sports website 
(click on the Commonwealth Games icon) at http://abc.net.au/ra/sport. 

For additional information: Andria Hutchins, Marketing Manager, ABC 
Radio Australia, tel. + 61 3 9626 1723
(via E. Baxendale, UK, July 19, DXLD)

** BRAZIL. Uma das figurinhas difíceis das ondas curtas é a Rádio 
Difusora 6 de Agosto, de Xapuri(AC). Pois o Júlio Baldim, de Salto 
(SP), captou a emissora em duas oportunidades: em 18 e 19 de julho, às 
0947 e 0933, respectivamente. A emissora transmite em 3255 kHz. De 
acordo com o Júlio, a identificação da emissora é a seguinte: "Rádio 
Difusora Seis de Agosto, mais música regional!". (Célio Romais, 
@tividade DX July 20 via DXLD)

BRASIL - A Rádio Nacional AM, do Rio de Janeiro(RJ), que emite em 1130 
kHz e teve tempos de glória nas ondas curtas, não virou mera 
repetidora da programação gerada pela Radiobrás, em Brasília. De 
acordo com a Diretora da emissora, o governo pretende investir 800 mil 
reais para recuperar a Nacional. Os programas musicais, humorísticos e 
radionovelas dos áureos tempos da Nacional serão remasterizados. 
Marizete Mundim convida os ouvintes da Nacional a permanecer na 
audiência. As informações são da jornalista Magaly Prado, na coluna 
Pensata (Célio Romais, @tividade DX July 20 via DXLD)

BRASIL - E a nova programação da Rádio Gazeta, de São Paulo(SP), hein? 
"Foi para as cucuias", conforme definiu Magaly Prado, em sua coluna 
publicada no sítio: http://www.uol.com.br/folha/pensata Recordando: a 
Gazeta pretendia transmitir programação feita pelos acadêmicos da 
Faculdade Casper Líbero. Para tanto, rescindiu o contrato de concessão 
de suas emissoras para a Igreja Pentecostal Deus é Amor. Os religiosos 
não gostaram e entraram na justiça alegando a quebra de contrato. 
Ganharam em primeira instância e as freqüências de 5955, 9685 e 15325 
kHz voltaram a emitir a programação religiosa (Célio Romais, @tividade 
DX July 20 via DXLD)

BRASIL - O radioescuta brasileiro Sarmento Campos, residente no Rio de
Janeiro(RJ), acaba de lançar um sítio com informações sobre o mundo 
das ondas curtas. Tem uma lista com todos os horários e freqüências 
das emissoras que emitem em português e espanhol. Confira em:
http://planeta.terra.com.br/arte/sarmentocampos/OndasCurtas.htm
(Célio Romais, @tividade DX July 20 via DXLD)

BRASIL - Um programa interessante para os radioescutas "coroas" é 
levado ao ar, aos sábados, pela Rádio Brasil Central, de Goiânia(GO), 
entre 0030 e 0300. São executadas músicas de Nat King Cole, Trio Los 
Panchos, Dolores Durán, Pepino di Capri, dentre outros. A dica é do 
José Moacir Portera de Melo, de Pontes e Lacerda(MT). A Rádio Brasil 
Central pode ser captada nas freqüências de 4985 e 11815 kHz. Confira! 
(Célio Romais, @tividade DX July 20 via DXLD)

BRASIL - A Rádio Verdes Florestas, de Cruzeiro do Sul(AC), foi 
sintonizada em Tefé(AM), pelo radioescuta Paulo Roberto e Souza, na 
freqüência de 4865 kHz, em 18 de julho, entre 0005 e 0030, 
transmitindo avisos para as comunidades e seringais da região. De 
acordo com o Paulo, no Estado do Acre, "a atividade extrativista dos 
seringueiros ainda tem importância econômica considerável". (Célio 
Romais, @tividade DX July 20 via DXLD)

BRASIL - Uma emissora brasileira que respeita os ouvintes é a Rádio 
Difusora, de Poços de Caldas(MG). Vilmar Garcia, apresentador do 
programa Volta do Sucesso, levado ao ar aos domingos, entre 0100 e 
0200, informa que todas as cartas são respondidas com o envio de um 
postal da cidade. É mais uma oportunidade para obter a confirmação da 
emissora, que emite em 4945 kHz (Célio Romais, @tividade DX July 20 
via DXLD)

** BRAZIL. 17815, Rádio Cultura, 0210-0252 Jul 19, program of romantic 
vocals hosted by a man with Portuguese talks. Poor to fair and mainly 
over Romania until RRI dominated channel with Listeners Letterbox 
program at 0240 right through close down at 0256 (Rich D`Angelo, PA, 
NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD)) 

** CANADA. LATE ITEM: Canadian Catholic Radio is offering daily World 
Youth Day programs in English and French at no charge. See the news 
item at http://www.zenit.org/english. The Zenit article is copyright 
and I cannot reproduce it. CCR did not send me a press release, 
although they read this newsletter (Mike Dorner, LA, Catholic Radio 
Update July 21 via DXLD)

** ECUADOR. Among the programming on R. Católica Nacional is two hours 
of Ecuadorian music M-F 1330-1530, supposedly launched at
http://www.ecuadormedia.com/radio/quito/radios/radiocat.html
(via Catholic Radio Update July 22, DXLD)

** ECUADOR. HCJB is offering another vintage QSL card. It is the 1968-
C card, which was part of the "Project Outreach" series of six cards. 
The cards depict various broadcast and transmitting equipment, and the 
1968-C card shows a 50-kW transmitter they were using at the time. It 
was designed and built by HCJB staff while the station was looking 
into the possibility of buying 100-kW transmitters, and it was 
considered Phase 3 out of the six phases depicted in the cards. This 
card is available to anyone who sends in a reception report and 
specifically requests this card. Reception reports may be e-mailed to 
dxpl@hcjb.org.ec, or may be mailed to: DX Partyline ** HCJB ** Casilla 
17-17-691 ** Quito ** Ecuador (HCJB DXPL July 13, notes by Marie Lamb 
for W9WZE via DXLD)

HCJB has found more QSL cards from past decades, and they are 
available for those who send reception reports and request the 
specific cards. The 1974-F card was part of the "Mountains of Ecuador" 
series. Only 12 of this design are available, so six of the cards will 
be given to the first six people who request them by e-mail, and the 
other six will be given to the first six who ask for them by regular 
mail. Requests that are received after these run out will receive the 
1974-D card, which shows the summit of Mt. Cotopaxi. The e-mail 
address is dxpl@hcjb.org.ec and the postal address is: HCJB ** DX 
Partyline ** Casilla 17-17-691 ** Quito ** Ecuador (HCJB DXPL July 20, 
notes by Marie Lamb for W9WZE via DXLD)

** HAWAII. HAWAII PUBLIC RADIO SELLS KIFO AM 
   By Wayne Harada, Advertiser Entertainment Writer
   Posted on: Sunday, July 21, 2002

Hawai'i Public Radio's AM station, KIFO 1370, has been sold and will 
cease operations as a public radio station on Aug. 1. Diamond 
Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Legacy Communications Corp. of Utah, has 
acquired the station in a sale that has been under negotiation for 
months. KIFO will continue to broadcast its regular programming 
through the end of this month. The purchase price was $500,000, half 
of which is earmarked to help reduce HPR's debt. The rest will be 
spent on a re-engineering of KIPO 89.3 FM, known for its news and jazz 
broadcasts, to boost service and access. The re-engineering will make 
KIPO as accessible to listeners as sister station KHPR 88.1 FM, the 
network's classical music station. "Selling KIFO has been under 
discussion in HPR board meetings since 1999," said Michael Titterton, 
station president and general manager. "The board is now totally 
focused on our objective of broadcasting two high-quality program 
services to all of Hawai'i." KIPO (in Honolulu) will continue its 
format of providing news, information and entertainment programming, 
with jazz, world, blues and other types of music in the evenings. KHPR 
(in Honolulu), KKUA 90.7 FM (in Wailuku) and KANO 91.1 FM (in Hilo) 
feature news and classical music formats (via Brock Whaley, DXLD)

KIFO was great when it took over the "dark" 1380 about ten years ago. 
It ran almost all the NPR speech offerings, and cleared Morning 
Edition and ATC live from east coast feed. The FM delayed both to fit 
in Hawaiian local time. In the last couple of years, KIFO has just 
been a 24/7 simulcast of KIPO-FM, so no great loss. At one time, KIFO, 
when it was on 1380, was one of only two directional AM stations in 
Hawaii. It had a null to protect the FCC monitoring station. When on 
1380, it always suffered severe co-channel QRM from the second 
harmonic of the 10 KW on 690, whose tower was much closer to downtown 
(Brock Whaley, Atlanta GA, July 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. AIR is celebrating its 75th anniversary on Tuesday 23 July 
2002. So look out for special programs on AIR. There are announcements 
about this platinum jubilee on AIR stations especially on the Vividh 
Bharthi about special phone in programs etc. Only July 21, 2002 Sunday 
AWR Wavescan is having a special program on AIR (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, 
Box 1555, Somajiguda, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india via DXLD)

** IRAN. IRÃ - Está no ar mais uma edição do tradicional concurso da 
Voz da República Islâmica do Irã, o Fadjir VII. Este ano o tema é a 
Intifada Palestina. Para participar, basta enviar um texto sobre o 
assunto. A emissora promete valiosos prêmios. O prazo final é 31 de 
dezembro de 2002, conforme monitoria de Paulo Roberto e Souza, de 
Tefé(AM). A Voz do Irã pode ser captada, em espanhol, nos seguintes 
horários e freqüências: das 0030 às 0127, em 9515, 9655 e 13755 kHz.
Entre 0130 e 0227, em 9560, 9655, 9810 e 13755 kHz. De 0230 às 0327, 
em 13730 kHz. Também entre 0530 e 0627, em 17590 e 17785 kHz. Por fim, 
das 2030 às 2127, em 9750 e 11765 kHz (Célio Romais, @tividade DX July 
20 via DXLD)

** KENYA [non]. There was a great band from Philadelphia in the early 
1950's, known, amazingly enough, as the Nairobi Trio. The things that 
group could do with a few mallets, rubber masks and banana peels. 
Ernie lives.

If you are curious as to where the word "Solfeggio" comes from, check 
out this web page:
http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/scales/solmization/syllables.html 

The piece was aptly named. Ernie Kovacs used the piece so often that 
when MGM decided to release it on record in 1953, they changed the 
title to "Song of the Nairobi Trio" because that title had greater 
public recognition. The piece was written by Robert Maxwell and 
performed by Maxwell, his harp and orchestra. The vocal performance 
was by the Ray Charles singers. The song is today available on CD in 
an album entitled "The Ernie Kovacs Record Collection" Varese 
Sarabande VSD-5789.

I remember first hearing and seeing it performed on Ernie's TV show as 
an instrumental. I think it was MGM that added the vocal part. I'm 
trying to remember whether that was on his 15 minute nightly show from 
Philadelphia's channel 3, WPTZ which I think preceded John Cameron 
Swayze's Camel Caravan newscast on WNBT channel 4 in NYC or after he 
moved to WABD channel 5 NYC. In those days it was unusual for folks in 
NYC to see programs originating in other cities. The coax cable only 
extended to Philadelphia in one direction and Boston in the other 
direction.

For those of you like Ralph Brandi who never had the pleasure of 
seeing the first true video craftsman at work, I would like to 
recommend a six tape set of some of Ernie Kovacs' better skits. He 
influenced Rowan and Martin, Johnny Carson, and Steve Martin among 
others. It is available from Amazon.com and the Museum of Television 
and Radio gift shop in NYC. The cost was about $38 from Amazon and 
slightly more at the Museum with the NYC sales tax, etc. 

~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,
(Joe Buch, swprograms via DXLD) 
-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ 

I first saw Ernie Kovacs' work in my television classes at college. 
The man created the vocabulary of television. Before him, TV was just 
radio with pictures. I wasn't kidding when I said he's my hero and 
inspiration. I've written articles explaining that what the web needs 
is its very own Ernie Kovacs to usher it out of its infancy by showing 
us what the web is good at doing rather than trying to do all that old 
stuff on the web. Right now, the web is in its radio with pictures 
stage, and that's what I find inspiring about him.

I would recommend getting the set that Joe mentions on DVD instead. 
Tapes wear out. That set is produced by a company in the next town 
over from where I live. - (Ralph Brandi, ibid.)

** KOREA NORTH. ARRL okays RTTY contacts with P5/4L4FN for DXCC 
credit: The ARRL DXCC Desk has announced that it will now accept RTTY 
contacts with Ed Giorgadze, P5/4L4FN, for DXCC credit, effective with 
contacts made on or after November 1, 2001. P5/4L4FN QSL Manager Bruce 
Paige, KK5DO, reports some good news and some bad news. Giorgadze has 
repaired his Ameritron AL-80A linear, which had a blown rectifier 
bridge. But he has had to take down the Hex Beam he`d installed, 
because the mast he was using wasn`t strong enough to support it and 
the rotor. ``He is looking for something that will work better, and 
that might have to wait until he goes back to Beijing in four to five 
weeks,`` Paige said. ``His work at the present time has kept him from 
doing as much operating as he would like, but he will be back on more 
as things settle down.`` Giorgadze was featured in a program about 
Amateur Radio in North Korea that aired July 5 on Radio Austria. 
RealAudio or MP3 files in either English or German are available on 
the Radio Austria Web site 
http://roi.orf.at/roi/intermedia/im_aktuell.html 
Scroll down and click on ``DIE P5-STORY / THE P5-STORY Amateur Radio 
in North Korea.`` The 25-minute program covers all previous P5 
operations plus interesting interviews with P5/4L4FN about his 
activity (ARRL Letter July 19 via John Norfolk, DXLD)

** LIBERIA. Requesting Prayer For Trip To Liberia
WJIE International Shortwave Radio, Jul 19, 2002

If you do not wish to recieve these regular updates regarding WJIE 
International Shortwave, please click 'Unsubscribe' on the bar above. 
God bless you! Dear friends, 

On Sunday the 21st, I will be leaving for Monrovia, Liberia, to 
establish a Christian FM radio station. I would like to request your 
prayers for protection and wisdom in this project. Please pray that we 
will be able to get our shortwave equipment shipped over from Nigeria, 
where Pastor Bob Rodgers of Evangel World Prayer Center is right now. 
Once that equipment is in place, we will work to place our new 'Voice 
of Liberty Shortwave' on the air this fall, and work toward building 
Liberty Television. 

Thank you to all of you who sent tapes and cds (you will be receiving 
a personal letter from me in the next few days). The response was 
overwhelming! I literally received over 300 compact discs of music, 
and HUNDREDS of hours of ministry teaching on cassette and cd. God 
bless you! I will pray that the seed that you have planted in this 
outreach will be multiplied back to you a thousandfold! 

I hope that you will take time to visit http://www.wjiesw.com and see 
what is in store for the future. You can not only find out the latest 
information, but now you can purchase books on prayer and fasting, and 
also donate to the broadcast ministry. 

Starting in September, you will see a new name for what we do... [see 
USA!] (Doc Burkhart, WJIE Shortwave, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS. Subject: Hello Dear radio DXers. 
From: "Radio Alfa Lima International SW" alinter@rendo.dekooi.nl 

Finally seems that propagations are looking better in the upcoming 
months. We cross our fingers and hope the forecast is right on this. 

What is happening at Alfa Lima International. We did increase our 
activities on the 48 mb and where mostly on 6275 or 6265 kHz and were 
every weekend (only one time we didn`t) on 15070 kHz. Must say that 
instead of being there whole night we often stopped earlier due low 
response on our live transmissions. Sometimes we did shut down 
around 01.00 or 02.00 utc witch was also sometimes a mistake as the 
next morning sometimes we still received a lot of reactions on such a 
px. 

Also more SW magazines and Online dx pages are asking info about our 
station for publications. For those that want such info, just send us 
an email and we will share it with you. We also have a zip file 
available on our webpage http://www.alfalima.net/foto-paket.zip with 
high resolution pictures and info`s  witch are free for publishing. 
the file is not so big (1,75mb) so does not take a long download 
period. If you have books or mags with publications about our station, 
tell it to us. We are very interested in such stuff. We also did 
several updates on the webpage with pictures and other stuff so if you 
have spare time take a surf. 

So!!!,, Every Saturday we start around 22.00 or 23.00 UTC and lots of 
times we continue till 07.00 or 09.00 utc Sunday mornings. Frequency 
as always 15070 kHz AM and lots of time // to the 48 mb 

When you hear us feel free to send us comments to info@alfalima.net 
or sms to + 31 619 508 938 witch is a number you can also call to so 
you will be taken live on air. 

Greetings, Alfred 
_____________________________________ 
Huge webpage with just everything related to short-wave 
http://www.alfalima.net 
and take a look at our SW-online shopping centre. 
http://www.alfalima.net/store.htm 
_____________________________________ 
And are you already a member? SW pirates group!!! Receive the latest 
SW-Pirates info Simply subscribe by sending a blanc email to: 
SWpirates-subscribe@egroups.com 
More info at:  http://www.egroups.com/group/SWpirates 
_____________________________________ 
Contact information 
Alfa Lima International, pobox 663, 7900AR Hoogeveen, the Netherlands 

Enclose 1 US$ email: alinter@rendo.dekooi.nl  http://www.alfalima.net 

(rec.radio.shortwave July 19 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) 

** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. BOUGAINVILLE’S "VOICE OF THE SUNRISE" FALLS 
SILENT

BUKA, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (July 18, 2002 -- Post-Courier)
Radio Bougainville fell silent yet again yesterday after the 
provincial government’s power station pulled the plug on the 
transmission site because of unpaid bills.

This is the second time the station had been closed this year. In 
February the station was also closed down briefly, again due to 
financial problems.

The announcement of the closure comes at a time when the province’s 
leaders take the first steps to draft a Bougainville constitution in 
preparation for a Constituent Assembly and an autonomous Bougainville 
government.

But Bougainvilleans in remote areas who rely on radio news will be 
missing out on new developments without Radio Bougainville, or their 
"Maus B`long Sankamap" (Voice of the Sunrise), which is their radio 
station ID.

Kubu Power House officials confirmed that power to the transmitter was 
switched of yesterday due to non-payment of power bills. They would 
not disclose the amount.

"Just last week, our management requested some funding from the 
Bougainville administration to keep the station on air while we wait 
for the remaining K 70,000 (US$ 18,326) from this year`s 
appropriation," station officials said.

"Radio Bougainville has been struggling to remain on air through its 
committed staff, who keep on pretending that all is well -- until this 
morning (yesterday)."

For additional reports from The Post-Courier, go to PACIFIC ISLANDS 
REPORT News/Information Links: Newspapers/The Post-Courier (Papua New 
Guinea). Provided by Vikki John (VIKKI@law.uts.edu.au) 
(via E. Baxendale, UK, July 19, DXLD) [WTFK?? 3325]

** SAMOA AMERICAN. G'Day List, WDJD logged here this afternoon on 580 
kHz with a spoken program in Samoan. Is this a permanent move from 
their assigned frequency of 585 kHz? Thanks to Glenn Hauser's 
'dxld2114' for the tip. Interesting the reason given for being on 580 
is that their American radios cannot tune the 9 kHz spacing. How long 
will this last ?? Sig at good level here, better than a few nights 
ago. Cheers (Chris Martin, Australia, July 21, ARDXC via DXLD)

** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Just a short note to say that I heard the SIBC 
tonight at 0855 GMT with a strong signal on 945 kHz. I'm pleased with 
this as 4HI usually dominates this freq. I also heard them on 1035 but 
945 was a much better signal (Barry Murray, Cairns Qld., July 21, 
ARDXC via DXLD) 

** SOUTH CAROLINA. Brother Stair was moved to maximum security 
"through no fault of the inmate" said the Colleton County Jail. Also 
they tell me Stair has been "a model prisoner." (Robert Arthur, July 
10 on message, July 19 on inbox, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** UK. UK RADIO AMATEURS GET NEW BAND FOR PROPAGATION STUDY 

UK Radio Amateurs will shortly be able to use a number of spot 
frequencies around 5 MHz, to take part in a four-year propagation 
study. A full Class-A licence holder wishing to take part will require 
a Notice of Variation (NoV) to his existing licence. At the present 
time, the final administrative arrangements are being put into place. 
A further announcement will be made regarding the start date shortly 
(Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS News July 21 via John Norfolk, 
OKCOK, DXLD) 

** U K. DYKE DEFENDS £1M OF BONUSES PAID TO CHIEFS

By David Rose and Julie Tomlin
Posted 18 July 2002 00:00 GMT

 Dyke: received £97,000 bonus [caption?]

BBC director general Greg Dyke defended the £1m in bonuses and perks
awarded to senior executives as journalists voiced fears that
programme quality could suffer.

Figures published in this years annual report showed that Dyke 
received a performance-related bonus last year of £97,000 on top of
his £357,000 annual salary.

This year journalists were barred from the presentation of the annual
report. But BBC governors did not get off the hook when they went
before the cross-party media committee and were quizzed over salaries
and bonuses given to the 21 top executives.

Labour MP Derek Wyatt challenged Dyke to justify why nine executives
were paid more than the Prime Minister.

But Dyke defended the payments, claiming if they were not adequate the
BBC risked losing its senior executives to the commercial
broadcasters.

The people who run the BBC are outstanding people and have ready
access to jobs in the media, Dyke said. The people concerned could do
a heck of a lot better if they moved.

The payments have been criticised by journalists who recently rejected
a 2.8 per cent pay offer that threatened the £4,000 unpredictability
allowance.

At the top level, wages predictably go up in leaps and bounds while
for the rest of us our wages and allowances are unpredictable, one
source said.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear, who was at the hearing, told Press
Gazette there were also concerns about programming. We welcome the
fact that more money is being put into programming but are concerned
that at the same time executives have received more than £1.2m, he
said. At a time when theres an increasing demand to cut costs and
improve efficiency we have concerns that this could be at the expense
of quality. The governors warned programme makers in their report to
check material thoroughly and to be aware of their responsibilities to
behave fairly and edit legitimately. This report coincided with
diamond company Oryx this week claiming victory in its libel action
over being falsely linked to the Al-Qa`ida terrorist network on the 
Ten O`Clock News.

Geoffrey White, deputy managing director of Oryx, said: The BBC never
had a shred of evidence for its broadcast. Our reputation suffered and
we sustained enormous financial damage. The BBC will now have to
compensate us.

But the BBC said, although it had conceded some legal points, it would
be contesting the size of Oryx`s damages claim in court in January.
(Press Gazette, All contents © 2001, Quantum Publishing, or its 
affiliates, via Mike Cooper, DXLD)

** U K [and non non]. WORLD SERVICE MUTED BY BBC BLUNDER
X-URL: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4460613,00.html

Vivek Chaudhary, Guardian (London), Saturday July 13, 2002

Many countries will receive only restricted coverage of the
Commonwealth Games because BBC World Service radio, considered one of
the most important sources of information in many parts of the world, 
has failed to secure full commentary rights for the event.
 
The BBC is the host television broadcaster for the event but, in what
is being viewed as a major oversight by BBC radio officials, did not
pay for overseas commentary rights. As a result millions of people
living in remote regions of Commonwealth countries who do not have
access to a television will have little idea of what is going on at
the event that is being held in their name.

The situation has caused anger and embarrassment among BBC World
Service sports journalists who claim that the corporation has missed a
golden opportunity to cover an event that is likely to attract
interest from millions of their listeners. It is also an obvious event
for the World Service to cover given the connections between the radio
station and the Commonwealth.

BBC World Service listeners in many African and South-East Asian
countries rely on the radio for news and sports information; millions
of people without access to television tuned in during the World Cup.

But instead of receiving comprehensive reports on the games, which
start on July 25, World Service listeners will be limited to a
five-minute daily round-up, two programmes on the history of the
Commonwealth Games and further round-ups in a weekend sports
programme.

The move to limit the World Service's coverage follows protests from
radio stations in Africa and Asia who paid for full commentary rights.
They claimed that if the World Service - which generally offers better
reception - were allowed to cover the event in full they would lose
large numbers of listeners in their own countries and effectively have
wasted large sums of money on acquiring the rights.....

(via Daniel Say, swprograms via DXLD)

** U K. Read this VERY interesting report from Friday's Financial 
Times:

INDIAN AUDIENCE TURNS SOUND DOWN ON BBC WORLD SERVICE 
By Edna Fernandes and Carlos Grande
Financial Times; Jul 19, 2002
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=020719000684&query=india&vsc_appId=totalSearch&state=Form
(via Larry Nebron, CA, July 20, swprograms and via Chuck Albertson, 
DXLD)

** U K [and non]. ROLL UP FOR THE FLOPPY TELEVISION, By Pete Harrison 

LONDON (Reuters) - First they went wider, then flatter, and now 
televisions are set to go floppy. Roll-up, flexible televisions, akin 
to the melting watches of Salvador Dali's surreal landscapes, have 
become possible thanks to a glowing plastic compound perfected in the 
laboratories of Britain's Cambridge Display Technology (CDT).... 
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=1223357
(via Jeff Kadet, WTFDA via DXLD)

** U K O G B A N I. From The BBC

Thursday, 18 July, 2002, 13:32 GMT 14:32 UK

The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland could be fined thousands of 
pounds for broadcasting Masses to housebound parishioners. The CB 
radio broadcasts of Masses are against the law and a number of
complaints have been received by the Radio Communications Agency.

Father John McManus, diocesan media liaison officer for Down and 
Connor, said worshippers were angry the service might have to stop.
"It is illegal and we accept that," he said.

"What we are saying is that the elderly people are totally incensed by 
this. 

"It is something that has been happening - rightly or wrongly. When we 
introduced it, it appeared to be legal at that particular stage.

"Now it is certainly illegal and we accept that. But old people are
incensed, and so are the housebound, that this has happened at this
particular stage." (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD)

** U S A. I hope that you will take time to visit 
http://www.wjiesw.com and see what is in store for the future. You can 
not only find out the latest information, but now you can purchase 
books on prayer and fasting, and also donate to the broadcast 
ministry. 

Starting in September, you will see a new name for what we do. It will 
be called 'World Prayer Broadcasting Network' (WPBN). Under this 
umbrella you will find WJIE Shortwave #1 & #2, WJIE-FM Louisville, 
WVHI-AM Evansville, KVOH Shortwave #1 & #2, KHBN Shortwave, Voice of 
Liberty FM/Shortwave, and Liberty Television. We are also in the 
process of purchasing four more AM stations that will be added to the 
family. 

God bless you for your prayers, and please know that I pray for the 
people on this list on a regular basis. In His Service, (Doc Burkhart, 
WJIE Shortwave, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also LIBERIA!

** U S A. NEW MICROPHONES FOR THE QUEEN MARY
   From The RSGB 20 July 2002

A special presentation of 'commemorative microphones', honouring the 
amateur radio operators of the Queen Mary ocean liner will be made 
next Saturday, the 27th of July. The Queen Mary is permanently docked 
at Long Beach, California, and is a popular tourist attraction, as is 
its amateur radio station, W6RO, which operates daily from its 
historic wireless room. It is there that the presentation will be 
made. The new microphones are being custom-made by one of amateur 
radio's leading microphone manufacturers specially for the wireless 
room. They are to be exact replicas of the broadcast microphones used 
during the years the Queen Mary was at sea. ['Amateur Radio Newsline'] 
(via Mike Terry, DXLD)

** U S A. I feel I'm in somewhat of a position to comment on DTV as I 
have the equipment to receive the actual digital broadcast. Since I'm 
in the consumer electronics repair business for several major 
manufacturers, I had to purchase all the test equipment to repair 
these things. I've personally invested over $40,000 in the finest 
Sencore and other test gear to receive and repair these things.

I feel the image quality is far superior to the analog signal, 
especially the color purity. That said, I also find it very difficult 
to receive the digital signal. I have some of the best receiving 
antennas made. (Towers, rotators, deep fringe antennas and have a hell 
of a time getting the local Tampa DT stations. In this market, most of 
the stations have been assigned a frequency that is adjacent to their 
own analog frequency. In almost all cases the digital signal is at 
least 10 db or more less than the analog signal.  This swamps the 
front end of these consumer receivers and the digital signal is not 
receivable. The receivers don`t have the selectivity needed to 
separate the digital signal from its super powered adjacent channel 
analog signal.

So, I see a serious problem with people trying to receive the DT 
signal. I've been out on numerous service calls where people cannot 
receive the DT signal and there is nothing wrong with the customers 
setup.

So until the analog signal is reduced in power, I don`t see many 
people buying the DT sets. Just my $0.02 from someone on the consumer 
side of this, that has broadcast engineering experience.

(Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, July 17, NRC-FMTV via DXLD)
 
"The cost really doesn't vary a whole hell of a lot whether you're in 
New York or Yakima," says Elizabeth Murphy Burns, president of Duluth, 
Minn.-based Morgan Murphy Stations. "In some cases, the cost of 
converting to digital is more than the station is worth. Right now, 
we're sort of stymied." 

I happen to have worked for Ms. Burns in Madison. Her two biggest 
stations (there and in Spokane) are running in digital but it's 
awfully hard to see a way to make it work in the smaller markets.  
(LaCrosse, Yakima, Kennewick) And she's absolutely right, the cost of 
doing it is not substantially lower in smaller markets.  In Yakima and 
Kennewick it could actually be substantially *greater*. (because 
multiple translators are required to cover the market. To achieve 
market-wide coverage it could become necessary to build a complete 
duplicate translator network. Except that it's likely enough channels 
are not available...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm beginning to wonder if not all 8VSB modulators or ATSC encoders 
are created equal.  

I have had significant difficulty receiving WTVF-DT, 18 miles away.  
Figured it was the fault of the 8VSB/ATSC system or a flaky UHF 
antenna. But then, WKRN-DT came on the air.  Their transmitter is 10 
miles *further* away. And their analog signal is the weakest in the 
market. (frequently buried by skip) WTVF's analog signal is the 
*best*. Yet WKRN-DT is far, far easier to receive than WTVF.

I have also, given good tropo conditions, received several of the 
Kentucky Educational TV DTV transmitters. These are all low-power 
stations, on the order of 50kw and with relatively low antennas. Even 
more impressive is the reception of WPSD-DT 32 from Paducah, about 95 
miles distant. WPSD is running 4.5 kw ERP from a temporary antenna on 
their studio-transmitter link tower, less than 200 feet high. 
Reception of Paducah low-power analog stations is not all that common, 
especially at this lower-than-many-LPTVs power level.

(I have also received VERY briefly a signal from WMC-DT in Memphis.  
This station is said to be of similar power to WPSD-DT, and is 80 
miles further away...)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is said to have told the 
government they only intend to build DTV transmitters in the ten 
largest Canadian cities. Viewers elsewhere in the country will be 
expected to subscribe to satellite if they want digital CBC. I would 
not at all count out the possibility of Canadian private broadcasters 
following suit. And when it comes down to it, unless the advertising 
market recovers *soon*, I would expect to see the same thing in rural 
areas of the States (Doug Smith, Nashville TN, NRC FMTV via DXLD)

** U S A. WOR to test IBOC... (From Radio World Magazine)  
      Here's the complete URL:
http://www.rwonline.com/dailynews/one.php?id=1742
      Date posted: 2002-07-15

      IBIQUITY TO TEST AM ON WOR

Buckley Broadcasting's WOR will be a test station for IBOC Digital AM
radio. Buckley says WOR will be the first AM station in New York City 
to broadcast a digital signal with tests to begin sometime in August. 
The average listener will not notice any difference in WOR's signal, 
according to the station.

Ibiquity needs to do additional tests for AM IBOC at night for both
groundwave and skywave conditions. The NRSC has recommended FM IBOC 
for day and night use, but has only endorsed AM for daytime use so 
far.

WOR employs a directional transmitting antenna and is in the test
protocol to help answer questions as to how AM IBOC will perform with
skywave interference. WOR was also chosen as a test station to help 
answer questions about how the digital portion of an AM signal will 
react in the "concrete canyons" of New York City (and other major 
cities, as well).

Thomas R. Ray, III, Corporate Director of Engineering for Buckley
Broadcasting/WOR states, "I take great pride in having our radio 
station be part of the development of one of the biggest technical 
advancements in radio broadcasting since FM stereo in the 1960's. WOR 
has been a pioneer since being one of the only radio stations on the 
air in the U.S. in 1922. We have been part of the development of the 
profanity delay, were pioneers in the development of the AM 
directional transmitting antenna, and were one of the major players 
during Radio's 'golden era' by forming the Mutual Radio Network. I'm 
proud of being given the opportunity to pilot WOR through another 
technical pioneering phase". (via Paul Smith, W4KNX, July 19, NRC-AM 
via DXLD)
 
** U S A.             THE CGC COMMUNICATOR
                            CGC #525
                     Thursday, July 18, 2002
                 Robert F. Gonsett, W6VR, Editor
     Copyright 2002, Communications General Corporation (CGC)
------------------------------------------------------------------

  SPECIAL REPORT -  RFR - PART II

This Special Edition of the CGC Communicator newsletter continues our 
coverage of last week's FCC inspection at Mt. Wilson.  That inspection 
concerned alleged excessive RF signal strengths in the KMEX-TV 
driveway, a location which was apparently accessible to members of the 
general public at the time of the investigation.

In all fairness, the measured "hot spot" may have little or nothing to 
do with KMEX's own signal (we will await the FCC's verdict on that 
issue), and our use of the term "KMEX" should not tarnish the fine 
image of that station, or its employees.

HISTORICAL NOTES:  Many years ago, CGC engineers surveyed the KMEX 
driveway and found that most of the power density was created by a 
single FM station. That station was advised of the problem - long 
before human exposure to RF signals was generally regarded as a 
serious issue - and the station voluntarily incorporated a reduced-
downward-radiation design into the new antenna they had planned to 
install anyway. In so doing, the station significantly improved the 
Mt. Wilson radiofrequency radiation ("RFR") environment. Convincing 
station managers to even think about RFR wasn't easy in those days.

Since that time, a number of stations have installed reduced-downward-
radiation antennas - some incorporating "oddball" but carefully chosen 
interbay spacings. Unfortunately, those good efforts have been 
compromised by the fact that many more stations have moved to Wilson 
(including digital TV facilities), and much tighter RFR standards have 
been adopted by the FCC. Where we were once concerned about the old 
OSHA 10 mW/square centimeter standard for workers, we are now very 
concerned about a 50-times-tougher standard for the general public: 
0.2 mW/square centimeter in the 30-300 MHz frequency range, for 
example.

ENTER THE FCC: Today, it is possible that several stations will be 
cited by the FCC as significant contributors to the KMEX hot spot.  
Any station that creates 5% or more of the maximum power density 
permitted at a given location is regarded by the FCC as being a 
significant contributor to the problem, and is eligible for a citation 
if the aggregate power exceeds the proscribed limit, which reportedly 
was the case here.

In each case of excessive RFR, the FCC has to consider the facts at 
hand in determining whether to issue a citation. In the present case, 
the road serving the KMEX driveway is traveled by members of the 
general public, the driveway chain and warning sign were down at the 
time of the inspection, and no one attempted to "shoo away" or warn 
the FCC inspectors that they had entered a high RF zone. Bottom line:  
Don't look for an FCC verdict soon: The Commission is backlogged with 
RFR cases.

Moving now from the KMEX driveway to tower climbing situations, you 
can imagine the much stronger signals that are involved. The logistics 
of coordinating power cutbacks at multiple stations in order to permit 
tower climbing activity can be a difficult task, and the extraordinary 
steps needed to minimize "downtime" for your neighbors can be 
expensive, as many of you know.

Obviously, life has become much more complicated for broadcast 
stations in the KMEX zone because of the large number of independent 
operators, the FCC's tough RFR standards, and the lack of an updated 
RFR document for Mt. Wilson with recommendations for specific power 
cutbacks when climbing activity is underway.

Let's return now to the issue at hand:  The events
surrounding the FCC's Mt. Wilson FCC inspection of July 12, 2002.

******************************************************************
                      LETTER TO THE EDITOR
******************************************************************

  COMMENTS FROM KDOC-TV

When it became necessary to replace our burned up antenna in the 
middle of the Mt. Wilson farm, it was necessary to do a lot of 
research in a hurry. I attempted to determine the significant sources 
of RF radiation directed toward the project elevation on the monopole, 
adjacent to the post office. It was important to me to protect John 
Hignite's workers because he has been climbing my towers for over 36 
years. I used a 2001 study done for American Tower for their new tall 
tower inferring that it was essentially accurate given the proximity 
with the monopole. It took several days to get all the contact 
information and send out notices. Adding a couple of new stations not 
on the study, the ten stations I advised were entirely compliant and 
eager to cooperate.  

On the day of the climb, the RFR alarms were sounding and I learned 
that at least one inference from the RFR study was incorrect. An FM 
station using a directional antenna was putting more energy at the top 
of the monopole than I predicted. Fortunately I was able to make 
contact with the FM Chief Engineer and he reduced power by 20% for me 
and the tower climbers went back up. On the following day we were 
advised that the engineer's superiors were not willing to operate at 
80% and that he was prevented from complying for the additional days 
needed to complete the work. This is only the latest incident that may 
have influenced the FCC to look more closely at Mt. Wilson.

I am not certain that KDOC had any special issues that caused the FCC 
to visit Mt. Wilson. It may have simply been the straw that broke the 
camel's back, or it may have been entirely coincidental. Clearly with 
the gin poles of two climber's stuck on the tops of two towers, we 
were facing gridlock at a time critical to DTV installation. Tower 
Structures was unable to either go forward or to remove their 
equipment from the KMEX tower for months. All it takes is one non-
compliant station to shut down a crew. How can we satisfy everybody?  
For example, Univisión stations were indicating that the World Cup 
Games were being aired in the early morning hours and they did not 
want to reduce power for us at night, so we elected to climb in 
daylight. Beyond that, it is just safer to do the heavy lifting in the 
daytime. After all, are we not talking about climber safety? Tower 
rigging is dangerous enough in itself, and in my opinion, we have a 
legal duty to these men not to make the job even more hazardous.

  [The venue now shifts to Sunset Ridge.   -Ed.]

Following Friday's inspection by the FCC, I inquired as to the duty of 
the designated Chief Operator of a station in regard to RFR. When KDOC 
removed its antenna from Sunset Ridge, we faced an unexpected power 
increase ordered by an out-of-state manager. The FCC agreed that the 
local engineer or operator could be cited as well as the licensee.  
Management cannot legally direct its designated Chief Operator to emit 
signals contrary to the rules. The RFR rules are no exception.

Cooperation among engineers is nothing new, as the ten compliant 
stations proved. We lend parts and advice to our competitors all the 
time. For some reason managements will fight, perhaps because this is 
just a highly competitive business. RFR, however, is not the 
battlefield. I want to express my thanks to those who participated in 
keeping our workers safe. Cooperation in good faith can work.

  Roger Knipp, N6VU, Chief Engineer, KDOC-TV/KDOC-DT

******************************************************************
        APPARENT UNSAFE TOWER CONSTRUCTION ON MT. WILSON
******************************************************************

  BUILD A TOWER, BUT DON'T NEGLECT RFR

Four parties have contacted CGC to report apparent unsafe recent tower 
construction activities at one or more sites on Mt. Wilson (unsafe 
practices are NOT the norm, by the way). According to the reports, the 
workers involved in the incident/s wore no RFR-protective clothing in 
an area notorious for high on-tower fields, had no visible personal 
RFR monitors, and at times engaged in unsafe climbing practices 
including being un-clipped from the tower structure.

One party claimed to have pictures of the event "somewhere." Another 
party indicated it was "an out of state tower company" presumably 
hoping to get the tower up before they got caught violating safety 
rules. Some of the climbers reportedly wore shorts and tennis shoes at 
times.

So, what do you do if you see suspicious activities like these in the 
future?

  (1)  Consider approaching the crew chief and ask to see
  and discuss his or her RFR safety plan, and the power cut-back
  call list. Perhaps the chief knows nothing about RFR 
  compliance, but would be willing to learn and cooperate.

  (2)  If you need to contact someone on the outside, would the
  FCC be the best party to call? Specifically who should be
  called, and will they respond promptly? Would it ever be 
  appropriate to contact OSHA? These questions remain unanswered
  at this juncture, and we are asking for input from responsible
  parties.

  (3) Could your station become involved in an injury lawsuit
  because it illuminated careless workers on another tower 
  structure? Could you help insulate your station from legal 
  ramifications by reporting suspect tower climbing activity 
  when it occurs? Again, we are looking for input from 
  responsible sources.

Knowing what to do the next time questionable tower climbing practices 
occur is crucial. Incompetent climbing will occur again.

******************************************************************
            MT. WILSON NEEDS AN UPDATED RFR STUDY
******************************************************************

  THE AGE-OLD PROBLEM: GETTING EVERYONE TO AGREE TO ONE RFR STUDY

There are always holdouts when it comes to RFR studies. There are 
those who do not want to participate and pay their share, and those 
who elect to take shortcuts when it comes to RFR paperwork. However, 
preparing an RFR report without power cutback calculations to support 
climbing activities on ALL towers should be regarded as an 
unacceptable practice. (This is where the FCC could help by requiring 
cutback calculations to be made, and filed at Commission 
headquarters.)

Mt. Wilson needs a new/updated RFR study at this time. That study 
should not cost a fortune each time a facility is added or modified.  
Perhaps the users at Wilson can contract with an outside firm to 
develop a computer model of the entire site - with software OWNED by 
the users group - a model which could be quickly updated when 
facilities are added, removed or changed.

******************************************************************
                ALTERNATIVES TO THE TERM "RFR"
******************************************************************

  RFE, RFF & RFS HAVE BEEN SUGGESTED

The term radiofrequency radiation ("RFR") too often triggers fatal 
images in the public's mind: Images of atomic (ionizing) radiation and 
people "glowing in the dark." Of course, RF energy is non-ionizing and 
for that reason is much different than atomic radiation - but the 
point is difficult to convey to the public once the "R" word is 
unleashed.

We have used the RFR term in this newsletter because it is familiar to 
broadcast engineers. However, members of the general press who may 
happen to pick up this issue of the CGC Communicator are encouraged to 
use a different term, perhaps radiofrequency energy ("RFE"), 
radiofrequency fields ("RFF"), radiofrequency signals ("RFS"), or 
something entirely new and different, to more accurately convey the 
issue on deck without being an alarmist.

******************************************************************
                           MORE TO COME
******************************************************************

  THANKS!

The number of letters received on the RFR topic were far more than we 
expected, or could handle in one newsletter. Watch for another Special 
Edition CGC Communicator soon. We plan to publish many of the letters 
- one right after another - on the points that have not been 
summarized above, and which in our opinion add to the discussion.

If you have more comments, hold them for now. The time to respond is 
AFTER the next Special Edition is published, so you can comment on the 
complete record.

Thank you for standing up to the plate and discussing RFR - a very 
sensitive topic - in a professional manner. By pulling together, we 
can work toward eliminating some of the problems that are plaguing our 
industry.

******************************************************************
                        SUGGESTED READING
******************************************************************

  THIS IS NOT HARD

There is one FCC document we recommend be read at this time. It is 
Appendix B of OET-65, and it's only three pages long. The Q&A format 
is easy-to-read and shows what must be done to resolve a variety of 
common RFR situations.

  Step 1:  Assemble the following URL into one continuous
  line (if it isn't already), and download FCC pamphlet OET-65
  in pdf format:

http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65.pdf

  Step 2:  Scroll to the last three pages (Appendix B),
  print them, read them, and implement the required steps.

  Step 3:  Take a well deserved vacation.  You have just 
  saved yourself, and your company, an immense amount of grief.

------------------------------------------------------------------

  The CGC Communicator is published for broadcast professionals
  in so. California by Communications General Corporation (CGC),
  consulting radio engineers, Fallbrook, CA.  Short news items
  without attached files are always welcome from our readers;
  letters may be edited for brevity.  E-mail may be sent to:
  rgonsett@ieee.org  or  telephone (760) 723-2700.

  CGC Communicator articles may be reproduced in any form provided
  they are unaltered and credit is given to Communications General
  Corporation and the originating authors, when named.  Past
  issues may be viewed and searched at http://www.bext.com/_CGC/
  courtesy of Bext Corporation.

_________________________    End   _______________________________
(via Dennis Gibson, DXLD)

** U S A. This appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle--Saturday July 
20, 2002

ROYALTIES SILENCE KPIG WEBCASTS
By Benny Evangelista, Chronicle Staff Writer
----------------------------------------------------------------------

KPIG, the pioneering Webcaster that was a symbol of the eclectic 
nature of Internet radio, has suspended its Web simulcasts because it 
says it can't afford new Web music royalties fees that go into effect 
in September.

The Santa Cruz County radio station joins a list of about 50
Internet Webcasters that have curtailed operations or gone silent 
since June 20, when the Librarian of Congress approved a contentious 
royalty rate designed to compensate record labels and artists for each 
song streamed over the Internet.

"This is the last refuge for people who want to do radio with no
restrictions, doing it for the love of radio, not radio for maximizing
revenues in the quarter," said Bill Goldsmith, KPIG's Web consultant.

KPIG, which in August 1995 became the first radio station to
simulcast on the Web, will continue broadcasting from its studios in
Freedom, a small town north of Watsonville. But its low-power, 2850 
watt FM signal has a limited range of about 32 miles.

As of Thursday, Internet listeners who tuned in received a limited
selection of live recordings and news commentary not subject to 
royalty fees. Program director Laura Ellen said Webcasts will be "a 
far cry" from KPIG's usual alternative programming that ranged from 
rock to country to folk.

KPIG is liable for about $24,000 in royalty fees for songs played
since January under a set of rates approved by Librarian of Congress
James H. Billington, who ruled that all Webcasters will have to pay 
0.07 cents per song per performance.

The Recording Industry Association of America sought higher rates,
arguing that compensation to artists and record labels has been long
overdue. But Webcasters say the rates are too high and could kill an
industry that has yet to generate enough revenue to become profitable.

Billington's decision is already having an impact on the fledgling
industry. The day after he ruled, SomaFM, a Web radio station operated
out of a garage in San Francisco, went silent. A long list of 
Webcasters catering to specific genres or audiences subsequently have 
halted operations, including sites like MonkeyRadio.org, 
SavageRockRadio.com and StarDogRadio.com.

Foster City's Live365.com, which offered radio hobbysists the ability 
to transmit niche programming like "Ricky Nelson 24/7," announced it 
will add a $5 per month fee for each station beginning Aug. 1. That 
move is expected to reduce the total number of stations from 25,000 to 
about 5,000, said Live365.com Chief Operating officer Raghav Gupta. 

Seattle author L.A. Heberlein, who in his new book, "Rough Guide to
Internet Radio" described KPIG as one of the top Internet radio 
stations for its "fresh, inventive and lively programming," was 
disappointed to learn about the station's decision to halt Web 
simulcasts.

KPIG was a symbol of the diversity of programming found on Web
radio, he said. The impending music royalty rates won't kill Internet
radio, but "the funky, marginal stuff is what you're going to lose,"
Heberlein said.........

(via Don Kaskey, San Francisco, IRCA via DXLD)

http://www.kpig.com/

(Jul 18, 2002) Sad Day in the CyberSty... KPIG's owners have decided
that they have no choice but to suspend KPIG's live webcast in the
face of the fees that would be due under the most recent Copyright
Office ruling. We're definitely hoping that this is just temporary,
and that a reasonable solution can be found soon. 

Our webcast will continue with a mix of live recordings made here at
KPIG (which aren't subject to the fees) - with more features coming
soon. For the time being, the playlist will continue to show what's on
FM - so at least you local Pigs can use it...
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
(Jul 15, 2002) Rally the Swine! Let's join the Million Fax Stampede!!
Find out why it's important to let your congressmembers know right now
- via fax - why they should support emergency legislation to stop the
impending death of Internet radio. Click here for more info
http://www.voiceofwebcasters.org/fax/carp/smallweb/ 
(via Joel Rubin, swprograms via DXLD)

This will really be a great loss if KPIG internet shuts down. Although 
I can't run RealPlayer 7 to listen on my present computer/OS, allow me 
to wax anecdotal:

In March 2001, in order to publicize our Woody Guthrie song concert at 
the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, CA, Country Joe McDonald and 
I did a live appearance at KPIG. Great fun...studio in an abandoned 
motel in a Watsonville strip mall. And my friend from Washington, DC, 
who happened to hear us, e-mailed a greeting while we were on the air. 

As most of you will know, KPIG(formerly KFAT) has a long history as an 
influential independent music station, and I understand it is high in 
listener numbers as an internet broadcaster.

Cheers, (Saul Broudy, ibid.)

** U S A [and non]. From The Observer:

Internet radio is a great illustration of why the unregulated internet
stimulates so much innovation and allows an unparalleled range of 
choice. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that it's under threat.

John Naughton, Sunday July 21, 2002

Way back in 1994, a chap named Rob Glaser had a great idea for 
ferrying audio signals across the Net. It had always been possible to 
transfer audio files - some of us were doing it in the 1980s - but the 
problems were that (a) the files were large and (b) the entire file 
had to be transferred before you could start listening to it.

Glaser's Big Idea was to compress the file and dispatch it over the 
Net in the usual way, but with one magical twist: special 'player' 
software (available as a free download) would, after a brief pause, 
start playing the audio even as the rest of the file was downloading, 
thereby giving the listener the illusion of being able to listen to 
audio programming live.

Thus was born 'streaming media'. Henceforth, audio (and, later, video)
signals could be [italics] streamed [unitalics] over the Net and 
listened to by anyone with an Internet connection and a PC. The name 
Glaser choose for his invention was 'Real Audio', and it spread like 
wildfire.

En passant, the Real Audio story provides a great illustration of why 
the unregulated Internet has stimulated so much innovation. Because 
the network is owned by nobody, and because it is a 'dumb' system 
designed to do only one thing - deliver data packets from source to 
destination - anyone with a good idea can harness it. If you can do it 
with packets, the Internet will do it for you. Glaser had a great idea 
for sending audio in packets, so all he had to do was write the 
software and - Bingo! - the network did the rest.

If, however, the Net were proprietary, he would have had to apply for
permission and would then have become embroiled in arguments about 
what constituted legitimate and illegitimate use of the system and, 
well, you can imagine the rest...

But I digress. One of the reasons Real Audio took off was because it 
enabled anyone to set up a virtual radio station. No longer did one 
need a broadcasting licence and a transmitter and all the other 
expensive apparatus of broadcasting: all that was required was a 
server, a broadband connection, some server software (available at a 
modest price from Mr Glaser) and a source of audio material. It 
followed as the night the day therefore that Internet radio stations 
mushroomed like flowers after a desert storm. Today, there are at 
least 10,000. Some are just Webcasting subsidiaries of conventional 
radio stations, but the majority are not. Indeed the most interesting 
are highly specialised outlets for narrow musical genres: there is, 
for example, one devoted entirely to the Grateful Dead.

What happened, in other words, was a stupendous extension of consumer 
choice at a time when conventional radio was becoming increasingly 
bland and standardised as a result of corporate consolidation. 
Streaming radio demonstrated the power of digital technology to 
reverse the tendency to turn cultural products into adjuncts of mass 
marketing - to enable listeners to listen to [italics] precisely 
[unitalics] the music they like, rather than having to accept the 
playlists foisted on DJs by corporate requirements. 

Now, however, this glorious explosion of consumer choice is under 
threat. The record companies persuaded the US Copyright Office that 
Internet radio stations should pay more onerous royalties than those 
imposed on conventional broadcast stations. The Office ruled that 
Webcasters should not only pay a royalty to songwriters, but also to 
the record companies, and added the crippling requirement that the 
Webcasting royalty should be levied on a [italics] per listener 
[unitalics] basis. The liabilities involved (which will, of course, be 
backdated) are so large that only Webcasters with substantial 
corporate backing will survive. The Webcasters are appealing, but I 
wouldn't bet on their prospects. It's just another case of how the
owners of intellectual property are trying to choke off the future.
(via Mike Terry, DXLD)

** U S A. Ed Mayberry, who lost his home and International Listener 
website in the Houston flood over a year ago, can be heard presenting 
a musical feature on The Flatlanders, as the final item in hour two of 
NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, July 21, soon available ondemand from 
http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. The UNID-station somewhere from Europe playing non-stop 
Chinese music on 1062 kHz is on again. Unfortunately I could not go to 
my beverage QTH, because of the bad weather situation. As far as I can 
hear on my indoor mediumwave loop I can hear the station again right 
now SAT JUL 20, 2155 UT on 1062, but completely blocked by a mix of 
Denmark, Italia and Czech Rep. (Dick, MWC-492/DKp4733, BDXC via DXLD)

Had an exciting night with some fine signals from Asia on mediumwave.
Between 2145 and 2300 I heard stations from Thailand on 1386, 1395, 
1467, 1476 and 1593kHz. Signals slowly faded from unreadable to loud 
(well over the s9). The fading periods varied, sometimes a station 
disappeared for some minutes, while it came back later with nice 
signal strengths.

Biggest surprise came just after 23 UT, when I came across an station 
on 1062 kHz, playing non-stop Chinese music. Unfortunately after 
listening to this station for more than 2 and a half hours (!!!!!) 
most of the excitement had gone, because it became more and more 
unlikely that this was a station from China. This was confirmed by the 
fact that I found the best signal on my beverage direction UK, 
France/Spain. When arriving home at 02 I was even able to pick it up 
on my indoor loopantenna!

So, I probably overlooked this new station somewhere in a list or so.
During the almost 3 hours that I listened I did not hear a single 
announcement. Just non stop Chinese style music, with always a few 
seconds silence between the songs. Signals from the UK seemed good 
last night, so, that makes it a bit more likely to be an UK station.
I hope that somebody could help me with this interesting station, that 
really can one make nervous, hihi.

73! Dick, MWC-492

Receiver: AR7030plus operated from car out in the fields.
Antennas: 450m 2-wire beverage, swtichable Asia/South America
350 temporary single wire beverage towards S-Asia (Thailand)
(D.G.A. van der Knaap, July 20, MWDX via DXLD)

Great logs Dick. As I'm new to the list could you let me know where 
you are? It seems unlikely to me that it would be a UK station - I 
haven't heard of anything being licensed there - and because of 
Talksport on 1.053 I'd have thought a pirate would be able to find a 
better channel. I'm in Cornwall so I'll tune in tonight to see what I 
can hear (Nicholas Mead, MW-DX via DXLD) 

Location: Holten, Netherlands (dxing.info via DXLD)

Hi Dick, Op dit moment hoor ik Denemarken (veronderstel ik tenminste 
aan de hand van de richting, met een soort "muziek" dat ik meestal 
alleen hoor wanneer er een auto door de straat rijdt met een ritmisch 
opbollend dak) héél sterk hier, en als ik die zoveel mogelijk uitnul, 
hoor ik vaag Italiaans op de achtergrond, maar dat is alles voor het 
moment... en gezien het gestamp op de voorgrond weet ik niet of ik 
hier lang naar kan blijven luisteren...

[Later:] Ik denk dat de Deen overbelast is door de krachtige pulsen 
van de afgelopen minuten. Ik hoor nu de Tsjech en ook duidelijk 
herkenbaar Chinees (of althans Chinees-achtig) gezang met een 
vrouwenstem... Als ik de Tsjech wegdraai, is het duidelijk te horen 
(nog best mooi ook!), alleen is het jammer dat ik geen Chinees 
versta... (Frank van Gerwen - ICQ # 2231692, Bakkum-Noord/Netherlands 
(52 34' N / 4 43' E), ibid.)

UNIDENTIFIED. July 21 at 0215-0230 R. Prague in Spanish was on USB 
8983, covering USCG; someone was trying to call Clearwater, but could 
not get thru until the Prague relay went off after the interval signal 
only once at 0230. Someone apparently relaying R. Prague to jam USCG 
(Ron Trotto, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST)          

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PUBLICATIONS
++++++++++++

SHORTWAVE GUIDE

Thanks to Chris Hambly for sending a copy of the new WRTH `summer 
supplement`, which indeed resembles PWBR. Except the frequency list in 
this has more colour-coding of languages in the timespan bars. 
Possibly because I suffer from mild colour-blindness, I find the 25 
shades a bit too much to distinguish easily, at least without a very 
bright light upon the pages, which are stitch-bound, and with some 
encouragement, almost lie open, if not flat. For example, Dutch, 
Mandarin and Other are all similar shades of yellow/orange (and I 
think I perceive some stereotyping here...). Arabic, Romanian and Urdu 
look like similar shades of green. Usw. The colour key is on the 
bottom of each page, but no two are the same: reflecting the languages 
actually appearing on each individual page. But is there really enough 
broadcasting in Swedish, Tibetan or Turkish to justify their very own 
shades?

The lack of info on transmitter sites has already been remarked and 
dealt with.

One much-needed improvement would be some heavier vertical timelines 
at 06, 12 and 18 (or even at 3, 4 hour spacings), to keep one from 
having continually to follow the line to the top or bottom of page in 
order to tell the span of the horizontal transmission time bars.

Remains to be seen if further lookups will prove accurate and up to 
date, but I was pleased to see that WWCR`s replacement of 15685 by 
15825 recently is already included, e.g. But WWV is listed at 25000 
kHz, where they have been inactive for decades, except as a harmonic. 
Speaking of which --- no actual harmonics are deliberately shown.

The very first entries leave us hankering for a bit more info: 2310, 
2325 (and 2485) are all shown merely as Northern Territories [sic] 
Shortwave, with no hint of their location in three different towns.

But then, we may be expected to refer to the regular WRTH if we really 
want to know any more than shown here.

On the other hand, there is too much info: take RFPI on ``15040`` --- 
split or variable frequencies tend to get rounded off --- which is 
displayed on 9 different lines (some 10 kW, some 30 kW, not the case), 
because of itty bitty segments in non-English, and supposed day-of-
week variations.

Oops, on 15006 there is a timesignal called EBC in `CAN`, but if there 
is such a station the calls indicate Spain (excuse me, `E`). WWVH is 
shown as USA, even tho HAW has its own `country` code.

I don`t see any indication of the few frequencies which operate in 
SSB, e.g. RFPI`s 7445 and recently deactivated 21815.

On 13810 we find a Radio Ecclesia in AFS (meaning Afrique du Sud --- 
we just can`t escape irrelevant languages in English-language 
publications, can we?) --- that would be the station originating in 
Angola, formerly relayed from Germany, and nothing to do with South 
Africa, except it is now relayed from there on a much different 
frequency.

The Directory Of International Broadcasters in the back, 17 pages in 
almost alphabetical order by name, is rather hit-and-miss, including 
only the larger stations, but not clear where the cut-off point was. 
If one wants more info on e.g. the 4576 kHz R. Uno, Peru listing, one 
is out of luck here. And this needs to be purged of some very out of 
date listings, such as WVHA in Mount Dora, Florida!

The Clubs for DXers list has some notable omissions, but also some 
that I have never heard of until now. Is it up to date?

The country codes, listed on the last page, are a curious mix of ITU 
codes, and non-ITU codes, reminding me of the Klingenfuss approach 
previously reviewed here. I am still hunting for SW broadcasts from 
places such as `VCT` -- St. Vincent & the Grenadines! Some countries 
are more equal than others, meriting single-letter abbrs., B, D, E, F, 
G, I, J and S. China and USA are not big, European, or important 
enough for this honour. Yes, I know, two of those are non-European.

Two entire pages are taken up by photos of unidentified antenna 
towers, with incomplete color. Filling this with more useful text 
would be appreciated.

Well, no doubt if I keep looking, I could find more details to pick 
apart, but I don`t mean to discourage this good effort, some much-
needed competition to PWBR. One can only wonder whether this format 
will somehow merge with the WRTH itself, or continue to be issued at 
mid-year in alternation. This is `Volume 1`.

If the price of this 208-page softbound seems a bit steep, keep in 
mind that there are only two pages of paid advertising, inside front 
and back covers, from Merlin and Universal. No doubt they`ll do their 
best to accumulate more in future.

Prefacing the 166 pages of frequency charts is an Introduction to 
Shortwave Radio, by Bernd Trutenau, only 5 pages of text plus a chart, 
a map and a diagram, which is fine as far as it goes (Glenn Hauser, DX 
LISTENING DIGEST)  ###