DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-122, August 1, 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 #1142: (ON DEMAND) http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/worldofradio.html (DOWNLOAD) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1142.rm (STREAM) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1142.ram (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1142.html [available Fri] RFPI BROADCASTS: Sat 0130, 0730, Sun 0000, 0600 on 7445-USB, 15038.6 WWCR BROADCASTS: Sat 0500, Sun 0230 5070; Sun 0630 3210, Wed 0930 9475 WRN BROADCASTS: Rest of world Sat 0800; North America Sun 1400 MUNDO RADIAL JULIO-AGOSTO: Todos los viernes 2115v, miércoles 2100 en WWCR 15825 (BAJABLE) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0207.rm (CORRIENTE) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0207.ram (GUION) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0207.html MONITORING REMINDERS --- Our online calendar is quickly filling with lots of good listening suggestions, mostly on internet, for August. We suggest you check it frequently: http://worldofradio.com/calendar.html ** AFRICA. Africalist http://www.poba.de/africalist.html will be updated as .xls-database on August 1st. However it contains an enormous number of question marks. A new feature will be a list of stations currently inaudible on SW and if something is happening there to change this situation. If anybody knows more or better, just send to me and I will complete the list (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. NINILCHIK RESIDENTS WORRY TRANSMITTERS ARE DANGEROUS The Associated Press (Published: July 31, 2002) Kenai -- High-frequency radio antennas under construction near Ninilchik have neighbors concerned that the transmissions could be hazardous. The antennas also have caught the attention of two government agencies. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has handed developers a cease and desist order because of possible wetlands violations, and the Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the project. The antennas are designed to broadcast religious programming to Russia and the Far East. According to the project's construction permit application, the company building the complex is addressing the wetlands concerns. Company officials also say there would be no danger to the public or to wildlife. The broadcasting complex is being built by Aurora Communications International Inc., a California-based nonprofit corporation that produces and disseminates Christian educational programming and radio broadcasting. According to corporate president Alexander Kozned, the nonprofit is supported by donations and the project is being built by volunteers. Kozned said the station's transmission power is not unusually high or the towers unusually tall. "This is not going to be Voice of America," he said. "They broadcast at 500 kilowatts. They have antennas that are whoppers compared to ours." Initially, transmission will be at 100 kilowatts, about the power at which a similar station near Anchor Point broadcasts. Eventually, he said, the power could be boosted to 250 kilowatts. Kozned's Ninilchik-area neighbors, Paul and Sue Dionne, say they are concerned with the engineering and power of the transmitters. In late June, they filed an informal complaint with the FCC over several issues and are seeking to postpone Aurora's permit. Paul Dionne said Aurora did not properly notify the public regarding its FCC application. Dionne also expressed concern that the station is being built near critical habitat areas and on the edge of Cook Inlet. According to Phil North of the EPA's Kenai office, work last year proceeded without a wetlands permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. EPA required Aurora to remove excess fill and restore some areas, which was done. The Corps of Engineers is addressing new illegal fill, which has generated the cease and desist order. North said he expects the Corps of Engineers to turn over that matter to EPA shortly. Kozned said he expects the wetlands issues to be resolved. Copyright © 2002 The Anchorage Daily News (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) This is the old KGEI transmitter, as previously reported (gh, DXLD) ** ALASKA. NEW AERO VOICE STATION ``Annapolis, Maryland, USA --- When a pioneering Russian air crew made the first flight over the North Pole to the United States in 1937, there was no reliable voice radio contact over the Arctic. Today, there still isn't. Thousands of commercial and private flights a year travel the polar routes beyond the range voice radio --- even beyond satellite coverage. The communications above the Arctic ice cap today is for electronic data --- the high-frequency (HF) data link system that ARINC deployed in 1999. In June 2002, that long Arctic radio silence will be broken when ARINC initiates voice radio coverage of the Arctic regions from a powerful new HF voice ground station in Barrow, Alaska. Installed at the same site as ARINC's HF data link facility, the voice station will have a useful signal range of 3,000 nautical miles --- enough to reach across the ice cap to Russia. The new HF voice service will complement ARINC's HF data link, allowing pilots to choose between text messages and voice when contacting their dispatchers and company offices. Even though text data signals carry farther without degradation, voice contact is superior for many situations, including emergencies. ARINC is installing the Barrow HF voice station at the request of customers, including Continental Airlines and United Airlines. Like many other carriers today, they make frequent use of polar routes, which can shorten their flight times to Hong Kong etc.`` The above is copy of portion of a May press release from ARINC. The station will be remotely controlled from San Francisco which suggests the NP - 3/4 MWARA , which includes Anchorage and portion of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The area could be extended to include Barrow and nearby parts of the Russian mainland. Frequencies would be 2932, 5677, 8915, 13339, 17946 and 21925. On the previous day ARINC released information about their successful tender for an electronic data system for Melbourne Airport, stating it was their first major project within Australia (Allen Fountain, Utility DX, August Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ((((((((((((((((( INSIDE THE ABC NEWSLETTER ))))))))))))))))) issue 2, 25 July 2002 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: ~Welcome ~Issue 2: Inside the ABC New-look Sundays Tim Flynn 1948-2002 A way to choose the news MD in Wagga Looking at the facts Online timeline ~Online archive ~~ WELCOME ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear 'Inside the ABC' subscriber, Welcome to the new-look email Version of 'Inside the ABC'. In this edition, you'll find short summaries of all the stories from the latest edition. The links take you to our new 'Inside the ABC' web site, where you can access the full transcript, print it out or even send the page address to an interested friend. And the all-colour, portable document format (PDF) version is also here. Access it from the link at the end of this message or get it from the Web site. And if you don't have a PDF Reader, then please use the link on our site to download it. Kind regards, Newsletter Editor, 'Inside the ABC' ~~ ISSUE 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inside the ABC, by Barrie Cassidy This month Insiders celebrates one year on air. Insiders host, Barrie Cassidy traces the birth and growth of a political program with a difference. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/stories/s632254.htm New-look Sundays From 4 August, ABC News and Current Affairs is expanding its coverage on television with the introduction of three new programs on Sunday mornings. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/stories/s632524.htm Tim Flynn 1948-2002 The staff at ABC NewsRadio were saddened by the death on 28 June of Tim Flynn a loved colleague and friend. He was 54. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/stories/s632530.htm A way to choose the news, by Bob Johnston In 1995 the ABC s Multimedia Unit was created and the ABC`s original website went live, covering six areas of content including news. The news component was compiled in a small, self-contained unit in Brisbane s radio newsroom, under the editorship of the Radio News Editor, Bob Johnston. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/stories/s632578.htm MD in Wagga On 1 July, the day the ABC marked its 70th anniversary, Managing Director, Russell Balding celebrated the occasion with staff at ABC Riverina in the NSW regional city of Wagga Wagga. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/stories/s632584.htm Looking at the facts, by Russell Balding On 2 July, having noted the ABC s 70th birthday celebrations, The Australian ran an editorial which questioned the ABC`s relevance in contemporary urban Australia. It claimed the argument in support of taxpayer-funded broadcasting services for well-off, usually Left- leaning urbanites starts smelling of middle-class welfare. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/stories/s632593.htm Online timeline The ABC s Archives and Library Services have marked the ABC`s 70th anniversary with a project which will continue to develop and grow and serve Australians long after this year s celebrations are finished. http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/stories/s632599.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PDF version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get 'Inside the ABC' issue 2 as an Acrobat Reader file: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/inside02_jul2502.pdf ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ ONLINE ARCHIVE ~~~~~ Access all articles from all issues of 'Inside the ABC'. Go to: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/archive2002.htm Newsletter Editor, 'Inside the ABC' http://abc.net.au/corp/pubs/iabc/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (via Matt Francis, Australia, DXLD) see also TASMANIA ** AUSTRIA. I took a listen to the current Intermedia show previously referenced under Somalia, for Hans Johnson`s interview about DXers assisting stations here and elsewhere with equipment. Starts about 7 minutes into the current audio link via http://roi.orf.at/intermedia/ Trouble is, they keep interrupting Hans for voice-overs in German! The show has quite a few English elements which get translated, in this case a followinginterview via hamradio with Sam Voron from August 1993. Seems to me when they have all this material originally in English, ORF might as well produce an equivalent DX program in English, not as long as Intermedia, 25 minutes, since a lot of that is of primary interest to German-speakers, but, say 10 or 15 minutes, or even 5 minutes, which they can spare for Spanish DX. They could call it --- how about, Austrian Shortwave Panorama? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST) ** BARBADOS. 19741.4 - 8PO - Barbados Radio, Bridgetown - 70 dias Recebida carta confirmando todos dados necessários de minha escuta e informações sobre as transmissões em modo SITOR. V/S.: ???? (Supervisor Barbados Radio 8PO). Eles mencionam na carta que as transmissões em modo FAX são estritamente confidenciais. Atendendo a seu pedido Anderson, coloco a confirmação QSL que recebi da 8PO - Barabdos Radio (Ilha de Barbados). Anderson, acho que foi erro deles mesmo. Vejo que algumas emissoras são descuidadas e mandam confirmações QSL com erros. Foi o caso da minha que recebi da Barbados Radio. Eles colocaram o meu nome no topo da carta, mas na hora de colocar os dados do IR que fiz, colocaram os dados do IR do Anderson Assis de Oliveira, o que é uma pena. Talvez envie de novo o IR para ver se desta vez me mandam corretamente a confirmação QSL (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, Bandeirantes, PR, @tividade dx via DXLD) ** BELARUS`. R. Minsk usually has co-channel on 7210, but in the clear UT August 1 at 2030-2100 in English, ID at conclusion. Europeans have been booming in, instead of Africans (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) English is not daily ** BRAZIL. Tem emissora brasileira mudando de freqüência. É a Rádio Educação Rural, de Tefé (AM). Deixará os 3385 kHz e passará a emitir em 4925 kHz. A informação é de Cláudio Rotolo de Moraes. Paulo Roberto e Souza, que reside em Tefé, conversou com o diretor da emissora e recebeu a informação de que a mudança está prevista para o final de setembro (Jornalista Célio Romais, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. The DX programme of Radio Bulgaria can be heard after the ten first minutes of the spanish transmission, following the news bulletin and a small report. It is made by their technical department (might be Ivo Ivanov one of them). El espacio DX-ista de Radio Bulgaria puede ser sintonizado tras los primeros diez minutos de transmisión que incluyen el boletín de noticias y un pequeño reportaje (Ramón Vázquez Dourado, España, Aug 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMEROON. COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY LAUNCHES INTERNET NEWSLETTER | Excerpt from report by English by Cameroon CRTV radio on 29 July Mincom Online is now operational. Created in June 2002 by the Ministry of Communications, the cyber journal will meet with Internet challenges by providing instant African news, as well as strengthen Cameroon's image abroad. The journal, updated on a daily basis, is manned by the personnel of the Ministry of Communications under the supervision of Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo... anybody who wants to consult Mincom Online should click on http://www.mincom.gov.cm Source: CRTV Radio, Yaounde, in English 1830 gmt 29 Jul 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CANADA. According to the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, "twee" means "Sweet, dainty, chic. Now chiefly derogatory, affectedly dainty or quaint." It also gives an example of usage, from the Independent newspaper: "We do not want Coniston to end up as another twee tourist village." Since it's principally a British usage, I'm not sure why Mills used it. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC Previews: SAY IT WITH MUSIC: Dream Girls in Concert: Last September, an all-star live concert version of the 1981 hit musical "Dreamgirls" dazzled New York for one night only. Fortunately, it was recorded, and today Richard Ouzounian will share it with you. You'll hear the vocal talents of Audra McDonald, Heather Hedley and Lillas White. Say it With Music, Sunday at 4:00 p.m. (4:30 NT) on CBC Radio Two. [2000-2100 UT on webcast from Toronto] (CBC Hotsheet via DXLD) ** CATALUNYA. THE REVENGE OF PLAYA DE PALS TRANSMITTER??? INTERESTING INFORMATIONS COMING FROM: From: "Salva Ribes" almoines@iespana.es FMDX ESPANA To: fmdx@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 9:35 PM http://www.abc.es/nacional/noticia.asp?id=117245&dia=28072002 EE.UU. quiere emitir para los países islámicos desde las antenas de Radio Liberty en Gerona ANGUERA. EE.UU. no ha olvidado Radio Liberty. Las instalaciones de la emisora en Gerona han recuperado el interés del Congreso norteamericano por su privilegiada situación para emitir hacia los paises islámicos, mientras sus vecinos ansían recuperar una de las pocas playas vírgenes de la Costa Brava. BARCELONA. El Congreso de los Estados Unidos aprobó el pasado lunes una propuesta para recuperar las instalaciones de Radio Liberty en Pals (Gerona) con el objetivo de emitir propaganda antifundamentalista a los países islámicos y el África subsahariana. Esta radio, con la que Estados Unidos enviaba propaganda anticomunista a los países del Este de Europa, suspendió sus emisiones el año pasado. Actualmente está en proceso de rescisión el contrato de arrendamiento de los terrenos de Pals, que originalmente otorgaba el uso de este espacio a EE.UU. hasta 2015. Las instalaciones, gestionadas actualmente por RNE, también son propiedad del Estado. En este sentido, el secretario de Estado de Aguas y Costas, Pascual Fernández, aseguró el martes en una visita a la población gerundense que las antenas de Radio Liberty podrían quedar definitivamente desmanteladas en 2004. La emisora suspendió su programación, dirigida a los países del Este de Europa, en mayo de 2001, cuando el gobierno norteamericano concluyó que su programación, formada básicamente por propaganda anticomunista, ya que no tenía ningún sentido con el cambio de regímenes políticos en la zona. Prórroga a la concesión El terreno en el que están ubicadas las antenas, cinco kilómetros cuadrados de playa en plena zona naturista, está sujeto a una concesión administrativa que terminará dentro de un año y medio. Ahora, el gobierno norteamericano podría pedir una ampliación de la concesión con la vista puesta en el Magreb y el África subsahariana. Sin embargo, los partidos políticos y las instituciones locales lucharán porque no sea así. Unos, con el objetivo de preservar uno de los pocos espacios vírgenes de la Costa Brava. Otros, con la idea de urbanizar la famosa playa o incluir parte de los terrenos que se liberarán en 2004 en un campo de golf. Proyectos contrarios que podrían quedar en suspenso si finalmente Estados Unidos puja por alargar la concesión. En este sentido, el diputado de CiU en el Congreso Jordi Xuclà ha reclamado esta semana al Gobierno que garantice el desmantelamiento de las instalaciones. Xuclà explicó que el Ejecutivo tiene «todas las cartas en sus manos» para rechazar la reutilización de la emisora, por lo que instó al Gobierno a «ser coherente» con las resoluciones aprobadas en el Senado para acelerar el desmantelamiento de las antenas de Pals. La formación nacionalista ya negoció con la anterior ministra de Ciencia y Tecnología, Anna Birulés, la recuperación de esta franja marítima, por lo que el diputado convergente expresó su confianza en que Josep Piqué no dé marcha atrás al proyecto de regeneración de la playa. De hecho, la recuperación de este espacio ha despertado hasta ahora el apoyo unánime de todas las fuerzas políticas en el Parlamento catalán. La planta de Radio Liberty en Pals, muy deteriorada, está formada, al margen de las oficinas, por trece torres -la más alta de 177 metros y la menor, de 75-, nueve grupos de antenas y siete de conmutadores, además de kilómetros de tubos de cobre. Sin embargo, la mitad de esas antenas es inservible si atendemos al Real Decreto de 2001 que establece los límites de la radifrecuencia, según el cual, para volver a emitir sería necesario aplicar a las antenas esferas de protección de 250.000 watios, lo que dificulta enormemente su puesta en funcionamiento. A esto hay que añadir, además, la falta de mantenimiento de las instalaciones desde que cesaron las emisiones. Medio siglo de emisiones La planta de Radio Liberty de la playa de Pals dejó de emitir el 25 de mayo de 2001, cuando la famosa emisora propagandística norteamericana acababa de cumplir 50 años de emisiones por todo el mundo, con el objetivo de conseguir adeptos para la cultura occidental en plena Guerra Fría. Radio Liberty de Pals emitía, en el momento de su clausura en dos frecuencias: 9.555 KHz, en serbocrata, y la 15.130 KHz en ruso. El parque de antenas está orientado a 52 grados, es decir, a Moscú, pero con la posibilidad de abarcar desde Lituania al Turquestán. Las instalaciones de Pals empezaron a emitir en 1959, fruto de los acuerdos entre España y Estados Unidos en 1957, con los que el régimen de Franco rompió el aislamiento internacional al que se veía sometido desde el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. end of article. (via Monferini) So the US still considers Radio Liberty in Gerona looks like a place to be utilized for their personal activities and not an area belonging to the Catalan government ??? (Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. As I already pointed out quite a number of third world applications for visa to attend the Roman Catholic World Youth Day were rejected, possibly to avoid illegal or unwanted immigration. According to the German News of Radio Vatican, some 20 of 200 Cuban Youth who attended the Youth Day asked for political asylum. Kanada. Rund 20 kubanische Weltjugendtags-Teilnehmer haben bei den kanadischen Behörden um politisches Asyl gebeten. Wie die Zeitung "Toronto Sun" berichtet, gelang es den Jugendlichen, sich während der Papstmesse am Sonntag von der übrigen Gruppe abzusetzen. Die 20 Jugendlichen waren Teil einer 200-köpfigen Delegation, die mit Erlaubnis der kubanischen Regierung zum Weltjugendtag nach Toronto reisen durfte. Die eigens mitgereiste Sicherheitspolizei konnte die Flucht der Jugendlichen nicht verhindern. (News Radio Vatikan - 30.7.2002 via Dr. H.J. Biener via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) The RAC convention organizers arranged for a recorded telephone message from Arnie Coro to be played at the convention banquet. Its been archived in .mp3 format on the RAC convention website at http://www.rac2002.org if you'd like to hear it. 73 de (Bob VE3SRE Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) Keeps dumping out after first few seconds (gh) ** CYPRUS. SECURITY GUARD STABBED OUTSIDE U.S. RADIO MONITORING STATION --- Thu Aug 1, 4:38 AM ET http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020801/ap_wo_en_po/cyprus_us_attack_1 NICOSIA, Cyprus - A Cypriot civilian security guard was stabbed overnight outside a United States radio monitoring station, police reported Thursday. A police statement said the guard, Charalambos Iacovou, 63, was patrolling outside the wall surrounding the station when two assailants attacked him about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT). They stabbed him twice in the stomach and arm and then ran off. Police did not say what the motive might have been. Iacovou, who was hospitalized, was not seriously hurt, the statement said. The United States Foreign Broadcasts Information Service complex on the outskirts of Nicosia is surrounded by a high wall. It monitors commercial and other radio broadcasts emanating from eastern Europe, western Asia and the Mediterranean. Like the U.S. Embassy, it is guarded by uniformed Cypriot civilian security guards armed only with clubs. The attack is the first against any of the security guards protecting the embassy and the monitoring station. The U.S. Embassy declined comment (via yahoonews via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Re: [radioescutas] Radio Cima 100 Saludos colegas diexistas. Vamos a corregir la información. La emisora que se está captando en 4960, se está identificando como Radio Cima 100. Pero antes de identificarse como lo está haciendo ahora, hace unos años, lo hacía como Radio Villa. Si estoy equivocado, por favor corrijan el error. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, July 31, radio- escutas via Dario Monferini, DXLD) Hola Josè, Gracias por la aclaración, Radio Cima 100 opera en 100.5 MHz; en su WEB muy colorada anuncia : "ESCUCHE DIARIAMENTE EN LOS 4960 kHz EN LA BANDA DE 60 METROS ONDA CORTA, RADIO GLOBAL INTERNACIONAL , PROXIMAMENTE !!!" Bueno así es ! http://www.cima100fm.com/cima100.htm Tienes audio live y se puedes sintonizar perfectamente en qualquier horario. También en la WEB anuncian "MUY PRONTO RADIO HIGUEY 1500 AM LA RADIO COLOR DEL ESTE" (Dario Monferini, Italy, July 31, WORLD OF RADIO 1142, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB has a supply of [yet] another QSL card from the past. Allen Graham found some copies of card 1981-F, which shows then-and- now photos of former DX Partyline host Clayton Howard. The first photo shows Howard as a young man, inspecting an HCJB transmitter in the 1940s. The later photo shows him at the control desk at the Pifo transmitter site in 1981. This card was part of a series for HCJB's 50th anniversary. This card may be specially requested instead of the current card, or in addition to the current card, if you send a reception report. There is a good supply of these cards available, so there is no hurry on sending a report to get one of these 1981-F QSL cards. The postal address: DX Partyline ** HCJB ** Casilla 17-17-691 ** Quito ** Ecuador. E-mail: dxpl@hcjb.org.ec (DXPL July 27, notes by Marie Lamb for W9WZE via DXLD) ** FRANCE. ID Cast will be testing from two sites in the Paris area with power ranging from 1 to 5 kW on 981. Target dates between 16th and 30th September. (Remy Friess, France, Medium Wave Circle via August World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** FRANCE: PLANS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AM BAND | Text of report by French RadioActu web site on 24 July The CSA [Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel, French media watchdog] has launched a tender for the AM band and has just authorized the ID Cast company to carry out tests for broadcasting on medium-wave in the Paris region. ID Cast has explained to RadioActu that these tests, which come within the framework of the forthcoming allocation of AM frequencies by the CSA, will take place between 16 and 30 September 2002 at two sites in the Paris region, one in the north east and the other in the south west. The CSA has authorized these tests on the 981 kHz frequency with a power of 1 to 5 kW. These tests will enable the coverage to be measured in urban areas and the new DRM compatible transmitters and the audio processing specific to medium-wave transmission. Headed by Michel Bassi, former director-general of RMC and SFP, the ID Cast company intends to become the first private operator broadcasting on medium-wave, breaking the historic monopoly held until now by TDF. ID Cast has developed new broadcasting technologies, using mainly aerials made of fibre-glass, which are discreet and are less bulky than traditional installations. According to the Geneva frequency plan of 1975, about 50 medium-wave frequencies are available in French territory, and the CSA should make public the frequency plan for this band. Up to now, 37 applications have been deemed acceptable by the regulating authority. Source: RadioActu web site, in French, 24 Jul 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** HAWAII. Hi Glenn: This from http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/ As of August 1, 2002, Hawaii Public Radio's AM station, KIFO 1370 will cease operations as a public radio station. The sale of the station to Diamond Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Legacy Communications Corporation of Utah, has been underway for a matter of months and became final in the second week of July 2002. KIPO 89.3FM and the other radio stations owned by HPR will be unaffected by this change. Interesting story about the new owners of KIFO 1370 at: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Jul/21/ln/ln21a.html And a bit more coverage at: http://starbulletin.com/2002/01/28/business/story1.html 73 (Kim Elliott, DC, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quite a bit!: (gh) PUBLIC RADIO SELLING AM FOR $500,000 -- The Hawaii station will change frequencies when the prospective owner from Utah assumes control By Erika Engle Hawaii Public Radio is selling KIFO AM 1380, its only AM station, for $500,000. The deal is expected to close before the end of February, according to HPR President Michael Titterton. Separately, the station's frequency will change to 1370 to accomplish two goals: enabling a station in Washington state to redirect its signal without interference and eliminating interference problems suffered by KIFO. Half the proceeds from the sale would be put toward debt retirement, while the remainder would be used to re-engineer KIPO (89.3 FM), he said. Retrieval of information from the buyer's side has been more difficult, with inconsistencies turning up along the way. The sale negotiations took several months and were carried out between Titterton and E. Morgan Skinner Jr., president of Utah-based Legacy Communications. However, the buyer is Diamond Broadcasting Corp., also based in Utah, headed by President Jeffrey Bate. He is Skinner's son-in-law. Bate owns no other radio stations, but the Federal Communications Commission has granted him construction permits, and he has applications pending for at least four, and possibly five, AM radio stations in Utah and Idaho, according to the FCC Web site and interviews with those associated with the transaction. Neither he nor his company could be found in an online search of state of Hawaii business registrations, and Bate was not available for comment. A call to the company's Utah phone number netted a recording, "At the customer's request (the number) has been temporarily disconnected." A search of online business registration records for the state of Utah identified Skinner, not Bate, as Diamond Broadcasting's registered agent. Skinner's name also popped up several times in a search of the FCC Web site, not just as a licensee, but as a licensee against whom the agency had levied fines. Despite deregulation of the radio industry over the years, the FCC maintains an enforcement bureau to investigate complaints and monitor compliance. FCC records show some of Legacy's mainland stations have been fined thousands of dollars for various violations; those stations have recently been sold. In Hawaii, Legacy registered to do business as KBUG Inc. and owns the license for 1170 AM Honolulu, formerly a Japanese-language station known as KOHO. The purchase involved only the license as KOHO had gone "dark," or off the air, and had lost its studios and broadcast equipment in troubles suffered by its previous ownership. The call letters have been changed numerous times since April of 2000: to KBUG, KBNZ, KZEZ, back to KBNZ, and in January they were changed again to KENT. A radio station is required to be in continuous operation or it faces forfeiture of its broadcast license, but there has been no continuous programming on 1170 AM. Legacy has sought and been granted so-called "Special Temporary Authority" on multiple occasions, allowing it to remain silent, citing difficulty in finding a transmitter site. The Star-Bulletin obtained from the FCC a mailgram apparently faxed to the agency by Legacy's law firm "confirming" that the station had resumed broadcasting on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2001, pursuant to the STA issued three days prior. The mailgram bears the name of Chief Engineer Bill Traue and lists Legacy Communications' address in St. George, Utah, as well as the Corporate Office Centers at Waterfront Plaza in Honolulu. However, according to Waterfront Business Center Manager Tracey Lake, the company had not been a tenant in the office suites since at least April when she started her job there. Further, Traue, contacted at his home in Idaho, was unfamiliar with the mailgram that bore his name. He's never been to Hawaii and had done "no hands-on work" for the station here, he said. He surmised his name had been used as a "rubber stamp." The station's latest STA was granted Sept. 19 with the caveat that its broadcast license "will automatically expire as a matter of law if broadcast operations do not commence by Aug. 16, 2002." Skinner responded to Star-Bulletin queries but declined to speak on the record. According to Titterton, the purchase agreement calls for KENT's broadcast equipment to be installed on the KIFO tower near the Waiawa Correctional Center. The tower also hosts KLHT AM 1040, which is owned by Calvary Chapel of Honolulu, but the church has requested permission to move its equipment to a tower on Dillingham Boulevard, according to broadcast engineer and Broadcast Resources President Ernie Nearman. He performs engineering work for KLHT and other stations. He called the Waiawa site a "terrible location," noting KLHT is unable to broadcast at its authorized 10,000-watt strength because the resulting signal would interfere with the FCC monitoring station between the tower and the bulk of its desired audience in town. "My understanding is that (Skinner) wants to co-locate with KIFO," said public radio's Titterton. He added the switch from 1380 kilohertz to 1370 will enable a station in Washington state to redirect its signal without interference from the Hawaii station. It will also, Nearman said, eliminate interference problems suffered by KIFO as its position at 1380 on the dial "is the second harmonic of 690, KQMQ AM, so when you're anywhere in the area of Kewalo basin or Kakaako, it just blasts them out; you start picking up the Disney Channel instead of Public Radio," he said. The purchase requires FCC approval. Hawaii Public Radio's "future is not in AM," but in expansion of KIPO FM, Titterton said. The organization plans to re-engineer the station and to make its news and information programming "heavily interactive -- as much as we can make it as we build repeaters (on the neighbor islands)," he said. (Honolulu Star Bulletin July 28 via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** HONDURAS. Hoy me toca reportarles la siguiente emisora: Radio Litoral: desde la ciudad Puerto de La Ceiba, en Honduras, en la frecuencia 4830v a las 0340 UT. Entre los comentarios pude escuchar lo siguiente: ``Era para complacer a la familia Ortíz en barrio La Isla a esta hora de la noche en compañía de la familia ?????? y a los que nos escuchan en otras partes de la Ciudad Puerto de La Ceiba, como también a sus alrededores, confiamos en el Señor de que muchas personas aún quizás sintonizan la señal, pero de que por alguna razón no nos escriben o no nos lo hacen saber, pero total, gracias a Dios porque sabemos de que ellos cuentan con nuestra señal, cuentan con nuestra señal la cual es del emisor ? para nuestra vida espiritual... vamos a aprovechar estos minutos que nos restan para escuchar más canciones aquí ?????????? en español, veinte minutos para las 10 de la noche, Radio Litoral.`` Copiado textualmente de la grabación hecha, la cual está a la orden de los colegas que la requieran. Receptor: SONY ICF 2001D. Antena: RZ 600 Portable Shortwave Reel Antena de SIEMENS. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, July 31, Conexión Digital via DXLD) So they want reports ** INDIA. AIR Jeypore seems to be affected by power problems lately. 5040 is noted off air these days around 1330-1430 UT (7.00 to 8.00 pm local time which is peak electrical consumptiom period). The parallel frequency of 1467 kHz MW is also affected then as it is not heard on some days at that particular time. Sometimes it is also not heard as strong at that time suggesting that they must be using the standby transmitter of 20 kW instead of the regular 100 kW (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, dx_india via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. SATELLITE RADIO Tech guru John Dvorak is highly critical of the two new American digital satellite services, XM and Sirius (which carries Radio Sweden via a WRN channel). Writing on the "PC Magazine" website, he begins: "Technologies fundamentally change whenever two particular events happen at once. First, there must be a performance improvement, and second, there must be an actual need for change. The arena of consumer electronics, above all, is a bumpy road of failed new ideas because the two events required for change seldom happen at once. Quadraphonic sound is a perfect example of a failed idea. AM stereo radio is another example. More recently, the quagmire around the two satellite radio initiatives -- Sirius and XM -- gives these two initiatives the earmarks of dual losers. It will be a miracle if the satellite radio companies survive, despite the deep pockets of their respective backers." His objections range from content (the supposedly talkfree themed music channels have announcers) to price (who really wants to pay around USD 120 year for the same radio program coast to coast in your car?). The fact that the receivers involved for the rival systems are not compatible will slow down (or sink) introduction, and Sirius' recent objections to interference from wireless networks (the latest take-off technology) bodes ill. For the entire article see: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1906,00.asp (pcmag.com via NPR's Jeff Rosenberg, via SCDX/Mediascan...) I just wonder why anyone would want to listen to the same "no talk" radio station while driving across the continent, or even in rush hour traffic? Listening to local stations as you travel is part of the experience, and listening to local traffic and weather can be a top priority during rush hour. Otherwise you can play a CD or listen to an audio book. Of course being able to listen to Radio Sweden and the rest of our WRN partners is always nice.... (George Wood, Radio Sweden via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. LIGHTHOUSE NEWS AND ACTIVITY PanAmerican Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend. Activity will be on all modes and sponsored by the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society from 0001z, August 3rd through 2359z, August 4th. Suggested frequencies are: CW -- 1830, 3530, 7030, 14030, 21030, 28030 kHz SSB -- 1970, 3970, 7270, 14270, 21370, 28370 kHz. Exchange: ARLHS member or lighthouse number or year first licensed, name, and SPC. For complete guidelines and awards, see the Web site at: http://www.waterw.com/%7eweidner/arlhs/page3c.html Or send a1 SASE to ARLHS, Box 2178, Riverton, NJ 08077 (KB8NW/OPDX May 27/BARF-80 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD 2-086 May 26 via DXLD 2-122 August 1) However, that link does not work now. I guess the following be unrelated ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE WEEKEND Mike, GM4SUC, would like to remind everyone that the International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend has grown in popularity and participants. It will be held from 0001z on Sat Aug 17 until 2359z on Sun Aug 18. Already over 100 entries in 27 countries have been received by VK2CE at the official website http://vk2ce.com/illw Further info from Mike at gm4suc@compuserve.com (Vernon Ikeda, Ham Radio Report, July CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** IRAN. RADIO-TV OFFICIAL SAYS HE CAN THROW COUNTRY INTO CHAOS | Text of report by Iranian news agency IRNA Tehran, 31 July: The deputy director of the Voice and Vision [state radio and TV] has said: I can throw the country into chaos with one sentence. The deputy director of the Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Rahmani Fazli, said: I can throw the country into chaos with a sentence or by broadcasting a single picture. This is my speciality. Rahmani-Fazli, who was speaking at the second meeting of the directors and experts of the public relations offices of various ministries and government organizations, said: "90 per cent of the population watches the news programmes of the Voice and Vision". He added: Our polls have shown that 79 per cent of those watching our programmes have faith in its content. Rahmani-Fazli admitted: "On many occasions, the Voice and Vision does not cover many issues." He added: However, when the issue is important we do broadcast the programme and confront the officials with a done deed. He described, "casting a shadow of doubt, extremism, not disseminating correct information in various areas, efforts to portray the regime as ineffectual and trying to spread despair among the people" as political tools used by Americans, saying: The Voice and Vision must crash these policies. Rahmani pointed out to the policy of moderation adopted by the Voice and Vision emphasizing on the law and said: We will deal with anyone who breaks the law. Rahami said that the Voice and Vision does not have the capability to provide the people with all the information, adding: We can not disseminate more than 40 to 50 per cent of the news. He stressed: The Voice and Vision does not address problems that deal with the fundamentals of the system. He added: Our main problem is with the executive organs. Rejecting the criticisms levelled against the Voice and Vision, Rahmani said: These are all political rhetoric aimed against the Voice and Vision. Source: IRNA news agency, Tehran, in Persian 1222 gmt 31 Jul 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. HISTORY - A FEW POINTS ON SOME OF THE INACTIVE STATIONS Radio Iran Toilers Organization: Iranian Tudeh (communist) Party According to the Institute of Social History site. Radio Zahmatkeshan (Toilers) broadcast from Afghanistan was jointly run by the Tudeh Party of Iran and the Organisation of the Iranian People¹s Fedaian (Majority) a separate but allied movement. There are video inter- views of some individual involved in Iranian clandestine radio held at the institute, presumably only in Farsi See http://www.iisg.nl:80/image_sound/video/iran.html Voice of the Sarbedaran (Those Who Have Laid Their Heads on the Block), Voice of the Guerillas This is almost certainly the Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran) a Maoist guerrilla group. They are now the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) Their site is http://www.sarbedaran.org but no mention in the English pages of radio activity (K. Coyle, Hong Kong, July 31, Clandestine Radio Watch via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Glenn, It appears that Teamtalk 252 closed today. 252 is silent (well I can hear Algeria) as is Sky Digital 910 although it is still carrying programme details. According to the website control has reverted to RTE. I wonder if anyone heard the closing minutes? I thought not (Nicholas Mead, UK, July 31, WORLD OF RADIO 1142, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The item of radio news I have is that Ireland 252 is off air. It is not a frequency I regularly listen to, but I did note it active earlier this week. I guess this means the end of TeamTalk via LW. As I type at 1615 I hear what I assume is Algiers peaking about S5, and playing pop music, but there is too much static to copy clearly. Before IRL arrived, ALG used to be regularly heard here. I wonder what we will next hear via IRL - more pop music or UCB religion??? Personally, I would prefer RTE Radio na Gaeltachta and some nice Irish music! (Noel Green, UK, via Kai Ludwig, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. TEAMTALK FOLDS WITH 40 JOBS LOST Owen Gibson, Thursday August 01 2002, The Guardian Sports radio station Teamtalk 252 has gone silent, closed after just five months on air with the loss of the 40 jobs at the station. The station was set up as a competitor to TalkSport, owned by Kelvin McKenzie's Wireless Group, and BBC Radio 5 Live, and broadcast on the former frequency of music station Atlantic 252. Last month, online bookmaker UKBetting bought the holding company behind Teamtalk for £14m, primarily for its website and mobile operations. It decided to close the radio station, which has lost £2.2m in the five months since launch on top of the £2m Teamtalk paid for the licence. The frequency has been sold for a nominal fee to Irish state broadcaster RTE, which already owned a 20% stake in Radio Tara, the holding company that owned the licence. RTE has yet to decide what to do with it, but options include trying to sell it on to another broadcaster or using it to broadcast one of its two Irish stations in the UK. The former Teamtalk chairman and chief executive, Bill Wilson, had already stepped down before the company was sold, as the cost of the venture spiralled out of control. He was replaced by Chris Oakley, the former chief executive of Regional Independent Media, who immediately slashed jobs and costs before also stepping down when the company was sold. In all around 150 jobs have been lost at the station. Brendan Fatchett, the managing editor of the radio division, said the closure was no reflection on the staff, who had worked hard to make the station a success despite the difficulties of the weak long wave signal and its lack of exclusive sports rights. "We had a very good team of 45 or 50 people who tried very hard to make it work. We had lots of exciting plans that we wanted to put into practice but the economic realities of the business meant that we weren't able to do so," he said. The station built up an audience of 400,000 listeners during its short time on air, although this figure was still 600,000 short of the number of listeners that Atlantic 252 used to get during its dying days. Staff from UKBetting's other websites, including Sportinglife.com and Sportal, will now move into Teamtalk's Leeds offices. The integration will be led by David Annat, the former Sportinglife managing director who has been made content director of the enlarged operation, which will have a combined staff of around 170. Mr Annat said the Teamtalk brand would remain as a premium football website and mobile division but he would look for ways to link the various sites together. He also plans to take the Sporting Life online radio station, currently produced by a third party, in house using Teamtalk's technology. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) TEAMTALK252 - CLOSED 1st August 2002 ukbetting plc Disposal of interest in radio business The board of ukbetting plc is pleased to announce that it has agreed in principle to dispose of TEAMtalk Media Group plc's ("TEAMtalk") indirect 80% shareholding in Radio Tara Limited for a nominal consideration to Radio Telefis Éireann, which owns the remaining 20% shareholding. TEAMtalk and RTE have entered into exclusive negotiations with a view to completing the transaction at the earliest opportunity. As part of the agreement TEAMtalk 252 will cease broadcasting with immediate effect. The 80% shareholding in Radio Tara Limited was acquired by TEAMtalk in December 2001 for a consideration of GBP 2.0 million. Since its acquisition Radio Tara Limited has also incurred unaudited pre tax losses of GBP 2.2 million . The disposal of this shareholding will stem a significant cash drain on the TEAMtalk business (Richard Helmsley, Media UK forums via Barraclough) I can confirm that there are no signals from Ireland on 252 this morning (Mike Barraclough, UK, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. It turns out that Israeli cable systems have now been given permission to drop CNN; see this "breaking news" piece from Ha'aretz. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=193288 (via Bill Westenhaver, and also Kim Elliott) Here's the link to a Jerusalem Post piece about it: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1027506425126 73- (Bill Westenhaver, Aug 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. SHORTWAVE CIRCUMSTANCE IN JAPAN WAS SAVED! On July 31, PLC research committee of Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications of Japan denied to release shortwave (2-30 MHz) for faster PLC communication, proposed by power line companies. The main reason of the denial was that the radiation from the PLC lines will badly affect the existing shortwave communication used by aviation control, amateur radio, radio-astronomy etc. and cannot exist together with other shortwave services at the present. The committee has made hearings of who concerned and experiments (the result: shortwave broadcast was inaudible at 3m from power line, affected even at some hundreds meters away!). Shortwave users in Japan -- shortwave listeners, radio amateurs, astronomists, defense forces, shortwave broadcasters, police agency, maritime safety agency, aviation control agency, medical techonologists -- were all against the PLC realization. Some power line companies planned to begin PLC service and sell PLC modems from autumn this year. The result of "public comment" requirement done by the government in May was: 109 objective views against PLC, instead of only 2 in favor. (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, August 1, via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** JAPAN. Mentions interference to shortwave broadcasting....: JAPAN NOT READY FOR POWER LINE-BASED NET ACCESS: GOVT PANEL Story Filed: Thursday, August 01, 2002 4:49 AM EST TOKYO, Aug 01, 2002 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- It is too early to commercialize Internet-access services using ordinary power lines, mainly because of air wave interference that might result, an advisory panel of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications concluded Wednesday. At the present stage of technological development, noise interference generated by power line communication (PLC) for the Internet would seriously affect short-wave radio broadcasting and amateur radio communications, and the new bandwidth should not be allocated for PLC services, the panel concluded. PLC is widely seen as a promising technology for low-cost broadband Internet services because it requires little modification to subscribers' households, unlike fiber-optic-based broadband services, which involve costly modifications to homes. Japan Broadcasting Corp. and amateur radio operators strongly oppose PLC, however, citing electron-noise interference. In tests conducted by the panel, PLC sometimes generated noise that was 10 times higher than the maximum permissible level. But some modems that are capable of preventing noise leakage have already been developed, and the panel recommends further testing for commercialization by PLC service providers and modem makers. Some regions in the U.S. and Europe are already moving toward adopting PLC after noise-prevention standards are established. The panel concluded that Japan should reconsider PLC-service licensing when an international agreement is reached on electronic-noise prevention. (Nikkei) (C) 2002 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd (via Kim Elliott, DC, DXLD) ** KALININGRAD. At my location in the north, Bolshakovo 171 comes in at a convenient S-9 + 20 level. This is 10 dB above Warsaw 225. 177 is barely audible, but instead there is a local carrier on 173v from a TV or something at S-9. If I tune to the lower side of 171 reception is clean. (Listening at 0900 UTC using a 180 meters antenna and a NRD- 535.) 73s (Olle Alm, Sweden, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, here it is again, Bolshakovo on 171, this time with Radio Rossii, a satellite delay behind Taldom 17660. The signal is about as strong as Allouis 162, it cannot satisfy here within the flat but should well be sufficient for outdoor listening despite the nearby 177 powerhouse, it is hardly a problem because Zehlendorf runs a really docile modulation (audio bandwith limited to 4.5 kHz and no dynamics compression in use). Anyway 171 is no longer an empty channel here, so the weird "here used to be a station" feeling is now limited to 261 only as far as longwave is concerned. I still remember how I tried the old Radio-1 on 171 on the shore of the really nice lake (a filled coal-mine) at Senftenberg. Only the weather forecasts prevent me from doing it once again, for today thunderstorms are announced, so I was there already yesterday. Certainly it is an interesting consideration why Radio Rossii leased the 171 outlet at Bolshakovo. They could intend to reach the Baltics, but probably it is even more important for them to serve Belarus` with a better signal. As well-known all Radio Rossii transmissions there were stopped because our dear president did not like the program; 873 now delivers a useless duplication of BR 2 while the FM network and the wired net channel once occupied by Radio Rossii now carries Voice of Russia programming instead. I wonder if they will now fire up the 171 transmitter at Sasnovy again with something else, or will they hesitate from doing so because the purpose would be too obvious? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZIA. KYRGYZ OPPOSITION URGES DEFENCE OF OPPOSITION RADIO | Text of report by Kyrgyz newspaper AKIpress web site on 29 July Recent statements by Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev regarding the activities of Radio Azattyk [Freedom] in Kyrgyzstan have evoked a response inside the country. On 26 July 2002, while speaking at "Round Table-3", Askar Akayev criticized Radio Azattyk, accusing it of foreign-funded information terrorism. In this connection, a number of opposition members have distributed an "Appeal to the people and democratic forces of Kyrgyzstan". They think that "the authorities are switching to a new stage of unjustified attacks, accusations and bans on the independent media". In particular, the document mentions that "suppression of freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan started long ago" and such examples as the shutdown of the parliamentary newspaper Svobodnyye Gory [Free Mountains] in 1994, the trial of a journalist of the newspaper Respublika, and also the shutdown of the newspapers Politika, Ordo- Kriminal, Asaba and others are quoted. Also quoted is Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolay Tanayev's comment that "the authorities lost the information war" during the Aksy events, including Radio Azattyk too. We cannot agree with such an assessment of the activities of Radio Azattyk in Kyrgyzstan. The radio broadcasts objective and true information about what is happening in our country, covering the viewpoints of all sides in society, as well as the actions of the authorities, the appeal says. In conclusion, it appeals to everyone "who cares for the ideals of freedom of speech to defend Radio Azattyk". The statement was signed by Respublika's editor-in-chief, Z. Sydykova; the chairman of the Erkindik party, T. Turgunaliyev; the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, K. Adzhibekova; the chairman of the Kyrgyz Human Rights Committee, R. Dyryldayev; the deputy chairman of the guild of prisoners of conscience, A. Abdrasulova; the chairman of the Human Rights Movement and of the committee for protection of the Aksy tragedy victims, T. Akunov; and a number of other people. Source: AKIpress web site, Bishkek, in Russian 29 Jul 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) I think the R. Azattyk referred to here is the U.S.-sponsored Radio Liberty (gh, DXLD) ** LATVIA. See UK [non] ** LEBANON [and non]. VOICE OF THE OPPRESSED & EASTERN RADIO Voice of the Oppressed (listed [in CR.com] under Israel: inactive) is now definitely inactive. It seems 648 kHz has been off since 1996 but now VHF/FM within Lebanon also closed down on 19 July. Eastern Radio ([listed in CR.com under] Lebanon: active) must be in Northern Israel. Lebanese authorities would not permit it to operate inside Lebanon. This freq used to be from Kfar Kila of course. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/22_07_02/art24.asp (via J. FitzSimons, UK, July 19, Clandestine Radio Watch via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. Radio Liberia International, 5100, heard 29th July, 2100 to 2120 tune out with news programme in English, fair strength. Not noted 30th July, was reported off air 30th May by BBCM (Mike Barraclough, August World DX Club Contact via WORLD OF RADIO 1142, DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. History - A few points on some of the inactive stations Voice of Malayan Revolution/Voice of Malayan Democracy The correct name of the original party was the Communist Party of Malaya. The CPM did not initially recognise the division of Malaysia and Singapore into separate states in 1965 and kept the name it had used since the time of the British Empire, referring to both territories. The CPM later split with the second group calling itself the Malaysian Communist Party. However this second party also split. I will check my records on this later to see which group broadcast Voice of the People of Malaysia. Also according to the writer Bertil Lintner, "During the 1970s, The Communist Party of Malaya`s Suara Revolusi Malaya ("Voice of the Malayan Revolution") broadcast from Hengyang south of Changsha in Hunan province" not Kunming as stated; the party had offices in Kunming but the transmitter was elsewhere. Perhaps this was also the case with the CP of Thailand¹s Voice of the Thai People. See http://www.irrawaddy.org/database/2000/vol8.7/article.html (K. Coyle, Hong Kong, July 31, Clandestine Radio Watch via DXLD) ** MALI. After several months of unsuccessful attempts I heard Mali on 9635 again, on July 31st, 0810-0845, in vernacular, fair signal. Was this transmitter off? (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, WORLD OF RADIO 1142, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. MEXICO RADIO STATIONS BAN DRUG MUSIC, Fri Jul 19 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20020719/ap_en_mu/mexico_drug_music_3 TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - There will be no more drugs and violence on Mexican radio stations in and around Tijuana. Baja California state radio stations signed an agreement Thursday to ban songs known as narco-corridos, and instead have decided to play only songs that promote positive messages and good values. They also urged Spanish-language U.S. stations across the border in California to do the same. Casio Carlos Narváez, a representative of the Radio and Television Industry Chamber, said stations won't be able to compete if their U.S. counterparts don't take the same step. "We should promote this self-imposed regulation to avoid converting into heroes and examples people who break the laws of our country," he said. Narco-corridos have long been popular in Tijuana, a city trying to clean up its image as a haven for drugs and crime. The northern Mexican folk songs chronicle the tales of drug lords to the backdrop of accordions and strumming guitars. Other border states in Mexico have discussed similar bans, and many stations have already removed narco-corridos them from their playing lists. Baja officials said their decision was an effort to help the government fight drugs and crime. Mario Enrique Mayans, an industry representative in Baja California, said the stations wanted to be an example "in eliminating themes that go against good, moral customs and apologize for violence." (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. On every Sunday morning (local time 0607-0627), Radio Nederland broadcasts a classic music program in Indonesian named MUSIK KLASIK on 7285 and 9590 kHz. Both are well heard here and during 1207-1227 UT heard same program on 11690, 17580 and 21480 kHz. The best is 21480, signals are very good than their morning service. This is a very good program, but unfortunately I cannot understand Indoneaian language! Sincerely yours Your reader (Yin Yung-chien, Taipei, Taiwan 1/8 10:59, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. From Herman Boel on the Medium Wave Circle list: As of tomorrow, 1 August, Radio Nationaal will only be broadcasting non-stop music (on 1296 kHz via Orfordness). This is the result of a decision by the Rotterdam court, which states that the authorities cannot issue licenses bases on a comparative study of the candidates, but is to auction the licenses for a duration of 8 years. This means that the highest bid will be accepted. Radio Nationaal says that they therefore will have no chance of obtaining a license and cannot further permit to spend much money. Three quarters of the staff have now been laid off. This once more shows that authorities and courts have absolutely no idea what radio is all about. The Flemish FM situation for instance --- have a look at http://users.pandora.be/hermanb/vlarad.htm --- is the result of decisions by succesive backward governments. A less backward but still unintelligent scheme is now to be followed in the Netherlands. Radio stations with financially strong backings are now eagerly awaiting the auction, which should come round in the coming weeks or months. The NOS have announced that as of 1 September 2002 they will switch off their MW transmitters of Radio 1 on 891 and 1008 kHz. It is curious though that 891 kHz is currently off air for maintenance, and after that will only be put on for a couple of weeks. 73 Herman Boel ----------------------------------------------------------------- Author of the European Medium Wave Guide http://users.pandora.be/hermanb/ located in Aalst, Flanders ----------------------------------------------------------------- (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. In the OBN, you mentioned that KOMA doesn't appear to have any news talk programming. They run Bill O'Reilly weekdays from 1-3 p.m. It appears they may gradually become a talker. You have a great site! Keep up the good work! (OKCityRadio.com July 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND. MANAGEMENT OF RADIO STATION FOR POLES ABROAD REPLACED | Text of report by Polish news agency PAP Warsaw, 30 July: The board of [public] Polish Radio on Tuesday [30 July] unexpectedly recalled the management of Radio Polonia. Maciej Letowski will be replaced in the post of head of the station by Marek Traczyk. Traczyk has latterly been the editor of the magazine TTG Poland, which promotes tourism in Poland abroad. Malgorzata Raczynska, the former [public] Polish Television correspondent in Germany (1994- 99), has become his deputy. Minister of Foreign Affairs Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz has recently been critical of the activity of Radio Polonia. Source: PAP news agency, Warsaw, in Polish 2039 gmt 30 Jul 02 (via BBCM via WORLD OF RADIO 1142, DXLD) ** POLAND. Polish Radio has always been one of the more difficult catches. First heard them just prior to the crackdown on Solidarity in 1979 and prior to the imposition of martial law. Heard them again in 1984. Poland was not a priority to listen to, nor was it easy to do on my very old, analog receiver (about as sensitive as Andrew Dice Clay). I`ve heard them on occasion over the years, but really became a fan when I discovered them on the CBC Overnight service, listening as often as I could. The communist era broadcasts left no real impression on me --- probably that was their intention (I have become a real fan of Radio Polonia, listening pretty much daily via World Radio Network. The one-hour program available on demand is an interesting mix of news and features. I especially enjoy the interaction between the presenters of the Mailbag program. There is also a chap who delivers an occasional commentary about some aspect of life in Poland. He is bitingly witty. A real treat to hear. It`s a shame reception of this station is so dreadful on shortwave. The Radio Polonia webpage seems to be as out of date as Radio Budapest`s --- the same articles have been posted there since I last looked at it in 2001. Also the program schedule lists Polish lessons but a recent mailbag program indicated that these had been discontinued. One nice feature is a (partial?) script of the day`s newscast (as with Bulgaria). See http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/angielska.asp (Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, July ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. The Spanish language department of the Radio Moscow marks its 70th anniversary today. It is one of the oldest departments together with German, French and English languages of the state broadcasting company ``Voice of Russia``. These days the Voice of Russia has been receiving greetings from politicians, public figures, scientists, writers and cosmonauts from Russia, Spain, and Latin America. According to the Guatemalan ambassador to Russia Alfonso Matta Fasen, the radio has no borders and is the best link between the peoples of the two countries. A deputy of the Lower House of the Russian parliament Ivan Melnikov has said that radio programmes from Moscow are an important channel of information about new democratic Russia. This helps to strengthen political, economic and cultural ties between Russia and Spain and Latin America. Voice of Russia News, 01/08/2002 Hoy se cumplieron 70 años del comienzo de las emisiones en españoles desde Moscú. El servicio en español es uno de los mas antiguos de Radio Moscú Internacional, hoy ``La Voz de Rusia``, junto con los servicios en inglés, francés y alemán. Hoy día, cuando celebramos este septuagésimo aniversario lo hacemos con varias generaciones de oyentes de América Latina y de España. A todos ellos agradecemos la invariable atención a nuestros programas, las cartas y tarjetas de saludo enviadas a la redacción y confiamos en que, al igual que nosotros, consideren esta una fiesta común. Siendo así, felicitaciones amigos y continuemos la cita que dura ya 70 años en las ondas de ``La Voz de Rusia``. NOTICIAS DESDE MOSCÚ 01/08/02 (via Sergei Sosedkin, DXLD) ** SPAIN. Dear Glenn: This earlier morning (local time 0005-0055 = 1605-1655 UT), I heard Radio Exterior de España on 21,570 kHz, 55555. All music was Spanish style music and composers, including MUSICA DE VALENCIANA, LA ZARZEULA, MUSICA ESPAÑOLA, etc. It is a very good program for classic MUSIC LOVER. I hope Monday to Friday can be heard this program, but sometimes signal are very very low caused by not so good radio wave propagation, during 0805-0855 UT on 21,570 kHz, so I must wait to midnight (local time) to hear and record the music of NUESTRO SELLO; the music of Nuestro Sello has a good quality heard here everytime! Above programs are in Spanish (Yin Yung-chien, Taipei, Taiwan 1/8 10:59, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NETHERLANDS non for more classical. See also CATALUNYA ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN --- Coming up on Radio Sweden: With Sweden's general elections coming in September, we're presenting interviews with the leaders of the parliamentary political parties every Wednesday. Here's the schedule: July 17 Left Party leader Gudrun Schyman July 24 Christian Democrat leader Alf Svensson July 31 Center Party leader Maud Olofsson August 7 Liberal leader Lars Leijonborg August 14 Conservative Party leader Bo Lundgren August 21 Social Democrat Prime Minister Göran Persson August 28 Green Party If you missed any of the interviews, we'll have RealAudio on demand soon. And don't miss our coverage of the Swedish elections on September 15. [August 1+] Thursday: Special feature on Junibacken, the Stockholm amusement park themed on characters from Astrid Lindgren's children's books Friday: Our weekly review Saturday: In "Network Europe" prostitution and corruption in politics and the media Sunday: "In Touch With Stockholm" meets Americans of Swedish heritage (SCDX/MediaScan July 31 via DXLD) ** TASMANIA. Local Tasmanian media news On last night's evening news it was announced that Tasmania's existing two commercial television networks had successfully applied to the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) to run a third commercial network which would be exclusively digital as a joint venture. No channels have yet been announced and the venture is expected to commence in 18 months time. Hopefully by then the price of digital receivers would have come dramatically down. Presently they are just under $10,000 and unavailable here in Tasmania and not many being sold on the mainland either where digital TV is operational. HDTV as a standard is also likely to be abandoned whilst the SDTV digital format will continue. The joint venture is between Southern Cross TV (based here in Launceston) and the mainland based WIN which operates in Hobart (the State capital). Ironically the two stations were known as Tas TV when they were part of the ENT Network and that is going to be the name of the new venture. The Announcement came also on the day when the death of Edmund Rouse was revealed. Rouse started TNT 9 on May 26th 1962 , two years after TAS TV (TVT 6) commenced. Rouse as CEO of the "Examiner" newspaper steadily built up it into a major regional media empire by acquiring TVT6, making a single commercial network in Tasmania. Rouse went on to acquire 3UZ in Melbourne ((927) and 4NA Nambour plus sundry other business enterprises.7EX and 7HT were already part of the empire Rouse had become very influential because of his media interests and also because he championed the north of Tasmania in parochial battles with the South. He was egotistical and arrogant and eventually received a CBE from Her Majesty for services to the media. Then at the height of his power he did a very stupid thing which even he admitted. In 1989, The Labor Party and the Liberals were locked together in a state election and a new political party emerged holding the balance of Power. It was the Greens. After a lot of horse trading, Labor signed an accord with the Greens, which gave them government. But before they sat in Parliament, Rouse had already conspired with a 3 UZ sales manager to contact a former employee who had been elected on the Labor party ticket with a substantial bribe if he would defect and cross the floor and join the Liberals. The MP became suspicious and immediately contacted the Tasmania Police who mounted a telephone bugging and caught the sales manager whilst he was online with the Bribe offer. He was arrested and sang like the proverbial canary, naming Rouse as the fellow conspirator. He too was quickly arrested and pleaded guilty in court. Rouse's media empire quickly evaporated after he was charged and sent to gaol. The flagship "Examiner" newspaper was sold to Fairfax and a small country Tasmanian newspaper in a joint venture followed quickly by Launceston's channel 9, which was bought by the Melbourne based Southern Cross Network. 3 UZ was sold prior to this scandal as was 4NA. The remaining media empire was quickly snapped up by WIN a major regional TV network with close ties to Packer's PBL empire. The result was the local commercial electronic media passed out of local ownership. 7HT and 7EX were eventually purchased by the TAB and became a boring narrowcast station with silly horse racing. The other local news is that our Migrant Resource Centre has organised a fund raising activity day this coming Saturday to raise funds for World Music Radio, which they are hoping to establish here in Launceston, presumably on FM. The existing Launceston Community FM station 7LTN-FM does have ethnic programming but there have been reports of friction from the language presenters and largely student based operating committee. Whether WMR gets a license from the ABA is unclear at this juncture (Robin L. Harwood, VK7RH. Norwood TAS 7250, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. 4930, Turkmen R, 1940 July 31, presume the one here with agricultural news in English, weak signal. Back into Turkmen language after brief musical interlude at 1944. New English segment in addition to 0840 & 1540??? (Paul Ormandy, New Zealand, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. The BBC is to spend 2.8 billion pounds on revamping its vast property empire. More than 400 million pounds will be spent on returning its news operations to Broadcasting House in Central London. New regional headquarters will be built in Glasgow and Birmingham, costing more than 150 million pounds, and up to eight new buildings will transform its White City offices in West London into an open media campus. The BBC will raise funds by selling dozens of its 520 properties. The chief casualty will be Bush House which will close when the BBC`s lease expires in 2008. Alan Yentob, director of drama, said the BBC aimed to create interactive buildings for the interactive digital era, enabling the licence paying public to enter its buildings and see the BBC at work. All the BBC`s television and news will return to Broadcasting House which will feature 140 recording studios and nearly 19,000 miles of cabling. The BBC`s 40 local radio stations are likely to face a search for new homes when their leases expire. The BBC said it favoured shifting its regional operations to shopping centres where it could capitalise on its brand and be more accessible to the public (The Times, 26th July via Mike Barraclough, World DX Club via DXLD) ** U K [non]. LATVIA. Laser Radio tested most weekends last month on 5935 1400-2200, using the Ulbroka transmitters just outside Riga. Reception and technical quality here was very good, much better than previous use of this transmitter. The station says they will be transmitting every Sunday as soon as possible. Address is Laser Radio, BCM Aquarius, London WC1N 3XX, they ask for a contribution of 2 pounds, 3 Euros or $3 US for a QSL card (Mike Barraclough, England, August World DX Club Contact via WORLD OF RADIO 1142, DXLD) ** U S A. BBG EXPRESSES CONCERN WITH REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS ON U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING Washington, D.C., July 31, 2002 -- The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) applauded a new report that calls for strengthening public diplomacy, but disagreed with certain recommendations on U.S. international broadcasting. "We congratulate the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) for undertaking this creative review of U.S. public diplomacy and the challenges it faces around the world," said BBG Chairman Marc Nathanson. The CFR, a New York-based organization, released a report July 30, 2002 by its Independent Task Force on Public Diplomacy. But Nathanson said a key recommendation in the CFR report, if enacted as stated, could damage the credibility of U.S. international broadcasting, and breach the firewall between its journalists and policy-making institutions in the foreign affairs community. Among other things, the report suggests creating a Public Diplomacy Coordinating Structure (PDCS) to help define communications strategies and streamline public diplomacy structures. "In many ways, the PDCS would be similar to the National Security Council, in its role as adviser, synthesizer, coordinator, and priority-setter," the report said. PDCS members would include the secretaries of State, Defense, Treasury and Commerce, as well as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and BBG chairman. The president would appoint the chairman. BBG members objected to the BBG being included in the coordinating structure. "One of the most important jobs of the BBG, and one of the main reasons for our status as an independent agency, is to preserve the journalistic integrity of the broadcasters," Nathanson said. Norman J. Pattiz, a BBG member who served on the CFR task force, said the BBG should not be a part of any coordinating organization. "Preserving this firewall, not as fiction but as a reality, could be undermined by BBG membership on this new body," he said. "Membership on a coordinating board could, at the very least, give the perception that journalists were not objective," he said. The current BBG structure --- a nine-member board of eight presidentially-appointed private citizens plus the Secretary of State --- provides a mechanism for the BBG to gain broad foreign policy guidance and insulate broadcasters, said Pattiz, who also serves as chairman of the BBG's Middle East Committee. Tom Korologos, another BBG member, said, "The intent of Congress was very clear when it created the board and made it independent in 1999 - to protect the credibility of U.S. international broadcasting and prevent anyone from influencing the content of our broadcasters." The BBG supervises all U.S. non-military international broadcasting, including the Voice of America http://www.voanews.com --- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty http://www.rferl.org --- Radio Free Asia http://www.rfa.org --- and Radio/TV Marti http://www.martinoticias.com For more information, contact: Joan Mower (202.260.0167 or 202.401.3736) jmower@ibb.gov, or http://www.bbg.gov (via Kim Elliott, DC, DXLD) ** U S A. WHAT DOES "SAWA" MEAN ? I looked up "sawa" in my 4th edition of Hans Wehr Arabic-English. Under the s-w- root (where letter s is the "siin" form) there is a listing for " sawaa' " which is "equality, sameness". I can't find any such listing under the S-w- root (where s is the "saad" form). (note the long "a" form and the hamza, as well, lost in the English transliteration). So this program name may be intended to politicize the concept of Muslims being equal to non-Muslims. Just a thought (Robert Foxworth, FL, July 28, hard-core-dx via CRW via DXLD) Well, I don't mean to pound this into the ground at risk of boring many of you about "sawa". Allow me to report on what I have discovered about this word. It's a bit involved since I don't have an English to Arabic dictionary, the one I have seen is poorly printed and hard to read. The Arabic to English by Wehr (1301 pages) is regarded by many as the best for non-native speakers/students, though it lists by root form and not strict alphabetization. It has a thorough breakout by root. As you know, many related-in-meaning words derive from the same 3-consonant root form. e.g. d-r-s the concept of teaching gives darrasa = to teach, mudarris/mudarrisa = teacher, madrasa = place where teaching is done i.e. a school, we all know this word by now. (the prefix ma-- before a word signifies a place where the action happens) In Wehr [3] on p. 519, the listing for " sawaa' " (the " ' " is a hamza), lists "equal, equality, sameness" and then "sawaa'an " (under the form " sawaa' baswaa' " gives "equally, indiscriminately, without distinction; together" followed by other forms for "making no difference" So this may be a very specialized slang usage, outside of what I found, below, for the idea of "together" - perhaps something kids there say now. And this of course would be unlikely to appear in many dictionaries. I found a reference for "together", the mystery word of the 1548 Kuwait station program name, pointing back into Arabic [1] which transliterates back as " jami:a " (the : signifies the letter 'ghayn', written vaguely like a backwards three, no English equivalent) and which indicates a j-m-: root form. There is another listing for "together" [2] which script transliterates back as " ma:an " (final alif has nunation) but no further explanation of origin. Looking up the j-m-: root form in Wehr [3] gives many forms derived from this root, to wit: jama:a = to gather, unite, combine...put together, join,...link, bring together... jam: = gathering, collection, combination, joining, accumulation... jam:ii = collective, social, common, joint, mutual... jam:iiya = club, association, society, organization, assembly... jamii: = total, whole, entire ... (w. following genitive) jumaa: = aggregate, total... jamaa:a = group (of people), band, gang, party...... tajammu: = coming together, meeting, gathering... ijtimaa: = meeting (corporate body, parliament) (consider the origin of Qadhafi's "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya"...) Looking up the same root j-m-: in Qafisheh [4] (Gulf Arabic) gives tajamma: = to assemble, congregate together... njima: = to be collected, gathered together... jtima: = to meet, have a meeting... jam: = collecting together, gathering of people... jam:iyya (pl. jam:iaat) = association, organization, society, part of "League of Nations", "General Assembly" etc.) jimii: n-naas = all of the people, l-jimii: = everyone, everybody jamaa:a = group of people jtimaa: = meeting majmuu: = collected, gathered However neither [3] nor [4] appear to have a listing simply for the word "together" by itself (maybe I don't have enough dictionaries?) The only s-w-- forms in [4] are "sawaa" forms (s-w-ii) which mean "equal, equivalent (p. 338). [1] "Arabic for Beginners", Syed Ali, Hippocrene, 2001, page 158 "adverbs of affirmation" [2] "Teach Yourself Arabic", J. R. Smart, Teach Yourself Books, 1986, reissue in 1992, page 311, in "Arabic-English Vocabulary". [3] "Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic", edited by J. McCowan, 4th Edn, Spoken Language Services, Ithaca, N.Y., 1994, page 159 (book totals 1301 pages) [4] "NTC's Gulf Arabic-English Dictionary: A Compact Dictionary of the Contemporary Arabic of the MidEast", Hamdi A. Qafisheh, NTC Publishing Group, 1997, page 97 (book totals 650 pages) In closing, I can find just one thing that weakly links the form of the 'word' "sawa" to "together", but four modern references that link the idea of "together", "gathered together" etc. to a totally different root form. So now you have an idea of what they mean when they say "the Qur'aan is non-translatable..." Maybe I am sorry I even brought it up ... but it was a learning experience (Robert Foxworth, FL, July 31, hard-core- dx via CRW via DXLD) ** U S A. 1630, KNAX, Fort Worth, TX, seems to have snuck on the air on Saturday 7/27. First noticed in passing Saturday afternoon. As much as I am able to determine, they are // KTNO-1440 Denton with SS religion. The only ID I've heard is for 1440. If there was a mention of the 1630 facility, I couldn't pick that out of the IDs. And I've made it a point to listen to several top-of-hour segments. The FCC database has a line item for them as being U1 1000/1000 along with the 'normal' expanded band listing of U1 10000/1000, but being only 6.6 miles from the transmitter, I'm unable to tell if they 'power down' at night (Bill Hale in Fort Worth, July 29, NRC-Am via DXLD) Checking 1630 on the drive into Downtown Dallas from the northeast suburbs, 1630 is OK and // 1440, but 1440 is much louder (processing issues?). I haven't checked the night time signal yet but I expect it to be similar to KTBK-1700 at my location, there but not solid. In the scheme of things the 1630 channel was granted to replace KHVN- 970. But that was under a previous owner. KHVN-970, KGGR-1040, KTNO- 1440 and KNAX-1630 are presently under common ownership, though (Wally Wawro, WFAA-TV, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. WBBR [1130, New York] will be doing transmitter tuning/maintenance in the near future, and will experience some silent time. The most likely date is late Saturday night 10-Aug or very early morning on Sunday 11-Aug. But the engineer pointed out that they may not get the final approval for downtime until the day before, and that the date may well change depending on the current news activity. It should be no more than a couple of hours. The engineer indicated that the downtime would be on a weekend and definitely not be during the week. That's the all the info I've got. I'll check in with him later next week and post an update here (Rick Kenneally, Wilton, CT, Aug 1, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. WJKM, 1090, Hartsville TN, the daytimer widely reported a few weeks ago by DXers operating at night, now appears to be off the air. Nothing was heard when driving by the station at night. WJKM has reportedly been turned off and the CE let go. Following the reports in DXLD, the ownership is probably aware that someone had noticed their nighttime operation (George McClintock, TN, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. F. W. Robberts Broadcasting, owner of WWCR and WNQM in Nashville, among others, has been granted a construxion permit for 1600 kHz in Memphis TN, with 50,000 watts day power; 500 watts pre- sunrise, and 35 watts at night. This was possiblized by buying out the two nearest 1600 kHz stations, in Helena AR and Martin TN. Actual city of license will be Lakeland TN, a Memphis suburb, but tower and studio will be in Memphis. Callsign: WMQM, for Memphis Quality Ministries, which was previously used by the company on 1480 in Nashville. Expected to be on air by October 1. Will use a 3DX50 transmitter like WSM, a newer version of that used by WNQM (George McClintock, WWCR, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Both the office/studio, and transmitter portions of the WWCR buildings have now been air-conditioned, not so much for cooling, but to reduce dust getting into the components (George McClintock, WWCR, July 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. PBS KNUCKLEHEADS SINK NETWORK IN DEEP DOO-DOO [by] JOHN DOYLE From globeandmail.com, Thursday, August 1, 2002 PASADENA, CALIF. -- Normally, I'd feel sorry for PBS. The American public broadcaster either gets the front end of the press tour or turns up right at the very end. Either way, only about half the critics at TVHOT (TV Hacks on Tour) are around to cover the channel. PBS doesn't have much money to promote itself and it's a teeny-tiny outlet compared with the big four commercial networks. I'm not feeling sorry for PBS any more. The network has managed to make itself look ridiculous, mercenary and amateurish. It's in deep doo-doo. There are so many issues with PBS. For a start, it cancelled Mystery! and moved Masterpiece Theatre to Monday nights. Then it looked like PBS was introducing a new, HIV-positive character on Sesame Street. When a reactionary faction in the U.S. Congress expressed dismay, the head of PBS wrote a weasly letter to the old coots and backed away from the idea. The biggest issue is Louis Rukeyser. Now, as lots of Canadians know, Wall Street Week With Louis Rukeyser was a wonderful show -- a business program that was intelligent, cogent and hosted by a dapper old-timer who had a marvellous, dry sense of humour. The show had a large and loyal following in the United States and Canada, even among people who know diddly about the stock market. Rukeyser was that rare thing -- a natural on TV because he seemed to be a gentleman and wag. The show was made by Maryland PBS and, this spring, Rukeyser got the heave-ho. Conniptions ensued when it emerged that PBS had gone behind Rukeyser's back to hatch a deal to get younger hosts and a faster- paced show. Rukeyser was furious (when I wrote about his departure a few months ago, I got a letter from his New York lawyers congratulating me for scathing comments about PBS) and decamped to CNBC. He has since replicated his old show and now, ironically, about 160 PBS stations have decided to carry it. It's Rukeyser's revenge. What's particularly galling, and appears to be lost on PBS, is that the stock market and financial skullduggery are the big stories right now. Rukeyser has the authority and smarts to comment forcefully on these issues. Rukeyser's show was replaced by Wall Street Week With Fortune. Two young, yammering financial experts from Fortune magazine host it. They showed up here to promote the show. The critics at TVHOT weren't impressed. In a delicious irony, it turned out that the day before, AOL Time Warner, which owns Fortune, had been the subject of speculation about dodgy bookkeeping. The two hosts and the producer yakked away for ages before taking questions they wanted to avoid. Anybody could tell they knew trouble was coming. Asked about Rukeyser, they danced around the issue, saying what a great fella he is, yada-yada. About Fortune and AOL Time Warner, they pointed out that there are really, really strict guidelines at the magazine about reporting on the parent company. "I assure you that we're going to be every bit as objective and unsparing in dealing with AOL Time Warner on this show as we have been in the magazine," co-host Geoff Colvin said. Then he was asked if he's ever recommended selling AOL Time Warner stock on the show. The pause before his namby-pamby answer was greeted with laughter. We all shrugged, shook our heads and thought what boobs these people are. Masterpiece Theatre is moving back to Sundays, by the way. This is just to confuse you after you got used to Monday night airings. The first big offering this year is a remake of The Forsythe Saga. The original, 26-part adaptation of the John Galsworthy novels put PBS on the map in the United States in 1969. The female star is the gorgeous, gangly Gina McKee (Our Friends In The North, Dice) and she walked among us here. Unlike the skinny, petite American starlets who don't have enough body fat to endure the ultra-cold air conditioning in the Ritz, and who shiver all the time, McKee went around sensibly draped in a man's suit jacket over her dress. That's a Brit actress for you. However, it appears from clips of The Forsythe Saga shown to us here that although McKee plays a main character, the true star is actually a red-velvet dress worn by McKee's character. There were several scenes of chaps clasping the empty dress with intent. Mystery! is back but it's not entirely the same. The big production this fall will be a series, Skinwalkers, based on the Tony Hillerman novels set among Native Americans. We're not talking Hercule Poirot here, people. Robert Redford produced it. Meanwhile, Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke appear in a television version of the play The Gin Game. There's a repeat of Ken Burns's The Civil War in September, from a remastered tape, and then there's a whole bunch of shorter docs made over the years by Burns. This is all very nice and earnest, but PBS isn't getting sympathy and support from critics any more. And that's it from me at TVHOT. It's been, like, a slice. (via Ivan Grishin, DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn! Here's the link to a piece in the August issue of LOS ANGELES magazine about Tavis Smiley, who's doing that Black- oriented talk show on NPR: http://www.lamag.com/media.htm I presume the link will expire when the September issue is posted. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, August 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. CLASSICAL STATION DEBUT IS ON HOLD Marc D. Allan July 04, 2002 Plans for a new 24-hour classical music station in central Indiana have hit a snag that could delay its start for as little as a few weeks or as long as several months. WRTV (Channel 6) has filed an objection with the Federal Communications Commission, expressing concern that the radio station's signal at 89.1 FM could interfere with the television reception for people in the Cloverdale area who watch Channel 6 over the air.... http://www.indystar.com/article.php?tvcol04.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CONVENTIONS & MEETINGS ++++++++++++++++++++++ 9TH ANNUAL MADISON WI GET-TOGETHER The 9th Annual Madison Get-together for DXers and Radio Enthusiasts will be held on Saturday, August 17, 2002. This year's hosts are Bill and Nina Dvorak, and the event will take place at their home, 501 Algoma Street, Madison WI 53704-4812. Activities will begin at 1 PM and end when the last person leaves (come when you can and leave when you must). What can you expect at this event? Good fellowship and lots of DX talk in an informal atmosphere. Please feel free to bring any equipment, QSL's, station souvenirs, log books or anything else that would like to show or share with the group. Everyone is encouraged to participate in a group photo, so bring along your camera. Soft drinks and snacks will be provided at the event. If you prefer another beverage, please feel free to bring your own. Dinner is planned for the Esquire Club at approx. 6 PM, and will regroup at Bill and Nina's afterward. For more information, contact Bill Dvorak at dxerak@aol.com or mail him at the above address. He can also be reached at 608-244-5497. When e-mailing, please include reference to the 9th Madison GTG in the subject line. If you do plan to attend, please notify him beforehand for planning purposes. He can provide directions by e-mail, or if you prefer, he will send you a map that includes a handy list of accommodations. A word about the GTG: The Madison area DXers have held this event in late August every year since 1994. We have had an average attendance of 16 DXers per year, and over the years five states and the District of Columbia have been represented at this GTG. This is an all-band event, and draws a diverse group of hobbyists. We hope that you can come, and look forward to seeing you! 73 (Bill and Nina Dvorak, Madison WI, via DXLD) 2002 IRCA SEATTLE CONVENTION - TUKWILA, WA AUGUST 16-18 Time is running out to register for the 2002 IRCA Convention! It will be held near Seattle WA, at the "Towne and Country Suites", at 14800 Interurban Ave S, in Tukwila WA 98168 on August 16-18th 2002. Bruce Portzer and Phil Bytheway will be your hosts. Make your room reservations at 1-800-545-2323; (be sure to mention IRCA discount). Room rates: $69/night (single), $83/night (double- triple). Their web site is http://www.towneandcountrysuites.com Phil Bytheway, 9705 Mary Ave NW, Seattle WA 98117-2334 will handle convention registration (checks made out to Phil Bytheway). Registration will be $30. Ship auction items to: Bruce Portzer, 6546 19th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98115. If you have any questions/etc, contact Phil Bytheway (email phil_tekno@yahoo.com). The convention agenda as of July 30: Friday the 16th, two tours are planned. One will be at KJR, the other TBA. Nick Hall-Patch, DX Monitor's Technical Editor, will hold a technical session. Dinner will be "on your own", most likely, something will be spontaneously organized. Saturday the 17th, a tour of the KIRO AM/FM/TV facilities will take place in the morning, followed by a technical session with Craig Siegenthaler of KIWA Electronics. The official IRCA Business Meeting will be held, and there will of course be the Banquet and Auction on Saturday night. More details will be released as they are firmed up. If you're planning on attending, please register as soon as possible. Bruce and Phil look forward to seeing you there (IRCA Soft DX Monitor August 3 via DXLD) NRC CONVENTION LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN LIMA, OH This year's National Radio Club convention will take place from August 30-September 2 at the Hampton Inn, 1933 Roschman Avenue, in Lima, Ohio. Registration for the convention is $40.00 per member, with a spouse or significant other at $20.00. Both must register at the same time to take advantage of this special rate. To book your hotel room, call the Hampton Inn direct at 419-225-8300. Mention "Code N.R.C." to get the special room rate of $69.00 per night, plus 12% room tax. If you have any questions or wish to register for the convention, contact Fred Vobbe at 706 Mackenzie Drive, Lima Ohio 45805-1835, by telephone at 419-228-6223, FAX 419-221-1609, or E-mail him at fredv@nrcdxas.org Auction goodies should be sent to Fred as well. More details, and an online registration form, can be found at http://www.nrcdxas.org/convention/02nrccon/ (IRCA Soft DX Monitor August 3 via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES phil bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary July 16 2002 through July 29 2002 Tabulated from email status daily Date Flux A K SA Forecast GM Forecast Etc. 7/16 172 12 3 minor minor 9 geo storms 17 180 16 3 moderate minor 6 geo storms 18 181 7 1 minor strong 1 19 182 10 4 minor minor 8 geo storms 20 185 18 4 minor strong 6 21 182 22 2 minor none 6 22 190 15 3 minor minor 6 geo storms 23 198 11 2 minor strong 9 24 208 11 2 minor minor 5 25 218 11 3 minor minor 5 26 242 16 3 minor minor 7 27 231 14 3 minor moderate 7 28 239 10 2 minor minor 3 flare 7/29 234 12 3 minor minor 5 flare ********************************************************************** (IRCA Soft DX Monitor August 3 via DXLD) ###