DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-135, August 30, 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 1145: NEXT BROADCAST ON WBCQ: Mon 0415 7415 NEXT BROADCASTS ON WWCR: Sat 0500, Sun 0230 5070, 0630 3210, Wed 0930 9475 BROADCASTS ON RFPI: Sat 0130, 0730, Sun 0000, 0600, Mon 0030?, 0630?, Wed 0100, 0700 on 7445, 15038.7; webcasts also Sat 1330, 1800, Sun 1200, 1830?, Mon 1230?, Wed 1300 BROADCASTS ON WRN: Rest of world Sat 0800 (incl. Spectrum 558 London); North America Sun 1400 (ON DEMAND) http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/worldofradio.html (DOWNLOAD) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1145.rm (STREAM) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1145.ram (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1145.html WORLD OF RADIO ON WJIE 7490: Has been heard this week every morning Tue thru Fri at 1200, and most evenings at 0030, with new WOR 1145 starting UT Fri; please let us know when heard on weekend! MUNDO RADIAL: new edition starts airing on WWCR 15825 August 30, Fridays 2115, Wednesdays 2100, or slightly earlier. Also: (CORRIENTE) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0208.ram (BAJABLE) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0208.rm (TEXTO) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0208.html ** AFGHANISTAN. Here`s the entire article previously referenced by DXing.info, source of claim that PsyOps is on 6100: August 17, 2002 BRAGG SOLDIERS GET WORD OUT UNIT RUNS RADIO STATION THAT DELIVERS POPULAR MUSIC AND MESSAGES Author: PETER SMOLOWITZ, STAFF WRITER Dateline: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan A Fort Bragg unit runs a popular radio station in Kandahar, alternating music and messages in an effort to win the hearts and minds of Afghans. For 18 hours a day, members of the 8th Psychological Operations Battalion broadcast from a makeshift studio that's actually a truck covered by a tent. Their signal on shortwave and AM radio restores a freedom lost when the Taliban ruled, and instructs Afghans on how to rebuild their country "It's letting them know we're here to help," said 2nd Lt. Stuart of Washington state, who would not give his last name for security reasons. The messages mixed into the radio shows are broadcast in two languages, Dari and Pashtun, so Americans aren't seen as taking sides in a nation trying to end more than two decades of war. The 30- to 90-second spots urge Afghans to join their national army, support their new government, beware of land mines and report members of al-Qaida and the Taliban. "We also give them female voices on the radio, just to show change," said Sgt. Ron of Washington, D.C. Satar Shah of Kandahar City, an interpreter working on the U.S. military base in Kandahar, said he listens mornings and evenings for half an hour. Shah said Afghans enjoy the music after years of secretly listening in their homes, and the messages are effective. "They say that the U.S. is helping you; when the planes come, don't fire. And it's good to be safe; don't shoot and make problems," Shah said. Another message, he said: "The (president) of Afghanistan (Hamid Karzai) is a good (president), and he's going to build up your country, and the U.S. is going to help him." The Army has previously launched similar efforts in Panama, Bosnia, Kosovo and during the Persian Gulf War. The special operations soldiers in Kandahar also have the ability to run a television station, but not enough Afghans have TVs. Early in Operation Enduring Freedom, the Army dropped transistor radios, along with instructions for using them. In March, the Fort Bragg soldiers relieved Commando Solo II, an EC-130E that played music, news and information 10 hours a day while flying over Afghanistan. The soldiers took tapes from Afghans living in America, borrowed more from locals working on the Kandahar base and bought music that Afghans requested in surveys. They mix the rotation like an American station so listeners don't always hear the same thing. "It's all Afghan music, nothing American," said 2nd Lt. Stuart. "We're here to help, to play music for them, not to spread our culture onto them." The signal transmits 1,000 watts on shortwave 6,100 and 5,000 watts on AM 864. Soldiers have also helped other stations move their antennas or update antiquated equipment, in exchange for playing U.S. messages on the new, more powerful signals. Research indicated younger Afghans wanted to hear dance or upbeat music, middle-age listeners like classical, and senior citizens want folk music. Caption: 1. PETER SMOLOWITZ - STAFF PHOTO. The Army's radio station in Afghanistan is housed in a truck covered by a tent. The station alternates music with messages to Afghans. Copyright (c) 2002 The Charlotte Observer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. Re Information Radio, Kandahar, 6100: Only Pyongyang was audible here Aug 25 from fade in 1435 to 1800*. QRM from R Sweden *1545-1600*, R Polonia *1600-1630* and VOA *1700-1800*. (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN/TURKMENISTAN. In DX publications, the Psyops transmissions on 8700 kHz are usually claimed being transmitted from Turkmenistan, after a technical conversation was heard on 8700 in October 2001 where both Turkmenian and English was used. The full story and transcript of the recording was featured in DXLD #1-158. However, there are doubts about the link: - The fact that the persons in part are using the Turkmenian language, does not automatically link the transmissions with Turkmenistan. Turkmenian is one of the local languages in Northern Afghanistan, there are about 500.000 ethnic Turkmenians living in that area. It can be a conversation between two (Afghan) members of this ethnic group. - There are only very small SW transmitting capacities in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat, both as far as transmitters and antennas are concerned, intended and used for domestic broadcasting. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CRW had made that suggestion; however, much later, until the 6100 transmission appeared, it was believed that PsyOps was transmitting ground-based from Kandahar on 8700 (gh, DXLD) ** ALASKA [and non]. Dear Glenn, the item you have edited in DXLD 2- 134 has been published first in the Radio Rebelde press section. EL CATACLISMO DE HAARP, Juana Carrasco Martín (J.R.) Juana Carrasco is a very active newsreporter and commentary reporter of Radio Rebelde. Thus I agree 10000 % with her opinions expressed in very good clear way; I think there are too much political relationship with her opinions and the hard situation of the Cuba country.....so I suggest you clear the original source is Radio Rebelde Cuba. Same article has been also edited in CUBAHORA http://cubahora.co.cu A propósito de armas biológicas Autor: JUANA CARRASCO MARTÍN. Todo ocurrió en el breve espacio de unas horas y el asunto lleva acaparando titulares de... http://cubahora.co.cu/politica/2002/mayo/14/armas.html I hope to have been little useful, but I guess the people living in your country will not be able to understand the TRAGIC SITUATION OUR PLANET IS LIVING DAY BY DAY (Dario Monferini, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, but don`t underestimate, or stereotype us... (gh, USA, DXLD) ** ALASKA. Saturday, October 26, 2002 - KNOM-780, Nome, AK will conduct a DX test from 12:00 am to 1:00 am Alaska Local Time (i.e. 4-5 am EDT [i.e. 0800-0900 UT; see below]. From Les Brown, who arranged the test: "We are currently planning to go from nighttime power (14 kW) up to 25 kW within a minute or two after midnight on 10/26, a Saturday. As I won't be here, I'll set it up with a regular operator to make the change as soon as the station goes into AP network news. The news ends at 12:05 and is followed by lengthy weather forecasts for various Alaska regions, typically ending around 12:09. Programming will be Polish polkas from then until the next newscast at 1 AM with a clear ID between every programming item. We'll run our normal public service stuff (we are non-commercial) along with time and temperature checks. Morse IDs will be frequent." Also - Les mentions that the station will stay at 25 kW until 6 am Alaska time. [1400 UT] Reception reports (*with return postage*) may be sent to: Les Brown, KNOM-AM, P. O. Box 988, Nome, AK 99762 EMAIL: rfn@nook.net WEB: http://www.knom.org (Arranged by Les Brown for the benefit of all DXers) (via Lynn Hollerman, IRCA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is of course, the day before USA goes off DST, to avoid confusion. Hard to believe Nome be on UT minus 8, but from http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-usa24.html that appears to be the case, with Alaskan Daylight Time; only the Aleutians anymore are one hour earlier. By its longitude, west of 165, Nome ought to be in the UT minus 11 timezone!! So in effect they suffer from triple-daylight time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. I visited the DX Listening Digest 2002 Archive today, and was interested in the above named item. I read the comments made on the piece and would truly like to listen to it. I am not very good at interpreting the site, but I believe the comments were made by John Cobb from Roswell, GA. (DX Listening Digest). Could you please guide me as to how to listen to this Radio Liberty broadcast from the 1982 Falklands War? I thank you in advance for your help (Marta P. Ruiz de Gamboa, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am not aware of any online source to listen to a complete broadcast; a half-minute ID of very poor quality is available at http://www.intervalsignals.net/files/arg-z-liberty_ow_1982.ram (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2325, VL8T, 1125 Aug 28, armchair copy today. Pop and world music. YL mentioned Territory Radio in passing. Announcer`s mic EQed for FM service, terrible for DX. // 2310 and 2485, but strongest of the three (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS`. R. Minsk, 7210, Aug 25 0200-0228, sign-on with IS and multi-lingual IDs. English programming with sked, address and into news, lite instrumental music, local folk music, poor-fair with some ham QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. ORTB, 7210.27, Aug 24 2300-0126* Aug 25, French talk, local hi-life music, Afro-pops. Appeared to be covering some kind of event with sounds of a crowd, yelling, speeches by man. Sign-off with national anthem. On late. Usually signs off at 2300. Fair-good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6105.0, R. Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista SP, Aug 13, 2250-2306, end of part 2 of Voz do Brasil, station ID. QRM de Brazil itself, viz. R Cultura, which was slightly off channel, 6105.1. 33442. What I've repeatedly observed with R. Canção Nova on 49 m is that its signal seems to become stronger after Voz do Brasil is aired, meaning they probably reduce transmitter power when that government program that's more or less imposed on Brazilian stations, but I wouldn't like to speculate any further (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) ** CAMBODIA. The Foreign Service of NRC in English and French (other languages not checked) still continues according to sked on 11940, using a 40-year-old 50 kW Philips transmitter which is undermodulated and produces distorted audio. Moreover, the 0000 broadcast suffers strong interference from CRI on 11945, and at 1200 there is QRM from a mixture of CRI and BBC, also on 11945. The English program often just consists of non-stop recorded music and minutes of silence. The French program does contain a newsbulletin. When I visited the station 3 years ago, a veteran broadcaster told me: ``When the Vietnamese were here, after dealing with the Khmer Rouge, we had a much higher standard of broadcasting.`` (Maarten van Delft, Holland, is just back from 4 weeks in West & East Malaysia with loggings and interesting background information. Receiver: Sony ICF-7600DS with built-in telescopic antenna. Frequencies only accurate to the nearest full kHz). (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC Previews for Friday August 30: THE SHELBURNE FIDDLE CONTEST: You'll find your toes tapping - in the car, in the office, wherever you are - this afternoon, as CBC Radio One brings you the Shelburne Fiddle Contest. Join host Jowi Taylor and special guest Calvin Vollrath, himself a Master Fiddler, for some of the best fiddle-playing you'll ever hear. That's the Shelburne Fiddle Contest, this afternoon at 2 (2:30 NT) on CBC Radio One. [contradicted by this; actually later in the 2-hour block??] MYSTERY PROJECT: Friday afternoons, the Roundup presents an episode of The Mystery Project. And even though there's no Roundup today, you'll still get your fix of suspense. Join journalist- turned-sleuth Peggy Delaney this afternoon for "Special Delivery": a series of anonymous written threats culminates in a grotesque package that arrives for Bernie. That's this afternoon at 2:06 (2:36 NT) on CBC Radio One (CBC Hotsheet via gh, DXLD) 2 pm = 2000 UT in MDT/CST, 2100 UT in PDT ** CANADA. Thestar.com Aug. 29, 01:00 EDT MAJORITY FEEL CBC VITAL TO CULTURAL IDENTITY: POLL CANADIAN CONTENT RULES CONSIDERED INSUFFICIENT Graham Fraser, National Affairs Writer OTTAWA Canadians are confident that the country's culture and identity are stronger now than they were five years ago in terms of distinctness from the United States, but worry about the ability to control domestic affairs from U.S. pressure in the future, a survey has found... http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?GXHC_gx_session_id_=ded3b2f127670d88&pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1026144671244 (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. LOBBY GROUP WANTS OTTAWA TO GIVE CBC $250 MILLION MORE ANNUALLY --- [by] STEPHEN THORNE OTTAWA (CP) - A lobby group is calling on the federal government to commit $250 million more a year to revamp the CBC, after a poll suggested more than 80 per cent of Canadians want a renewed national broadcaster. Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is urging Ottawa to make the CBC, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, more accessible and more community oriented. The group says years of budget cuts have undermined the public broadcaster's ability to meet its mandate. "We have detected a real concern on the part of the public, and also of members of Parliament of all political stripes, about the way the CBC is retreating from or ignoring local markets," group spokesman Ian Morrison said in an interview. "There is an early warning in this poll that CBC isn't looking after its backyard, its grassroots, as well as it is its national programming." Almost 90 per cent of those polled by Ipsos-Reid between Aug. 6 and 11 said they wanted regional CBC services strengthened in their part of the country. Eighty-three per cent agreed with the statement: "We should build a new CBC capable of providing high-quality Canadian programming with strong regional content throughout Canada." The poll of 1,100 adult Canadians commissioned by the lobby group is considered accurate to within three percentage points, 95 per cent of the time. In July, the group wrote to Finance Minister John Manley advising him that the CBC is failing in its mandate to "reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions." Centralizing CBC operations in Toronto and Montreal at the expense of local and regional programming has "weakened our best means of defending Canadian identity when it is most needed," the letter said. It recommended Ottawa require the CBC board of directors to develop a business plan addressing the issue and then invest $250 million in expanding its reach and operations. "There are occasions when good public policy and popular public policy can go hand in hand," said the letter, signed by Morrison. "Building a new CBC is one of these opportunities." The group says the CBC is losing ground in the 500-channel universe. The percentage of Canadians polled who said they derived high value from CBC-TV programming declined to 64 per cent from the 71 per cent surveyed in a similar Ipsos-Reid poll in 1995. CBC Radio suffered a similar drop, to 62 per cent from 75 in 1995. At the same time, a majority of those surveyed (more than 90 per cent) said they support Canadian culture, Canadian content (79 per cent) and efforts to regulate it (61 per cent). Ottawa slashed about $400 million from the CBC's $1-billion annual budget in recent years, creating job losses, cancelled programs and shorter newscasts. Yet, as part of its 50th birthday celebrations, CBC-TV has commissioned a special Via Rail museum train to cross the country. It has also scheduled 26 hours of specials designed to remind both fans and detractors of the CBC contribution to Canada's cultural fabric since it first went on air in 1952. The Canadian Press, 2002 08/29/2002 1:37 EST (via AOL Canada News via Fred Waterer, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC-TV ON TRACK FOR 50TH ANNIVERSARY Wednesday, August 28, 2002 Back The Halifax Herald Limited Kevin Frayer / The Canadian Press Mr. Dressup's treehouse is prepared in Toronto on Wednesday, in a VIA rail car that will be used as a moving museum for CBC's 50th anniversary celebrations. After a cross-country journey, the train makes it final stop in Halifax on Oct. 5. [caption] By John McKay / The Canadian Press Toronto - At the CBC, they call it the MacGyver team. They're a hand-picked crew of crafts people - carpenters, painters, electricians - who can perform miracles when called upon. In recent days they've been filling a Via Rail yard in suburban Toronto with the sounds of hammering and buzz saws as they outfit a specially commissioned train that will cross the country next month as part of CBC-TV's 50th anniversary celebrations. Julie Dossett, senior manager for the public broadcaster's train project, says that like the 1980s TV hero, the eight-man staging and installation crew is the best at displaying ingenuity and creativity to get the job done. "Shoelaces and bubblegum and they can make incredible things, it's our top guys," Dossett says. Good thing, too. One day recently they were seen handling some famous but fragile national icons. In the rail car that will be used for the history of CBC children's programming, a portion of the Friendly Giant's grey castle wall - including the window that Jerome the Giraffe used to poke his head through - was leaning against the wall. Nearby was owl's treehouse from Mr. Dressup. The tickle trunk was said to be on its way, too, from the CBC broadcast museum downtown. Many of these original items were constructed of plaster, chicken wire and papier mâché and weren't designed to last forever. Dossett says the crew was suitably impressed with the priceless items they had to install safely to withstand 35 days of train travel. Also on display will be years of awards the network has acquired, including Genies and Geminis, and even an Oscar that the CBC's French service, Radio Canada, once won for an animated short film. "When the box arrived with all this wrapped in 75,000 pounds of bubble wrap, we opened it up and everyone's like 'Mmmm, this is real now!'" When the train cars are ready, and the engine painted a fiery red with the CBC logo emblazoned on the side, it will all be sent to the West Coast. "Once it's in Vancouver in the main yard there, they'll marshal it all together in order and then we'll bring it into the rail station," says Cathering Kaloutsky, a senior public affairs officer for Via Rail. The anniversary train will depart Sept. 7 for its whistle-stopping tour across Canada, ending in Halifax on Oct. 5. Visitors will also see a replica of the old Don Messer's Jubilee set, even an authentic-looking news set where they can sit down, put on the mike, and read a Peter Mansbridge script off the TelePrompTer. "They get to be an anchor and then they walk off with a videotape of their performance," Dossett says, adding that when it was tried in Toronto, people line up for 2 1/2-hours. "What we hear constantly from viewers is 'We want to learn more about you, we want to meet your people, we want to see behind the scenes.' This insatiable appetite for the magic of television and how it's made." Dossett won't say how much the rail project is costing but says it's within budget. Via is providing the rolling stock but in Ontario will add on some of their new state-of-the-art Renaissance cars to help promote their revitalized passenger service in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. At various stops along the CBC train's route, five tents will be erected trackside with content focusing on various themes: sports, news, new media, kids' programming and merchandising. In the sports tent, for example, fans can sit at the Hockey Night in Canada set and have their picture taken with cutout images of Ron MacLean and Don Cherry. The train will also have a working broadcast facility and various CBC personalities will get on and off during the trip. Programs such as Newsworld Morning and Canada Now, radio's Richardson's Roundup and even Radio Canada TV Ce Soir and Ontario en direct will do live broadcasts. "It's so interesting to start to see them working together," Dossett says. "I think it's a sign of the future of this company and it's pretty exciting to watch." And she emphasizes the "magical partnership" between the CBC and the railway system. "It's actually been a great marriage, because we stand for so many of the same kind of things, this whole idea of cultural fabric from one end of the country to the other." Copyright © 2002 The Halifax Herald Limited (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. CHUM DUMPS SPORTS FORMAT FOR MUSIC http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1030443631958&call_page=TS_Entertainment&call_pageid=968867495754&call_pagepath=Entertainment/News (via Bill Westenhaver, QC, Wed Aug 28 14:44:15 2002 via DXLD) THE TEAM SPORTS RADIO PACKS IT IN http://waymoresports.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=waymoresports/Layout/Article_Type1&call_page=WM_Home&call_pageid=979619472127&call_pagepath=Home/Home&c=Article&cid=1026144635940 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) A MORE LOCAL TEAM 990? [by] BERNARD PERUSSE, Montreal Gazette, Friday, August 30, 2002 Team 990, Montreal's all-sports radio outlet, dodged the bullet Tuesday when owner CHUM Radio deep-sixed five of its sports stations - but it might have to come up with more local programming to ensure its longevity. Team 1200 in Ottawa and Team 1040 in Vancouver were the only others to survive the axe... http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id={0E2F1D3A-F603-4561-BF90-BEDE00942C2C} (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. Hello, Does anyone know who and where the 12359 usb weather at 19-20? gmt for boats/yachts in the atlantic is and coming from? I can get an s9+10 on him most days and sometimes the boats themselves -- pretty neat. Are there any others? (Chris Campbell, Aug 28, swl via DXLD) Herb Hilgenberg, VAX498 in Nova Scotia, I believe. There was an item about him in DXLD 2-039 but the ABC TV news item link no longer works (gh, DXLD) Herb does have a web site; it is at http://www.hometown.aol.com/hehilgen/myhomepage/vacation.html (Joe Olig, swl via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6060.07, La Voz de tu Conciencia, Lomalinda, Aug 17, 0920-1030, usual format of religious and bible talk and Colombian music, a few mentions of Colombia; definitely their programming, but no ID through the barnyard animal sounds at 1005. Still seems in test mode, and I note in the latest "Colombia Para Cristo" News Letter, "The license for our short wave station now only requires the final signature". Some background QRM at first, presumably from Argentina, but that soon gone. Pretty good signal in heavy summer QRN. Only Brazil heard on Aug 18 at this time. But back Aug 24, 0925, English ID heard: "This is the Voice of Your Conscience, transmitting on 6060 shortwave to Colombia and the world. You are listening to the Alcaraván Radio System." Everything else in Spanish. Good signal (Jerry Berg, MA, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** CUBA. Guantánamo`s 810 AM station (not the US Navy Base; they're 1340 AM) is one of the most horrible stations I've heard (and certainly there are others) technical-wise. Its audio is horrible, downright dreadful, and it splatters over three to four adjacent channels for miles. I never took the time to measure the frequency of the station, but given the number of anomalies noted I wouldn't be surprised if they were off freq. At this writing, I can't recall which Cuban network they're associated with (Ron Gitschier, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CYPRUS. RADIO SAWA TESTING FROM CYPRUS ON 981 KHZ Radio Sawa, the United States Government mouthpiece in Arabic, has begun testing from Cape Greco in southeastern Cyprus on 981 kHz mediumwave. IBB Monitoring tells DXing.info that currently tests are conducted without a fixed schedule, but once completed, the transmitter will air Radio Sawa programming 24 hours a day. The new 600-kilowatt transmitter is primarily aimed at Egypt and countries of the Levant, the Eastern Mediterranean. Vladimir Titarev in Ukraine was the first DXer to pick up the station on August 27, and on August 28 it was heard as far away as Finland. A sample station ID is in the audio section: http://www.dxing.info/audio/cyprus/981_Sawa.rm The station has begun testing, from the same location as RMC Cape Greco. Picked it up here in Finland on Aug 28, best around 2112 UT, but heard already over an hour earlier, promoting its website at http://www.ibb.gov/radiosawa/ The frequency is quite a mess here in Finland, with R Varna from Bulgaria, ERT Greece and Iran all stronger than R Sawa. Radio Sawa is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, Arabic-language service of the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) aimed at listeners under 30. It was launched in March 2002. Before Cyprus, Radio Sawa has already used mediumwave transmitters in Kuwait (1548 kHz) and Rhodes, Greece (1260 kHz). An additional AM transmitter in Djibouti is expected to be operational in 2003. The station is heard on FM in Amman, Jordan (98.1 MHz), Kuwait City, Kuwait (95.7 MHz), Doha, Qatar (92.6 MHz) as well as in Dubai (90.5 MHz) and Abu Dhabi (98.7 MHz), both in the United Arab Emirates. The station is also heard on shortwave and via Nilesat, Arabsat and Eutelsat Hotbird. Radio Sawa programming consists of a mix of Western and Arabic pop music with newscasts at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour (DXing.info, August 28, 2002 via DXLD) see also U S A ** DENMARK [and non]. R. Denmark had to change its domestic and external programming on Aug 19 when a journalist strike began for higher salaries. The domestic newscasts are shortened to a few minutes on top of each hour. On shortwave (via the transmitters in Norway) the short domestic newscast is repeated up to five times during the 25 minutes airtime (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Most of the Conference participants attended this R. Finland live transmission. It was confirmed that the programmes in English, German and French probably will cease by the end of October which is highly regrettable. Furthermore, QSLs will be more difficult to obtain afterwards (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. If anybody is interested in the soundprocessing Bayerischer Rundfunk uses on 6085: It's a Siemens W 295 B compressor, highpass 150 Hz, lowpass setting not known for sure but believed to be 4500 Hz. Bass reduced by 15 db, treble boosted by 9 db, presence (this would be the range around 2 kHz I guess) set to +/- 0 db. Additional soundprocessing takes place within the radio house where they also catch MDR info for the overnight relays with an ordinary Kathrein ADR receiver. The STL is believed to be a 384 kbit/s Musicam feed. Kind regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. 23190 = 2 X 11595, Greece fading up and down // 11595 at 1230 UT. Bet that`s a long time since a real harmonic came in!!! (Mikey DX Dawson, UK, Aug 30, harmonics yahoogroups via DXLD) ** GUINEA. R. Conakry, 7125, Aug 24 2320-2400* mostly continuous Afro- pops, very little talk, sign-off with national anthem; fair-good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9450 was a one day operation it seems. AIR was noted on 9450 from yesterday 1320 to today 0041. Today they are noted back on 9425 at 1320 to 0041 (Jose Jacob, India, Aug 29, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9552, RRI Ujung Pandang heard with strong and well- modulated signals. Full ID at 0200 still mentioning `Makassar`, the old name for Ujung Pandang. The station occasionally continues past 0930. 9742, RRI Sorong heard fading in at 0615 (listed in DBS, not in WRTH!). Though remaining weak, a newsbulletin was heard at 0700, preceded by commercials (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. V. of Indonesia, 15149.83, Aug 24 2000-2100* English news, commentary, local music, IDs, fair-good; no \\s heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KAZAKHSTAN [non]. 9775, R. Dat, daily since Aug 14, *0101-0200* and *1500-1600*, new clandestine broadcasting in Russian towards Kazakhstan with opposition programs against President Nazarbayev. DAT in Kazakh means "I demand a word!" acc. to their website http://datradio.com/indexeng.htm Email: info@datradio.com The whole programme consists of political talks with frequent mentions of Nazarbayev and Kazakhstan and IDs: "vy slushayetje radio dat - svobodnoye radio dlya svobodnovo kazakhstana" ("You're listening to Radio Dat - free radio for free Kazakhstan"). Seemingly they replayed one 30 min tape twice during this hour. Very accurate frequency. Sounded like transmitter was fed via poor phone lines. Strong signal, but QRM VOA News now in English at 0100-0200, and CNR2 in Chinese at 1500-1600 // 9755. Most likely coming from a CIS site in Europe, like for instance Maiac Grigoriopol, Moldova (Berg, Bueschel, Green, Petersen and Titarev, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) All server http://www.datradio.com and http://www.khabar.us also Email ISP and Audio Provider are registered in Canada. DAT website contains some banner of government bearing broadcasting stations, like Mayak, R Rossii. The organisation behind DAT-Radio might be the Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan (RPPK), founded by the ex-prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin (1994-1997) who in absentia was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Kazakhstan in 2001, and lives in exile in Europe. The party's website http://kazhegeldin.addr.com/english.htm also a short article about DAT-Radio: http://kazhegeldin.addr.com/english/engl_16_08_02.html There is also a Canadian office of the RPPK, see http://kazhegeldin.addr.com/english/engl_03_06_02.html (Bernd Trutenau in DXplorer Aug 18 via DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) IS RUSSIA HOSTING KAZAKH OPPOSITION RADIO STATION? Kazakhstan's National Security Ministry has established that Radio DAT, which describes itself as "the voice of democratic forces in Kazakhstan that are fighting for justice, the well-being of the people, human rights, and political freedoms," broadcasts not from the West, but from an unnamed town in the Russian Federation, forumkz.org reported on 29 August, quoting "confidential sources." Radio DAT http://www.datradio.com began broadcasting on shortwave earlier this summer in both Kazakh and Russian. According to the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, Kazakh journalist and public figure Bigeldin Gabdullin, a political refugee in the United States, served as anchor for Radio DAT's first broadcast. ("RFE/RL Newsline, 29 August via RFE/RL Media Matters Aug 30 via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. A brief English News Bulletin can be heard from Radio Kyrgyzstan, Biskek from 2325 to 2330 UT. The frequencies are 4010 kHz and 4795 kHz. This bulletin in preceded by a bulletin in Kyrghyz followed by Russian. 73s, (Harjot Singh Brar, Punjab, for GRDXC, Aug 29, via DXLD) ** LAOS. 4661, Xam Nua was heard till s/off at 1230*. 6971, LNR Luang Prabang is still inactive. 7145, LNR's Foreign Service heard regularly according to sked in French and English (other languages not checked) on 7145. Mostly, however, they announce only 1030 MW and 97.25 MHz FM. In the past they were inactive on 7145, but continued to announce that frequency for years (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. R. Veritas, 5470, noted here 29th August 2055 with English religious programme ending and identification on the hour. Weak signal, clear in uppersideband but heterodyne when used LSB (Mike Barraclough, England, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Radio Veritas from Liberia on 5470 kHz was heard here at our DX-site in Fredriksfors September 28th. at about 23 UT. Transmitter (or electrical?) trouble as the signal often almost vanished. Not only usual fading. ``Dark`` modulation. Also disturbances from RTTY and also coast radio (African French?). Does anyone have a valid address to contact them? No snailmail is delivered to Liberia, or is that just a rumour? Email? Best regards (Jan Edh, Hudiksvall, Sweden, Aug 30, DXing.info via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. The listed domestic SW frequencies of RTM West Malaysia are all active. An engineer at the Kajang Transmitting Station, just South-East of Kuala Lumpur, told me that the poorly performing transmitter on 5965 is a very old 5 kW standby unit. It will be replaced by a 100 kW transmitter - now used on 15295 - after the installation of a new 250 kW Thomcast transmitter for the 19 m.b. outlet, mainly intended for the broadcasts in Arabic. Also a new TCI antenna system (type HRS-441) is being installed. This project should be completed in October. RTM Sarawak's listed SW frequencies are all active. According to the Director of Broadcasting, the Sibu transmitter, which used to operate on 5005, cannot be repaired as the necessary parts are no longer available. The MW network, the still expanding FM-network and the recently upgraded SW facilities at Kuching appear to provide adequate coverage. With Miri having left SW already a couple of years ago, the remaining Sibu transmitter on 6050 is likely to continue till it breaks down, so get it while you can! Spare parts for the RTM Sabah transmitter, which used to operate on 4970, are no longer available either. As MW and FM coverage are considered adequate, it may never be reactivated. However, the transmitter on 5980 will continue as long as it lasts. The current SW schedule of the programs in English and minority languages is as follows: English 0330-0730 (news at 0500), Kadazan 0730-1000, Bajau 1000-1200, Dusun 1200-1315 and Murut 1315-1330 (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5975, UNID Asian station might have been the Myawaddy Radio Station heard from 1300 under Hanoi. 6570, The Defence Forces Station at Taunggyi was heard from about 1400 onwards. The following English HS broadcasts were noted (all parallel with 576 MW): 5985 at 1430-1600, 7185 at 0200-0245 (weekends till 0300) and 9730 at 0700-0830. From about 1100, 4725 was heard in minority languages and with educational segments in English (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** NEPAL. 6100, R. Nepal, Aug 25, 1200, much better signal than on // 5005. Malaysia signs on around 1300 on 6100 and it is a mess then (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. V. of Nigeria, 7255, Aug 24 2250-2300* English, world news, ID, sign-off with national anthem; poor-fair with occasional ham QRM. \\ 15120 was poor, mixing with Cuba (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 2410, R Enga, 1055 Aug 28, nice signal strength, but undermodulated. Religious choral music. ID mentioned by announcer. Into pops at 1100 (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. 7737, Radiodifusión America, Asunción. Aug 24, 0910. Fair level signal of male voices in Spanish // 7300 also fair level (Charles Jones, Australia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** PERU. R. Melodía, 5996.69, Aug 25 0710-0745+ Spanish announcements, IDs, OA folk music, Spanish pops, ballads; weak in noise (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6819.58, La Voz de las Huarinjas, Huancabamba (presumed), 1045 Aug 28, lightning static but in there with fair signal. Enjoyable folk music. Heard announcer but didn't catch ID (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9580, PBS Manila was noted in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) fading in at 0645. They seem to use much less than the listed output power of 250 kW from the Tinang transmitter site. From about 0800, PBS started heterodyning with R. Australia and from about 0830 the latter station dominated the channel (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. 6095, R. Sweden, Aug 25 (Sunday) *1545-1600*, new frequency which was heard in parallel to the three scheduled: 6065, 13580 and 17485 ! News ``Dagens Eko`` in Swedish. 44554. To my knowledge there are only three active, 500 kW transmitters in Hörby, so this must have been from another transmitter in Sweden or abroad! (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) Or maybe spur from 6065? Anything on matching 6035? (gh, DXLD) ** SYRIA [non]. CLANDESTINE from ? to SYRIA 12115 ? The evidence seems to indicate that a group called the Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) is involved in these transmissions. At a minimum, the Committee's material is being used in the broadcasts. Literally all their broadcasting commentary scripts and materials of human right abuse in Syria can be found at their website http://www.shrc.org The station is currently broadcasting this report -- http://www.shrc.org/arabic/communications/reports/2002/report06272002.htm -- in parts, though not daily. The English translation is here: http://www.shrc.org/english/reports/2002/annual_report/1.htm Being based in London, the transmission site might need to be revised in light of this (Mahmud Fathi, Germany, Aug 28, Cumbre DX Special via DXLD) Also, 0330-0400 on 9950. Some are reporting this as Voice of the Homeland (Sowt Al-Watan). Contact information is on the SHRC website. (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX Ed. via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. CHINA/TAIWAN. 9725, Repeated series of numbers, read by a woman in Mandarin, often noted at 0900-1100. Supposedly an intelligence service with messages to agents elsewhere. Rather unusual for such transmissions to be conducted in the AM mode right in the middle of a broadcasting band (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) Believe that is one of the Star Star channels; another inbander is 15388 (gh, DXLD) The e-mail address and the mailing address of Star Star Broadcasting Station have been observed. However, I tried the e-mail address of w2789@hotmail.com, which was unusable, and the mailing address of P. O. Box 12587, Taipei, Taiwan, which has been no response. Another Dxer tried the same thing, but the result was same (Masato Ishii, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** THAILAND. R. Thailand World Service heard opening in Lao after English ID at 1130 on 7115 and 6070, while 4830 appears to be inactive (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** TIBET. CHINA. Xizang PBS verified with QSL card. According to the reply, current schedule is as follows: Tibetan program: 2250-0735 594, 4905, 4920 6200, 5240, 6130, 6110 0950-1700 4905, 7385, 9490, 6200, 6130 5240, 4920 2250-0200 7385, 7125, 5240, 4920 0200-0735 9580, 9490 0950-1735 6110 Chinese Program: 2000-1735 1377, 6050, 4820 2000-0300 7170 0300-1200 11860 1200-1735 7170 2000-0200 5935, 11590 0200-1100 15285 1100-1735 11590 (Masato Ishii, Shibata-shi, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) Ha! But what about English? Not worth mentioning. Formatting made it difficult to sort out the Tibetan from Chinese schedules above; hope I got them right (gh, DXLD) The 1630 English programme noted here August 29th with fair reception on 5240 6130 and 7385, all clear channels (Mike Barraclough, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Hi Glenn, I'm a regular reader of WOR ; great job, congrats ! Thanks to the tips, I picked up Voice Of Holy Tibet for the first time today (30 Aug) 6130 kHz : 1635z SINPO 24343 Program in English 5240 kHz : 1635z SINPO 13222 Same program as on 6130 RIG was JRC NRD-545 DSP + Wellbrook ALA-100 loop. Location : South- East of France. My question is : are the transmitters located in Tibet?? Thanks, Kind regard, (Pat, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, they are, as far as we know, altho some domestic services for Tibet on SW are transmitted from (other) parts of China (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. DAVID JACKSON NAMED VOA DIRECTOR Veteran foreign correspondent and journalist David Jackson has been appointed Director of the Voice of America (VOA) by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). Jackson`s 23-year career with Time magazine included stints as a correspondent in Cairo and Hong Kong as well as two years as bureau chief in Seoul. He also served as a correspondent, bureau chief or senior correspondent in the magazine`s bureaus in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. He began his journalism career as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News in 1974. He joined Time in the Chicago bureau in 1978 and was sent on a special assignment to Iran to cover the Islamic revolution. Last year he retired from Time and took a post as editor-in-chief of DefendAmerica.gov, the Defense Department`s principal website devoted to news about the war against terrorism. "The Board is delighted to have a journalist of Jackson`s experience to lead VOA in a period when it must play an important role in presenting the truth about what is happening in the world," said Kenneth Tomlinson, the BBG`s newly confirmed chairman. Jackson replaces Robert Reilly, who announced his resignation today "to seek opportunities in which I can more directly employ my talents in helping support the President and this Administration in the war against international terrorism." Reilly said he would remain with VOA for a period of time to help the new director and new BBG chairman during the transition. In accepting Reilly`s resignation, Tomlinson said the BBG appreciated Reilly`s stewardship as VOA director during the events following September 11. "I`m very excited about this opportunity to join such a respected organization, and I`m looking forward to working with my fellow journalists to carry on and enhance VOA`s worldwide reputation," Jackson said. He also announced that Marie Skiba, currently the acting director of VOA`s television service, will serve as VOA chief of staff during the transition. The Voice of America, which first went on the air on February 24, 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational and cultural programming every week to a worldwide audience of 94 million people. Programs are produced in English and 52 other languages. 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 http://www.voa.gov/index.cfm?tableName=tblPressReleases&articleID=10098§iontitle=Press%20Releases (via Bill Westenhaver, QC, DXLD) That was seemingly sudden! Wonder if he was forced out after planning to close down 5 overseas news bureaux. As a former foreign correspondent, even at one of the bureaux targeted, Jackson could be expected to avoid doing that (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. "PAVING THE WAY FOR IDEAS," BY KENNETH TOMLINSON Washington, DC., August 28, 2002 -- When I was named director of the Voice of America early in the Reagan presidency, I discovered that the most challenging job I would ever have also was in theory deceptively simple. All we had to do was to tell the truth. With one caveat.... http://128.11.143.24/bbg/_bbg_news.cfm?articleID=34&mode=general (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO SAWA -- By DIANA ELIAS, Associated Press Writer KUWAIT (AP) -- Young Arabs tuning in to a new American government radio station designed especially for them rave about its international playlist -- but many are not happy with its news reports. They see it as propaganda. In targeting the 30-year-olds and under who make up 60 percent of the Arab world's 280 million people, Radio Sawa has ditched the news and public affairs focus of the Voice of America Arabic-language service it replaced. Its music-heavy programming resembles a youth-oriented station in the United States -- only without the commercials. While a U.S. pop station uses music to draw an audience for ads for consumer goods, Radio Sawa -- "Radio Together" in Arabic -- makes no qualms about using music to connect with Arab listeners in an effort to show how and what Americans think. It began broadcasting from Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in late March and is looking to grow by transmitting from more countries in the Middle East. The United States is largely seen in this region as a supporter of Israel against Palestinians. Many here also believe the war on terrorism is directed at their religion, Islam, not just at Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization. If Radio Sawa wants to dispel those notions, it will have to break through a barrier of skepticism. "I used to listen to it, but stopped once I found it was American radio," said Yousef, a 30-year-old Palestinian who lives in the United Arab Emirates. "They are trying to improve their image and introduce themselves in a different way, through music instead of politics. I know them, and I still don't like them." For news, Yousef, who refused to give his full name, said he watches Qatar's Al-Jazeera television and Saudi Arabia's Middle East Broadcasting Corp. Buthaina Jad'on, a school teacher in Jordan's capital, Amman, said she was shocked when Sawa interrupted its programming recently for a broadcast of a speech by President Bush. "I don't like its political news because they are biased to America and show the Arabs in a different and wrong image," the 27-year-old said. "I listen to its music only and turn it off when the news begins." Norman Pattiz, the primary inspiration behind the station, said Americans, in turn, believe Arab media skew the news. Although mending that was not the station's primary goal, Sawa "may counter some of the perceptions" that regional media create about America, he said. Pattiz scoffed at charges Sawa airs U.S. propaganda. "We wouldn't know how to do propaganda if we were asked to," he said. Along with songs by top international and Arab stars like Brian Adams, Lebanon's Pascal Mishalani, Britney Spears and Egypt's Hisham Abbas, the 24-hour station broadcasts public service messages against drugs and drinking and driving. "Listen to us, and we will listen to you," it promises in Arabic. Sawa typically devotes about 15 minutes of every hour to news, with shows at a quarter past and quarter of the hour. In addition to occasional speeches by top U.S. officials, the station offers interviews with them. An Arabic translation of the Bush speech that angered listener Jad'on was broadcast 15 minutes after the president made it in Washington. In June, Sawa had a lengthy chat with Secretary of State Colin Powell, with Arabic translation played over Powell's explanation in English of the Bush administration's Middle East peace strategies. The station also has a daily roundup of news about Iraq intended for Iraqi listeners. Pattiz said that after Sawa's Middle East broadcast center in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, opens later this year, there will be "larger blocks of talk and interview programs." Sawa has no firm statistics yet on the size of its audience. But Pattiz, who is chairman of the Middle East committee of a board that oversees U.S. government radio stations abroad, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that music research in a number of Middle Eastern cities indicates 10 percent of the area's people are listening to Sawa. "Ninety-eight percent of the population of the Middle East had never listened to VOA's Arabic service," he said. E-mails received from Arab listeners and provided to AP by Sawa without the names, describe the station as "so cool," "my favorite till the end of time," and a "great success." Some of the messages even praise Sawa's news: "My mom and dad and their friends like you because your music is good and the news is not biased at all. I think so too," wrote a 15-year-old student from Amman. Saad Jaafar, the assistant undersecretary of Kuwait's information ministry, said Radio Sawa has "achieved some success ... but not as a source for news." For that, most in Kuwait still tune to British Broadcasting Corp., he said. Sawa is popular enough to prompt worries among some Arabs that Western values will come with the pop music and news and eventually undermine Muslim religion and values. "What can we offer as a substitute for this radio station that targets the new generation?" columnist Sajed al-Abdali wrote in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Amm. "This generation is my son and your son, my daughter and your daughter." Kuwaiti civil engineer Walid Mohammed listens to Sawa. However, he hates it when the radio describes attacks by militant Palestinian groups on Israelis as "suicide bombings." To him, as to many Arabs, the attacks are "martyr operations." The 33-year-old believes Sawa's programming is American "propaganda" that could very well affect impressionable young people, especially those who go to American and English schools. "Unfortunately, Radio Sawa will do quite well," he said. ------ On the Net: Radio Sawa: http://www.radiosawa.com (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) R. Sawa: see also CYPRUS ** U S A [non]. Kindly pass the word within the community... Worldwide Language Resources, Inc. http://www.wwlr.com is recruiting native speaking US citizens for contract interpreter assignments in the US and overseas. Arabic (all dialects), Farsi, Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, Somali, Amharic, Kohistani, Kurdish, Turkish, etc. Candidates must: be a US citizen submit a resume in MS word outlining their work and educational experience and languages spoken be willing to live overseas for a minimum of six months speak and write in native language and English Please submit resumes to resumes@wwlr.com or fax to (207) 392-1404 (James Williamson, WLR Director of Special Projects, Tampa FL, Aug 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I see they also have an office at Ft. Bragg, NC; wonder if involved in PsyOps (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. For the first time, I`m hearing WJIE on 7490 here in the San Francisco Bay area. The time is 8:15 pm PDT or 0315 UTC (David Fogarty, Aug 27 [UT 28?] fwd by WJIE to DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear WJIE-Shortwave, I take much pleasure in reporting reception of WJIE Shortwave on August 28, 2002 at 0458 UT on 7490 kHz. Reception was fair here on Sweden`s West Coast. SINPO: 33433. I heard the following programme details: 0458 Two station announcements which included the address: WJIE, PO Box 197309, Louisville (which you spelled), Kentucky 40259, USA as well as the hotmail.com contact address; 0459 Commercial announcements; 0500 Talk show; 0508 Several commercial messages with phone numbers; 0511 Talk show. I would be happy to receive your QSL-card or a confirming letter. Thank you. I will mention your station on my DX programme on Vatican Radio (in Swedish) next week. I also do the Christian Shortwave Report on HCJB in Ecuador once a month. Kind regards (CHRISTER BRUNSTRÖM, KUNGSGATAN 23, SE-302 45 HALMSTAD, SWEDEN (fwd by WJIE to DXLD) 7490 now back on with higher power, heard here August 29th 2250 with religious programming, identification 2300 and reports requested to WJIE, P.O. Box 197309, Louisville, Kentucky 40259. Fair strength (Mike Barraclough, England, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) See top for WORLD OF RADIO times (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. EX-MILITIA CHIEF GETS 30-MONTH PRISON SENTENCE By Steve Bailey, ASSOCIATED PRESS The former head of the Kentucky State Militia was sentenced to 30 months and one day in prison on federal weapons charges yesterday. In May, in a deal that resulted in the dismissal of eight other charges, Charles N. Puckett pleaded guilty to two weapons charges and one count of intimidating a witness. U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman imposed the sentence, saying Puckett, 55, also will serve three years supervised probation upon his release, participate in a mental health program and pay a $300 special assessment. "I believe that all of the attorneys involved were diligent in crafting an agreement that was appropriate to this case," Coffman said. Puckett's attorney, Gatewood Galbraith, told Coffman he had several people in the courtroom to speak on Puckett's behalf, including two Kentucky sheriffs. Coffman, however, said those statements would not be necessary. "Charlie has always had a desire to stand up as a contributing member of society," Galbraith said. "He's always tried to be a patriot and someone who overcame a difficult start. I stand here and vouch for him right now. He is a good man." The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms seized guns and other weapons from Puckett's home in Lancaster in November. Authorities said he was barred from owning the weapons because of a previous felony conviction. Puckett was arrested in February and put under house arrest. Officials said he managed to slip out of an electronic monitoring bracelet and flee from his home March 14. He turned himself in to authorities about three weeks later, saying he'd left after receiving death threats. He was scheduled to go to trial in May on 11 counts involving guns, pipe bombs and almost 35,000 rounds of ammunition. Under the plea agreement, he admitted possessing a machine gun and a .45-caliber handgun even though he previously had been convicted of a felony. He also admitted to attempting to intimidate a witness. Before being sentenced, Puckett, led into the courtroom in a green jumpsuit and sandals and with shackles around his legs, briefly addressed the court. "I want the court to know there was no criminal activity intended on my behalf," he said. "I had no idea I was violating any law at all. "If it would be possible, I would beg the court for probation or a lesser sentence." Puckett has called the seizure a theft of private property and a violation of his rights. He also has argued that the 1968 federal gun- control act prohibiting felons from owning guns does not apply to him because he was convicted of the felony two years before the law's enactment. Puckett was the commander of the Kentucky State Militia, a civilian paramilitary group, until resigning from the post in September. His February arrest came just as he finished a television show interview about Steve Anderson, a fugitive accused of shooting at a patrol car in Bell County in October (Lexington KY Herald-Leader Aug 30 via DXLD) ** U S A. K-STATE, WIBW REACH RADIO RIGHTS SETTLEMENT Last Modified: 11:44 a.m. 8/29/2002 By Tim Richardson CJOnline.com A Topeka radio station released all broadcasting rights to Kansas State University football games after both entities reached a settlement to end a time-share agreement. Morris Communications, owner of AM 580 WIBW and The Topeka Capital- Journal, has agreed to pay the university $1.5 million for the university`s five hours of broadcast time on its station. The agreement dismisses litigation between Morris and K-State, university officials said. The transfer of five hours of daily airtime from campus radio station KKSU to WIBW will occur in 90 days. The FCC must approve the deal. As part of the settlement, WIBW agreed immediately to end broadcasting K-State football games. K-State begins its season Saturday against Western Kentucky in Manhattan. On Aug. 22, AM 580 WIBW was granted a permanent injunction to broadcast as a stand-alone entity. Riley County District Judge David Stutzman found that wording in a share-time agreement allowing WIBW and campus station KKSU to broadcast on the same frequency permitted the Topeka station to carry K-State football. Craig Colbach, general manager of WIBW radio, said plans are underway at the station to fill an additional 25 hours of airtime each week. He said the new programming likely will include a mix of local and national talk shows. Colbach said the settlement will benefit the university and the station, allowing WIBW to control its programming 24 hours a day. "We both had assets that we felt strongly about," Colbach said. "I think both of us have felt bad about the situation getting to certain levels." KKSU, which started broadcasting in 1924 during an uncluttered era of radio that allowed its programming to be heard coast to coast, will go off the air as part of the deal. "KKSU-AM has enjoyed a long, successful history of providing valuable and informative radio programming to the people of Kansas," said Larry Jackson, the station`s manager. "No doubt some people will be sad that KKSU will soon leave the air, but they can rest assured that we will be working both through radio stations around the state and through new media technologies to provide Kansas citizens the important practical, research-based information they¹ve long enjoyed from KKSU." K-State athletics director Tim Weiser said the settlement allowed the university to grant exclusive broadcast rights to Wichita-based Mid- America Ag Network. The university awarded a five-year contract to MAAN, which agreed to pay $6 million for exclusive rights to K-State athletics. "This has been a business matter, and I wish WIBW nothing but the very best and appreciate the professional manner in which they have conducted themselves during this difficult period," Weiser said. University President Jon Wefald called the settlement a "win-win" situation for everyone involved. The share-time agreement was first reached in 1929, then amended in 1969 when WIBW gave up 15 minutes of afternoon programming, allowing KKSU to broadcast each weekday from 12:30-5:30 p.m. In exchange, WIBW was given the right to broadcast K-State football. The share-time agreement had been in force ever since. The Associated Press contributed to this report. http://cjonline.com/stories/082902/bre_settlement.shtml [see above for links to a number of other related stories!] 73, (Topeka Capitol-Journal Aug 29, via Ken Kopp, KS WØNXS, DXLD) I am incensed that KKSU`s demise hinged around rights to stupid ballgames. The big story here should be the end of that public radio station, not the minor matter of ballgame broadcasts. There goes another of the very few public radio stations audible here, and the only one on AM. We can be certain that 25h more per week of WIBW will add NOTHING worthwhile to the radio spectrum. Why isn`t KSU doing anything to replace this facility with a fulltime FM station, like almost every other university of its calibre??? Not that that would do us any good as far away as Enid, OK. Sorrowfully, (Glenn Hauser, to KKSU) From the KC Star`s website http://www.kansascity.com this afternoon Posted on Thu, Aug. 29, 2002 K-STATE FOOTBALL TO BE HEARD ON ONE STATION By HOWARD RICHMAN, The Kansas City Star There will only be one broadcast of Kansas State footballs this year and it will be heard on the school`s official radio network after all. On Thursday, WIBW of Topeka and its parent company Morris Communications of Augusta, Ga., relinquished all broadcasting rights it had to K-State football. As part of the deal, Morris paid K-State $1.5 million and regained airtime it had shared with the school since 1969. The only broadcast of K-State athletics will be on the Mid-America Ag Network of Wichita. In Kansas City, those games can be heard on WHB (810 AM). The settlement was quite an about-face for WIBW, which on Aug. 22 retained rights to broadcast K-State football when a Riley County judge issued a permanent injunction, allowing the former flagship station of K-State football to continue broadcasting, even though it lost the rights in December to MAAN. The court decision allowing WIBW to retain rights stemmed from a 1969 amendment to a time-share agreement between WIBW and university campus station KKSU. It ended six months of acrimonious lawsuits between the school, WIBW and MAAN. "Any time you get a litigation, there`s a tendency there that things become divisive," said Bob Krause, K-State`s vice president for institutional advancement. "Now, maybe we can pull together as one family again." Morris Communications paid the university for K-State`s five hours of shared broadcast time. The transfer of the five hours from KKSU (from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.) will belong to WIBW after a 90-day transition period. The FCC must approve the deal. "It`s bittersweet," WIBW program director and ex-voice of Wildcat football Greg Sharpe said. "It`s been a dream of ours to become a full-time station. It was a dream to get those hours back. But it`s bittersweet because it`s 48 hours from kickoff, and we can`t do the game. There will be an empty feeling come Saturday." The settlement also means K-State`s athletic department is expected to receive $1.2 million per year from MAAN starting next year. When WIBW was going to carry the broadcast, MAAN agreed to pay only $300,000 this year because it had lost exclusive rights. Athletic director Tim Weiser said he was renegotiating this year`s portion of the contract with MAAN now that the network will have an exclusive broadcast. Marc Johnson, dean of the College of Agriculture, said he was confident that KKSU will assemble its own network that still will provide agriculture coverage and programs to farmers and ranchers and rural people in Kansas. And Krause added the discontinuation of KKSU doesn`t endanger federal money to the university (via Todd Brandenburg, AMFMTVDX mailing list via DXLD) More reports from KSU say that the 1.5M$ from the sale will go to the school's Agriculure Department to establish KKSU's predecessor [successor! -gh], be it broadcasting on the internet, establishing a network, or buying another station. You'd best listen for this handoff at least once (if you can) before it goes away! BTW, can anybody name the other stations who still share time on the same freq? I live within 45 miles of KKSU's transmitter site. I'm predicting that their last day will probably be November 27th - the day before Thanksgiving. And yes, we'll be rolling tape (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, Aug 30, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. The FCC page for silent stations is at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/status/silent.html Then tab down and select AM or FM. (Patrick Griffith, CBT, Westminster, CO, USA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Unfortunately, as Paul`s info indicates, those lists are horribly out of date. That`s not something the FCC has kept accurate track of in years. Then there`s their habit of listing stations as silent even though they`re operating on a CP, STA, whatever. Until the paperwork gets finally processed and filed away, their public systems don`t seem to know it (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) ** U S A. When do the feds step in? The Federal Communications Commission fined Infinity Broadcasting and WNEW $21,000 for the indecent broadcast of Opie and Anthony's sacred sex stunt. Fines are not rare, and usually range from $7,000 to $35,000. What is the FCC looking for? http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/3960348.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp (Posted on Thu, Aug. 29, 2002 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A [NON]. RICK DEES` CHART SHOW HEADS TO CHINA The Premiere-syndicated Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown will debut on the English-language Radio Beijing in October as part of a multiyear deal between Premiere and American Business Consulting International. Dees` four-hour program - which will become the first American show to air in the People`s Republic of China - is already familiar with many in Southeast Asia, airing on stations in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and The Philippines (Source? Via Eric J. Cooper Aug 27 via WDX6AA, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO CADILLAC ON 1660 KHZ I was tuning the expanded MW band and heard a new station called Radio Cadillac on 1660 kHz at 1637 UT. It`s an automated radio transmission, similar to TIS stations. Ran on a 1-2 minute loop. Two fake DJs having people call in to get tickets to see three people (Three Tenors?). Many "Radio Cadillac" IDs and said visit "radio.cadillac.com". I went to website but saw nothing about radio transmissions. I checked the website for closest Cadillac dealers to me in West Medford, Massachusetts. Closest was Olsen Cadillac in Woburn. So I drove there (Route 3, Cambridge St/Rd) but got nothing on my car radio on 1660. Other close Cadillac dealers according to the website are Newton and Danvers. Can anyone else hear this, so I can pinpoint where it`s coming from? Thanks, (Paul V. McDonough, Medford, MA, Aug 28, NRC-AM via DXLD) Paul, This is what is called a "billboard" transmission. Check if you can find a billboard advertising Cadillac in the vicinity where you heard the station. It most likely transmits from that billboard. Our "local" radio Cadillac station is on 1550 kHz and is located on a billboard on I-90 near Rt. 83. I also heard one near downtown Chicago on 1550 kHz near I-94 and North Avenue. (Chris Rigas, Wood Dale, Illinois, ibid.) These are periodically reported in various parts of the country. Usually they`re near billboards or other places near highways, andn usually not connected to or near any dealer (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Hearing this on 1660 at 2125 UT (5:25 EDT) from Winthrop MA (Keith McGinnis, Drake R8A/Sat 800, Kiwa loop/Quantum QX Pro loop, ibid.) In my travels around Florida on business I`ve heard the Radio Cadillac stations repeatedly (Thomas Giella, KN4LF, ibid.) ** U S A. [Preliminary tests:] The link on the main page of the NRC site is now active. You need Windows Media to listen. If you click on it and it does not launch, paste in the URL. I`m feeding audio over from a TV set to WLIO. The 26.410 MHz link will be up and down as I set levels. It`s convention time see http://www.nrcdxas.org/convention NATIONAL RADIO CLUB CONVENTION WEBCAST: paste this URL into Windows Media Player. http://65.17.139.3:8080 (Fred Vobbe, Lima OH, NRC-AM Aug 28 via DXLD) When you bring up media player hit control U and type the url with http: before it. It works and I am getting good audio in Virginia. (Dave Marthouse, VA, ibid.) NOTICE: The 26.410 at National Bank Building went off due to a failure. I won`t have time to fix it, so I switched to our second site on Lima`s west side that operates at 10 watts. Good luck on hearing it! (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) Fred, Change your link on the webpage from "http://..." to "mms://..." and it will launch right from the page without any problem. I`m listening right now - alas, it`ll be harder when I leave for Boston Friday morning... -s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) FYI, audio is coming from my TV on the desk, to a 450.925 MHz Marti, to the receiver, and then out to the Web and 26.410 link. Quality here sounds "AM ish". It`s actually set for 28.8 Mono Dialup quality. Note, I am hearing a lag in the audio which is part of the encoding process. Enjoy our news at 6:00 PM, (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) Yours truly will be a guest on WBZ`s Steve LeVeille Broadcast Sunday night (Monday morning) at midnight, yakking about radio - and presumably giving more than a few plugs to the NRC - for an hour or two. If it were to happen to show up on 1710 in Lima, as well...well, who`d be the wiser, right? :-) In any case, phone calls from Lima will be gladly accepted during the show at 617-254-1030. Those with longer, deeper memories of the glory days of WBZ will find that 617-254-5678 works equally well. Still wish I could get to Lima... -s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. FLORIDA MAN GETS 15 MONTHS, HUGE FINE FOR DELIBERATE INTERFERENCE NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 29, 2002 -- Florida Citizens Band enthusiast William "Rabbit Ears" Flippo will spend the next 15 months in federal prison and have to pay a $25,000 fine for jamming Amateur Radio communications and transmitting without a license. Flippo was convicted in federal court earlier this year on eight misdemeanor counts. The sentence is believed to be a record for convictions of this type. Federal District Court Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley imposed the sentence August 29 on Flippo, of Jupiter. He had been found guilty June 19 of four counts of operating without a license and four counts of deliberate and malicious interference. Flippo has remained in custody since the guilty verdict and underwent a psychiatric evaluation prior to sentencing. It's not clear if he will get credit for time already served. The judge also said he wants a full financial disclosure from Flippo, who may face other legal actions unrelated to his radio operation convictions. At the sentencing, Flippo reportedly wept, said he'd turned over a new leaf and claimed he was sole support for his wife and two daughters. None of his family members was in the courtroom for the sentencing, however. The judge was not persuaded, telling Flippo, 60, that he was old enough to have considered the consequences of his actions. Hurley also alleged numerous incidents of perjury during the course of Flippo's testimony during his June trial, which ran six-and-one-half days. The jury took about a half hour to determine that he was guilty on all counts. According to trial testimony, Flippo primarily had targeted members of the Jupiter-Tequesta Repeater Group for jamming and regularly interfered with amateur operations, especially on 10 and 2 meters, over an approximately three-year period. Following up on the amateurs' complaints, personnel from the FCC's Tampa District Office visited the Jupiter area at least twice in 1999 and reported tracking the offending signals to Flippo's residence. Flippo had faced a maximum of eight years in prison -- one year on each count -- and up to $80,000 in fines. Available opinions were mixed on whether the sentence Hurley imposed was appropriate. Ed Petzolt, K1LNC, who assisted the FCC in gathering evidence and, at one point, had his car rammed by Flippo's vehicle, said he felt Flippo should have received at least three years. "I thought it was a slap on the wrist," said Petzolt, the 1999 ARRL International Humanitarian Award winner who also testified at the trial. John Criteser Jr, KC4JLY, agreed. "I think he should have gotten more -- at least five years," Criteser said outside the courthouse. Other amateurs who attended the sentencing session, including Jupiter-Tequesta club member Bert Moreschi, AG4BV, were satisfied with the penalty, however. Flippo requested that he be incarcerated at Florida's Eglund Air Force Base, but the decision on where he'll spend his sentence is up to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Flippo's federal trial was twice postponed last year after he argued successfully that serious health problems would prevent him from participating. He was unsuccessful, however, when he tried the same tactic during a hearing earlier this year to determine if he was capable of standing trial. Last year, Flippo was convicted in state court of criminal mischief -- also a misdemeanor -- after ramming Petzolt's vehicle. He was sentenced to a year's probation and ordered him to dispose of any radio equipment in his possession. A ban on possessing radio gear also had a condition of his federal bond, which Hurley subsequently revoked during the trial. Federal authorities arrested Flippo in July 2000. The criminal charges of which he now stands convicted covered violations allegedly committed between June 1999 and April of 2000. The defendant already faces a $20,000 fine levied in 1999 for unlicensed operation, willful and malicious interference to Amateur Radio communications, and failure to let the FCC inspect his radio equipment. Hurley ordered Flippo immediately back into custody to start serving his sentence. Flippo reportedly was led into and out of the courtroom in shackles and leg irons (ARRL via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** VIETNAM. The following domestic frequencies and stations are active: 5035, 5925, 5975, 6020, 6165, 6347, 6381 (sometimes drifting down a few kHz), 6495 (now rather on 6490), 6690 (now rather on 6665), 7210, 9530 and 9875. (French language lessons were heard at 1430 on 5925 & 6020). No trace of 5597, and 7156 might have been the unID Asian station under VOA in Burmese at 1430 on 7155. Over a period of 4 weeks, I noted 4796 tentatively only a couple of times with s/off at 1400 according to schedule. There appears to be a new National Program 1 outlet on 9635 which was noted at 0800, much weaker than parallel 9530 (Maarten van Delft, Malaysia, DSWCI DX Window Aug 28 via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. V. of the People was destroyed by a bomb, but nobody was hurt, VOA news reported at 1730 UT August 29 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ZIMBABWE RADIO STATION BOMBED, ACTIVIST ARRESTED Thu Aug 29, 4:54 PM ET By Cris Chinaka HARARE (Reuters) - Gunmen threw a bomb which exploded in a private radio station widely regarded as anti-government in Zimbabwe`s capital on Thursday, but nobody was hurt in the blast, witnesses said. Separately, police arrested a human rights activist, drawing accusations that Zimbabwe`s pro-government forces were continuing to muzzle opposition voices. Britain and the United States condemned the bombing, which they linked to previous attacks on independent media. "This attack on independent broadcasting sends another clear signal that freedom of speech has no place in (President Robert) Mugabe`s Zimbabwe," British European Parliament member Glenys Kinnock said in a statement. She urged African leaders at the Earth Summit in neighboring South Africa to condemn Mugabe loudly when he addresses the world leaders there on Monday. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "The United States strongly condemns this attack on independent media in Zimbabwe." "It occurs in the context of Zimbabwe`s government`s assault on the rule of law and repression of the civil society, including regular harassment and intimidation of the independent media," he told a daily briefing. Zimbabwe`s opposition Movement for Democratic Change condemned the attack, saying it proved that "sinister elements" in Zimbabwe were determined to silence all opposition. Shortly after midnight, two armed men confronted a guard on duty at the "Voice of the People" radio station in Harare and told him to leave, before hurling an explosive device into the single-story building. "They threw a bomb through a window of the building. It was extensively damaged but no-one was hurt," said Takura Zhangasha of the Media Institute of Southern Africa. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack. Station head Faith Ndebele refused to speculate on who could have bombed the building, but said the culprit was clearly an enemy of free speech. Zimbabwe is plunging deeper into political and economic crisis as Mugabe presses ahead with plans to force 2,900 of the country`s white commercial farmers to quit their land without compensation. In a separate development, police arrested Frances Lovemore of the Amani Trust human rights group under a new law that prohibits the publication of false information. Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told Reuters police were looking for Tony Reeler, the head of the group, on similar charges. "We are questioning (Lovemore) over articles in newspapers suggesting that there are torture camps in this country, where people are being sexually abused and having their genitals burned. "We don`t know about these camps and we want her to help us locate them," he said. At least a dozen local and foreign journalists have been arrested under the new Access to Information law, but Lovemore is the first media source to be detained in terms of the tough media crackdown. "ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH" At the scene of the bombing, a Reuters reporter said the roof of the building in a Harare suburb had caved in and equipment and furniture were badly charred. An army and police probe team sealed the offices off from reporters and were sifting through the rubble. Ndebele said it was a recording studio that broadcast from abroad in three languages. It was run by a nongovernmental organization called "Voice of the People," funded by local and foreign donations. "For us this is an attack on free speech, and very sad for those who relied on our broadcasts for alternative views and opinions," Ndebele told reporters. Zimbabwe has one state-owned national broadcasting corporation and critics say Mugabe`s government is moving slowly in opening up the airwaves. Two years ago, the government raided and seized equipment of a private company that had set up a radio station in a Harare hotel, calling it an illegal pirate operation meant to advance the interests of a British-backed opposition. In the past two years, the offices and the printing press of Zimbabwe`s only privately owned daily newspaper -- The Daily News -- have also been wrecked in bomb attacks. Nobody was arrested in connection with those incidents. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020829/wl_nm/zimbabwe_bombing_dc_2 illustration: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/020829/161/252ge.html (via yahoonews via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Same story also at: http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1388481&fromEmail=true (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) Zimbabwe radio station bombed, activist arrested (more) Reuters, Harare, August 30 Gunmen threw a bomb which exploded in a private radio station widely regarded as anti-government in Zimbabwe's capital on Thursday, but nobody was hurt in the blast, witnesses said. Separately, police arrested a human rights activist, drawing accusations that Zimbabwe's pro-government forces were continuing to muzzle opposition voices. Britain and the United States condemned the bombing, which they linked to previous attacks on independent media. "This attack on independent broadcasting sends another clear signal that freedom of speech has no place in (President Robert) Mugabe's Zimbabwe," British European Parliament member Glenys Kinnock said in a statement. She urged African leaders at the Earth Summit in neighboring South Africa to condemn Mugabe loudly when he addresses the world leaders there on Monday. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "The United States strongly condemns this attack on independent media in Zimbabwe." "It occurs in the context of Zimbabwe's government's assault on the rule of law and repression of the civil society, including regular harassment and intimidation of the independent media," he told a daily briefing. Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change condemned the attack, saying it proved that "sinister elements" in Zimbabwe were determined to silence all opposition. Shortly after midnight, two armed men confronted a guard on duty at the "Voice of the People" radio station in Harare and told him to leave, before hurling an explosive device into the single-story building. "They threw a bomb through a window of the building. It was extensively damaged but no-one was hurt," said Takura Zhangasha of the Media Institute of Southern Africa. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack. Station head Faith Ndebele refused to speculate on who could have bombed the building, but said the culprit was clearly an enemy of free speech. Zimbabwe is plunging deeper into political and economic crisis as Mugabe presses ahead with plans to force 2,900 of the country's white commercial farmers to quit their land without compensation. In a separate development, police arrested Frances Lovemore of the Amani Trust human rights group under a new law that prohibits the publication of false information. Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told Reuters police were looking for Tony Reeler, the head of the group, on similar charges. "We are questioning (Lovemore) over articles in newspapers suggesting that there are torture camps in this country, where people are being sexually abused and having their genitals burned. "We don't know about these camps and we want her to help us locate them," he said. At least a dozen local and foreign journalists have been arrested under the new Access to Information law, but Lovemore is the first media source to be detained in terms of the tough media crackdown (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ZIMBABWEAN RADIO BUILDING BLOWN UP (Cherish our freedom, we are very fortunate to have it... Mike Terry) From BBC News Thursday, 29 August, 2002, 09:49 GMT 10:49 UK A building housing an independent radio station in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, has been destroyed in an explosion. The building`s roof caved in after the blast, according to the BBC`s Lewis Machipisa in Harare. Staff at the Voice of the People station told the BBC that they suspected that the building had been bombed - there has been no confirmation of this from the police. The incident occurs against a background of government action to control the independent media and criticisms by ministers that the media is conducting a campaign against the government. Journalists in Zimbabwe accuse the government of trying to muzzle the media. The Reuters news agency reported that a bomb had caused the blast. It says that two armed men confronted the security guard on duty at the privately-run radio station shortly after midnight and told him to leave. The agency says Takura Zhangasha, an advocate with the Media Institute of Southern Africa told them that the men " then hurled an explosive device into the one-storey building". The French agency, AFP, also reported that a bomb exploded early on Thursday morning at the Voice of the People offices. New media laws introduced in Zimbabwe in March restricted the activities of private radio stations. The Voice of the People recorded radio material which was sent to the Netherlands from where it was broadcast on short-wave to avoid breaking the media curbs. Workers arrived for work at Voice of the People on Thursday morning to find that the building was in ruins. The BBC`s Lewis Machipisa reports that the staff said that one of their colleagues had not turned up for work but they did not know why. In the past few years there have been physical attacks on the independent media, with two bomb attacks against the Daily News newspaper. More recently Zimbabwean and foreign journalists based there have been arrested by the government. Several have been charged with offences under the new media laws. In July, the courts acquitted an Andrew Meldrum, an American journalist based in Zimbabwe, of breaking new, strict media laws. (via Mike Terry, DXLD) BOMB DESTROYS ZIMBABWE RADIO OFFICE Thu Aug 29, 2:24 PM ET By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - A bomb attack Thursday gutted the office of a radio station critical of President Robert Mugabe`s government, and authorities raided a human rights group and a camp for displaced farm workers run by a private charity. The actions heightened tensions in Zimbabwe, where independent media outlets and opposition activists say they have been subject to attacks by ruling party militants during nearly two years of political unrest. A security guard said at least two men, one carrying a firearm, on Thursday threw two objects into the office of the Netherlands-based Voice of the People in Harare`s Milton Park suburb, according to police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena. An explosion was heard and a fire then almost completely destroyed the suburban home that had been converted into an office. No one was in the building at the time, Bvudzijena said. Computers, recording and editing equipment, files and furniture were destroyed. Bvudzijena said fingerprints collected from the scene had given police a positive lead, but he did not say who was the suspect and no one has yet been arrested. Voice of the People has been criticized by the government for circumventing a ban on independent broadcasting by sending recorded material in Zimbabwe`s local languages for transmission by shortwave from The Netherlands. The government has accused the broadcaster and a second shortwave station, SW Africa beamed from Britain, of airing hostile propaganda and stirring political division. Later Thursday, police raided the Harare office of the independent human rights group Amani Trust, detaining one official and taking away documents compiled on political violence that has left nearly 200 people dead in the past two years. The trust works with victims of political violence and torture. Trust officials said Dr. Frances Lovemore, a specialist in violent trauma, was taken by police for questioning at the main Harare police station. In a separate raid, army troops detained 12 people digging sanitary facilities at a camp for workers displaced from seized white-owned farms in the Mazowe district, about 20 miles north of Harare. "I don`t know why they were taken away or what they will be charged with," said the Tim Neill, head of the Zimbabwe Community Development Trust, private charity that runs the camp. The men, themselves displaced workers, were being held at the police station in the provincial capital of Bindura, he said. Neill, a clergyman and an outspoken critic of the government, was questioned by police last month for alleged subversive activities but he was released without charge. His organization seeks to help victims of political violence and farm workers driven off farms seized under a government program to confiscate 95 percent of white-owned land where as many as 300,000 workers live with their families. It and the Amani Trust have been accused of providing "safe houses" for government opponents using funding from foreign opponents of the government. The attack on Voice of the people was not the first on a Zimbabwean media outlet. The printing presses of Zimbabwe`s only independent daily newspaper were destroyed in a bomb attack in December 2000, days after Information Minister Jonathan Moyo described The Daily News as a threat to national security. No arrests have been made in that bombing. Earlier this year, the government passed sweeping media control laws and 12 independent journalists have been arrested for alleged violations. (via Mark Fine, Cumbre DX via DXLD) BOMBS SILENCE ZIMBABWE FREE RADIO STATION By Peta Thornycroft (Filed: 30/08/2002) Bombs destroyed the studios of one of Zimbabwe's two independent radio stations yesterday as President Robert Mugabe launched a fresh round of repression of human rights groups... http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/08/30/wzim30.xml (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) As to be expected, Media Network has a big story on this; see the original for illustrations: http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/zimbabwe-vop.html ZIMBABWE MEDIA DOSSIER: Voice of the People Bombed There has been widespread condemnation of the 29 August bomb attack on the Harare studios of Voice of the People (VOP) which has completely destroyed the station`s production facilities. The attack, which took place in the early hours of the morning, did not cause any deaths or injuries. Nobody has claimed responsibility, but it`s widely believed both inside and outside Zimbabwe that the attack was carried out on behalf of the government. Three men arrived at the premises in Milton Park, a suburb of Harare, at around 1am. The security guard said that the men approached him and told him in the Shona language that he must step aside "lest he dies for something that he is not involved in." The guard says the three men, arrived by foot, and may have parked their car at some distance from the building. The coordinator of VOP, John Masuku, said that he was in the process of contacting the VOP`s lawyer and was not in a position to say much at the moment. Thorn in the Side VOP is an independent radio station that broadcasts into Zimbabwe on shortwave. Since its inception two years ago, it has been a thorn in the side of the Mugabe government, which has consistently refused to allow opposition views to be expressed on the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). Faced with the overwhelming ZBC bias towards Mugabe and the Zanu-PF party prior to the general election in 2000, former employees of the ZBC got together to create Voice of the People, with funding from the Soros Foundation and the Dutch non- government funding organisation HIVOS. They decided to hire airtime outside the country, and chose a 50 kW transmitter at the Radio Netherlands` Madagascar relay station since this provided blanket coverage of Zimbabwe. A second independent shortwave station, Radio SW Africa, operates from a facility in the UK. In January 2002, Zimbabwe`s Foreign Minister declared that Britain and The Netherlands had "lost their neutrality by supporting propaganda against the Mugabe government". However, interviewed on domestic public radio, Radio Netherlands` Director Lodewijk Bouwens pointed out that part of RN`s mission statement is to assist in the dissemination of different points of view. In this instance, RN was asked to help by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), which is closely monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe. Mr Bouwens also stressed that RN has no editorial control over the content of the broadcasts produced in Harare. Speaking after news of the bomb attack, Mr Bouwens said that Voice of the People is "essential to democracy in Zimbabwe." Intimidation Listen to Abel Mutsakani talking to Newsline`s Josh Maiyo (4`07`) http://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/medianetwork/zimbabwe020830.rm Abel Mutsakani, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, told Radio Netherlands that he was quite sure the government is behind the attack: "It is quite clear that this is an attempt to intimidate the media. Not only are these bombings and attacks happening to the independent media, but if you look at the number of journalists the government has arrested so far, it`s more than twelve. All these journalists are working for the independent media. Nobody from the state-controlled media is targeted." The Zimbabwe chapter of MISA was swift to condemn the bombing. "The bomb, which has destroyed all the equipment, virtually incapacitates the operations of the aspiring radio station," said a MISA statement. "The latest bombing of VOP is the fourth such direct bombing of a media organisation, taking place in less than three years. This excludes incidences of physical attacks, arrests and intimidation. These developments are unprecedented in the history of Zimbabwe." Last month the police, accompanied by officers from the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, and armed with a search warrant, raided VOP in search of a transmitter and other broadcasting equipment. After failing to find a transmitter, the police confiscated 133 tapes and files, which were later returned. Zimbabwe Government Reaction A report on the ZBC Web site described VOP as a "pirate radio station", which "churns out anti-Zimbabwe propaganda from Europe." The government is quoted as describing VOP as "nothing short of a criminal and terrorist group." The Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the Office of the President, Professor Jonathan Moyo, said the setting up of the Voice of the People was an example of European interference in Zimbabwe`s affairs. International Condemnation The United States condemned the attack. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "Responsibility for the bombing has not yet been determined. However, I have to say it occurs in the context of Zimbabwe`s government`s assault on the rule of law and repression of the civil society, including regular harassment and intimidation of the independent media." British European Parliament member Glenys Kinnock said in a statement that "this attack on independent broadcasting sends another clear signal that freedom of speech has no place in Mugabe`s Zimbabwe." Mrs. Kinnock urged African leaders at the Earth Summit in South Africa to condemn Mugabe loudly when he addresses the conference on Monday. Part of a Strategy? The attack on Voice of the People appears to be part of a hardline strategy adopted by Mugabe`s new Cabinet that was sworn in on 26 August. Mugabe called it a "fully fledged war Cabinet" that would defend his programs from interference at home and abroad. During the past week, police have raided offices of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and a leading human rights group, Amani Trust. At the moment, VOP is obviously unable to produce new material. But scheduled shortwave transmissions will continue for the time being, with repeats of previous broadcasts. Voice of the People broadcasts at 0330-0430 UTC on 7310kHz ((c) Radio Netherlands Media Network Aug 30 via DXLD) However, I checked 7310 around 0400 UT Aug 30, and could detect no signal, tho the usual WHRI slop from 7315 was a problem (gh, OK, DXLD) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES Phil Bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary July 30 2002 through August 25 2002 Tabulated from email status daily Date Flux A K SA Forecast GM Forecast Etc. 7/30 227 9 2 none minor 7 flares 7/31 209 9 2 minor minor 4 flares 8/ 1 193 23 5 minor minor 5 flares 2 180 30 5 moderate minor 9 flares 3 168 18 2 strong minor 6 flares 4 151 15 2 moderate minor 5 flares 5 142 8 2 minor minor 8 flares 6 145 5 2 none minor 4 flares 7 136 7 2 minor none 3 flares 8 135 6 3 none minor 6 flares 9 140 15 4 none minor 8 flares 10 148 14 3 minor minor 5 flares 11 172 12 3 none minor 7 flares 12 184 13 2 none minor 5 flares 13 192 13 2 minor minor 6 flares 14 208 13 3 minor minor 7 flares 15 210 21 4 minor minor 9 flares 16 214 19 2 moderate minor 5 flares 17 227 11 2 minor minor 6 flares 18 241 15 2 minor minor 9 flares 19 237 22 3 minor minor 10 flares 20 228 15 3 moderate minor 10 flares 21 220 34 3 strong minor 6 flares 22 220 9 2 moderate moderate 5 flares 23 210 10 3 minor moderate 7 flares 24 196 7 1 strong moderate 5 flares 8/25 179 8 3 minor minor 6 flares ********************************************************************** (IRCA DX Monitor via DXLD)