DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-041, March 12, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@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/dxldtd3c.html [note change] HTML version of February issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html HTML version of all January issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 1173: WWCR: Thu 2130 15825, Sat 0700, Sun 0330 5070, 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 RFPI: Fri 1930, Sat 0130, 0730, 1330, 1800, 2400, 7445 and/or 15038.6 WJIE: Fri 1300 7490... WBCQ; Mon 0545 7415 WRN ONDEMAND from Fri: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1173.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1173.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1173h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1173h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1173.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL Hey Glen[n], Just wanted to say Hi.. hope everything is OK --- thanx for a great DXLD. Yours (TAREK ZEIDAN, Egypt) ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN WOMEN GET FIRST FM RADIO CHANNEL | Excerpt from report by Iranian radio from Zahedan on 8 March [Presenter] Esteemed listeners, a radio channel called "Voice of Afghan Women" started broadcasting in the Afghan capital, Kabul, today. Let us listen to a report on that from our correspondent in Kabul: [Correspondent] A new radio channel, called "Voice of Afghan Women", was launched today, which coincided with International Women's Day, 8 March. This channel is funded by the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in Kabul, and is headed by Jamila Mujahed, a journalist. The inauguration ceremony was held in the Aina press office [a centre operated by a French NGO] in Kabul today. The channel will broadcast daily, on the FM frequency of 91.6 MHz, for one hour from 1600 to 1700 [local time; 1130 to 1230 gmt]. All the technical and broadcasting crew are women. It will broadcast programmes in the Pashto and Dari languages. This is the first Afghan women's radio channel to broadcast. The channel will play a significant role in raising the living standards and awareness of women in the country. The radio station was launched with a speech made by Jamila Mujahed. The following is what she read: [Jamila Mujahed] Dear countrymen and respected ladies, we all know that, during the 23 years of war, hundreds of our innocent people were martyred. Wives were made widows and their children were made orphans. [Passage omitted: Afghanistan suffered a lot during the years of war] With the formation of the transitional Islamic state of Afghanistan, in all spheres of life, in particular the cultural area, considerable improvements have been made in our country. And the new revolution started to influence people's lives in a positive and beneficial way. It is decided that in our society mass media should pay more attention to the female population. They should help women to make them socially and culturally intelligent by means of radio. Statistics show that women make up half the total population in Afghanistan. We believe that this radio channel will succeed in responsibly serving the female population and lead them to a bright future. Women were barred from social activities during hardline Taleban rule in the country. But even now no particular assistance is being provided for women: For instance, there are no jobs. Therefore, the channel will play a significant role in hearing the voices of Afghan women across the country. We also need the help of learned people, specifically our mothers and elder sisters. [Correspondent] At a press conference later, Jamila Mujahed gave useful information about the channel's programmes and broadcasting service. Source: Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Zahedan, in Pashto 1430 gmt 8 Mar 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) AFGHANISTAN GETS RADIO STATION FOR WOMEN By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer, March 9, 2003, 9:48 AM EST KABUL, Afghanistan -- The first Afghan radio station programmed solely for women has begun broadcasting in the capital, the station's director said Sunday. "The Voice of Afghan Women" aired its inaugural broadcast on Saturday, which also marked International Women's Day, said director Jamila Mujahed, who is also chief editor of a monthly magazine for women called Malalai... http://makeashorterlink.com/?E171521C3 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Johno here...finally a decent night, well it poured here at Peaky... all night... Rain and Latins!!! [including:] 6020, R. Gaucha, now 0755-0805 with own programme then into Radio Tupi at 0805 --- as Emisora Nacional....programme with //6060//9565 so Mystery is solved --- this is a relay...finally got it! Now got the aftermath --- reports. Used a Murphy B40, a ICOM R70 for spotting the freqs. Giggle (Johno Wright, Australia, ARDXC via DXLD) ** BURKINA FASO. (Tentative). I saw Piet Pijpers' report of (t) Burkina Faso on 4815 in DXLD 3-039 and did check that frequency on 10 Mar at 1920. Nothing heard there but instead on 5030 a weak French speaking Afro, too weak to identify. Rechecking at 2056, the 5030 was totally blocked by Chinese station. But now on 4815 French talks and at 2101 news tune and news, that sounded like "Burkina-Inter". Ute QRM and splatters from Chinese station on 4820. Just wonder if they are testing or just move away from 5030 at 2000 to avoid QRM from the Chinese. Their signal is very weak compared to what it used to be some weeks ago on 5030. Maybe just using exciter :)? (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4815, Radio Burkina, 2210-2300 Mar 10. Weak at tune-in, but signal started to improve around 2218, when a hi-life song with OM vocals was heard. Talk by YL in French, then at 2230, an interval signal/ signature tune played on a flute-like instrument, followed by an ID by OM as "Radio Burkina". Talk by OM in French. A different tune played on drums was heard at the ToH. SINPO eventually improved to 33333 (George Maroti, NY, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 5030, 2135-2203, 03/11. Looked for Radio Burkina on 4815 but nothing audible here, checked 5030 and was surprised to hear an interview, in French, between a female announcer and male continuing until music at 2158, with program credits and a solid "Radio Burkina" ID. Afropops until 2202 when a new program began. Fair and improving signal, still going strong when I stopped to type this (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., NH, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. You can find the A03 RCI sked on the website, in PDF format, at the following URL: http://www.rcinet.ca/horaires/BS_A03_RCI.pdf 73- (Bill Westenhaver, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. A boy's own adventure: the story of a surprise hit By PATRICK WATSON, Saturday, Mar. 8, 2003 MAKING HISTORY: THE REMARKABLE STORY BEHIND CANADA: A PEOPLE'S HISTORY By Mark Starowicz --- McClelland & Stewart, 341 pages, $34.99 In the 1970s, Mark Starowicz invented the radio program As It Happens, an enormous contribution to public broadcasting in Canada that is still running 30-odd years later. In the 1980s, when a regional producer devised a complex plan for the first satellite-age daily journalistic roundup of the state of the world, CBC-TV gave the executive-producer mandate to a radio man, Starowicz, and the project became its flagship current affairs daily: The Journal.... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPPrint/LAC/20030308/BKHIST/TPEntertainment/ (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 4975 ONDAS DEL ORTEGUAZA. Florencia. Marzo 10 2130-2150. Música popular en el programa Atardecer Campesino. En los últimos ampliando su transmision operando desde las 20 a 23 horas UT (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Excelente el reporte Rafael! Y esclarecedor ya que no sabía que Ondas del Orteguaza seguía en el aire en la onda corta! Nunca la pude escuchar desde acá aunque lo cierto es que no es la Argentina el mejor lugar para escuchar emisoras colombianas. Gracias por el informe (Arnaldo Slaen, ibid.) ** CUBA. 6195, Radio Havana, 2230 in English, SIO - 121. All heard on the trusty R 390A, I did get a chance to work on my HQ 129 this weekend so maybe it will be ready to swallow the ether soon! 73's, (Chris KC5IIE, OK, Mar 10, swl via WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Still claims 9550 for this broadcast at http://www.radiohc.cu --- obviously not updated for a long time, even tho the current date is displayed! I rechecked 11760 March 12 at 0310 and found it in Spanish; perhaps it switches to English at 0500 unless the last time I heard that a few days ago was a fluke; replacing 9550? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS NORTHERN. 6150.7, Bayrak Radio International (presumed) 2351-2358 Mar 10. Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" heard at low level, with QRM almost non-existent at this time. I recognized the female DJ's voice at 2353 as the one I've heard on Bayrak previously. Dr. Gene Scott came on 6150 at 2358 wiping them out. SINPO 23332 until 2358. I believe this is Dave Valko's unID from Sunday. I don't recall seeing when they went off-frequency (George Maroti, NY, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Hi there. I found you on google. Were you picking us up on 61.50 sw? I was probably your lady DJ Denise Phillips your Radio Angel! Where were you listening to us? We are the voice of the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus. Do you monitor SW radio. Would love to hear from you Regards (Denise Phillips, R. Bayrak, March 10 to gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I haven`t heard it myself, tho would very much like to. It`s quite difficult way over here in Oklahoma. I assume you were reading a report from someone else in DX LISTENING DIGEST. Is 6150 currently active, and when are you on? (gh to Denise, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, 6150 is currently active. We broadcast 24 hrs a day but the live programmes are from 6.30am until midnight. Radio Angel is live Mon thru Thurs from 12.30pm 'til 16.30 GMT +2. [1030-1430 UT - not propagatable then] I would be really interested to know more about your bulletins. Regards (Denise Phillips, March 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. US-SPONSORED RADIO PUSHING TO STAY IN CZECH REPUBLIC | Excerpt from report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 11 March: The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) management would like to stay in Prague despite considerations to relocate the station to Turkey, RFE/RL spokeswoman Sonia Winterova told CTK today. Winterova said that RFE/RL and the Czech government are still looking for a more suitable location for its broadcast in Prague. There are several options, including the construction of a new building, she added. The idea that RFE/RL, financed by the USA, could be stationed in Turkey in future emerged in US Congress, Winterova said. "This must be naturally taken into consideration seriously. However, I can only stress that our fundamental stance has not changed. We are looking for a building in Prague in agreement with the Czech government," she added. Negotiations with the Czech government about moving of RFE/RL have not ended yet, she said. According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, the agreement "is close." In case the transfer was not resolved by the end of 2004, when the contract of lease for the former Federal Assembly building expires, the radio could ask for extension of the contract, Winterova admitted... Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1625 gmt 11 Mar 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** DUCIE ISLAND. According to the official website, the ham dxpedition here goes QRT the evening of March 13 local time; it`s east of the dateline so you have a little time left (Glenn Hauser, early March 13 UT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB`s direct morning service to SAs still hasn`t been canceled; quite good here on 12040 March 12 at 0330 ID in English. Demonstrates a certain lack of confidence in their Aussie facility (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EL SALVADOR. 17835v, Radio Imperial --- was hearing this one quite regularly in Texas but no joy here in spite of numerous checks (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. || Who actually first said that 5925 would be Kvitsøy now? Kai || || It was Wolfgang, but I may have misinterpreted his item, and it was not clear where it came from (GH) || I think the statement that 5925 would be moved to Norway was first published in the DSWCI's DX-Window weeks ago, but the original source remained unclear if memory serves right. Afterwards the Radio Bulgaria guys listed 5925 under Norway for A03, but only 5925, no transmissions towards Africa. And so the whole 5925 matter appears to be another case of facts being messed up with wild speculations to me (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Noo, DXW / Anker told us about Merlin tests at Kvitsoe/Sveio site. And then I looked into some monitor log files, and discovered the Merlin entry 5925 Sats only for Norway site (around Jan 5-9). So around Feb 15th, I discovered the "Norway" entry for the 5925 transmitter location. Both Kvitsoe/Sveio call are combined to a 'NOR' call entry. Today I looked into the monitoring log again, and found the entry unchanged: ......S 15:09:56 MNO TEST 5925 AM NOR But maybe, the Merlin had a Norway test for a short time only. This appeared a month later on Bulgarian Observer. 73 (Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. The CSA has examined 37 applications for the 28 MW licenses to be issued. Nine applicants have been selected, six of whom will offer an entirely new service. They are Radiorama, La Radio de la Mer, Superloustic, Ciel AM, Radio Nouveaux Talents and La Radio du Temps Libre. Actually Ciel AM and Superloustic are not entirely new stations; the former tested the feasibility of MW radio in Paris a couple of years back, and Superloustic was on the air on FM over a decade ago and is currently testing on 1467 kHz via a Monaco license [q.v.] Also, La radio de la Mer may well be the new name of Littoral AM. The CSA have indicated that they have given preference to those who offer a programme format that is not available on FM, special prominence being given to stations that favour the spoken word. The remaining stations chosen three are existing LW or FM stations that will get better coverage thanks to the new MW outlets. They are Radio Orient, Beur FM and RMC Info (Remy Friess, France, Medium Wave Circle email group via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) French MW channels Hello, Here are the new MW frequencies which will be in use in a near future in France. I have no more news about the stations which could be heard on these channels but I think that it could be useful for all the MW DXers! KW Cities 675 1000 Marseille 981 5 Paris 999 5 Paris 1062 5 Paris 1071 20 Bastia 1071 160 Brest, or Saint-Brieuc or Rennes or Lorient 1071 300 Montpellier 1080 5 Paris 1161 20 Ajaccio 1161 1000 Strasbourg (63KW for 90 -130 ) 1161 160 Toulouse 1314 5 Paris 1350 2500 Nice (300 KW 20 -230 and 100 KW 80 -100 ) 1350 160 Nancy 1485 1 Marseille 1485 1 Nancy 1485 1 Reims 1485 1 Brest 1485 1 Toulouse 1575 5 Paris 1584 1 Toulon 1584 1 Metz 1584 1 Mulhouse 1584 1 Strasbourg 1584 1 Nantes 1584 1 Montpellier 1584 1 Perpignan 1602 1 Nîmes ----------------------------- cu later for up2date 73, (Pascal, Tours, France, hard-core-dx via DXLD) see also MONACO * GERMANY [non]. If you visit the DW website, there's a link to US rebroadcasters. See http://tinyurl.com/7ayf I checked out one of them -- Alabama Public Radio, WAPR-FM, at URL http://www.apr.org/programs.asp They webcast their live audio -- that's nice -- but the only DW program is "Inside Europe", 6 AM EDT (1100 UT) Sundays. Not exactly prime listening time, is it? Similar for WILL. See http://tinyurl.com/7b2i in Illinois -- except this time it's 7 AM EDT (1200 UT) Sundays. They webcast as well. In my humble opinion, stations like Deutsche Welle insult us by thinking that one inaccessible hour per week can substitute for 7 daily broadcasts (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprogorams via DXLD) Why EDT when both these are in the CST zone?? The UT conversions you give are for EST or CDT (gh, DXLD) This assumes that the real audience for DW's efforts are the audience. Moves like this make me think that they're more concerned with being able to present a checklist to their political masters than with actually communicating. "Yes, we're on the air in Alabama." No matter that it's at 6 am on Sunday; they're there. We saw this with the BBC effort. The BBC was more interested in saying things like "we're on 225 stations across America, and on the air in 128 capitals around the world" than in figuring out if they were on at times when anyone would be listening to them. A station that airs your program at 6 am on Sunday is still a station you can count when submitting your annual report. It's the same sort of thinking that enables Deutsche Welle to produce a (decent) television service that virtually nobody has full access to. It appears to me that for many (most?) stations, the incentives in place maximize attention paid to the people who pay the bills and minimize attention paid to the people one is ostensibly trying to reach. Which is to say, it's not necessarily the stations' fault, it's more an artefact of the way international broadcasting is structured. It takes a particularly enlightened organization (hello, Radio Netherlands) to retain focus on the audience in the face of the incentives to do otherwise (Ralph Brandi, NJ, swprograms via DXLD) ** GERMANY. To all DW-Cool listeners -New Broadcast times as of April ------------------------------------------------------- From April 2003, COOL comes to you at new broadcast times: Shortwave broadcasts, all times in UT: South-East Asia: Thursdays at 2330 South Asia: Fridays at 1630 East Africa: Thursdays at 1930 West Africa: Thursdays at 2130 Central Africa: Fridays at 0530 Europe: Thursdays at 1730 and on Friday at 0730, 0930 and from 1030 every two hours (on the half-hour) until 1630. Listeners in all regions of the world can listen to the programme by satellite and on the internet every two hours on the half-hour from Thursday, 1730 to Friday, 0930, and again between 1030 and 1630. For further details and information on rebroadcasters airing the programme in your region, please click http://www.dw-world.de/english send an e-mail to english@dw-world.de or write to dw-radio, English service, 50588, Cologne, Germany Timings of other programs have also changed; further details at the DW website (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non]. DW schedule reshuffled totally in A-03. Alma Aty seems new relay site for DW, also transmitter beast of 500 kW new? Bad audio Komsomolsk site remains in the schedule. Russia: 500 kW of power seems new equipment, or just coupled 250 kW units? Almaty, Irkutsk, Krasnodar, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Kigali, Madagascar on higher bands, lower frequencies, due to decreasing sunspot cycle figures (Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, Kazakhstan is new for Deutsche Welle. Certainly no new transmitters are involved in the CIS transmissions. "Alma Ata" should be the Karaturuk site with four 1000 kW units, heavily used by RFA these days. "Irkutsk" is Angarsk with four 250 and two 2000 kW units, "Krasnodar" of course Tbilisskaya with four 1000 kW transmitters (200 kW are pairs of 100 kW units there), "Moskau" should be the established Lesnoy usage (pairs of 250 kW transmitters), "Novosibirsk" is Oyash with three 1000 kW units (this site is not to be confused with Novosibirsk-old, another site with numerous 100 kW transmitters). It is interesting to read news items from 1991 about the establishment of the Deutsche Welle relays via transmitters in what was then still the USSR. They document that Deutsche Welle first hesitated from accepting the offer from Moscow before they finally dared to lease airtime on transmitters somewhere beyond the last outposts of civilization. And the interviews: Yes, it are in fact ordinary broadcast transmitters we're going to use... (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Report about mast blow-up at Wolfsheim: http://www.df4wp.de/swr/artikel.htm More pictures: http://www.df4wp.de/swr/bilder.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. [Continued from OKLAHOMA]. I checked K57 Guam to reconfirm they are still webcasting Jim Bohannon, the only known station doing that. But during the 1400 UT hour, with the usual noisy audio, Coast to Coast was on instead! Strangely enough the clock at http://www.radiopacific.com was displaying 11+ pm, indicating UT + 9 instead of + 10. I suppose yet another website configured to display incorrect time with my computer set on UT with no DST shift. The break before 1500 UT was full of program promos, no commercials, and no timecheck before CBS World News Roundup [truncated]. This was rudely interrupted in the middle of a story before 1506 for some music fill and resumption of Coast to Coast (that name seems rather inadequate by the time you get to Guam) with alleged recordings of Bigfoot grunting. KGUM`s program grid hasn`t been updated since July and claims Jimbo is still on at 11 pm -2 am local (delayed many hours), with Coast to Coast not starting until 2 am local. Rechecked after 1700 UT, Jimbo was on; that would be 3 am local, so evidently KGUM has swapped CtC with Jimbo; Jimbo still going after 1807 with what was originally the second hour at 0407 UT, guest the author of ``The Best Democracy Money Can Buy``, and the final hour started at 1907. So Bohannon is on KGUM Tue-Fri at 1707-2000 UT; his local Friday night show had been delayed until Sunday night in Guam, Monday morning here, but one hour later than the other nights; need further monitoring to pin down the time for that one. The K57 webcast is so noisy and dropoutty that one can almost imagine it is arriving by shortwave, a quasi-DX experience (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. NORMAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE RESUMES ON ALL FIVE TRANSMITTERS Nearly three months after Typhoon Pongsona struck the island of Guam and wreaked havoc on TWR's broadcasting site there, regular programming resumed this week on all five transmitters. Just recently, TWR had restored broadcasts on four of the five transmitters, but now the fifth one is totally functioning. The staff has planned a special thanksgiving celebration Friday, March 7, which will include a dinner and brief "rededication" service (March TWR e-snapshots via Alokesh Gupta, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 5955, R. Cultural: Wayne Berger advises that this outlet is still on, // 3300, and is running 1 kW. Not propagating here for the moment (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** INDIA. 11620, AIR General Overseas Service, English news at 2104 UT, good solid signal; Indian sub-continental music, news at 2200, News, jazz program, closedown with lengthy announcements of frequencies and off at 2230, March 11 (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Drake SW8 with just whip antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. VOOR DE MARITIEMEN ONDER ONS Hallo allemaal, Voor de luisteraars naar schepen heb ik een link gevonden. Via deze link kun je diverse databases raadplegen, waarin gegevens van schepen te vinden zijn. http://www.pthompson.getfreeinternet.co.uk/Shipsearch.htm Veel plezier, (Cornel van Ravenswaaij, March 10, BDXC via DXLD) ** IRAN. 9580 and 6120 kHz both heard at 0130 UT in English. Fair on 6120, slightly better on 9580, March 12. Program was quite interesting, main points briefly summarized here. Russia and France both announce intent to veto UN resolution. An item about Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iraq [Iran?] in 1980s when Iraq was an ally of US and Britain. A second US Diplomat, John Brown, resigns in protest of US policy on Iraq. A senior analyst of the Australian Government resigns over Australian policy on Iraq. After news was an extensive interview about a memo of the National Security Council revealing "dirty tricks" by the US including wiretapping and surveillance of diplomatic staff of smaller countries on the UN Security Council and "pressuring and cajoling" these countries to support the US/UK resolution on Iraq. Based in part on an article in the London Observer. 6175 kHz, VOIRI, from 0228 UT with dreamy interval signal music, in // with 6120 kHz, very weak, low audio, under carrier of Voice of Vietnam, [via Canada] killed, completely obliterated when VoV program in English began just after 0230, March 12 (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Drake SW8 with just whip antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. VOICE OF IRAQI LIBERATION I noticed that propagation from northern Iraq was good this evening, so I decided to stay late at the office and record the sign-on at 1830 UT. Interesting observations: The Voice of the People of Kurdistan was rock steady on 4024.16 kHz prior to s/off at 1800. When the Voice of Iraqi Liberation came on at 1830, it started on 4024.60 kHz for a minute or so, and then suddenly re-tuned to 4025.00, right on the nose. It sounded like someone was zero-beating it with a known frequency. The audio is on the Media Network Web site at http://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/medianetwork/voil030311.rm Just one other thing: I was trying to place the sign-on music, which sounded familiar. Now it's come to me: it's the same tune that was used on the Deutsche Soldatensender, that East German clandestine that used to pop up several times a day on 935 kHz in the 60's and 70's. I don't know if it's significant, but I can't believe they just chose the tune at random :-) (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, March 11, hard- core-dx via WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) NEW IRAQI RADIO STATION ENTERS AIRWAVE WAR 11 March 03, NewScientist.com news service by Will Knight US-backed psychological operations inside Iraq appear to have intensified with the launch of a new propaganda radio station, New Scientist can reveal. The broadcasts target the elite troops of the Iraqi army and the country's oil workers. The new radio station is called Sawt al-Tahrir al-Iraq, meaning Voice of Iraqi Liberation. It was first detected on March 6 by Mika Mäkeläinen, a radio enthusiast in Finland. The station broadcasts programmes twice a day, at 0630 and 1830 GMT at the radio frequencies 1206 and 4025 kHz. Analysing the power of the station's signal allowed Mäkeläinen and a radio enthusiast in Egypt, Tarek Zeidan, to trace it a broadcasting base in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. This outpost is used by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the dissident political groups in the region, to broadcast another program - Voice of the People of Kurdistan. Shortly after this show ends, the new Iraqi one begins. Grey propaganda The Voice of Iraqi Liberation does not identify who is behind the transmissions - so-called grey propaganda. But its broadcasts tell members of the Republican Guard to defy Saddam Hussein's orders and join with coalition forces in building a new Iraq. "Don't listen to the orders of the dictator, don't shoot those who came to liberate you," said one programme. "Look forward to a bright and happy future of Iraq." Iraqi oil workers have also been warned against sabotaging oil reserves: "The oil wells and government installations belong only to the Iraqi people, and any deliberate damage to these sites will be considered as a capital crime. The next regime and government in Iraq will put on trial all those who participate in the execution of those orders as war criminals." Professional sounding Mäkeläinen, who operates the website DXing.info for radio-tracking enthusiasts, says the origin of the station can easily be determined from its content. "One way or another I'd say the Americans are involved," he told New Scientist. "It could be indirectly, by channelling money to opposition groups inside Kurdistan, or they could just as well be producing the programmes. They sound rather professional." The US military already broadcasts propaganda from aircraft flying near Iraq. Another radio station discovered in February 2003 appears to be broadcasting so-called black propaganda. Radio Tikrit started off supporting Saddam Hussein, but changed its stance after a couple of weeks to become highly critical of the Iraqi president and his government. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993484 (via Artie Bigley, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Pacifica Radio WBAI in New York City on 99.5 FM will air a segment about radio propaganda in Iraq this Friday, March 14, at 0820-0840 Eastern time (equal to 1320-1340 UT). You can listen to the program also on their website at http://www.wbai.org/ (streaming audio in the upper right corner of the website) Mika Mäkeläinen, DXing.info via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. POLICE RAID UNLICENSED RELIGIOUS RADIO STATIONS | Text of report by Israeli settlers' Arutz 7 radio web site on 11 March The Shas Party convened an urgent meeting this afternoon, in light of the police raids today on 11 unlicensed religious radio stations. Police and Communications Authority personnel closed down the Jerusalem-area stations, confiscating much equipment. "They have taken our transmitters in order to shut us up," Shas leaders said today, "but we will fight to the finish." The stations are popularly known as "the holy channels," and in fact broadcast mostly religious, inspirational and charity-oriented programming. [The Tel Aviv newspaper Ha'aretz on 11 March reported that the police had arrested three broadcasters who were working at the stations at the time of the raids. "They also arrested the manager of the Migdal Hair building after they found a transmitter installed on the roof," the report added.] Source: Arutz 7 radio web site, Bet El (West Bank), in English 11 Mar 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Glenn, this one is my mistake ``KYRGYZSTAN. 4010, 27.2 1655, Hit FM with Indian ``hits``. Lots of talk (5-6 minutes) at the hour, then continuing music of the same style. Probably transmitter problems wiped out the station for a while. New check at 1745 religious with music in English. QSA 2-3 JE (Jan Edh, SW Bulletin March 9, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DXLD)`` Of course it should be 4050. Best regards (Jan Edh, Hudiksvall, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. Just hearing a station at 0830 on 4845. Is this too late for Mauritania? Faded by about 0850. I see it is supposed to s/off at 0830 (Dave Onley, Australia, March 11, ARDXC via DXLD) Actually that`s about the right fade-out time from western edge of Africa (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mauritania has been noted 24 hours on this channel, not QSYing to 7245 recently (Paul Ormandy, ZL4TFX, ARDXC via DXLD) ** MEXICO [non]. RADIO ICON "WOLFMAN JACK" GETS HIS OWN MUSEUM Fm: Jerry Digney, Eric Raymond, SOLTERS & DIGNEY, 323 651 9300 (Del Rio, Texas, March 12, 2003)---Radio icon "Wolfman Jack," a.k.a. Bob Smith, from Brooklyn, is getting his own museum, seven years after his death. On Sat., March 15, a group of community leaders and businesspeople in Del Rio, Texas, will officially unveil plans for the museum and a $130,000 statue of the legendary disc jockey, sculpted by Michael Maiden. "I'd listen to him late at night on my little Montgomery Ward transistor radio," recalls Maiden, 52. Del Rio is where Smith invented the character of "Wolfman Jack," which made him famous, and where his first big radio break took place on XERF Radio, a high- powered radio station located across the border in nearby Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. Organizers expect the statue to be ready by November and the museum set to open sometime in 2004. Wolfman's disc jockey studio, now housed on family property in North Carolina, will be relocated to Del Rio. Smith, who penned his autobiography, "Have Mercy!," shortly before his death, is considered a radio pioneer, who took on the "Wolfman Jack" persona so he could play mostly blues music and sound like a convincing host, rather than a kid who hailed from the rough and tumble streets of his native Brooklyn. Filmmaker George Lucas based his film classic, "American Graffiti," on the late disc jockey's legendary radio broadcasts from Mexico that reached all the way north to Lucas' hometown of Modesto, Calif., via a 250,000-watt signal, five times the legal limit for U.S. stations. "The Godfather of Soul," James Brown, once visited Wolfman's show in Mexico and climbed part way up the vast radio tower, whose signal was so powerful that it routinely killed birds flying into its wave pattern. Over the years, many well-known music acts visited his highly-rated radio shows and later his TV program, "Midnight Special" on NBC-TV. Arturo González, 94, a Mexican lawyer who owned the station when "Wolfman Jack" launched his radio career there, is pleased about the museum and will attend Saturday's event. "He was my friend and I think he deserves it. If he could help someone, he would. That's the man I remember." Website: http://www.wolfmanjackfoundation.com -30- Jerry Digney, SOLTERS & DIGNEY Public Relations http://www.solterspr.com 8383 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 649, Beverly Hills, Calif. 90211 (323) 651-9300, Fax, (323) 651-5944 cell, (818) 693-1087 jerry@solterspr.com (via David Alpert, CA, DXLD) ** MONACO [non non]. Dear Glen[n], may be interesting now Mont Angel is Monaco territory; it has been bought by Monaco from France 2 weeks ago. Radio Superloustic 1467 kHz now announce new postal address: Superloustic, BP 32, FR-75462 PARIS CEDEX 10, FRANCE. The new address has been heard by Italian listener Fabrizio Carnevalini from Milano at 0715 UT on 11 March with good signal. The station has renewed his WEB http://www.superloustic.net and they have also en English information. The station announces to have got many reports via e-mail from many countries, ONE ALSO FROM CALIFORNIA in US... I wonder who is this SUPER MAN ??? e-mail : Denys Didelon ddidelon@superloustic.net Claude Wargnier cwargnier@superloustic.net Joël Pons jpons@superloustic.net Best regards, (Dario Monferin,. PLAY-DX ITALY, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. Full data QSL card received from R. Nepal after 266 days. The card depicts Annapurna Ranges at Pokhara, signed by R. S. Karki. The snail mail report was sent to Radio Nepal, P. O. Box 634, Kathmandu, Nepal (Swopan Chakrobrty, Kolkata, India, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Radio Netherlands announced that they will switch from 9790 to 9785 in the 0930 UT time slot. I verified this just now (Bill Brady, MD, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bonaire ** NIGERIA [and non]. Hello everyone, I am so happy to be back after almost three months traveling. I did a lot of Radio contacts during my trips around the country and came back to meet a lots of reply of Radio stations for my late last year DXperiences. In the coming weeks, because of Internet charges I will be sharing them with you all gradually, starting below. VOICE OF NIGERIA QSL CARD ARRIVES I called VON during my stay in Lagos. A guy from the monitoring unit did assure me that they do verify all reception reports they received. I return to my base only to find their QSL card waiting for me. It was for my report of 26/10/2002 on 7255 kHz. It also contained a personal letter from Ayodele Suleiman, the director of programmes, stickers and the QSL card veried by the director of programmes. Address was given as Abuja: 6th floor, Radio House, Herbert Macaulay Way, Garki Abuja. Lagos: Broadcasting House, Ikoyi, PMB 40003, Falomo, Lagos. Email: dgovon@nigol.net.ng RADIO NIGERIA LAGOS, PROMISED TO VERIFY REPORT I also called the Radio Nigeria Lagos, monitoring unit, where someone did promise to reply my letters including reception report. I have sent previous report to them with SASE without any luck. I am keeping my fingers crossed this time around. RADIO NIGERIA KADUNA, VERIFY REPORT ON A PAPER QSL I also returned home to find a QSL from Radio Nigeria Kaduna, for my report of 14-11-2002, on 4.77 MHz. It was veried by Shehu Muhammad, chief technical officer, studio, link & O.B. My SASE was used. Return was given as Federal radio corporation of Nigeria-kaduna, No. 7 Yakubu Gowon Way, P O Box 250, Kaduna, Nigeria. RADIO NIGERIA ENUGU, OFFICIALLY NOT ON SHORTWAVE I failed to visit the station during my trip around that region as planned, but I did call the station up. I was told that the technical guy, Louis Nnamuchi was not available, but another male voice from the technical team confirmed that Radio Nigeria Enugu is no longer available on shortwave and have no plans to return soon, but the station can be heard on FM within the Enugu area. I can confirm that too. On why they rarely verify reception report, he promised that they do reply to letters from listeners either on the air or by post, though he knew nothing about QSL cards. He did promise to send me things, by post. I am still waiting! BIAFRA -- VOICE OF BIAFRA INTERNATIONAL EMAIL QSL I got an email reply from Oguchi Nkwocha, MD oguchi@mbay.net Part of it reads "we do verify your report"; attached at the end was my report of 7th December 2002. Tthe reply was send by email and reply came back the same day. From (Emmanuel Ezeani, P O Box 1633, Sokoto, Nigeria, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. I suppose it has been there for some time since KOMA- 1520`s switch to news/talk, but I just noticed UT March 12 that Jim Bohannon is now on that wide-coverage outlet, something he has sorely needed for a few years since many 50 kW stations abandoned his first- class MOR talk show. It`s live, 0307-0559 UT Tue-Sat, covering much of western USA; I hadn`t looked for it since he`s still on local KGWA-960 when needed here. The website http://www.jimbotalk.com is a laugh, not updated in a year, and even then poorly designed. The affiliate list is even more out of date. As before, we haven`t found a single US station that is still carrying him *and* webcasting. Not KOMA; their website doesn`t even include a program schedule --- what`s with that?? http://www.komanews.com Best to catch the opening at 0307 when he gives the topic at least for the first hour. Sometimes at the very end before 0559 he mentions what will be on the next day or two. The second hour sometimes has a different guest, sometimes goes to open phones which generally occupy the third hour (except in reruns). The next morning I checked K57 Guam to reconfirm they are still webcasting Bohannon, the only known station doing that, but the time has changed.... q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. STATION HOLDS TRUE TO GRASSROOTS FORMAT By David Zizzo, The Oklahoman ANADARKO -- Terry Mahorney sits in his ``closet`` heard round the world -- or at least aboard farm tractors from here to Dallas -- and reflects on how it all began. ``I did it for selfish reasons and for vengeance,`` he said. However, the 500-watt AM radio station Mahorney runs from a studio in the back of his appliance store-combination- RadioShack has grown into much more. It`s where long-gone western singers still ride the lonesome airwaves, where America`s longest-running bluegrass radio roams free, where seldom is heard a discouraging word, unless it`s about Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mahorney pieced together Anadarko`s KJON-AM 850 three years ago from the remnants of an AM-FM station he said was dismantled when an East Coast company bought the FM part of the business. That company dumped the local news and sports staff, dropped the AM part of the business and used the studio to broadcast what Mahorney describes as ``country rock `n` roll`` from a satellite feed. The AM frequency licensed to broadcast to the southeast was ``orphaned,`` along with what Mahorney says made the station a fading treasure in today`s radio ratings rat race. The station`s cowboy show, with its poetry and yodeling, the local touch of sports and weather, the weekend bluegrass show -- all seemed destined to fade into the sunset. The takeover also left a disgruntled Mahorney, the largest advertiser on the old AM-FM station, with no place to hawk his washer/dryers and stereos. And it left the owner of the AM frequency, Stanton Nelson, a friend of Mahorney`s who lives in Norman, with no way to broadcast on the 850 AM band to maintain his frequency license with the Federal Communications Commission. So, Mahorney said, he and Nelson reached an agreement to solve their problems. The alliance was made sweeter for Mahorney and his fellow AM refugees because it allowed them to flaunt their survival to the FM station, which struggled and has since been sold again. ``We did it because they said we couldn`t,`` Mahorney said. Mahorney, 43, experienced in cable system installation and maintenance, cleared enough refrigerators from a corner of his appliance storeroom to build an 8-by-16 foot studio he calls his closet. Beneath the glow of shop lights back there, he stacked all the RadioShack equipment KJON volunteers need to crank out what Mahorney says is one of the few real ``classic country`` formats still around. By classic, Mahorney doesn`t mean Garth Brooks` hits of the `90s. ``A classic is not 4 years old,`` he said. More like 40. Mahorney means Charlie Rich and Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. He also means guys and gals few people would recognize, country crooners who could belt out a ballad over the din of a honky- tonk and often did. Many of these classics are no longer commercially available, but when listeners began hearing this 180-proof country, they called to donate old LP albums, 45s and even a few 78s. ``The folks had stashes and stashes of records and they wanted everybody to hear them,`` Mahorney said. Now, on weekdays during KJON`s sunup to sunset broadcasts, most of the tunes, cowboy poetry, public service announcements and a few commercials (all about Mahorney`s store) are selected at random to be broadcast. They`re on a 100-disk CD player that shuffles automatically through them. But on weekends, the KJON closet becomes a special country corner. That`s when it spins vinyl for the country`s longest-running bluegrass radio show (27 years), the country gospel show and the cowboy show, all hosted by DJs who volunteer to keep their music alive. The programs seem to be getting through, at least to Mahorney`s store clientele, most of whom are more than 50 years old. It`s also apparently reaching many people working the southern Oklahoma countryside as they listen. ``We play to a lot of John Deere tractors,`` Mahorney said. A self-described ultraconservative ``to the right of Rush Limbaugh,`` Mahorney said these days he struggles to keep his political thoughts to himself, worrying he might alienate some appliance customers. ``I`ll go off the deep end. I have occasionally,`` he said. ``I`ve got an opinion about everything.`` However, he doesn`t hesitate to edit out any ``liberal`` content, even from newscasts, like when Sen. Clinton is mentioned in anything other than an unfavorable light. ``I wipe her off,`` he said with more pride than apology over censorship at his station. ``It`s mine.`` It might not always be his, though. The FCC recently gave permission to the frequency owner for 850 AM to be carried in the Dallas area, making the frequency worth millions, Mahorney says. That means it probably will be sold, with the transmission being moved to Dallas. After the frequency is sold, Mahorney figures, it will take about 18 months for a Dallas station to be ready, time enough for a proper KJON cowboy swan song. At that point, though, it`s possible Mahorney, also a ham radio buff, might find another method of keeping alive those country oldies, such as low-power FM (Daily Oklahoman March 10, also newsok.com via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4890 [formerly filed under UNIDENTIFIED]: 4890.00 "Canal 33", unknown QTH (southern Perú). March 9 2003 - 0005 UT. After many hours of listening on this very annoying programme format with broadcast of recorded religious TV-audio all day and night, totally clean from any "ID", I hear this crystal clear call: "Canal 33 una imagen nueva en el sur del Perú". I was thrown into the transition to a new program at 0005. The TV-channel 33 is at least some years ago listed for "Empresa Radiodifusora 1160 TV" in Lima. I don’t know if "Canal 33" in Perú is a registered name or trade mark but the call indicates a local or at least a regional TV-channel in southern Perú. Maybe in Arequipa which I suggested in a previous contribution. Iglesia Bautista Fe Remember that I wrote in my earlier contribution that the preacher should leave for a travel to a "Congreso de......" plus a word ending with ".....as" in Lima between Feb 25 – March 2? Bingo should I say when I surfed the web!. Visit this address and check the preachers diary: http://ibfe.org/agenda.html Agenda del Pastor Guillermo Gardner y del Equipo Pastoral Macedonia Marzo 25 feb -02 II Congreso de Damas en la Iglesia Bautista San Luis, Lima, Perú 03 Viaje a USA 05-09 Conferencia Misionera en Liberty Baptist Church con el Pastor Don Gibbs 12-14 Conferencias en Pillsbury Baptist Bible College 16 Disponible pra predicar en USA AM 16 Disponible pra predicar en USA PM 19 Disponible pra predicar en USA 23-26 Conferencia Misionera en First Baptist Church con el Pastor Tim Henderson 30 Disponible pra predicar en USA AM 30 Disponible pra predicar en USA PM 31 Viaje de regreso al Perú Iglesia Bautista Fe, Calle Ugarte 104 - Yanahuara (Arequipa) Teléfono (51) (54) 251562 Pastores: Guillermo Gardner, Miguel Staley, Chris Gardner! (Björn Malm, Ecuador, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson, March 11 for WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Espero sepan disculpar el "alejamiento". Gracias por la comprensión. Bueno, la frecuencia de 4890.2 está ocupada por Radio CHOTA y 4890.0 por una emisora también PERUANA, la cual transmite desde Arequipa, ya que en TODOS los servicios "religiosos" , mencionan de forma repetida el nombre de esa ciudad... lamentablemente NO SE IDENTIFICAN... tengo que esperar que deje de transmitir Radio CHOTA para tratar de identificar. Espero sea útil la info. Saludos (Alfredo ``Spacemaster`` Cañote, Lima, March 12, Conexión Digital via WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Gracias por el dato!!! Nos estamos volviendo locos para tratar de dilucidar de qué emisora se trata. Escuché grabaciones que me envió el querido Samuel Cássio M., desde Brasil, escuché horas de horribles programas en mi propio receptor, charlé mucho del tema con Marcelo Cornachioni y ya no sé qué pensar de esta emisora. Vos estás aclarando mucho de este intríngulis. Un abrazo (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, ibid.) Hola a todos, siguiendo con el tema del colega Alfredo, les cuento que el canal de television se menciona en el sitio llamado http://ibfe.org, asi: SERIE: LOS JUECES No dejen de sintonizar nuestra esctación de Televisión canal 33, Televisión Mundial puesto que muy pronto estaremos lanzado una nueva serie, llamada los jueces basada en el libro de los jueces, y protaginaza por varios de los hermanos de la Iglesia. Como hay varios nros. de teléfono, sería quizás una idea llamarlos... Uno de los vínculos de la página que acabo de mencionar es la siguiente: http://www.televisionmundial.com/ Allí tienen que saber quiénes son los que retransmiten en onda corta su señal (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, March 12, Conexión Digital via WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Acabo de escribir a la dirección que aparece en la página web que nos informó el colega Henrik Klemetz, preguntando el nombre de la estación de Onda Corta que retarnsmite por los 4890 y acabo de recibir la siguiente respuesta. "Se llama Radio Macedonia; por ahora sólo transmitimos nuestra señal de TV. De dónde es usted? Cuénteme un poco. Chris Gardner" (José Elías, Venezuela, Conexión Digital via WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Pastor Guillermo, serán ustedes que emiten en período de prueba en la onda corta de 4890 kHz desde Arequipa? Si es así, le ruego me informe un poco más sobre el transmisor, ya que son ya muchos oyentes internacionales que descubieron la señal y se preguntan por qué se emite el sonido de un canal televisivo. Cordial saludo, (Henrik Klemetz (Suecia), to the station via DXLD) Yo sólo tengo parte que ver con el canal. Mi hijo es el encargado. Pronto queremos tener programa de radio pero por el momento es todo que tenemos listos. Que Dios le bendiga. Yours to evangelize the world in our generation, (W. Austin Gardner, Church Planting Missionary in Arequipa, Peru. Spanish South American Director for Macedonia World Baptist Missions http://www.world-evangelism.com If you would like to receive our email updates please drop me a note or check out our web page (Guillermo Gardner to Henrik Klemetz via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Many DX listeners have been tuning in to Peruvian Channel 33 on shortwave, 4890 kHz, and we are wondering where this facility may be located. Best wishes, (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden March 12, to gardner@uttermost.net via DXLD) Re: shortwave in Peru Hello, Where are you hearing it from? We are located in Arequipa, Perú. We are looking to change the way that everything is transmitted and get special programming for radio. Tell us how you heard about us etc. I would be interested in hearing. You said many DX listeners. DX? Have a great day and God bless (Chris and Andria Gardner, http://www.uttermost.net March 12, reply to and via Henrik Klemetz, DXLD) ** PERU. 4423.7, FRECUENCIA LIDER, RADIO BAMBAMARCA. Bambamarca. Marzo 10 2305-2315, EX-4421.3?? música folk. "..éxitos que seguimos compartiendo para esta audiencia de Frecuencia Lider Radio Bambamarca, ahora las 6 de la tarde con 10 minutos..." (Rafael Rodriguez, Colombia, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** PERU. 4424, R. Bambamarca? I'm hearing La Voz de Liberación programs here during the 1000 hour. Nothing on listed 4421 so I am presuming it is these guys on a slightly different frequency (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 11 and 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 4940, R. San Antonio spot on here for the last few nights. Mostly easy music during the 0000 hour, ID mentioning shortwave and FM (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 11 and 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 5024.9, R. Quillabamba heard when R. Rebelde is off, such as 1100 March 11 with ID (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Radio Rossii heard on 18180 (presumably 3 x 6060) // 11630, 12005 and 13705 on Wed. 12 March at 1530+UT. Excellent reception on 13705 S15 to 20. Others very weak. 12005 blocked by Tunisia at 1600. Nothing heard on unidentified 18175 as reported on DXLD 3-040. Still heard on 18180 at 1920 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Canada., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT PIERRE & MIQUELON. I recently emailed the engineer at RFO St Pierre et Miquelon 1375 kHz and in addition to a helpful reply received the news that the MW transmitter will close down in the next few weeks :( Pour votre information notre émetteur OM est prévu s'arréter définitivement dans les semaines qui viennent. Nous ne serons plus émis alors qu'en FM. Notre radio est également présente sur internet à http://www.rfo.fr/ (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, Medium Wave Circle email group via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) What a shame! The last exotic North American MW station, and a feasible catch for many with its unique split frequency (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES. Just received a very exciting QSL from FEBA Radio in the Seychelles for a report of January 19th, 2003 at 1530 on 11600, a full colour full detailed card signed by Doreen Rugasse showing a lady tending to some of the equipment in FEBA's studio; they also sent two brightly coloured green and yellow FEBA Radio stickers all in an airmail envelope with two very nice large Seychelles stamps showing wildlife. I have been trying to hear and log FEBA and the Seychelles for many years; finally this year it happened and just in the nick of time too because FEBA is going to close its shortwave transmitters in the Seychelles and this country will no longer be able to be logged on shortwave (probably never ever again) so if you have not already logged the Seychelles as a country, now is the time to do it! Best wishes to all! (Michael Stevenson, Port Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia, Sangean ATS-909 with outdoor longwire 15 metres (equipment used to log FEBA), EDXP via DXLD) That`s nice, but you forget the BBC also operates from Seychelles --- tho this too is rumoured to be on the way out (gh, DXLD) ** SPAIN. UT MONDAY 0045-0056 RADIO WAVES 6055 It was listed as "Radio Club". I don't recall where I found the entry, however, I did verify/record "Radio Waves" starting at 0041Z UT Monday. I just played the tape and verified. (The recorders I am using now record a full date/time tag.) Radio Waves generally runs until 4 minutes from the end of the slot. They have been varying somewhat, including two shortened music only programs in the past 6 weeks (Bill Brady, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Club is a separate program, basically a mailbag, which has been on UT Mondays, while Radio Waves has been on UT Sundays. Are they now getting mixed or merged? (gh, DXLD) ** SPAIN. Fuente: Xornal.com 350 TRABAJADORES DE TVE DENUNCIAN LA MANIPULACIÓN DE LOS INFORMATIVOS 350 trabajadores de Televisión Española han firmado un escrito en el que denuncian la manipulación que la dirección del ente público lleva a cabo en las informaciones sobre la crisis iraquí. En el informe se exponen incluso ejemplos concretos, según informa la Cadena SER. (lunes 10 de marzo de 2003) XORNAL/Madrid.- Según el informe, en el Telediario del 3 de marzo, el director de informativos, Alfredo Urdaci, cambió la entradilla a la intervención de Ángela Rodicio, la enviada especial a Bagdad, e introdujo interpretación y valoración con frases como: "Es la táctica de Sadam" o "Sadam demuestra que tiene armas de destrucción masiva". En otro Telediario del 28 de febrero, se suprime del minutado, ya en emisión, una pieza que contenía la posición de Francia y Rusia, con declaraciones positivas sobre la destrucción de misiles Al Samud 2 y sobre la posibilidad del veto ruso para impedir el uso de la fuerza. En otros temas, el domingo 2 de marzo, según los trabajadores, se ofreció una información desequilibrada sobre la manifestación en Valencia en apoyo del Plan Hidrológico Nacional, con acumulación de testimonios de cargos y candidatos del Partido Popular. Son ejemplos de ese primer informe realizado por el Comité Antimanipulación que se ha constituido en Televisión Española. Este informe se ha remitido al Consejo de Administración del Ente y al Congreso de los Diputados, y se acompaña de 350 firmas de trabajadores que denuncian la falta de veracidad, de pluralismo e independencia en asuntos como la guerra, la crisis del Prestige o la huelga del 20-J. (via Jordi Brunet March 10 via Dario Monferini via DXLD) BBC this morning at 0945 through about 0955 or so ran their "Analysis" segment which was about how the Spanish government is at odds with its own people, who polls show are 90% against the Iraq war. They gave a history of how it came to be this way, and how the U.S. supported Franco instead of the democratically popular government, etc. I assume you'd be interested in this which is why I'm sending this message. They say that the piece will be available on the BBC website for 7 days from today (Your Pen Pal, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s the Monday edition: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ram/analysis_mon.ram (gh, DXLD) ** SYRIA. 12085 kHz, Damascus Radio at 2125 UT with very low audio; regional music, news or comment in English at 2130, poor on March 11th. // Frequency of 13610 inaudible, completely covered by WEWN on 13615 (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Drake SW8 with just whip antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TINIAN. On a springlike night, pleased to find 13m holding up late, with Chinese on 21540 at 0340 past 0400 March 12. Top of hour said something about Mei Guo, but when I first tuned in, did not sound like Standard Chinese to me. This is in latest Radio Free Asia schedule in DXLD as Tinian 0300-0600 in Mandarin, as they so quaintly and politically incorrectly insist on calling it. Maybe one of the unpublicized Wu segments Kim mentioned (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TOGO. (tentative) On 10 Mar at 2105 noted a rather strong carrier on 5046.7 and indeed there was tiny audio with French talks. So the RTT engineers had no luck in improving the audio level and now the transmitter also starts to drift (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Possible relocation of RFE/RL to here??! See CZECH REPUBLIC (via WORLD OF RADIO 1173) ** U A E. UAE Radio Dubai, audible in English at 0330 March 12, fair at best on 15395 and 13675, and parallelable way under Tunisia on 12005 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Hi Glen[n]: I read the article railing against the BBC by Barbara Amiel. Here's some background information your readers should have about Barbara Amiel. 1. She was a prominent ultra-conservative print and tv journalist in Canada. 2. She is married to Conrad Black - millionaire industrialist who gave up his Canadian citizenship to sit in the House of Lords. 3. She loathed the CBC while she was still Canadian and still living here and campaigned for its privatization. Add those up and then read her diatribe against the BBC. If it isn't in private hands then it has no use being in existence no matter how good the operation is (Mark Coady, Ont., March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC GOES IN THE CLEAR ON DIGITAL SATELLITE, WILL SAVE 85M POUNDS | Text of press release from BBC on 12 March The BBC today (Wednesday 12 March 2003) announced that from 30 May it will, for the first time, broadcast its eight TV channels unencrypted on digital satellite. This decision means that digital satellite viewers in the UK will, in the future, be able to receive the BBC channels without a Sky viewing card, through any make of digital satellite receiver. Current and future Sky subscribers will still be able to receive all the BBC's services. It also means that the BBC will save an estimated 85m pounds over the next five years because it will no longer be using BSkyB's Conditional Access system. Of the savings, 40m pounds will be used to improve access to all the BBC's regional services on digital satellite (DSAT). The BBC national services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, plus, for the first time, all 15 regional variations of BBC One in England will all be available on DSAT and listed together on Sky's Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). BBC Director-General Greg Dyke said: "This is an important decision for the BBC which will save us a considerable amount of money. It will also bring new benefits to viewers right across the country, will broaden the appeal of digital satellite and enable as many people as possible to get the BBC's digital channels. "For the first time ever, all the BBC's regional and national services will be available to viewers right across the UK. This means that a Scot living in London can get BBC One Scotland, or a native of Yorkshire living in Cornwall could watch regional programmes from their home region." Today's decision has been triggered by two events. Firstly, the BBC's five-year contract with BSkyB for conditional access ends in May, so alternative options can be considered. Secondly, by moving all the BBC's services to the Astra 2D satellite, whose signals are tightly focused, the BBC can limit broadcasting principally to the UK. This removes the need to encrypt for rights purposes. However, to ensure that satellite viewers continue to receive the right regional version when they watch BBC One or BBC Two, the BBC will need a one-off change from Sky, for which it has offered to pay a fair price, including a profit margin. This involves a simple adaptation to the EPG software which allows the viewer to select the regional service they want so they always get "their" BBC One or BBC Two. However, if this is not achieved, the BBC will still go ahead with broadcasting its services unencrypted on DSAT. Issued by BBC Press Office; Tel: 020 8576 1865; press.office@bbc.co.uk Source: BBC press release, London, in English 12 Mar 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) Andy Sennitt comments: There are some things that don't quite make sense here. Although the beam from Astra 2D is a lot tighter than the current one, even the press release admits that its coverage is "principally the UK." In practice, it covers most of France, all of the Benelux countries, Ireland, Iceland and parts of Germany and Spain. Rights agreements do not cover those other countries. Furthermore, existing agreements for some sports events restrict coverage to specific parts of the UK. For example, football matches are sometimes free to air in Scotland, but Pay per View in the rest of the UK. So some encryption would still appear to be necessary. The BBC admits it has a problem here. A spokesman told BBC News Online that the BBC will be talking to rights holders in the coming days. "We very much hope we can come to some arrangement." The BBC suggests that, if no agreement can be reached, the matches affected could be shown only on terrestrial analogue channels. That seems to be a Heath-Robinson solution that will hardly encourage the growth of the digital-only TV market. The BBC may find that much of its estimated £85 million savings will end up funding legal expenses! (© Radio Netherlands Media Network March 12 via DXLD) ** U K . Hi everyone, it seems that media sound has closed their service down, as per 'MEDIASOUND HAS NOW CLOSED DUE TO LACK OF SUPPORT --- THIS SITE WILL BE UPDATED WITH LINKS TO OTHER INTERNET AUDIO SERVICES SOON.' A real shame, but there is a donation button on the site at: http://www.mediasound.net 73 (Tim Gaynor, Dxerscalling Australia, Mar 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They were carrying WORLD OF RADIO too, Sat 2100 ** U S A. Hearing WBOH 5920 kHz with very strong signal here in Michigan at 0200Z and 1100Z today. Test tone, ID, reception report address. By the way, per my WTJC QSL the street is "Robers Rd" not "Roberts Rd." (Ben WB9FJO, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I listened closely to KK`s recording, another part of which is on new WOR 1173, and sure sounded like `Roberts` to me. Perhaps a typo on the card (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have been hearing WBOH on 5920 every evening from 0600 to 0800 plus here in New Zealand. Transmissions are test only and consist of identification and full postal address as: FBN. 520 Roberts Road, Newport, NC 28570. This announcement is repeated about every minute along with a request for reception reports to that address. Signal strength here is fair but easily readable (Ian Cattermole, March 12, Cumbre DX via DXLD) More loggings of WBOH come in, but when all you can report is the same old tape loop, they are hardly newsworthy. I found this still running at a very brief check 0315 UT March 12. BTW, there is an apparently unrelated WBOH TV in Lima OH, mentioned by Fred Vobbe sharing the tower with his WLIO TV (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBOH says they have been running about 18 kW with a few times at higher power during their recent tests (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. WJIE: still no 13595 and heard 7490 with just open carrier at 1335 on March 12. Audio feed must be down as the audio stream was still running at their website. Also noticed they are listed as carrying Pastor Buddy of Steve Anderson fame at 0200 UT Mondays (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. 7355, WRNO untraced in many checks as of late; seems to be a very irregular operation (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. (pirate) - On 03/11/03 between 0350-0430 UT, I heard a pirate called itself "Iron Man Radio". The frequency was 6925 kHz, putting in a strong enough signal into my Central NJ location to be heard well on a DX-398 with just the internal whip. The programming consisted of 1960s rock, blues, and a rocketship tour of the solar system that sounded like it was recorded in the early 1960s. The above correct ID was obtained during a repeat tonight at 0125 UT as Iron Man Radio. Still heard with a good signal right now (Dan Srebnick, NJ, UT March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RE: Kraig Krist reception of WMPR, this pirate is heard regularly on 6950/6955, several times a month with a good signal in the eastern US (Ben WB9FJO, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. International broadcast station WWRB, Manchester, TN is about to begin spring broadcast season flight inspections of the WWRB antenna systems. Upon completion WWRB will be the only shortwave station that use aircraft to confirm WWRB antennas are performing as designed. Using an aircraft equipped with GPS, calibrated HF receivers, telemetry downlinks to various other type of measurement equipment and by flying circular orbits around the station at various distances and altitudes a clear picture of the following will be observed: Main lobe Azimuth Alignment Vertical Radiation Angle Horizontal Beam Width Vertical Beam Width Half power points of the main lobe (vertical & horizontal) Side Lobes Secondary Lobes Back Lobes WWRB's chief engineer David Frantz will be the Pilot of the aircraft performing the flight inspections (David Frantz, WWRB, March 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DX LISTENING DITGEST) WWRB has adjusted its schedule and is off Saturdays until 2300 UT (Hans Johnson, Tallulah, Louisiana USA, March 12, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. I heard RFA from 1400 to 1500 UT on 648 kHz in South Korea. At 1400: VOA ended and RFA in Korean started. At 1500: relaying of RFA on 648 kHz stopped (Sungchul Cho from Korea South, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also TINIAN above ** U S A. U.S. RADIO STATION IN JORDAN SOUNDS LIKE A HIT WITH YOUNG Music, all-Arabic format thrive; some say news is slanted March 11, 2003, BY NANCY YOUSSEF, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER AMMAN, Jordan -- In their efforts to enhance America's popularity in the Arab world, U.S. officials have come up with an idea that's music to Middle Eastern ears. Lured by the station's unprecedented 50-50 mix of Western and Arabic pop music accompanied by small doses of news, listeners in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait and even Iraq are tuning in to Radio Sawa. The new U.S. government-sponsored radio station broadcasts in Arabic 24 hours a day. It's now the most listened-to station among pop-music-loving 17- to 28-year olds in Amman, Jordan's capital, according to a recent audience survey. Under-30s are precisely the group that Radio Sawa's creators targeted. Radio Sawa -- Sawa meaning "to come together" in Arabic -- plays on nearly every street in Jordan's capital. The music is the lure; many listeners say they think the news is biased. Firas Haddad, 30, who sells cell phones in Amman, said he tries not to listen to the station because he hates the United States, but he concedes that the station often plays the best selection of Arabic music. "I never listen to 100 percent of what is said," said Haddad. Mustafa Harmaneh, chief of research at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, said lots of young Jordanians claim they turn off Radio Sawa when the news begins. "The news is America-centric, but I think it's fair," Harmaneh said. "It's just news flashes. If you want in-depth news, you don't listen to Radio Sawa." Research sponsored by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the U.S. government agency that oversees Radio Sawa and the Voice of America, found that within six months Radio Sawa's popularity surpassed that of the BBC and local stations such as Amman FM. Armed with these statistics, BBG Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that Radio Sawa "may be the star of our efforts in the war on terrorism." He added that: "In an age when Arab boycotts of American products are widespread, a U.S. government-run radio station almost overnight has become the most popular voice of its kind in major portions of the Middle East, including Baghdad." From studios in Washington, Radio Sawa broadcasts to the region via AM transmitters in Cyprus, Djibouti and Kuwait, allowing it to bypass government controls in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The BBG rejects charges that Radio Sawa is a propaganda tool. Spokeswoman Joan Mower insisted that its work is "completely separate" from the State Department's public diplomacy program. Salameh Nematt, Washington bureau chief of the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat, attributed Sawa's success to "cultural schizophrenia," an appetite for American pop culture coupled with rejection of U.S. policies in the Middle East. "People think highly of America in the sense that it's superior when it comes to everything they enjoy," he said. "They're very angry at America because it's supporting Israel against Palestinians. Everyone likes Michael Jackson and Jennifer López, but they hate George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice." Tosin Sulaiman, of Knight Ridder Newspapers, contributed to this report (From the Detroit Free Press, relayed by Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, DXLD) ** U S A. VOICE OF AMERICA T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE Release Date: February 12, 2003 Contact: Chrisbell Bednar, West Chester Township Parks Development Manager, 513-759-7305 (West Chester, Ohio) "Tell the Truth, And Let the World Decide" For more than 50 years the Voice of America shaped the world`s view of our country by delivering truthful news. This sentiment is now displayed on the first in a series of T-shirts designed to recognize the significance of the Voice of America Bethany Station in our nation’s history and its prominent place in our community. The high-quality natural T-shirts feature an artist`s rendering of the distinctive Voice of America building and a phrase associated with the radio broadcasts that were once transmitted to countries around the world. There will be a limited number of each shirt in the series. "The T-shirts are very patriotic and show pride in West Chester as home to the Voice of America," said West Chester Parks Development Manager Chrisbell Bednar. "In addition to the T-shirt, other items will be made available to promote efforts to restore the building and create the Voice of America Park and Museum." Money raised from the sale of the shirts will go toward restoration of the Voice of America building. The shirts are $20 each and are available at the Voice of America Building. For more information, call Chrisbell Bednar at 513-759-7305. http://www.westchesteroh.org/parksandrec/news.html (via Kim Elliott, DC, WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) ** U S A. QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 23 ARLB023 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT March 6, 2003 To all radio amateurs FCC MAKES HOUSEKEEPING CHANGES IN AMATEUR SERVICE RULES The FCC made some minor changes in the Part 97 Amateur Service rules as a result of decisions at past World Radiocommunication Conferences. In a wide-ranging Report and Order released March 3 that affects several radio services, the FCC has removed 97.401(b) and international footnote 5.120 from the Amateur Service rules. The section references International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Resolution 640, which invited administrations to provide for the needs of international disaster communications and for the needs of emergency communications within their national regulations using certain amateur bands. Resolution 640 was deleted at WRC-97, and footnote 5.120 at WRC-2000. ``We do not think this will have an impact on the Amateur Service emergency communications because Sections 97.111(a)(1) and 97.101(c) of our Rules allow amateur stations to communicate with foreign stations in disaster areas, making the provisions based on the former ITU Resolution No. 640 unnecessary,`` the FCC said in the RO&O in ET Docket 02-16. Those sections permit transmissions necessary to exchange messages with other stations in the amateur service, unless an administration objects and require control operators at all times and on all frequencies to give priority to stations providing emergency communications (via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** U S A. SHLOMO MALKA FOUND IN CONTEMPT OF court-ordered INJUNCTION, FINED $35,000.00 FOR UNLICENSED RADIO OPERATION Washington, D.C. - Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that, on March 3, 2003, in the United States Southern District of Florida, United States District Judge, Honorable Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr., found Shlomo Malka in civil contempt due to Malka`s continued unlicensed radio operation in violation of FCC rules and a court-ordered injunction. The court ordered Malka to pay a fine of $35,000.00 and to relinquish any claim to radio station equipment seized from Malka`s unlicensed radio station last week. In addition, Malka was ordered to fully cooperate with the FCC in the continuing investigation of the unlicensed radio station, and to identify all individuals and advertisers who had any relationship with the operation of the unlicensed station The Commission`s Miami, Florida Office received complaints from listeners and broadcasters in south Florida of interference to the reception of licensed broadcast stations in the area. Previously, U.S. Marshals and the FCC had seized Malka`s radio station equipment. On January 29, 2002, Judge Ferguson issued an order enjoining Malka from future acts of possessing and/or using radio equipment to willfully and knowingly violate Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (``Act``). Following issuance of this order, Malka persisted in the unlicensed operation. The injunction against Malka`s unlicensed operation has now been made permanent. Additional fines of $10,000.00 per violation will be imposed in the event the court finds Malka has engaged in unlicensed broadcasting at any time in the future, along with any additional civil and/or criminal penalties imposed by the court. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney`s Office, Southern District of Florida, Ft. Lauderdale Division. The operation of an unlicensed broadcast station is a violation of Section 301 of the Act. Operators of unlicensed stations may be subject to monetary penalties of up to $11,000 per violation. In addition, unlicensed operators may be subject to criminal sanctions, including fines and imprisonment. - FCC - Enforcement Bureau Contact: John Winston at (202) 418-7450 / TTY 1(888) 835-5322 NEWS Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D. C. 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 6, 2003 NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: John Winston (202) 418-7450 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-231781A1.doc (via CGC Communicator via Fred Vobbe, NRC FMTV via DXLD) WTFK? What even was the name of the pirate? The FCC often omits this from such press releases, out of spite? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 1680 Seattle; Noted what was presumed to be this new station testing, briefly in passing at approx. 1:30 pm PT with Asian music, and again in passing at approx 3:00pm PT with BeeGee's music. Off soon after (Eric J Svajdlenka, KA7MEK, Everett WA , March 7, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1173, DXLD) Eric, yours is the first logging of KTFH Seattle. It is coming on the air March 31 with an international format. It is co-sited with KLFE so is up closer to you. Not sure about the BeeGees but the other music certainly fits in. Congratulations (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1173) KLFE 1590 noted off and on numerous times between about 1:00 and 2:00 pm PT today during drive in to work, and at times seemingly at significantly lower power. Unknown as to what 1680 was doing during this time as the '88 Jeep Cherokee radio only goes to 1610 (Eric, March 10, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1173) Noted with TOH ID at 0900 local, "This is a test of KTFH Seattle, AM 16-80". Spanish music this time, and noticeably weaker as if on 1 kw (Eric, March 12, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1173) 1680, KTFH WA, Seattle, testing with Spanish music and ID at 2006 EST 3/12 "This is a test from KTFH Seattle AM 16-80". Back into SS mx. Fading with QRM from KAVT at times. I had to phase out KAVT at times to hear KTFH. There will be QRM from KAVT here at night. Drake R8 term. 400' NNW wire (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, KAVT Reception Manager, NRC-AM et al., via DXLD) ** U S A. http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/index.html KUOM-FM 106.5 St. Louis Park, MN is on the air. This is the first new Class D station in 25 years... KUOM-FM shares time with high-school station KDXL. It more-or-less simulcasts with KUOM-770 ("770 Radio K"), a *fantastic* modern rock outlet. "more-or-less" as 770 AM is a daytimer.. KUOM-FM operates 4:30pm to 8am and all day weekends (via Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com WTFDA via DXLD) I am about 5 miles from the transmitter of KDXL/KUOM as the crow flies and they are hard to get at my house. KFMC, 106.5 in Fairmont MN usually wipes them out. A sad situation for class D'ers. In reality, it really doesn't matter to me as I wouldn't listen to them in the first place. KDXL was logged years ago, and new KUOM would not count as a new station in my log because the same transmitter/location is used for both stations (John Ebeling, Bloomington MN, ibid.) ** U S A. CLEAR CHANNEL FACES SUIT OVER R.I. NIGHTCLUB FIRE Market Monitor CCU 32.35 -0.77 -2.32% March 11, 2003 Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Clear Channel Communications Inc. (CCU) said it is being sued for its alleged connection to last month's deadly nightclub fire in Rhode Island because it has "deep pockets." A lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of the family of Lisa Kelly, 27 years old, of Swansea, Mass. The suit claims Clear Channel, a San Antonio-based radio company, is liable because it sponsored and marketed the Feb. 20 Great White concert at a West Warwick nightclub. Nearly 100 people died and almost 200 were injured trying to escape from The Station nightclub after the band's pyrotechnics display sparked a fire that ripped through the one-story, wood building. "We are deeply saddened that plaintiffs' lawyers are looking for deep pockets to pick, rather than allowing people the requisite time to grieve for those whom we have lost," Clear Channel said in a statement... http://smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20030311-000755-1132 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) SECOND LAWSUIT FILED IN NIGHTCLUB FIRE http://www.turnto10.com/news/2030032/detail.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Historical footnote: Today marks the 70th anniversary of the first "Fireside Chat" by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications is commemorating the event on its Web site at: http://www.museum.tv Tapes of chats also will be played throughout the day at the museum's Angel Harvey Radio Center in the Chicago Cultural Center (Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times March 12 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. THE BUSINESS OF PUBLIC RADIO By MICHELLE R. SMITH, The Associated Press, 3/11/03 11:18 AM SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Public radio is known more for its high-minded news shows and soothing classical music than its business savvy. But public radio stations intent on building their listenership are focusing more on expansion. And that means stations are being bought and sold at a faster rate than in the past. In 2002, there were six deals that involved a public radio buyer or seller, according to Marc Hand, managing director of Public Radio Capital, a Colorado-based group that helps public stations raise money to acquire new stations and expand. From 1998 through 2000, just one public radio station changed ownership per year. This year is on pace to exceed previous years, with four deals already planned, Hand said. "A lot of stations are realizing that you can principally focus on your mission, but to do that mission, you have to focus on your business," he said. The shift in attitude is driven by a desire for more listeners, said Mike Janssen, an associate editor at Current, a newspaper that covers public broadcasting. A bigger audience means more pledges for the listener-supported public stations and a healthier bottom line, he said. Many public radio stations program a mix of music and news. When a public radio system owns multiple frequencies in a market, it can specialize each spot on the dial -- one can program all-news, while another can program only jazz or classical music. "Radio is a very highly segmented medium," said Tom Thomas of the Station Resource Group, a membership group of leading public radio organizations. "Even the most hugely successful stations these days are not listened to by 95 percent of the community." But with a limited number of frequencies and more interests bidding for them, the industry is becoming more competitive -- sometimes pitting public radio systems against each other. Such a conflict is playing out in Northern California, where the nation's most listened-to public radio station, San Francisco-based KQED, said in February it planned to buy a station in Sacramento. KQED plans to broadcast the same schedule of news programming it airs in the San Francisco Bay area, customized with local traffic and weather. Michael Lazar, general manager of Sacramento's Capital Public Radio, complains that KQED is moving in on a market his system has cultivated for 20 years, and plans to air many of the same programs at the same time, including the popular news shows "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," produced by National Public Radio. Capital Public Radio also bid for the frequency, planning to turn it into an all-jazz station. The frequency went to KQED for its bid of $3 million, far more than the moderately sized Sacramento group could afford. "We are in the public service business and duplicating our format doesn't serve the public interest," Lazar said. "They're going to go head-to-head against us." KQED says listeners will have more choice, and that the expansion will better serve the public. The station's general manager, Jeff Clark, said the competition could help both sides. Industry watchers say he may be right. In most cases, when multiple public stations compete in a market, the audience and pledges for all the public stations increase, they say. That seems to be the case in Los Angeles. Three years ago, Pasadena-based KPCC received a $1 million cash infusion from the giant Minnesota Public Radio to build up its news department and improve what KPCC management called an underperforming station. MPR is known as one of the early adopters of a more businesslike approach to public radio, building a statewide public radio network and a successful for-profit company it spun off. Its deal with a Southern California station sparked concerns that an expansion-minded out-of state organization might have too much say over a public station that was supposed to serve Californians. Some also worried the station would steal listeners and funding dollars from Santa Monica-based KCRW, one of the top five public stations in the country. KCRW has a strong emphasis on music but also carries popular NPR news shows. Instead, the competition appears to have benefited both stations. The audience for KPCC, now known as Southern California Public Radio, has grown by more than 150,000 listeners, the station said. KCRW's listenership has also grown, though not by as much as KPCC's. Hollywood residents Nate Reger and his wife Julia generally listen to KCRW for news in the morning, and then turn to KPCC at 9 a.m. when KCRW starts playing music. They switch between the two throughout the day to find the shows they like best. "I like more straight news or a political discussion," said Reger, 29, a comedy writer. "It's nice to have the option." A similar scenario played out in Washington D.C., where competing stations WAMU and WETA saw an increase in listenership after adjusting their schedules and placing news shows head-to-head against each other, said Thomas. The changes in the industry go beyond acquiring stations or adjusting programming to better suit business needs. Last year, Public Radio Capital helped two public radio systems -- Colorado Public Radio and Nashville Public Radio -- wade even further into business territory, obtaining the first ever investment ratings issued for public radio stations from Wall Street. The two radio groups then issued millions of dollars in bonds, which they used for acquisitions. ------ On the Net: Public Radio Capital: http://www.pubcap.org Station Resource Group: http://www.srg.org Capital Public Radio: http://www.capradio.org KQED: http://www.kqed.org KCRW: http://www.kcrw.org KPCC: http://www.kpcc.org Minnesota Public Radio: http://www.mpr.org National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** URUGUAY. VISIT TO RADIO UNIVERSO, CASTILLOS. FUTURE 6155 SW! --------------------------------------------------- I could pay a brief visit to this station, located in the "mainland" from Valizas. Castillos, is the second city of the Departamento de Rocha. I found the station, which transmits on MW 1480, located in the suburb of the relatively small city confined to a small building with no signs or painted letters catching attention from the street. Two rooms with two computers each radiocassette recorders, one with phone and two men working, one speaking on the telephone. The other young man working with audio editing software clipping parts of an interview. After a short time, Juan Brañas, the station owner arrived. I COULD CONFIRM WITH HIM THAT THEY STILL HAVE PLANS TO USE THE SHORTWAVE FQ OF 6155 (nominal). He told me that they already have made a couple of tests with two ham modified transmitters, but were unfortunate to blow out both modulation transformers. They plan to move the transmitting plant with their MW to Pueblo 19 de Abril, a small village formerly named Chafalote, between Rocha City the capital city of the departamento and Castillos, in order to improve the coverage toward the departmental capital. He couldn't give me a date for possible starting of SW transmission. But I invited him to put it into knowledge of area SW fans via email as soon they could get it into action. Brañas demonstated a scarce knowledge about the effective coverage of their future SW signal, but considering that the effective power will be in the order of the quarter kilowatt, I will not expect too much long distance DX. He has no knowledge of the best schedule to operate. The reason for him to use SW: is to give more monetary and marketing value to the station. Plans are to simulcast MW. I could see the little transmitter in his hand and remember he said the crystal was not in the same frequency that the assigned one, maybe 500 Hz below fundamental (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Feb 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Saludos colegas diexistas. Gracias al colega diexista Luis Paz Nelo, anexo a continuación la dirección en la web de Radio Nacional de Venezuela. Ya la pude compusintonizar y se oye muy bien. http://www.rnv.gov.ve Hay bastante información sobre la emisora y sus programas. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. ZNBC Radio 1, Lusaka, ouvida in 11/03/2003 a partir das 0245 UTC com seu sinal de intervalo, NA, ID em inglês e vernacular na nova freqüência de 5915 kHz. Esta freqüência subistitui os 6265 kHz. Ótima recepção, 45444. 73 (Samuel Cássio Martins, DX Clube do Brasil, São Carlos, SP, Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1180: In this recording --- 1180khz_unknown_8MARCH03_0600z.wav I can hear a station ID: "Frecuencia Súper-Estéreo/Estéreo. Para Una noche sensacional. 96.7. La/La/La exclusiva". The Unknown-2 file contains a program slogan between songs "Música Viva. Compactos de calidad excepcional". The long unknown-3 file contains greetings to listeners and song dedications. Many are for working women as tomorrow will be "El día internacional de la mujer trabajadora", besos a la mujer cubana... One more mention to the program title "Música viva" and some references for the next program: "La hora prohibida". This recording ends with a jingle. The first part is the frequency sung in English "ninetysix point seven" then the program name repeated "la hora prohibida". An old R. Rebelde program schedule found via google shows a program called "Música Viva" produced by its FM station and partially aired on MW too. In La Habana they are on 96.7 MHz. May be "Frecuencia-Estéreo" a slogan of R. Rebelde FM??. Saludos (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca Spain, hard-core-dx via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi guys. The past two days I have heard very faintly on the frequency of 4753.2 something that sounds like a regular broadcast. I have heard a male speaking in an unid language and some songs that have this strange almost middle east origin. I heard last night what almost sounded like Islamic songs then some that sounded almost like Indian sub continent . This last time I heard the male talking again and snippets of music at times. This station is right in the noise floor for me and completely disappears in audio at times, yet the het stays there. So I know it's not someone using an hf radio. I have one station anywhere near this freq and it's RRI Makassar. However I don't know if they still are on the air as lots of Indonesians have disappeared from the airwaves. I was hearing this at around 1000 to 1200 gmt. I am using a rx320 in the USB mode and a 90 ft dipole to hear this. Anyone heard it lately? Thanks (Chris, DX'ing in Louisville KY, Drake R4A, R390, Ten Tec RX320, 90 ft dipole, 23 ft vertical, March 11, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Chris, John Wright here in Sydney, Australia. I heard this last night whilst looking for Latins, (good Latin) night last night. It`s the Indonesian. I heard them babbling on last night. Wednesday. Regards (John Wright, ibid.) Hi Chris, Sounds like Sulawesi to me and remember a good part of Indonesia is Muslim. I still hear it here on a regular basis (David Onley, MW & Tropical Band DXer, Myrtleford, NE Victoria, Australia, ibid.) Hi guys. Thanks for all the replies on my Indonesian logging. I used to hear them a lot when I had the R390 and a 140 ft longwire at my old apartment. But since moving here I hadn't had much luck finding them till now. I guess the RX320 can be a keeper since all I was using was a 90 ft dipole strung southwest to northeast. Thanks again guys :) (Chris, March 12, hard-core-dx via DXLD) 4890: NOW FILED UNDER PERU, its definite location ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ WINTER SWL FEST PICTURES FROM KULPSVILLE ARE NOW ONLINE: http://www.kotalampi.com/cgi-bin/photo/index.cgi Comments are very welcome. You can do that online when viewing the pictures. Thank you to everyone about a great weekend! 73! (Risto Kotalampi, hard-core-dx via DXLD) How about some captions?!! (gh, DXLD) PENNANTS ++++++++ Greetings all! CBS Radio Taipei International must have had millions of pennants made; they send me one every time I receive mail from them, I now have about 5 or 6 of them. This is the most pennants I have ever received from the one station during 30 odd years. I have received two from Radio Sweden back in the seventies but they are different colours! These days, Radio Canada International keeps sending me plastic ones and I have around 3 now, the Voice of Vietnam has sent me 2 and Radio Prague has sent me 3 or 4 of different shapes and colours. CBS Radio Taipei's are very nice pennants in brown and yellow with what looks like Taiwan Aboriginal people art and are made from cloth, but one or two would have been sufficient. I wonder how many more I will receive? Maybe I can go to the markets selling Radio Taipei pennants! Cheers all! (Michael Stevenson, N.S.W., Australia. EDXP via DXLD) Hello everywhere, I made some improvements on my homepage. The pictures on the radio pennant site can be enlarged by clicking. More details of some interesting pennants can be seen on this way. My homepage: http://home.arcor.de/mschnitzer/ vy 73 (Michael Schnitzer, Germany, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ###