DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-145, September 23, 2004 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.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 For restrixions and searchable 2004 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO Extra 50: Thu 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 4-hourly -1600 [maybe] Fri 0200 on ACBRadio Mainstream repeated 2-hourly thru 2400 http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.html Fri 2300 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sat 0000 on SIUE Web Radio http://webradio.siue.edu Sat 0800 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacific Sat 0855 on WNQM Nashville 1300 Sat 1030 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1830 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sat 2030 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sat 2030 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sat 2300 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sun 0230 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0630 on WWCR 3210 Sun 1000 on WRN1 to North America, webcast; also KSFC 91.9 Spokane WA, and WDWN 89.1 Auburn NY; maybe KTRU 91.7 Houston TX, each with webcasts Sun 1100 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1500 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1900 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sun 1930 on WWCR 12160 Sun 2000 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Sun 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0230 on WRMI 6870 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous 1246] Mon 0430 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Mon 0900 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Mon 1600 on WBCQ after-hours http://wbcq.com repeated weekdaily Mon 2100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB repeated thru Wed Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND [from Fri]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: [WORLD OF RADIO Extra 50 is the same as CONTINENT OF MEDIA 04-05] WORLD OF RADIO Extra 50 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx50h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx50h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0405.html WORLD OF RADIO Extra 50 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0405.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0405.rm WORLD OF RADIO Extra 50 in the true SW sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-22-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-22-04.mp3 MUNDO RADIAL, INFORME DX DESDE NORTEAMÉRICA POR GLENN HAUSER, SEPTIEMBRE-OCTUBRE, disponible del 21 de septiembre: (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0409.ram (bajable) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0409.rm (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0409.html También en segmentos por Radio Enlace de Radio Nederland, los viernes y domingos; en WWCR 15825, viernes 2115, martes 2130, miércoles 2100 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ HEADLINES IN THIS EDITION::: BELARUS --- English gone from SW? BURKINA FASO & CHAD --- New SW transmitters courtesy Taiwan CUBA --- ``RHC transmitters destroyed`` IRAN --- No QSLs from Baha`i station out of fear PARAGUAY --- Tri-country area is pirate hotbed, no Arabic tho U S A --- In Memoriam Alistair Cooke, Malcolm Kaufman U S A --- Air America adds Rochester, San Francisco U S A --- Transmitter giveaway UNIDENTIFIED --- 15500 identified TFRL --- Must Reading from Bill Moyers ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ** BELARUS. Radio Minsk English service has not been heard since the first week in September. The last time I heard English was on Tuesday August 31st. Tuning in on the following Thursday at 1930 on 7105 and 7210 English was not heard, just short multi-lingual identifications including English. Have we lost another English language service on shortwave? (Edwin Southwell, Basingstoke, UK, World DX Club via DXLD) I tuned in Thursday September 23rd on 7105, at 1930 and 2030 identifications in Russian, Belarus, English and German were followed by Russian or Belarus programming rather than English (Mike Barraclough, England, Sept 23, ibid.) ** BELGIUM [non]. This coming Saturday, September 25, 2004, the TDPradio broadcast in DRM towards the Americas will be in parametric stereo. We would appreciate very much if you could spread this news, so that as many people as possible can enjoy this stereo broadcast on shortwave. All reports are most welcome. So tune in at 1600 UT on 11900 kHz. http://www.tdpradio.com (TDP via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4876.8, R. La Cruz del Sur, La Paz, 1945-0030, Sep 16 and 19, Spanish football report, religious programme, ID, phone in, 0030 Aymara programme, S 3 (Rogildo F. Aragão, Bolivia in @tividade DX via DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) Not reported here since April 2004, so must be reactivated! (DSWCI Ed) ** BURKINA FASO. TAIWAN. Ms Thyphaine Li, Head of French service of R Taiwan International (RTI) is in Africa, to cover the inauguration of the new transmitters on SW of R. Nationale Tchadienne and R. Burkina Faso. So I guess that soon, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and N'djamena (Chad) will be on the air on SW, in better conditions than they are now. Of course, the new transmitters and antennas are built with the financial and technical help of Taiwan, ROC! (Heard on RTI by Christian Ghibaudo, France, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** CANADA. CHURCH HELPS ESTABLISH SPANISH RADIO STATION Sep 22, 2004 By Nancy Devine http://www.toronto.anglican.ca/index.asp?navid=2&csid=444&csid1=2&csid2=0&fid1=&fid2=-888&fid3=228&layid=18 Toronto`s Spanish-speaking community will soon be able to hear local news in their own language. Voces Latinas AM 1610, Toronto`s first primarily Spanish radio station, will soon hit the airwaves from the basement of San Lorenzo Anglican Church near Dufferin and St. Clair. The idea to develop a community-based radio station arrived with the Rev. Hernan Astudillo, himself an immigrant from El Salvador. ``It was seven years ago, and I was not yet an ordained priest,`` he says. ``But I went to the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to find out how to get a license for a radio station. I got this huge package from them. It was at least 600 pages --- and I didn`t speak enough English to get through it. But, I kept the papers.`` Eventually, his English improved and, with the help of a local Lutheran minister, he filled out the application. Mr. Astudillo also asked for letters of support from the archbishop of Toronto, Toronto city councillors and local MPPs and MPs. ``I prayed a lot,`` says Mr. Astudillo. ``I said, `Lord, this is not my project. This is your project for your people. I am just the medium.` But I had hope that this would work, because this is a beautiful counrty with a tradition of multicultural radio and television. We just had to have patience.`` From a field of 20 applicants, Voces Latinas was among four licences awarded in 2002. After completing the 600-page application, Mr. Astudillo still had a number of hurdles to cross, not the least of which was getting the city`s approval to set up the studio. In the course of finding funding for the equipment, including holding a fundraising concert at the church, Mr. Astudillo also found a radio producer and sound technician who was willing to lend his expertise to the fledging station. Church members worked tirelessly to not only help with fundraising, but also on a more practical level. One morning after services were over, a team gathered in the church`s backyard to remove an old tree stump to make way for the transmission tower. ``This is not only about the parish of San Lorenzo. We are looking for all denominations to find a voice and to let people know they have places to go and they will be welcomed,`` says Mr. Astudillo. ``When people first come here, even though this is a very multicultural city, they don`t always hear what they need. It is sad to say, but sometimes people take advantage of them. We want this station to be full of hope for the community.`` A team of 30 volunteers will be working to provide programming, including religious programs from various faith communities. ``People are hungry for words of hope, love and compassion,`` says Mr. Astudillo. ``If we open the doors of the church, they will come. They are hungry to cry on our shoulders, and to voice their frustration. The radio station is a tool to help us express those words of love and compassion.`` (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** CANARY ISLANDS. 621, RNE1 Santa Cruz, Sept 22 0410 UT, News talk format with reports from man and woman in Spanish, Good clear audio peaking above slop from 620. Verified station ID with webcast at: http://www.RNE.es/index.htm (Mike Beu, KD5DSQ, Austin, Texas, Drake R8B and 70ft. Terminated Delta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You know conditions are excellent when such signals penetrate so far inland. Maybe there is hope even in NW OK (Glenn Hauser, Enid, ibid.) ** CHAD. TAIWAN. Ms Thyphaine Li, Head of French service of R Taiwan International (RTI) is in Africa, to cover the inauguration of the new transmitters on SW of R Nationale Tchadienne and R Burkina Faso. So I guess that soon, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and N'djamena (Chad) will be on the air on SW, in better conditions than they are now. Of course, the new transmitters and antennas are built with the financial and technical help of Taiwan, ROC! (Heard on RTI by Christian Ghibaudo, France, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** CHILE. Voz Cristã: mudança de freqüência Caros Radioescutas, A partir de 31 de outubro de 2004 a Voz Cristã passará a transmitir em 17660 kHz, em substituição aos 21500 kHz, na emissão que ocorre entre 11 e 23 UT. Essa informação foi divulgada no "Altas Ondas" do último final de semana, e será repetida várias vezes no decorrer da programação, de forma que os ouvintes fiquem cientes da alteração. A mudança poderá aumentar a base de ouvintes da Voz Cristã, uma vez que uma boa parte dos receptores não possui a faixa de 13 metros (Lenildo C. Silva, Brasil, Sept 21, radioescutas via DXLD) And in keeping with declining solar cycle. 21500 has been a useful propagation beacon. After that, I expect nothing from SAm will be left on 13m except HCJB 21455, maybe (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Kind Attn. Mr Bill Westenhaver, Dear Sir, Every day I notice RCI signature tune on 11730 kHz from 1557 to 1600 UT. But at 1600 China Radio International (CRI) sign on from Kunming site. Would you please clarify why RCI signature tune at the beginning when programme is from CRI? Awaiting your prompt reply at the earliest. Regards, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, to RCI, via DXLD) Dear Mr. Chakroborty: Thank you very much for your e-mail of the 8th. Here's what I think is happening: The RCI signature tune is used not only as a signal before the program comes on the air, but is also used before and after the program as a sign that the circuit transmitting the program is in use. Without that audio signal, some technician somewhere along the way might check the channel, hear nothing, and tune the channel off by mistake. What would seem to be happening here is that the Chinese are switching the channel which carries our signal from our use to their use after 1557, and are also switching the channel from Xi'an to Kunming. It would seem, then, that the transmitter at Kunming on 11730 kHz comes on early, before 1600, with the audio channel being occupied until 1600 by the RCI signature tune, until the CRI audio actually starts. Another possibility is that the 11730 kHz transmission of CRI at 1600 actually is using one of the transmitters at Xi'an which is used by RCI up to 1557. That is, however, rather less likely. I hope that this helps. Yours very truly, Bill Westenhaver, RCI Audience Relations (via Swopan, DXLD) see also UNIDENTIFIED 15500 below ** CHINA [non]. Incontro con Radio Cina Internazionale a Milano Gentile ascoltatore, abbiamo il piacere di comunicare che dalle 14:30 alle 16:30 del 3 ottbore 2004 a Milano presso il ristorante cinese pizzeria "SOFIA", via giordano tiraboschi, numero 1. tel (ristorante) 025511883, Radio Cina Internazionale terrà un incontro ufficiale con i suoi amici italiani. Per l´occasione saranno presenti Chai Jun, vice direttrice del Centro per l´Europa occidentale e l´America Latina di Radio Cina Internazionale, e Jin Jing, direttrice della Sezione italiana di Radio Cina Internazionale, che discuteranno con la parte italiana il futuro sviluppo della nostra radio e conferiranno i premi ai vincitori del concorso "La Cina ed io". Grazie di cuore per la cortese partecipazione! Sezione Italiana Radio Cina Internazionale Per contatti con l´ufficio di R.C.I. a Roma (corrispondente Shan): Tel 06636974, fax 06631910, cell. 3397625584 BCLNEWS.IT, the only italian updated DX web site!!! Click on http://www.bclnews.it (bclnews.it Sept 23 via DXLD) I have to confess that I no longer listen to CRI, as my DX interest in terms of China is limited to the huge number of local and regional stations on the mediumwave band. However, I can say that CRI is by far the most active international broadcasting station to stay in touch with its present and former listeners. I have often read the Messenger, and just a few days ago in the mail I got a quiz on Zhejiang province. It has some neat prizes, including tickets to fly over there (Mika Mäkeläinen, Finland, Sept 22, dxing.info via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5910 or 5915, La Voz de tu Conciencia: "We have just finished the installation of a 10,000 Watt FM transmitter and are now putting the final touches on our new 10,000 Watt SW transmitter." (The Stendals, Colombia Para Cristo News Letter, Sep 19, via DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Saludos colegas diexistas. Espero se encuentren muy bien. Hoy a las 1200 UT estuve escuchando La Voz del Guaviare en 6035 kHz. Tenía tiempo que no la sintonizaba. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 1180 kHz, Rebelde FM, still regularly hearing the Cuban mixing with "standard" Rebelde -- refs to Rebelde F-M and "96.7" and not parallel the 1180 Rebelde MW net transmitter. Only makes it here at night, mixing with the old 1180, thus presume eastern Cuba. It's been here since shortly after Hurricane Charley (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If this were a legitimate Rebelde service, they would use the same program as the other transmitter and synchronize them to avoid mutual interference. But since it`s really to block Martí, the more cacaphony the better. This will also discourage Cubans from actually listening to 1180 for either Rebelde and inadvertently hearing a few Words of Truth from Miami (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Here is information from Maritza Gutiérrez, from Radio Havana Cuba (RHC). This information relates directly to their programs in Esperanto; I have not checked their frequencies yet to find out if all transmissions were effected. "Since the past month, after the unpleasant visit of hurricane Charlie to Havana, on Aug 13, the transmitters of RHC remain destroyed, towers fallen, etc., and still some things have not been normalized; that is why the transmissions did not occur. Besides, yesterday again we had the visit of another hurricane, Ivan, again in the western part, luckily not striking Havana directly, but it delayed our repair works. Since last Sunday it rains endlessly and there are winds. Hopefully tomorrow our lives will go back to normal again.... " (Maritza Gutierrez, RHC, Sep 14, via [per-esperanto-radio] via Élmer Escoto, Honduras, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** CUBA. Rastreando las frecuencias de Radio Habana Cuba en la media noche UT Septiembre 23, encuentro que se escucha muy bién en 9600, SINPO 34333 y por momentos 44444 con su programa habitual en español, noticas de Cuba. No logro captarla en las otras frecuencias, 15230, 6000 y 5965. A la 0100, aparte de seguir con buena señal por los 9600, logré captarla con señal muy débil en 11760, y a partir de las 0200 en 9550, con bastante buena señal, SINPO 34333. A las 0245 su programa "Revista Informativa" se podía seguir bién por 9600 y 9550. (Septiembre 23). (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. 5815, World Music R., (WMR), Ilskov is now testing weekends only, from Fri 1600 till Mon 0600, for power saving due to a very little response during weekdays. The power of the carrier is still 6-7 kW. The QSL-requests are not forgotten, but please have some patience! Our FM transmitter is now on the air - on 104.2 MHz - in the Aarhus area in Eastern Jutland, Denmark (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Sep 10, 16 and 20, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Recording of R. Cultural Amauta, Huanta --- Cultural Amauta 4955.00 kHz is there almost every day with fair to good signal but the IDs are a little bit difficult to find. This time I was lucky: "Vos escucha [sic] Radio Cultural Amauta desde la ciudad de Huanta, la esmeralda de Los Andes, en FM 99.9 estéreo". [with El Condor Pasa] Comments and Recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. CLANDESTINE, 12120, Voice of Liberty, Sept 22, 04 *1700-1733: 1658 noted tones similar to russian transmitter. Pause at 1700, sign-on with orchestra fanfare music, and then a station ID of which I caught this: ``...al-Shariah [sic]... demokratica Eritrey``. This followed with a schedule given in Arabic, followed with Horn of Africa music, then a newscast. Another ID was noted at 1712 for 'saut Al-huriya', then more news commentary, with many mentions of Eritrea. 1727 reference to Africa and Commonwealth / reforms in Zimbabwe. Another ID at 1730 followed with more talks, but the RTTY utility on the same frequency opened up with a heavy burst of traffic and wiped out any attempt after this to copy much (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Sept 23, Canada, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. / USA - National Public Radio applies for the 106.8 FM outlet at Berlin. While calling for letters of support they caused some amusement amongst German observers by giving the address of the media authority as ``10178 Berlin-Brandenburg``: http://www.npr.org/worldwide/berlin.html Complete list of the applicants for 106.8 and some low power frequencies in Brandenburg: http://www.mabb.de/start.cfm?content=Presse&template=pressemeldungsanzeige&id=690 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY - Nice pictures of the Mühlacker station: http://www.magischesauge.de/muehlacker.htm "Neuer Mittelwellensender von Nautel" = The current 576 transmitter from Nautel, run with an audio bandwith of 7 kHz (on the picture to the left in the background, the rig in the foreground is an FM transmitter) "Telefunken-Sender für Mittelwelle von 1982" = Telefunken S4003 from 1982, now the aux for 576 "Notstromaggregat" = Emergency generating set (500 kW) "UKW-Sender" = FM transmitters (for regional coverage, hence only two ones) "Der neue KW-Sender" = The 20 kW RIZ transmitter still on air on 6030 and its "Endstufenröhre" = PA stage tube "Das Innenleben des alten KW-Senders" = Old 20 kW shortwave transmitter (own construction), still kept as aux Wolfy, it seems to me that meanwhile the Wolfsheim visit took place -- has Wolfsheim now Nautel, too? I think the audio on 1017 is exactly the same than on 576 while 666 (Rohrdorf) sounds different. (Kai Ludwig, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re 6030 and 7265 closing: Wouldn't it have been worth hanging on for DRM? (CHRIS McWhinnie, UK, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** GERMANY. SWR MW FR 828 wechselt zu cont.ra --- The programming of Freiburg-828 will be changed from SWR 4 Radio Breisgau to SWR cont.ra as of Oct 4: Ab Montag, den 04. Oktober, wird vom Mittelwellensender Freiburg, 828 kHz, das Programm SWR cont.ra abgestrahlt. Quelle: http://www.swr.de/frequenzen/hinweise/index.html Gruß (Bernhard Weiskopf, Germany, Sept 22, A-DX via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4780.0, R. Cultural Coatán, Coatán, Huehuetenango, 0220- 0235*, Sep 20, Spanish religious talk about "La Familia", hymns by choir with marimba and drums, closing ann mentioning frequency and closed with short orchestral music, 23243. The next night, 4780 was covered by a noise utility station (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 2960, 1354-1405, RPDT2 Manggarai Sep 23 Probable. Two women in discussion or interview at 1354; heard one of the women exclaim 'That's the way it is! Talk to me, baby!' in English, and then return to Indonesian talk. Light folk music from 1358 to 1404, then talk by woman announcer; too weak of a signal for ID. Poor level, with occasional peaks to fair. Best on NW Beverage (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, Modified RA6790GM & R75, Kiwa MAP / ERGO / DSP-59+, 450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas, Sept 23, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. CLASSIC SHORTWAVE RADIO PROGRAMS --- Glenn, I have been an SWL since the late 70s, and fondly remember some of the stations on the air then, and the wonderful propaganda war between VOA and Radio Moscow. I would love to find some of these gems on the net, or in the newsgroups, and also some stuff from before my time. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks and VY 73, (Bob WE1U, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Any suggestions? I suppose he means more than just brief clips (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Hi Glenn, Re: "??? I don`t get this. If it is has a new name, then it`s no longer WRN, but WHAT IS ITS NAME NOW? The release never says and the website still calls it WRN and looks the same as usual: http://www.wrn.org (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)" The press release was not very well worded. The salient point is that they are no longer the World Radio Network, just WRN. They stress that they are a multimedia organisation now so they don't want to emphasise radio. In fact, I have only heard them referred to as WRN for ages now. I guess they're just making official what had become the de facto situation. 73, (Andy Sennitt, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The old name was "World Radio Network". The new name is "WRN". Sort of like NCR Corporation -- this was originally the acronym for "National Cash Register", but the official company name is just "NCR Corporation". Why bother? So WRN doesn't get allied too much with that 20th century technology (radio) is my guess (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. HITCHHIKER`S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY This link works but they haven't put up the link at the BBCR4 comedy page yet: rtsp://rmclip1.thny.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/tue1830.ra http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/ You can listen live Tuesdays at 1730 GMT and Thursday 2200 GMT. (times on the web page are GMT +1), As to when it will be on BBCWS or your local station that buys programs from the BBC, your guess is as good as mine. By the way, if you're having trouble with BBC radio Real Audio listen again links, try substituting rmclip1.thny.bbc.co.uk for rmv8.bbc.net.uk They changed the RA server but not all the .ram pointers are changed (Joel Rubin, swprograms via DXLD) seattlepi.com Buzzworthy: Get your towels ready http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/buzz/archives/003450.html Buzzworthy --- Brian Chin's Weblog surveys the Web to spot what people are talking about ... September 21, 2004 Get your towels ready --- Douglas Adams lives -- or, at least, his twisted imagination and voice continue. Over on the other side of the Great Pond, BBC Radio 4 today begins broadcasting a new adaptation of the late humorist's best-selling "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" novels. The "tertiary phase" (i.e., third season) adapts the third novel in the series, "Life, the Universe and Everything." Adams [71]posthumously plays the role of Agrajag, which he recorded before his death in 2001. Fans who are out of radio reception range will be able to hear Webcasts of each episode for seven days starting the Thursday after its initial airing. Adams began his satirical magnum opus as a radio series and, personally, I think it's still "Hitchhiker's" in its purest, most wildly entertaining form. I first heard the original 12 radio episodes, comprising two series, when Seattle NPR affiliate KUOW-FM aired them in the early '80s. I eagerly waited for more, but had long since given up hope. BBC 4's [72]"Hitchhiker's" radio site offers extensive background on the new series, including an amusing audio teaser, behind-the-scenes video and [73]an insightful interview with the director of the new series. (Among other things, he explains how he picks up the action from the second radio series, even though it followed a divergent narrative and ended on a cliffhanger that doesn't appear in the books.) BBC Online's [74]main Hitchhiker's site is also worth checking out. Category: [75]When you have a minute Posted by Brian Chin at September 21, 2004 12:17 PM 71. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3827181.stm 72. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/index.shtml 73. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/scenes.shtml 74. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/ 75. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/buzz/archives/cat_when_you_have_a_minute.html (via Dan Say, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. CLANDESTINE. 7460, Radio Payam-e Doost. Following on a idea on a possible contact for a QSL response I decided to forward my report to the Baha'i Community of Canada, at their address in Ottawa, Ontario. In my report I enclosed a prepared verification card and letter, with SASE, with a request if they could possibly verify my report or forward my report to the proper authorities for verification. This is the response I got today, from the Director of External Affairs of the Baha'i Community of Canada, Thornhill, Ontario address: Your letter dated 16 August 2004 regarding Payam-e-Doost radio was forwarded by the Baha'i Community of Ottawa to the Department of External Affairs at the Baha'i National Centre for response. We understand that you are seeking a reception report [sic] from Payam-e- Doost. We regret the delay in responding to your correspondence as there is no direct relationship between Payam-e-Doost and the Baha'i Community of Canada. Since receiving your request, we have learned that Payam-e Doost does not respond to requests for reception reports. We understand this may be due to the fact that their broadcasts are intended for Iranian Populations, inside and outside Iran. Identification of listeners could create problems for both listeners and Payam-e Doost from the current regime in Iran. Hence, the policy is not to respond to reception reports. We are returning your material sent to the Baha'i National centre and thank you for your interest in the Baha'i Faith. Signed: Gerald Filson (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Sept 23, Canada, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Yet there are those who quibble that this station/program should not be considered clandestine (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY. See DRM section below ** ITALY [non?]. IRRS-Shortwave freq. schedule (summertime, until Oct. 31 2004): 5775 kHz daily at 1900-2030 UT (2100-2230 CEST), 20 kW, to Europe, N Africa and M East, except : 5775 kHz Friday at 1900-2100 UT (2100-2300 CEST), 100 kW, to Europe, N Africa and M East 13840 kHz Sat & Sun at 0700-1200 UT (0900-1400 CEST), 20 kW, to Europe 15665 kHz Friday at 1100-1200 UT (1300-1400 CEST), 100 kW to W Africa Our schedule will remain the same according to CET when we turn to wintertime. More details at: http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules or: http://www.egradio.org http://www.nexus.org/IPAR (via Tom Taylor, Sept 23, DXLD) Same as usual? ** JAPAN. 3970 USB, 1413-1421, NHK unID Outlet Sep 23. Two men in discussion in Japanese to instrumental music 1418; mentions of 'NHK' 1421. Fair to good signal with some ham radio QRM. Most likely the 600 watt Sapporo station rather than the further south and weaker Nabeta transmitter. NOT SHORTWAVE, BUT --- this week has been another interesting one for trans-Pacific MW DX during the fall equinox period. Japanese and Korean stations continue to be audible on my NW antenna in the few minutes before local dawn (1355 UT). On Tuesday, JOAK Tokyo on 594 and JOUB Akita 774 were the strongest, while JOQR Tokyo on 1134 has consistently put in the best high band signal (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, Modified RA6790GM & R75, Kiwa MAP / ERGO / DSP-59+, 450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas, Sept 23, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** LIBYA. 1251, LJB, Tripoli, 2040, news in English and French and again at 2100 // 1449 MW (Luigi Cobisi, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. 13855, Minivan Radio / Independent Radio, Sept 19, 04 *1600-1659* Sign-on with Jeff White giving information, followed with conch shell/melody interval signal. Male speaker with opening announcements with mention of Minivan Radio shortwave broadcast information (QRM from 13860 -CRI, switched to LSB ECSS detection). This was followed with a program of continuous talks in Dhivehi, with musical breaks with the conch shell melody and announcer with comments. Signal greatly improved to a good plus level by 1635, after which slowly deteriorated into fair by sign-off. At sign-off there was a brief comment and nice ID for Minivan Radio, followed with conch shell/melody I.S. Noted with poor signals on the 17th, 18th, good on the 19th, poor again on the 20th, and no signal of them on the 21st or 22nd. Have they left the air? (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Sept 23, Canada, Cumbre DX via DXLD) As reported previously in DXLD, on Sept 21 Minivan moved to 12015 (gh) [New 12015] heard 1623-1658*, Tue Sep 21, Maldivian talks with three mentions of Minivan R., - alas still severe QRM from the Voice of Russia! This time their French broadcast on 12010 (QSA 5), 33333. It seems that R Minivan now is broadcast *1600-1700v*, but it is not known if it is Tuesdays only (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) Why would it be Tue only? That was only the date the new daily frequency started; and it was already at 1600-1700, except the two tests via WRN at 1630-1730 (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4810.0, XERTA, Mexico City, 0812-1045, Mo Sep 06, Th Sep 16 and Sa Sep 18, religious music and singing, Spanish and English ID’s, good level. In the past this one has only been on during the weekend. But battling heavy CODAR QRM; // "Transmision en Vivo" at http://www.misionradio.com/index_archivos/Page508.htm which was roughly a sesquiminute behind (Berg, Cássio and Howard, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. Mexico to fire up IBOC --- The in-band digital HD Radio system for AM stations is being tested in Mexico now. Grupo Radio Centro and Broadcast Electronics are among those participating in the testing of both AM and FM, using the system that iBiquity hopes will be adopted in the U.S (from Inside Radio via Fred Vobbe, Sept 21, NRC-AM via DXLD) You don't know whether to laugh or cry at this news --- maybe both. Just how many people in Mexico could possibly afford IBOC receivers, outside of some drug barons, PRI power brokers, and maybe superstar luchador El Hijo del Santo??? The enthusiasm some broadcasters have for IBOC (and DRM on shortwave) makes me wonder if long-term exposure to RF indeed causes some form of dementia in people (Harry Helms W5HLH Wimberley, TX EM00, ibid.) Hey, Harry, have you seen some articles about the folks at Merlin releasing some of code and hardware specs so hams could experiment around on the HF bands? All I could find was something titled "DRM Software Radio application" on their site. Some hams were talking about it last night on 80 meters back here in Ohio (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) That's a new one to me, Fred. The only HF digital voice system for hams I'm aware of is the AOR ARD9800, which uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and restricts occupied bandwidth to about 3 kHz. That's much less than the 60+ kHz a DRM signal occupies. The whole notion of using digital modulation for signals propagated by skywave is daft. AM IBOC handles the problem of "skywave dropout" and adjacent channel QRM by pretending all listeners are local and within a few miles of the transmitter. But DRM proposes to use digital modulation for international shortwave broadcasting, and its advocates can be divided into three camps: 1) the stupid, 2) the dishonest, and 3) the largest camp: both (Harry Helms W5HLH, Wimberley, TX EM00, ibid.) That's what has interested me. I'm interested in doing some tests on HF to see what happens, if the system works at all. As I have found out with DTV, noise and phase cancellations play heavy into the decoding of the signal. And it's not unreasonable to think that if you had a 599 signal it would work, but any artifacts of the propagation and it should fall apart rapidly. The guys on 80-meters were saying that Merlin had some sort of encoder software that would work with a PC and would drive a rig, such as my 857D. And tapping the radio at the appropriate place to decode the signal through the PC would recover the DRM back to normal audio. Seems too good to be true, but if it was available, I would be willing to test it (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI Mailbox -- Contemporary Pacific Radio in New Zealand The second documentary in the new radio heritage series on Radio New Zealand International airs on the new Mailbox program broadcast from next Monday. You can listen and download the 15 minute program from the audio section of http://www.rnzi.com from early next week. Auckland has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world and local Pacific audiences have the choice of three fulltime AM and FM radio stations. Listen to the breakfast shows from 531PI, Radio Samoa 1593 and Niu-FM, along with a great variety of station ID's, jingles and promotions that make you feel as if you're in the heart of the Pacific. You'll hear samples of the unique Pacific urban music sound emerging from Auckland as well as an audio clip and ID from daytime only Samoan Capital Radio 783 AM in Wellington. Serving nearly a quarter million audience nationwide, these four local Pacific stations each have their own sound and energy and broadcast in many languages. Enjoy a unique audio tour of a typical morning on the Auckland airwaves and hear what makes New Zealand Pacific radio so completely different from what you ever imagined. Listen to Radio New Zealand International via shortwave, live streaming and audio download at www.rnzi.com. Produced by the Radio Heritage Foundation in association with Radio New Zealand International. Warm regards (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, PO Box 14339, Wellington, New Zealand, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So hurry up and listen to the first one about 1ZM and the Mosquito Network, as I just did, which will presumably be replaced by the new file as there is apparently no archiving of previous shows. RNZI announces transmitter outages, maintenance periods as well as other news about the station here: http://www.rnzi.com/pages/whatsnew.php#85 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI Mailbox --- 1ZM Auckland joins Mosquito Network in 1944 A reminder that the audio download from http://www.rnzi.com for this 20 minute documentary will be taken down off the site in a couple of days. Anyone wanting to hear the first in the new radio heritage series on RNZI should do so now. The program celebrates the 60th anniversary of handing over 1ZM to the Armed Forces Radio Service in April 1944. It includes actual recordings of the handing over, including station ID's, announcements from AFRS, the voices of the original DJ's, 'big band' music of the era recorded live by the 290th Army Band, and excerpts from GI Journal and Command Performance programs. These recordings are the only ones known to have been made of any of the numerous Mosquito and Jungle Network stations around the Pacific from 1944-1945 and only survive because the New Zealand Sound Archives rescued the original recording made live in the studio at the time. First time heard in over 60 years. Produced by the Radio Heritage Foundation in association with Radio New Zealand International. http://www.rnzi.com Warm regards (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, PO Box 14339 Wellington, New Zealand, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, CRN, Vanimo, *2030-2100, Sep 03, they seem to warm up the transmitter by playing slow music and songs with English texts, up to ID and News in English at 2100, followed by a religious program. Weak with much QRN. It is heard better during the evening past 1200 UTC (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Sept 22 via DXLD) ** PARAGUAY. A las 2200 cierra la Deutsche Welle en 9735 y es buen momento para sintonizar en Europa Radio Nacional del Paraguay, 9737, aunque esta temporada la señal que me llega es bastante débil. A las 2200 comentarios por locutor. SINPO 14222 (Septiembre 22). (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY [and non]. EDITORIAL ANALYSIS: PIRATE RADIO FLOURISHING IN PARAGUAY, BORDER AREA | Text of editorial analysis by Ian Liston-Smith of BBC Monitoring Media Services Pirate radio is flourishing in the so-called "Tri-Border Area" which straddles the confluence of the Parana and Iguazú Rivers, near the spectacular Iguazú Falls, where the borders of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet. This culturally diverse area has a reputation as a centre of corruption, drugs, arms and vehicle smuggling, money laundering and counterfeiting. But the area is also a centre for "pirate" radio activity. Significant community of Arab descent Over 40 stations fill the FM band in the region. Of these about 30 are broadcasting illegally from in and around Ciudad del Este, although their names and number vary daily. The actual population of the region, numbering nearly half a million, is concentrated in the three cities of Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil), Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) and Puerto de Iguazú (Argentina). It has been home to a large community of Arab decent - now numbering between 20 and 30,000 - for about 60 years, who came to this corner of South America to trade. Many also came from Lebanon in 1973 to escape from war. The three cities are also home to smaller numbers of South Asians, Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese. More radio pirates at election time Local observers say a few of these pirate stations provide a voice for small communities not catered for by legitimate broadcasters and at least one, Radio Mundial FM, is actively seeking to become legal. However, the majority are simply commercial ventures making money out of cheap advertising or are owned by religious groups who use their station to request donations from the public. In the past, during the run up to an election, the number of pirate broadcasters has increased significantly. A prominent citizen of Ciudad del Este said that funding a pirate radio station can be an effective way for a politician to reach a wider audience. All broadcasts are in Spanish or Portuguese and only transmit on the FM band. The Portuguese-language stations are clearly audible in Foz do Iguaçu, carrying advertisements aimed at listeners in the city. No pirates in Arabic Perhaps surprisingly, no pirate stations broadcast in Arabic for the comparatively large Arab community. The reason given is that the Arabs, particularly the young, have taken on the local identity. There is therefore no need for an Arabic station and no commercial drive to start one. The fact that no legal stations include any Arabic programmes in their schedules either, tends to support this. Legal broadcasters condemn the pirates on the following grounds: \ Their advertising rates are between 10 and 50 per cent of those charged by legal stations \ Their often low technical standards can be a cause of interference to legitimate broadcasters \ They do not adhere to broadcasting standards of decency or liable \ They pay no licence or tax Tactics to close the pirates The Brazilian telecommunications agency and Argentina's equivalent body both quickly close unlicensed stations in Foz do Iguacu and Puerto de Iguazu. The pirates therefore locate their transmitters in Ciudad del Este where the Paraguayan authorities have insufficient resources to quickly find and close them. The owner of Radio Corpus, Orlando Valdés is president of ARDAP (Asociación de Radiodifusores del Alto Paraná). This organization was formed to represent the interests of the 27 radio stations in Paraguay's Alto Paraná province and endeavours to improve the levels of objectivity amongst its members. More recently, with the backing of the Paraguayan authorities, the group has also embarked on a campaign to combat radio piracy. Exposing financial backing behind stations One of the group's tactics is to broadcast the names of businessmen, minor Mafia officials and politicians when they are known to be behind a particular pirate station once their station has been closed by the authorities. Five owners of these stations have also recently been jailed for short periods. When acting in unison, each ARDAP member is then afforded protection against threats that could follow if single stations or individuals acted in isolation. According to Orlando Valdés, the campaign is enjoying some success, although not as much as was hoped since some district attorneys are said to still be taking bribes in order to drop these investigations. Three similar groups exist in other regions of Paraguay to improve broadcasting standards, but only ARDAP, due to local conditions, extends its activity to exposing pirate radio owners and their financial supporters. But perhaps the area's pirate broadcasting days are numbered. Exposure as a financial backer of such a station is rapidly becoming unacceptable in the public's eyes, who are now keen to see the region's reputation cleaned up. Source: BBC Monitoring research 23 Sep 04 (via DXLD) ** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO [non]. Re: Guess that's the answer (gh) A04 and all HFCC lists in the past show BEO as Bijeljina Bosnia site, and would fit the present single 250 kW unit schedule too: starts at 1430-1500 SMTWTFS ARABIC 1 ARABIA 11800 250 130 So, just the Serbians fulfilled the transmission budget to pay for an additional 1.5 hours bill. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Silly me, assuming BEO actually stood for BEOGRAD rather than BIJELJINA! (gh, DXLD) The transmitter site in Bijeljina (in Bosnia-Herzegovina) is property of Int'l Radio of Serbia & Montenegro (not leased), so there is no need to invest into a new site in Serbia & Montenegro. The HFCC list traditionally shows "BEO" (Beograd) for all Bijeljina registrations, in fact the distance between both cities is just 80 km (though located in two different countries now). The registered 250 kW is half power of the 500 kW BBC transmitters in Bijeljina (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BOSNIA, 7200, Radio Beograd 1st domestic program relay via - undoubtedly - Bijeljina-BIH checked today. Scheduled Serbian 1300-1430 UT, but carrier open only on air from about 1256 till 1306 UT. S=9+60 dB powerhouse some 1100 km away here in Central Europe. Program transmission started midst on sentence at 1306:18, heard till 1428:35 UT sign off. 1300-1330 News and phone in interviews on Miloshevich tribunal at Den Haag-HOL, ethnic Kosovo conflict, and present Iraq clashes. 1330-1400 All sports news, tennis, football, basketball, and a lot of music. 1400-1430 Music program, fine selection of nostalgic British pop music of 1966-1978 era. Made some mp3 recordings, but the signal was much stronger than expected, and all recordings overmodulated. Sorry, will check this service tomorrow again. 73 de (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA / SERBIA - Re. 7200: The audio/modulation characteristics I heard pointed at Bijeljina, and the meanwhile reported 1300-1428 airtime is exactly the same than a few years ago I think. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Re: SOMALIA GIVES HAM RADIO INCREASED POWER LIMITS The concept of Somalia issuing licences to, and regulating the operations of, radio amateurs is almost as meaningless as the idea that the Iraqi government might insist on issuing firearms permits to the residents of Falluja. Somalia is awash with privately-owned HF transceivers used for all sorts of purposes. Some are organised into various nets to offer communications services to the public. All sorts of frequencies are used, including those within broadcast bands. Presumably because they propagate well, a number of them operate within the 9 MHz (31-metre) broadcast band during the day. If you want to get on the air with little or no regulatory interference, then Somalia is the place for you, though radio licences will be the least of your worries (Chris Greenway, UK, Sept 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: FRENCH-BASED MEDIA WATCHDOG CONDEMNS ATTACK ON SOMALI RADIO STATION | Text of press release by Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) on 23 September A dispute between two businessmen degenerated into a reprisal operation by a militia group against a local radio station in Mogadishu on 22 September 2004, leading to a journalist being arrested and an employee being assaulted. Even though the transitional parliament finally began its work at the end of August, Somali territory remains under the control of armed factions. However, following the collapse of the state and several years of war, Koranic justice and local businessmen, operating along tribal lines, have been filling in the vacuum left by the state in some areas. "We continue to be scandalized by the fact that tribal justice, backed up by an army rabble, reigns in the Somali capital," Reporters Without Borders said. "While the state is being rebuilt, we call on the Islamic courts, armed groups and businessmen not to carry out a reign of terror and to respect journalists. Furthermore, we urge deputies in the transitional parliament to face up to their responsibilities and not spoil the opportunity being given to them. This is about enabling Somalis to live freely at last and, consequently, enabling journalists to work without fear of summary and arbitrary pseudo-justice." On Wednesday 22 September, shortly after 1100 hours [local time], two pick-up trucks crammed with armed men pulled up outside the offices of the Idaacadda Qur'aanka Kariimka (Holy Koran Radio) in the Towfiiq district of north Mogadishu. The militiamen, who said they wanted to arrest the head of the radio station on the orders of the district Islamic court, assaulted the security guard at the building before attacking the only journalist present in the building at the time, Abdirahman Abtidon Gabeyre. When the journalist refused to follow them to the Islamic court building, the militiamen slapped him, fired a few shots to intimidate him and forced him into their vehicle. Abdirahman Abtidon Gabeyre spent one hour in the district jail before being released. The case was referred to the district Islamic court by a businessman from the capital who imported a brand of washing powder supply the Suuq Baiad market. A rival businessman then bought advertising time on Holy Koran Radio, which broadcasts from Mogadishu on FM, to tell people not to buy washing powder on the grounds that it would be "counterfeit". The first businessman, who was furious about this, instructed the radio station not to broadcast the advertisement any more, but the radio's management refused their request. The businessman then went to the Islamic court which got its armed branch to carry out the order without any form of trial. Source: Reporters Sans Frontières press release, Paris, in French 23 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 891, Sarabuni, Radio Thailand here in Thai and woman talking. This stands out and is easily IDed. Their 1000 kW gets out well in the Fall here. This is a lot different than the pop music I hear off satellite from FM 94 Bangkok! That sounds more like US programming, the Backstreet Boys in Thai, hi. 891 is old sounding Thai stuff much like they sounded like on 830 kHz in the 60s. Drake R8, EWE Antenna (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U K. 7 MHz Extension - Notification of Proposed Change OFCOM have announced a Notification of Proposed Change for the 7 MHz band which will give 7.1 to 7.2 MHz to all classes of licence with full legal power - 400, 50 or 10 watts respectively; see: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/licensing_numbering/radiocomms/am_radio/a_r_news/20040923 (enter as a single line) It looks like it will be available at the end of October. OFCOM invites comments on this proposal. 73 (Trevor M5AKA, Essex Amateur Radio, http://www.EssexAmateurRadio.org.uk/ SWM yg via DXLD) ** U K. DRM 1296 kHz is nu pas echt puur storing --- Vandaag zendt de BBC voor de derde dag op rij een DRM signaal uit _zonder_ audio en _zonder_ data. Het is nu dus pure storing. Het ligt niet aan mijn configuratie want het werd reeds door meerdere mensen vastgesteld. De MSC indicatie geeft overigens helemaal niets aan. Is er dan niemand in Orfordness die dit in de gaten heeft? 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, Sept 23, BDXC via DXLD) ** U K. Touring the Bush House? Does anybody knows if BBC runs any tours of its facilities at Bush House in London? VoA used to have a free tour of their studios in Washington DC. I went for it once but that was before 9/11... Now I'm interested in visiting BBCWS. Any advice will be appreciated! (Sergei Sosedkin, dxldyg via DXLD) Unfortunately, you've just missed your chance to tour Bush House and other BBC London facilities (studios not included), which occurred on 18 September as part of the Open House weekend, so you will now have to wait until next year, presuming there is to be such an event. I also missed something which would have been of interest to me, namely the underground Post Office research station at Dollis Hill, London, just two stops from where I live on the Jubilee Line (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, ibid.) Thank you, Paul! Too bad that Bush House is out of question. There's a Mon. thru Sat. tour of BBC TV facilities http://www.bbc.co.uk/tours/ for £7.95 but I'm not really interested in that. Also, it's possible to book free tickets for some BBC TV or radio shows at http://www.bbc.co.uk/whatson/tickets/ But one has to do that about three weeks in advance (Sergei Sosedkin, ibid.) Apart from the architectural tours on Open Heritage Day there have never been any regular public tours of Bush House. There is a BBC World Service shop there which has some BBCWS items, diaries, pens etc, they used to have a very good selection of media related books but in recent years the amount of shop space devoted to books has declined in favour of BBC videos and DVDs. It's still worth a visit though. When a Sri Lankan DXer was in London some years back I went into Bush House reception with him. They phoned the Tamil Section who came down to meet us and we spent some time in Bush House with them; good of them to do that as we had not let them know ahead of time. So you could try emailing any particular programme/language service you have been corresponding with to see if they would be available to give you a tour (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) ** U K [non]. Have been checking 11835 with BBCWS in the 0000-0300 period for WYFR IDs, and so far have not heard any; the signal is also fadier than I recall the WYFR relay was, so I suspect it is still Ascension, and thus probably WYFR`s lowest-priority transmitter to restore to the air, not yet. One really needs to listen when it opens at 0000, which I have been missing. At 0100 UT Sept 23 there was no ID break, and on Sept 22 it cut off at 0300 without any WYFR ID. However, I was standing by at 2359 UT Sept 23 when 11835 cut on, followed by a WYFR ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. CHURCH SERVICE FOR ALISTAIR COOKE A Service of Thanksgiving for the life and work of Alistair Cooke will be held in Westminster Abbey at noon on Friday 15 October [2004]. Those wishing to attend are invited to apply for tickets to: The Assistant Receiver General (Protocol) Room 15 The Chapter Office 20 Dean’s Yard Westminster Abbey London SW1P 3PA Please include a stamped addressed envelope. Source: http://www.Westminster-Abbey.org (via Sergei Sosedkin, Sept 22, DXLD) ** U S A. MALCOLM KAUFMAN Hi Glenn: You may remember me (Chris Hansen) from years ago. I've moved away from radio in general and the US in particular -- I'm now a dual citizen resident in London, UK. However, I recently discovered that a mutual friend of ours (and an occasional contributor to your media outlets) Malcolm Kaufman, died last year at the age of 56. He had been ill for several years as a result of crippling strokes. I apologise if you have already heard of this, but I haven't seen any references to it and thought you would appreciate knowing. I'd lost track of Malcolm in the late '90's as my posted Christmas letters came back "Unknown at this address". So I did a bit of detective work and discovered that he had had a stroke that left him a paraplegic, and had moved from Massachusetts to New York City to a nursing home in the Bronx (coincidentally about 3 blocks away from my former apartment there). I visited him in the summer of 2001 and found him not in great shape. He moved several times after that and seems to have passed away in Westchester in October 2003. I had again lost track of him and was planning to visit again this year. Malcolm was one of my first live shortwave radio friends -- we met in the early 1970s as I settled into New York City. He moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in the late 1980's and had been very active in public action groups there. He'd gotten a bit more conservative recently (he was in favour of the Iraq war, while I was and am opposed) but was still as feisty as ever. I trust that you and all your activities are doing well and that this email finds you in good form. Regards (Chris Hansen http://www.hansenhome.demon.co.uk Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nice to hear from you, Chris. Looks like you have had an interesting life. No, I had not heard about Malcolm, and I am sure many other readers will remember him. He was with us in REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING, and until a few years ago sent clippings from time to time. Very sad to hear what happened to him (Glenn to Chris, via DXLD) ** U S A. Condolences to family and friends of JEAN BEVERLY HAY, whose "REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY" radio show aired on ARMED SERVICES RADIO to boost morale during WORLD WAR II. HAY died on SATURDAY of natural causes in FORTUNA, CA, eight days after celebrating her 87th birthday. Her show started in OCTOBER 1941 in COLORADO, where it was broadcast to troops at FORT LOGAN, then moved to KNX-A/LOS ANGELES and ARMED SERVICES RADIO (allaccess.com Sept. 22 via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. For those who may care, WJIE noted active on both frequencies during a bandscan at 0035 UT Sept 24, 13595 better than \\ 7490, with what sounded like a religionist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWRB update --- Greetings!!! Many have noted our dramatic change in format and programming and have inquired as to what's up?? Answer: A few months back, Another shortwave radio station provided WWRB with the totally unexpected gift of FREEDOM! Now that we have been given this Gift we do not intend on squandering it! WWRB is back filling all of our Airtime Avails with great caution. After many sidetracks, detours and mistakes, We have returned to our original 1995 Goal of broadcasting the gospel to the world at exceedingly affordable prices (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Sept 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Can hardly wait for KTBN to close down as threatened --- if for no other reason than its crummy engineering polluting the SW bands. I`ve reported this before, and not noticed anyone else mentioning it: once again Sept 23 at 1505 check, KTBN 15590 was accompanied by a continuous buzz audible up to 20 kHz above and below. The signal was very strong, as it usually is here, but this is unlike the overload from any other strong signal. Also noticed some 2-way SSB in Spanish, poachers? on 15618, fortunately for them far enough away from super-buzz KTBN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A CHALLENGE TO TBN GROWTH --- The FCC once ruled that a minority-owned company was a scheme to acquire more stations. By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer, September 20 2004 Televangelist Paul Crouch often blames Satan for the difficulties he encountered building Trinity Broadcasting Network into the world's largest Christian broadcaster. The complete article can be viewed at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tbnfcc20sep20,1,2777798.story?coll=la-headlines-california TBN'S PROMISE: SEND MONEY AND SEE RICHES By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer, September 20 2004 Pastor Paul Crouch calls it "God's economy of giving," and here is how it works: The complete article can be viewed at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tbn20sep20,1,2147613.story?coll=la-home-headlines (both, registration required, via Jim Moats, DXLD) PASTOR'S EMPIRE BUILT ON ACTS OF FAITH, AND CASH http://ktla.trb.com/news/local/la-me-tbn19sep19,0,2787958.story?coll=ktla-news-1 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. It`s been a few months since China started up their new site in the extreme west, gobbling up many more frequencies without regard to their previous occupants. You might think that by now World Harvest Radio would have done something to compensate, but at 1500 UT Sept 23 WHRA signed on 17650 as usual, moving up from 17560, which remained vacant, colliding at about equal level here with CRI on 17650, which had been in the clear until 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Another Super Bowl-related fine --- $10,800 to Global Radio. They applied to operate six temporary low-power FM stations at Super Bowl 37 in San Diego, on 89.1/92.9/93.7/96.9/104.1/106.9 MHz. The FCC granted two frequencies, 93.7 and 96.9, and the call letters WN3XFL. They denied the other four, stating interference would be caused to other U.S. and Mexican stations. Global turned on a radio, didn't hear anything on the four denied frequencies, and lit up transmitters on those frequencies anyway. (along with their two legal frequencies) They got caught. (FCC engineers found the "89.1" transmitter operating on the poorly-chosen frequency of 88.98 MHz!) Upon being contacted, Global admitted to using the four denied frequencies. They got fined for three of them - for some reason the Commission failed to charge them with using 92.9. Either the engineers didn't find that frequency, or the lawyers forgot to include it in the citation (Doug Smith W9WI, Sept 22, WTFDA via DXLD) Geez, didn`t they know 96.9 is the big pirate frequency in SD? (gh) Doug, I think you are right about the impact this could have on live broadcasts -- especially at small local stations. Before I left KTWU almost two months ago, our GM cancelled a live, local program for fear of indecent language. It could happen anytime. Even on a live pledge break a telephone operator could flash himself or herself. And what about local sports events? Coaches and fans can say naughty things. This is pretty bad. Unfortunately children hear this language whenever they go to a mall. I don't condone this language (in most cases) on TV or radio, but the FCC is out of control on this issue. There is a lot worse going on every day on television. What about the Victoria's Secret program? Isn't that more titillating than Janet Jackson was? (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, ibid.) Re FCC fine of CBS, of course The FCC's decision to fine CBS half a million bucks plus is surely way over the top, and based more on the time of day the Superbowl incident occurred than on the nature of the incident itself. I believe CBS are right to call the decision unfair, given that they had no control over it, and no advance knowledge that it was going to happen, in any event I don't think it was planned. Also, why is the fine being levied on CBS, which aired the programme, rather on MTV, who produced it. I note that MTV will not produce the Superbowl Half-Time Show in future. The other surprising factor is that the incident only apparently involved 20 stations. Surely many more stations air the Superbowl. So, what were they doing at half-time? (PAUL DAVID, Wembley Park, United Kingdom, dxldyg via DXLD) It certainly does not seem fair. The FCC`s leverage is over licensed stations, not networks, so they are hitting the stations actually owned by CBS, not mere affiliates. Tho it`s hard to see how the CBS- owned stations should really have any more liability than the CBS- affiliated stations which also transmitted exactly the same thing (Glenn, ibid.) ** U S A. COALITION TELLS FCC DTV TRANSITION IS NOT GOING WELL September 21 11:23:00, 2004 By Heather Forsgren Weaver WASHINGTON --- The digital transition is not going as well as TV broadcasters—the same people who will not commit to an end to the transition—want policy-makers to believe, said the Digital Transition Coalition Monday. ``This analysis paints a stark picture of the digital transition in this ..... Click here to view complete article: http://www.rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=19683 (via Curtis Sadowski, Sept 22, WTFDA Soundoff via DXLD) SENATE PANEL VOTES TO TRANSFER TV AIRWAVES TO SAFETY GROUPS By Christopher Stern, Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 23, 2004; Page E05 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43296-2004Sep22?language=printer A Senate committee voted yesterday to transfer airwaves used by dozens of television stations to spectrum-starved public safety organizations but included a provision that critics say could allow broadcasters to delay the move indefinitely. The Senate Commerce Committee vote was in response to the recent 9/11 Commission report, which warned that emergency response teams across the country need greater access to the airwaves to manage calls in times of crisis. The report specifically backed a proposal to take the spectrum from broadcasters. The Commerce Committee approved a proposal backed by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) that would take channels 63, 64, 68 and 69 from broadcasters on Jan. 1, 2008. There are 75 television stations around the country that would be affected by the plan, including the CBS affiliate in Detroit and the UPN affiliate in Atlanta. But Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) was highly critical of the proposal because it included language allowing broadcasters to hold on to the spectrum if the FCC determines that taking it from stations would result in "consumer disruption." McCain said the loosely defined "consumer disruption" was in effect "a loophole a mile wide." Broadcasters could claim that the loss of their signal would cause "consumer disruption" even though more than 85 percent of households get their TV signals via cable or satellite, he said. McCain is pushing his own proposal, which would set a firm deadline of Dec, 31, 2008, for television stations to give up one of the two television channels they now control. In 1996, every station in the country was given a second channel to make the transition to digital TV. (c) 2004 The Washington Post (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. WBUR To Sell WRNI/WXNI --- The future of public radio in RHODE ISLAND is in more than a little doubt this week, as listeners, donors and public officials digest the Friday morning announcement that Boston's WBUR has put its Ocean State outpost, WRNI (1290 Providence)/WXNI (1230 Westerly) up for sale. Rhode Island lost its distinction as one of the last states with no public radio outlet when WBUR shelled out $1.975 million in 1998 to buy what was then Portuguese-language WRCP (1290); the next year, the $300,000 purchase of what was then WERI (1230 Westerly) expanded service to southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut. WBUR had big plans for WRNI, building new studios at Providence's Union Station, upgrading the 1290 signal from 5 kW to 10 kW and, for a while, offering a daily two-hour newsmagazine, One Union Station, specifically for the Rhode Island audience. Budget problems beginning in late 2001 slowly eroded some of those advances, though; One Union Station was cancelled and replaced with a weekly one-hour show that was itself cancelled a few weeks ago, and much of WRNI's news staff was either laid off or moved to the mothership in Boston. WBUR head honcho Jane Christo was reportedly tight-lipped with donors at the Friday meeting in Providence; the Providence Phoenix reports that she wouldn't address questions about WBUR's own financial problems, and the extent to which they might be driving the sale of the Rhode Island stations, saying only that it's time for the community to step up and buy the station if it wants it to remain as a public radio outlet. For the donors who led the fund-raising campaign to help WBUR buy the stations in the first place, and those who have given money to WRNI/WXNI in its six years on the air, that attitude was understandably insulting. Several have complained about having to, in effect, buy the station twice - and yet, if they don't, the stations will likely be sold to a commercial owner. (They're also unhappy about the timing of the announcement, asking for some extra time to put together a plan before the station is offered to commercial sellers; right now, the plan is to begin offering the station as early as today, through Media Services Group.) This one's not over yet; stay tuned... Air America and other liberal talk programming came to the airwaves of western NEW YORK Friday, when Entercom's WROC (950 Rochester) dropped its talk lineup of Laura Ingraham, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity in favor of Air America's Unfiltered, Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, as well as the syndicated Ed Schultz and Lionel shows. WROC's move takes it out of direct competition with the much more powerful WHAM (1180) and its talk lineup, including Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. It also appears to have prompted a fair number of calls to WROC-TV (Channel 8), which felt compelled to run a story in its Friday night newscasts reminding viewers that it shares only call letters (and news simulcasts) with 950, but not ownership (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Sept 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. AIR AMERICA COMES TO SAN FRANCISCO THIS TUESDAY by Michael D Thu Sep 23rd, 2004 at 22:17:20 GMT http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/23/181720/208 From EditorsNotes.com: Putting two and two together, the liberal Air America network will begin broadcasting in liberal San Francisco this Tuesday, September 28, according to a well-placed little birdie. It will be Clear Channel's KABL 960 making the switch from nostalgia to liberal talk, the eleventh Clear Channel station to make the switch so far. Air America lists 31 stations in 30 cities on its website, plus two satellite radio services. In addition, KXXT 1010 Phoenix switched from conservative to liberal talk this morning. I hear it's practically official, with an advertisement in the Chronicle telling people to listen to 960 AM on Tuesday, when bay area radio "will never be the same." KABL has been rumored for months to be making the switch -- since before the mess with Aurthur Liu's LA and Chicago stations. That snafu is probably the main cause for the delay. In fact, I hear Boston was also expected to go online long ago. DC is said to be on the way soon as well (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. ACTIVIST ACCUSES SCHOOLS OF COLLUSION Man is challenging license renewals for student radio stations. By Jon Murray September 20, 2004 A Greenfield man contesting the radio license renewals of several student-run stations has accused them of working together to thwart him. Several station representatives say the charge is silly. Marty Hensley, director of the nonprofit Hoosier Public Radio Corp., filed a motion last week with the Federal Communications Commission that asks the agency to investigate possible anticompetitive activities among several Indianapolis-area high schools and two colleges. He invoked the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He wrote that the stations acted inappropriately and questioned whether they were trying to overpower him. . . http://www.indystar.com/articles/4/180143-5974-009.html (via Curtis Sadowski, WTFDA Soundoff via DXLD) ** U S A. Effective tomorrow, Sinclair Telecable's Norfolk News/Talker --- which has been a CBS Radio News affiliate since 1993 --- will replace CBS with ABC News. The change comes as a result of the controversy over CBS News' recent reports about President George W. Bush's National Guard service record. In a written statement, WNIS management says they believe the network swap is necessary because "the credibility and reputation of CBS News has been seriously damaged by the ongoing scandal involving fraudulent memoranda." Meanwhile CBS News today names former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and veteran news executive Louis Boccardi to comprise a two-person panel that will launch an investigation into just what went wrong in the network's bungled reporting on the Bush National Guard memo story. Thornburgh served in the cabinets of both President Ronald Reagan and the first President Bush. Boccardi retired last year following more than two decades as a top executive of The Associated Press (radioandrecords.com Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2004 via Brock Whaley, DXLD) Sinclair --- same company that censored ABC-TV`s Nightline (gh, DXLD) VIRGINIA RADIO STATION DROPS CBS NEWS By SONJA BARISIC The Associated Press 9/23/2004, 2:19 p.m. CT NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- A news-talk radio station in southeastern Virginia has dumped CBS News because of listener outrage over Dan Rather's "60 Minutes" report questioning President Bush's National Guard service. WNIS switched Thursday to ABC News. "We had so much outcry from our listeners. They were calling and complaining and saying they wouldn't listen to a CBS newscast anymore," said Lisa Sinclair, general manager of Sinclair Communications, which owns WNIS and four other stations in the Norfolk area, home to the world's largest naval base. "This is a conservative market, and people felt that CBS was exhibiting a great deal of liberal bias and lost credibility with this situation," Sinclair said, referring to the Sept. 8 story. . . http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/national-31/1095967447144270.xml&storylist=national (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. STOP THE MEDIA MERGERS By Frank A. Blethen --- The writer is publisher of the Seattle Times Democracy is in crisis -- not in far parts of the world but right here in the United States. As with most democracies, the greatest threat to ours is internal. The danger within is the loss of our Fourth Estate -- an independent and free press that is essential if Americans are to be knowledgeable and engaged in the democratic process. Walter Lippmann said that a free press "should consist of many newspapers decentralized in their ownership and their management, and dependent for their support . . . upon the communities where they are written, where they are edited and where they are read." From thousands of independent media outlets during Lippmann's heyday in the middle of the past century, media ownership dropped to only 50 companies by 1983. Today what was a concern has become a nightmare: The majority of our media are controlled by just five companies. Consider the frightening loss of diversity in media voices: - Less than 20 percent of our newspapers are independent and locally owned. - In just the past decade, the 10 largest owners of local television stations have tripled the number of stations they own. - About one-third of the population now listens to radio stations owned by a single company. Bad things happen when media conglomerates swallow up independent voices: Quality is diminished, local news and investigative journalism disappear, differing points of view vanish, community service becomes an afterthought, and jobs are eliminated. All are sacrificed in an incessant drive for ever-higher profits. I've been speaking out against consolidation of media ownership and the loss of an independent press since 1988. It is a sad irony that my family now finds itself struggling to preserve the 108-year-old local independence of the Seattle Times in the face of an effort by our Joint Operating Agreement partner, the New York-based conglomerate Hearst, to gain ownership. The relentless march of media consolidation has largely gone unreported in the mainstream press. After all, why would newspaper and media companies that already have control, and seek more, want their own outlets reporting stories that run counter to their financial interests? The 1996 deregulation of radio virtually ended local ownership in that medium. Clear Channel now operates 1,240 radio stations nationwide and has gutted what once was an important network of independent, community-based stations generating news and information. The Federal Communications Commission began its current review of broadcast rules in 2001, working quietly with the big media companies. Media behemoths such as Tribune Co. and Gannett were touting increased stock value to analysts on the assumption the FCC would enable further unbridled consolidation. The mainstream media didn't report the story, and the FCC refused to engage the public -- holding only one public hearing, and that very reluctantly. At the darkest moment, with the FCC poised to unleash the next great wave of destructive newspaper and media consolidation, a national grass-roots effort materialized. Nearly 2.3 million people sent messages to the FCC and Congress opposing FCC rule changes. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) called it the greatest spontaneous outpouring of citizen reaction he had seen. But the FCC went ahead and posted new, less restrictive rules designed to help the media conglomerates. A June victory in a lawsuit led by the Media Access Project has at least temporarily helped protect our democracy by preventing these rule changes from taking effect. Both the unprecedented outcry by citizens and the court victory have awakened Congress to the need to act. It's a bipartisan awakening that reflects the public's broad and passionate understanding that the loss of a free, independent press and diversity of media voices is antithetical to democracy. Members of Congress and key committees are beginning to express interest in hearings and legislation to stop this dangerous consolidation. Next year the Commerce Committee is required to revisit the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This will be an important review, and a critical opportunity to set new public policy. In the meantime, Congress should begin hearings to engage the American people in discussing and seeking solutions to this vital national issue. The goal should be to create an environment where we can again look to America's newspapers and other media for diverse ownership and journalism that isn't driven solely by profit margins. Specific areas of focus should include exploring all legal avenues to ensure diverse newspaper ownership, including our antitrust laws; keeping and vigorously enforcing current FCC broadcast rules; re-regulating radio; prohibiting same-market ownership of more than one type of medium (newspaper, television, radio). We are at a critical juncture. We can allow the media moguls to keep aggregating and let American democracy erode. Or we can take action to end this march of consolidation and save independent newspapers and other media for the citizens of this country (via Russ Edmunds, WTFDA via DXLD) same: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30309-2004Sep17?language=printer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. Answer Man: Boy ISO Government Girl [sic; what means this?] By John Kelly Monday, September 20, 2004; Page C11 Perhaps you, with the help of your readers, can solve a Washington mystery. In my new book, "Private Eyelashes: Radio's Lady Detectives," I chronicle the history of 44 network series that featured a feminine sleuth. I had to turn in my manuscript before I had solved the mystery of one of them, a series from the early 1940s called "Helen Holden, Government Girl." This series was the only network crime drama produced in Washington. I could find no surviving audio copies, original scripts, nor background information on the cast or crew. Perhaps some of your readers could help fill in the blanks. Jack French, Fairfax . . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34318-2004Sep19?language=printer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. HURRICANE NET ON ALERT FOR HURRICANE JEANNE; SOUTH TEXAS ARES ACTIVATES FOR IVAN http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/09/23/101/?nc=1 (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Transmitter giveaway --- Though it was once fictionalized by Howard Hoffman on his classic "The Last Q Format" spoof (hear it on Reelradio.com), it's actually going to happen. Ron Chapman, the legendary morning personality on Dallas-Fort Worth's KLUV-98.7, is giving away the station's recently retired Collins 831-G transmitter. It dates back to 1980 and was installed at Cedar Hill. Until several months ago the box was the Alt-Main transmitter and was replaced by a new Continental 816. Infinity Broadcasting, which owns KLUV, sold the unit to a local broker. Chapman heard about it and decided to buy for himself to give away. Technically this is a Chapman promotion (which he does regularly) and not an official KLUV contest. Ron had the unit mounted in a large truck and the transmitter will make on location appearances several mornings a week as part of his morning show. To enter, simply fill out an entry blank at any transmitter appearance. He hasn't announced a giveaway date; today was the first time it was on the road. You can see photos of it at http://www.kluv.com/RonChapman.shtml KLUV's chief engineer tells me it's complete with the exception of the exciter. It takes 480 triple phase power. Ron said he would pay to have it rewired to operate as a lamp or night light for the lucky winner. Yes, you get all three cabinets and whatever's inside. I know Ron, the guy is a promotional genius --- two decades ago he told his then KVIL audience to send him 20 dollars. He never said why. Several thousand people did (the money eventually was donated to charity). He's been on the air in Dallas Fort-Worth for more than 40 years. So, take notice Vobbe, Fybush, Gitschier, and anyone else who's geeky enough to appreciate a piece of radio history. Come on down to Dallas and stuff the entry box. I'd do it for you except disclosure forces me to state that I'm a part time employee of the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network, which is part of KLUV and Infinity Broadcasting. The "wife acceptance factor" probably be tested to the limit if I were to win it anyway (Wally Wawro, Sept 21, NRC-AM via DXLD) Here's a story I have never told, mostly because I forgot about it until this memory jog. In 1975, local WPRO-630 had a contest to give away their old 1939 vintage RCA DX5. All 17 feet of it, and maybe four tons. I won. All you had to do was write in 25 words or less what you would do with it. I was teaching electronics at a local college (nights). I checked with management to see if they wanted it for their broadcast program, and they did. So, I wrote that it would make an excellent demonstration for teaching broadcast engineering. The kicker is, once I won, the school wanted no part of it. I got a half dozen friends, a case of beer, and a rented five-ton truck with a liftgate. Went to 'PRO, and had it in the truck in a matter of a few hours. It then sat in a garage I rented for a couple of years while I parted it out. Those old 891/892R tubes were impressive! I still have a few parts from the rig, such as a large variometer coil. Finally ended up scrapping the cabinets. Also took out a 1940 vintage Western Electric in 1978. Got a few parts left from that, somewhere. That got scrapped as well, unfortunately. And a GE XT-1A (1kw), a Raytheon 250 watter, and a few others of lesser note. DX from the other side of the tower (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) ** U S A. WGY Schenectady NY now running IBOC --- Noted digital sidebands on 790, 800, 820 & 830. Slight interference to local Albany TIS on 830, as well as usually weak WCRN-MA outside of town. This one is processed OK, so the audio still has the loudness it did prior to digital (Andrew MacKenzie, 2340 UT Sept 22, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. 840 KXNT [heard] in Oklahoma --- New state here this morning in the form of 840 KXNT-NV. Heard at 0657-0702 CDT 21 SEP 04 with Rush Limbaugh, ads and "*The* Talk Radio Station KXNT". No sign of sunrise eliminated WHAS. KXNT was mixing with and mostly over unID Spanish (presumed Mexican) in KTIC null. Thanks to all on this list for the tip on this one! 73, (Bruce Winkelman, AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, Sept 21, NRC- AM via DXLD) 840, KXNT, NV, North Las Vegas. 9/22 0134 [EDT presumably]. "The Talk Station, AM eight-forty, KXNT." Blasting in mostly over but sometimes equal to WHAS with Coast to Coast AM program. WHAS also running C2C delayed about 5 seconds behind KXNT (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO Drake R-8 and Kiwa loop, ibid.) ** U S A. WNRP-1620 Florida - surely not deleted? --- I was surfing the FCC website tonight and was surprised to note this station is no longer listed. I tried every possibility: Atmore, AL / Gulf Breeze, FL / WPHG / WBUB / WNRP / DWNRP / 1620 / Alabama / Florida - nothing comes up. Radio World magazine (cited in the May 17 AM Switch) said that WBUB in Gulf Breeze, FL was built, had tested, and was expected to start broadcasting on May 1. The call change to WNRP was just in AM Switch last month. So why ain't it listed?? (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, NRC -AM via DXLD) The FCC database is notoriously messed up (Powell E. Way, III, -- NNNN! ibid.) Just looked. And found . . . WNRP AM 1620 kHz ND2 Daytime B B CP GULF BREEZE FL US BMP-20031106AMJ 10.0 kW 87034 ADX COMMUNICATIONS OF ESCAMBIA WNRP AM 1620 kHz ND2 Nighttime B B CP GULF BREEZE FL US BMP-20031106AMJ 1.0 kW 87034 ADX COMMUNICATIONS OF ESCAMBIA in the AM Query section (BILL Hale, TX, ibid.) And it ain't on yet. Who reported it testing? This one is a near-daily check for me, sometimes twice daily, and nary a peep has been heard from them. Glad they changed the call (Gerry Bishop, From the land of the six-foot high and browning trash piles, Niceville FL, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. USA, 590 kHz, "AM 590 Radio Disney" female drop heard at 0522 Sept. 23 during a short hard break slot, back into the usual pop tart Radio Disney songs. Anyone know where this one is from? Not too far, as it mostly is holding forth with a little bit of the Clewiston XE format station and other rumbled domestics, all due to Musical Nacional being off as usual post-midnight local (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 15500: Sounds like China Business Radio, one of the PRC domestic service programs which includes English segments. In fact 15500 is one of multiple frequencies for CNR-2, per Eibi list, straight thru from 2300 to 1400; see http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/bc-a04.txt (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checked here today (22 Sep) at 1300 the 15500 frequency. CNR was dominating, weak station underneath. After about 15 minutes the weaker station became audible and it was the "Studio Classroom" program about laughter as Harjot yesterday reported. Parallels were found on 11785 and 15160, also blocked partly by CNR. These two stations are fading differently, so my opinion is that this is no audio mix at CNR. I guess the English program comes from BCC Taiwan and CNR is just trying to block the Taiwanese. Just before 1400 there was a Chinese announcement from the "Taiwanese" station, but too weak to copy. Maybe someone with knowledge of Chinese and better reception can check this. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via DX Tuner OZ: Pop music with Australian accented male at 1322. Then into an English language lesson which involved a Canadian (from Vancouver) who was visiting Beijing and was amazed by all the bicycles. It was the type of lesson where it was all in English for a long time and included the Australian who had been spinning the music. "Coffee Corner" portion of the show started at 1333. I didn't hear an ID but I wonder if this is an additional CNR channel here with and English lesson at this time of day. I could also hear Chinese talk on the frequency (Hans Johnson, Sept 22, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Most info that I can find state that CNR-"2" shut down 15500 kHz at 1400 UT, (which appears to happen). However, here in Guernsey (Channel Islands) UK, CNR-"1" can be heard clearly after 1400 (or at least it sounds like CNR-"1" comparing against parallel 11710 kHz). Maybe this is your answer? You are getting CNR-1 and CNR-2 together up until 1400, then CNR-1 on its own. BTW, I can find nothing to indicate that CNR-1 should be on 15500 at this time, but that doesn't change the fact that it is:-) Hope this helps, 73's (Robin Banneville, Guernsey, Channel Islands, Sept 22, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Hi all, I am quite sure that I heard the email address and in that I heard: "english" / "cri" / "cn". I couldn't copy it clearly and with everything in the address, but to me it seems obvious that it is China and not Taiwan (if they don't have an email address in China???). I also heard the long programme about "Laughter Clubs" all over the world and the subject came from a listener in Bombay, India. They also mentioned listeners in Uzbekistan. What puzzles me most is that they only played music in English (the presenters even sang together some parts of "Country Road"!), but maybe also CRI has such formats now and then? I didn't listen yesterday, but from the programme details in Harjot Singh Brar`s message I assume that it was exactly the same programme both days. I never heard China Radio International mentioned and when they closed down at 1400 the CNR was too strong to compete with. So let's listen again and solve the mystery! 73 from (Björn Fransson, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It seems I was wrong in assuming that this English "Studio Classroom" program was via Taiwanese transmitter on 15500. As some of you pointed out, this was instead broadcast by CNR2. I checked again my recording of 19 Sep and indeed, just before 1400, within the Chinese announcement there was brief mention of "China Business Radio". This was earlier unnoticed as the CNR1 signal was strong at the moment, but now knowing what to look for, there it was. Many thanks to everyone. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Sept 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL +++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Glenn, Pleased to hear your voice and listen to the interview with you over RCI this afternoon (15455 kHz at 1545 UT Sept 21). 73, (Lars Rydén, Sweden, One of the DX Dinosaurs, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have added another section, GLENN HAUSER INTERVIEWS, to the OUR CURRENT AUDIO page http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html starting with direct links to the four versions of audio files of this show. I see they have ML Mailbags archived back to January 2003, so this one should be around for a while. There`s a teaser at the beginning and the interview itself is near the end (gh, DXLD) RADIO STAMPS ++++++++++++ "FIRST EVER 'DX-ING' POSTAL STAMP ISSUED IN THE WORLD!" DXer Luigi Cobisi has sent to DXer Anker Petersen, chairman of the DSWCI, Danish Shortwave Clubs International an envelope "with a Greek double stamp with a unique stamp with two DSWCI's Italian members Luigi Cobisi and Paolo Morandotti recording a DX-program in Italian at the Vatican Radio! It was produced by the Greek Post Office and is the first ever "DX-ing" postal stamp issued in the world!" Please look at http://www.dswci.org/news/0406/edxc_stamp.html The photo is also posted at the files section of this yg. "New personal Greek double stamp with attached photo of two DSWCI (Danish SW Clubs International) members: Paolo Morandotti (left) and Luigi Cobisi (right) when recording a DX program at Vatican Radio." (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX-Window No. 255, Sep 22, via Horacio A. Nigro, Uruguay, Radio Stamps yg via DXLD) It appears to be se-tenant, and the `DX` stamp on the right side bears no markings I can see about value, or country of origin, or even subject, so it`s more like a label, and could not be used for postage by itself. It appears to have no connexion with the subject of the real stamp on the left. What is the Scott or other catalog number? Is this really an official Greek postal issue, or some DIY deal? Make- your-own stamps are currently being advertised in the US, but they don`t pretend to be postal. Of course, these days the subject could be explained on selvage, or even on the reverse as in some US issues (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST, Radio Stamps yg, via DXLD) The postage stamp is on the left but the one on the right with the DXers is surely only a photograph? Here in the UK you can also have such things produced - they are called "smilers" : you send a copy of a photograph of yourself to Royal Mail with a fee and they print a sheet of stamp-sized photos attached to proper postage stamps - just like the one on this Greek envelope. But the photo itself is not valid as a postage stamp on its own. see http://www.royalmail.com/smilers 73s (Dave [Kenny?], ibid.) It is possible here too. When I read their offer (Do you want to have your face on a postal stamp?) for the first time, I thought it was really so. But in fact the stamp is divided into two parts (with a perforation in the middle), one of them is blank and later they print your photo on the stamp sheet on a laser printer. What you can do yourself too, you just print your small faces on a normal paper, then cut one of them off and glue it beside the stamp on an envelope... (Karel Honzik, Czechia, ibid.) And now we should query about the real value of a stamp like this in a radio stamps collection, in case you want to present it in philatelic competition (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, ibid.) MUSEA +++++ MOSTRA "GLI ANNI DELLA RADIO" 21 settembre 2004 A Roma ha aperto la mostra "Gli anni della radio", che celebra gli 80 anni di trasmissioni radiofoniche in Italia. La mostra si tiene nello Spazio Espositivo Multimediale nel Complesso del Vittoriano e sarà aperta fino al 17 ottobre. Un'esposizone curata da Radio Rai e patrocinata dalla Provincia e dal Comune di Roma. In esposizione tra l'altro c'è una selezione di apparati radiofonici d'epoca (circa 100 pezzi) provenienti dal Museo della Radio e della Televisione del Centro di Produzione di Torino e dal "Museo Mille Voci. Mille Suoni" di Bologna. Ne parliamo con il fondatore e direttore del Museo di Bologna, il cavalier Giovanni Pelagalli. Per tutte le informazioni: http://www.radio.rai.it Nino Marabello via Radio24 FM 89.6 a Treviso (via Roberto Scaglione, Sept 23, bclnews.it via DXLD) DRM +++ Ma siamo sicuri che il DRM salverà le OC? A me pare che gli investimenti in questa tecnologia siano per ora e molto probabilmente anche per il futuro, molto esigui. C'è qualcuno che sa come si comporterà la Rai in proposito? Ciao, (Dario Pieracci, bclnews.it via DXLD) La Eai e' uscita dal consorzio DRM due anni fa --- nonostante fosse tra I soci fondatori. Le onde medie come avete visto sono al lumicino --- e per le onde corte la situazione non e' ancora chiara. Saluti, (Andrea Borgnino, Italy, bclnews.it via DXLD) Mi hai preceduto per la notizia dell'uscita della RAI dal consorzio, per il resto le tue notizie sono sicuramente più attendibili di quelle di chiunque altro. Personalmente sono convinto che sia molto vicina la totale disattivazione delle onde corte, vedremo (Roberto Scaglione, bclnews.it via DXLD) See also BELGIUM, MEXICO, UK TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ INEQUALITY MATTERS --- Bill Moyers Address In June, Bill Moyers was keynote speaker for a forum at New York University. Someone just sent the URL for the text to me today, and I found it to be one of the calmest, yet most penetrating analyses of this nations' problems I've come across anywhere. To be honest, I've never paid a lot of attention to Bill Moyers, other than to make a mental note that I thought he was a good reporter. It's very long, but one of the most calmly and sensibly presented commentaries about what's gone wrong with the United States that I've ever read. He eloquently writes the thoughts that I probably would convey with much less clarity --- tinged with a thread of anger. While I suspect that he, too, is angry at what's transpired, he doesn't let it taint his presentation. I consider this a MUST READ. It's a long read, but worth it: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0616-09.htm (Tom Bryant / Nashville, Sept 19, WTFDA Soundoff via DXLD) It certainly is thought-provoking. And it certainly parallels things I've observed over time. What I find most ironic in all of this is the chapter yet to come. If this plays out on course long enough, the 'religious right', the radical fundamentalists who want a theocracy or worse are suddenly going to discover how badly they've been duped by 'Big Business' and the government they've bought, because those folks are one day going to realize that they, too have lost all of these same things - good jobs, benefits, education, a decent level of living. And they will cry something like Jeremiah did in the Bible... "Oh God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But it won't be God who has forsaken them, rather they've cast their lot with the devil and been used and discarded, thereby forsaking themselves (Russ Edmunds, PA, ibid.) ANYBODY BUT BUSH Forget terrorism. Forget Iraq. Forget homeland security. If a majority of the American people (oops, Electoral College) are stupid enough actually to elect George W. Bush this time, there won`t be a country worth protecting when he`s through with it. He and his far right buddies will consolidate their corporate hegemony, rape the environment, pack the Supreme Court, further reverse civil liberties, impoverish the people, push for a theocracy. Isn`t that enough to get rid of this SOB? (Glenn Hauser, OK) ###