DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-157, October 14, 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 1249: 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 0230 on WRMI 6870 Mon 0300 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous 1248] 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 1249 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1249h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1249.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1249 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1249.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1249.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1249.html [soon] WORLD OF RADIO 1249 in the true SW sound of 7415, probably UT Thu: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_10-13-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_10-13-04.mp3 [not available as of UT Friday, and file date unconfirmed] ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. Hi Glenn, October 11 I was able to hear VoA R. Ashna, Kabul at 1600 UT on 1296 kHz in parallel with 12140 coming from Iraniwila, Sri Lanka. They´re also listed on 972 kHz from Orzu, Tajikistan. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku FINLAND ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. I got a very nice QSL-card from Internews Afghanistan, showing a map of Afghanistan and the FM-sites for all Salam Watandar transmitters in the country. All details included on the backside, frequency, time and power of the station, 500 kW over the VTMerlin Communications transmitter in the UK. Also three Afghan stamps on it! I am quite satisfied with this surprise! 73 from Björn Fransson, the island of Gotland, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But, but they are no longer from the UK. Internews HQ was always a bit fuzzy, or unforthcoming, about the actual SW transmitter sites (gh) Re 4-156: The producers have confirmed that Salaam Watandar will continue after 15 October. They expect the service to run throughout the winter, but at this stage the transmissions are funded only for another month. Salaam Watandar will shift to the frequencies and times as shown in the VT Merlin schedule. Regarding "Persian": the confusion appears because VT Merlin (just like the BBC) does not separate Dari, Farsi and Tajik and calls any of these languages "Persian". In addition, the VT Merlin schedule does not show multiple languages even though they may be used for a certain transmission (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Oct 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6080, R. San Gabriel Oct. 11, 1001-, MA in vernacular with extended talks, ads, and simple TC´s. Mentioned: Taller de medicina natural Natura, Ministerio de la salud, Plan de salud Altiplano (2 YL with health care advice). Pretty weak and mixed with HCJB (distinctive time pips heard at half hour) in same freq. at my location (Fernando Viloria - Guacara, Carabobo State, Venezuela, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nominal is 6080, but for a while it was on 6085, apparently returning to 6080 since August, per Mark Mohrmann`s LADX. I`ll bet the variations are prompted by HCJB QRM, hardly a good neighbor (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6135 happens to be more or less in the clear of ISWBC stations around 0050 UT Oct 15, allowing us to hear some nice LA/Andean music and talk in Spanish for a few minutes, seemed to be about legal issues, back to music 0055, and measured about 6134.8, which fits R. Santa Cruz. I was standing by for an ID or sign-off as scheduled at hourtop, but at 0100 sharp it was blasted into oblivion by DRM opening on 6140. As someone else has complained, this is one of the worst DRM transmissions, wiping out much of the 49m band. I could hear the buzz down to 6080, but 6135 had no chance at all. Complaints may go to Digital Radio Mondiale, to RCI/Sackville, and to China Radio International. But they won`t make a damn bit of difference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. RNA is back on 6185, soft romantic talk and music in Portuguese, 0040 UT October 15, fairly good, but over one or two other unintelligible signals with subaudible heterodynes, one of which may be XEPPM; RNA confirmed by // to 11780. However, rechecked at 0130, 6185 was in Spanish, presumably DF, and not // 11780. It would seem that RNA 6185 signed off in the meantime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNID Portuguese station heard at 0400-0500 UT Oct 14 on 11815.00 kHz, playing light marimba music. Most likely Radio Brazil Central, Goiânia. WRTH 2004 shows 0700-0300 UT range, but station seemingly 24 hrs on air? Fair signal, hit by Jordan 11810 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Now is 1337 UT. 15500 play the same program shown in the first posting. So I am sure that English program Studio Classroom is part of "Night of English" (instead of "Voice of English"). First half program is record by CRI staff. Archive audio file can listened to at http://www.cnr.cn/wcm/fortune/english/ (Miller Liu, Taibei, Taiwan, Oct 13, dxing.info via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CLANDESTINE RADIO "SOUND OF HOPE" Anybody has noticed a clandestine radio station called "Sound of Hope" beaming to Mainland China on shortwave? I have been monitoring this mystery station, which is heavily jammed by China government, for more than half a year. Well, these days the jamming is very unstable. I monitored "Sound of Hope" on 11765 kHz at 1600-1623 UT, October 11. In that period, the signal was audible and jammed slightly. The station signed on with a radio ID "Xi Wang Zhi Sheng" in Mandarin Chinese, which is equal to "Sound of Hope" in English. Then the station broadcast several news reports zeroing in on conditions of Chinese workers and society. The Mandarin program has a style like "Radio Free Asia" or another clandestine "Voice of China". "Sound of Hope" says it is based in Bay Area, San Francisco and has a blocked homepage at http://www.soundofhope.org After 1623 UT, Chinese Jammer took advantage gradually and covered "Sound of Hope" completely. What puzzles me most is that there seems no record of this clandestine station in DXLD or Martin Scheoch's Clandestine Radio Watch. Anybody can supply more details about this station? (Eric Zhou, Yangzhou, China, Oct 13, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1249, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Eric, I think this one might be KNLS Alaska. Registration is 11765 1600 1700 43,44,49,50 NLS 100 285 and Chinese Mandarin is currently scheduled for 1600 to 1700. 73s, (Noel R. Green [Blackpool, UK], ibid.) A mystery perhaps as the 'current' KNLS schedule on their website does not show usage of 11765 at that time for Mandarin. September 26, 2004 to October 31, 2004 (UTC) (kHz.) TIME BAND FREQ. LANG. 0800 25m 11765 English 0900 25m 11765 Russian 1000 31m 9690 Mandarin 1100 31m 9795 Russian 1200 31m 9690 Mandarin 1300 31m 9690 English 1400 31m 9615 Mandarin 1500 31m 9615 Mandarin 1600 31m 9615 Mandarin 1700 31m 9615 Russian Perhaps an inquiry to KNLS is in order to confirm. KNLS AT aol.com. (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) The page is not blocked outside China. Their English page says the Sound of Hope Radio Network was established by Chinese immigrants in the US in June 2003, and is a "global non-profit provider of Chinese language news and culture programming." It might be "clandestine" according to the Chinese definition, but is actually a program producer based in San Francisco whose programs are distributed through "online streaming and FM/AM/SW radio stations". These include 1530 AM in Chicago. Their main programming is in Chinese, but they also have some English and Spanish newscasts. (Andy Sennitt, Holland, ibid.) Radio Free Asia is currently scheduled during the previous hour 1500- 1600 in Mandarin from Tinian on 11765. Could be an extension of that, or not (Glenn, ibid.) Radio Free Asia may well carry their programming. They have the RFA logo on their Web site (Andy, ibid.) Hi Glenn, It cannot be RFA's extension because RFA uses 11765 kHz for only one hour. And the clandestine station has its own IS and ID, its own reporters bringing political its news reports. A few DXers in China who can listen to this station clearly with no jamming troubles say "Sound of Hope" broadcast on 11765 kHz at 1600-1700 UT via Taiwan every day (Happy DXing, Eric from Nanjing, China, ibid.) Please have a look at KNLS's Chinese website: http://www.smzg.org/Schedule%20in%20Chinese.htm It shows: 11765 25 1600-1700 04/03/28-04/10/31 AM 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, ibid.) Hi Bernd, What I heard is definitely KNLS. The time labelled at KNLS's Chinese website is Beijing Time. 1600-1700 Beijing Time is 0800-0900 UT. And KNLS DOES use 9615 instead 11765 kHz at 1600-1700 UT half a year ago. At 1500-1600 UT the frequency 11765 kHz is used by Radio Free Asia now. "Sound of Hope" is surely an independent station. It brings news reports and political topics. It cannot be a religious station like KNLS. Happy DXing, (Eric in Nanjing, China, ibid.) Eric, This is getting more and more confusing. Do you mean what you heard is definitely NOT KNLS? As you imply in your final sentence? In another post you suggest 11765 at 1600-1700 could be via Taiwan. With the timezones straightened out, schedules seem to agree that KNLS is now on 9615 at 1600-1700. But don`t forget that in the past it has relayed RFA, altho rather covertly. And that KNLS is about to start up a second transmitter (Glenn, ibid.) Glenn, Sorry, I mean what I heard CANNOT be KNLS. I've followed it for months. It appears to be a brand new station on shortwave (Eric Zhou, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, but please understand that the KNLS transmitter could be, and has been in the past, used to transmit programs of other organizations. And is there or is there not any mention of Sound of Hope on the KNLS Chinese page http://www.smzg.org/Schedule%20in%20Chinese.htm ? I checked 11765 at 1615 UT Oct 14, and all I could hear was Firedrake, so the Chicoms certainly think there is something worth jamming there. For this one-hour broadcast, Sound of Hope is very likely hiring time on some existing transmitter belonging to someone else. There have also been reports that Radio Free Asia carries some programming from other producers (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I think there is no relation between Sound of Hope and KNLS transmitter because Sound of Hope's signal is much more powerful and stronger than the signal strength when KNLS occupied 11765 kHz. Since RFA uses 11765 kHz via Tinian, Philippines at 1500-1600 UT now, Sound of Hope may hire the next one-hour broadcast time. Thank you! (Eric Zhou, China, ibid.) That seems likely, if not Taiwan. Please note that the RFA site Tinian is in the Northern Mariana Islands, not to be confused (as it often is) with Tinang, in the Philippines. I believe that the Philippines does not allow IBB sites there to be used for RFA (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** CHINA. Checked CRI English service on past two days Oct 12/13. Noted a 4th channel for English at 0615 UT (0600-0700), Program called "Real Time Business". 13720 weak signal today - but much stronger on Oct 12th. In \\ 13620 S=2-3, 15465 S=3, 17490 S=9 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL EXTENDS CONTRACT WITH WRN China Radio International (CRI) has signed a contract extension with WRN following a visit by a high-level delegation to the London headquarters of the international broadcaster and transmission service provider. WRN will continue to provide an increasing range of transmission and distribution services to CRI, ensuring that listeners around the world can tune into programmes produced in many languages by China`s international radio station. The delegation was led by Mr Xia Jixuan, CRI`s Vice-President. Other delegation members included Mr Dong Weimin from the Chinese Ministry of Finance and Mr Zhao Gang from the Chinese State Administration for Radio Film and TV. WRN has worked closely with CRI for more than five years since signing an initial Collaboration Agreement in Beijing in 1999. WRN works on CRI`s behalf distributing its daily programmes to reach both new and existing listeners around the world using AM and FM transmissions that augment CRI`s traditional shortwave broadcasting from China. CRI`s daily programmes can be heard on FM in Berlin and Moscow and on AM in London, St Petersburg, across Western Europe, South West Russia, Ukraine and Romania. WRN identifies the most appropriate transmitters, undertakes local negotiations and monitors the output on behalf of CRI. Furthermore CRI`s daily programmes in English, French, German and Russian can be heard on WRN`s international news radio networks distributed around the world via satellite, cable, local FM relays, wireless applications and the Internet. After the signing ceremony, Mr Karl Miosga, WRN`s Managing Director, said: ``I am delighted that CRI continues to place its trust in WRN to distribute its content worldwide giving more listeners the opportunity to easily tune into the important Chinese perspective.`` # posted by Andy @ 11:52 UT Oct 13 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CONGO. 5985, R. Congo, 1934-2008, Oct. 12, French, OM with talks between Afropops, brief instrumental version of Stevie Wonder`s ``Isn`t She Lovely`` at 1959, followed by brief YL and OM with news and a passing mention of ``Radio Congo``. Poor/fair with (presumed) co-channel V. of Russia via Juelich audible after 2000 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1249, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI good news...Vista October 15, 2004 In this edition: * Pacifica Radio`s Board approves donation for re-start of shortwave broadcast * Radio For Peace celebrates 17th year * New Interactive web site for RFPI members and listeners started * Live Internet streaming undergoes upgrade :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) PACIFICA RADIO BOARD OF DIRECTORS VOTE TO SUPPORT RFPI To many listeners it would seem logical that an alliance between Pacifica Radio and RFPI would take place. Pacifica Radio was founded by pacifist Lew Hill in 1949 -- its network of five FM stations and affiliates remain the backbone of progressive media in the U.S. On October 1st, the Pacifica Board of Directors held their annual meeting in Washington, D.C. On the agenda was a proposal to use Pacifica`s help to re-establish RFPI`s shortwave operation at a cost of $250,000. RFPI`s General Manager James Latham and RFPI Advisory Board member Chuck Scurich were invited to give a presentation outlining the shortwave broadcast project, its cost and time line. ``We pointed out at the meeting the common goals of the two organizations and our similar and shared programming.`` said James Latham, RFPI`s General Manager. Proceeding the proposal and board meeting were months of weekly meetings after a team of RFPI advisors and staff was formed to hammer out the details. Contact with several of the Pacifica Board was established in order to run the different options by them. The teamwork effort paid off with the Pacifica Board members voting unanimously on the proposal. ``With the support of Pacifica Radio we could comfortably see the return of Pacifica and RFPI programming to shortwave in six to 12 months. This also indicates a forward-looking collaborative approach for both organizations and an assured increase in listenership.`` said James Latham. A big thanks to Chuck Scurich, Tom Voorhees, Franklin Seiberling, Joe Bernard, Ray Feeney, Bill Taylor, Jean Parker, Charlie Wilkins, James Latham, the Pacifica Board and others for their commitment to making progressive voices heard on shortwave again. YOUR STATION`S NEEDS If you have read this far it is obvious that you have a strong interest in Radio For Peace International. We need your help to keep the messages of peace flowing. Below is some of the station`s urgent needs -- please help in whatever amount you can. After long use, the station`s microbus that transports students, volunteers and staff needs a motor overhaul. We have found a mechanic who is willing to donate the labor but the engine parts have to be covered. Needed: $425. Early next year RFPI will be holding two IPC Peace Journalism courses. The present office and studios are too small so there is a need to move into a larger facility. We have found a new home closer to were the students will be staying but need donations to cover the next six months of rent: $300 x 6 months. Can you donate a month or more? Please send your donation in check or money order to: Radio for Peace International/IPC Support P.O. Box 3165 Newberg, Oregon 97132, USA Or donate electronically by visiting the RFPI web page http://www.rfpi.org and clicking on the paypal icon then following the directions. RADIO FOR PEACE CELEBRATES 17TH YEAR On September 16, 1987 RFPI sent forth the first shortwave radio transmissions from the hastily built studios in El Rodeo, Costa Rica. Starting with a small seed donation of $19,000 and a monthly budget of $200 the radio station would grow to expand its capabilities in the coming years. RFPI`s co-founder James Latham comments on the stations humble beginnings: ``After gathering up all of the radio equipment in Sweethome, Oregon for shipment to Costa Rica, I remember Max Loeffler, RFPI`s first program director and one of the co-founders of the station, asking if we had enough equipment to really start an international shortwave station. My response was that we had enough gear to send out a signal and that the radio station`s message, not its power or sophistication, would attract listeners. From that response, the station would grow into a true international broadcaster.`` Some listener comments: Congratulations on the 17th anniversary. In light of the efforts to censor one of the few voices of peace and reason on the airwaves, RFPI`s shear tenacity in staying the course is remarkable. I listen to your Internet broadcast but hope for your return to shortwave. - Paul Bensussen, L.A. I became a lifetime member a few years ago when I was driving a truck over cross country I found your station invaluable. Obviously, your station is one-of-a-kind and must be preserved, no thanks to a conservative element in the U.N., it would seem. Hope you are thriving in your new locale. - Mark H. Thank you RFPI for your broadcasts and for not selling out! Happy anniversary, and many more to come. - Ray Pritchard, San Francisco I miss the days when I could take my little Sony into the yard or sit at my desk and tune in on the Grundig Satellite 800 and have a nice clear signal from RFPI. More than that, I miss the information that only RFPI gave me. Happy anniversary! - Tim Hendel NEW INTERACTIVE WEBSITE STARTED FOR RFPI MEMBERS AND LISTENERS In one of our weekly on-line chats with RFPI members, Charlie Wilkinson asked several of us to view and give some feedback on a project he had been working on for the station. It turned out to be a exceptional new web site he had built for interactive use by RFPI listeners, supporters and staff. Check out this impressive work of web site art at http://www.rfpionline.org/ and put it to use. Thanks Charlie! RFPI`S LIVE INTERNET STREAMING UNDERGOES UPGRADE Some of you no doubt sensed the irregular and at times disruptions of programming on our live Internet streaming. We apologize for the inconvenience. We are in the middle of finally changing over to the new MP4 industry standard and for a while some disruptions will occur. Bare with us and be prepared for some good programming brought to you in the audio medium your computer system works best with. In the next issue due out the October 25th: * RFPI`s coverage of the Findhorn Scotland peace conference * Just what is Peace Journalism? * Updates on RFPI`s return to shortwave -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Vista On-line editors: Victoria Vargas, Joe Bernard RFPI General Manager: James Latham U.S. office manager: Joe Bernard English program Director: Adriana Latham PO Box 75, Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica Phone: +506/843-2527 info@rfpi.org Oregon Office: PO Box 3165 Newberg, OR, 97132-5165 USA Check out your RFPI web site at www.rfpi.org or the new interactive site: www.rfpionline.org _______________________________________________ Rfpi-announce mailing list Rfpi-announce@boinklabs.com http://www.boinklabs.com/mailman/listinfo/rfpi-announce (via WORLD OF RADIO 1249, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Re TURKS & CAICOS, 4-156: All follow up on this from rec.radio.shortwave Interesting that the BBG is involved in this. There has been a 1570 station there in the past but IIRC it was a private religious outfit. I wonder if the BBG plans to take it over for Radio Marti broadcasts? A mystery Martí relay is being heard on 1620 kHz; DXers strongly suspect the BBG is buying airtime on commercial station WDHP in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (as WDHP vanishes when the mystery Marti relay is on!) – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) No mystery about it; several weeks ago we had a recording on WORLD OF RADIO of the WDHP ID going into Martí relay at 0100 UT Sunday. Guess Doug wasn`t listening nor has been following this in DXLD. Now it has some competition from Florida; see USA (gh) ** DEUTSCHES REICH [non]. NEW HITLER FILM SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON UNIQUE FINNISH RECORDING By Paal Aarsaether, AFP Thursday, October 14, 2004 http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/oct/14/yehey/enter/20041014ent1.html ) HELSINKI --- A new film portraying the last days of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime has shed new light on a little-known Finnish recording, thought to be the only one in which the dictator speaks privately. ``This recording is really unique. It is the only one in existence where Hitler speaks freely,`` Lasse Vihonen, head of the sound archives at Finnish public broadcaster YLE, told AFP. The tape is a treasure trove for actors rendering the intimate side of the Nazi dictator. It was for instance recently used by actor Bruno Ganz, who has won praise for his portrayal of Hitler in the newly released German movie The Downfall. The low pitch of the voice on the recording may sound unfamiliar, but the message leaves no doubt who the speaker is. ``Had I finished off France in `39, then world history would have taken another course. But then I had to wait until 1940,`` Hitler says in German, alternating between rapid and slow speech and pausing frequently. ``Then a two-front war, that was bad luck. After that even we were broken,`` Hitler says, explaining the setbacks of his campaign to conquer the Soviet Union to C.G.E. Mannerheim, commander of the Finnish forces during World War II. The recording was made in secret on the evening of June 4, 1942, when Hitler made a surprise visit to Finland to congratulate the German ally on his 75th birthday. ``That he came to Finland was a political move. He wanted Finland to remain in the war on Germany`s side,`` Ohto Manninen, professor of war history at Finland`s National Defense College, told AFP. In 1941 Finland allied itself with Nazi Germany and attacked the Soviet Union just days after Hitler launched his campaign against Stalin, to regain territories lost to Moscow in the Winter War of 1939-41. In 1942 Germany had 200,000 soldiers based in Finland. Together the two allies grabbed large areas in northwestern Russia and besieged Saint Petersburg, then called Leningrad. With his forces stretched thin all over Europe, it was essential for Hitler to keep Finland in the war, even though Finnish goals had already been met. The tape, mostly a rambling monologue by the Nazi dictator, gives a rare glimpse into Hitler`s personality, since he had forbidden any recordings of his private conversations. Only Hitler`s carefully staged speeches in which he talks in a well- rehearsed, high-pitched and feverish voice were supposed to be saved for posterity. While YLE`s recording remained under lock and key for nearly 15 years after it was made, the tape has since been frequently used by actors, journalists and historians in their work. According to Manninen, Finland`s most respected war historian, the tape however has little value for scholars. ``For a person who would like to know Hitler better, this recording is important, but it doesn`t tell us historians anything new that we do not already know from other sources,`` Manninen told AFP. The tape was made by YLE sound engineer Thor Damen, who was responsible for recording the speeches at Mannerheim`s birthday party. Unbeknownst to both the Finnish marshal and Hitler, Damen continued to tape their private conversation after the official part of the program was over, Vihonen said. ``When the German security officers found out, it really became a scene, with them threatening to kill Damen and ordering him to destroy the tape,`` he said. ``YLE was however allowed to keep the reel after promising to keep it in a sealed container,`` Vihonen added, pointing to a cardboard box with the remains of several red wax seals on it. The recording, which lasts for 18 minutes, ends abruptly in mid- sentence as Hitler explains why it had been difficult to help Finland more in their common war against Stalin. ``We didn`t know ourselves just how monstrous this powerful beast was,`` Hitler says. ``Had I known, I would have been more reluctant, but I had already made the decision then, and there would be no other possibility,`` he added. YLE radio is scheduled to broadcast the tape in its entirety with an accompanying documentary on October 17 at 2000 GMT over its international satellite and short-wave services, Radio Finland. (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Presented, no doubt, in Finnish or Latin, not English (gh, DXLD) HISTORICAL WARTIME SECRET TAPE ON R FINLAND The most famous ever Finnish bootleg recording will be heard next Sunday also on shortwaves: http://www.yleradio1.fi/zgo.php?z=20041008162474130666 The taped conversation between Marshall C. G. E Mannerheim and the German Chancellor (June 4th, 1942 in Finland) is the only recording left and available featuring the private conversation style of Adolf Hitler. The 11-minute tape runs thirty minutes into the broadcast, at 8.30 UT, 2.30 UT and 7.30 UT. You will hear a voice that sounds totally unlike his high-pitched demagogical speeches, a voice that sounds like human. German actor Bruno Ganz used this tape in preparing his role in the recent movie der Untergang. The first international rerun airs at 10 pm CET (Paris), 9 pm BST (London), 2000 UT. Frequencies for Western and Northwestern Europe 11755 khz (25m), 6120 kHz (49m) and 963 kHz (312m). 2. The second international rerun airs on satellites only, at 2 am UT, 3 am London, 10 pm EDT (New York) on Telstar 5 (Intelsat Americas) on WRN2, as well as Hotbird, Intelsat 10-2 and AsiaSat2. (This is the only rerun available in North America.) 3. The third international rerun airs Monday morning European time at 7 am UT, 8 am London, 9 am Paris, on 9560 kHz (31m) beamed towards Western Europe as well as (long route) over South America towards Australia (Victoria, NSW). 73's (Jari Lehtinen, Lahti, Finland, Oct 13, HCDX via Johno Wright, ARDXC via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Old Nazi tape: see DEUTSCHES REICH [non] just above ** FRANCE. Re spelling and pronunciation of Thales: Name of Greek ``engineer``, perhaps a useful name also for a multinational engineering company. See http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Thales.html The French spelling ``Thalès`` indicates that the final syllable has to be stressed (and open) and that both the e and the s are audible. In other words, more or less as if written ``Thales`` in German, Dutch, English etc. ``Thales`` in French, without any written accent, would be pronounced roughly as ``tal`` in Spanish /HK (Henrik Klemetz, Suède, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Which is how I had been pronouncing it. Even the company often leaves off the accent. Thanks! I thought I had heard of that name before somewhere (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. / UK. The reported plan to allocate FM airtime in Thuringia to RFI applied in fact to all stations relaying BBC World Service overnight (see WRTH 2004, page 219). HSF at Ilmenau (that's the station which obtained the original DT64 on-air console) filed a protest, too; they just found no widespread attention like the Erfurt and Weimar stations. Meanwhile the BBC World Service relays on these transmitters consists for two weeks now only of the ``message to all BBC World Service listeners``. Yes, the feed was obtained from Astra and until today nobody bothered to get actual programming on air again. Nobody seems to complain either. Here is a recording of the ``message`` broadcast on Astra 1H and unintentionally also FM in Thuringia: http://www.radioeins.de/_/meta/sendungen/apparat/041009_a6.ram Perhaps my earlier statement about widebeam services of BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4 on Astra 2 is obsolete; I was told that these audio channels were found silent when checking today. Looks like the BBC disposed of these transmissions together with the World Service on Astra 1H (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GRENADA. I have something on 535 kHz at 8:30 pm ET that sounds like rock, or rap. It's weak and fading in/out. My S meter deflects a just a tad. No clue what language (Mike Bugaj, CT, UT Oct 13, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) This may be the first report of it since they were blown off by one of those hurricanes. Definite ID? (gh to Mike, via DXLD) No, too weak. But I did go to DX News and read where Mark Connelly had heard them recently. And there's nobody else on 535 (Mike Bugaj, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GBC, St. Georges, Grenada has been reported on 535 recently by Mark Connelly in Mass. (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Mike, I wonder which issue of DX News and logging of what date you are referring to? I don`t find anything in the Oct 4 or 11 issues, which leads me to believe if it was in a previous issue, that log may have been before the hurricane strike on Grenada when 535 and just about everything else was blown away. Now which one was it? Will have to go back and check. I believe it was Ivan, at the beginning of his career. 73, (Glenn TO Mike via DXLD) Glenn, You've probably found it already, but it's on page 20 of DX News September 20th (Vol 71 #30). It's a Mark Connelly post dated Sept 2nd. (Mike Bugaj, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, so that was long before Ivan hit. Again, you seem to have confirmed that 535 has returned to the air since then. Meanwhile I was searching for other logs and found this passing mention (gh, DXLD) Cubans very strong and weak signal from Grenada-535 (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford [SE corner] PA, 0304 UT Oct 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) And before we make too many assumptions about any unID signal on 535, don`t forget this (gh) 535 ---- Spur. Labor Day, I found that 1440 Bay City MI was putting out a distorted spur around 535 KHz. Spur audio sounded stronger than the fundamental. I had to listen to the spur to get an ID. Later I used the 2 radio method to match modulation. No sign of the 535 spur next 3 days. Hope it is gone for good. 1440 is sister station to 990 Ypsilanti. 6:40-7am [EDT] 9/6 (Larry Russell, MI, MARE via DXLD) [I checked a few times for this, but only got a weak het, which I assumed might be Grenada. Hopefully, it's gone or only sporadic (Harold Frodge, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Awfully close to being 910 kHz from 1440; could it be 2 x IF image? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 3300.13H, Em. Ideal, Planeta Rica, very strong in the absence of Radio Cultural (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, NRD 535D, Icom R75, noise reducing antenna, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3250, HRPC Radio Luz y Vida, Recibida tarjeta QSL por correo aéreo en algo menos de un año. La tarjeta incluye datos completos y viene firmada por el director de la emisora Donald R. Moore. El informe de recepción, con el que se incluía 1 US $ para ayuda del sello de retorno, se envió a la siguiente dirección: Radio Luz y Vida Apartado Postal 303 San Pedro Sula, Honduras Fecha de envío de la carta con el informe de recepción: 28 de noviembre de 2003. Fecha de llegada de la carta con la tarjeta QSL: 14 de octubre de 2004 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HRPC, R. Luz y Vida must be cleaning out the mailbag as today, Oct. 14, I too received their QSL card for an English report and $1 U.S. sent February 20, 2003. 602 days total! (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, ibid.) ** INDIA. Dear Olle Alm, Regarding poor audio of AIR, the matter has been taken up with the concerned officials. Hopefully it will be sorted out soon. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDIA. Re: item in German in DXLD 4-154, Jose Jacob asked for a translation, and Wolfgang Büschel provides it: INDIA. BREITBANDIGER RAUSCHSENDER AUS NORDINDIEN Report of the German Ham Radio Intruder Watch in June and August 2004. see .doc Attachment. "5. BROADBAND WHITE NOISE originating from near Delhi, India. On the 20-m-Band (stretching 13960 - 14200) there was a broadband "White Noise" from August 07-28. The location is north of New Delhi, IND. Maybe it is some sort of Radar." INDIA --- Wide band rush/roar "White Noise" transmission from Northern India. Early in May 2004 appeared a broadband NOISE transmission on the 20 meter amateur radio band. Streching signal on a wide range of 13690 to 14200 kHz. Sounds like "White Noise" signal. Usually starts at 1600 UT and last about two hours. Identical transmission noted in early night hours in range between 10000 and 10400 kHz. Direction finding action of the German [FCC authority monitoring stations] RegTP and friendly coalition monitoring station in Europe narrowed origin location to Northern India area, north of Delhi. Sense [meaning, aim] of the broadcast is UNKNOWN. German FCC (RegTP) central office at Mainz dispatched an INTERNATIONAL COMPLAINT to India already (DARC Bandwacht[German Ham Radio Intruder Watch], June and August 2004 via BC-DX Oct 8 via DXLD) See also http://www.darc.de/referate/hf/bandwacht/ Reports (Berichte 2004) click under http://www.darc.de/referate/hf/bandwacht/berichte/index.html http://www.darc.de/referate/hf/bandwacht/region_1/2004/news0409.pdf and under http://www.iarums.com/ Newsletter 2004 of IARU Monitoring System in Region 1 http://www.darc.de/referate/hf/bandwacht/region_1/2004/index.html (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. ANALYSIS: SEIZURE OF INDYMEDIA WEB SERVERS "AN ACT OF GLOBAL CENSORSHIP" | Text of editorial analysis by Alistair Coleman of BBC Monitoring Media Services on 13 October The seizure of London-based web servers used by the anti-globalization news organisation Indymedia has drawn sharp criticism from media watchdogs and human rights groups. These groups view the use of far- reaching international treaties to close several web sites as a politically-motivated denial of free speech with global implications for the freedom of expression. Servers operated by the US-owned company Rackspace were confiscated by British authorities from their offices in Uxbridge under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). FBI spokesman Joe Parris told the AFP news agency that although the bureau had requested a subpoena against Rackspace, the action was taken on behalf of two third party nations, later identified as Switzerland and Italy. MLATs are powerful bilateral agreements between two countries which allow for far-reaching powers of police and judicial cooperation in the fields of international terrorism, kidnapping and money laundering. Photographs Indymedia themselves were initially at a loss as to why the MLAT court order was directed at them, as the court order prohibits Rackspace from commenting on the matter and divulging to whom the servers were actually given. A Rackspace spokesman said "Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is cooperating with international law enforcement authorities". However, this is not Indymedia's first brush with the FBI, with the Bureau attempting to obtain Indymedia's IP logs in August 2004, while the activities of Indymedia affiliates Radio Free Santa Cruz and Cyprus IMCista also investigated by US authorities. It has since emerged that the order was the result of two separate enquiries into Indymedia by Switzerland and Italy. According to AFP, the federal prosecutor of Bologna, Marina Plazzi, has stated that she is investigating Indymedia because "it may support terrorism"; while the Swiss investigation dates back to the 2003 G8 summit in Evian, where the organisation posted photographs where Swiss intelligence agents could be identified. "Mud and poison" The Milan-based Corriere della Sera suggests that the Italian request comes as a result of the Indymedia Italia site appearing to support insurgents involved in the deaths of Italian carabinieri in Al- Nasiriyah, southern Iraq, leading to National Party demands for the site's closure. Leftist parties in Italy condemned the site's closure, calling it an "act of global censorship". Pietro Folena of the DS Party directly accused the government of a deliberate and "very serious" act of censorship with the Greens denouncing "the authoritarian calling of the Italian right". In response, National Alliance spokesman Mario Landolfi told Corriere della Sera that closing the web site was "a good and proper thing" because "it was spitting out mud and poison, full of obscenities". Forza Italia's Francesco Giro said the closure was inevitable, due to Indymedia's "seriously defamatory tone", accusing the left of "shedding crocodile tears" over the matter. "Abuse of powers" The use of an MLAT order to seize the Rackspace servers has been criticized by press freedom organisations. Peter Bunyan, editor of Statewatch accused British Home Secretary David Blunkett of complicity in a politically-motivated action which would be unjustifiable under the terms of the treaty. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also adopted this theme, writing to Blunkett, condemning his actions and seeking an explanation for the confiscations. "Closure of web sites is a serious step," RSF said in its letter, "the reasons for which should definitely be made public". The International Federation of Journalists was more forthright it its criticisms, accusing the authorities concerned of abusing their powers in an operation that was "more intimidation than crime-busting". "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive international police operation against a network specializing in independent journalism," said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. "The seizing of computers and the high profile nature of this incident suggests that someone wanted to stifle these independent voices in journalism," said White in an IFJ press release, "We need a full investigation into why this action took place, who took part and who authorised it." While most of Indymedia's affected sites are now operating on alternative systems, concerns remain over what appears to be the use of judicial means to silence relatively small dissident voices, fuelling speculation that other sites may be targeted. The internet and technology news site The Register comments: "And even if there were something far more serious involved than just a couple of photos, the procedure ought to send shivers down the spine of every publishing organisation on the Internet." Source: BBC Monitoring research 13 Oct 04 (via DXLD) ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION CHALLENGES WEBSITE CLOSURES The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which describes itself as a nonprofit group of lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries working to protect digital rights, is representing a coalition of independent Internet journalists whose websites were shut down on Thursday, October 7, when their servers were seized by the FBI. The two servers, which were located in the United Kingdom and managed by San Antonio-based Rackspace Managed Hosting, hosted Indymedia's Internet radio station and more than 20 Indymedia websites, as well as several email lists. The seizure was in response to a "Commissioner's Subpoena" issued at the request of a foreign government. Citing a gag order, Rackspace has provided no further details. An FBI spokesperson has confirmed that the subpoena was issued at the request of Italian and Swiss authorities. Earlier this month, the FBI made informal requests to both Rackspace and Indymedia to remove an Indymedia news story that included photos of undercover Swiss investigators posing as anti- globalization activists. At the time, the FBI admitted that the posting did not violate US law. EFF has contacted the FBI to demand Indymedia's illegally seized servers be returned and is preparing for legal action in the event that negotiations with the FBI fail. EFF is also calling on Rackspace to challenge the government's illegal seizure. "If Rackspace stands behind its claim of providing 'Fanatical Support' to its customers, it will go to bat for Indymedia - one of its biggest customers - and demand that the FBI return the seized Internet servers," said Kurt Opsahl, EFF staff attorney. "Rackspace should also fight for its own rights and challenge the gag order preventing it from sharing its side of the story." A federal court in New York City recently found a similar gag order unconstitutional in Doe v. Ashcroft, the ACLU's challenge to a secret PATRIOT Act subpoena served against an Internet service provider. "The FBI can't pull the plug on more than 20 news websites - our modern printing presses - based on a secret proceeding at the request of a foreign government. This is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment," said Kevin Bankston, EFF attorney and Equal Justice Works/Bruce J. Ennis Fellow. "As far as the Constitution is concerned, Indymedia has the same rights as any other news publisher. The government can't shut down the New York Times, and it can't shut down Indymedia." # posted by Andy @ 08:37 UT Oct 13 (Media Network blog via DXLD) UK: INDYMEDIA WEB SERVERS RETURNED | Text of press release by the anti-globablization news organisation Indymedia on 13 October Servers returned: A Rackspace employee stated, "I was just told that the court order is being complied with and your servers in London will be online at 5p.m. GMT. I will pass along anymore information that becomes available and that I am allowed to." It has been verified that the returned hard-drives are the originals, but the circumstances of the seizure still remain unclear: who took them, why were they taken, and under which court order? Indymedia is not aware as to whether Rackspace is still under gag order. The hard-drives will be treated as "hacked" (compromised) and as a result there will be delays in restoring the sites that are still down. [Two London-based web servers owned by Rackspace hosting up to twenty Indymedia web sites were seized by UK authorities on 7 October following a request by the United States on behalf of Swiss and Italian authorities under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.] Source: Indymedia press release, London, in English 13 Oct 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. More CRI via WRN: See CHINA [non] ** ISRAEL. Totally distorted KOL Israel signal in Hebrew noted in 0400-0500 UT range Oct 14. Signal wandered 900 Hertz up and down. 9988.1 0418 UT 9987.7 0430 UT 9988.1 0432 UT 9988.8 0437 UT 9988.2 0440 UT 9987.7 0444 UT KOL's English service on 11590 kHz on even frequency and powerful signal in the clear (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just a minor point, one that would not readily be apparent to those with no knowledge of Hebrew: "Kol" is Hebrew for "Voice (of)", so that the broadcaster is "Kol Yisrael" ("Kol Israel"). So "kol" does not signify call letters (as it would if capitalized "KOL"). Tschuss, (Saul Broudy W3WHK, Philadelphia, PA, dxldyg via DXLD) As I have pointed this out repeatedly over the years. Old habits die hard. 9988 used to be a Cairo frequency at another time; is 9988 on the current IBA schedule, or where are they supposed to be? (gh, DXLD) ** JAMAICA. 550, RJR 0958 11 Oct, om with Christian prayer, "Jamaican Radio, we are with you 24 hours a day, RJR proudly presents 'Good Morning Jamaica'. Welcome to the start of another working week." (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, NRD 535D, Icom R75, noise reducing antenna, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. R. Japan, NHK Warudo with continuous IS and multilingual IDs from 0030 past 0045 UT Oct 13 on 11895; what for? (George Thurman, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) When the IS started its second hour at 0130, I tuned out, but rechecked at 0330, what sounds like a live pop music program in Japanese is in progress; song contest? Still on 11895. Nothing found about it on the current e-guide in English, but why would they think we would want to know about something in Japanese? (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kept on going past 0130, when I tuned out; rechecked after 0330, what sounded like a live pop music performance in Japanese; song contest? At 0400 went into Spanish, which is supposed to be on 9660 only at that hour, also audible weakly. 11895 is normally scheduled via French Guiana earlier and later in the evening (gh) 11895 0500-0530 J NHK Radio Japan S CAm /GUF 11895 2200-2300 J NHK Radio Japan J CAm /GUF (Eibi via DXLD) Next night, UT Oct 14, no signal on 11895 at 0120 (gh) Hello DXers, Here is a log of R. Japan testing on 11895 kHz, via French Guiana. 11895, Radio Japan, via Montsinery - French Guiana Oct. 14, 0530 - 0540, SINPO 22322. Test transmission ID in Japanese, English and French. 73's (Nino Marabello, Treviso, Italy, RX: SONY SW 7600G, Antenna: VHF outdoor at 250 degrees, http://web.tiscali.it/ondecorte DX LISTENING DIGEST) Normally 11895 closes abruptly at 0529 after Spanish (gh, DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. CLANDESTINE - 9515 Hmong Lao Radio, 0058-0159 Oct 8. Assorted talks by M & W, exotic traditional and pop music. Very strong S-9 +40 db signal, still listed as Taiwan, although sounds much closer (like west Denver, maybe). Worth listening to just for the music (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, Cumbre DX, via DXLD) Already established that 9515 is from Rampisham, England, toward NAm. This is UT Wed & Fri only (gh, DXLD) ** LATVIA. Radio Nord in Riga on 945 (2.7 kW) will conduct another test transmission from Friday 15 October 0800 UT to Monday 18 October 2100. Regular transmissions (24h) are due to start in November. Address: c/o KREBS TV, P.O. Box 371, LV-1010 Riga, Latvia. Email: tesug @ parks.lv (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, MWDX yg via DXLD) RELAYS FROM LATVIA 9290 khz THIS WEEKEND 17th of October 2004 STORESENDERS, 1300-1400 UT EUROPEAN MUSIC RADIO, 1600-1717 UT RELAYS FROM LATVIA 945 kHz Radio Nord from Latvia will be testing on 945 M/W from 15th of October until 18th of October; TX Power 2.7 kW. 576 kHz tests with 100 kW will be in November. GOOD LISTENING (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. B04 HFC 13-jul-2004 RTM FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF Z LOC POWR AZI SLW ANT LANG 3385 2200 1500 54 MIR 10 0 0 751 Local 4845 0000 2400 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 Tamil 4895 2200 0100 54NE STA 10 0 0 751 Local 4895 0800 1500 54NE STA 10 0 0 751 Local 4970 2100 1800 54 TUA 10 0 0 751 Local 5005 2200 1500 54 SIB 10 0 0 751 Local 5030 2200 2400 54NE STA 10 0 0 751 Local 5965 0000 2400 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 Malay 5980 2200 1500 54NE TUA 10 0 0 751 Local 6025 0200 1700 54NW KAJ 100 0 0 926 Local 6050 2200 1500 54 SIB 10 0 0 751 Local 6060 0400 1500 54 MIR 10 0 0 751 Local 6100 1300 1530 49 KAJ 100 343 0 805 Thai/Burmese 6175 0300 0830 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 English 6175 1000 1900 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 Indo/Malay 7130 0400 0600 54NE STA 10 0 0 751 Local 7270 0800 1500 54 STA 100 45 0 216 Local 7295 0000 2400 54NW KAJ 100 0 0 926 English 9750 0300 0830 54SE KAJ 100 150 0 145 English 9750 1000 1900 54SE KAJ 100 150 0 145 Indo/Malay 11885 1030 1230 44N,45NW KAJ 100 25 0 218 Chinese 15295 0300 1230 55,58-60 KAJ 250 133 0 218 English 15295 1530 1900 39 KAJ 250 295 0 218 Arabic * All above are daily. (Updated as on 7/13 !!!!, recvd on 9/29) (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As I recall, previous Malaysian registrations have been in part, imaginary, with some frequencies inactive (gh) ** MYANMAR. 5040.36, R. M., 1121-1140 10 Oct., yl talk in language, into music bridge; 1105-1120 12 Oct., indigenous music, excellent signal (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, NRD 535D, Icom R75, noise reducing antenna, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Colorful Radio is relayed by 747 AM Mon-Fri only, as reported 0400-0600 and 1500-1630. This station was once privately owned and earlier this year bought by Nederlandse Programma Stichting in order to run it as a program for ethnic minorities, but the status of Colorful Radio as legitimate part of the public broadcasting system is being challenged. The mediumwave relay is in some way connected to this dispute. Here is a recording of Colorful Radio on 747, closing with abrupt cross-fade into the next programme at 1630 (sorry for the quality, skywave from Flevo is still not in full effect at this time): http://www.radioeins.de/_/meta/sendungen/apparat/041009_a8.ram (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. NEW KJTH-FM TOWER PLACED SOUTH OF LAMONT A new 1000-foot radio broadcasting tower south of Lamont dots the north central Oklahoma landscape thanks to KLVV-88.7 FM, a Christian radio in Ponca City. KLVV employees, supporters and friends hosted a dedication party Tuesday for KJTH, their new station, known as ``The House,`` which began broadcasting at 100,000 watts on 89.7 FM, at 4 pm. ``The House`` broadcast range covers Enid. Its format includes contemporary Christian music, said promotions director Janelle Keith. The station has been installed with high definition antennas and transmitters. It is the first radio station in Oklahoma to broadcast high definition radio. [o yeah? See below] ``The technology makes AM stations sound like FM, and FM stations sound like CD`s. High definition receivers are now available for after-market installation and will be coming out in select 2006 model cars. These receivers pick up ordinary radio signals, but automatically switch to digital when tuned to a high definition radio station,`` Keith wrote in a news release. Money raised for the new KJTH antenna was raised through listeners support and fund raising events that began in 1996, Keith said. [sic] KLVV-88.7 FM began broadcasting in 1992 three miles west of Ponca City. It airs inspirational music and teaching programs. Its translator station in Enid is 98.3 FM (Enid Eagle Oct 13 via DXLD) First thing I heard when I tuned to 89.7 was a commercial, then some gawdawful music. The rest of the story: this full-power station has bumped off a gospel-huxter translator from 89.5, which per 4-154 moves to 100.3, and indeed it has, checked at 1725 UT Oct 14, semi-blocking yet another OKC station in Enid, 100.5 --- and yes, Bruce, both 100.3 and 89.7 are stereo. But I am NOT hearing any IBOC so-called ``HD`` hash around 89.7, yet. Wonder if it will bother KCSC 90.1, which is already squeezed from the other side by another gospel-huxter translator on 90.3. KJTH also means I must say goodbye to WUSF and many other DX stations I used to get on 89.7 (not to mention 89.5 and 89.9 ones). The KLVV format has just changed as a result, as at http://www.klvv.org -- ``Starting Wednesday October 13th at 12:00 pm CST [sic] Inspirational Music, Christian Teaching``. KJTH: http://www.thehousefm.com (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3172.62, R. Municipal, Panao, 1020, Peruvian flutes followed by time check and Radio Municipal ID by om (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, NRD 535D, Icom R75, noise reducing antenna, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Date of the log? ** RUSSIA/USSR. Glenn, Re the recent thread about this: Mayak is still using exactly the same 10-note IS of Moscow Nights/Midnight in Moscow. There's no doubt that it is the original recording (sounding a little bit worn a few minutes ago, I thought). These days they just play the tune once or twice. More than 20 years ago I remember that they would often let it run several times for a full minute at 29 and 59 minutes past the hour. Now they have also incorporated the Moscow Nights theme into a jingle used to introduce the news. I also note that they are still using the same old ID: "V Efire Mayak" (literally: "Mayak is in the ether"). You were quite right to have pointed out that the IS used by Radio Moscow (external service and indeed the domestic service "First Programme") was a different tune altogether (though, by coincidence, also 10 notes). (Chris Greenway, UK, Oct 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. VOR: What's New --- THE LINES OF FORTUNE As of Monday, November 1, the Voice of Russia World Service begins a new series prepared by Vladimir Zhamkin. It's about lives and acts of individuals, historical figures and ordinary people, who at various times affected the fate of their near and dear, and even of whole generations. The Lines of Fortune also looks at the dependence that exists between someone's fate and the wars, natural disasters and unordinary events happening around him or her. We invite you to tune in to The Lines of Fortune on Mondays at 1730 and 1930 UT. The program will be repeated throughout the week. NEWMARKET The next edition of NewMarket, our business program, will have stories on the discovery of oil and gas reserves on Sakhalin made by Russia's oil producer Rosneft which is in partnership with British Petroleum, Venezuela and this country's plans to expand trade and economic – including joint operations in oil and gas prospecting and supplies of Russian helicopters to that South American country. Economist Alexey Moiseev's view of the current capital flight, WalMart's plans to expand its network in Russia, German exhibitor company's President about the 10th anniversary of Modern Bakery, an exhibition he has been organizing together with Russian partners, and more. Please stay tuned. Our program schedule can be found at: http://www.vor.ru/ep.html Copyright © 2003 The Voice of Russia (via Maryanne Kehoe, swprograms via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. v17730.37, General service in Arabic of BSKSA Riyadh is still on odd frequency at 0600-0900 UT, in \\ to 11740.00 even (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN--Coming up on Radio Sweden: Thursday: GreenScan Friday: Our weekly review Saturday: Spectrum Sunday: Sounds Nordic (repeat) Here is the upcoming Radio Sweden English broadcast schedule for the period beginning October 31, 2004 (all times UT unless otherwise indicated): Europe/Africa/Middle East 0730-0800 MW 1179 kHz (Sundays) 1330-1430 7420 (40 ) + 11550 (85 ) 1430-1500 11550 (70 ) 1830-1900 6065 (140 -240 ) + MW 1179 except Sundays 2000-2030 MW 1179 except Sundays 2030-2100 6065 (140 -240 ) + 7240 (70 ) 2230-2300 6065 (140 -240 ) + MW1179 In FM quality on satellite in Europe via Radio Sweden s channel on HOT BIRD 6 (13 E) MPEG-2, 12.597 GHz/V, 27500 VPID 8225, Transponder 94 at 1330, 1730 daily & 1830 except Sundays. Also at 0130 & 2030 on WRN s English channel on the same transponder and on Sky Digital channel 872 on Astra 2 (28 E) In Africa on satellite Via WRN on Intelsat 10-02 (1 W), 3.9115 GHz in MPEG-2, Audio stream WRN English at 14:30 UTC/15:30 CAT and 23:30 UTC/01:30 CAT. The WRN relays can also be heard in South Africa on SAfm 104-107, and on the MultiChoice digital direct-to-home service on PanAmSat 4, 68.5 degrees West, Audio Channel 51, and on AfriStar channel 627. Asia & Pacific 0130-0200 11550 (50 ) 1330-1400 7240 (40 ) + 11550 (85 ) 1430-1500 11550 (70 ) 2030-2100 7240 (70 ) In Asia and the Pacific on satellite Via WRN on AsiaSat-2 on 4.000 GHz, MPEG-2 DVB Audio stream WRN English and via AsiaStar channel 1302 at 14:30 UTC/02:30 AEST and 23:30 UTC/09:30 AEST. North America 0230-0300 6010 (268 ) via Sackville 0330-0400 6010 (277 ) via Sackville 1330-1400 15240 (305 ) 1430-1500 15240 (305 ) via Sackville [this is new; both transmissions used to be direct: oops: if 305 degrees too, this must be a mistake, really from Sweden too --- gh] In North America on satellite Via WRN at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 noon PST and 9:30 PM EST/6:30 PM PST on Intelsat Americas 5 Transponder 27, 12.177 GHz V (SR 23000 FEC 2/3) and on Sirius Satellite Radio on Stream 115. Across Canada on CBC Overnight 2:05 AM local time (weekend times may vary). For more information see: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/ Our transmissions in digital DRM continue: 1330 UT via Radio Netherlands on 7240 kHz 2330 UT via Radio Canada International on 9800 kHz During the coming broadcast period we will be making some major changes in our features line-up. Check out RadioSweden.org on a regular basis for the latest updates (SCDX/MediaScan Oct 13 via WORLD OF RADIO 1249, DXLD) That was all in this issue ** TAIWAN [non]. Esquema de RTI en español para invierno Radio Taiwán Internacional INVIERNO (desde el 31 de octubre de 2004 hasta el 27 de marzo de 2005) 15215 kHz, 0200-0300, Occidente de Sudamérica 11825 kHz, 0200-0300, Occidente de Sudamérica 11740 kHz, 0400-0500, Centroamérica 5950 kHz, 0600-0700, Occidente de Norteamérica 6120 kHz, 2100-2200, Europa 9690 kHz, 2300-2400, Oriente de Sudamérica 11720 kHz, 2300-2400, Oriente de Sudamérica Fuente: http://www.cbs.org.tw/spanish/ Muy atentamente (José Bueno - Córdoba - España, (c) Notici@sDX un servicio de AER y ADXB, via DXLD) ** TANZANIA. 5050, R. Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, 2018-2103*, Oct. 12, Swahili, Two announcers with talk at tune-in, Afropops with talks between selections. Choral-like music with talkover at 2059, solid ID at 2101 followed by NA until sign-off. Weak under static with a few peaks by tune-out. Nice to hear the Africans "appearing" earlier at my location (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1249, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. Stopped on 15450 for a while around 1410 UT Oct 14, a nice variety of music, ranging from Qur`an to ``Can-can``. I could just imagine a line of women in burkas doing high kicks (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. "Crossing Continents" makes its seasonal return to Radio 4. This edition may be interesting for the British perspective on American affairs. Live editions should air on Thursday, 14th October 1000 UT and Monday, 18th October 1930 UT. The program will also be available on-demand. Crossing Continents is a documentary feature much like "Assignment" on the BBC World Service; however, unlike "Assignment", an extensive online archive of programs are available. I find these to be a great fall-back if "there's nothing on that I want to listen to..." (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Show mailing list advised first one would be about Schwarzenegger & Kalifornia (gh) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/default.stm ** U K. IndyMedia webserver seizure story: see INTERNATIONAL INTERNET ** U S A. Per announcement on today's "Talk To America" on VOA, the program will shift to an hour earlier (1600 UT), effective November 1. It was also mentioned that the Nov. 3 will be all calls (i.e. no guest) and dedicated to who will be the next president (Mike Cooper, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e., the day after, when possibly we will know his identity, or do you mean Nov. 2, speculating about that? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. THE ROLE OF RADIO SAWA IN MIDEAST QUESTIONED U.S.-FUNDED STATION LACKS INFLUENCE, REPORT INDICATES By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, October 13, 2004; Page A12 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28031-2004Oct12?language=printer http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28031-2004Oct12.html Radio Sawa, an Arab-language pop music and news station funded by the U.S. government and touted by the Bush administration as a success in reaching out to the Arab world, has failed to meet its mandate of promoting democracy and pro-American attitudes, according to a draft report prepared by the State Department's inspector general. The report credited Radio Sawa with attracting a large audience in key Middle East countries but said the station, which has an annual budget of $22 million, has been so preoccupied with building an audience through its music that it has failed to adequately measure whether it is influencing minds. The report also questioned the validity of some research given to Congress by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Radio Sawa's parent, to demonstrate its success. Two independent panels of Arab-language experts hired by the inspector general's office gave the programming a mixed review, saying it did not match al-Jazeera in terms of quality and that parents would prefer that their teenagers not listen to Radio Sawa because its broadcasts contained such poor Arabic grammar. "Radio Sawa failed to present America to its audience," one panel concluded. The Broadcasting Board of Governors has vehemently protested the report, questioning its methodology and assumptions in a 49-page pre-publication rebuttal. The report, based on extensive interviews in Washington and the Middle East with U.S. officials and public diplomacy experts, was scheduled to be published in August, but publication has been repeatedly delayed. The draft report notes that Broadcasting Board officials often interfered with interviews and may have intimidated some employees and "made them less forthcoming." A copy of the draft report was supplied by a source who said he feared that the inspector general's office was buckling under pressure and would water down the conclusions. Cameron R. Hume, who became acting inspector general after the draft was completed, confirmed the report was being revised. He acknowledged that the Broadcasting Board has complained, but he noted he had his own concerns, saying the report was based on "an erroneous view" of the legislation involving Radio Sawa. He declined to comment further. Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, said there had been a "big dust-up" over the report. He said Radio Sawa is "one of the biggest successes the U.S. has ever had in international broadcasting" but that "critics of Sawa made an inordinate contribution" to what he called a "fatally flawed report." Sawa replaced the Arab-language version of the Voice of America, and Tomlinson said, "VOA unions are obsessed over knocking Sawa." Norman J. Pattiz, a board member regarded as the driving force behind Radio Sawa, said that "there are many inaccuracies, misunderstandings and misinformation in the draft that need to be corrected." He said the report failed to comply with generally accepted government auditing standards, misrepresents Sawa's mission and performance, and misinterprets federal and congressional requirements. The draft report said news and information programs represent only 25 percent of Radio Sawa's broadcast, and there appears to be a reluctance among officials to use it as a tool for public diplomacy. The report said Radio Sawa has not fully met the requirements of the VOA charter to present the policies of the United States "clearly and effectively" and to present "responsible discussions and opinion on these policies." In a statement, the Broadcasting Board said that Radio Sawa is not preoccupied with music, as the report charges, but offers more than 300 newscasts per week, and that more than 90 percent of the staff is devoted to current affairs and informational programming. "The reason Radio Sawa plays music is because research indicated a combination of music and news is the best way to reach its target audience," the statement said. The draft report said that while Radio Sawa has been promoted as a "heavily researched broadcasting network," the research concentrated primarily on gaining audience share, not on measuring whether Radio Sawa was influencing its audience. Despite the larger audiences, "it is difficult to ascertain Radio Sawa's impact in countering anti- American views and the biased state-run media of the Arab world," the draft report said. It said Radio Sawa has been reluctant to conduct post-broadcast analyses to determine whether U.S. interests were advanced in its programming. Moreover, it found there was a lack of uniform quality control at Radio Sawa. Some current and former staffers complained that correspondents' reports were uneven, with some reporters quoting "word for word" biased articles that appeared in local newspapers and Middle East news services (via Tom McNiff, Mike Cooper, DXLD; Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1249, DXLD) Typical with the current US administration. Don't like the report? Threaten, intimidate and threaten some more until you get the report you want. If that doesn't work, deny reality. Like I said. Typical. Radio Sawa dollar for dollar is the worst waste of resources ever in the history of US international public broadcasting. That's the truth. Radio Martí is a close second (John Figliozzi, Clifton Park, NY, dxldyg via DXLD) I`d say TV Martí is first by far (gh, DXLD) Hello DXers, Well I'm an Arab/Muslim DXer who's located in Cairo, Egypt. Been a DXer since 1985. I was interviewed once by Dr. Kim A. Elliott, and he asked me do you tune in to R. Sawa? I said, sorry but if I wanted to tune in to music, there are a dozen radio stations playing better music, and if I wanted to tune in to the news --- I'd rather tune in to BBC ;) Well, you guys may not know that, but I was checking the impact of R. Sawa with some of my friends, and guess what they thought!? They thought it's an Israeli station :S Yes, coz simply it is a station with no ID and what I mean by ID is a style. I wonder what was the AIM of having such station?? Letting the new generation of the Arab world know more about the music?? or --- improving the image of the US here in the Middle East ??? I remember those days when there was an Arabic section of VOA. I used to pay attention to that segment about the point of view of the U S Gov. I may agree/disagree with it, but at least that'd make me think. They used to have a call in show where you can spit it out and say your point of view --- but now that's history! So I agree with Mr. John Figliozzi, but I'd add Radio Farda to that list. And the funny thing is the Iranians started jamming R. Farda, but on second thought they said, what the heck, why would we jam a musical station with like 5 minutes news every 30 min!? Do we have to talk about AlHurra TV station? Naa, let's drop that cos it's a dead end ;) My sympathy goes to that poor guy who wrote the report coz he said the truth --- the whole truth and nothing but the truth --- which is sometimes very clear, but we look away trying to avoid it, or we'd rather blind our own eyes, and try to do the same to everyone as well. All the best guys...greetings from Egypt. 73's de (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. As of Oct 13, WYFR is back up to full strength (George Thurman, TX, Oct 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. all 14 transmitters ** U S A. Noticed around 1530 UT Oct 13 that nothing was on 15590, nor KTBN`s nighttime frequency 7505. Could be a temporary outage, but I suspect TBN has closed down their SW station as they have been threatening to do for months. I seldom check http://www.tbn.org but today I could find nothing about KTBN, nor anything when searching the site for KTBN or Shortwave. It`s as if it never existed. May we dream that this `superpower` (but also superbuzzy) 100 kW transmitter will be eventually be put to some useful purpose for a change? (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15590 cut on and off at 1649 with TBN audio, but very weak and fadey here instead of usual solid super-signal. Perhaps on low power or skip distance is not favorable at the moment. Shucks (Glenn, Enid, ibid.) 7505 just fine right now at 0125 UT. 15590 was booming in last night (12 Oct UTC) at about 2300 or so. Shucks (Liz Cameron, Michigan, ibid.) We can dream..... (John Figliozzi, ibid.) Altho I could not find anything about KTBN from the TBN website itself, when I did a Google search I found this just-the-facts page: http://www.tbn.org/index.php/2/21.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWRB update [Puff alert! Puff alert!] Greetings!! Last night was our first night on 3.185 MHz. Last night and all day long, we have been receiving reports from existing and NEW!!! Listeners advising WWRB provided a very good and substantial signal. We gained many NEW listeners that 'bumped' into WWRB when we made the change from 6.890 to 3.185 at 8:00 pm Easterntime. Just like we figured; when listeners were tuning their analog tube / transistor/ Grundig / Baygen, whatever, shortwave radios for the top of the hour frequency changes they found WWRB!!! The calls we received advised the staff of WWRB they LOVE our programming line up. They ALL noted with absolute delight that WWRB is devoid of incessant 'trying to sell you something' 'Programs' Commercials, and Peddlers. They noted our broadcasters have the FULL HOUR with no interruptions to broadcast their message. We advised our newly found friends of our other transmitter frequencies (Seven of them) last night, we helped them tune in: 5.050, 5.085, 5.745 MHz. Today we helped them tune in 12.172, 9.320 and 6.890 so they would know on their radio dials our 'dial' location and here our boooming Commercial free signals. We invited them to visit our web site learn more about WWRB and listen to our Commercial free family of 'Regular Folks' programmers. A few of them are very interested in hosting their own radio programs as WWRB makes broadcasting on world class transmission facilities so affordable that almost anyone with a job or on a modest fixed income can afford to have a radio program (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Oct 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [/puff alert /puff alert] ** U S A. WNRP, 1620, NEW FLORIDA X-BANDER --- As of 1815 EDT, noted WNRP Gulf Breeze FL testing on 1620. Oldies and a brief ID/test announcement. [Later:] WNRP has dropped the test announcements, and as of about 1930 EDT is //WYCT 98.7 "Cat Country." (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, Oct 14, NRC-AM via DXLD) Thanks to Gerry Bishop for the phone alert, this one heard testing tonight (2229-2305 14 October GMT) on 1619.96 kHz with oldie C&W/MOR/Lounge Lizard vocal tracks, each one followed by male canned "WNRP Gulf Breeze, testing." Good signal until 2300+ when WDHP, Virgin Islands and to a lesser degree, the Texan, began mixing. Wonder if they are running the full 10 kW on the test (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So much for WDHP, VIUS, Martí ** U S A. I have been asked to announce this upcoming DX test... Saturday, October 22, 2004 - WRCG-1420, Columbus, GA will conduct a DX test from 12:00 am to 1:00 am EDT. The test will include Morse code IDs. The station normally runs a news/talk format. A loop of the code and the voice version of the code will be played, with the two alternating code/vocal/code/etc. The station regularly runs at 5 kW ND. Reception reports (with return postage) may be sent to: WRCG ANNIVERSARY TEST 1353 13th Ave. Columbus, GA 31901 OR E-mail: BGRAY@ARCHWAYBROADCASTING.COM PLEASE send reception reports - a special QSL card for this 75-year- old station will be sent in return (with return postage and address, of course). The station is relocating in the near future, and the CE is hoping to test again at the new site once that is in operation. (Due to some personal issues, I am unable to do CPC for IRCA this season; I will, however, do my best to respond to DX test announcements sent to me directly at the ircaonline.org address. If you are interested in volunteering to arrange DX tests, please contact me at the ircaonline.org address (i.e. thru the IRCA website) and I will direct your message to the IRCA president, Nick Hall-Patch. Thanks!! -Lynn Hollerman, ircamember@ircaonline.org Visit the IRCA Web site at http://www.ircaonline.org (via WTFDA-AM via DXLD) The WTFDA AM Radio DX List with 65 Subscribers ** U S A. Goodbye classical AM --- SALEM buys into MIAMI with the purchase of Classical WKAT-A from CLASSICAL 1360, LLC for $10 million. The station has recently been adding brokered programming into its weekday schedule with the flip of crosstown brokered WAXY-A to Sports (allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, DXLD) CLASSICAL 1360 SOLD TO RELIGIOUS BROADCASTER --- BY CHRISTINA HOAG http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/9917672.htm A California religious broadcaster has bought Miami classical radio station WKAT-AM 1360 for $10 million. Salem Communications, based in Camarillo, purchased the station from Classical 1360. ''We felt it would best serve the long-term interests of our community if we were to place the station in the hands of one of America's most professional, strongest radio broadcasters,'' said Classical 1360 Managing Director Christopher Korge. The acquisition gives Salem stations in the country's top 20 markets. The company owns 101 radio stations that air mainly Christian talk and teaching, news/talk and contemporary Christian music formats. No plans were immediately announced about WKAT's format. The company also publishes Christian magazines and websites and syndicates radio programming (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Camarillo-based Salem Communications Corp. is buying WKAT-AM (1360 AM) in Miami from Classical 1360 LLC for $10 million. . . http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2004/10/11/daily37.html?jst=b_ln_hl (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Indeed, we can never have too much gospel huxtering nor too little classical music, in this wonderful world of ours (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FORMAT CHANGE ARCHIVE RETURNS Posted by lance on Thursday, September 30th, 2004 at 10:30 pm --- Earlier this year we quietly removed The Format Change Archive from the site in order to rebuild it from the ground up. The fruits of that labor are now complete and you can see the finished product at its new home by visiting http://www.formatchange.com Stay tuned for more big things from us here at Radio-Info.com (Radio-info.com via DXLD) ** U S A. PETITION DELAYS SALE OF WCAL-FM http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5029635.html October 13, 2004 WCALSALE1013 The sale of St. Olaf College's WCAL (89.3 FM) to Minnesota Public Radio will be delayed at least until November because of a petition filed by a group opposing the transaction. SaveWCAL wants the Federal Communications Commission to prohibit the transfer of St. Olaf's broadcast license to MPR because it would deprive listeners of unique classical music programming. MPR, which plans to change WCAL's classical music format if the $10.5 million sale goes through, has until Oct. 19 to file a response to the petition. Then SaveWCAL will have another 10 days to respond. In the meantime, MPR is going ahead with its promise to hire some WCAL staffers as part of its deal. Popular WCAL radio host Melissa Ousley has been named assistant music director/classical music producer for MPR's regional music service and for Classical 24, the live music service distributed by MPR's national production and distribution arm, American Public Media. Deborah Caulfield Rybak (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. WKOX CANS LONGTIME PROGRAM By Laura Crimaldi / News Staff Writer Thursday, October 14, 2004 FRAMINGHAM [Boston MA area] -- After 54 years on WKOX-AM (1200), the "Guido Oliva Italian Program" wishes bon giorno, signori e signore Sunday morning on the Ashland-based WSRO-AM (650). "What I regret is that I didn't get a chance to bid farewell to the faithful," said Pearl Oliva of Framingham, who has hosted the program since her father died in 1972. "There's nothing local about WKOX now." Framingham-based WKOX ended its relationship with its longest-running feature two weeks ago when Oliva hosted the one-hour program for the last time. The following day, Oct. 4, WKOX and Medford's WXKS-AM (1430) began carrying Air America, the liberal radio network featuring Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, and syndicated hosts from Jones Broadcasting. Clear Channel Communications, which owns both stations, did not tell Oliva her program was being cut before she went on the air for the last time, she said. . . http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=80428 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) EDITORIAL: AIR AMERICA'S JUST A JUMP TO THE LEFT Thursday, October 14, 2004 http://www2.townonline.com/roslindale/opinion/view.bg?articleid=104603 Liberal talk radio has come to eastern Massachusetts, just in time to add its volume to what is shaping up as the loudest presidential campaign in history. Air America, the network that debuted in March calling itself the progressive alternative to a medium long dominated by conservatives, was slow to find an outlet here in what should be fertile ground for its liberal message. It has now found its voice on AM 1200, Framingham's WKOX, and AM 1430, WXKS in Medford. It hasn't been smooth sailing for Air America. Its finances have been shaky and it left the air in a few cities shortly after its debut. Just last week, a decision by a station in Portland, Maine, to switch from Air America to a sports talk format was reversed only after hundreds of liberal talk fans showed up to protest. Conservative talk hosts and their fans have scoffed at Air America from the beginning, an unsurprising reaction to the prospect of ideological as well as commercial competition. Liberals are too humorless and wimpy for the rough-and-tumble entertainment of political talk, they said. We'll see. It should be interesting to watch, especially for those of us who remember WKOX's decades of service as Framingham's local radio station, which switched to mostly Spanish programming several years ago. At this point none of the new programming will be locally produced, but at least it will be in English. Politics is infecting all media in this most political year. Campaign talk dominates cable TV and political documentaries have now invaded the local cineplex. Rock stars are turning concert tours into campaign rallies. The Internet is awash with political news, views and rumors. At a political moment, in a market as politically savvy as greater Boston, there should be enough ears for several distinct political radio voices. Radio has been a niche medium for years, and we see no reason why the flavors of political talk shouldn't multiply just as popular music has fragmented into dozens of formats. As long as there are buttons on the dial to hit when the host says something truly obnoxious, all voices are welcome (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) PROGRESSIVE TALK PROGRESSES: More affiliate-signups for Air America, since our last chat --- most notably, the new AA simulcast of WXKS/1430 and WKOX/1200 in Boston, and the "defection" of former Right Wing talker KXEG in Phoenix to KXXT/1010, and a fully Liberal lineup. (KXXT's owner gave credit to a simple business decision: as he observed, if there were five Country Music stations in town, should he continue to play Country Music?) Phoenix is awash in Conservative Talk, of course, as are most other major US markets. From the Upper Midwest, King Daevid Mackenzie checks in with a relevant AA question: "with all the Clear Channel stations flipping to Air America, why is it that only Miami is carrying Mike Malloy? No San Diego, no Albuquerque. Even Madison, which had a strong Malloy audience when he was on WLS, is getting Phil Hendrie in that timeslot." The same query holds for WWAA/1690 Atlanta, where Mike held well-attended court for several years on the giant WSB/750. In the SF Bay Area, heritage call letters KABL have vacated the 960-AM spot, as that one becomes "The Quake": KQKE, the SF area home for Air America. Clear Channel has moved the KABL calls and Adult Standards format to their 92.1-FM outlet in Walnut Creek; they also are simulcasting the music over KION/1460 in Salinas, thus wiping out the News-Talk format heard there, and several jobs along with it. (Former KABL aficionados in San José legitimately gripe to the Update that the format can no longer be heard in their Valley; the same would hold true for all of San Mateo County, southern Alameda and most of Marín County.) CC is now mounting a two-sided challenge to longtime Bay Area ratings dominator KGO/810, with "The Quake", and the relatively new Talk offerings heard on KNEW/910. (Point Of Irony: promos airing on 960 predicted a "Major Quake" in the Bay Area on Tuesday 9/28, debut- day for the new Air America outlet. At around 10:15 AM PDT that morning, areas from Sacramento south to Los Ángeles felt the 6.0 temblor centered in Parkfield, California, along the famed San Andreas Fault. How's THAT for a Promotion??) (Greg Hardison, CA, Oct 14, Broadcast Band Update via DXLD) Full UD will be in dxldyg (gh) ** VATICAN. Radio Vaticana, the Voice of the Vatican State, has decided to upgrade its 600 kW mediumwave tube transmitter to DRM. Delivered by Thales in 1988, this transmitter is still on air daily and in perfect operating condition (Bob Padula via Mike Terry, MWDX yg via DXLD) see also DRM section below, and More [in Italian] about Vatican Radio DRM including photos: http://www.mediasuk.org/archive/vaticana.html 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, MWDX yg via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Estaba sintonizando los 4830 kHz de Radio Táchira y estaban transmitiendo el encuentro de fútbol entre Venezuela y Ecuador. La señal de la radio estaba llegando con dificultad pero podía entender la narración, todo iba muy bien, pero de repente se presentó un fuerte ruido en la frecuencia y la señal la radio se perdió (José Elías, Venezuela, 2343 UT Oct 14, Noticias DX via DXLD) Quito 14/10 2004 *** Thursday Edition: *** Recording of reactivated Radio Táchira 4829.98 kHz --- Radio Táchira was reactivated this Thursday evening, probably because of soccer game Venezuela-Ecuador. I think they were playing in San Cristóbal. You can hear a mix of Radio Táchira and Radio Quito (Ecuador) when Venezuela take the lead with 1 - 0. Comments and Recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. INMINENTE APROBACIÓN DE LA LEY MORDAZA EN EL CONGRESO DE VENEZUELA Cierra el círculo la dictadura chavista con la Ley de Contenidos, llamada también la Ley Mordaza en Venezuela. Dice conocido presentador de televisión Venezolano: Napoleón Bravo: el futuro de la televisión venezolana lo veo totalmente oficializado. Por más de cuatro horas declaró en la Fiscalía General de la República, el periodista Napoleón Bravo, quien fue citado por el caso de Linda Loaiza López. La fiscal Luisa Ortega solicitó su comparecencia a fin de aclarar un programa producido por el periodista sobre este caso. "Están investigando lo que se dijo en ese programa". Afirmó desconocer si su programa volverá al aire, en Venevisión porque para hacerlo "tendría que ser en las mismas condiciones que estaba antes, sino yo no hago el programa". Con relación al futuro de la televisión venezolana, el periodista puntualizó: "lo veo totalmente oficializado". Globovisión/MMS 13/10/04 (via Jorge García Rangel, Venezuela, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. The following post appeared on the radio-info DX board: LaVellie was talking about it for the first time on the morning of Oct. 11. Listeners to Power station WBZ [1030] Boston, are reporting a sound on the same frequency, in the overnight, which is like a quick run over the keys of a xylophone, or a harp. There doesn't seem to be a set time pattern, like on the half or quarter hour. It seems to come at any time. Late night talker Steve LaVellie has said the station is not the cause of the effect. Some have suggested that Cuba may be the source. There is no verbal interference. WBZ is a clear-channel 50k station. Edited by Almo (via Mark James, DXLD) Maybe Cuba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ARRL ASKS FCC CHAIRMAN TO RECUSE HIMSELF FROM BPL VOTE From - http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/10/13/1/?nc=1 NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 13, 2004 -- The ARRL has asked FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell to recuse himself from participating October 14 when the full Commission considers a broadband over power line (BPL) Report and Order in the proceeding, ET Docket 04-37. The League alleges Powell broke the Commission's own ex parte rules by appearing at a broadband over power line (BPL) demonstration in Manassas, Virginia, just two days before the FCC meeting. In general, Sunshine Agenda rules prohibit any such contacts between the FCC and stakeholders once a proceeding has formally been placed on the FCC agenda. "It's a glaring, glaring violation of the ex parte rules," ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, asserted today. Because of the short fuse involved, Imlay filed the Motion for Recusal of Chairman Michael K. Powell October 12 via e-mail on an "emergency basis." The petition asks that Powell recuse himself from participating in the BPL proceeding, "both generally and specifically," at the October 14 meeting. Powell, an open proponent of BPL, played host to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Pat Wood III as they toured various sites in Manassas, the site of a BPL field trial, and explained why BPL may be another broadband option. The ARRL's motion asserts that Powell "either knew or should have known that his participation in that presentation is in clear violation of Section 1.1203 of the Commission's Rules." As a result, the League said, the FCC's consideration of a Report and Order in the proceeding "is irrevocably tainted." The FCC released its October 14 meeting agenda on Thursday, October 7. The ARRL learned the following day that Powell and Wood were planning to attend the BPL demonstration. The City of Manassas is running a BPL field trial on its municipal power system. The ARRL immediately protested via e-mail "in the strongest possible terms," but did not receive any response until October 12, since Monday, October 11, was a federal holiday for Columbus Day. Imlay said he finally heard back from two staffers in the FCC Office of General Counsel who said that the attendance by Powell and Powell's legal aide was legal under an exception to the ex parte rules spelled out in Section 1.1204, Subsection 10, of the FCC's rules. For more information on BPL, visit the "Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) and Amateur Radio" page on the ARRL Web site. (via Kenneth A. Kopp, L.G., Amateur Radio - KKØHF http://www.qsl.net/kk0hf/ dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1249, DXLD) Well, did he? (gh, DXLD) FCC ISSUES BPL RULES --- BAD NEWS The FCC issued its long-awaited BPL rules today. There is no specific protection for shortwave broadcasting or amateur radio. All the commissioners paid lip service to protecting licensed services but none of their personal statements even mentioned the potential interference to shortwave broadcasting. All expressed worry about protecting amateur radio but trusted the FCC would act to mitigate interference cases when the need arises. Geographic zones around coast guard and radio astronomy facilities were defined to prohibit BPL on certain frequencies within the zones. So far the report by the FCC engineering folks has not appeared on the FCC web site. I will post a link to the report when I find it. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, Oct 14, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Probably took a bribe somewhere (Larry Fields, Philippines, ibid.) Great, online "radio" is the wave of the future it seems. Joe, do you have any update on the Fios system being tested in Keller Texas/ (For those unaware of what Fios is, its an extremely FAST fiber optic system VERIZION is working on, which from what I understand will make BPL look like its as slow as dialup). 73s (Bill Bergadano, KA2EMZ, ibid.) Yes, Fios is a Verizon service mark for "fiber to the premises". Read more: VERIZON DETAILS FTTP OFFERING, GEEKS REJOICE 7/19/2004 4:30:58 PM, by Eric Bangeman For many consumers in the US, getting a phat broadband pipe is still, well, a pipe dream. Many areas with broadband only have a single vendor to choose from, and others with more than one option are still hampered by infrastructure problems. One technology, Fiber To The Premises (FTTP), has been touted as the Next Big Thing for broadband in the US, and a couple of the Baby Bells have announced plans for rolling out the service. Most aggressive has been Verizon, which today announced more details about their FTTP services. Verizon customers in Keller, Texas, soon will be the first to receive groundbreaking high-speed Internet services over Verizon's fiber-to- the-premises (FTTP) network. The company is raising the bar on consumer broadband today by introducing data speeds of up to 30 megabits-per-second (Mbps) in Keller later this summer and in other markets later this year. Prices start at $34.95 per month. Verizon will also be offering the service, called "Fios," in the Huntington Beach, California and Tampa areas, hoping to make it available to 1 million residences by year end. Plans for other areas are unknown at this time. The base US$34.95 package is for Verizon local and long-distance customers, offering speeds of 5Mbps down and 2Mbps up. An additional ten bucks will get you 15Mbps/2Mbps, and a 30Mbps/5Mbps package will also be offered, with pricing undetermined as of yet. Other phone companies have also announced plans for FTTP networks, although they are not as aggressive with deployment plans as Verizon. While it is expensive to replace current copper infrastructure with fiber, recent technological advances have made it a more economically- viable option. Beyond broadband, fiber networks would also allow the Baby Bells to get into the cable television business, allowing them to offer packages consisting of cable programming, broadband, and phone service. In addition, the FCC rules that require the Baby Bells to share copper wire infrastructure with third parties do not apply to new fiber networks, which is a further incentive to build out FTTP. Consumer broadband adoption has been steadily on the rise in the US, with more consumers choosing cable than DSL. Recent price cuts have given DSL adoption a boost, as have plans by Qwest and Covad to offer naked DSL. Fast DSL packages like Fios will give DSL a further boost, especially as it makes other much-hyped broadband offerings such as movies on demand and "video blogs" realistic possibilities. If Verizon's current price points for FTTP service stick around as fast DSL and FTTP are rolled out across the country, it won't just be bandwidth-starved geeks who will be signing up. Copyright © 1998-2004 Ars Technica, LLC (via Joe Buch, swprograms via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ MARCONI UK HAVE STOPPED MAKING SW TRANSMITTERS AND ANTENNAS See http://www.sundayherald.com/16755 (Mike Terry, UK, BDXC-UK via DXLD) DRM +++ Existing station on DRM mode increased their output for B04 season. Like DTK Wertachtal carrying DW programs, changed from 150 to 200 kW. Sines and Trincomalee from 80 to 90 kW. Maybe this power is in use already. Thales magazine Autumn 2004 mentions under DRM Upgrades Thales has been recently contracted to upgrade various existing stations for DRM. Radio Vaticana, the Voice of the Vatican State, has decided to upgrade its 600 kW mediumwave tube transmitter [1530] to DRM. Delivered by Thales in 1988, this transmitter is still on air daily and in perfect operating condition. Earlier this year, RV contracted Thales to upgrade its 50 kW solid state mediumwave transmitter to fully automatic DRM operation. [1611 kHz tx?, wb.] Another leading DRM pioneer broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, has recently contracted Thales to upgrade yet another two of its transmitters to DRM. The scope of delivery includes: - an upgrade of the 2nd 250 kW SW tx at the DW relay station Sines in Portugal (Thales TSW 2300), - an upgrade of the first 400 kW mediumwave tx of the Sri Lanka station at Trincomalee (Thales S7HP), - 2 Cirrus encoders/multiplexers, - 2 Stratus modulators/RF exiters, - 2 Zephyr baseband analyzers, and integration to the existing Station Master System for automatic DRM operation (Wolfgang Büschel, Oct 12, MWDXyg via DXLD) ###