DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-165, October 30, 2004 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2004 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 51: refer to new schedule below WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO Extra 51 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx51h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx51h.rm [WOR Extra 51 is the same as Continent of Media 04-06] WORLD OF RADIO Extra 51 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0406.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0406.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0406.html WORLD OF RADIO Extra 51 mp3 in the true SW sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_10-27-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_10-27-04.mp3 CONTINENT OF MEDIA 04-08 (from DXing.com): (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0408.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0408.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0408.html WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 31, 2004 Note: RFPI scheduling is erratic and not included here until, we hope, it becomes more reliable. For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WORLD OF RADIO BY TELEPHONE: usually available from Sunday mornings via Laser Box, 1-206-333-5096. Toll charges apply outside Seattle. Thank you, Joybubbles. MP3 files of WOR and some other programs recorded off SW (WBCQ or WWCR in our case): Alex`s Radio DX Programs Page http://www.piratearchive.com/dxprograms.htm Days and times here are strictly UT. This schedule shows times as shifted for ST in Europe and North America. Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Thu 0000 WOR WBCQ 17495-CUSB Thu 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Thu 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Thu 2130 WOR WWCR 15825 [9985 Dec-Feb] Thu 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 0400 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 0600 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 0800 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Fri 1200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1400 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1600 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Fri 1800 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 2000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 2200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 2215 MR WWCR 9985 [or 2230 by mistake] Sat 0000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Sat 0900 WOR WRN1 to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar, Telstar 12 SAm Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Sat 1130 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 1700 COM WBCQ after hours Sat 1928 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 Sat 2030 WOR R. Lavalamp Sat 2130 WOR WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0430 WOR WRMI 6870 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0930 WOR WRN1 to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0930 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1030 WOR WRMI 9955 Sun 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Sun 1100 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1500 COM KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 [monthly] Sun 1500 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1700 COM WBCQ after hours Sun 2000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sun 2030 WOR WWCR 12160 Sun 2100 WOR RNI Mon 0330 WOR WRMI 6870 Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [week delay] Mon 0530 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Mon 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Tue 1000 WOR WRMI 9955 Tue 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Tue 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Tue 2230 MR WWCR 9985 Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Wed 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 2200 MR WWCR 9985 Wed 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB [sometimes first airing] Note: until 0700 UT Oct 31, all the UT Sat and Sun entries except R. Lavalamp air one UT hour earlier. Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html Internet on demand: see Our Current Audio page for availability: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html Webcasts at times shown are available from all stations except WWCR, WNQM, Studio X, WBCQ-9330, 17495, KRFP. WRN times also relayed by cable systems, FM and satellite stations. Visible audio links: WBCQ: http://www.scottbecker.net/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=visit&lid=1 RNI: http://www.11L-rni.com RFPI: http://www.rfpi.org/rfpi.m3u or http://www.rfpi.org/rfpi.ram ACB Radio: http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.html SIUE Web Radio: http://webradio.siue.edu/ [suspended] WPKN: http://www.wpkn.org/live.ram R. Lavalamp: http://www.radiolavalamp.org WRN: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/popup_player_live.php?stationID=50 KSFC: http://www.kpbx.org/audio/listenonline/ksfc.m3u WDWN: http://www.cayuga-cc.edu/telcom/wdwn.ram KTRU: http://www.ktru.org/realaudio.html WSUI: http://128.255.60.46:8080/ramgen/encoder/wsuilive.rm Station Locations: KRFP ----- Moscow, Idaho, USA KSFC ----- Spokane WA KTRU ----- Houston TX Lavalamp - Osaka, Japan RFPI ----- San Jose, Costa Rica, Radio for Peace International RN ------- Hilversum, Holland, Radio Nederland RNI ------ Radio Newyork International SIUE ----- Edwardsville, Illinois, USA, WebRadio Studio X - Momigno, Italy WBCQ ----- Monticello, Maine, USA WDWN ----- Auburn NY WNQM ----- Nashville, Tennessee, USA WPKN ----- Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA WRMI ----- Miami, FL, USA WRN1 ----- London, UK WSUI ----- Iowa City, Iowa, USA WWCR ----- Nashville, Tennessee, USA YVQO ----- Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela NOTE: WOR is weekly; COM and MR approximately monthly but aired weekly. Continent of Media is also available on demand from DXing.com: http://www.DXing.com Segments of Mundo Radial appear first almost weekly as part of Radio Enlace on Radio Nederland, Fridays and Sundays, on shortwave, internet and satellites PanAmSat 3, Telstar 12, Astra 1G. Scripts and audio links for latest and previous editions: http://www.rnw.nl/sp/toolbar/radioenlace.html Audio links to RN Spanish programs including Radio Enlace: http://www.rnw.nl/distrib/realaudio/html/espa_ol_.html Mundo Radial or Radio Enlace reports also appear at times on YVQO, 640, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, during 2-hour program Sintonía DX from Unión Radio Porteñas, UT Sun 0000 Also try webcast via: http://intranet.unionradio.com.ve/intranet/audio/audio_principal_select.asp WORLD OF RADIO ON RNI: Here`s a nice visual image for WOR (which is not my doing): http://www.11l-rni.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=8 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ABKHAZIA, GEORGIA. R. Rep. Abkhazia? 9494.76, 0245-0315+ 10/22. Tentative, with talk in possible Russian. 0300 time pips, some lite instrumental music, but mostly talk; weak. Abkhazia? Not much else on this particular frequency (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Georgia: Abkhaz radio, TV off air following equipment theft | Text of report by Apsnypress news agency Sukhumi, 29 October: The Abkhaz state television and radio company [ASTRC] is unable to broadcast anywhere in Abkhazia. Apsnypress has been told at the ASTRC that unidentified individuals stole radio relay equipment from the TV tower today, 29 October, at about 0730 [local time]. The ASTRC building is being guarded. Company employees deny Russian media reports that the ASTRC had been seized by supporters of [opposition presidential candidate] Sergey Bagapsh. Source: Apsnypress news agency, Sukhumi, in Russian 1025 gmt 29 Oct 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) Including 9494.76? ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Peace, 11810, *0200-0230+ Oct 24, tentative. Sign-on with Mid-east music, brief announcements in unID language. Poor, weak with some splatter (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 17720, UNITED KINGDOM?, R. Solh, 1359-1424, Oct. 25, "Persian"?, brief talk over music at tune-in, Vocal music at 1400, OM at 1403 with mention "polica" and what sounded like a (most wanted?) list of names, More music then talk at 1410 mentioning "Al- Qaeda"; "Taliban" and "Afghanistan". Different OM at 1412 with mentions of "malumat" and (4x) mentions of "Radio Solh". Strong signal (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, 200 ft. NW beverage, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana Updated sched 31 Oct 2004 to 26 March 2005 Albanian 0000-0130 daily NAM 6115 0730-1000 daily EU 1458 7110 0901-1000 daily EU 1395 7105 1500-1630 daily EU 1458 2130-2300 daily EU 6205 English 0245-0300 tu-su NAM 6115 7160 0330-0400 tu-su NAM 6115 7160 1945-2000 mo-sa EU 6115 7210 2230-2300 mo-sa EU 7120 French 2000-2030 mo-sa EU 6115 German 1901-1930 mo-sa EU 1458 6130 Greek 1645-1700 mo-sa EU 1458 Italian 1530-0600 mo-sa EU 5995 Serbian 2115-2130 mo-sa EU 1458 2215-2230 mo-sa EU 5995 Turkish 1630-1645 mo-sa EU 1458 (Drita Cico, Albania, via Wolfgang Bueschel 25 Oct updated by Alokesh Gupta 28 Oct in dxldyg and hcdx lists via Alan Roe, WDXC via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. The combination of the approaching winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the further weakening of an already waning solar cycle appear to have made reception of RA during local evenings and nights in eastern North America on shortwave nearly impossible. Despite adequate reported MUFs (maximum useable frequencies), signals simply are not propagating from the South Pacific. Fortunately, morning reception remains robust from as early as an hour or more before local sunrise and usually has remained so into the late morning hours in eastern North America. [yet the following continued to be appended to John`s RA program previews, and may be outdated now:] How to Listen to Radio Australia ---- Via shortwave: Best as noted in eastern North America - 2100 - 2200 UTC: 15515 (usually reliable) 2200 - 0000 UTC: 21740 (usually reliable) 0000 - 0200 UTC: 17715 (usually reliable) 0200 - 0700 UTC: 15515 (usually reliable) [15240 also noted at times] 0700 - 0800 UTC: 13630 (usually reliable) [15240 also noted at times] 0800 - 1400 UTC: 9580 (reliable) [6020 and 9590 also noted reliably] 1400 - 1600 UTC: 9590 (reliable until fade out) (John Figliozzi, NY, Oct 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. QSL: RADIO BAHRAIN, 9745 kHz, QSL card in 94 days. No RP. QTH: Kingdom of Bahrain - Ministry of Information - Radio & Television Corporation - P. O. Box 194 - Manama (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. The B04 schedule for the TDP brokered transmissions has been put online: http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html Not included anymore are Voice of Khmer Kampuchea-Krom and Voice of Ethiopian Medhin (as well as Radio Ezra which had ended its latest cycle of broadcasts). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also worth noting is that clandestine Que Huong for Vietnam is now listed as 1200-1300 M-Sat on 15685; not sure where that is coming from. Had been 1330-1400 M-Sat 9930 via KWHR (Hans Johnson, Oct 30, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BHUTAN [and non]. LOCAL QUALITY RECORDINGS OF THE BBS IN BHUTAN. Hi folks, For those of you that like me share an interest in exotic radio station recordings made locally, I would like to start trading these recordings with you. Because of a really neat website which allows one to store a gig of material on it absolutely free for seven days, recordings need no longer be limited to 20 or 30 second clips that you send as an E-mail attachment. Now you can record entire shows if you want, and send them up to this website, and once the files upload, you'll be given a special link to send to your friends so they can access this material and download it for themselves. If you'd like to know more about this website, please feel free to E-mail me. The areas of the world that I am interested in recordings from include the entire Arctic, especially Alaskan radio stations, the further north the better, recordings of KNR in Greenland because I have nothing of them at all, and any other Arctic stations, in Asia, stations from Nepal and Bhutan and English stations in Kuala Lumpur, and the entire south Pacific Island region. In Australia, I am always looking for Northern Territory recordings, and in New Zealand, my interest is Christchurch and South Island stations. One radio station that has always fascinated me, is the BBS in Bhutan. I always dreamed of somehow getting a local recording of the station from someone in Bhutan, and in fact someone from the BBS was actually going to send me a CD of their programming but it just never happened. But in October of last year, I discovered that their ten minute English news bulletins plus their local community announcements were being put on their website and updated daily as WMA files. And so I grabbed them, every time I thought about it and could log onto the site. Naturally there were some days when the site was down. Then in mid April, the files just vanished. The links were still there, but there were no audio files. But at the end of September, the files were back, only now they were wave files, a completely ridiculous way to store audio material given their huge size and slow download time. The female presenter of the BBS Internet On The Radio program was actually suggesting to her listeners that perhaps they should try to download these files at night and on weekends when the local server wasn't quite as busy. But at least 90% of Bhutanese people only have Internet access at their offices. Even with my high speed cable connection it took me nearly 13 hours to download one of their Internet On The Radio programs, so can you imagine how long it would take in Bhutan? Naturally I converted that 183 meg wave file into a much more manageable 13.9 meg MP3 file as soon as I got it. Well, when I'm enthusiastic about something, I guess I sometimes figure that everyone else will be just as enthusiastic about it as I am. I offered a couple of New Zealand DXers these files, and they didn't really want them. But if any of you have a real interest in the program content of the BBS, and would like to hear a 20 minute Internet On The Radio program along with a number of their newscasts and community announcements spanning the period October 2003 to October of this year, and you can handle downloading a 52 meg zipped MP3 file, you are welcome to them. They will be at the following link until at least Wednesday November 3, possibly Thursday the 4th. So if you'd like these locally recorded news and announcement files direct from the BBS website, mostly as WMA files, with a couple of MP3 files thrown in which were originally BBS wave files, feel free to go to this link, and enjoy hearing this exotic radio station like you've never heard it before. http://s14.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=6693C2CE5E015C3913D5785568C46016 (Sam Ward, a new member in Georgetown ON, Oct 29, dxing.info via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. R. Santa Cruz, 6134.77, 0250-0329* Oct 24. Spanish IDs, announcements, nice local CP music. Abrupt sign-off. Fair strength and in the clear, on the air later than usual. R. Japan, via Ascension, sign-on at 0330 on 6135 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nice timing ** CANADA [non]. Came across of China Radio entries on RCI Montreal B- 04 schedule of Sept 3rd: 1800-1857 UT English has two 100 kW entries via Kashi - Kashgar Silk Street on 7370 and 9770 at 239 degrees towards Sub-Saharan Africa. That's new? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Oct 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RCI Schedules --- Here are the frequencies & times for North America: 0100-0300 6190 9755 9810 1300-1600 9515 13655 17820 M-F Only 1400-1700 9515 13655 17820 Sa-Su Only 2000-2300 15180 All programming on these frequencies at these times is CBC produced, not RCI produced. Best chances to hear RCI produced programming: 1800-1900 15140 targeting sub-Saharan Africa 2100-2200 9770 targeting Europe Both frequencies originate in Sackville. All transmissions are 7 days unless otherwise shown. (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) Here's the full list of RCI English transmissions worldwide, as supplied by the anemic-looking RCI schedules I just received in the mail. (I didn't crossscheck against the technical schedule, though.) [strictly UT days and times --- gh] == Americas == 0100-0300 (6190, 9755, 9780) (Tu-Sa) World at Six/As It Happens (Su) World This Weekend/Madly Off/Global Village (Mo) World This Weekend/Mailbag/Writers & Co. 1300-1600 (9515, 13655, 17820) (Mo-Th) The Current (pt. 2)/Sounds Like Canada/Out Front (Fr) The Current (pt. 2)/Sounds Like Canada/C'est la vie 1400-1700 (9515, 13655, 17820) (Sa) The House/Vinyl Café/Quirks & Quarks (Su) The Sunday Edition 2000-2300 (15180) (Mo-Fr) Roundup/World at Six/As It Happens (pt. 1) (Sa) DNTO (Su) Tapestry/Cross Country Checkup 2200-2330 (9800 DRM) (Mo-Fr) World at Six/As It Happens (pt. 1) (Sa) Vinyl Café (Su) Writers & Co. == Europe == 1300-1330 (9815 DRM) (Mo) Spotlight (Tu) Media Zone (We) Mailbag (Th) Spotlight (Fr) Business Sense (Sa) Sci-Tech File (Su) Business Sense 2100-2200 (5850, 9770) (Mo) Canada Today/Media Zone (Tu) Canada Today/Mailbag (We) Canada Today/Spotlight (Th) Canada Today/Business Sense (Fr) Canada Today/Sci-Tech File (Sa) Business Sense/Sci-Tech File (Su) Mailbag/Spotlight == Asia == 0000-0100 (9880) (Mo) Tapestry (Tu-Sa) World at Six/As It Happens (pt. 1) (Su) Vinyl Café 1200-1300 (9670, 11730) (Mo) Writers & Co. (Tu) Nighttime Review (We) Global Village (Th-Sa) Nighttime Review (Su) Quirks & Quarks 1300-1330 (9670, 11730) (Mo) Spotlight (Tu) Media Zone (We) Mailbag (Th) Spotlight (Fr) Business Sense (Sa) Sci-Tech File (Su) Business Sense 1500-1600 (5985, 9635, 11730) (Mo) Canada Today/Media Zone (Tu) Canada Today/Mailbag (We) Canada Today/Spotlight (Th) Canada Today/Business Sense (Fr) Canada Today/Sci-Tech File (Sa) Business Sense/Sci-Tech File (Su) Mailbag/Spotlight 2230-2300 (6160, 7195) (Mo) Media Zone (Tu) Mailbag (We) Spotlight) (Th) Business Sense (Fr) Sci-Tech File (Sa) Media Zone (Su) Mailbag == Africa == 1800-1900 (5850, 7370, 9770, 11875, 15140) (Mo) Canada Today/Media Zone (Tu) Canada Today/Mailbag (We) Canada Today/Spotlight (Th) Canada Today/Business Sense (Fr) Canada Today/Sci-Tech File (Sa) Business Sense/Sci-Tech File (Su) Mailbag/Spotlight 73s, (Ricky Leong, Montreal, dxldyg via DXLD) The RCI website says there will be a 'brand new website online next November'. Presumably this means next week in which case, I assume they will have the new schedules up. While the 0100 broadcast will be good, it is too bad they are dropping the earlier one. It also means that RCI is decreasing the number of hours they broadcast which is also unfortunate. I will be interested to hear if 2000 - 2300 broadcast will be audible in the eastern part of the US. The equivalent broadcast which is on a higher frequency has not proved very successful where I am most of the time. I wonder why they decided to drop the 2200 short wave broadcast. It has been a regular feature of the lineup for as long as I can remember. I sure hope the 15180 frequency for the 2000 broadcast works better than the one they are currently using (Sandy Finlayson, Philadelphia PA, ibid.) The 2200 broadcast remains, but converted from analog to DRM! Aren`t we lucky!! 17765 at 1900-2200 has been VG here, but I expect 15180 will be too (gh, OK, DXLD) I chatted with Bill Westenhaver. The website has a spiffier look but he hasn't seen more than a few screen shots. The 0100 release is the only edition carrying the full 90 minutes of AIH, with World At Six taking up the first 30 minutes (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) ** CANADA. Did I tell you that our new 1610 is testing? Listen for Latin American music - lots of guitars and flutes. Generally testing from about 6 a.m. until about 7 p.m. [EDT/EST]. CHSL currently using 250 watts, but will go to 1000 watts in about 10 days. Real on-air date is supposed to be November 20. Let me know if you hear anything (Niel Wolfish, ON, MARE Tipsheet Oct 30 via DXLD) ** CHINA. RADIO BROADCASTS REACH OVER 93 PER CENT OF POPULATION - AGENCY | Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Beijing, 25 October: Radio broadcasts reach 93.56 per cent of the population of China, up 0.22 per cent from last year, said China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Monday [25 October]. Tian Jin, deputy director-general of the administration, disclosed that China now has approximately 500 million radios with more than 1.2 billion listeners. The country has 1,498 radio broadcast stations and 1,868 programmes. Total daily broadcast time has increased to 24,503 hours. 1,665 hours in 2002. [sentence as received] The statistics were released here Monday at the opening ceremony of the "2004 China Radio Development Forum", which will hold discussions on programme production, deals in commercials, radio industry development and radio station management. The three-day forum invited more than 200 delegates from both domestic radio stations and prestigious overseas broadcasters, such as Asia- Pacific Broadcasting Union, Star News Cooperation and CBC Radio- Canada. Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1358 gmt 25 Oct 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) Once again such statistics raise questions which might have been answered if they had been more explicit. The 7% of the population not ``reached`` by radio, it seems to me, would not be out of range of any radio broadcast, as a previous item claimed, but simply those too poor to afford one of the 500 megaradios in the country. Or --- could it be that in those 7% are also the most modern and hip of the populace who have abandoned radio for XXI century technology, and/or dissidents who find government-controlled partyline media worthless? (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. CNR-2 with China Business Radio noted in Chinese and English at 1310 UT. Very nice reception both on 3985- and 15500 kHz Oct 28. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. University Network, 0240 10/22 and 10/23, usual Gene Scott programming in English, noted up slightly from their nominal 5029 frequency, on 5030.07; strong (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Altho it had been down around 5029 for quite a while, the nominal is certainly 5030. TIRWR`s contract engineer recently tweaked the transmitters, and 13750 is now just a smidgen above that, after having drifted down to the 13746+ range. 11870, however, remains about one kHz low, 9725 slightly low (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [non]. NUEVA FRECUENCIA Y HORARIO DE RADIO CROATA Glenn, Radio Croata anunció el 27 de octubre 2004 en su programa en castellano que para el período 31 de octubre 2004-27 de marzo 2005 y debido al horario de invierno en Europa, emitirá el programa 1 hora antes y en la nueva frecuencia de 7285. Entonces, deduzco que el programa en castellano comenzará a las 2130 TU y pronostico una dificultosa recepción en esta nueva frecuencia que ya había sido empleada hace un año en este período ya que la banda de 41m es una banda muy castigada por QRN y en menor medida por QRM. Además, aún estoy esperando contestación a mis numerosos c-e enviados desde noviembre de 2003 donde les solicitaba material impreso de Radio Croata; solamente recibí un c-e no oficial con muy pocas palabras de una locutora de segundo orden pero nada más. Tuve suerte, en cambio, con un reporte que envié en 1970 al programa en inglés de Radio Belgrado y de la que por lo menos recibí un pequeño cartón con el esquema de frecuencias de la emisora. Tengo la impresión de que Radio Croata no debe tener presupuesto para contestar a sus oyentes. Pregunto: los oyentes estadounidenses ¿recibieron contestación a los reportes enviados a Radio Croata?. Chau, saludos de (Emilio Pedro Povrzenic (Povéryenich), Villa Diego, provincia de Santa Fe, Rep. Argentina, Oct 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think they are confused; should be one (real, UT) hour later, not earlier, i.e. 2330. They have no business using 7285 to the Americas, a band reserved exclusively for ham radio. EPP, who is after all of Croatian heritage, has not been able to get a useful reply from Zagreb and wonders if US listeners are getting answers to their reports (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Cuba to stay on DST until October 2005 . . .To conserve energy, Cuban authorities are closing 110 businesses, shortening the workday and school day by a half hour, extending daylight-saving time until October 2005 and shifting production schedules. They're also telling people to be patient and work together. . . http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/world/9920684.htm [14 Oct 2004] (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DXLD) Confirms previous report ** ERITREA [non]. CLANDESTINE, 15595, Voice of the Eritrean People via UK/Skelton, Oct. 24 *1730-1828* Sign-on with Horn of Africa music, IDs for "Ezi dmtsi hzbi Ertra" ... "democrasiyawit Eritrea", followed with lengthy commentaries supporting Eritrean democracy. Program was interspersed with some very nice Horn of Africa musical selections varying to yelping lyrics to piccolo flutes. Noted to 1824 with some brief comments, by male speaker in Tigrina, then Horn of Africa melody (final) selection to sign-off. Signal initially was fair but greatly improved to a very decent /good level (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. Contrary to recent messages in the DX media, Radio Georgia continues to broadcast on short wave and it was heard on October 2 between 1515 and 1545 and from 1600 to 1630 UT on 4540 (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program Oct 29 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) See also ABKHAZIA ** GERMANY. AFN Europe moved to Mannheim --- Since today 10/30, 0400 AFN Europe broadcasts no longer from Frankfurt but from new headquarters at Mannheim instead. 6.5 million Euro were spent to rebuild a former canteen building of the Coleman Barracks in Mannheim to house AFN Europe. Enclosed a report by the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper. AFN left the old headquarters at Frankfurt, next the Hessischer Rundfunk grounds, because no US military is stationed there anymore. For regional coverage AFN Hessen broadcasts from new studios at Wiesbaden already since May, see http://www.afneurope.net/Hessen/PhotoWall.asp?id=8306 For pictures of the old AFN building at Frankfurt see http://rmrc.de/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album15 starting with the Z-98 live studio as last row on page 3 (the previous pictures show Hessischer Rundfunk facilities instead). As a follow-up to an earlier report: BBC World Service has been finally restored on FM in Thuringia two days ago (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: EUROPA HÖRT AUF US-SIGNALE AUS SANDHOFEN In Coleman "on air": Radio- und Fernsehzentrale des Truppensenders AFN geht heute in Betrieb Von unserem Redaktionsmitglied Thorsten Langscheid "Live from the AFN News Center in Mannheim, Germany . . ." - mit diesen Worten schreibt Bill Hickman heute Mediengeschichte: Pünktlich um "Null-Sechshundert", also um sechs Uhr in der Frühe, geht der Radio-Sprecher von Sandhofen aus europaweit auf Sendung. Der amerikanische Truppensender mit Kultstatus hat sein Hauptquartier aus Frankfurt endgültig abgezogen und in Mannheim aufgeschlagen. Ein Fernseh- und zwei Hörfunk-Vollprogramme werden ab sofort im Bob-Harlan-Building (früher Bau 23) unmittelbar am Coleman-Flugplatz produziert und über Antenne in Teilen Deutschlands, Belgiens und Italiens ausgestrahlt. Über Satellit verbreitet American Forces Network (AFN) von der March Luftwaffenbasis in Kalifornien außerdem zehn Fernseh- und 16 Hörfunkprogramme. Frei empfangbar sind hier zu Lande allerdings nur die Mittel- und Ultrakurzwellen-Hörfunkdienste sowie das Internetangebot des Senders. Für Fernsehen und Satellitenradio sind in Deutschland praktisch nicht erhältliche Decoder notwendig - aus Gründen des Urheberrechts, wie der stellvertretende Programmdirektor George Smith erläutert. Über zwei Jahre dauerten die Vorbereitungen für den Umzug, der jetzt planmäßig über die Bühne ging. Smith, Zivilist, und sein militärisches Pendant, Luftwaffen-Major Wayne Perry, turnten zwar noch Anfang der Woche zwischen offenen Kabelschächten und unfertigen Schaltschränken durch ihr neues Hauptquartier, doch letztlich klappte alles wie am Schnürchen. Gestern ging die letzte Live-Sendung aus Frankfurt über den Sender. "Nachts übernehmen wir direkt Programme aus den USA", erklärt AFN-Pressesprecher Jeff Clark. Die gut sechzigköpfige Belegschaft tritt heute zum Dienst erstmals geschlossen in Coleman an: "In Frankfurt wird jetzt nur noch leer geräumt." Im Juli 1945 startete der AFN-Betrieb in Frankfurt, rund zwei Jahre, nachdem der Sender in London gegründet worden war. Die GIs, die vor der Invasion in Großbritannien stationiert waren, hatten bittere Klage über den langweiligen und altbackenen BBC-Hörfunk geführt. Um die Moral der Truppe zu heben, wurde schleunigst ein modernes Radio aus der Taufe gehoben. Am frühen Abend des 4. Juli 1943, des amerikanischen Nationalfeiertags, war es soweit: AFN begann seinen Siegeszug mit Programmen, die direkt aus den Staaten übernommen wurden und teilweise mit mobilen Sendeanlagen während des Vormarsches der Alliierten verbreitet wurden. Bis in die achtziger Jahre hinein war AFN das einzige Radio, auf dem authentische und progressive US-Musik zu hören war. Unvergessen bleiben Sendungen der fünfziger und sechziger Jahre wie "Frolic at Five", "Daybreak Serenade" oder "Music in the Air", eine Radio-Show, die von 1945 bis 1976 regelmäßig lief und ein 50-Millionen-Hörer-Publikum in ganz Europa, davon alleine sieben Millionen in Deutschland, erreichte. AFNer wie Bill Ramsey oder Ron Williams wurden zu Stars, US-Radio-Formate wie die legendäre Wolfman-Jack-Show waren durch den Truppensender diesseits des großen Teichs überhaupt empfangbar. Für den Nachrichten-Mann Bill Hickman ist Mannheim nur eine Zwischenstation. Er leistet im ehemaligen Bau 23, der unter anderem die Soldatenkneipe "Kolb-Kantine" beherbergte, nur noch für ein paar Monate Dienst. Seine Uniform sowie die Studios in dem für rund sechseinhalb Millionen Euro entkernten und zum "Home of AFN" umgebauten Komplex tauscht Hickman gegen einen Job als Zivilist - bei AFN Italy. Und da die Baseball World Series schon gestern mit einem sensationellen Sieg der Boston Red Sox endeten, startet AFN Sandhofen heute wie geplant. Die Live-Übertragung des Endspiels gegen die St. Louis Cardinals hätte nämlich Vorrang vor den News aus Coleman gehabt. © Mannheimer Morgen - 29.10.2004 (via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) ** GHANA. GBC BOSS` `DODGY` PAST UNCOVERED --- HOW THE NMC WAS DUMMIED INTO APPOINTING EVA LOKKO Accra, Oct. 29, Chronicle -- MS EVA LOKKO, the divisive Director- General (DG) of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) sounded tetchy as she stretched herself properly in the office sofa almost in tears when her dodgy records at GBC that got her dismissed in the late 1980s popped up. The occasion was an official interview between The Chronicle and the GBC boss on Monday, at her office, over series of allegations that were of national interest. . . [strange, long piece] http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=68740 (via Dan Robinson, DXLD) ** GOA. 9708, Oct 27, 2350-0005 India: AIR Panaji. Classical Indian vocal music with male singer, into female announcer in English at 2359. Male announcer at 0000 with ID and frequencies, into news in English. Female announcer again at 0005 into sports program with male announcer. Rough/poor modulation, presumably off-frequency from listed 9705, wandering 9708.0 to .1. Some flutter plus longer fades, some adjacent-channel splatter from Portugal - very strong on 9715. SINPO 32322. 9810, Oct 28, 0128-0140, India: AIR Panaji. Nepali service. AIR IS until 0130, then sign-on and ID with male announcer in Nepali (numerous mentions of Nepal/Nepali) into music with male vocals 0131. Male announcer 0135. Abruptly off 0139, likely due to technical issue. Carrier variable 100 Hz or so with modulation and audio included odd 'squeal' variable with modulation, not co-channel heterodyne. SINPO 44333. Receiver: JRC NRD-515 with 7m vertical longwire (DAC Crowell/WX9T, Rankin, IL, USA, wx9t, HCDX online log via DXLD) This reporter seems even more obsessed than many with reporting the gender of every announcer heard, and is also too hurried to write out words such as ``with``, but I, as usual have fixed that (gh, DXLD) ** HONG KONG. 8749U, Cape d'Aguilar HF Radio Transmitting Station (presumed), 1033-1038 Oct 26. I could only detect that they signed on with a female voice, and that they were still audible at 1039 UT. Extremely weak signal, impossible to copy anything. Nowhere near the level they were this past April. Even worse when I checked on Oct 28 (George Maroti, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Maybe over now (gh) ** INDONESIA. Propagation has been exceptionally good this week. So, I´ve managed to hear several Radio Republik Indonesia stations on SW. The strongest station in the 90 mb yesterday October 29 1340-1435 UT was RRI Palangkaraya from Kalimantan broadcasting on 3325 kHz. Exotic local music really pleasing my hearing with the bandwidth 5.5 kHz of my AOR. Signal strength even S8-9. After 1430 UT Qur`an chanting on this frequency and also noted on 3345 kHz Ternate and Jambi on 4925 kHz. 4790 kHz RRI Fak Fak from Papua went off the air with Love Ambon at 1357 UT. Also these RRI-stations noted 1330-15 UT: RRI Pontianak 3976 kHz. Pontianak is maybe the strongest Indonesian at my QTH. 4000,2 kHz Kendari; 4605 kHz Serui; 4750 kHz Makassar. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, RX: AOR 7030 Plus, ANT: 95 lw to E, Oct 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. It's official: a new place to hear DXing with Cumbre --- Hello! After some behind-the-scenes arrangements, there will soon be a new place to hear DXing with Cumbre. Starting Sunday, October 31st, the World Radio Network will have the Cumbre show on their European service every Sunday at 0930 UT. To find out more about how to hear the show via WRN, please visit their website at http://www.wrn.org Thanks to the World Radio Network for inviting us aboard! Also, when the B-04 schedule for DXing with Cumbre on World Harvest Radio is available, I will post it for you. Stay tuned! 73-- (Marie Lamb, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Its 0900 [not 0930] UT Sunday per http://www.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/schedule.php?ScheduleID=1&Show=weekend At 0900 UT Saturday is Glenn Hauser's "World of Radio". 73s (Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Marie Lamb's DX'ing with Cumbre is once again available via on-demand streaming audio. It has been available for quite some time by streaming audio via World Harvest Radio's live streams but only when the show was being aired on the station. It is now available by streaming audio whenever you want to listen to it. The link to listen is listed on the Cumbre DX web page at http://www.cumbredx.org/ (Bob Arnold (keeper of the web and streaming audio servers), Oct 27, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Actually it has been so available for a long time thanks to Alex Draper`s DX program page, where WOR is also availablized (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. War of the Worlds --- if anyone is interested in listening to the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast from 1938, or Dracula broadcast in 1938, on CBS Mercury Theater, go to http://www.unknown.nu/mercury (Ron Trotto, WDX-4KWI IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE, LIVING LIFE IN PEACE JOHN LENNON 1940 - 1980 join my group http://launchgroups.yahoo.com/group/ronsfriendsfreeforall shortwavebasics yg via DXLD) And many other OTR shows mp3`d ** IRAN. B-04 Schedule: Iran - IRIB Albanian 0630-0730 15235 15340 1830-1930 6100 7165 7295 2030-2130 6100 9740 Arabic 0330-1030 13790 0330-1630 15125 15545 1530-0330 7285 1630-0330 3985 6200 1630-0530 6065 9935 Arabic (V of Palestine) 0330-0430 7250 9505 9845 Armenian 0300-0330 7295 0930-1000 9695 15260 1630-1730 6185 7230 Azeri 0330-0530 9860 1430-1700 6200 Bengali 0030-0130 5905 6185 0830-0930 11705 1430-1530 7305 9545 9565 9940 11850 12090 Bosnian 0530-0630 15235 15340 1730-1830 7295 9705 7260 2130-2230 7235 9710 Dari 0300-0630 13740 0830-1430 13580 13720 15480 1200-1500 9920 English 0030-0230 9580 6120 1030-1130 15460 15480 1530-1630 9610 9940 1930-2030 6010 7320 9800 9855 9925 11695 French 0630-0730 17560 21645 1830-1930 9565 German 0730-0830 15085 21770 1730-1830 6110 9500 Hausa 0600-0700 17810 21810 1830-1930 7335 9775 Hebrew 0430-0500 7250 9505 9590 1900-1930 3985 5970 Hindi 0230-0300 15165 15205 15260 1430-1530 9865 11640 11730 11840 13745 13795 Japanese 1300-1330 9510 9770 Kazakh 0130-0230 7135 7265 1300-1400 9660 11745 Kurdish [more than one dialect??] 1330-1630 5990 0330-0430 9825 Malay 1230-1330 15200 15275 2230-2330 7275 9685 9855 Mandarin 1200-1300 9510 9895 11670 13645 15150 2330-0030 7130 7325 9635 Pashto 0230-0330 6095 6140 0730-0830 15440 1230-1330 5960 6175 9790 11870 1430-1530 7270 1630-1730 6005 6015 Russian 0300-0330 6040 7125 0500-0530 12025 15530 17680 17745 1430-1530 7165 9575 9735 1700-1800 6035 6205 7170 7210 1800-1900 6035 7305 1930-2030 3985 7205 Swahili 0330-0430 13640 15260 0830-0930 17660 17690 1730-1830 9595 11750 Spanish 0030-0230 6015 9555 0030-0330 7220 9905 0530-0630 15320 17590 2030-2130 7130 7350 9750 Tadjiki 0100-0230 5955 1600-1730 5955 Turkish 0430-0600 15260 15365 1600-1730 7125 9705 Urdu 0130-0230 6010 6190 7210 1330-1430 6120 6175 9835 11950 1530-1730 7270 1730-1800 6130 7225 Uzbek 0230-0300 9785 1500-1600 5955 (via Wolfgang Bueschel, re-arranged into language order by Alan Roe, WDXC via DXLD) ** ISLE OF MAN. "The Nation's Station" --- To mark Manx Radio's 40th birthday, a new book - "A Nation's Station" is soon to be published. Manx Radio's been on quite a journey during four decades of broadcasting. Its highly unusual position - as a public service broadcaster, which is also partly commercial, means the station's always been subject to intense scrutiny. Author Derek Winterbottom says the book sheds light on Manx Radio's ups and downs and examines its fascinating, unique status. Hear Audio File at http://www.manxradio.com/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Radio Kol Chai English news --- The below Haaretz article is about Radio Kol Chai --- a legal, commercial, Jewish religious broadcaster in Israel -- starting to broadcast news in English. A live webfeed is available. Website (Hebrew): http://kolchai.moreshet.co.il 93 FM Central Israel (Tel Aviv area) and 92.8 FM Jerusalem Live Webfeed direct URL: http://kolchai.moreshet.co.il/play/93fm.asx http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=494988 RADIO KOL CHAI TO BROADCAST NEWS UPDATES IN ENGLISH By Daphna Berman Last update - 02:07 29/10/2004 Daily news updates in English will be broadcast on the Orthodox radio station Kol Chai starting Sunday, as part of the station's bid to appeal to an increased Anglo audience. The decision, which was announced earlier this week, comes in the wake of Radio Kol Chai's move two weeks ago to create their own news center, thereby eliminating their dependence on outside news agencies, some of which were deemed inappropriate for the religious sector. "We were getting broadcasts from Channel 10 that would include items that weren't kosher for our audience," Steve Walz, who will be the English-language anchor for the new program said. Kol Chai, which is privately owned and broadcasts out of Bnei Brak, operates with frequencies in both Central Israel and Jerusalem and is the only licensed commercial religious station in the country. "Kol Chai realizes that there are many people living in Jerusalem and certain parts of the greater Dan region, like Ra'anana and Bnei Brak, who speak English and would be interested in listening to English news," Walz explained. Walz currently hosts the station's only program in English, "Boker Or Yisroel with an American Accent", from 6 am to 7 am, which features a mix of Hasidic pop and "right of center" talk radio. Starting Sunday, however, he will add daily 60-second news updates which will be broadcast in the late afternoon as well. Walz, the former editor of the Jewish Press, will also provide both Hebrew and English programs with "Jewish news" from around the world (via Doni Rosenzweig, DXLD) ** ITALY. Rai, English to NAm on 11800, 0055 news till 0100, then music fill to 0110 (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Token ** KURDISTAN. IRAQ: IRAQI KURDISTAN COMMUNIST PARTY RADIO EXTENDS RANGE | Text of report by Communist Party of Iraqi Kurdistan newspaper Regay Kurdistan on 27 October Following the extension of the range of Azadi Radio's broadcasts, you can now listen to programmes of Azadi Radio on the FM frequency of 91.5 MHz daily. In addition, residents of the towns of Khalifan, Harder, Batas, Shaqlawa, Salah-al-Din summer resort, Khabat, Dibaga, Makhmur and Qushtapa can receive Radio Azadi on the same frequency. To take part in the programmes, listeners can contact us on the telephone number 2222155. Radio Azadi is the voice of the Communist Party of Iraqi Kurdistan, broadcasting from Arbil. Radio Azadi is your station. Source: Regay Kurdistan, Arbil, in Sorani Kurdish 27 Oct 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 2390, Radio Huayacocotla, 0013-0034 Oct 29. Thanks to alert from John Sgrulletta, I heard them with vocal music and a decent signal. Some banda music followed by talk by a male in Spanish. More vocals, then talk by a female, time check and banda (band) music, which I've heard on this station before (George Maroti, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. I noticed both last night and this morning a loud buzzing sound on XEW 900 kHz. It sounds as if either XEW or somebody else is a few hundred hertz off frequency. Has anybody else noticed this? (Adam Myrow, TN, Oct 30, NRC-AM via DXLD) Yep, XEW is a couple hundred hertz low, at about 899.8 or so. Been that way for weeks on end (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, ibid.) ** NAMIBIA. NBC ADMITS TO MISLEADING THE PUBLIC The Namibian (Windhoek) Posted to the web October 27, 2004 Christof Maletsky, Windhoek THE Namibian Broadcasting Corporation has admitted to lying to the public when it claimed that it was guided by the Communications Act in allocating radio airtime to political parties. . . http://allafrica.com/stories/200410270257.html (via Art Blair, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. V. of Nigeria, 15120, 0610-0640+ Oct 24, tune-in to English news, commentary, local music, ID. Weak but readable; 0702 check, French programming (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. VOICE OF BOB: 6925.55/AM, 0020-0101, 24-Oct; The Hour of Slack, Church of the Sub-Genius; Bob waxes philosophic on many subjects; "God told us to do this", "Trying to serve up the ultimate hamburger of slack", "The molten lead enema of destiny". SIO=353, dropped way down about 0050 and either continued or someone else popped in then (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Radio Bob, 6925.5, 0018-0110 Oct 24. All talk with Bob giving his thoughts on religion. Sad to say, but he makes more sense than the preachers on some of the legal stations. Fair (Don Moore, ibid.) 6925 AM, VOICE OF BOB with lots of Pseudo Religious talk that actually makes more sense than 90% of 'real' preachers! 45343 – with lotsa static! 0025-0030 24/Oct (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI DXpedition, ibid.) ** PAKISTAN. Radio Pakistan, 11570 at 1605 UT tune in to News in English read by YL. Commentary at 1610. "Radio Pakistan" ID and talk by OM in language(?) at 1614:30. Off air at 1617. Badly over modulated. 333, Oct 30/04. Radio Pakistan, 11570, 1645 UT Oct 30, open carrier. IS at 1655 (very weak and distorted), 1658 Talk by OM to three time pips at 1700 then YL in Lang(?). At 1703 all of a sudden (someone probably tripped over a cable), and we have a nice readable signal. Booming in now at 1704. 73 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, AB, Collins HF 2050, KLM 7-30 MHz Log Periodic, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. R. Victoria, Lima, 6020.26, 0745-0800+ Oct 24, emotional Portuguese [¿Portuñol?] preacher, Christian music. Good, strong; \\ 9720.02 weak (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Adieu to Ayaviri and Paucartambo on shortwave --- The webpage of the Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones de la República del Perú reports that the following shortwave licenses have been withdrawn: OBX7F Radio Ayaviri (July 7, 2004): listed as 766) on 4605 kHz in WRTH 2004 OAW7A Empresa Municipal Paucartambo (July 14, 2004): listed as 730) on 6520 kHz in WRTH 2004 (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Oct 29, dxing.info via DXLD) But will that stop them? (gh) ** PITCAIRN ISLANDS. PITCAIRN SIX GET JAIL SENTENCES October 29, 2004 - 4:03PM http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/29/1098992281558.html (via Bruce MacGibbon, DXLD) Viz.: The mayor and five other men on Pitcairn island today were sentenced to up to six years jail for rapes and sex attacks against young girls on the tiny, isolated home of the HMS Bounty mutineers. A British court handed down jail terms for four men, British officials in New Zealand said. Two others who had been convicted of indecent assault were ordered to perform hundreds of hours of community service and to undergo counselling. The sentences were tailored to Pitcairn's unique environment, said British Judge Charles Blackie in sentencing the descendants of the mutineers. The guilty men had argued that underage sex had been an island tradition since the mutineers arrived with their Tahitian women in 1790. "The penalties were tailored to Pitcairn and take into account the unique isolation, population of less than 50, and the dependence of manpower," said Bryan Nicolson, spokesman for the British High Commission in Wellington. The sentences, however, will not be carried out until legal challenges over Britain's jurisdiction over Pitcairn are heard in 2005. Pitcairn is the last British territory in the South Pacific, a dot in the ocean 2,160 km southeast of Tahiti. Pitcairn, with an area of just 5 sq km, has no safe harbour, is too rocky for an airstrip, has no paved roads, no sewage treatment system and no landline telephones. Islanders fear the Pitcairn community, with a population of only 47, will not survive if the men are jailed. They are needed to operate the island's longboats which ferry in essential supplies from ships anchored offshore. Pitcairn mayor Steve Christian, found guilty of five rapes including that of a 12-year-old girl, was sentenced to three years jail. Christian, 53, a descendant of Fletcher Christian who led the Bounty mutiny in 1789, was the "leader of the pack" on the island. Prosecutors said he believed he had a right to have sex with young girls. His 30-year-old son Randy Christian, guilty of four rapes and five indecent assaults, was sentenced to six years. Matthew Forbes, the island's deputy governor, suggested before the sentences were announced that Christian and his son Randy, chairman of a key island committee, should resign their posts. If they did not stand down, then Pitcairn governor Richard Fell, who is also Britain's ambassador to New Zealand, would step in "to ensure the best interests of the entire community are protected," Forbes told Radio National this morning. He did not elaborate. Len Brown, 78, guilty of two rapes, was sentenced to two years, but can apply for home detention on the island. His son Dave Brown, who pleaded guilty to indecent assaults, was ordered to perform 400 hours of community service and to attend counselling. Dennis Christian, Steve Christian's cousin, who pleaded guilty to indecent and sexual assaults, was ordered to perform 300 hours community service and attend counselling. Terry Young, convicted of one rape and six indecent assaults, was sentenced to five years. Jay Warren, Pitcairn's former magistrate, was found not guilty of indecent assault. The charges against the men, which date back more than 40 years, followed a report by a British policewoman stationed on the island in 1999. Their victims, now adults who testified via video from New Zealand, said that as girls they were treated as "sex things" and raped at will under banyan trees or in garden sheds on Pitcairn. The Pitcairn men are challenging Britain's right to prosecute them, arguing that British sovereignty ended when the mutineers sank the Bounty off the island in 1790. They will present their case to the Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for Britain's overseas territories. The case is set down for 2005 and, if the appeal is upheld, the verdicts would be overturned. In a second legal challenge, the men's lawyers argue that Britain never promulgated the under-age sex law even if it does have jurisdiction. Reuters/AP (via Bruce MacGibbon, DXLD) We had been wondering how the trials were coming along since the story originally broke in DXLD 4-148, 149 and 150. For those who have not been following this, the radio angle is that several of the accused, and now convicted, are ham radio operators, and virtually everyone on the island is a Seventh Day Adventist (gh, DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. RDP Schedule effective from 31 October 2004 Portuguese (mo-fr) 0600-1300 EU 9755(-0855) 9815 0745-0900 EU 11660 0900-1055 EU 11875 1100-1300 EU/SAM/AF 15140 21655 21830 1300-1700 NAM 15575* 1400-1600 ME 15690 1700-1900 NAM 17825* 1700-2000 AF/SAM/EU 9460 17680 21655 1800-2100 SAM 15535* 1900-2400 NAM 15540* 2000-2400 AF/SAM/EU 7310* 9460* 11825* 15555* 2100-2400 SAM 15460* Portuguese (tu-sa) 0000-0300 N+SAM 9410 9715 11980 13700 13770 Portuguese (sa+su) 0800-1055 SAM 17710 0800-1455 EU 11875 15575 0800-1655 AF 21830 0930-1100 EU 9815 1100-2100 SAM 21655 1300-1800 NAM 15575(-1700) 17745 1500-1800 EU 11635(-1755) 11960 1700-2000 NAM 17825(-1900) 17680 1800-2100 EU/SAM 9460 11630 15535 1900-2100 NAM 15540** 2000-2400 AF/SAM/EU 7310 9460 11825* 15555* 2100-2400 SAM 15460* * = Special transmissions only ** = Extend to 2400 for special transmissions (Isabel Saraiva, RDP via Alokesh Gupta in dxldyg and hcdx mail lists via Alan Roe, WDXC via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOICE OF RUSSIA RE-ESTABLISHES ITSELF ON THE CIS AIRWAVES | Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 29 October: One of the top priorities of Voice of Russia, which has represented its country on the international airwaves for 75 years, is a direct dialogue with its listeners, a spokesman for this state broadcaster, Armen Oganesyan, said today at the close of the Radio Without Frontiers conference, which gathered directors and presidents of foreign radio companies. Voice of Russia carries 400 programmes on various aspects of life in the country, broadcasting 115 hours a day in Russian and 31 foreign languages. It has a global audience of 109m in over 160 countries, and from its Internet site transmits live programmes in 17 languages. Experts confidently place Voice of Russia among the top three world broadcasters, alongside the BBC and Voice of America. In the post-Soviet zone, Voice of Russia has filled the niche left by the departure from that zone of some Russian media outlets. Its breakthrough into the CIS airwaves came two years ago with the creation of its Sodruzhestvo [Commonwealth] channel, but it has only now gained the opportunity to broadcast on FM. Voice of Russia programmes are now available in Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and the station began domestic broadcasting in Azerbaijan in October this year. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1534 gmt 29 Oct 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. B-04 Schedule: Russia - Voice of Russia (English only) Schedule: 31 Oct 2004 to 26 March 2005 English 0200-0500 AS 17695 0200-0300#NAM 15595 15475 15425 7180 0200-0300#NAM 15595 15475 15425 7350 7180 0300-0400#NAM 15595 15475 15425 12010 7350 7180 7150 0400-0500#NAM 15595 15425 12010 7180 7150 0400-0500 EU 1548 603 0500-0600 EU 603 0600-0700 EU 1323 603 0600-0800 AU/NZ 21790 17665 0700-1000 EU 15780*** 1323 603 0800-1000 AS 17570 1251 0800-0900 AU/NZ 21790 17665 17570 17525 17495 0900-1000 AU/NZ 17665 17570 17525 17495 1500-1600 AS 12025 11500 9900** 7415 7350 7315* 7260 6205 5945 1251 1500-1600 EU 12060*** 1530-1600 ME 972 1600-1700 ME 9470 6005 4975 4965 4940 972 1600-1700 AS 7415 7260 4975 4965 4940 972 1600-1700 EU 7290 6130 1700-1800 AS 7415 5945 5910 1269 1251 648 1700-1800 ME 9830 9470 1251 648 1800-1900 EU 7290 6175**** 5950**** 1494**** 1800-1900 AF 11510 1800-1900 ME 9830 1251 1800-1900 AS 7415 5945 5910 1251 1900-2000 AF 11510 7335 1900-2000 EU 7400 7290 6235 6175 2000-2100 EU 7330 7290 6235 6145 2100-2200 EU 7330 7300 6235 * = Not explained [no doubt a date span less than the full season] ** = Not explained [ditto, another date span] *** - DRM broadcast **** - Sat, Sun # = Exactly as shown on website, winter broadcasts to NAM would normally be at 0200, 0300, 0400 & 0500 [VoR Website, thanks to tip by "cool_as_a_bear" in dxldyg mail list via Alan Roe, WDXC via DXLD] I just noticed the asterisks for the two frequencies during the 1500- 1600 hour; unfortunately, the page currently does not say what they mean (John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) From memory when I worked at WRTH, there are "minor" changes on the first Sundays of November and March. This would mean that 7315 replaces 9900 from 7th Nov 2004 - 6th March 2005. This should be in the HFCC schedule which I imagine will be available from http://www.hfcc.org in the course of next week (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE English to NAm, B-04: 0000-0100 on 6055 (Bob Thomas, CT, late Oct, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suppose he heard an announcement to that effect; has been on 15385 in A-04 but losing out to China QRM lately, and 6055 is the usual B-season channel (gh, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. The Radio Nile (V. of Hope), via Madagascar, presumed, 12060, 0433-0457* Oct 23; tune-in to English interview about the Sudanese conflict; 0450 local music; 0455 English program about humanitarian efforts in Sudan; 0457 abruptly off. No ID heard. Good- strong; much weaker on \\ 15320 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 7999.3, 19/10 *1532-1552, VOICE OF SUDAN, sign-on, IDs e news OM in AA, s/off 1602*, 35533 - Fair/Good (R7) (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990, Radio Apintie, 0923-1000 Oct 28. Noted a man in Dutch comments over music. At 0925 a woman joins him briefly with comments. Talk until 0955 when some music present. Signal started to fade around 0950 from fair to poor (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD- 545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. Wolfgang called up SRI today: the editors could confirm that indeed the 2200-2400 [UT Oct 30] (already on Oct 31 local time) will be the very last transmission (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) e.g. 11905 via Guiana French SWISS RADIO INTERNATIONAL TO STOP BROADCASTING http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-27-2004/0002313082&EDATE= (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) An audio tribute to the two Bobs: Bob Thomann and Bob Zanotti and their last "Swiss Merry goes round" available at http://www.nexus.org/IRN/ra-audio/NEXUS-IBA/HELLO_THERE/ (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The last original show, not the reunion Bob Zanotti recently put on his own new site? (gh) ** U K. BBC 'In Touch' Programme to Feature Amateur Radio (rescheduled) --- In last week's GB2RS news we reported that it was expected that the BBC Radio 4 'In Touch' programme would feature amateur radio during the week. In fact, the item was not broadcast, but will be broadcast instead on Tuesday 2 November at 8.40 pm [2040 UT]. 'In Touch' is a weekly programme featuring news, views and information of interest to people who are blind or partially-sighted. (RSGB via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. John Peel tribute 'Home Truths' this morning --- This morning's special 'Home Truths', presented by Roger McGough on BBC Radio 4 it will be available as streamed audio from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ either live, or any time via the 'Listen Again' facility (Mike Terry, Oct 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. "My fears for radio's future" October 29, 2004, Tim Luckhurst, The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3284-1334478,00.html Behind the deluge of tributes to John Peel lies a phenomenon not entirely explained by Peel's charm and talent. It was previously apparent when the Today programme presenter, Brian Redhead, died in 1993. Both men were proof of the incomparable intimacy of radio broadcasting. Millions of Britons sincerely believe that they knew Redhead and Peel. That is because radio streams into their homes, cars and workplaces untrammelled by the requirement to sit before a screen. It is a companion that stays with us while we do other things. We adore its constant presence as well as its capacity to stimulate and inform. Now this relationship is threatened. The Culture Secretary is considering switching off analogue radio. Driven by the same fiscal imperatives that have persuaded it to promote gambling, the Government wants to convert Britain to exclusively digital listening. This should not be perceived, as manufacturers of radio sets want it to be, as a laudable commitment to modernity. Nor should the excellent sound quality and enhanced range of stations made available by digital audio broadcasting persuade us that the future of radio must be entirely digital. As long wave survived the arrival of medium wave and medium wave lived through the birth of FM, analogue radio must continue alongside digital. If it does not, 150 million analogue sets will be rendered useless. The cheap technology that allows us to have a separate set in each room and to avoid retuning by keeping a dedicated receiver for each of our favourite channels will be made obsolete. Digital radios will become less costly, but they will never be as cheap as basic trannies. Digital sets are too complex and expensive for traditional early adopters. There will not be digital radios in every room. It will be reduced to the "appointment to view" status that renders television less popular than radio. Switching off analogue radio would be like murdering a friend. The average of 22 hours listening a week by British adults would fall and advertising revenues with it. Let digital radio thrive, Secretary of State, but not by assassinating analogue. That will deprive us of new John Peels and provoke fury throughout the land. (Tim Luckhurst is the author of This is Today, a Biography of the Today Programme) (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. WRR tribute to John Peel --- This is a tribute from the first radio station John Peel ever worked on 1961 in Dallas. http://www.wrr101.com/headlines/peel_john.shtml Legendary BBC announcer John Peel's career started at WRR --- Peel co- hosted WRR blues program 'Kat's Karavan' in early 1960s WRR Press Release --- John Peel (1939-2004) John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (Aug. 30. 1939 - Oct. 25, 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was a British disc jockey and radio personality. He was one of the original DJs of BBC Radio 1. Known for his wide range of taste in music, Peel was one of the most popular and respected DJs in the United Kingdom. Peel was a recipient of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services in broadcasting. Ironically, Peel got his start in radio not in the UK, but in Dallas, Texas at WRR 1310 AM. Peel was born into a well-off family in Heswall near Liverpool. After completing his National Service, he traveled to America and worked for WRR. Peel recalled his start at WRR in a recent BBC interview: "I started off in 1961 in Dallas with WRR. I introduced the second hour of 'Kat's Karavan,' a rhythm and blues program." Peel also noted: "I got the job because I had some records [WRR] didn't, specifically an LP by Lightnin' Hopkins, a Texas blues-man." Peel died of a heart attack at age 65 on Oct. 25, 2004 while on a working holiday in the Inca city of Cuzco in Peru. Mayor of Dallas, Laura Miller said: "WRR has been a pioneer of radio broadcasting since 1921. John Peel's love of broadcasting and music was a grounding force for the station. He will be missed not only by his BBC fans in England, but also by the many broadcasting enthusiasts in Dallas." WRR general manager Greg Davis noted: "WRR benefited greatly from John Peel's vast knowledge and his indomitable love of music. WRR extends its deepest condolences to the BBC and Peel family." "Kat's Karavan" was the brainchild of WRR program director Jim Lowe (1928 - 2000). The program, which focused on the rich tapestry of African American blues music, aired from 1953-1967, weeknights 10:30 p.m. - midnight. Lowe hosted the first half of the show. Beginning in 1961, Peel hosted the second half of the show. "Kat's Karavan's" gritty blues format proved popular with Texas teenagers looking for an alternative to the often-sanitized pop music of the period. A recently discovered recording of a WRR "Kat's Karavan" radio broadcast from 1961 is available for listening at the WRR Web site: http://www.wrr101.com/headlines/kats_karavan.shtml Although the audio recording predates Peel's arrival at WRR by several months, it illustrates the flavor of the program. It is believed that Peel co-hosted the "Kat's Karavan" program for a couple of years. By 1967, Peel had returned to the UK and was on his way to international celebrity as announcer for BBC's Radio 1, where he would host such shows as "Top Gear" and "The John Peel Show." Licensed in 1921, WRR is Texas' first radio station and the second oldest commercially licensed station in the United States. WRR is the only 24-hour classical radio station in Texas. WRR 101.1 FM broadcasts from historic Fair Park in Dallas at 100,000 watts and is heard throughout North Texas. WRR simulcasts its terrestrial broadcast on the Internet at http://www.wrr101.com (via Mike Terry, dxldyg and via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Ironically, WRR 101 is all that`s left of this formerly AM-FM duo, and with classical music, it would hardly be Peel`s cup of tea (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Another major cut in VOA English is almost upon us, but still no specific information on program changes. Chances are any program you want to keep listening to is either changing time or being cancelled. I have heard the African service mentioning new times for specific shows, but not noted them down, since I was hoping to get a new schedule, the big picture, by the time it goes into effect Oct. 31. Main Street and Coast to Coast are gone, but Our World remains, with six airplays per weekend, including two on Sundays at the same time they were broadcast on Saturdays. Note that English to Africa in the morning, which was expected to be cut, has been restored. I have been able to find a B-04 VOA English frequency schedule: Schedule effective 31 October 2004 through 26 March 2005 Abbrs: All programs/frequencies are daily, u.o.s. * - Monday through Friday # - Tuesday through Saturday $ - Saturday and Sunday English to Middle East 0000-0030 1593 0900-1200 15615 17555 1500-1700 9685 9855 15255 2000-2100 1593 2200-2300 1593 2330-2400 1593 English to Africa 0300-0330 909 1530 6035 6080 7290 7340 9885 0330-0400 909 1530 6035 6080 7290 9885 0400-0430 909 1530 4960 6080 7290 9575 9775 9885 0430-0500 909 4960 6080 7290 9575 9775 0500-0600 909 6035 6105 7295 13710 0600-0630 909 1530 6035 6080 6105 7295 11835 13710 0600-0630* 11995 0630-0700 6080 7295 11835 0700-0900 5995 11655 1500-1600 13865 17715 17895 1600-1700 909 1530 15240 17715 17895 1700-1800 13710 15240 15445 1800-1900 909 6035 11975 13710 15240 17895 1900-2000 909 4940 6035 11975 13710 15240 15580 17895 2000-2030 909 1530 4940 6035 11975 13710 15240 15580 2030-2100 909 1530 6035 11975 13710 15240 15580 2030-2100$ 4940 2100-2200 909 1530 6035 11975 13710 15580 English to Far East Asia, South Asia and Oceania 0000-0030 1575 7215 9890 11760 15185 15290 17740 0100-0200 7200 11705 11820 17740 0200-0300* 7200 11705 11820 17740 1100-1130$ 1575 1200-1230 1143 6110 9645 9760 11705 11715 15665 1230-1300 6110 9645 9760 11705 11715 15665 1300-1400 6110 9645 9760 11705 1400-1500 6110 7125 9645 9760 11705 15425 1500-1600 7125 9645 11780 13735 1600-1700 1143 6160 7125 9645 9760 2200-2400 7215 9890 15185 15290 15305 17740 2230-2400 1575 English to Afghanistan 0000-0030 1296 11995 2030-2230 1296 11835 2230-2330 1296 11935 2330-2400 1296 11995 Special English 0030-0100 1575 1593 7215 9890 15185 15290 17740 0130-0200# 7405 9775 13740 1500-1530 6110 9760 9795 9825 15460 1500-1530$ 1575 1530-1600 1575 6110 9760 9795 9825 15460 1600-1700 13600 15445 17640 1900-2000 9785 12015 13640 2230-2300 9545 9785 13755 2300-2330 1593 6180 7205 9780 11655 15150 2330-2400 6180 7130 7205 9620 9780 11655 11805 13640 15150 15205 Would anyone like to figure out how many hours of English per week are really now on the air? It`s not as easy as it may seem, due to all the overlaps, and non-daily broadcasts; and I would not count the blocks which are on MW frequencies only; nor Special English. Further complication: some of the overlapped times may be carrying different programming, so should be counted more than once (Glenn Hauser, Oct 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Beware of the dog --- As you may have recently read in the Media Network Weblog, Radio Sawa, the US Arabic-language international radio service featuring contemporary music and personalities is lambasted in a draft report of the US State Department's Inspector General (IG). The report was leaked to the Washington Post. Kim Andrew Elliott, an audience research analyst in the US International Broadcasting Bureau, explains why he believes the IG has got this one wrong, and points out that the State Department is not the right agency to judge Radio Sawa because it has its own dog in the foreign policy fight. http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/sawa041028.html (Media Network newsletter via DXLD) [and non] VOANews.com 10/24/04 - REFORMING THE ARAB MEDIA [Editorial] http://www1.voanews.com/Editorials/article.cfm?objectID=89A57A4F-5AE2-4715-A9DB877AFFB4D6DB&title=10%2F24%2F04%20-%20REFORMING%20THE%20ARAB%20MEDIA%20 (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U S A. WEWN Spur, 5816.88, 0110-0220+ 10/23 and 10/24. Looking for World Music Radio [5815, Denmark], but find this strong spur of 5825. Just as strong as 5825. Strong spurs also heard on 5833.32, 5841.64. Weaker spurs heard every 8.32 kHz between 5766.76 and 5891.56 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sixteen frequencies for the price of one --- what a deal! (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 9370, WTJC (Workin' Till Jesus Comes!) with ID and into Jewish Awareness Ministries -- sounds weird until you hear them. These folk are a leeeetle confused and call themselves Jews who worship Jesus. Wonder what the Orthodox Jews have to say about that? Anyhoo -- - program about Passover/first feasts/unleavened bread festivals and the like, and offer of a free sub to their magazine. Might go well with Brother Jacob O Meyer's rag in the 'reading room' -- I'll have to consider sending my name in! :o 54+554+ with splatter from Greece on 9375 2300-2315 23/Oct (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE DXpedition, MARE Tipsheet Oct 30 via DXLD) ** U S A. 1860 AM 'This week in Amateur Radio' BROADCAST! via WA0RCR in MO with discussion of BPL, hams in space and a "psa" for hurricane relief in Fla. Didn't know this sort of thing was allowed -- they seemed to just have to not ask for money or take ads to make it legal, but they did have a 'look at our website since we can't ask for money on the air' plea. Silliness! 0410-0428 24/Oct 344 (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE DXpedition, MARE Tipsheet Oct 30 via DXLD) UT Sunday only ** U S A. ANTICIPATING A POST-ELECTION FCC http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/one.php?id=2429 In Washington, D.C., the real fun begins after the election, when various and sundry government officials leave or get booted from their nine-to-fives. One odds-on favorite for departure is FCC Chairman Michael Powell. Bush Administration or no Bush Administration, Powell is expected to boogie after the first of the year. Among Powell's grand accomplishments include allowing people to switch cell phone service without changing numbers, and implementing a "Do-Not-Call" list to rein in rampant dinnertime phone solicitors, who retaliated by inventing spyware. Like his fellow William and Mary alumnus, Jon Stewart, Powell has had a lot to say about broadcasters during his tenure, most of which included the phrase, "reclaim beachfront spectrum." His intention to complete a DTV transition bill before the end of the year (complete with digital must-carry and analog deadlines) seems to support the speculation that he's packing up the pictures of himself. Powell also wants to be known as the chairman who cut loose Broadband- over-Power-Lines and unlicensed devises in taboo TV channels, so the November and December FCC meetings could be whoppers with everything. Should the union survive the election and the Bush Administration continue to serve, FCC Commissioner and Chairman-in-Waiting Kevin Martin considered a favorite for ascending the throne. Martin's competition may include a woman who appeared in her Air Force jumpsuit on the cover of "Hispanic" magazine in 1991, for an article about why she left her job at the Bush 41 White House and volunteered for Desert Storm -- as a reservist. When Rebecca Klein returned from the Persian Gulf, she worked for then Gov. George Bush and then became chairman of the Texas Public Utilities Commission. Klein is running for Congress in Texas District No. 25, which extends in a narrow band from Austin to Mexico, and is heavily Democratic. Consequently, her chances for running the FCC are considered better than for representing District No. 25. Joining Powell in the exodus will be Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, whose term expired last June. Names on the Republican short-list for her seat include National Telecommunications and Information Administration Director Michael Gallagher; William Bailey, chief telecom advisor to Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz.); and FCC Chief of Staff Bryan Tramont. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, whose term expired in June, 2003, is also expected to vacate the Portals, unless his old mentor, Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) comes to his rescue. Daschle is currently occupied in the campaign battle of his life. Those considered in line for Adelstein's chair, if Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) wins the White House, include Greg Rothschild, senior minority counsel on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, an aide to Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and a former Kerry staffer. Rothschild would join the ever-steadfast Democrat, Michael Copps, who just could get tapped for the top spot under Kerry, sources on Capitol Hill said. Copps has been a vociferous critic of the Republican-controlled FCC, particularly over loosened media ownership regulations and what he feels are ill-defined public-interest obligations and lax indecency standards for broadcasters. There's no guarantee that anyone on either short list will make the final cut, as one observer noted. In past years, complete unknowns have garnered FCC appointments. One thing is certain, however--if Copps does take charge of the FCC, television will have to watch its language (via Kenneth A. Kopp, L.G., KKØHF, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. MEDIA CONSOLIDATION SEEN ON MENU IN ELECTION Fri Oct 29, 2004 11:04 AM ET By Jeremy Pelofsky http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=TL2BO2UJPIBQICRBAE0CFFA?type=reutersEdge&storyID=6661776&pageNumber=1 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Media and telecommunications mergers would likely face greater scrutiny by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission if Sen. John Kerry wins next week's presidential election, industry analysts and lobbyists say. If President Bush is reelected, these experts expect the FCC to continue freeing companies from regulation and pushing competition between cable, wireless, telephone and satellite systems, rather than within each mode. No matter who wins, the next president is seen getting a chance to reshape the five-member FCC due to the expected departure of chairman Michael Powell, but it's unclear who Bush or Kerry would select to replace him. The FCC, while a small government agency, has broad powers to decide who owns the nation's media landscape, set the rules for competition and enforce limits on the broadcast of indecent material. "On the question of media ownership, a Kerry FCC and (Justice Department) is likely to be tougher on media concentration," said Blair Levin, a former FCC official during the Clinton administration. The FCC last year relaxed ownership limits allowing companies to own more radio and television stations but a court put those rules on hold. The agency has until Dec. 2 to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court. If Kerry is elected, most expect the interim chairman to be Democrat Commissioner Michael Copps, who has railed against media consolidation, indecency, and how deregulating the telephone industry has hurt competition. Copps "has some pretty clear views that the FCC's current deregulatory path is the wrong path," said Paul Glenchur, an analyst at Schwab SoundView. "That's not great news for the Bells," referring to the major local telephone carriers. Cable and telephone companies have been lobbying the FCC to set the rules for deploying high-speed Internet service, a product good for their profits. But the companies have been fearful that they may have to share their new networks. Other names floating to lead or join the commission under Kerry include California Public Utility Commissioner Susan Kennedy, former FCC Commissioner Susan Ness, communications lawyer Antoinette Cook Bush, and former Kerry aide Greg Rothschild. One source noted it could be someone from outside the FCC world. But if Powell and his two fellow Republicans decide to leave right away, that could paralyze the FCC because it needs at least three commissioners to act and the new members must be confirmed by the Senate. If Bush is re-elected, most expect Powell to leave by mid-year, potentially to head the College of William and Mary whose president steps down in June or maybe move within the administration. That could open the door to Commissioner Kevin Martin or Kathleen Abernathy. Other Republican names include telecommunications consultant Janice Obuchowski, Texas Public Utility Commissioner Rebecca Klein if she loses her congressional race, and Michael Gallagher, the head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the Commerce Department. Regardless of who joins the FCC under a second Bush term, most industry watchers expect the agency to continue its hands-off approach, especially for new technologies like telephone services via the Internet. "If Bush wins, I see that continuing," said independent telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan. "If Kerry wins all bets are off." (via Kenneth A. Kopp, L.G., Amateur Radio - KKØHF, http://www.qsl.net/kk0hf/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. CAPE SENIORS FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHT TO OLDIES By RICHARD DEGENER Staff Writer Posted by Jason on October 24, 2004 at 14:35:03 on the New York Radio Board. From The Press of Atlantic City http://www.pressofac.com October 24, 2004 WILDWOOD - About 200 senior citizens took to the streets Saturday afternoon to protest a format change on WCMC 1230 AM that took away the music they came of age with. With a festive atmosphere, including a string band playing, the seniors carried placards and brought their message to the public, entreating New Jersey Avenue motorists to honk their horns in support of the cause. Many did. "What Are We, Chopped Liver!!! Wait Till You Get Old," read one placard. "This is senior power. This is a just cause," said Joe Quattrone, the 63-year-old North Wildwood resident who organized the rally. The seniors like Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Al Alberts, Frank Sinatra and other "classic oldies." They don't want "golden oldies," or anything resembling rock and roll. As for Bobby Darin, Pat Boone and the Four Seasons - the station may as well be playing Kiss or Aerosmith. "Now everything is bang, bang and thump, thump. I think it's so sad. I like the restful music. It's relaxing in a crazy world," said Betty Cichowski, of West Cape May. "It was all from the '30s and '40s, good music, and what they're putting on today is rap," said Bill Scheffold, 75, of North Wildwood. The protest was as much about losing disc jockey Jim MacMillan as it was losing the artists dating to the salad days of the area's older residents. MacMillan, 68, of Rio Grande, has been doing his morning show for 16 years, bringing the seniors music, news and weather while giving out pounds free fudge to his callers. A group of elderly women from the Jennie Ayres Senior Line Dance Troupe carried on a chant throughout the protest. "Hip, hip hurray. Cape May County needs Jim MacMillan to start our day," they chanted. Quattrone said his morning coffee "just doesn't taste as good" without Jim MacMillan. MacMillan, who has been on the radio for 47 years but said he would retire unless station manager Gary Fisher changes his mind, was overwhelmed by the response. He said the problem is changing demographics and automation in the radio industry. He said the station was not trying to force him. "It's about the music," MacMillan said. "We're a 1000-watt AM station on a peninsula, covering the southern tip of it, and that's all we can ever be." Fisher was out of town and could not be reached for comment, but Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano said he is meeting with him this week to try and change his mind. Trioano urged the seniors to continue pressing the station. They have been inundating it with calls and are even phoning station advertisers to put on more heat. Troiano urged them to continue. "The squeaky wheel gets the oil. If you don't want to squeak, you're not going to get the oil," the mayor said. Troiano read a letter he received from Fisher that, among other things, said: "It's clear we need to rethink things." The letter talked about a compromise. "In attempting to update and modernize the sound of WCMC, we were hoping to effect an evolution, not a revolution. Change is never easy in radio - and never easy in South Jersey - but we certainly did not intend to anger WCMC's loyal audience to the degree we have, or to burn any bridges in the process," Fisher wrote. Quattrone said there are many more seniors behind the protest who could not make it due to the cold wind. The seniors who did show were happy to talk to younger people walking by, to get them to support the cause. "We share our senior moments, even with the young," quipped Janet Blackmore, of Lower Township. Several speakers talked about how important WCMC is to the town, where it has broadcast since the early 1950s. "This radio station told me when I had to go school. It broadcast our basketball games. It would be tough to lose our history," Troiano said. State lawmakers also spoke, including Republican Assemblyman Jack Gibson, Democrat Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew and retired state Senator Jim Cafiero. "This is the music we grew up with. This is part of our life," Gibson said. MacMillan was cheered the loudest. He ended his speech with words he uses each morning to sign off with his loyal listeners. "Hug somebody. It's going to make you feel good," he said. With that, about 200 senior citizens began hugging. (via Pete Kemp, NRC-AM via DXLD) I wrote to the person who originally posted that article on a different message board. As I said in my email "I think the owner is finding out that you do not get retired people who have time on their hands angry and want to get behind a cause especially in a town where they can contact local advertisers (Lawrence Stoler, ibid.) I'm stunned. I thought the new model was about billing, cost containment, consolidation, and the listeners be damned. Especially the listeners outside the target demographic of young, ignorant, and easily swayed. Learn something new every day, I suppose (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, ibid.) I'll bet they have had that format since the late 50's. I can remember the first time I heard them, from northern NJ, in the evening, playing Johnny Mathis. This was a big deal to me as most all the GY's ran 250 watts, but there were still a handful with 100 watts, and WCMC was one of them. Another 100 watt GY I had back then was CFRC-1490 at Queen's U. in Kingston ON who did a DX test. These were 100-U1. The southern NJ signals audible on eastern LI during the day when I was there were 1230, 1340, 1400, 1450 and 1490, all roughly the same level except 1230 somewhat weaker. This was a long time ago. I used to hear WOBR 1530 Wanchese, NC all day long in the summertime from the Hamptons (east LI) before Bridgeport came on the air. WOBR was 250 daytime. This was on a small portable with no external antenna. The time was early 70's. This oldie format sounds like what WRZN 720 now has, though I almost never listen for them. That area is heavily populated with the retiree demographic. I'll bet there is similar loyalty to their format as well. Their spending demo may not interest media people, but yes, they can raise a lot of noise. About 10 years ago WGSM 740 had a show on Sundays, midday, for about 3 hours that featured this music type, it was produced by a syndicator (i.e. not locally produced) but that is long gone away now (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) ** VANUATU. 7260. R. Vanuatu, 0945-1018, Oct. 26, Vernacular, Pop/R&B ballads under static, YL over music at 1000, (presumed) news until musical bridge at 1005, two announcers with talks re "United Nations". Poor/weak with co-channel Mongolian Radio fade-in around 1013 with Mongol ballads (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, 200 ft. NW beverage, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. 66 AÑOS DE RADIO CELESTIAL (EMISORA VARGAS) El pasado 18 de octubre se cumplieron 66 años de la salida al aire de la pionera de la radiodifusión en el Estado Vargas, la Emisora Vargas, actualmente conocida como Radio Celestial 1170 AM. Durante una hora (ese mismo día) hubo una reseña de los momentos más importantes de esta estación, la cual ha cambiado de denominación 3 veces: Emisora Vargas desde 1938, Radio 1070 AM a finales de los años 70 y Radio Celestial 1170 AM en 2004. Desde 1979, la pionera del Estado Vargas se encuentra ubicada en la Residencia "Las Américas", entre las parroquias de Maiquetía y La Guaira. Gonzalo Veloz Mancera fue su fundador a finales de la década de los 30 del siglo pasado. Entre las anécdotas escuchadas, está la de uno de sus fundadores, el señor Badillo, quien en una época de dura crisis económica de la radio, se vio obligado a encender los transmisores de 9 am a 12 del mediodía. Luego se iba a su casa a almorzar (su domicilio se hallaba cerca de los estudios) y después volvía a poner en el aire la radio a las 3 pm. Todo esto con el fin de ahorrar energía y reducir los costos por facturación eléctrica. Otro dato curioso: para 1944, un locutor ganaba la cantidad de 300 bolívares y un operador devengaba 200 bolívares; para la tasa de cambio de la época, eso equivalía a una cantidad de 100 y 66 dólares respectivamente. Sin duda, un muy buen sueldo para aquellos años de conflictos bélicos y crisis económicas a escala mundial. Lo que sí no quedó nada claro en la reseña, fue el momento en el cual la estación debió mudarse de frecuencia debido a un conflicto con Radio Nacional 1050 AM. Por tal razón, la actual Radio Celestial tuvo que irse 100 kHz más arriba (1170) y desde ese instante surgió otro conflicto: la frecuencia real era 1170, pero la emisora seguía llamándose Radio 1070. Y así fue hasta el año 2004. En lo personal, siempre he estado ligado con la historia de esta pionera; mi madre, María Liendo, cantaba a través de sus ondas cuando todavía era una niña en la década de los 50 y mi tío, Francisco Liendo, saxofonista de la Billo's Caracas Boys, participaba también en sus transmisiones mientras daba los primeros pasos en el mundo de la música. La Emisora Vargas, un patrimonio histórico de todos los varguenses y en consecuencia, de todos los venezolanos. ¡Feliz cumpleaños! (Adán González, Certificado de Locución: 26950, Catia La Mar, Vargas, VENEZUELA, Oct 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ B-04 ENGLISH SHORTWAVE SCHEDULES The first edition of the B-04 English shortwave schedules are available at Prime Time Shortwave. These are available in ASCII text, DBase, Excel and HTML table formats at http://www.primetimeshortwave.com The Palm OS should be available in a day or two from Daniel Lyddy. The schedules are sorted by time, by country as well as by frequency. Users of screenreaders can find the ASCII text version as the following urls. http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/country.txt and http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/time.txt Good listening, (Daniel Sampson, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM +++ HFCC B04 DRM http://www.hfcc.org/data/B04drm.html 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, BDXC-UK via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES Phil Bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary July 14 2004 through October 27 2004 Tabulated from daily email status Date Flux A K SA Forecast GM Forecast Aurora Index 7/14 127 16 2 moderate minor 7 15 138 12 3 moderate minor 5 16 146 7 3 strong moderate 7 17 147 8 2 strong moderate 7 18 149 24 2 strong moderate 7 19 155 6 1 minor moderate 10 20 170 11 2 no storms moderate 4 21 175 9 2 moderate moderate 6 22 172 4 1 no storms minor 3 23 173 16 4 moderate moderate 8 24 165 41 3 moderate moderate 8 25 147 26 4 minor moderate 8 26 145 87 6 severe strong 9 27 128 22 3 strong strong 5 28 118 19 4 severe strong 10 29 101 15 3 minor minor 7 30 100 13 3 minor minor 4 7/31 89 7 2 no storms no storms 9 8/ 1 86 10 2 no storms no storms 7 2 83 10 2 no storms no storms 5 3 85 16 3 no storms no storms 5 4 88 4 0 no storms no storms 2 5 85 3 0 no storms no storms 4 6 89 5 2 no storms no storms 7 7 91 5 2 no storms no storms 6 8 95 18 2 minor no storms 4 9 105 5 2 no storms no storms 7 10 114 11 3 no storms no storms 7 11 121 18 4 no storms no storms 6 12 131 14 3 no storms minor 7 13 147 10 2 minor minor 2 14 149 6 2 strong minor 6 15 x x x x x x 16 139 4 1 moderate moderate 6 17 134 6 2 minor moderate 6 18 135 10 2 minor moderate 7 19 140 10 2 strong moderate 4 20 121 5 2 minor minor 4 21 x x x x x x 22 120 21 2 no storms no storms 8 23 115 17 2 no storms no storms 6 24 110 10 2 no storms no storms 7 25 105 8 2 no storms no storms 4 26 100 7 2 no storms no storms 4 27 98 8 3 no storms no storms 4 28 91 6 2 no storms no storms 7 29 87 13 2 no storms no storms 5 30 86 6 2 no storms no storms 3 8/31 90 21 3 minor minor 10 9/ 1 88 29 3 moderate no storms 9 2 90 7 1 no storms no storms 6 3 94 8 1 no storms no storms 5 4 97 3 1 no storms no storms 5 5 99 1 1 no storms no storms 4 6 105 9 3 no storms no storms 8 7 107 12 2 no storms no storms 6 8 119 17 2 no storms no storms 6 9 125 10 2 no storms no storms 4 10 131 5 2 no storms no storms 6 11 130 5 1 no storms no storms 3 12 116 2 1 no storms no storms 6 13 115 3 2 minor minor 1 14 118 7 3 minor minor 2 15 115 22 3 moderate minor 10 16 110 12 1 minor no storms 7 17 108 19 2 no storms no storms 6 18 105 20 2 minor no storms 6 19 103 23 1 minor no storms 4 20 105 3 1 minor no storms 8 21 101 10 1 minor no storms 4 22 95 9 1 no storms minor 5 23 91 18 2 minor no storms 9 24 90 12 2 no storms no storms 5 25 89 6 2 no storms no storms 6 26 90 6 1 no storms no storms 7 27 90 x x x x x 28 90 12 3 no storms no storms x 29 90 x x x x x 9/30 88 x x x x x 10/ 1 88 3 1 no storms no storms 3 2 88 x x x x x 3 89 x x x x x 4 89 13 2 no storms no storms 7 5 91 10 2 no storms no storms 7 6 x x x x x x 7 92 4 0 no storms no storms 8 8 94 4 1 no storms no storms 4 9 91 4 2 no storms no storms 3 10 88 8 3 no storms no storms 5 11 89 7 1 no storms no storms 7 12 87 10 2 no storms no storms 6 13 88 10 1 no storms no storms 5 14 87 25 3 minor no storms 7 15 91 26 3 minor no storms 5 16 89 7 1 no storms no storms 6 17 92 3 0 no storms no storms 1 18 x x x x x x 19 96 4 1 no storms no storms 6 20 99 6 1 no storms no storms 3 21 111 15 2 minor minor 5 22 112 9 2 no storms minor 4 23 123 6 2 minor minor 4 24 132 3 1 no storms minor 2 25 135 8 3 minor minor 10 26 140 13 2 no storms minor 4 10/27 137 3 1 no storms minor 3 ********************************************************************** (IRCA Soft DX Monitor Oct 30 via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was at mostly quiet to unsettled levels. A brief period of active conditions were observed at mid latitudes late on 24 October due to a weak, geoeffective coronal hole wind stream. Periods of southward Bz produced isolated major storm periods at high latitudes on 20 October. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 27 OCTOBER - 22 NOVEMBER Solar activity is expected to be low to moderate through early November and again from mid- November through the end of the forecast period due to possible M-class flare activity from Region 687. Otherwise, activity levels are expected to remain very low to low. A greater than 10 MeV proton event is possible through early November. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 10 – 13 November. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from mostly quiet to unsettled with isolated active periods. From 09 – 11 November, a recurrent coronal hole wind stream is expected to produce occasional active to minor storm periods with isolated major storm periods at high latitudes. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 Oct 26 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2004 Oct 26 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Oct 27 135 5 2 2004 Oct 28 135 5 2 2004 Oct 29 130 10 3 2004 Oct 30 125 10 3 2004 Oct 31 120 8 3 2004 Nov 01 110 5 2 2004 Nov 02 110 5 2 2004 Nov 03 110 5 2 2004 Nov 04 105 5 2 2004 Nov 05 105 5 2 2004 Nov 06 100 8 3 2004 Nov 07 105 10 3 2004 Nov 08 105 10 3 2004 Nov 09 110 15 3 2004 Nov 10 110 20 4 2004 Nov 11 115 15 3 2004 Nov 12 115 10 3 2004 Nov 13 115 8 3 2004 Nov 14 115 8 3 2004 Nov 15 120 10 3 2004 Nov 16 120 8 3 2004 Nov 17 120 5 2 2004 Nov 18 120 5 2 2004 Nov 19 120 5 2 2004 Nov 20 120 5 2 2004 Nov 21 120 8 3 2004 Nov 22 115 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Voting for G. W. Bush and his Republican, far-right religious and corporate henchmen will accelerate America`s road to ruin (Glenn Hauser) ###