DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-100, June 19, 2005 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 2005 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 57: Mon 0230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [1277] Mon 0415 WOR WBCQ 7415 [time varies, e.g. 0419 May 30] Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO Extra 57 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx57h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx57h.rm [Extra 57 is same as COM 05-03, with WOR opening added to hi version] WORLD OF RADIO Extra 57 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0503.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0503.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0503.html World of Radio Extra 57 in the true SW sound of Alex`s mp3: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_06-19-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_06-19-05.mp3 GLENN HAUSER`S WORLD OF RADIO VIA PODCAST To obtain the latest World of Radio via podcast please cut and paste the following link in to your podcast reader http://www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (Andy O`Brien, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Currently it`s #1277. Tnx to Andy for offering to do this. We hope latest editions can be availablized earlier ASAP after produxion (gh) WORLD OF RADIO RECEPTION IN THE UK MIKE EVANS asked about receiving World of Radio now that the World Radio Network channel on Worldspace is encrypted. Of the transmissions given in the listing in last month`s Contact best reception is via WWCR on Thursdays at 2030 on 15825. The other possibility is to listen to the Sunday 0230 transmission on 5070 using a timer to record the programme onto cassette or videotape. The Spectrum Radio relays of World Radio Network on 558 are, in UK time, Monday 0100-0300, 0600-0700, Tuesday to Friday 0000-0400, 0600- 0700, Saturday 0000-0100, 0600-0700 and Sunday 0000-0400. World of Radio is not broadcast during these relay times. When I visited World Radio Network last year they said that they had received a number of requests to be broadcast on FreeView but that it was an expensive platform and they could not justify it within their overall budget. World Radio Network is available in the UK on Sky Channel 872. Members might consider the non subscription FreeSatFromSky service if they wish to listen to World Radio Network. This service was launched last October and is available nationwide though Sky only publicise it in areas which cannot get Freeview. Purchasers can choose between a £150 package that includes the set-top box, dish, viewing card and standard installation, or a £20 fee for the smart card alone. The £150 package sees the smartcard guaranteed against upgrades for five years and the £20 card is guaranteed for three years; after these periods card upgrades should be no more than £20. Further information from Sky on 0870 606 1111 or visit http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk (World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. from Salaam Watander, Afghanistan comes this e- mail: Ian, I’m afraid we’re no longer responding to QSL requests: we just don’t have the resources or time. Thanks for your interest and sorry, David Trilling (Ian Cattermole, NZ, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. In the Bolivia section of DXLD 5-098 is this sentence: With her husband César Yamal Aulo, Señora Felima has three sons, Masmuth, Hasneyth and Hessen Yunifreth Bruno Yamal. Those names certainly strike me as unusual. They sure aren't Spanish. Do you happen to know from what language/source they come? Are they an indigenous Indian language form of name? Or maybe something religiously-inspired? (Don't sound Hebraic to me, either; maybe Aramaic?) Nothing to do with radio; just struck me as interesting! 73, (Will Martin, MO, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Will, It was discussed some time back that the Yamal family were referred to as `Turks` which in context could be anywhere from the Middle East. Don`t know exactly. Perhaps someone does (Glenn to Will, via DXLD) ** BURMA [non]. Re: 5-097: three frequencies are used for local evening service of Democratic Voice of Burma. June 18, Sign-on with Burmese song at 1429. ID was heard at 1430, followed by male talk and interview. Reception conditions: 15480 SINPO 25332, 17625 35433, 5910 43433 (Iwao Nagatani, Kobe, Japan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Update on Flooding in Alberta --- Fellas, As I am typing this e-mail report, the Town of Sundrie, (north of Calgary) is on evacuation orders, as the sandbagging on the Red Deer, is ready to break. The Town of High River (south of Calgary) is again under evacuation as flooding has happened again. A Local CBC filming crew where forced out of their motel room at 3:00 in the morning when knee- deep water got into their room, in Okotoks. Yesterday, another massive low pressure area,( from Montana) hit the foothills, with massive amounts of rain. Here in Coaldale, we got over 3 inches. The local grocery store lost its roof. The total roof collapsed at around 4 PM. The staff and shoppers where able to escape , through the back entrance, before the total roof caved in. Our only source of local groceries is gone. As well, just north of us, near Picture Butte, funnel Clouds were spotted, but none touched the ground. Grassy Lake, east of Taber, was drenched in hail that totally covered the ground. All the rivers, including the Oldman, Red Deer, Bow and South Saskatchewan are under flood watch. Yet, today, in Coaldale, the Sun is shining, but the worst is still north of us. [Later:] Amateur Radio Operations during the Flooding --- I failed to report on the how amateur radio has been used during this crisis. The Foothills Amateur Radio Club, out of High River, has been using their network of repeaters (both 2-meter and 70-cm (back-bone) though their main repeater of VE6HRB (145.170) This repeater is also linked through the SARA system, which takes in Calgary, Brooks, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, and areas which have also been affected (Lethbridge VE6UP 147.120). Their members have been helping out with evacuation, sandbagging, delivering food and emergency supplies, and keeping track of washed out roads and bridges. The Calgary group have headed up to Sundrie and Okotoks to help with relief operations, and are using the 70-cm back-bone link to keep operations with the 2-meter operations out of High River. This tireless group of volunteers have been operating with[out] relief, some for the past 48 hours or more, without a break. Presently, volunteers are being called out from other areas. During crises such this, its ham radio that can make the difference (Edward Kusalik, VE6EFK, June 18, ODXA via DXLD) [Later2:] After nearly three weeks of rain, flooding is still rampant. Today, Calgary (residences along the river and downstream) is being threatened by flooding from the North Saskatchewan and Bow River. Many families have flooded basements (up to ceiling depths), backed-up sewers in High River, Sunrie, Okotoks, to name a few. A local CBC (CBC 1010 Calgary) Radio and TV filming crew just managed to escape their hotel room in Okotoks, when two feet of water came rushing into their rooms, Friday night. Fortunately for us, no other damage from the rain BUT we lost our local grocery store, Coaldale Food Market. The roof collapsed after a heavy rainfall on Friday (2") . Shoppers and store staff where able to escape, with no one being injured. The store is a complete write-off (Edward Kusalik, AB, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Satellite radio approved: see INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** COLOMBIA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. - Reactivada el pasado 18/06, a las 0322 UT, en los 5909.88 kHz, Marfil Estéreo. Transmitía música romántica y "llaneras". SINPO 55544. Excelente señal aunque más corrida hacia abajo de frecuencia. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Early Cuban broadcasting: see COMMENTARY below ** CUBA [non]. I have read some reports that Radio Martí has been operating on 530. Is this a separate AM operation? Or is it leased time on the Turks & Caicos station? I am wondering how a second 530 within a hundred or so miles of the T&C could even be heard. On top of that, one report says that the 530 signal emanates from an airborne transmitter. I'm rather mystified as to how a low frequency AM could broadcast with more than minute power from a plane, and how it could get coverage, in any case. Is anyone well informed on this? (David Gleason, June 18, NRC-AM via DXLD) I remain surprised at how many continue to be unaware of what should be the obvious. The Pennsylvania Air National Guard 193rd PsyOps unit has existed for decades. Doesn't anyone remember the 1994 loggings from FL to Mass. on 1035 kHz when the 193rd was broadcasting over Haiti? I even posted extensive reports a few years ago, when the 193rd opened up the EC-130 and let attendees of MacDill Airfest walk through, ask questions and (for me) QSL'ed 1035? Anyone out there own a WRTH-2005? Rebelde is listed under 530 kHz. And look in the back of the book, under USA; the 193rd is even listed (p. 572). (Terry Krueger, FL, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FAROE ISLANDS. According to info from the operator Føroya Tele, the transmitter in Akraberg on 531 is run with 100 kW. Three times a day, during the main newscasts of Útvarp Føroya in the morning, noon and evening, the power is raised to 200 kW (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, June 17, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. Full data QSL cards where received for the following frequencies and transmitter sites: 17845 via Alma Ata, Kazakhstan 15355 / 17660 via Trincomalee, Sri Lanka 15425 via Kranji, Republic of Korea [you mean Singapore, sked at 1300 in Mandarin] 9900 via Irkutsk, Asiatic RSFSR 9545 via Nauen, Germany 7430 via Petropovlovsk, Asiatic RSFSR Reply in 14 days. v/s Horst Scholz, Transmission Management & B. Klaumann (Edward Kusalik, Coaldale, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume all these are DW (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. Just picked up this linkless snippet on the PBS discussion board; needs further looking into: ELLEN BRAUNE --- Deep Dish TV will provide live coverage of the World Tribunal on Iraq from Istanbul via a global satellite uplink June 24- 27, 2005. Deep Dish will uplink a one hour daily program from Istanbul featuring key presentations and evidence as well as in-depth interviews with the witnesses and presenters. The broadcast will be available for free downlink by radio and television stations throughout the world at 2100 to 2200 hours GMT (5-6 PM U.S. Eastern Time). The programs will also be broadcast on Free Speech TV (Dish Network 9415) at 8 PM June 24th through the 27th (via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) Later: "Grassroots" Deep Dish TV The following is quoted from: http://www.deepdishtv.org/wti/index.htm Deep Dish TV, will provide a global satellite uplink of the 16th and final session of the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) to be held in Istanbul, Turkey June 24-27, 2005. Deep Dish is offering all media outlets a free one hour program for television or audio downlink each of the four days of the conference. Program Availability * U.S. TV Broadcasts: The program will be aired in the U.S at 8 pm (ET) on Free Speech TV (Dish Network Channel 9415) and on over 100 public access stations throughout the U.S. * Satellite Downlink Coordinates and Times are attached to this release. All downlinks are free to all media outlets. * Web Streaming: The four one hour daily programs will be streamed on the Internet at http://www.deepdishtv.org and http://www.freespeech.org * DVDs of the programming will be available to journalists at the conclusion of the Istanbul World Tribunal on Iraq Press briefings and Interviews In addition to offering daily program coverage, Deep Dish will arrange for individual press briefings and interviews with World Tribunal participants, including distinguished member of the Panel of Jurists, expert witnesses, eyewitness journalists and Iraqi victims who are scheduled to testify. The World Tribunal on Iraq The final session of the WTI in Istanbul is the culmination of two years of rigorous investigation documenting violations of international law and human rights by the United States and its allies leading up to and during the invasion of Iraq and in the continuing occupation. Previous sessions of the WTI have been held in Barcelona, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Rome, Genoa, Seoul, Osaka, Hiroshima, Mexico City, Mumbai and New York. They have compiled a definitive historical record of evidence on the illegality of the invasion and occupation. For a summary of the testimony and verdicts of these WTI sessions see http://www.worldtribunal.org Hilal Kuey, the spokesperson for the upcoming WTI in Turkey stated, ``Since the U.S. administration does not recognize the International Criminal Court ... the citizens of the world have undertaken an initiative to reclaim justice. The world is calling for Bush and Blair to be held accountable for the crimes committed in Iraq.`` The Istanbul session of the WTI will summarize and present further testimony on the illegality and criminal violations in the U.S. pretexts for and conduct of this war. The expert opinion, witness testimony, video and image evidence will address: * The torture of prisoners * The unlawful imprisonment of Iraqi civilians without charges or legal defense; * The use and health risks of depleted uranium weapons; * The effects of the war on Iraq’s infrastructure, including the U.S. mandated privatization and sale of Iraq’s industries. * The destruction of Iraqi cultural institutions and the liability of the invaders in international law for failing to protect these treasures of humanity. WTI Participants WTI witnesses and jurors will include: Booker Award-winning author and activist Arundhati Roy; professor of international law Richard Falk; former assistant UN Secretary general Denis Halliday; former UN weapons inspector Hans von Sponeck, Baskin Oran, professor and member of the Human Rights Advisory Council in Turkey, Iraqi museum founder and curator Amal Al Khedairy, and journalist Dahr Jamail. The WTI and Mounting Opposition to the War The Istanbul Tribunal occurs at a time of growing crisis for the U.S. – UK war. In Washington Congress people are demanding the Administration explain the ``Downing Street`` memo which strongly indicates that they had planned the war long before and had manipulated or manufactured ``intelligence`` to create a public justification. Meanwhile polls show a drastic decline in Americans` support of the war. The evidence presented at the final session of the Tribunal in Istanbul will likely add to this momentum. Bush and Blair Invited to Appear in Istanbul On May 17 a formal letter was delivered to the White House and U.S. and UK embassies in capitals around the world—including Istanbul, Tokyo, Lisbon, and Brussels --- on behalf of the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI). The summons requested the attendance of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to defend charges that they are in ``violation of common values of humanity, international treaties, and international law`` for waging war in Iraq. The summons was signed by leading international figures, including international legal scholar Richard Falk and former Assistant UN Secretary General Dennis Halliday. White House press secretary Scott McLellan denied any knowledge of the summons. President Bush is not expected to attend (via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Glenn, I noticed the last time Sirius Satellite Radio updated its channels for new programming, it changed the name of its Air America channel to simply a Talk channel. After a little research, I found out that Air America is planning to leave the service. On the Sirius Backstage forum, a member posted the following E-Mail concerning this: Thanks, we got your email! We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us, and will gladly address your concerns regarding the programming on Air America // 144. While Air America Radio made the decision to leave SIRIUS, our commitment to great liberal talk programming continues. On SIRIUS Left // 143, we have an outstanding lineup of liberal talk including Ed Schultz; Alex Bennett; Lynn Samuels; Alan Colmes; Stephanie Miller; Thom Hartmann; The Young Turks, and more! And we're always looking to add or develop even more programs to give you the best variety of programming choices anywhere. Check out http://sirius.com for the latest information on our programming! As of right now Air America is still on the channel, but for who knows how long. You would think they would want as many outlets as possible to get their message out. Unless you have a local affiliate, your only option would be to subscribe to XM, once they leave Sirius. Speaking of new programming, on Wednesday June 15 they started relaying Jimmy Buffett's Radio Margaritaville, which before was only available on the Internet. It's described on their Web site as being "like the old pirate radio stations that sat offshore and played what they wanted." So far I've heard rock, country, reggae and Hawaiian, as well as plenty of Jimmy Buffett material, including audio feeds of his live concerts. They've renamed the Our Time channel, which was all talk for women, to Martha Stewart Living Radio. They are currently playing pre-recorded recipes and other information, and will go live sometime this fall. And of course, the so-called "king of all media" Howard Stern will join Sirius in January of next year (Steven Cline, Indianapolis, IN, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Satellite approved with strong CanCon rules http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/06/16/Arts/crct-satellite050616.html THE CRTC ON THURSDAY APPROVED THREE SUBSCRIPTION-BASED RADIO SERVICES, BUT IMPOSED STRONG CANADIAN CONTENT RULES. INDEPTH: Satellite Radio: FAQs "These licences will harness new technologies for Canadians and give Canadian talent exposure to listeners across Canada and indeed, North America... through new Canadian channels and airplay on U.S. channels," said CRTC chairperson Charles Dalfen. The commission placed Canadian content rules on two of the services, which will deliver content through satellite. Services from Canadian Satellite Radio and the CBC, partnered with Sirius, must offer: At least eight original channels produced in Canada. A maximum of nine foreign channels may be offered for each Canadian channel. At least 85% of the musical selections and spoken word programming broadcast on the Canadian channels must be Canadian. At least 25% of the Canadian channels must be in the French language. At least 25% of the musical selections on the Canadian channels must be new Canadian musical selections. A further 25% of the selections must be by emerging Canadian artists. The third pay service, to be run by CHUM and Montreal-based Astral Media, will used land broadcast towers. That service must comply with current regulations under the Broadcasting Act, including 35% Canadian content and for French channels, a minimum of 65% French music. Satellite radio offers commercial-free, near CD-quality sound no matter where listeners are in the country. It's delivered by a network of satellites, and not through the AM or FM band, which have distance and quality limitations. Listening to satellite radio requires specialized equipment, such as a receiver for your home or car. In the United States, where satellite radio has been in operation for several years, receivers are a dealer option in some cars. The proposed subscription fees are around $13 per month. Laura Nenych, with Ryerson University's communications department, said the niche channels appeal to people who spend a lot of time in their vehicles, such as commuters or salespeople. Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved (via Anthony Markewicz, Eric Floden, DXLD) and here is a link to the CRTC decision: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2005/r050616.htm (Sandy Finlayson, swprograms via DXLD) So, doing some quick math... Sirius had proposed five new Canadian channels-- CBC Radio One and Première Chaîne, as spoken word --- one in English, one in French. Presumably these are both almost 100% Canadian content. CBC Radio 3 and Bandeapart FM, as music -- one in English, one in French, each had promised more than 50% Canadian content and 80% music. Canadian Wave in English with 100% Canadian music content. The 25% French content has been achieved. Even if the additional three new channels required to meet the 8 channel minimum were all in English, the threshold will be met. The 85% Canadian content requirement appears to be met or is very well within reach already with the current five channels as proposed/ configured. If Standard added a French/Quebecois version of its proposed Canadian Wave service and CBC added Radio Two and its French counterpart, the 8 channel requirement would be met as would all the parameters set by the CRTC for music and for Canadian and French content. Of course, we've yet to hear the CBC's and Sirius' reaction. I also think the XM entry might have a more difficult time meeting the CRTC's parameters. And then there's always an appeal to Cabinet as an option. Ah, just saw this... the nine for one qualification (nine "foreign" channels for each Canadian-sourced channel) may be the fly in the ointment here. that would permit in effect an 80 channel service--8 Canadian and 72 foreign-sourced. Whether Sirius or XM have the technology to restrict some channels from going over the border. Both Sirius and XM now have 120 channels each (John Figliozzi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or it means that, for Sirius and XM's 120 channels, they'd need 14 Canadian channels. My guess is that Sirius and/or XM would be able to disable channels on receivers sold in Canada to meet these requirements. I suspect that's done at the receiver level, and I would wager it isn't that difficult to program. If that's the case, then I wonder if "grey market" imports will continue -- for those who want the additional channels? All things considered, this seems to be a reasonable approach. I could see radio broadcasters appeal the 8:1 ratio, though -- lobbying that they ought to be held to the same standard. See http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/article.asp?id=44464&issue=06162005 for a quote from Sirius Canada; see http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news/business/digital/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000963255 or http://tinyurl.com/bcc9o for a quote from XM. My supposition that Sirius can simply block Canadian receivers from receiving channels that would take them over the 8:1 ratio is correct -- Sirius Canada already said as much when they announced the Howard Stern contract last fall. See http://www.fradical.com/Stern_to_return_to_Canada.htm (Richard Cuff / eagerly waiting for CBC R1 on his Sirius receiver / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) I for one am in great hopes they don't block the Canadian stations from the US receivers. Possibly this new technology that Sirius has mentioned will be able to accept the 9 new channels. CBC all the time. Awesome (Bob Montgomery, PA, ibid.) I asked Sirius management about CBC availability to USA residents upon CRTC approval back in January. At that time, at least, Sirius expected to allow USA access to CBC channels once they launched their Canadian offering (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) Indeed, I believe it is part of the deal: Canadians exporting their content to the US. This is why the Canadian music industry was so supportive in its comments to the CRTC (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Here's a radical idea: how about letting Canadian consumers dictate what *they* want to hear versus what the _law_ says they should listen to? (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, ibid.) But Canadians *do* have a choice, when it comes to broadcasts. Those along the border can get local AM/FM stations in the United States; Canadians also have access to foreign OTA satellite, Internet radio and, of course, shortwave. And therein rests a paradox in how the Canadian regulatory system reacts to foreign broadcasts. The CRTC looks down on people subscribing to foreign services. That's because the CRTC obliges Canadian media companies to pay a percentage of their revenues for a fund that encourages Canadian talent development. Obviously, that fund would receive no money if Canadians subscribe to foreign services that aren't subject to Canadian laws. (In this latest round of approvals, the Canadian components of Sirius and XM will be obliged to pay the levy.) This fully explains why the CRTC doesn't give a rodent's rear-end about other media choices Canadians may make. It has never made any attempt to block free OTA foreign transmission -- whether they be cross-border AM/FM, on shortwave, over Internet or OTA satellite TV -- over their obvious lacking in Canadian content. Quite simply, it isn't worth the effort and it wouldn't pay off. [Off topic] Now, you think Canadian content regulations are weird enough as they are? The status quo is apparently causing problems for less-known Canadian artists. They are pushing for a revision of CanCon that would weight Canadian artists based on their fame to encourage radio stations to stay away from well-known and established acts (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Alta., ibid.) Long and continuing thread/discussion about this at the Southern Ontario/Western NY Radio board http://members2.boardhost.com/scrapbook/ (Fred Waterer, ODXA via DXLD) STORES EAGERLY ANTICIPATE SATELLITE RADIO CRTC has okayed the service with certain conditions --- Gillian Shaw Vancouver Sun June 17, 2005 B.C. retailers are eager to see satellite radios on their shelves after Thursday's decision by the CRTC to approve three licence applications for pay-radio services in Canada. But it could be late fall before the service is geared up and ready to meet stringent Canadian content rules. . . http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=fe415bd0-e4cf-4aea-bc56-a45e4a9a6b0a0 (BUSINESSBC via Dan Say, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. "WAR OF THE WORLDS": BEHIND THE 1938 RADIO SHOW PANIC by Stefan Lovgen, for National Geographic News, June 17, 2005 It was the day before Halloween, October 30, 1938. Henry Brylawski was on his way to pick up his girlfriend at her Adams Morgan apartment in Washington, D.C. As he turned on his car radio, the 25-year-old law student heard some startling news. A huge meteorite had smashed into a New Jersey farm. New York was under attack by Martians. "I knew it was a hoax," said Brylawski, now 92. Others were not so sure. When he reached the apartment, Brylawski found his girlfriend's sister, who was living there, "quaking in her boots," as he puts it. "She thought the news was real," he said. It was not. What radio listeners heard that night was an adaptation, by Orson Welles's Mercury Theater group, of a science fiction novel written 40 years earlier: The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells. . . http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0617_050617_warworlds_2.html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Good afternoon Moshe, We are celebrating Father's Day on Sunday 19 June and Dottie and I wish you a very happy Father's day and hope that you and your family are in good health. Will you have another broadcast extension? Regards. (George Poppin, SF to Moshe Oren, Bezeq, via Poppin DXLD) Thanks George, They will extend the service, but did not sent it officially. Best Regards (Moshe Oren, Bezeq, via Poppin, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And congrats to George and Dottie on becoming great-great- grandparents June 15 (gh) ** ITALY [and non]. Hi There, Effective from June 18, 2005, we are upgrading part of our Saturday broadcast on 15725 kHz to 50 kW. Here is the current schedule on 15725 kHz to Europe: IRRS-Shortwave to Europe on Saturdays only (15725 kHz stream): 0600-0800 UT (0800-1000 CET) 15725 20 kW (Radiosix & Celebrate Radio) 0800-1200 UT (1000-1400 CET) 15725 50 kW (Radio Mi Amigo) All other broadcasts on 13840 kHz and 5725 [sic, means 5775, or 15725?] kHz will be at the usual scheduled times. Reception reports are welcome to reports @ nexus.org Please check our complete frequency and program schedule at http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules/ Live streaming at : http://mp3.nexus.org and http://www.egradio.org 73, (Ron Norton, NEXUS-IBA support, PO Box 11028, 20110 Milano, Italy ph: +39 02 70606603 - fax: +39 02 70638151 e-mail : ron @ nexus.org http://www.nexus.org June 20, NRI via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 6024.92, RTM (tent.), June 17, 1323-1348, telephone call- in segments, with pop songs between segments, in Asian language (not Chinese), poor-fair/QRN. Noise level too high for any ID but fairly certain it’s them. Seems they have fixed-up the old transmitter, as I believe this was the last frequency I heard them on, well over a year ago. In the past this was reported as a relay of their domestic FM networks, with indigenous languages. June 19, 1256-1403, noted with fairly strong open carrier but no audio, so suspect they are still working on their transmitter. (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, NRD545, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kajang site near KL (WRTH 2005) ** MEXICO. Can anyone confirm that 1630 XEUT Mexicali only broadcasts on LSB? Are they 10 kW full time? This info would be useful to know when trying to log them on this side of "the Pond." (Barry Davies, UK, ABBDX via DXLD) XEUT used to transmit in C-QuAM stereo. Then, at the end of last year, they shut the pilot off, but are still using the stereo exciter, transmitting most of the audio on the right channel. This is not really true ISB, but technically, there will be slightly more audio on the lower sideband for this case (Darwin, Thousand Oaks, CA, ibid.) Thanks for the feedback, Darwin. Do you know if they are running 10kW full time now? (Barry Davies, ibid.) Yes, they're 10 kW fulltime, but sometimes they leave the transmitter on at night with dead carrier. It's a college station (University of Tijuana), so the studios are not always staffed (Darwin, ibid.) Altho mailing addresses for this in some sources such as WRTH 2005 are in Mexicali and Calexico, other sources put 1630 in Tijuana, which I think is correct. Evidently the station was transferred from the UABC to UT at some point; there may be FM // back in Mexicali (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. Estimados amigos, reciban un cordial saludo, hoy desde Sacañet en Castellón he podido escuchar a Radio Insurgente via Radio Klara por los 104.4 de la FM, según se publica en su pagina web: http://www.radioklara.org/programacio.html Los domingos de 14:00-15:00 hora local, 1200-1300 UT emiten Radio Insurgente, se puede escuchar en directo por internet (Jose Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia) España, Noticias DX via DXLD) Nothing in this item or on the klara site to indicate this is the R. Insurgente, Mexican clandestine which claims to be on SW 6.0 MHz but has never been confirmed; their programs are available on the web. I put it under MEXICO on the assumption this is it (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. USE OF RDS --- Those that have been receiving México FM radio stations recently have been noting the use of RDS/RDBS on some stations, and yes, it is growing in usage in México also. The AM/FM forerunner [frontrunner?] in México, Grupo ACIR, Cd. México DF (with 160 radio stations in 2000), in 1999, entered into a partnership with Clear Channel Communications. Grupo ACIR is essentially becoming the equivalent of Clear Channel in broadcasting in México. One of the many steps of the agreement between Grupo ACIR and Clear Channel would be to implement RDS/RDBS. This phase of the partnership began in earnest the fall of 2004, with Clear Channel engineers assisting Grupo ACIR engineers in implementation of the technology. Because of this move by Grupo ACIR and Clear Channel, other large radio groups in México, such as MVS Radio (Exa network), Grupo Latino de Radio (Los 40 Principales), and Imagen Telecomunicaciones (Imagen, the large news network of radio stations), are exploring their options in installing RDS/RDBS to stay competitive with Grupo ACIR. So, if you actively use RDS/RDBS to identify FM DX, working and logging México FM stations is looking up :-) Obviously, the major metro areas will most likely be equipped with this technology before the 'pueblos' receive it (Jim Thomas - wdx0fbu, Milliken, CO - 40 mi N of Denver, 40.22.830'N 104.59.500'W / DN70ko, Yamaha TX-900 / APS 13 @ 20' / RDS mgr, Total Recorder V5.0 & WavePad V1.2, June 19, WTFDA via DXLD) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV-FM_DX ** NEPAL. 5005 at 1433, R. Nepal, 5/20, Nepalese talks and traditional music. Several clear IDs and the dead giveaway was the time pips at quarter past the hour. Nepal is GMT +5 3/4! Fair but clear using sync detection. Otherwise heavy QRM from dead carrier on 5006 (Al Muick, Tinian, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120 at 0640 4/6, Wantok Radio Light with `Adventures in Odyssey` children`s feature, indigenous & contemporary gospel songs, English and Tok Pisin announcements, ident 0702 and sponsorship announcement. Initially fair but very good by 0800. Also heard at 2015 fair-good mixed CRI in Chinese. Clear from 2100 with Bible readings in Pidgin, 4/6 (Brian Clark, Mangawhai, Sony 7600G and a 16 metre random wire, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) 7120 at 0840 24/5, Wantok Radio Light fair in English with USA style gospel program. Local announcements with good ID at 0855. Official opening is June 11th but has been heard since May 23rd. Appears to be off some nights (Ian Cattermole, Blenheim, NZ. JRC 535, T2FD, Alpha Delta, ibid.) 7120 at 1925 25/5, Wantok Radio Light with female religious singer in English followed by continuous light religious music in English, better USB, ID 1942 as "Wantok Radio Light with thanks to those supporting station" , blocked by CRI at 2000. Also heard 28/5 at 0920, good, with preaching in English (Ken Baird, Christchurch NZ, Kenwood R5000, R1000, 18m wire, SW Eavesdropper, ibid.) 7120 at 1012 25/5, R. Wantok Light, new religious station from PNG with greetings to listeners reporting their SW broadcast, program on local constabulary. Joint venture of HCJB and another religious group. Just what we needed. Excellent sigs and slight QRM (Al Muick, Tinian/Saipan, Northern Mariana Is., Sony ICF 2001D, 15m wire, ibid.) ** PERU. Re 5-099: Glenn, Björn Malm would probably hear Radio Sicuani better if he tuned to 4826 rather than 4926 kHz; at least that's where I hear it all of the time. Also, the window for Sicuani usually is better before 1000. I hear it best at 0930 sometimes (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 9555, Russkoye Mezhdunarodnoye Radio (Russian Int'l Radio) /RGPK . Nice full data 'St. Peter and Paul Cathedral' QSL Card with accompaning letter in Russian. Also sent a schedule for the Russian language broadcasts. Reply in 18 months for a postal report, with follow-up sent one year after. Seems they apparently are clearing up a backlog of old reports. It's nice to see something coming out of Russia these days, not like the old days! (Edward Kusalik, Coaldale, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Re 5-099: Saludos Rubén, ya de vuelta en Valencia puedo decirte que anoche las sintonicé otra vez por los 12085, donde anuncian emitir por las frecuencias de 9330 y 12085 desde las 2215 UT; el SINPO fué de 44343 y pude apreciar el ruido que la acompaña hasta el punto de que deja de escucharse, sobre todo la música. Más tarde pasé por los 9330 y la escuche con un SINPO 54444. Atentamente desde (Burjasot en Valencia, José Miguel Romero, June 19, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. It appears that the new IBB MW transmitter on 972 at Orzu will be on the air by July 6, as power tests are about to begin, and Thalès says everything is done except for the dummy load. The new MW antenna will come later, as discussion of plans for that are still underway (Aaron Zawitzky, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Glenn, Don't know if you are a reader of The Economist, but you might want to mention or even quote from story in current (6/18- 24) issue titled "Old News and a New Contender - the BBC's excellent website may make it even harder for newspapers to survive" p. 52 in the US distributed subscription edition. (I gave up on US newsmags years ago, but The Economist is pretty comprehensive even if tilted toward conservatism on many matters.) (Ben Dawson, WA, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Glenn: Did you see this already? It is simply stupefying (Alan Bosch, Arlington, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: CHINESE SCRUTINY THREAT OF VOA HONG KONG MOVE --- By Sid Davis http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Comment/OpEd/061605.html The Voice of America`s (VoA`s) plan to outsource nearly one-third of its centrally produced news file to Hong Kong, of all places, comes as our own State Department publicly declares that Chinas arrests of foreign journalists are having `a chilling effect on press freedoms.` A State Department spokesman last week expressed concern over the arrest of Hong Kong-based Ching Cheong of the Singapore Straits Times on spying charges. Chinese security agents took Ching into custody April 22 when he was on a trip researching opposition voices to the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. Ching’s wife says the charges are untrue. Another journalist, a New York Times researcher, Zhao Yan, who has been held since last September, is accused of similar offenses. The VoA plans to reduce its overnight writing shift in Washington to a mere two editors and hire freelance writers and editors for an enlarged Hong Kong bureau, where they would be under the growing scrutiny of China`s State Security Ministry. Fourteen U.S. senators, led by Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), have written VoA Director David Jackson protesting the plan and urging him to ``cease any plans to outsource these jobs.`` The central newsroom writes much of the world copy for all VoA services. Like other news organizations, the VoA has long had a Hong Kong news bureau. But the VoA is now talking of dismembering its central newsroom for the first time in its 63-year history. As a result, the VoA would operate nearly a third of the time half a world away from the United States in a city under strict control of the People’s Republic of China. An enlarged VoA presence in Hong Kong would surely draw attention, perhaps harassment, from newly invigorated Chinese thought police whose marching orders are becoming more strident. VoA officials say the overnight shift’s move to China will save money. Promoters of the startling plan claim it has been difficult to get people here to work the overnight. The American Federation of Government Employees, the VoA union, says that’s not true. Overnight- shift employees receive a 10 percent pay differential. Since World War II, the VoA has brought light to the world with truthful, comprehensive reporting. The VoA has taught English to millions around the world, a record no other broadcaster holds. These genuinely American traditions could not have been accomplished by a disjointed VoA with a third of its central news writers thousands of miles away in a foreign land. The central newsroom must have access to the atmospherics of the United States — the political, diplomatic, main-street nuances of life in America, not Hong Kong. Increasing the VoA’s presence in China could tempt government hard- liners in Beijing. China has been jamming the VoA’s Chinese broadcasts without letup for 16 years. `User-friendly` hardly describes China. In 1989, China expelled two VoA correspondents as punishment for the VoA’s coverage of the Tiananmen massacre. Today’s Chinese leadership is desperately using strong methods to turn back the march of information technology among its citizens, interdicting websites originating in the free world. The VoA plan also assigns some of the VoA’s Internet responsibilities to its Hong Kong freelancers, placing their products in double jeopardy. The VoA’s central newsroom in Washington, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is its brain and spinal cord. Continuity is vital. Now the VoA faces becoming a laughing stock among international broadcasters, with a skeleton resident overnight shift and dependence on the untested reliability of freelancers in Hong Kong. Importing English, our primary language, from a virtually closed society is an embarrassment. This startling outsourcing edict comes at a time when U.S. public diplomacy is being tested and Chinese actions bring growing concern from organizations such as the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press. In defense of this damaging surgery, VoA Director Jackson is quoted as dismissing the controversy as a `tempest in a teapot.` But for the VoA and the people who have nurtured the VoA, it is more like a tsunami. Outsourcing one-third of the VoA’s news shifts to rented writers in China, the country that smashed the pro-democracy movement in 1989, is the wrong move at the wrong time to the wrong place. Enough already. Davis is a former vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News and former program director for Voice of America (The Hill June 19 via Alan Bosch, DXLD) See also TAJIKISTAN ** U S A. IN WASHINGTON, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A BAD IDEA Professor George Ayittey of American University floats his proposal for "Radio Free Africa" again, this time on PBS: "The best gift that rich countries can give Africa is Radio Free Africa and Radio Free Africa will do for Africa what Radio Free Europe did for Europe." NewsHour, 13 June 2005 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/jan- june05/debt_6-13.html U.S. international broadcasting to East Asia, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East falls short of its potential because finite transmitting, talent, and newsgathering assets are divided into separate entities that compete with each other. It's only fair that U.S. international broadcasting to Africa, the target area where it's now most successful, is similarly divided, so it can fall short of its potential, too (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) This comment is at the very end (gh) ** U S A. MANMADE LAKE STOCKED WITH FISH, BOATHOUSE, LODGE DRAW VISITORS TO OLD VOA TRANSMITTER SITE. At Bethany, Ohio, where county officials "envision an education center and an improved Voice of America Museum that would 'tell the story of history,' recounting how the former VOA relay station there once broadcast messages about democracy worldwide." Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 June 2005: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050615/NEWS01/506150386/1056/news01 Home of DogFest. Cincinnati Enquirer. 17 June 2005: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050617/NEWS01/506170411/1056/news01 (from http://kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Lots more new stuff there ** U S A. WEWN shows 11645 in use from 1100 to 2200 UT, converted from ``Hora de Miami`` (what has Miami got to do with anything?), at http://www.ewtn.com/spanish/Frequencias_radio.asp altho on their overall SW schedule page http://www.ewtn.org/radio/freq.htm 11530 is still shown! Would it be too much to ask for a station to keep its own schedule consistent and accurate? (Glenn Hauser, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re: [Swprograms] PROTEST CUTTING FUNDING FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING The government has been subsidizing public broadcasting for about 40 years. Enough already. On the one hand the feds want to meddle in the content of NPR and PBS programming because they help fund that programming. On the other hand the feds want to cut funding to help balance the budget. I say let's drop all government funding of public broadcasting and get the government's influence out of the program content. Let the people who value PBS and NPR pay for what they get. If NPR and PBS were solely funded by the people who value the programming, they would be more responsive to their audience's desires. I say let's put the "public" back in public broadcasting and tell the bureaucrats to bugger off. Many folks will not contribute to public stations because they feel they already support public broadcasting via their tax dollars. Eliminating that excuse may actually help public broadcasters' bottom lines. The current system of feeding at the government trough has resulted in stations expanding to the point where they now overlap coverage with the same program material. One of the most flagrant examples is the situation in Washington DC where WAMU-FM and WETA-FM cover nearly identical service areas with prime drive-time programming that is the same Morning Edition and All Things Considered programs on both stations. On the Delmarva peninsula, these programs are aired by three stations, WESM, WSCL and WSDL which have about 80% of their coverage areas overlapping. This is a waste. If the government money was not there to support this waste, the stations would be forced to diversify their products in the hope of garnering a larger loyal audience attuned to a particular type of program material. The programming would be more diverse and the people would stand a better chance of getting the type of programming they want. Government has done its job of providing the seed money to get the public broadcasters up and running. It is now time to back off and let public broadcasting learn how to swim without water wings (Joe Buch, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Your argument would hold more water if the level of government funding was significant. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 15% of the average station's budget. Most goes to program production and development for PBS. Where the money to develop programs would come from otherwise would be the same place it comes from on commercial TV --- the corporate world. Public broadcasting should be different, I think; and it won't be if the private sector pays for it. The stations that will feel this the hardest, btw, are the ones serving rural and outlying areas...Alaska, e.g. --- not the ones in the DC area. The right wing is creating all this smoke because the public broadcasting sector is the one segment of the media that hasn't knuckled under to them. They won't be happy until it either echoes Fox News or is completely dismantled. And your argument, my friend Joe, plays right into their hands. The day we stop paying for public media as taxpayers should be the same day I can opt out of sending my hard earned money to Iraq or flying the President back to DC to sign a bill to keep a brain dead woman on life support. Enough is enough of these fascists (John Figliozzi, ibid.) Sacrificing 15% of the system's budget is a small price to pay to get overt political influence out PBS and NPR. Each affiliate station kicks money back [to] NPR or PBS to pay for the programming they air. Some of that money finds its way to new program development. I think the assertion that if federal funds are removed from the equation the system would crumble is "crying wolf". Most new development comes not from the "corporate world" but rather from foundations like MacArthur, Annenberg, etc. While one might argue that the Ford Foundation could steer watchers of Nova to buy a Mustang, I really doubt the connection is very strong. Yes, the president and his lackies are trying to sink public broadcasting because from where they stand everyone to the left of G. Gordon Liddy looks positively subversive. As long as government controls 15% of the purse strings, government will feel entitled to jerk on 100% of those strings any time they please. Time to cut the strings. As far as not paying your taxes to support an immoral war or a misplaced notion of the sanctity of brain-dead vegetable life, there are prominent folks who have done just that and they still seem to walking around freely without striped suits. Maybe if we all had such courage we could stop this madness. On the other hand, is it any surprise Bush would support the sustenance of brain-dead vegetable life? (Joe Buch, ibid.) ** U S A. FEDERAL FUNDING FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING IS UNDER ATTACK. This week, the House of Representatives will vote on an appropriations bill that cuts federal funding for public radio and television by 45%. A cut this severe will have major consequences for stations across the country, including KUSP. Jump to read effects on: KUSP OTHER STATIONS NPR . . . http://www.kusp.org/temp_doc/cpb_funding.html (KUSP via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) The KUNM show about this Sat at 2300 UT was actually Forum, from KQED, seemingly recorded Friday morning, but not when one consults KQED`s online schedule. I was hoping to find an audio archive. A Republican made the same argument as Joe Buch above. No doubt most other public radio and TV stations have set up pages about this, such as WCNY http://www.wcny.org/about/TakeAction.php (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WATCHDOG HAILS CUT IN US PUBLIC BROADCASTING; URGES COMPLETE DE-FUNDING Accuracy in Media, the oldest media watchdog organization in the US, has praised the House Appropriations Committee for approving a bill that would cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by $100 million, or 25 percent. "This is a step in the right direction," declared Cliff Kincaid, editor of AIM. "But Congress must go further and completely de-fund public TV and radio. All $400 million a year should be terminated." Kincaid commented, "There was a time when non-commercial public broadcasting may have offered an alternative that people couldn't find elsewhere. With the rise of cable television, talk radio and satellite TV and radio, however, the public should not have to subsidize public broadcasting through their hard-earned tax dollars." Kincaid added, "The Congress has appropriated over $8 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting since 1969. It is time for taxpayer funding of public TV and radio to end. Let them survive in the marketplace – if they can. Or let George Soros pay for it." # posted by Andy @ 09:41 UT June 19 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Already abandoned by the BBC with their infamous decision to silence their World Service shortwave broadcasts, this vandalism would merely guarantee that US talk radio became a quality-free zone devoid of impartiality and accuracy. Outside the few areas in reach of NPR and suchlike, the terrestrial talk choice is usually little more than endless timechecks, traffic and weather reports and the rantings of religious bigots and shock jocks. At best you might get a bit of rip 'n' read US news but not much else. It's hard to see how destroying quality programming can possibly improve 'Accuracy in Media' (Gerry, 06.19.05 - 11:42 pm, ibid.) AIM has a far-right agenda: see what FAIR has to say about it: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1972 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** U S A. It has long been my belief that political talk of either stripe actually thrives in a market where those political views are in a minority. Hear me out on this: Even the most successful talk stations out there still draw what amounts to a niche audience; a 10 share is all but unheard of in talk radio. What the format DOES offer is pretty intense loyalty among listeners, and often very high time-spent-listening, and what better way to make that niche yours than by giving a minority a station that they can feel is exclusively "theirs" - a bulwark, if you will, against the dominant majority opinion. New York's hardly a liberal town, but nobody can deny that WABC (and to a lesser extent, WOR) do exceptionally well. Ditto Seattle, where KVI racks up excellent ratings and profits with a decidedly right-leaning talk lineup. And what of San Francisco, where ABC's KSFO launched Michael Savage into national prominence - and he wasn't even the rightmost voice on the station? A 7 or 8 share is pretty huge in a top-ten market, and all you need to get there is, well, 7 or 8 percent of the audience. Even in the bluest precincts of San Francisco, I'll bet you can find 7 or 8 percent of the population that's Republican, and who else in town is catering to them but KSFO? (Well, now there's CC's KNEW, too...) This is also why I don't expect huge ratings from WLIB or its progressive talk cousins in places like Boston or San Francisco. There's already plenty of liberal opinion to be had in those markets every day. I'm not at all surprised that the bigger successes have been in places like San Diego, where there's a sizable liberal listener base, but it's far from the majority in town. As for Massachusetts, a state I like to think I know more than a little bit about, keep in mind that there hasn't been a Democratic governor since 1990. The state's hardly as monolithic, politically, as it may appear. There was a time, now gone, when talk radio - especially WRKO in its heyday, with Jerry Williams and a not-yet-stale Howie Carr - really worked hard to keep both sides on their toes. Nobody was safe from Jerry. I don't hear that as much anymore when I listen to talk in Boston, and it's a pity. (That doesn't even begin to touch the fascinating political animal that was the late David Brudnoy on WBZ; his libertarian views didn't mesh neatly with either party's platform, yet he was for years the most-listened-to talk host in town, bar none.) Boston was an interesting place to be listening to radio 15 years ago, and it's still an interesting place to read the newspapers - don't forget that the decidedly right-wing Herald still draws several hundred thousand readers daily, and it fights hard against the rather left-leaning Globe. Again, not even close to the monolith that it may appear to be from the outside. s (Scott Fybush, NY, NRC-AM via DXLD) It would be even nicer if we could have one forum where all sides could be allowed to make their points without being vilified. It would be nice to hear a talk show where someone who disagrees with the host would be allowed to complete a sentence. It would be nice to hear a talk show where intelligent people on the opposite side aren't automatically screened out. The closest I've heard to reasonable and reasoned conversation among people with divergent viewpoints hasn't been available in the Dallas-Fort Worth market for several years. I speak of Jim Bohannon. KMOX's Jim White, before his retirement, would occasionally get angry at particularly stupid callers, but divergent opinions were allowed and discussed intelligently. It's been a long, long time since I've listened to commercial radio for content! (Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon, ibid.) ** U S A. rfb's fate may be up to judge, By MIKE KALIL Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- An assistant Vermont United States attorney is asking a judge to decide without a trial whether radio free brattleboro should stay on the air. Michael P. Drescher has asked a federal judge to give a summary judgment in the case, saying the facts are not in dispute. Radio free brattleboro, or rfb, has objected to Drescher's request, saying there are still unanswered questions. If granted, the move will speed up the court process and possibly take rfb off the air before another community radio station goes live. Rfb has pledged to turn its signal off when another station like it arrives, and a separate Federal Communications Commission-approved project is in the works... http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8860~2921484,00.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Re WA2XMN: It is interesting that the FCC felt they could issue a 3-month STA for a broadcast station on 42.8 MHz with coverage of NYC. Tells you how much the land-mobile service is using the low- band these days. (maybe a suitable replacement for IBOC would be Eureka digital in the 42-50 MHz band?!) – (Doug Smith, W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com June 19, WTFDA via DXLD) The WA2XMN operation was coordinated with APCO land-mobile operators in about a half-dozen states, according to Steve Hemphill... s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. At the below link there is some interesting information and some audio clips about WMLP 1380 in Milton Pennsylvania. This year they are celebrating being on the air fifty years. I remember listening to them from Lewistown, Pennsylvania when they were on 1570 when I was in high school in the late fifties. They had a good signal and a lot of us teenagers enjoyed their format. http://www.wvly.com/wmlphistory.html (Tom Dimeo, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 17, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Nothing new concerning Indiana's DST law, but our main news/talk station here in Indianapolis is "joining the digital revolution" as they put it. WIBC-AM 1070 is now broadcasting in IBOC mode and they've posted a link to the iBiquity web site explaining the benefits of HD Radio (Steven Cline, Indianapolis, IN, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MEDIA VIEWS: CARDS' MOVE FROM KMOX WOULD RUFFLE FANS' FEATHERS --- By Dan Caesar Of the Post-Dispatch 06/18/2005 Cardinals president Mark Lamping says the team will decide on a radio station based on what best supports the team's competitive position on the field. (James A. Finley/AP) [caption] KMOX or KTRS? That is the question Cardinals officials continue to ponder regarding where they will place their radio broadcasts next season. Sources say that Infinity Broadcasting, KMOX's owner, has upped its offer several times and a key point now involves more than money, that it comes down to the question: "Do the Cardinals want to get into the business of owning a radio station?" And, according to multiple sources, the answer more and more is looking like "yes." The main differences: If they move to KTRS (550 AM), they would be buying into the station. If they remain at KMOX (1120 AM), they would continue to merely be paid a rights fee from the station. . . http://tinyurl.com/7fqxk (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. KYAA-1200 Soquel, CA no longer has Oldies. This morning 06/15/05 I heard them in a southwest Asian language. Further listening shows that they are airing BBC World News in Hindi. There is also frequent mention of Punjabi, so they are using at least these two languages. They still ID in English on the hour as KYAA. Their slogan sounds something like "Radio Hunsaferd." (Albert Lehr - Livermore, CA, June 15, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. WWVB TESTS MODULATION CHANGE The nation's LF time and frequency station, WWVB, has been testing a different amplitude shift for transmission of its usual time code signal during May. A 10 dB decrease in signal strength has long been used, but for some parts of the month a 20 dB downward shift has been in effect. FUll-amplitude carrier power remains the same. The latest such test ended on May 26. The 60 kHz station is operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) near Boulder, Colorado. It underwent antenna and transmitter improvements in the late 1990s to make its signal more available to the wide variety of "atomic clock" timepieces now in use by businesses and consumers all across North America. According to an analysis by K. C. Allen of the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA), changing the modulation depth could increase the signal-to-noise ratio of clocks using matched filter receivers by the same amount as if transmitter power were increased by a further 2.4 dB. To keep track of the testing, and to find a short paper on the subject in PDF format, visit the WWVB Outages page at http://tf.nist.gov/stations/wwvboutages.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. HAWAII, 11555, Radio Hoa-Mai via KWHR, June 18 *1329-1357* Similar programming that is being heard, with I.S. of bells tolling, sign-on in VT with ID for 'Radioa Hoa-Mai..' , followed with program in VT, with short musical breaks. Noted with sign-off announcements at 1355 and gave the web site information (2x) off with bells tolling (Edward Kusalik, Coaldale, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Hi Glenn, 15145, 1700 sign on 17 June, heard in Zimbabwe with moderate local jamming which does not affect reception. Transmission site still likely UK, Ramphisham 500 kW. 73 (David- Pringle-Wood, Zimbabwe, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. NO IDENTIFICADA: 1045 kHz. 0955-1005. Noticias de corresponsal en idioma andino mezclado con palabras en español "camara alta, justicia, etc" aparentemente hablando sobre la situación política de Bolivia. A las 0959 voz de locutor "gracias a nuestro corresponsal. Son las seis menos u minuto ... en estos momentos hacemos una pausa para identificarnos ... 1040 khz en amplitud modulada...". Un fuerte desvanecimiento, sumado a un mala modulación, me impidio escuchar la identificación. Luego de las 10:00 continuó con una canción en español. Agradecería cualquier información al respecto (Miguel Castellino, Godoy Cruz, Mendoza, Argentina, via Arnaldo Slaen condig list June 18 via DXLD) WRTH has three Bolivians on 1040, one on 1050 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn Hauser --- I think I first became aware of Glenn when he provided a multitude of information on broadcast band stations in Thailand where he served our country in the military. We first learned of all those "Or Por Thor Tors," et cetera. Glenn's subsequent editorial work with the North American Shortwave Association morphed into the "World of Radio" effort that he puts out today. I doubt that there is anyone in the history of the hobby who has keyboarded more information, more often, and made it available to us. Glenn, to me, is one of the heroes of DX sharedom, if there is such a word. Glenn was for a time a regular attendee at National Radio Club conventions, and in 1981, when I hosted the Illinois News Broadcasters Association convention in Mt. Vernon, I convinced Glenn and Jeff White, later of Radio Miami International, to form a panel to discuss the availability of shortwave broadcast news as audio sources for U.S. radio station newsrooms. (Back when there were U.S. radio station newsrooms.) Glenn has taught us a lot about shortwave broadcasting, international politics, and geography, including the term "UKOGBANI!" (John Callarman, TX, ABDX via DXLD) From COMMENTARY article below COMMENTARY ++++++++++ THE FATHERS OF DX If we were to compile a list of the "fathers of DX" --- those people who, by their DX-related activities (commercial and non-commercial) and publications --- helped define the DX hobby, these would be my nominees in alphabetical order: Hank Bennett Gerry Dexter Perry Ferrell Bob Grove Glenn Hauser Don Jensen Tommy Kneitel Gordon Nelson Fred Osterman C. M. "Stan" Stanbury II The people above are very different, and, from personal knowledge, I know of some very bad blood between a few of them. But all, in various ways, are responsible for the DX hobby we have today --- their fingerprints are everywhere you look in DXing. Some --- like Dexter, Grove, Hauser, and Osterman --- are still active, some like Jensen and Kneitel have retired from the hobby, and others such as Ferrell, Nelson, and Stanbury have died. There have been other contributors over the years, but these are the main ones we owe our thanks for helping create today's DX hobby (Harry Helms W5HLH, Wimberley, TX EM00 http://futureofradio.typepad.com/ ABDX via DXLD) And let's not forget that DX'ing goes all the way back to the mid 1920s when it was called 'Radio Golf' -- newspapers actually gave prizes to the listeners who received the most stations from the most distant places (Donna Halper, ibid.) Her comments were directed to Harry Helms' comprehensive list of "Fathers of DX" that included Hank Bennett, Gerry Dexter, Perry Ferrell, Bob Grove, Glenn Hauser, Don Jensen, Tommy Kneitel, Gordon Nelson, Fred Osterman, C. M. "Stan" Stanbury II. Name-dropping and quibbling aren't my favorite activities, but I can honestly say I have met and conversed with six of the nine people on Harry's list ... never had the pleasure of meeting Hank Bennett, Bob Grove or Tommy Kneitel ... but the point of my earlier comments were, in addition to the fact that I don't qualify as a father of DX, that the real fathers of DX were at least a generation before me. Harry's list is, with perhaps one exception, an excellent list of people who have built upon the foundation established in the '20s by largely unremembered individuals and in the '30s and '40s by some fairly well documented individuals -- DX'ers, publishers and editors of nationally circulated magazines and founders of radio clubs whose efforts led to where we are now. If Harry's list can be termed the Fathers of DX, I'll offer a list that could be called the Grandfathers of DX. My list is neither in alphabetical order nor order of importance ... merely in order of when they show up in my memory. Let me break them down by institution, and staying power: Radio News, later Radio & Television News, publisher Hugo Gernsbach and Shortwave Broadcast Editor Kenneth R. Boord. There'll be more references to Boord in this treatise. RADEX, Editor/Publisher and founder Fred C. Butler, who established the magazine in 1924 as a newsletter listing station schedules. It peaked in the mid-'30s, led in part by shortwave editor Page Taylor and BCB editor Carleton Lord. Lord had earlier worked for a competitor, Keller's Radio Call Book and Log, for many years wrote my favorite column in the Newark News Radio Club Bulletin, and provided a great amount of material for the National Radio Club's 50th nniversary booklet. The Newark News Radio Club, founded in 1927, the first of several clubs sponsored by newspapers. Irving R. Potts was its first president and remained involved, even after the newspaper dropped sponsorship of the club, until his death in 1962. Hank Bennett was not its first SWBC editor, but I look at him as one of the definitive SWBC column editors (more later on Hank.) The National Radio Club, one of three survivors of a list of 61 radio clubs that were in operation in the late '20s and '30s, following in the footsteps of the NNRC. The other two surviving clubs are in New Zealand. NRC's 50th Anniversary publication lists Club founder Joe Becker, J.B. "Pat" Reilley and Ray B. Edge as the legendary backbone of the club. Ernie Cooper, whom I add to the list, was also a club member in the '30s and the long-time editor of the club's main bulletin section, as well as being an excellent DX'er. White's Radio Log ... founded by Charles DeWitt White, whose first Log Book, "The Rhode Island Radio Call Book," was published in 1924, according to a history written by Don Jensen for Volume 1, Number 1 of the resurrected White's Radio Log sometime after 1981, when Communications World magazine died. It probably attracted more people to DX'ing over a protracted period in the early days of broadcasting. A place needs to be found, too, somewhere on our list for Vane A. Jones, of Indianapolis, who followed in White's footsteps. Carroll Weyrich, NNRC's BCB editor, who typed an annual listing of MW broadcast band stations from 1950 to 1959 (and was my inspiration when I typed the first NRC Log in 1968.) Veteran SWBC DX'ers who reported to Ken Boord's ISW column in Radio & TV News, and were role models for fellows like Don Jensen and Gary Dexter in the early '50s. Names that come to my mind include August Balbi of California, Grady Ferguson of North Carolina, George Cox of Delaware, Paul Karagianis of Pennsylvania and Cyprus and Roger Legge of Virginia, who was a DX'er who became a Voice of America employee before one of my contemporaries, Dan Ferguson. These DX'ers contributed to a carbon-copied round-robin newsletter that Ken made available to me in 1958 when I edited an SWBC column for the Universal Radio DX Club. The World Radio Handbook, first published in 1949 (perhaps earlier), and its founder [O. Lund Johansson], whose name slips my mind, though I do remember the name and address of the North American agent from whom I purchased my first WRH, Ben E. Wilbur, 32 Whittlesey Avenue, East Orange, New Jersey. Arthur T. Cushen of New Zealand, long-time DX'er, information sharer and hobby historian. I do not recall, when I was breaking into the hobby, that there were niche business firms such as Bob Grove's Grove Enterprises and Fred Osterman's Universal Radio, available to us DX'ers. I suspect there are some of the names on Harry Helms' list which may be unfamiliar to many of the younger DX'ers on this list. Perhaps my observations about some of these individuals might be of interest. Hank Bennett - I've mentioned his name earlier in his capacity as NNRC's SWBC editor. When Popular Electronics added an SWBC column, as I remember it, PE first turned to Ken Boord as its SWBC column editor. That relationship didn't last long, and Bennett became Boord's successor, and served for many years as the primary newstand source for SWBC information. One of Bennett's regular contributors, Joe P. Morris of Cleveland, had established a DX'er registration program, giving DX'ers call letters, based upon the 10 ham call areas, with a WRØ prefix. When the popularity of Morris's program transformed from a labor of love into a mere labor Bennett convinced Pop 'Tronics to take over the program, which he administered, and the WRØ prefix became WPE. I got my call in 1958 ... WPE5JH, when I lived in Hereford, Texas. Later, PE dropped its SWBC column, but Bennett maintained the CL program, changing the prefix to WDX. (When I worked at WMIX-940 in Mt. Vernon, as a lark I sought and received a "vanity" call from Hank, WDX9MIX.) Hank is one of the two on Harry's list that I have not met. Hank also compiled and edited the early editions of TAB Books' "The Complete Shortwave Listener's Handbook." (I let my early copies get away from me .. I have the fourth edition, with Hank Bennet, David T. Hardy and Andrew Yoder listed as compilers, and by 1997, when the fifth edition was published, Yoder was credited as the sole compiler. I had thought that Harry Helms was associated with this book, and my copy of "The SWL's Manual of Non-Broadcast Stations," published by TAB in 1981, lists among Harry's previous publications the second edition of the Bennett book. Harry, in my estimation, belongs on the list he compiled.) Gerry Dexter - When CQ began Popular Communications lo those many years ago, my memory tells me that Gerry became its SWBC editor, and continues in that role today. One of the more comprehensive collections of articles on the hobby was edited by Gerry Dexter in 1986, "Shortwave Radio Listening with Experts," published by SAMS. Gerry also for many years maintained a comprehensive and updated list of verification information for SWBC stations. I met Gerry in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 1965 when I took an extended trip through Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin following the NRC convention in Cedar Rapids that year. Oliver Perry Ferrell - I had only a brief handshake with Perry Ferrell at an ANARC Convention, in Indianapolis in, I believe, 1975. He for a time had followed Ben E. Wilbur as the primary North American distributor for the WRTVH, operating as Gilfer Associates (Gil, if I remember correctly, for his wife's maiden name [Gillespie] and "Fer" from his surname) and dealt a number of other special publications and equipment geared for DX'ers. He was probably best known as the compiler of a comprehensive and detailed list of utility stations on the shortwave band. I still have one edition of his list, back when I had a brief but passing interest in Utes. Bob Grove - I suspect there's no real need to thumbnail Bob Grove, as I imagine we're all familiar with his "Monitoring Times," which I believe to be the best of the comprehensive DX hobby publications available since I've been aware that others besides myself were DX'ers ... that'd cover a 55-year span. I suspect, too, that many of us have bought equipment from Brasstown, as well. I hated to dispose of years of MT issues when we made the move from Mt. Vernon, Ill., to Krum in 2000, but there just wasn't room to transport them, nor to store them here. I do recall Bob's publication before it switched from a newspaper-style format to the magazine format it employs today. Glenn Hauser - [see UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS above] Don Jensen - Don is one of the real gentlemen in the hobby. Purely by accident, we met in 1966 in the Chicago airport when we both boarded a plane for Montreal, where both were to attend that year's NRC convention. We got well acquainted during the flight. Don never became active as a BCB DX'er, but he was possibly the greatest of all SWBC DX'ers. I mentioned earlier that Jensen, Dexter and I were among youngsters in the early '50s who contributed to Ken Boord's ISW column in Radio & Television News ... and Dexter and Jensen grew to be experts in the SWBC side of the hobby. I'm still a tinkerer! Jensen was a reporter and editor for a newspaper in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and he used his reporting skills to establish one of the most popular columns in the NASWA bulletin. I wrote a couple of articles for Don's NASWA column back in the '70s. Don's greatest contribution to the hobby was to found ANARC, the Association of North American Radio Clubs, which operated for more than 30 years before it disbanded recently. Tommy Kneitel - The only contact I had with Tommy was when I wrote a letter complaining about an item in one of his columnists' reports that I considered to be an attack on a prominent DX'er. His response was short and terse, telling me that he receives a lot of mail from DX'ers jealous of the columnists in his publication. My disappointing experience with Mr. Kneitel does not in any way diminish the contributions he made to our hobby. Electronics Illustrated was particularly good at documenting relatively simple construction projects and providing easy to understand, step-by-step drawings for those of us uncomfortable with trying to decipher a schematic. Many young people were attracted to the hobby by Kneitel's work, and his various magazines support. For his induction into CQ Magazine's Amateur Radio Hall of Fame last year, the ARRL website profiles Kneitel thus: "Prolific writer on various radio topics; columnist for Popular Electronics and Electronics Illustrated; editor of CB Radio and S9 magazines; founding editor of Popular Communications; author of numerous radio books." Gordon Nelson - I have written many words of praise for this electronic genius, whose antenna and propagation work form the primary basis for much of the NRC technical library. Gordon's work spurred a number of others to carry on his antenna and propagation work. His greatest contribution along those lines was to make detailed construction projects relatively easy to duplicate. When I edited NRC's International DX Digest, Nelson's reception reports were the highlights of of the column. I have written in the past that I consider my most important contributions to the hobby to be, not necessarily in this order, the establishment of the NRC Log and convincing Gordon to succeed me as IDXD editor when I became NRC's executive secretary/publisher. When NRC's Pete Taylor hired me to move from Houston to Cambridge, Mass., to help put WCAS on the air, it enabled me to work closely with Nelson and to know him well. When I married and my new bride insisted I divorce myself from the weekly publication chores, Nelson saved the club by moving from mimeograph to offset printing. NRC was the first DX hobby publication to go offset, and the combination of the publication style and the large number of technical articles than remain staples of the hobby resulted in the club's unprecedented growth. Fred Osterman - Here was a young DX'er who was able to build a business around the hobby, as Bob Groves has done. Universal Radio in Ohio is one of the mainstays of the hobby. Back when I was an active ham and attended the Dayton Hamvention, I made it a point to drop by Universal's booth for a brief chat with Fred ... and a purchase or two. C. M. "Stan" Stanbury II - This somewhat controversial Canadian was an extremely courageous man, who fought a condition that kept him confined to a wheelchair and limited the use of his limbs. He edited the DX Down the Dial column of NRC's DX News when I first joined the club in 1956 and typed the stencils with his toes. I met him at the NRC convention in Omaha in 1959. He locked horns on several issues with the NRC's elected board of directors in the late '50s over a number of issues. He later edited one of the columns in Kneitel's magazine, and perhaps the most intense memories of Stan's work was his ongoing contention, based upon an inference he drew comparing 49-meter band fade-out times, that Radio Swan was not located on Swan Island. There are some other names I would add to Harry Helms list of, not necessarily father's of DX but those who have helped, in Harry's words, "create today's DX hobby." Bob Cooper, no relation to Dick or Ernie, is the TV-FM DX guru. Cooper founded the American Ionspheric Propagation Association (which later became the Worldwide Television FM-TV DX Assocation) in 1954, and in 1960, he established DXing Horizons Magazine, which was for a time the home of Ken Boord's SWBC work. Cooper was a pioneer in the cable TV industry, which started as a means of importing signals from distant on-air TV stations into remote, otherwise unserved areas. I recall that one of Cooper's DXing Horizons editors was Glen Kippel, a Colorado broadcaster and engineer whom I convinced the manager of KTUE, Tulia, Texas, to hire. Later Glen worked at KIXZ in Amarillo with two other fellow NRC'ers, John Tudenham and Jerry Hickman. Another DXing Horizons columnist was Bruce Elving, whose FM Atlas is the FM equivalent of the NRC Log. Elving is another who deserves to be on the list of those who are responsible for helping to create today's DX hobby. I first met Bruce at the NRC's 1991 Omaha convention, where he was invited to speak about FM DX, and again at the 2002 WTFDA convention in Yukon, Oklahoma. His monthly newsletter is one of the mainstays of available information on the FM end of the broadcast industry. Chip Kelly, a Dallas area resident, founded 100000watts, which Scott Fybush now operates since it has become an arm of Clear Channel's M Street Journal. I enjoyed photographing a historic first meeting of Fybush and Kelly in the DFW area in 2002 during a tower-hunting expedition. Fybush's Tower of the Week website is one of the fun stops on my Internet favorite tab. The information source Kelly invented and Fybush now oversees put both of these gentlemen on my list of current hobby stalwarts. John Bryant, retired architecture department professor at Oklahoma State, compiler of an updated list of Japanese BCB stations, author of a history of Zenith radios, one of today's top BCB antenna researchers and DXpedition users, and one of five founders of Corazon-DX, a website that deals with Mexican AM stations, goes on my list. So does Jerry Berg, a Connecticut attorney, who, with Don Jensen, kept up the Numero Uno mailing list up until a couple of years ago, and who has established a mechanism for preserving historic verifications, deserves mention. So do Wayne Heinen, who so capably compiles and edits the NRC Log; Fred Vobbe, who for a couple of decades has made the hobby available to the visually handicapped via NRC's monthly DX Audio Service tapes; Paul Swearingen, who has set a longevity record as publisher of NRC's DX News (however galling that may be to some on this list); and Kevin Redding, who spends many hours making this valuable information source available to the hobby, also are on my list of DX Hobby Heroes. It's been a labor of love on the part of everyone Harry and I have mentioned in this thread and I hope, despite what Harry refers to as "some very bad blood between" some of the names on his list of nine, I hope that today, no blood will either boil or flow! (Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon and hysterical historian, ABDX via DXLD) John wrote-- ``The late Carleton Lord, in a treatise he did for the NRC book, noted that Radio Golf, an invention of Frank H. Jones, owner of a station in Cuba, was introduced in the Aug. 5, 1922 edition of Radio Broadcasting News.`` Ah yes, Frank Jones. Back then, Cuba was not "that Communist country where Fidel Castro lives." In fact, many silent films were shot in Havana and wealthy businesspeople like Mr Jones set up radio stations there -- his was in a small town called Tuinucu, but the main industry there was the sugar business, and he was certainly involved in that. His station was 6 KW, and liking a good rhyme, he used the slogan "when you hear the sound of the cuckoo, you're listing to radio Tuinucu" -- or something like that. DX'ers learned to identify certain stations by their unique sounders and slogans. 6KW was not the only important station people could receive from Cuba -- PWX in Havana was owned by the Telephone Company and a number of US performers went there to broadcast. Ah the good old days before ideology became more important that doing interesting radio... That having been said, did Mr Jones really come up with the idea of Radio Golf? We may never know. Radio Broadcasting News was a publication of Westinghouse, which automatically makes me suspect it, since KDKA and other Westinghouse stations were famous for using their publicity department to make claims for having done things first when in fact they had NOT -- but their corporate publicists were able to outshout the little entrepreneurs and amateurs who had achieved the "first" before Westinghouse. Jones had quite an impressive station and the ships at sea often reported hearing it throughout the 1920s, as did many American listeners. On the other hand, I have many copies of early radio mags that suggest the competitiveness of the early amateur made even DX'ers want to be more than just passive listeners -- they wanted to compete as the hams did, and hear more stations from more places (most radio mags still listed ham radio achievements during the 20s, and the non-ham could see how hams were competing to work all states, work all countries, etc.) By the way, John, I have the announcement in Radio World, 8 July 1922 of the founding of the National Radio Club! (Donna Halper, ibid.) TRENDS IN TROPICAL BANDS BROADCASTING Since 1972 the Danish Shortwave Club International has published an annual publication which first covered the frequency range of 2200 to 5800 kHz and was called the "Tropical Bands Survey". But since 1999 I expanded it as editor to cover all Domestic broadcasting stations on shortwave from 2200 kHz till 30 MHz. That is now called the Domestic Broadcasting Survey - the DBS - and it is popular worldwide among hard-core DX-ers. Our latest edition was published in April this year. The task for the editor of the DBS is, throughout the year until the next publication, to check the bands himself and follow the loggings from our members and other DX-ers around the world. For each station in the list, a note is taken of the months when it has been heard. If a station has not been heard by any DX-er during the past 12 months, it is deleted. By this measure, the DBS contains only the active domestic broadcasting stations. With this systematic registration of broadcasting stations on the Tropical Bands each year, it is possible to make some statistics on how many frequencies were active in each part of the world and compare these numbers. I have selected the Tropical Bands Surveys published with 12 years intervals in 1973, 1985 and 1997, and the Domestic Broadcasting Surveys from 2003 and 2005. For each of these five years I have then counted the number of active Domestic Broadcasting stations between 2200 and 5800 kHz. International broadcasters, Clandestine and Pirate stations are not included in these statistics. Active domestic transmitters on 2200 - 5800 kHz Region 1973 1985 1997 2003 2005 Central Africa 102 76 40 26 22 Southern Africa 57 39 33 9 5 Middle East 9 4 1 0 0 Indian Subcontinent 62 45 45 36 33 South East Asia 40 29 21 7 5 Indonesia 171 105 65 19 17 China, Taiwan, Mongolia 119 110 75 44 39 CIS (former USSR) 61 59 47 21 15 Far East 38 28 28 17 20 Papua New Guinea 17 20 20 20 16 Other Pacific 10 4 13 7 9 Central America, Mexico 21 23 24 17 11 Caribbean 29 3 3 4 1 Northwestern South America 98 41 19 5 4 Ecuador 47 33 22 13 8 Peru 78 69 78 53 43 Bolivia 35 42 25 15 17 Brazil 107 87 67 50 46 Southern South America 5 2 1 0 2 Total 1106 819 627 363 313 We are approaching the end of the Era of Domestic broadcasting on the Tropical Bands for two main reasons: The technical standard of a large part of the transmitters in the tropical countries is poor and they cannot be repaired for economical reasons. In more developed countries the domestic shortwave transmitters are being replaced by FM-networks. Stations on the tropical bands which have closed down in 2003-2004, including Clandestines. kHz kW Station Country Last log 2624 - Frontline Soldiers R, Channel 1 North Korea MAY04 3205 1 R Riberão Preto, Riberão Preto, SP Brazil JAN04 3230 - R Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá, SP Brazil OCT04 3230,4 1 El Sol de los Andes, Juliaca, Puno Peru MAR04 3231,2 10 RRI Bukittinggi, SW Indonesia SEP03 3245 10 R Gulf, Kerama Papua New Guinea JAN04 3245,1 1 R Clube, Varginha,Minas Gerais Brazil APR04 3326 50 R Nigeria, Lagos Nigeria MAR04 3360,2 1 La Voz de Nahualá, Nahualá, Sololá Guatemala AUG03 3375 5 R Dourados, Dourados, Mato Grosso d. Sul Brazil AUG03 3380 1 Centro Radiofonico de Imbabura, Ibarra Ecuador JAN04 3900 - VoIraqi People,VoIraqi Communist Party Clandestine AUG03 3992 - Minsk utility station (USB) Belarus FEB04 3995 - Xizang PBS, Lhasa, Tibet China OCT03 4050 100 Krasnaya Rechka, Bishkek Kyrgyzstan SEP03 4162 - Voice of Democracy, Northern Iraq Clandestine SEP04 4235 - Voice of Kurdistan Toilers, No. Iraq Clandestine MAR04 4250 - Voice of Strugglers of Iranian Kurdistan Clandestine NOV04 4319 - AFRTS, Diego Garcia Diego Garcia JAN04 4650 - Voice of Mojahed, Baqubah, Iraq Clandestine JAN04 4722,8 - R Uncía, Uncía, Potosí Bolivia MAR04 4750 - R San Francisco Solano, Sóndor, Piura Peru MAR04 4765 100 R Congo, Brazzaville Congo Rep. SEP03 4773,8 5 R Centinela del Sur, Loja, Loja Ecuador FEB04 4790 100 AIR Delhi via Chennai India FEB04 4800 100 LNBS, Lancers Gap Lesotho JAN04 4820 50 R Botswana, Sebele Botswana SEP03 4828 100 ZBC, Gweru Zimbabwe MAR04 4845 3 R K'ekchi', Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Guatemala NOV03 4845 100 RTM Kuala Lumpur, Kajang Malaysia DEC03 4850 50 R Khekh Tangar (Blue Sky), Ulan Bataar Mongolia DEC03 4865 12 Mongolian National R, Dalanzadgad Mongolia AUG04 4870 10 SLBC, Ekala Sri Lanka MAR04 4876 - Tbilisskaya, Krasnodarskiy Kray Russia SEP03 4895 5 R IPB-AM, Campo Grande, MS Brazil MAY04 4900 - R Comunidade das Gerais, Norte de MG Brazil MAR04 4902 10 SLBC, Ekala Sri Lanka SEP04 4904,8 0,7 R La Oroya, La Oroya, Junín Peru SEP03 4930,6 1 R Costeña Ebenezer, San Pedro Sula Honduras AUG03 4933 - R Familiar Cristiana, Vereda La Puerta Colombia APR04 4940 50 China Huayi Broadcasting Corp., Chengdu China JAN04 4940 10 SLBC, Ekala Sri Lanka JUL04 4940 - Krasnaya Rechka, Bishkek Kyrgyzstan JAN04 4960 1 R Global Internacional/R Cima, S. Domingo DR JUL04 4965 1 R San Miguel, Cusco, Cusco Peru JAN04 5009,8 1 HIMI, R Cristal Internacional/R Pueblo DR AUG04 5019,7 1 Ecos del Atrato, Quibdó,Cochó Colombia FEB04 5020 10 SLBC, Ekala Sri Lanka SEP04 5035 100 R Liberty via Yangiyul Tajikistan FEB04 5035 15 Dai Tieng Noi Vietnam, Xuan Mai, Hanoi Vietnam JUL04 5046,8 100 Rdif. Togolaise, Togblekope, Lomé Togo MAR04 5050 100 R Pakistan, Islamabad, Haya Allal Falah Pakistan NOV03 5054,6 5 TIFC Faro del Caribe, San Isidro, Heredia Costa Rica JUN04 5055,2 0,15 R Onda Imperial, Cusco, Cusco Peru SEP03 5115,8 0,5 R Naylamb, Lambayeque Peru FEB04 5350 - Voice of Mojahed, Baqubah, Iraq Clandestine JAN04 5459 - R Panorama, Recobamba, Celendín Peru SEP03 5500 - R San Miguel, San Miguel, Cajamarca Peru AUG03 5770 1 R Miskut, Puerto Cabezas Nicaragua APR04 5775,3 - R La Voz de San Juan, Lonya Grande, AM Peru JUN04 My forecast is now that within the next five years domestic stations on the tropical bands are going to disappear in several more countries in Africa, Central and South East Asia, Central America, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. Worldwide the last station may disappear around year 2017 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window June 15 via DXLD) DRM +++ DRM IN ASIA-PACIFIC Digital Radio Mondiale [DRM] broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region is taking off down a different track than in Europe. One of the reasons is the use of point-to-point transmission for rebroadcast rather than direct to consumers. In the latest radio heritage documentary now on-line http://www.rnzi.com David Ricquish follows up on the recent DRM Symposium held in New Zealand with an overview of where and how digital radio is expected to develop around the Pacific in the near future. Simulcasting, new services from Australia and New Zealand, point-to-point, replacement for MW, potential power savings, emergence of longwave as a possible home for DRM in the region, and the critical importance of China are amongst the issues covered. The documentary includes live recordings made during the recent DRM test transmissions in New Zealand and technical comments from Andy Giefer of Germany's Deutsche Welle. Produced by the Radio Heritage Foundation http://www.radioheritage.net in association with Radio New Zealand International, the doco is available on-line until Monday July 4. The script and a separate article on the April 2005 DRM Symposium will appear at http://www.radioheritage.net shortly. Warm regards (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well done, except it barely touches on the drawbacks (gh) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SATELLITE RADIO ON CELL PHONES There was a recent item in DXLD that said that the writer recommended that cell-phone makers should start working on a cell phone that receives satellite radio. I think that was also read on the latest WoR Extra, or a similar comment from back when that was composed. Anyway, it is being done. This short item was in the Business section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of 6/16/05: Cell phones pick up music, satellite radio Wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson and online music distributor Napster Inc. are launching a digital music service for cellular phones. The service will let users download Napster's music files to their handsets, or other mobile devices, the two companies said. Motorola Inc. plans to launch a cell phone that can buy and play songs from Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes. Meanwhile, Sprint Corp. and Sirius Satellite Radio announced a deal that will allow some Sprint customers to receive satellite radio over their cell phones, possibly sometime this summer. Sprint and Sirius are still working on pricing and other details. There was no word on whether shock-jock Howard Stern will be available through the service once he joins Sirius. (Compiled from Associated Press and Bloomberg News reports.) 73, (via Will Martin, MO, June 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) INTERNATIONAL RADIO ON YOUR PORTABLE PLAYER By Thomas Crampton. International Herald Tribune. 18 June 2005, Paris The days of stringing a wire across the room to hear a shortwave radio broadcast from the other side of world ended long ago. Podcasting, the creation of audio recordings that can be easily downloaded from the Internet, has made it possible for just about anyone with a computer to reach a global audience with high-quality digital sound. While the recordings are stored in the MP3 or AAC formats popularized by the runaway success of Apple Computer's iPod, they can be heard using devices made by numerous manufacturers. In the United States, where the tools for podcasting were honed in the anti-establishment atmosphere of Silicon Valley, this freedom prompted a flourishing of independent radio broadcasters. Similar experiences have occurred elsewhere around the world, with even Switzerland now boasting at least one "indie" podcaster. But major national broadcasters across Europe have taken podcasting to heart in way that has not happened so quickly in the United States... http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/17/business/ptpod.php (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) WOR via podcast: see top PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ FM ATLAS The 19th edition is still $23 postpaid, and I have only about a dozen to sell before starting on a new edition. Order from "FM Atlas," PO Box 336, Esko MN 55733-0336, or charge cards (Visa, Master, American Express), 218-879-7676 (Bruce Elving, MN, June 15, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) AM PATTERNS NOW ON FCC WEB SITE'S AM QUERY I sure many of you use the FCC web site's AM query http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html for research. Recently they have added the directional patterns. When the station's data comes up click on "Electric Field Strength pattern plot". The patterns are an exact match with those on fccinfo.com, which I have come to trust (via Dennis Gibson, CA, June 11, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ CORN ENHANCES TROPO Trops look to get even better as the midwest gets into a long period of extended warmth with increasing humidity. Only thing missing is mature corn plants to release even more moisture to help build the natural inversion --- that's usually August time frame. I'm not making this last part up --- corn plants are responsible for releasing huge amounts of moisture, which is how the midwest can get stifling humidity so far away from large bodies of water. Anyway, a southwesterly flow aloft can make things even more fun, pulling dry hot air from the southwest leaving relatively cooler, moister air at the surface esp. in the mornings, a natural breeding ground for trops! (Matthew C. Sittel, Bellevue, NE, http://www.mcsittel.com/ June 19, WTFDA via DXLD) ###