DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-164, September 16, 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 1287: Fri 2000 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Sat 1600] Sat 0800 WOR WRN to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar Sat 0855 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1000 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 & WPKM Montauk LINY 88.7 Sat 1600 WOR R. Veronica 106.5 Sat 1600 WOR CJOY INTERNET RADIO plug-in required Sat 1730 WOR WRN to North America (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115 Sat 2100 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 0230 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0630 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0730 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sun 0830 WOR WRN to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115) Sun 0830 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0830 WOR WXPR Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 0830 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0830 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1300 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1400 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1730 WOR WRN1 to North America (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115 Sun 1900 WOR RNI Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 Mon 0415 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually closer to 0418-] Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 1800 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Tue 1400] Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 2330 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually but temporary] Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO 1287 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1287h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1287h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1287 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1287.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1287.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1287.html WORLD OF RADIO 1287 in true SW sound of Alex`s mp3 (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_09-14-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_09-14-05.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1287 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1287h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1287.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (1282, 1283, Extra 59, 1284, Extra 60, 1285, 1286, 1287) ** BHUTAN. Could anyone in South Asia confirm whether Bhutan is still active on 6035, and Bangladesh on 7185? Thanks, (Glenn Hauser, GRDXC via DXLD) Dear Mr. Hauser, Today checked BBS at Morning around 0230 and again around 3 UT; it was on 6035 kHz with OK signal. Audio modulation was low! Regards, (Partha Sarathi, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. ANATEL AUTORIZA PRIMEIROS TESTES DE RÁDIO DIGITAL Terça-feira, 13 de setembro de 2005 - 10h18 Fonte: Info Online, em: http://info.abril.com.br/aberto/infonews/092005/13092005-0.shl SÃO PAULO - A Rádio Excelsior de São Paulo e a Rádio Tiradentes de Minas Gerais receberam autorização da Anatel para fazerem os primeiros testes de rádio digital no Brasil. As duas emissoras vão testar o sistema de radiodifusão sonora digital Iboc (In-Band On-Channel), padrão aprovado pela União Internacional de Telecomunicações (UIT) e que utiliza a mesma freqüência da transmissão analógica. Durante o experimento serão avaliados o desempenho do sistema de rádio digital em FM e AM, considerando aspectos como qualidade do áudio, área de cobertura e robustez com relação a ruídos, interferências e efeitos dos múltiplos percursos. A Anatel deverá conceder nesta semana autorizações para outras emissoras. O objetivo do teste é avaliar qual sistema é mais adequado às características de cada localidade, como edificações e topografia. As rádios deverão apresentar no prazo de 30 dias resultados da transmissão digital. No final dos experimentos, entregarão outro relatório acompanhado de laudo conclusivo e considerações finais abrangendo todas as atividades desenvolvidas. Edileuza Soares, do Plantão INFO (via Eros John Cabral de Santana, Sept 15, radioescutas via DXLD) WTFK? Hunting thru pages and pages of WRTH listings by frequency is not an option, so I went to http://www.ondascurtas.com/listasemissorasmw.asp to download the pdf of the Brazilian MW station list to search on Tiradentes and Excelsior. But this was not very satisfactory. NO Tiradentes was found on the list at all (could it be FM only?). I thought Excelsior was a big São Paulo (as in the city) station, but I got hits on only two small stations in SP state: 1350, ZYK692, Ibiúna, 10/0.25 kW 1410, ZYK683, Rio Claro, 2.5/0.5 kW So is one of these the one testing IBOC? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Procuro as freqüências destas emissoras; não há Tiradentes em OM? Trata-se de uma destas no Estado de SP??... 73, (Glenn Hauser, radioescutas via DXLD) ** CANADA. Noah Richler in the Globe & Mail: "BURST THAT UNION BUBBLE" In yesterday's Globe & Mail, someone who has been a noteworthy "contract worker" for CBC Radio faults the CBC's union *and* management for the current lockout, and cites the BBC as an example of an organization who has transformed its programming strategy. I find his singling out of Ideas" as noteworthy -- it's one of my CBC favorites (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, swprograms via DXLD) Viz.: --- COMMENTARY Burst that union bubble The CBC can only maintain its creativity by letting in more outside talents, says contract producer NOAH RICHLER By NOAH RICHLER Wednesday, September 14, 2005 Outside the CBC office I occupied for a year, down the corridor from the typically silent offices of radio management, was a Canadian Media Guild bulletin board -- a symptom of CBC's labour relations so utterly bereft of trust. One of its notices read: CLAIM ALL YOUR OVERTIME. IF YOU DO NOT YOU ARE CHEATING YOUR FAMILY. It might have read: IF YOU DO NOT, YOU ARE MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO WORK HERE. The union did not represent me -- I was a freelance contract worker -- but took dues from all my paycheques, nonetheless. I was told there was no way around it. I was paying the CMG for permission to work. The current labour dispute comes at a critical time for public broadcasting. The issue of whether or not contract workers can be hired is the crux of the Canadian Media Guild's standoff with CBC management, and the outcome will determine whether or not Canada ends up with a thriving network -- or one that peters out on its way to obscurity. A word about credentials. I was a producer and presenter of features and documentaries for BBC Radio for 14 years. I worked on two major projects for CBC Radio that took the better part of the past three years. During all my time in public radio, I have been employed on contracts. I am one of the workers that the CMG does not want. I am one of those it says is a threat to program quality. It is possible to be dedicated to public service, as I am, but against the union's position. The CMG's argument that quality depends on full-time jobs is being made in bad faith by a union that has one goal, and that is to defend the already guaranteed jobs of its members against the possibility of creative competition. This just will not do in an age in which the rapid evolution of technology, and of public capability, means that a bright 12-year-old is quite able to produce a program of broadcast quality. The battle over the employment of producers on short-term contracts is one that the BBC won more than a decade ago. The BBC knew that the only way for it to flourish, more than just survive, was to open itself up to a competition of ideas. It needed to create a nimble and reactive organization out of one that had previously been an extended Oxbridge campus. It deliberately acted to create an independent radio sector in an industry where previously there had been none. The BBC remains committed to a core of full-time staff, but purchases a sizable quota of programs from independents. The process helps reflect the nation -- and keeps in-house producers on their toes. No such competition -- no such vitality -- exists at CBC Radio. A lot of this is the fault of a stultifying, overly regulating management style, as the currently unfettered broadcasts of various CBC workers "unlocked," is proving. The CBC's program-makers are a talented bunch, and they would have freer rein, were there not so many bosses. The irony, however, is that the CBC's ludicrously overpadded management is the direct result of the corporation having no place but in these jobs to put the redundant workers it cannot shed. CBC Radio is a much loved but very sick patient. Evening programming is a mess. Radio Two needs fixing. Radio One is increasingly the province of DJs. Huge swaths of the schedule are handed over to single shows and repeats. The CBC Broadcast Centre, awash with studios, is virtually empty in the evenings, on weekends, and during the summer. Any sensible business manager would be livid. The beauty is that it can be fixed. However, both parties must recognize that the CBC's first obligation is not to its employees, but to the Canadian public. It is there to offer Canadians the diversity and quality they deserve. The CBC's place is not to be the ground of coddled workers who regard themselves as entitled to benefits that it is really the job of government to guarantee. It is also a form of arrogant foolishness for the small pool of people permanently employed by the CBC to believe that they are the only ones capable of coming up with good programs. In this, the flagship program Ideas is instructive. Ideas depends more than almost any other CBC radio program does on freelance provision, as it also does on its nucleus of committed, seasoned producers and its engineer. Consequently it has a variety of tone and treatment that other programs lack. What is true at Ideas should be the case with radio as a whole. The CBC has the opportunity to reconfigure, just as the BBC did -- reforming and expanding at the very time when Margaret Thatcher's reigning Conservatives hated it. But for the CBC to do so, each side must co-operate -- and give something up. Management must go to the CMG and promise to cut its own numbers (by half would be a good start), thereby freeing money for programs. It should offer, as a matter of course, to divulge exactly what part of its budget is allocated to program-making, and commit itself to improving this figure as much as possible year by year. The CMG, already promised job security for its current employees, should work with management to encourage an independent radio production sector. God forbid, it might even begin to represent contract workers -- as opposed to exacting their dues and then silencing them. Noah Richler's 10-part radio documentary series, A Literary Atlas of Canada, will be published as a book in 2006 (via Rich Cuff, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** CANADA. Whack of CRTC applications in Montreal and Quebec --- What a gold mine of information in today's CRTC notice of public hearings. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2005/n2005-8.htm Of note: - FOUR applications for new AM stations in Montreal: > 650 kHz, 5.8 kW daytime, French-language Gospel > 1450 kHz, 1 kW day/night, Radio Moyen-Orient, ethnic programming > 1650 kHz, 1 kW day/night, Radio Shalom, ethnic programming > 1690 kHz, 1 kW day/night, Concordia Student Broadcasting Corporation (my alma mater, Concordia University!) - ONE application for a new AM station in Quebec City: > 980 kHz, 50 kW day/night (former CBV), country music "The applicant is the controlling shareholder in 3553230 Canada inc., licensee of the radio station CJMS Saint-Constant. The applicant proposes to broadcast country music programming produced both locally and at CJMS radio station." (That's CJMS 1280 kHz in the Montreal region, running about 5 kW day/night.) - TWO applications for new *ENGLISH* commercial FM services in Quebec City: > 105.7 MHz, 3.4 kW avg. ERP, rock (applicant Standard Radio) > 106.9 MHz, 1.41 kW ERP (ND), Top 40 (applicant Genex) Currently, CBC operates the only two English radio stations in Quebec City. These two applications are not the only ones for their respective channels. See link above for full listing. There are FAR more applications on the CRTC web site (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Sept 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. In DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-143 of August 22 we had this: CRI TO BE RENAMED CHINA BROADCAST NETWORK --- The subject says it all, really. I don't know if it's affecting the Chinese name or not --- I doubt it --- but at least the English service will be renamed China Broadcasting Network. I imagine they will re-image the top and bottom of the hour promos too while they are at it. The new name goes well with their web-address, http://chinabroadcast.cn (Connor Walsh, ex- CRI, Aug 21, dxing.info via DXLD) Well, I have yet to hear such a name change. Just to be sure, I listened carefully around 1330 Sept 15 on 15260 via Canada, and they were still calling themselves CRI and China Radio International. So what gives? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. See MOLDOVA ** CHINA. SHANGHAINESE TOLD TO MIND THEIR LANGUAGE FOR EXPO Residents of China's richest and most cosmopolitan city, Shanghai, have been told to brush up their command of the national language ahead of the 2010 World Expo to avoid confusing visitors, state media said today. China has been promoting Mandarin for decades to ensure national cohesion in a country where dialects as different as French and Spanish share a similar written form. Regional television and radio stations - including those in Shanghai - produce some programmes in dialects to meet local demand, though the vast majority of programming is in Mandarin, which is based on the language spoken in capital city Beijing. Now, the government is demanding that hosts and news anchors avoid slang words, speak only in standard Mandarin and drop any affected Taiwan or Hong Kong accents, according to rules posted on the State Administration of Film, Radio, Television's website. Some presenters deliberately adjust their pronunciation to sound more like natives of Hong Kong or Taiwan, the cultures of which, if not the politics, are fashionable across the mainland. The rules are a new fold to the Chinese government's vice-like grip over the media, meant to prevent anything too racy or politically sensitive from making it to screens or into print. Only just over half China's 1.3 billion people can communicate in Mandarin, the official Xinhua news agency cited a national survey as showing last year, while almost 90 percent can speak dialects ranging from Cantonese to Hokkien and Hakka. # posted by Andy @ 13:12 UT Sept 14 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CHINA. JOURNALISTS PAID TO ENSURE MINE DISASTER IS UNREPORTED - HK paper Text of article by Beijing-based journalist Peter Goff entitled: "Tearing down the great wall of silence" by Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post website on 14 September It was a media frenzy: harried hacks whispering in corners amid plumes of cigarette smoke, photographers pushing through corridors brandishing long lenses, scores of minivans and cars with press signs on their windscreens blasting horns as they careered through crowded streets. But missing: published news. Despite the fact almost 500 journalists had convened in Ruzhou city in central Henan province because they had heard of a mine disaster, barely a word on the tragedy was printed. The reason, according to journalists at the scene, was 200,000 yuan [24,740 US dollars] paid out by local officials in feng kou fei - "close-mouth fees". But Fan Youfeng of Henan Business News decided not to close his mouth. He wrote a detailed report on the illicit wheeling and dealing that was picked up by Tsinghua University's media department website, among others and he now fears for his safety. On 15 August, a journalist friend of Mr Fan's told him he had just come back from Ruzhou where he was paid 500 yuan [62 US dollars] to ignore a coal mine disaster. Intrigued, Mr Fan went down to check it out. There, journalists told him that on 31 July a local coal mine had flooded and an unknown number of miners had been killed. Local officials tried to suppress the story but on 13 August an anonymous source notified all the local media and soon text messages were flying about the province carrying the news. By the afternoon of 14 August, hundreds of journalists from across Henan had flocked to the city. The word was officials were doling out cash to keep the news out of the papers. When Mr Fan arrived the next day there were still many journalists lingering about. He stood by as three journalists haggled with a director named Yang, an official from the city's Jiliao town. Mr Yang later told Mr Fan that over 24 hours he dished out 200,000 yuan that the local government had borrowed from a credit union. A local official would have been held responsible for the accident, he said, so it had to be covered up. He reportedly paid Mr Fan 1,000 yuan [124 US dollars] and explained that bribes ran from 100 to 1,000 yuan, depending on the circulation and importance of the publication. "Compared to other cities, these are tiny amounts," Mr Yang said. "But Ruzhou is poor, it is all we can afford." In his report, Mr Fan went on to detail another Ruzhou bribe- fest on 18 August - when the media got wind of a smaller accident in a mine in Xiaotun town on 3 August, when one miner apparently died. This time 300 people went to the Swan Hotel, he said, where they walked away with a total of about 100,000 yuan [12,370 US dollars] to keep the news to themselves. In both cases, some "journalists" were impostors who just wanted easy money. Officials paid them anyway, as they were keen to avoid antagonizing people who knew what had gone on. Stories such as Mr Fan's are not uncommon in China these days but few dare to publish details. When contacted by the South China Morning Post a very nervous Mr Fan said: "The story is true; I have the interviews on tape. But I have been questioned by the government. It is very sensitive. I hope you understand I cannot say any more to you." Another journalist, speaking off the record, confirmed the events of 14 August. Several other journalists refused to discuss the issue and officially, there is a great wall of silence. When Mr Zhang, a spokesman for the Henan provincial government's publicity department, was finally reached by phone last week, he barked: "Are you recording me now?" When told that he was not being recorded he said: "Anyway, I will not speak to you. I have no comment on this now. We know about it. There is an investigation under way." And he hung up. Source: South China Morning Post website, Hong Kong, in English 14 Sep 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CHINA. Dear Listener, Welcome to the latest edition of the WRN Newsletter update. Published weekly, the updates will keep you informed of programme highlights so that you can better plan your listening, no matter how or where in the world you listen to WRN's English language networks. CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES "China Week" on WRN, in association with China Radio International, continues for another week! If you've been listening already then you will have heard some amazing stories about this fascinating country including the history of tea, how the Great Wall was constructed, facts and figures about the Summer Palace and how to eat Peking Duck! Tune in next week to WRN for more incredible stories. There is also time to enter our "China Week" competition to win a trip to Beijing, in association with Air China. The closing date is Sunday 25th September. All you do is visit http://www.wrn.org/chinaweek use the online form to tell us how you listen to CRI programmes and enter the competition. Easy! The aim of "China Week" is to give you a flavour of China and to encourage you to tune into China Radio International's daily programmes to find out more. Daily programmes can be heard on WRN's international news networks, which are available on innovative digital satellite services around the world, such as Sirius Satellite Radio in the USA, Sky digital in the UK and Ireland, CanalSat in France, MultiChoice DStv across Africa and the WorldSpace satellite services covering Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Check this newsletter or the WRN website for full details of times. CRI programmes can also be heard on Medium Wave across the UK, France and Germany each night on 1440 AM and in London on 558 AM. CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES CHINA WEEK CONTINUES (WRN Newsletter Sept 16 via DXLD) ** CONGO DR [non]. R. Okapi, 11690 via South Africa, 0515-0559* French talk, 0555 & 0559 ``Okapi`` jingles, and sign-off; good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5055.0, RHC, Sept 16, 0219-0336, Spanish programming, 0236- 0258 speech by Presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, mentions the economy, terrorism, the American President, Washington, etc., fair-good. What are they doing here? (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ron, Good question. Did you // it to other RHC frequencies? Was Rebelde also on 5025 at same time with same program? No sign of TIFC? 73, (Glenn to Ron, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Indeed, a quick check found Rebelde on 5025 with what seemed their usual programming, not //. Did not check for other frequencies. TIFC was not heard on 5054.6 tonight. Usually I note TIFC later, about 0800-0900 UT, with a good carrier but almost no audio recently. They certainly will not have much of a chance if RHC stays here (Ron Howard, ibid.) By the time I checked 5055 at 0519, I was hearing only a carrier, with a slightly variable het, perhaps from TIFC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5055.00, Radio Habana Cuba last night 0300 UT with Spanish, good signal and sound quality. Haven`t heard them before on the tropical bands. 73s (Bjorn Malm, Quito, Ecuador http://www.malm-ecuador.com Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked 5055 around 0300 UT Sept 17, and did not find any carrier aside a rather strong WWRB 5050. Pres. Chávez made a persuasive appearance on ABC`s Nightline at 0335 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Received today in 5d after an e-mail f/u: 1640 Radio Juventus Don Bosco, Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep.; p/d letter as an e-mail attachment signed by Padre Luis Rosario, Director. He mentioned that postal service in Dom. Rep. is "poor" (...no doubt!) (Greg Myers Largo, FL, Sept 14, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. HCJB German service not only announced that there will be no transmission from Pifo to Europe (German to the Americas is not affected) in B05 but also this: With a recently signed agreement HCJB has to dismantle the Pifo facilities within two years. No decision has been made yet if a new station elsewhere in Ecuador will be built. In the end this will depend on the financial situation of the mission. Also for this reason the transmission to Europe has been cancelled for B05 in order to save money that otherwise would have been spent on a transmitter not able to provide a reliable service. Back in May a studio guest of Kim Elliott already explained that earlier hopes to continue at Pifo after dismantling the tallest towers have been crushed. Now it appears to be questionable if any substantial replacement for Pifo will ever be built. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Nacional, Bata, 5005, *0458-0530+ Sept 12, sign-on with long NA followed by continuous African folk music, hi- life music and Afro-pop music; fair (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. YLE Radio Finland has been missing from its morning frequency to North America, 15400. Nothing there when checked around 1340 Sept 15. Propagation was OK, since other European signals were audible, if poorly, such as Sweden direct on 15735. Are YLE still having labor problems, which I thought only affected programming, or is something else going on? I believe it was also missing on Sept 14 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. Radio ``Africa Number One`` has been received in Sofia with a loud and clear signal with emissions in French on 9580 kHz announcing the following schedule: from 5 to 23 hours on 9580 kHz, from 7 hours on 17630 kHz and from 16 to 21 hours on 15475 kHz. The QSL address is: Afrique Numéro Un, B.P. 1, Libreville, Gabon (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program Sept 17 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) I thought in French the word is nonetheless ``Africa`` in the case of this station name, a mix like ``DRM`` (gh) ** GERMANY [non]. Deutsche Welle, 6250, 0310-0330+ Sept 10. At first I thought I had a Euro-pirate but eventually realized this was DW in German. A weak spur from \\ 6075. Transmitter site? Not heard following night (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Per EiBi A-05, 6075 is Sines, Portugal and/or Wertachtal, Germany --- sometimes DW actually uses two sites at once. But that would not work out as a mixing product with anything else to land on 6250. Instead, you must have had Sackville, also with DW in German at this hour on 6100, leapfrogging their Vietnam relay on 6175, another 75 kHz to land on 6250. I think you would have found an exact match with the audio on 6100, and probably not on 6075 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. It had been reported that Deutsche Welle will abandon the AM service for Europe in next year according the DRM press conference in Berlin, but this is not a correct quotation. Perhaps the confusion arose because Peter Senger made these remarks in German. So here is a reproduction of what had been actually said, as correctly as I can give it: "We [Deutsche Welle] are fully committed to DRM. Already from next year we will even our 6075, certainly known to you, run in digital mode and no longer analogue at times, provided the radios are on the market for reasonable prices, in order to draw our listeners in Europe step-by-step to the digital transmission." [Later: Question from a listener; says he has many conventional shortwave radios, what can he do with them in future, shouldn't DW better keep 6075 and use other frequencies for DRM?] "I did not say that we will switch off 6075 entirely. I said that we will select slots outside the peak listening hours and try to start there with DRM." Summary of Senger's further remarks: We are interested in establishing DRM on the market as quickly as possible, because it saves us much money, and we cannot continue in AM only because some listeners have many conventional radios. You can donate them to the museum. [People on stage and some in the auditorium are amused, others not.] "Sorry, tut mir leid." Anyway: This announcement already triggered some discussion here in Germany, and I received also a comment from somebody outside the shortwave scene, saying the same as some observers from "within": It could also be the case that Deutsche Welle is going to shoot itself in its own knee as German saying goes, because it is well possible that listeners will simply say "sorry, tut mir leid" and get lost as audience. I would like to add that the DRM radios shown at IFA are certainly still too big to be convenient for travelers. And this is the most typical scenario where people listen to Deutsche Welle (German program, since the discussion focused on 6075). Rumours: On recent discussions in DRM circles it had been argued that the future of the Jülich station is uncertain because it has 100 kW transmitters "only" and is not ideal for DRM services to Central Europe. Still a rumour as well, but apparently a substantial one: Voice of Russia prepares to use Wilsdruff 1431. Indeed allocation procedures for this frequency are on the way, and the bid for tender appears to be customized to VoR (information-orientated service, if possible including foreign-language programmes): http://www.slm-online.de/psk/slm/slm_content/powerslave,id,638,nodeid,11.html All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Where is Wilsdruff? Would you believe WRTH 2005 has no German station in the MW frequency list on 1431? VOR is shown with high power on 1431 from Mykolaiev, Ukraine, and there are also 1431 listings under various European languages in the VOR schedule but keyed to smf = Simferopol. Wilsdruff 1431 has been mentioned several times in DXLD since at least 2001, mostly by Kai. Apparently it is in Saxony near Dresden, altho there are also references to 1431 serving Berlin from Kopenik (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wilsdruff is about 15 km west of Dresden and was in the past always listed as such, presumably because the original plans called for a site in the outskirts of Dresden. The station went on air in 1953 with a 250 kW transmitter on 1043 kHz. In 1959 a 20 kW has been added, actually as a back-up, but from 1979 this transmitter was used for a separate service on 1431. The Geneve schedule provided 1000 kW for 1044 and 250 kW day / 150 kW night for 1431. Apparently there were plans to put a new megawatt transmitter on air and use the old 250 kW for 1431 instead, but this transmitter never materialized. Indeed 1430 was in use from Berlin in the pre-1979 days, carrying RBI programming. With the Geneve schedule this allocation went to Wilsdruff and was replaced by 1359 at Berlin. Earlier 1430 was already on air from Wilsdruff with the Vltava clandestine programming during the Prague Spring to provide a groundwave service into Czechoslovakia on this RBI frequency (while 1043 continued from the 20 kW aux), but of course these were entirely unofficial transmissions. From 2001 Megaradio used a new 250 kW transmitter from Wilsdruff on 1431. This transmitter went silent again when Megaradio shut down in 2003 and is for this reason not shown in WRTH 2005. Here is a picture of this rig: http://www.darc.de/distrikte/s/27/images/20021103-18-smh.jpg Old 250 kW transmitter from 1953, shut down in 1993 (after carrying for a year DT64 as a big last hurrah) but (at least I hope so!) still kept as a witness of radio history: http://janbalzer.gmxhome.de/wilsdruf/wils02.htm 20 kW aux, used on 1431 from 1979 to 1991 and on 1044 since 1993: http://janbalzer.gmxhome.de/wilsdruf/wils03.htm (SM 4 = Sender Mittelwelle 4 = mediumwave transmitter number 4; SM 4 E = Ersatz = substitute) New transmitters, placed on the antennas (not in the old transmitter building); 20 kW Thomcast = 1044 (MDR), 250 kW Telefunken = 1431 (ex-Megaradio), both diplexed into the 153 metres pipe mast (original 1043/1044 main antenna): http://janbalzer.gmxhome.de/wilsdruf/wils06.htm More pictures: http://www.darc.de/distrikte/s/27/s27txwilsdr.html And yes, Voice of Russia again uses the 1431 transmitter at Kopani near Nikolayev/Mykolaiv (officially listed as "Simferopol" although the transmitters are not there; this concerns shortwave as well: SMF is in fact Kopani), as the old Radio Moscow foreign service did until the break-up of the Soviet Union. Made me immediately think about herewith VOR interfering with itself --- However, Kopani is not less than 2000 km away, and during the Megaradio episode Wilsdruff was easily the dominating station on 1431 here in Germany. So if VOR starts a service via Wilsdruff they will have two entirely independent 1431's (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re. ARD radio via satellite and --- ``Since the audio quality and bit rate on satellite is already relatively high (192 kBs being fairly normal) and the source audio from these stations is often no higher in quality, I doubt if anyone will notice an improvement. However, full marks for attitude! (Andrew Tett, Germany, BDXC-UK Sep 9 via BCDX)`` The quoted serious listeners indeed note an improvement on certain stations. A friend of mine recently made an experiment and compared a song played on RBB's Radio Eins with CD. Result: The difference is hardly greater than between different CD players. Of course it depends on the source. First RBB intended to use the satellite signal also as back-up feed to the remote transmitter sites and run the audio through FM Optimods. This resulted in so much listener protest that soon a decision was made to put the original studio output on air. The now transmitted quality is not only a matter of CD's but also concerns live content since a wise decision had been made already three years ago when they built a new radio house at Potsdam-Babelsberg: The studios were equipped with decent condenser microphones (Neumann U87). By the way, the radio bouquet involves an entirely new technology: All ARD institutions send pre-multiplexes to the Langenberg uplink station where these pre-multiplexes are combined into the complete stream (rather than having individual circuits for any program). This was also the reason why the service did not already start in spring as it was originally intended: No off-shelf solutions for this approach existed, and the development of the customized equipment simply took a little bit longer than expected. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. R. Cultural Coatán, 4779.97, 0155-0232* Sept 10, local religious music, ranchera music. Spanish announcements. 0158 & 0218 IDs caught. 0231 sign-off announcements and off. Poor to fair with some RTTY ute QRM (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. ``Generator whine`` (or hum) --- That`s how the background noise heard on relays from here has been described, and we constantly hear it during the 1300 hour of BBC on 15190, as well as RFI on 15515, among others. But could someone explain just what is happening? Lots of relay stations in remote places rely on their own generators rather than commercial power, but not all of them suffer from such an audible whine on their audio. Why does this happen and why can`t they get rid of it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. La Voz de Misiones Internacional[es], 3340, 0215-0300* Sept 12, Spanish religious talk, and music, 0259 ID and off. Weak, poor signal (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. ANALYSIS: THE RISE OF "CITIZEN JOURNALISM" Text of editorial analysis by Shuvra Mahmud of BBC Monitoring Media Services The notion of "citizen journalism" has triggered a new debate on the issues surrounding the news business. Reports from several news sources and academics have come to a consensus that increasingly "citizen participation" is changing the way that traditional news journalism is carried out. Along with these, issues to do with privacy and the increased use of amateur video journalism have recently instigated privacy-infringing cases on the internet, as reported by Seoul-based Korea Times on 16 July. In addition, the shift in the balance of control between consumers and the producers of news and media has been a point of debate much talked about since its recognition by the major shareholder and managing director of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, in a speech on 13 April to the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). South Korea has led the way in simulating the virtues of "traditional journalism" upon "citizen journalism" through internet-based companies, such as OhmyNews, that "combine the democracy of blogging with the established virtues - accountability, factual accuracy -" and more, in the words of the London-based Guardian newspaper on 15 August. OhmyNews online newspaper was set up by journalist Oh Yeon Ho in February 2002. It was the first of its kind to base its content on "citizen reporters" whose contributions would be edited, accepted and published by a handful of permanent staff. Wikipedia reports that some 20 per cent of OhmyNews content is written by its 55 staff members and the rest by some 39,000 freelance contributors. OhmyNews also operates a "tip-jar system" where readers click to pay authors a "tip" when they like and/or agree with the article. A report by the UK-based Economist on 21 April said that one particular article on OhmyNews "reaped 30,000 dollars in tips from readers". An economic incentive seems to be emerging for citizen journalism, as well as the accolade/joy of seeing work done and displayed in an international forum. San Francisco-based iTalkNews has emerged as the US equivalent to OhmyNews. Set up by former print journalist Elizabeth Lee and colleagues, the website is due to launch soon internationally. She said: "OhmyNews has provided a successful model that many citizen journalist sites are using as inspiration. But this is something that has been about to happen for a long time. When OhmyNews showed a way, people were ready to go." BBC radio journalist Matt Foster was quoted in the Guardian report on 15 August as saying that there have been few attempts in the United Kingdom to set up a nationwide citizen journalism platform. He said: "We do have a very strong and diverse media in this country and extremely developed local journalism. It's hard to see, then, what an equivalent of OhmyNews could offer that we can't get elsewhere. Plus the major media providers in Britain have been good at co-opting the idea of citizen journalism." A report on the UK's Press Gazette website on 11 August said that the Glasgow-based Scoopt website had been launched on 4 July specifically to gather amateur mobile phone photography and sell suitable material to professional media agencies. The report said 1,200 members had joined up in one week in August: "Scoopt now has members in 35 countries and is ready to syndicate their work to newspapers and magazines in exchange for a 50-50 cut. Amateur photographers can sign up and submit their images [to the website]." Scoopt founder Kyle MacRae said that members had to agree to a set of "ethical terms and conditions" which included clauses on good practice and privacy. Issues of citizen video journalism Indeed, reports on the 7 July bombings in London by the BBC, Sky News and other broadcasters and newspapers used photographs and video taken by citizens "on the scene" to report in detail on the chaos and struggle of victims and the emergency services. A BBC News Online report on 8 July said: "Hundreds of mobile photos and several mobile videos have surfaced documenting the moments after the four blasts... The BBC News and Sky News websites, among others, immediately responded." Guy Pelham of BBC Newsgathering was reported to have said in a presentation that mobile phone footage was used to "tip off the news operation" on how events were being dealt with and what had happened below ground, "beyond the reach of broadcast cameras". He continued: "For the first time, a whole film sequence used on the Six O'Clock News (8 July) was filmed entirely by a member of the public." Similarly, the BBC reported after the Asian tsunami in December 2004 that "mobile footage of the moments the waves crashed in were beamed all over the world", and footage of the dead body of the Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh was also reported to be photographed by mobile camera phone users, before professional photographers reached the scene. The Korea Times on 16 July said that "state-of-the-art technology" in South Korea was opening a "new era of citizen journalism". For instance, amateur footage of a Chosun Ilbo reporter assaulting a taxi driver was subsequently used, the paper said, by three of Korea's major broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS, and spread through the internet. Songang University Professor Hyun Dai-won said: "That is an example of personal media. Instead of remaining passive consumers of TV programmes, now individuals are ready to produce it." However, the Korea Times went on to say that this increase in the use of mobile phone video technology could bring new and serious threats to privacy and security. Chungnam National University Law Professor Myung Jae-jin said: "When misused, the widespread camcorder phones wreak havoc on a person as amply demonstrated by the recent privacy- infringing cases on the internet. We should take measures to prevent such problems." With this in mind, the likes of aggregating and editing companies such as OhmyNews and iTalkNews may indeed be a good idea in order to act as self-regulators of the new citizen media industry. However, issues to do with ethical journalism and privacy, and who actually is using these new media and photography sources, still need to be answered. Source: BBC Monitoring research 14 Sep 05 (via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. 15255 kHz RTE, Ireland via Meyerton. Sept. 11 at 1329-1430. SINPO 23332-34333. Signal got stronger around 1400. "Football final" in English with news break at 1401. 21730 and 17680 kHz were not heard (Iwao Nagatani, Japan Premium via DXLD) Again on Sunday Sept 25 (gh) ** KENYA. RADIO LAKE VICTORIA HITS THE AIRWAVES | Excerpt from report by Kenyan television NTV on 13 September [Presenter] On the shores of Lake Victoria in Dunga Beach lies a small community radio station set up by scientists to educate fishermen doing business in Africa's biggest freshwater lake. Unlike most radio stations that target different ethnic groups, this is a station with a difference. Sarah Kimani visited Radio Lake Victoria and shows you just how information can empower even the meek. [Kimani; music in the background] Sounds of the new kid on shores of Lake Victoria. Radio Lake Victoria, a radio station established for fishermen by fishermen. It is the new name at the lake's beaches among the fishermen, the fishmongers and anyone who ventures along the beaches in the three east African countries. The station is a brainchild of local scientists. Angry at the manner in which Lake Victoria was polluted and exploited, they came together and started an information network on the lake, targeting the fishermen. [Unidentified scientist] For a time, we utilized other radio stations. Finding out that it was not very easy to utilize and buy airtime from these organizations, we felt that there was need for us to begin a radio station of our own. [Kimani] From their one-roomed studio, they educate and inform the fishermen on issues affecting them. [Radio station's MD Obiero Ong'ang'a] This radio will help them in monitoring the market for their fish. We also intend to have it as a security for them. [Kimani] For any fisherman venturing out in the lake in search of his daily catch, the weather conditions are all too important, and that's where this station comes in handy. [Unidentified scientist] So that when they get into the lake, they already understand how the weather is going to be and make right decisions at the right time. [Kimani] The people from lake region and western Kenya are known to love greetings over the airwaves, or in their language, sending salaams [greetings]. Every beach now has a salaams club and the fisherfolk can exchange greetings live on air. [Passage omitted]. The fishing community has been hit hard by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. And the lake radio educates the fisherfolk on the dangers of the scourge and how to take care of the widows and orphaned children. Along the beaches, little pocket radios are gaining popularity. Fishmongers and fishermen would be found milling [around] little radios, listening to their favourite programmes. Every hour, the presenters give fishing tips on government regulations. In the villages along the shores of Lake Victoria, the station provides a relaxing pastime. And with station's popularity rising everyday among the fisherfolk, the fishermen do not have to waste any of their fishing time travelling to the city in search of the pocket radio. They are all here at the shores of the lake, broadcasting from the studios located just a few metres from Lake Victoria. Radio Lake Victoria has managed to change the lives of thousands of fishermen who work around the second largest fresh water lake in the world. Source: NTV, Nairobi, in English 1800 gmt 13 Sep 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK? ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Qué significará Latino América para la KBS World? Ellos anuncian español para la 0100 por 11810 y yo la verdad ni rastro de su señal en Tiquicia (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Esta frecuencia se destina sólo a Japón, sin duda para todos los latinos en aquel país, escuchando a Corea a las 10 de la mañana. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Hola Glenn: Sólo dale una mirada a lo que dice Eibi A-05 en cuanto a KBS World en español en la frecuencia 11810 a las 0100; hacia dónde aparece dirigida dicha transmisión, o se habrán equivocado? Lo mismo dice el propio boletín de frecuencias de KBS World que acabo de consultar en sitio de internet. La queja mía es que sólo especifican South America. No pienso que a los demás hermanos centroamericanos y mexicanos les parezca justo esto que no parece ser una involuntaria discriminación. Aún para el oyente hispanoparlante residente en Estados Unidos. Tal vez incomprensible contando con las facilidades de Sackville (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) Raúl, creo que ya discutimos este mismo asunto hace algunos meses. Es verdad que en EiBi dice SAm, igual que en http://world.kbs.co.kr/spanish/about/about_time.htm donde el español es sólo para ese continente, y nada para NAm, aunque se transmite además vía Sackville a las 11 en 11795. Me refiero a los datos HFCC en que especifican su destino de la zona CIRAF equivalente a Japón, y nada más excepto mares alrededor. 11810 sale a unos 81 grados hacia Japon, pero más o menos también hacia Sudamérica. El problema es que este sendero casi todo iluminado no debe propagar tan lejos como América trans-ecuatorial en una frecuencia tan baja como 11 MHz. Y así es, aún sin atraversar el ecuador. Debe encontrarse en 17, 15 o porlomenos 13 (igual que Corea Norte a la misma hora). Talvez ocupan la frecuencia de 11810 desde Corea a reservarla para una posible emisión vía Canadá en la misma que ciertamente alcanzaría un montón de oyentes en toda América Latina. ¿Porqué no? Debes escuchar por la mañana en directo a las 10 por 9580, que estará en choque con Australia, ¿no? O bien a las 11 en 11795 via Canadá, que creo que es la única emisión captable, aunque dirigida bien al este de Tiquicia. ¿Te levantas a las 5 de la mañana para gozarla? 73, (Glenn, ibid.) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Iran. A new radio station ``The Voice of the Independence of Iranian Kurdistan`` was received in Sofia on September 3 and 4 from 15 to 16 hours on 4400 kHz (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program Sept 17 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** LATVIA. 9290 kHz relays 17 September Sat: Radio Six 0600-0700 UT Radio Casablanca 1000-1100 UT 18 September Sun: EMR 0800-0900 UT Radio Six 1100-1200 UT EMR 1600-1700 UT Good Listening (Tom Taylor, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [and non]. Radio ``Voice of Africa`` was reported with news in English at 1820 hours on 11615, 711 and 1251 kHz (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program Sept 17 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. R. Madagasikara, 5010, *0254-0310+ Sept 11, sign-on with IS, 0257 choral NA, 0259 opening in Malagasy, religious programming with religious choral music and talk; fair (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6185, Radio Educación, 0110-0208, 16-09. Entre las 0100 y las 0132 Radio Educación emite un buen programa informativo con noticias de México y del mundo, conexión con corresponsales, etc. El programa se llama "Pulso a la noche". Noticias de México, identificación "continuamos con la información en Radio Educación". Noticias internacionales, de Chile y su Presidente, Ricardo Lagos, de Estados Unidos, desde Washington. A las 0132, programa de música "Voces Interiores". A las 0208 fue eclipsada por Radio Vaticano, al comenzar a transmitir en la misma frecuencia. 24222 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Grundig Yacht Boy 400, antena telescópica. Escuchas realizadas en el casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Educación, 6184.96, 0510-0530+ Sept 12, local Spanish ballads/pops, mariachi music. Spanish talk. Good; // 1060 weak under KYW Philadelphia (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOLDOVA. Looking for a reference I found only a mention of the CRI relays in the afternoon, so it should perhaps be noted that apparently all ex-1467 transmissions from Grigoriopol have now settled on 1413, as noted a few days ago with Voice of Russia in Bulgarian 1700-1800. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Will 1296 relay continue in B-05? See U K ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. Radio Nederland parece estar padeciendo nuevamente problemas en su horario de 0300 UT desde Bonaire, en el sentido de no aparecer en 9890. Me parece haber notado esto desde el pasado viernes (UT sábado) 10 de setiembre. Me desplacé entonces a 6165 y ahí estaban en español. Pero no ha ocurrido lo mismo durante la última semana en que se escucha holandés en 49 metros y nada en la ya mencionada 9890. Ha percibido esto algún otro colega, o ya se habrá solucionado el inconveniente? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) El horario actual en http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/schedule050327.html?view=Standard muestra sólo 6165 a las 03: UT Az kW 23-24 F 9895 230 500 SAm S 00-02 B 15315 170 50 SAm S A 5995 245 250 SAm S F 9895 260 500 SAm N 02-03 B 9590 290 250 Mex, Carib B 6165 275 50 CAm F 7325 275 500 CAm, Carib 03-04 B 6190 275 50 CAm, Carib 1130-12 B 6165 210 250 SAm N 12-1230 B 9895 230 250 SAm NW B 9715 290 250 CAm A = Ascension, B = Bonaire, F = Flevo (Holanda) (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Son pasadas las 0300 del Sábado 17 Set. Acabo de confirmar que Radio Nederland en español afronta problemas desde Bonaire. Dejaron el aire antes de las 0300 en 7325//9590 invitando a sintonizar 9890 y ya caigo en la cuenta que tendré que escuchar Radio Enlace el próximo domingo, porque ni rastro de ellos en esta frecuencia. El esquema de frecuencias en su sitio de red es sólo teoría (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DXLD) Are you saying that it was not transmitting on 6190? If it was not audible on 9890 that could be because: 1) not propagating from Holland due to current bad conditions; 2) announcement is incorrect and website schedule is correct that it is not supposed to be on that frequency. In any event, all three should match! -- announcements, posted schedule, and what is really being done. Could Andy clarify this? (gh, ibid.) ** NIGERIA. V. of Nigeria, 7255: 0459-0635+ Sept 10, tune-in to NA and 0500 into English sign-on ID announcements, frequency as ``15120``. 0501 English news, Afro-pops. 0601 drums IS, English news. Fair to good level but some programming with the usual mediocre audio. Also 2215-2300* Sept 11, tune-in to vernacular talk, African folk music, sign-off with NA. Poor-fair. R. Nigeria, 7275, 0600-0620+ Sept 10, tune-in to English programming with 0600 ID, English news. Poor, weak in noisy conditions. VON on 7255 much stronger (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. The Aftenbladet report about the BBC DRM service via Kvitsøy at http://web3.aftenbladet.no/lokalt/article216091.ece includes a picture. Look behind the elbow of the engineer for a piece of equipment they are supposed to never need again: An AM Optimod. Below it in the same rack sits also what appears to be a Belar modulation monitor. It had been reported that Telenor/Norkring will not use these transmitters for AM transmissions anymore (remember also the preliminary tests in SSB instead of AM). I wonder why? Tired about the customers they got until the end of 2003, resulting even in NRK reports about Norkring airing programming from terrorist groups? All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. NY TIMES CO. BUYS TV STATION By THE NEW YORK TIMES September 15, 2005 The New York Times Company announced yesterday that it had agreed to buy KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City from Viacom. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The purchase of the station, a UPN affiliate, is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, the Times Company said in a statement. The company already owns KFOR-TV, an NBC affiliate, in the city. * Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) KAUT is channel 43. I suppose we will see KFOR-4 news repeats there instead of on KOPX-62, Pax/i. So far, KAUT has had zero local news. The callsign goes back to a previous owner, Gene Autry (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. 9737, Radio Nacional del Paraguay, 0102-0156- 16-09. Programa "Tenon del Paraguay", consistente en bonita música paraguaya y noticias. Identificación: "Radio Nacional del Paraguay Internacional, el más alto nivel en sus potenciómetros, un repaso a la música paraguaya, bellas melodías para todos". "Radio Nacional del Paraguay, a través de su poderosa onda corta". "Tenon del Paraguay, desde el corazón". Canciones paraguayas "Noches del Paraguay". Noticias y comentarios sobre el pleno de las Nacionas Unidas y sobre el Mercosur. 24322 variando a 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Grundig Yacht Boy 400, antena telescópica. Escuchas realizadas en el casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``Tenon`` = ?? (gh) ** PHILIPPINES. 17655 kHz, Radio Pilipinas. Sept. 11 at 0250-0330*. SINPO 25332-35333. Music program with oldies hits until 0302, then another music program "Music watch" featuring songs of Philippine artists. ID and closing announcement at 0327 and Sign-off at 0330. // 15270 kHz SINPO 22331, 11885 kHz SINPO 25332-22332 (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. It appears that a major studio refitting is under way at Voice of Russia. For some time now the microphone audio on the German service has completely changed, and last night I noted a very similar sound on the Russian world service as well. But this is no improvement, since the new set-up sounds dull and muffled, compared to the old installations with distinctive room ambience (OK, frequently there was a bit too much reverb) and clear, present voices. Bring the Oktava's back on!! All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wilsdruff relay: see GERMANY ** RUSSIA. RUSSIAN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWS TV READY TO START OFF | Text of report by Radio Russia on 15 September [Presenter] The recently set up TV channel Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya is expected to start broadcasting soon. Today the channel's heads had a meeting with journalists. Our correspondent Anna Kiseleva was among them. [Correspondent] The Russia Today channel will broadcast 24 hours a day to Asian European, African and North American countries. Thus, the world will be able to know Russia better, as well as its point of view on the events inside and outside the country. The programming of the new channel will mainly consist of newscasts. There will also be large topical interviews and documentaries. Everything will be broadcast in English. According to the channel's chief editor Margarita Simonyan the channels' main audience will be people for whom it is important to get information from Russia: politicians, experts, journalists and of course - our fellow nationals who live abroad. At present over 300 employees of the Russia Today channel are already working full time. Musical breaks have been designed in a Russian style, [broadcasting] studios have been painted in different shades of orange and the blonde presenter is Sasha Young who is British. Twenty-five per cent of the channel's staff are foreigners because broadcasting will be in English. At present contracts on transmitting the signal are being signed in various countries of the world. The world premiere of Russia Today is expected to take place in the next few months. Source: Radio Russia, Moscow, in Russian 1000 gmt 15 Sep 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) Bet it never shows on basic cable here (gh, OK, DXLD) RUSSIAN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TV CHANNEL GETS PERMIT TO BROADCAST IN EUROPE | Text of report by Russian Centre TV on 15 September [Presenter] A new channel has appeared in New York among Russian TV channels whose representatives are working there now as part of the presidential [media] pool. However, the global information television in English, Russia Today, will have started broadcasting in full by the end of 2005. [Correspondent Vladimir Khurtin] The interest in the new company was so great that a news conference on the launching the so-called test broadcasting was to be held in two rounds. All equipment including editorial office cars and studio hardware is brand-new. It is obvious that a 30-m budget for this year [2005] is being successfully spent. In spite of the fact that this is only test broadcasting, everything in the newsroom - the heart of the information channel - looks very serious. The visitors were asked to leave so as not to interfere in preparations for the evening news broadcast. The presenter as well as the Russia Today correspondent from New York, are commenting on [Russian President] Vladimir Putin's visit in English, naturally. The news conference was held in the same manner. [Margarita Simonyan, Russia Today chief editor, uncaptioned] Shall we hold the news conference in English? Does everyone speak English? [A voice from the audience] Everybody speaks English. [Simonyan] OK. [Correspondent] Not long ago the chief editor of the English-language Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, was a special correspondent of the Russia TV and a journalist of the Kremlin pool. Now she heads the electronic media called to show to the whole world the Russian outlook on Russia and the world. [Margarita Simonyan, the chief editor of TV channel Russia Today, captioned, speaks in English, translation superimposed] We believe that our viewers will be people who are interested in Russia, who need information about what is going on in Russia. Those are, for example, media community people and politicians. [Correspondent] At present Russia Today has 344 employees, almost 25 per cent of them are foreigners including a granddaughter of [the former Georgian President] Eduard Shevardnadze, Sofiko. As compared to major Russian TV the staffing is rather moderate but when the bureaux will open in Paris, London Washington, Jerusalem and Cairo, the editorial office counts on getting information from all over the world. The 24-hour broadcasting will consist of blocs of news, politics and public life, as well as economy and culture. Apart from this, there will be documentaries and daily topical interviews. The main problem at present is how to organize the distribution of the signal. The permit to broadcast in Europe was received only a day before [14 September]. As for the authorities' influence on the editorial policy, according to the British [as received] chief editor, Michael Alexander, "the pressure does not exceed the one exerted on the BBC". [Video shows the new channel logo, the newsroom and studios in Moscow] Source: Centre TV, Moscow, in Russian 1645 gmt 15 Sep 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Hunting for the new time of La Bañera de Ulises on REE, which has been Tue 1405 UT, but per announcements is moving to some time on weekends --- there are already some repeats on weekends, altho on the schedule given as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions as if they are all different. On the RNE 3 website I find it scheduled Fri 21-22 local (19-21 UT), but don`t know if that is new, or the new time the host has been talking about. In any case, perhaps there will not be any change in its times on the SW service? We shall see. Or rather hear. Or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 9505 kHz, R. Omdurman. Sept. 10 at 1920-1931*. SINPO 44443. Talk in Arabic. ID at 1924, followed by local song. Closing announcement at 1930. Sign-off after Kor`an recitation at 1931 (Iwao Nagatani, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** U K. / NETHERLANDS: Note that according to the official announcements the DRM service on 1296 (at present 0600-2200 = 8 AM to midnight CET) will be extended to 18 hours with the start of B05. No times were given, but I would consider an earlier start more likely than an extension into the night. This suggests that the RNW relays on 1296 (at present 0500-0557) will come to an end. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NORWAY ** U K. BBC CENSURES NEWS PRESENTER HUMPHRYS OVER REMARK LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The BBC on Tuesday censured one of its leading news presenters for making "inappropriate and misguided" comments mocking politicians in an after-dinner speech. It said an internal report into remarks made to a private forum in June by John Humphrys, presenter of the BBC's flagship morning radio progamme "Today", had found they could be used to question his and the BBC's own impartiality. "John himself accepts that some of his phrases were injudicious and recognises that it is vital that all BBC News presenters and reporters are impartial and are seen to be impartial and to support the BBC's values and integrity in everything they do," the BBC said in a statement. BBC Chairman Michael Grade had ordered an inquiry into Humphry's comments after the Times newspaper reported he had ridiculed senior members of Tony Blair's Labour government and implied that all governments ministers are liars. Humphrys told newspapers the Times report had miscontrued his light- hearted remarks about politicians and that he did not believe that all ministers were liars. "What I actually said was that there are three kinds of politicians: those who do not lie full stop, those who lie if they absolutely have to, and those who do not give a bugger about lying," Humphrys told the Guardian newspaper. The BBC said no further action would be taken against Humphrys. "I am pleased to draw a line under this episode," said Grade, "and at the same time reassure those who pay for the BBC through their licence fee of the BBC's continued committment to independence, impartiality and accuracy." In a transcript of the speech published on the Times website Humphrys, 62, said the BBC "had got it right" in its controversial report that the government had "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's illegal weapons. The ensuing row over the report, broadcast on the Today programme, led to the resignation in January 2004 of then BBC Chairman Gavyn Davies and Director-General Greg Dyke. REUTERS RTw 09/06 1745 (via Mike Cooper, Sept 14, DXLD) ** UNITED NATIONS [non]. SPECIAL NEWSCASTS FROM UNITED NATIONS RADIO United Nations Radio is currently covering the events at the 60th UN General Assembly held in New York. WRN listeners can usually listen to UN Radio newscasts every weekday on our various English language radio channels. This weekend, we will provide you with some special UN Radio programmes that will bring you up-to-date with the events in New York, as many world leaders or their senior representatives continue to deliver speeches to the Assembly over the weekend. Here are the times for this weekend's special newscasts from UN Radio: In North America: Sat and Sun 7.55pm ET / 4.55pm PT In Africa and the Middle East: Sat and Sun 2055 UTC / 2255 CAT In Africa and Europe on WorldSpace AfriStar: Sat and Sun 2055 UTC / 2255 CAT In Asia and the Pacific: Sat and Sun 2055 UTC / Sun and Mon 0655 AEST In Asia on WorldSpace AsiaStar: Sat and Sun 2055 UTC / Sun and Mon 0655 AEST In Europe: Sat and Sun 2255 UTC / Sun and Mon 0055 CEST (WRN Newsletter Sept 16 via DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ: Wishing our friend well --- Michael Ketter, our dear friend and long time member of the WBCQ family, suffered a heart attack on September 14. Michael is in stable but critical condition at a hospital in Pittsburgh. Please keep Michael, Gina, and their friends and family in your thoughts and prayers at this time (Larry Will, for WBCQ, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Checked UT Sept 16, the WRMI website still does not have a program schedule, as given in DXLD several issues ago, but Listen Live does launch a Shoutcast mp3 stream now, http://68.142.11.137:8000/ --- but unfortunately, altho it was playing and the clock was running, it was silent at 0326 UT. Or, not so unfortunately, since it was only Christian Media Network, anyway. O no, rechecked at 0414, there was Brother Stair, but it was hummy and barely audible. That`s progress? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I would be interested in any reports of VOA or R. Martí, via Greenville transmissions missing, or replaced by other sites, if this can be determined, despite the propagation disturbances, as Ophelia goes thru the area. I wonder what kind of contingency plans they have in case there is too much wind or water. Tnx, (Glenn Hauser, ABDX, Sept 15 via DXLD) Glenn, If you're hoping for reports of Greenville Transmitting Stations lying in ruins, you'll have to look elsewhere. So far Hurricane Ophelia has been naught but a few strong gusts of wind and occasional middling heavy rains. If a tower comes down, it's because it was going to come down soon anyway --- the riggers wouldn't let that happen as there is a good, solid inspection and maintenance program practiced. I don't have permission to give out the telephone numbers at the two transmitter sites, nor at Delano. Directory Assistance can do that. Call the stations directly to ask about whether there were transmitter substitutions; I think they'll feel comfortable giving out that info. 73 from an IBB retiree, (Charles A & Leonor L Taylor, Greenville, North Carolina, ABDX via DXLD) Of course I was not ``hoping`` for that, but wanted to be prepared and aware of any such problems (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. The WRNO shortwave site in New Orleans came thru Katrina virtually unscathed. The transmitter building and the transmitter are OK; there was no flooding in the building, and no damage to the antenna or coupler, etc. However, a large oak(?) tree fell on power lines nearby, and that is the main problem. It may have to be removed by an independent contractor. Now the target date for going on the air is by the end of October, according to sources at the station (George Thurman, TX, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another version: Just wanted to let everyone know that I have found out that the transmitter site for WRNO SHORTWAVE near New Orleans for the most part did not suffer any serious damage due to hurricane Katrina. The xmtr building had no flooding, and the antenna, and transmission line did not suffer any wind damage. The only real problem is an Oak tree that has fallen, and has cut electrical power to the building. It may be some time before the tree can be removed, and the station hopes to get on the air by late October (GEORGE (SKIP) THURMAN, Sept 16, rec.radio.shortwave via Dave Zantow, DXLD) BTW, at times personalities from WRNO 99.5 are heard on URBONO. Just a reminder that despite the same call letters, this no longer has any relation to the inactive SW station, just as WWL (AM) has no relation to WWL-TV (gh) ** U S A. The URBONO / WWL relay on SW may be over. At least this was gone from 15285 on Sept 15, which from 1400 was much weaker than before and carrying WHR`s preferred slanted IRN News instead of WWL`s CBS News. (Check the headlines under Liberty and Life at http://www.irnnews.com/ for an idea of where IRN is coming from). Then at 1405 WHR ID and into its own Harvest Mailbag. I had tuned in 11785 at 1357 to check on that, but it was missing. I thought the QSY may have started a bit earlier than usual, but now I expect that frequency is no longer in use, since it was invoked on weekdays just for URBONO, instead of just weekends for Hmong Lao Radio. The much weaker signal on 15285 which became audible after 1400 probably means they have also gone back to the scheduled azimuth for this of 173 degrees, rather than 315 they had been using for URBONO. I did hear URBONO a few hours previously around 0515 on 5835. The SW schedule on the WWL website http://www.wwl.com/Article.asp?id=114239 gives no hint it has been canceled. If it has, this may have something to do with WWL 870 regaining full power of 50 kW the day before; the SW relay may have been considered a measure to fill in a perceived coverage gap at the fringes with only 25 kW. But only time will tell whether this is really gone for good, as WHRI`s relay has been interrupted in the past for unexplained reasons (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I listened to WHRI 0800 UT [that would be 5835], 15/5 [sic, must mean 15/9] and heard WHRI ID and WWL ID along with news of New Orleans (Ken Baird, 10 Sarabande Ave, Redwood, Christchurch, 8005 New Zealand, ripple via DXLD) Hi All. Nothing on 5835 tonight at 0645. Seems as though what Glenn was saying has happened and WWL is no longer being repeated by WHRI. Cheers (Ken Baird, New Zealand, Sept 16, ibid.) Altho regular WHR programming was back on 15285 whenever checked on Sept 15 starting at 1400, URBONO via WHRI had resumed when I checked 5835 around 0518 UT Sept 16, lots of NO PSAs/ads. (However, Ken Baird in NZ says he did NOT hear it at 0645 this date.) And at 1255, 11785 was back on with URBONO, and after 1300 with more and more aftermath- related PSAs/ads, sometimes hard to tell which is which, including some which date back to the early days, like don`t step in water when fiddling with your electricity, get out of the house if you smell gas. Also, news director of WWL was on CNN around 1335 talking about how ENTERCOM managed to stay on the air with at least 4 stations as Katrina went thru, but I missed most of it. Showed stills of the damage to the WWL studio we have already seen on website [below]. CNN may repeat this segment on other shows today. Shortly after 1400 we shall hear whether URBONO is also back on 15285, which was certainly not the case yesterday. Just rechecked the WWL website SW schedule, which shows no changes; and WHR Angel 1 schedule, which has never mentioned WWL/URBONO and still does not. One can only wonder what causes the irregularity of this service. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, Sept 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Slightly later:] Yes, back on 15285 too, Spud & Monica, from 1400 Sept 16. Feed was running 2 minutes late, with CBS bong and news not until 1402. Still (or again) going after 1900, beginning to fade down (Glenn, ibid.) Glenn, I've been monitoring 11785 every morning before 1400 and it's been there each and every morning since Katrina (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Sept 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, no trace of it here as I said above on Sept 15 at 1357, but maybe it cut off a bit early, or some propagational thing, skipping over tho it normally is very strong here. And surely you did not hear it on Sats and Suns, when 11785 is not scheduled for URBONO, but the usual Hmong Lao Radio, Sat 1200, Sun 1300 plus some gospel shows before or after. And the WHRI relay did not start until almost a week after Katrina (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWL-AM 870 STUDIO DAMAGE PHOTOS http://www.wwl.com/photowall.asp (via Curtis Sadowski, IL, Sept 15, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. HAM RADIO OPERATORS TUNE IN HURRICANE HELP By Barbara W. Carlson | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor NEWINGTON, CONN. – Richard Webb, an amateur radio operator, was asleep on his air mattress at University Hospital in New Orleans during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina when he was awakened at 5 a.m. by a hospital administrator. . . http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0915/p12s02-stss.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Nice article, but they never mention any ham`s callsign! Hello??!! O, the CSM doesn`t know any better. At least the persons mentioned have their full names given instead of callsigns as surnames (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. An LP FM on 94.5 is going up in New Orleans, mentioned on CNN around 1945 UT Sept 15 with this blog link: http://jacob.wordpress.com/wp-inst/index.php?s=94.5&submit= (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And someone commented: A group of guerrilla media types have set up a pirate radio station at 94.5 FM and community media center for folks to share their stories and get information about what`s going on (from http://jacob.wordpress.com/2005/09/14/joel-and-friends-set-up-the-radio-antenna-mast/#comments via DXLD) So is it part 15, legal or illegal? I`ve heard there a lot more ad-hoc stations (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Off air --- or not yet on: LA, New Orleans (selected) WRBH *88.3, WWNO *89.9, WWOZ *90.7, WTUL *91.5, WTKL 95.7, WRNO-FM 99.5. The FCC estimates between 50 and 100 stations are or were off the air along the Gulf Coast. WWOZ, new Orleans` jazz station, is off but not fotgotten. An oout-of- market station, WFMU *91.1 East Orange NJ, has created a ``WWOZ in Exile`` website with airchecks of WWOZ, music, and they`re taking donations to help WWOZ as well as WWOZ`s community. Visit http://www.wfmu.org (Sept FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. Listening to Katrina --- Listening to local radio remains fascinating listening as New Orleans struggles to rebuild itself after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Kim Andrew Elliott followed the unfolding drama as it happened using nothing more than a portable radio. . . http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/kat050915.html?view=Standard (Media Network newsletter Sept 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. SATELLITE TV SERVICE TO OFFER KATRINA RELIEF CHANNEL 9/15/2005, 10:14 a.m. CT The Associated Press ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -- EchoStar Communications Corp. said Thursday it has added a channel dedicated to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts to The Dish Network satellite television service. The Katrina Information Network, developed by Washington-based Flying Colors Broadcasts, will be available to Dish customers free while the Gulf Coast is rebuilding. The channel broadcasts updates from relief agencies as well as key information such as telephone numbers and a survivors' list, EchoStar said. EchoStar also is working with Clear Channel Communications Inc. to transmit that company's FM radio signals from Baton Rouge, La., to New Orleans. EchoStar Communications, based in suburban Englewood, is the nation's second-largest satellite television provider. EchoStar Communications Corp.: http://echostar.com (via nola.com via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S A A N E W S #1179 9/15/05 http://www.atheistsorg http://www.americanatheist.org http://www.atheistviewpoint.tv A Service of AMERICAN ATHEISTS, a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for non-believers; works for the total separation of Church and State; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy. "ATHEIST is really a thoroughly honest, unambiguous term, it admits of no paltering and no evasion, and the need of the world, now as ever, is for clear-cut issues and unambiguous speech." -- Chapman Cohen BREAKING... GOOD MORNING AMERICA WEEKEND HOST GIVES "MY APOLOGIES," PROMISES ON AIR RETRACTION FOR "NO ATHEISTS IN FOXHOLES OR HURRICANE ZONES" REMARK A host for the popular ABC network program "Good Morning America" said this evening that he will be issuing an on-air retraction over the weekend for remarks made earlier this month that stated: "There are no Atheists in Foxholes or hurricane zones." Mr. Bill Weir contacted American Atheists President Ellen Johnson and said that he regretted the statement made on September 4, 2005 at the close of a program segment about Hurricane Katrina and the devastation along the Gulf Coast. American Atheists launched a phone, E-mail and letter-writing campaign encouraging members and supporters to contact Mr. Weir and the ABC network to demand a retraction. Earlier this week, the campaign was expanded when people were asked to contact Mr. George Mitchell, Chairman of the Walt Disney Company which owns ABC. In a statement to the media, Ms. Johnson said that the organization is "delighted by Mr. Weir's gracious handling of this matter." "I think it takes someone of character and integrity to do this, and we have nothing but praise for him and the Good Morning America weekend show." Johnson added that the willingness of ABC and Mr. Weir to issue such a retraction indicates that major media is slowly becoming more sensitive concerning a segment of the American population which, for too long, has been "ignored, marginalized and stereotyped." "Surveys show that about 13% of Americans have no religion," said Johnson. "Remarks that stereotype us or any other segment of people in this country are often inaccurate, unfair and hurtful." Johnson pointed out that American Atheists is hosting the "Atheists in Foxholes" rally on Veterans Day in Washington, DC, and has been actively raising money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Dave Silverman, Communications Director for American Atheists joined in congratulating Mr. Weir for his forthcoming retraction. "He's doing the right thing, and he deserves our thanks for taking back his early on-air statement. This is a testament to his integrity as an individual and a leading electronic journalist and public personality." For further information: http://www.atheistfoxholes.org ("Atheists in Foxholes" Parade and Rally, Nov. 11, 2005 in Washington, DC) http://www.atheists.org (Link at the top of the page to donate for charity/relief efforts in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast region) Saturday or Sunday? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. "St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport Information Radio" WPIM363 on 1060 kHz (in-band TIS) is finally back on, after several months of silence. Noted mid-morning today, Sept. 13 [sic], with newly-recorded messages, new male voice. Also, noted an additional sign (blue with white letter text) posted underneath the large long-term parking billboard opposite of the airport today. Signal gets out about the same as before going silent, that is, 4-5 miles before completely lost on a car radio. At the home QTH's NRD-535 etc., near local level of course (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html Sept 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RAYON SHERWIN "JUNIOR" PAYNE SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR UNLICENSED RADIO OPERATION Hello, My name is Rayon Payne, better known as NSX on the radio. In 2003 I was set to prison for pirate radio. The FCC put a press release and many of you picked up on the story and told the story for one side which is the government's. To date and even in the history of radio I have been the only person the FCC has sent to prison for any radio violations. I have been doing pirate radio in Orlando, Fl for almost 6 years with a amp of 10.000 watts which stream to the web to http://www.95live.com This e-mail is not to say to you all that what I did was a great thing and that I'm a guy who enjoy pissing off the crop stations, no what this is about is to ask you all for the chance to speak my side of why I the FCC wanted to send to prison. The government has spend more money sending me to prison that they could have done better things with that money. But anyway I do thank you for your time and do hope am given that chance. Respectfully, (Rayon Payne, NSX/ Junior. 407.282.2637 Tele 321.438.8725 Cell nsx2 @ mail.com Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, the streams are now working; so I guess he is out of prison now? Not my cup of tea (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Beer guy to head NAB? --- Here's a link from "Inside Radio" about the possible new head of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB): http://www.insideradio.com/topheadline.asp?ID=367839&PT=Today%27s+Top+Stories In case the link doesn't work (a frequent hazard with "Inside Radio" since they change URLs frequently to discourage linking to their site), here's the "teaser" copy: "Beer Wholesalers Association chief David Rehr may be slotted to be the next head of the National Association of Broadcasters. He’s the choice of Phil Lombardo — the head of Citadel TV and the guy who helped speed the departure of 23-year president/CEO Eddie Fritts in an awkward backstage play." I can't wait to try that new Coors IBOC/HD Beer --- better taste, but the suds slop over onto the people sitting next to you at the bar (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX Sept 15, via DXLD) ** U S A. OUTSIDE VOICES: JAY ROSEN'S OPEN LETTER TO CBS Each week we'll invite someone from the outside to weigh in with their thoughts about CBS News and the media at large. We asked Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at New York University and author of the widely-read blog Pressthink, to get things started. The opinions expressed in "Outside Voices" are those of the author, not ours. As you can clearly see below and in the weeks ahead, we'll seek opinions and thoughts from a wide variety of voices. So, take it away Jay: To: The People of CBS News From: Jay Rosen Re: The Internet and You Welcome to the Internet, everyone. And I do mean everyone. According to Larry Kramer, the boss of CBS Digital, "all 1,500 people at CBS News now also contribute to CBSNews.com." That means you're all Web journalists now -- by decree, as it were. . . http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2005/09/16/publiceye/entry851751.shtml (via Tom Roche, DXLD) Plus the inevitable discussion forum (gh) ** U S A. Re: Your "strange are the ways of the LA Times (gh, DXLD)": What you're seeing is nothing more than the newspaper posting a story during the day that is to be included in the next day's newspaper. That leaves you with two URLs and often different headlines for the same (or very similar) story. This also occurs with Newsday, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and others (Mike Cooper, Sep 16, DXLD) ** U S A. 16 [Indiana] COUNTIES WANT CHICAGO TIME --- More can ask today for a hearing on switching zones --- September 16, 2005 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS02/509160497 What's Happened So Far • Indiana's legislature voted to move all of Indiana to daylight- saving time and to ask the U.S. Department of Transportation to hold hearings on whether Indiana should be in the Eastern or Central time zone. • Currently, 82 counties are in Eastern and 10 are in Central. • The federal government declined to hold statewide hearings and instead gave counties until today to petition for a time change. Counties can, as they always have been able to do, petition for a change after today, but they won't be on the same expedited schedule as those that apply by today. • As of Thursday, 16 counties had petitioned the federal government for a time zone change, all from Eastern to Central: Carroll, Cass, Daviess, Dubois, Fulton, Knox, Lawrence, Marshall, Martin, Pike, Pulaski, Starke, St. Joseph, Sullivan, Vermillion and White. Additional counties may ask the federal government today for hearings. • South Bend is the state's only large population center that is in a county that has asked for a time zone change. Lafayette, in Tippecanoe County; Terre Haute, in Vigo County; Indianapolis, in Marion County; and Fort Wayne, in Allen County, will remain in the Eastern time zone. In addition, Gary, in Lake County, and Evansville, in Vanderburgh County, will remain on Central time. What's next If the federal Department of Transportation says an application merits a "notice of proposed rule-making," that triggers another period for public comment and a hearing. Only then will the agency decide whether to change the time zone boundary. • On the Web: To read submissions by the public to the Department of Transportation about the Indiana time zone case, go to http://dms.dot.gov/ click on "Simple Search" and enter 22114 for Indiana. By Mary Beth Schneider Today is the federal deadline for Indiana counties to seek a time zone change, but the struggle to win that change is only starting. As of Thursday, 16 counties had formally asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to have hearings on whether they should be moved to Central time from Eastern. Ten of the state's 92 counties already are on Central time, and that will not change. But hearings -- much less an actual switch -- are far from guaranteed. The federal agency will decide first whether each county has made a strong enough initial case to merit a hearing. A department official declined to say Thursday how long that might take. Most of the counties applying for a change are clustered in Northwest Indiana, where Chicago is a major influence, and the southwestern corner of the state, which has historic ties to western Kentucky and southern Illinois. In some cases, neighboring counties have split on the issue. St. Joseph County, home of South Bend, for example, has applied for a shift to Central time, while neighboring Elkhart and Kosciusko counties have not. Kevin Brinegar, president of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, said commerce will be federal officials' No. 1 consideration -- where people work, get their news and conduct most business. That, he believes, makes it a slam-dunk case for Eastern time in most of Indiana. But University of Nôtre Dame marketing Professor John F. Gaski wrote to the Department of Transportation, maintaining Central time is best for most, if not all, of Indiana. While the chamber notes that 39 percent of Indiana's exports go to the Eastern zone, that means 61 percent go elsewhere, Gaski said. Federal officials set today's deadline after Gov. Mitch Daniels successfully pushed to put Indiana into daylight-saving time. The law required Daniels to ask for federal hearings on where the time zone boundary should be in Indiana. Brinegar expects few hearings will be granted by the federal agency. "It's a distinct possibility that they'll say, 'We got it right 30 years ago,' " he said (via Steve Cline, IN, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION TO UTILIZE AVAILABLE SPECTRUM | Text of report by Ingrid Valero, published by Radio Nacional de Venezuela website on 14 September National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) Director Alvin Lezama indicated that a series of measures aimed at putting the national broadcast spectrum frequencies in order will be launched "to make the best use of this resource, which is scarce in the country". He pointed out that many of the irregularities have to do with the management of previous governments and stressed that it is necessary "to put in order some of the records held by the National Telecommunications Commission about the broadcast spectrum frequency situation". In this regard, administrative proceedings were opened against Globovisión, Puma TV, TVO, TeleÉxitos, Telecaribe, Televisa and Niños Cantores del Zulia, since it is presumed that these stations have not made effective use of some portions of the broadcast spectrum granted to open TV stations to offer services. He pointed out that ambiguities about the possession of broadcast spectrum frequencies make it impossible to know what is available. "In no fewer than seven broadcast stations that we are studying, there are 60 frequencies between UHF and VHF, but they are so ambiguous that they do not allow one to understand if [expanding the frequencies] is possible or not, so we want to clarify that situation." Lezama said that these proceedings are positive since they will offer clarification of the situation and could open up studies for granting new spectrum. Source: Radio Nacional de Venezuela website, Caracas, in Spanish 14 Sep 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) A rather different take than in 5-163. See also CUBA (gh) ** ZIMBABWE. Glen[n]: I'm getting nice African music on 6612 KHz (8:12 pm EDT, 0012 UT). (Des, UT Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reception of Radio Zimbabwe is rather difficult, particularly on its frequency of 3306 kHz which is interfered by S.I.T.O.R. utility transmitter. Radio Zimbabwe was heard in Sofia on September 3 at 1845 hours on 6612 kHz with a discussion in English and at 2130 with local songs. Radio Zimbabwe`s second local program uses 3306 kHz from 17 to 5 hours and 6045 kHz from 5 to 17 hours. The QSL address is: P.O. Box HG 444, Highlands, Harare, Zimbabwe (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program Sept 17 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. We missed the original 729 unID French Pacific log referred to in 5-184, but here is another one: (gh) 729 UNID French speaker once again but much weaker, some drum music at 0853, then talk by man in FF 9/15. Drake R8 Palstar MW550P MFJ 1026 EWE Antenna (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, HCDX via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ FM ATLAS DELAYED The FM Atlas continues to be at the printer, with production expected today or tomorrow (Sept. 16) in Benton Harbor MI. It will go to the bindery, then the books get shrink-wrapped and placed in boxes. Shipments to Duluth MN and the Columbus OH area should occur the week of Sept. 19. As I told Ken Simon in Florida, tell the troops in Tannu Tuva to be patient! I think they're encamped in their yurts. Coming on board with the initial printing increasing considerably is Universal Radio in Reynoldsburg OH. My wife, Carol Elving, arranged this sale to Fred Osterman of Universal Radio. Advance orders are still being accepted at $20 postpaid thru the end of September. Mail to "FM Atlas," PO Box 336, Esko MN 55733-0336. Check, money order, or Visa, Mastercard, American Express accepted, 1- 800-605-2219 for orders. When ordering, mention your mailing address and phone number (Bruce Elving, Sept 15, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ Some notes on digital broadcasting: [see also, GERMANY, NORWAY, UK] Power level of DRM transmissions: On the IFA press conference the speaker of T-Systems explained with pride that they are able (and do so at least on 7265) to provide DRM transmissions with 200 kW from their Wertachtal site, equivalent to 1000 kW AM carrier power. Made me immediately think about the old Soviet approach --- So where do they save so much money when still churning out 200 kW in DRM instead of 500 kW in AM? And Jülich demonstrates every day how 100 kW does the job as well when operational costs are a real matter. The presentations from this press conference are now available as PDF documents at http://www.deutsches-drm-forum.de/html/news___events.html (the set of nine "download" buttons there). For Glenn: Yes, the 177 kHz switch to DRM was at 0757 UT, indeed on Aug 29 and not Sep 1 as another widely circulated report claims. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBC R&D - Cascaded audio coding Paper just published about problems of digital sound: Cascaded Audio Coding --- David Marston and Andrew Mason http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/whp-pdf-files/WHP118.pdf Broadcasters have experienced significant problems with cascaded audio coding in the broadcast chain following the introduction of digital transmission. It has been found that cascading different codecs can result in an overall degradation in sound that many listeners find objectionable. A comprehensive investigation of this problem has been conducted by members of the EBU project group B/AIM. This paper describes typical cascades of codecs found in radio broadcast chains, and aims to identify the most critical combinations. The intent is to guide broadcasters in deciding which codec combinations should be avoided to maximise sound quality. The process initially involved deciding which were the most commonly used codec combinations used in digital radio. The next stage was to use objective assessment software, which gave an initial guide to the expected quality scores for each cascade. Finally, subjective tests involving trained listeners were performed to ensure more accurate and reliable results. The resulting quality results were then analysed and conclusions drawn up to which cascades are best avoided. This document was originally published in the Proceedings of the International Broadcasting Convention, September 2005. (Mike Barraclough, UK, Sept 14, BDXC-UK via DXLD) IBOC TESTS AUTHORIZED: see BRAZIL RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SUSPICIOUS DX ANTENNAS I have been traveling incognito since last year when I was approached by two security guards in Minong, WI after I had set up the Wellbrook ALA-1530 antenna in the corner of the parking lot of a well known Minong business. I was trying to find out if the NDBs at some of the area airports were operating or had gone dark. Since the antenna happened to be pointing the same direction as a nearby road, they asked if I was surveying the road. They also wanted to know why I had two AM-FM systems installed in the pickup. Of course since the ICOM IC-R75 which I was using at the time [and had the I.D. of a nearby NDB audible while they were talking to me] does not look much like the radios most people listen to, they were very inquisitive about that. They seemed to think if I pushed one of the buttons something dire would occur. After explaining everything to them, they seemed about half satisfied and returned to the store. I have also been checked by U.S. Forest Service law enforcement personnel while parked at the Eagle Mountain parking area, and a few nosey private citizens. I have never set up the ALA-1530 while DXing from the parking area at Coast Guard Station North Superior. Don't know what kind of a response that would bring. (Paul LaFreniere, Grand Marais, MN, Sept 15, ABDX via DXLD) 7 MHz QRM source In case you run across some unusual QRM on HF, this may be a source: http://www.eham.net/articles/11997 (Harry Helms W5HLH Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX via DXLD) "LIGHT BULB MALFUNCTION AT SCHOOL SENDS 18 TO HOSPITAL WITH RADIATION BURNS" http://www.canada.com/news/story.html?id=4cef66cf-8f37-491c-907f-12b379921fa5 Have you ever heard of short-wave radiation? (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) Actually they are talking about UV, which is super, or extra, or really, really short wave (gh, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Solar Minimum Explodes 9.15.2005 SOLAR MINIMUM IS LOOKING STRANGELY LIKE SOLAR MAX. + Play Audio | + Download Audio | + Historia en Español | + Email to a friend | + Join mailing list September 15, 2005: Just one week ago, on Sept. 7th, a huge sunspot rounded the sun's eastern limb. As soon as it appeared, it exploded, producing one of the brightest x-ray solar flares of the Space Age. In the days that followed, the growing spot exploded eight more times. Each powerful "X-flare" caused a shortwave radio blackout on Earth and pumped new energy into a radiation storm around our planet. The blasts hurled magnetic clouds toward Earth, and when they hit, on Sept 10th and 11th, ruby-red auroras were seen as far south as Arizona. So this is solar minimum? [More:] http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/15sep_solarminexplodes.htm?list13051 (via Mike Bugaj, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) FULL STORY [same?] at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/15sep_solarminexplodes.htm?list793407 (via Michael McCarty, dxldyg via DXLD) Propagation on MW this week (37) has been very strange due to the geomagnetic storm. On 1377 kHz I can under normal conditions hear France Info, Lille 300 kW. Sometimes a Chinese station. This week at 1730 UTC the dominating station has been TWR Gavar, Armenia signing on at 1725 UT. 18 UT on 1314 kHz I´ve been hearing BBC Al Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates instead of NRK´s powerhouse. Last Wednesday 14.9. almost the only station on MW-dial around 18 UT was YLE Pori. MW-band was almost totally silent except some stations from Iran and Romania. For some reason during the geomagnetic storms mw-stations from Italy, Romania and Iran come with exceptional good reception. Selection is very limited indeed. 73 (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###