DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-219, December 21, 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 For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html BROADCASTS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1298: Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Thu 0000 WOR WBCQ 18910-CLSB Thu 0900 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Thu 2130 WOR WWCR 7465 Thu 2200 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Fri 0030 WOR R. Veronica 106.5 Fri 0100 WOR WTND-LP 106.3 Macomb IL Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 2000 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Fri 2100 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Sat 1700] Sat 0500 WOR VoiceCorps Reading Service, WOSU-FM subcarrier, cable Sat 0900 WOR WRN to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1100 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 & WPKM Montauk LINY 88.7 Sat 1530 WOR R. Veronica 106.5 Sat 1830 WOR WRN to North America [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 0000 WOR Radio Studio X 1584 http://www.radiostudiox.it/ Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0600 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3215 Sun 0930 WOR WRN to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WXPR Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 0930 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0930 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1400 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1830 WOR WRN1 to North America [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 2000 WOR RNI Sun 2230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 Mon 1900 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Tue 1500] Wed 0030 WOR WBCQ 7415 Wed 0100 WOR CJOY INTERNET RADIO plug-in required Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 WRN ON DEMAND [from Fri]: 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 1298 (real high): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1298h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1298h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1298 (real low): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1298.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1298.rm [mp3 versions pending UT Thursday] WORLD OF RADIO 1298 (mp3 high): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1298h.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1298 (mp3 low): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1298.mp3 (lower download) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-21-05.mp3 (lower stream) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-21-05.m3u (WOR 1298 summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1298.html [soon] WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ALBANIA. Radio Tirana external service seems back on their usual registered service. Yesterday night Christopher Lewis reported to GH- dxld. En 1945-2000 7465, 7530, also at 2230-2300 UT on 7110. To NoAM 0245-0300 6115 7455; 0330-0400 same channels. So seemingly financial problems and mobbing amongst the RT departments came to an end ... This morning I woke up too late. RT Albanian 0730-0900 UT on 7105 was in progress, but couldn't trace it on 1458 kHz due of long distance, but 338 degrees azimuth would fit towards Germany. And on air again at 0901-1000 UT on 1395 and 7105. On \\ 7105 there is a phone-in program in progress interviewing some Albanian nationals abroad. The next RT external service broadcast today, is at 1500-1630 UT on 1458 kHz in Albanian, Turkish at 1630-1645, Greek 1645-1700 UT, all non-directional. Maybe somebody in Austria, ex-YUG, Italy and Greece can check the latter mediumwave service. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 21, WORLD OF RADIO 1298, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In case no other Radio Tirana programmes than in English and Albanian were reported yet: Right now German is on air on 1458. So it appears that the entire service has been restored, at least for the time being (Kai Ludwig, 1911 UT Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Tirana was noted today Dec. 21 around 1945 UT on 7465 kHz, with strong carrier but very irregular audio, running from strong to very weak. At 1959 give ID followed by French program until 2026, consisting of news, commentary and Albanian songs (José Pedro Turner, Gondomar, Portugal, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. MEDIA GUIDE - DECEMBER 2005 Overview Around 90 per cent of the country's electronic and print media can be found in the capital Yerevan. There are 46 private and two public TV broadcasters operating in Armenia, three of which are Russian TV channels. The capital is also home to a rich mix of local FM broadcasters, although most are entertainment-only stations. Fourteen of the radio stations are private and two are public broadcasters. TV is the dominant medium in the country, with 25 channels available in the capital. Beyond the areas where there are cable providers operating, the regions of Armenia do not enjoy the luxury of such a rich broadcast environment. Typically, there are five or six TV channels and three or four FM stations. Armenian public radio is available nationally on longwave, mediumwave and shortwave. Radio France International is the only foreign broadcaster with its own dedicated FM frequency in Yerevan. RFE/RL have an opt-in allocation with Ardzagank radio, Radio Hay and both national public radio stations. There are four national news agencies and around ten newspapers that are sold regularly in Yerevan. Each of the 11 provinces or regions in Armenia has at least two newspapers. Media freedom On 14 January 2004, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan signed the law "On Mass Information, which was accepted by the National Assembly. The law states that the Armenian mass media are equal and work independently on the basis of freedom of speech, lawfulness and pluralism of opinions. Censorship is prohibited. Nearly all the major print outlets in the capital commented on how the electronic media is heavily influenced by the government. Although there is no direct censorship in Armenia and a plurality of media exists, there are signs that the media in Armenia are not completely free. Certain directors within the electronic media have alluded to a kind of censorship, but stopped short of saying the government interfered with their operation. Censorship does not appear to affect the print media. One possible reason for this is the relatively small circulation of newspapers in Armenia. The government may not see the print media as a threat, or as a vehicle which could carry justifiable criticism of the government to a wider audience. In March 2005, a report by the International press institute expressed serious concern about media freedom in the country and stressed the lack of pluralism in the electronic media. The report also criticized the Armenian government for failing to decriminalize libel offences. A section of Armenia's new Criminal Code states that the authorities can impose heavy fines and up to five years in prison for journalists convicted of slandering government officials or politicians. Television Twenty-five TV broadcasters operate in Yerevan and 21 are available through a terrestrial aerial. Air-cable, or multi-channel microwave, is a fairly inexpensive option for the local inhabitants, typically five US dollars a month. A survey carried out by the Intermedia group in December 2004 showed that 97 per cent of people in Yerevan own a TV set. The prime viewing period is between 2000 and 2200 local time. An Internews survey conducted in 2004 showed that the three Russian channels ORT, RTR and NTV were the most popular broadcasters. Most Armenians speak Russian as a second language. The public TV channel one (C1), whose main news broadcast is called "Haylur", seems to be the most watched channel for news. An Internews survey suggests that the main reason respondents watched "Haylur" is to get to know the "authorities'" point of view and compare it with other information from alternative sources, indicating a level of sophistication among consumers of media. Most popular neutral news The private station Armenia TV's "Armnews" seems to be the most watched channel for "neutral information", according to the survey. They also have an "exclusive" agreement to show CNN world news with an Armenian translation. One of the private independent low-budget channels, Shant TV fares well in the news ratings. It came eighth in overall viewing ratings in the country, according to Internews. It was also mentioned by respondents in the survey as a channel whose news they would watch, if only to compare with what was being said on the public channels C1 and h2. The director of Shant TV, has said that the channel is one of the top three broadcasters in Armenia. The channel readily procures overseas programming. In 2004 the channel received the rights to show English premiership football. More recent agreements include "Who wants to be a millionaire" and "Pop Idols". Yerkir Media TV is an independent broadcaster that is making its mark. There was some consternation in media circles when this channel first became active at the beginning of 2004. The broadcaster had successfully bid for the use of A1 Plus TV's old frequency. This did not sit well with many in the political arena's opposition camp, who argued that A1 Plus should never have lost its licence in the first place. Yerkir Media is a joint-stock company with several foreign TV broadcasters holding controlling interests. They purchase news from Reuters, but also have correspondents in California, Lebanon, Georgia, Teheran and Paris. The company has plans to go on satellite by the middle of 2006. Best funded Bagrat Sargsyan's Armenia TV, which operates from the "Media City" building in Yerevan, is the best funded of all the TV channels. This is a family run business which was set up in 2003 by Gerard Cafesjian and the Sargsyan family. The company has their own purpose-built buildings and their own transmitters - something that is quite unique in Armenia. The broadcaster transmits terrestrially, as well as by satellite and cable. The TV signal can be picked up in most areas of Armenia. Only three TV broadcasters have this capability. Owner Sargsyan has said that he wants the station to become a global news source. Regional TV The local economy outside Yerevan is generally very poor. This is reflected in the local media, as most of the local regional TV's are only on air for a few hours each day. Many of the local TV stations use transmitters from 100 watts upwards. Shirak TV in the town of Gyumri was on air for only four hours a day, although they still manage to produce two 30 to 45 minute news bulletins daily. Most of the news is on regional issues. In each region the two public Armenian channels plus Russia's ORT and RTV can be received as well as the regional TV channel. The national channels are rebroadcast via 100 transmitting towers placed strategically up and down the country. The towers come under the jurisdiction of the Transport and Communications Ministry. Cable TV Cable TV packages are available in most of the regions. The signal is carried by microwave and not via a standard cable or more expensive fibre-optic network. Subscriptions start at around two US dollars a month for a small 10-channel package. Given that a local salary can be as low as five US dollars a month, this rate is quite substantial. In the disputed territory of Nagornyy Karabakh, residents of Stepanakert enjoy free cable viewing, courtesy of the Karabakh government. Radio Only the national public broadcaster uses longwave, mediumwave and obsolete shortwave transmitters to transmit its signals to a national audience. Listening figures suggest that FM is the dominant medium now. In Yerevan alone there are 16 FM broadcasters, which are mainly entertainment-only stations. Most carry short news bulletins on the hour. One exception to the entertainment-type radio, is Radio Van - a Yerevan-based FM and satellite broadcaster. Radio Van can be heard in most parts of Armenia and focuses on entertainment, news and analysis. According to a ratings survey by the Mackenzie survey group", Radio Van is the number one broadcaster in Armenia. Its closest rival is Radio Russia. Print media There are currently around 33 different newspapers available in Armenia. According to audience survey information taken from Internews and other informed sources, this is the least preferred medium for news and information. Less than five per cent of the population buy newspapers as their primary source of news. In contrast more than 50 per cent read newspapers at least occasionally, using them as a second or third source of information, according to a report by the European Journalism Centre. The circulation of most newspapers tends to be between 3,000 to 4,000. The opposition newspaper Iravunk has the largest circulation, with sales of 12,000, according to a source at BBC World Service. The prohibitive price of newspapers is the main reason why sales are so low. The independence of print media is still an issue. Newspapers are generally controlled by wealthy individuals or political parties. Although some money is made from private advertising, this is not enough to remain solvent; therefore most newspapers require a sponsor. Sponsors expect certain points of view to be expressed publicly. So independence is compromised. Newspapers in general fall into two camps: pro-government or opposition. The major players in the opposition camp are Iravunk (Right), Aravot (Morning) and Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times). The pro-government papers include Respublica Armenia, Hayots Ashkar (Armenian World) and Golos Armenii (Voice of Armenia), which is in Russian. The regional print media remains a very poor second cousin to the Yerevan establishments. Print runs of 300 to 1,500 copies are normal in most regions. The local economy is one factor, but all the country's printing presses are in Yerevan so all the regional outlets have to send their copy to the capital for printing. So time and money are the major reasons for poor sales. News agencies There are six main news agencies operating in Yerevan. ARKA, ArmInfo, Mediamax, Armpres, Defacto and Nojan Topan. Each agency has its own speciality. ARKA, founded in 1996, specializes in banking and business, although they do a weekly round-up of events. ArmInfo, founded in 1991, is generally pro-government and covers almost everything. Mediamax is considered to be pro-government and specializes in international affairs. Nojan Topan deals primarily with political issues. Defacto deals in analyses while Armpress is the official government news agency. All the agencies have their own web sites in Russian and English. The agencies customers are diverse. They range from banking conglomerates, foreign embassies, and government departments to local newspapers. Internet There are around 17 ISPs operating in Armenia, mainly in the capital Yerevan. Many of the larger media organizations all have information web pages on the internet. Very few deliver streaming of audio or video files. Most of the print media have internet versions of their publication. They tend to be available on the internet two to three hours after the first paper copies go on sale. There are 20 or so publications on the internet. This is a mixture of NGO's, newspapers and news agencies. Roughly six or seven of them produce their web pages in English as well as in Armenian and Russian. The communications infrastructure within Armenia hasn't quite caught up with the demand for high-speed internet connections yet. Downloading of even the simplest of files can take up to one hour, according to the journalists' club Asparez. One further reason for slow growth of the internet in Armenia is the prohibitive cost. Sixty cents an hour or 50 US dollars a month are the normal charges. So the net is not yet a viable news medium for the domestic market. Cross-border signals In Yerevan two Turkish FM stations TRT1 and TRT3 can be heard all over the city. The nearest part of Turkey is only some 20 miles distant and given the topography of the region it comes as no real surprise that Turkish FM stations can be heard with good clarity. Powerful transmitters located at Kars in Turkey (about 20 miles from Armenia's second largest city, Gyumri, in the north) propagate Turkish FM radio and TV signals all over the region. Two Iranian TV channels can be seen terrestrially in the more elevated areas of the city. According to a university lecturer, there are a substantial number of Iranians living in Yerevan. In the southern Syunik region, a total of 42 regional and national Iranian radio stations could be heard on the mediumwave band. Iranian TV signals could also be picked up in the more elevated areas. Two Azerbaijani FM stations can be heard in the Syunik region and also in Nagornyy-Karabakh. Conclusion Without an independent public service broadcaster, the Armenian media suffers from economic dependence and a lack of financial sustainability. This drives companies either into the hands of the financial elite, or into the hands of government, where they rely on state subsidies. The media often have to operate within complex and contradicting legislation. A major problem is the lack of journalistic skills, so the product and outcome is of low quality. According to the European Journalism Centre, public trust in the media, which is hard to gain and easy to lose, is vanishing day by day. The important role of the media within society continues to be degraded. This can have severe consequences for society and for the media itself. Source: BBC Monitoring research 12 Dec 05 (via BBCM Dec 21 via DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. 6110.8, Dec 21, 1400-, R. Azerbaijan International. This must be one of the hardest-to-hear foreign services. No definite ID even now, but many mentions of Azerbaijan in a Turkic language preceded by interval signal and opening music, which were exactly the same as on Dave Kernick's web site. Vlad Titarev has heard this identify as Radio Azerbaijan International instead of the old Voice of Azerbaijan (Mauno Ritola, Finland, HCDX Online log via DXLD) I often hear its het against VOA 6110.0 Philippines around that same time (gh, OK, DXLD) ** BELARUS. PROFILE OF BELARUSIAN TV ANCHOR, EXECUTIVE ZIMOWSKI Alyaksandr Zimowski is perhaps the best known Belarusian state TV presenter. He shot to fame in the late 1990s by unleashing the most vicious criticism of the Belarusian opposition, delivering diatribes against the West and showering praise on Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Zinowski used to anchor the "Resonance" news programme on Belarusian television, which quickly became a major source of official propaganda. In a way, Zimowski served as a role model for a whole generation of political commentators who came to replace him on state television. Apparently in recognition of his work for the authorities, Zimowski has made an impressive career on state television, rising through the ranks from TV anchor to deputy head of the National Broadcasting Company and then head of a TV channel. Zimowski is also a member of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, the upper house of parliament. According to Belorusskaya Gazeta 29 January 2001, Zimowski "has become a household name" and "all ideological and political brainwashing of the electorate on Belarusian TV is associated with him". The paper described his comments and descriptions as abrasive and offensive, and said that he had been unsuccessfully sued several times for libel and insults. Another target for his verbal attacks, in addition to the opposition, has been the West. For example, on 28 February 2001, he lashed out at the USA charging the CIA "with intensifying its subversive activities in Belarus". He has also shot a documentary entitled "The Road to Nowhere" featuring unflattering descriptions of opposition politicians, who lodged unsuccessful lawsuits against the author. Zimowski can be described as a self-made man. Born on 10 January 1961, he dropped out of the Lviv military college as a third-year student to get a menial job with a state agricultural machinery company in Barysaw. He started out as a journalist at Minsk's Delovoy Vestnik business magazine. Before getting a job with Belarusian television, he did a spell as a business analyst with the economic newspapers Chelovek i Ekonomika and Natsionalnaya Ekonomicheskaya Gazeta. On 26 July 2000 Zimowski was appointed deputy head of the Belarusian National Broadcasting Company. In October 2002 he took the helm at the Minsk-based STV channel and guided its transformation into a third national television channel. He stuck with mainly administrative duties until 25 November 2005 when yet another political show was launched by STV in the run-up to the 2006 presidential election. The new 25-minute show is a weekly current affairs programme apparently designed to promote official policy and criticize the opposition, albeit in a more subtle way than on the first national channel. A seasoned ideology veteran, Zimowski now shows a lot more skill in promoting Lukashenka's policy than most of his Belarusian colleagues. His new show, entitled "Tough Talk", strives to present a seemingly objective picture of the situation in the world and in Belarus by inviting opposition-minded pundits. Specifically, the programme which was broadcast on 25 November 2005 and dealt with the issue of revolutions, featured opposition analyst Valeryy Karbalevich, who writes critical articles in the opposition media. In contrast to other TV shows, which rarely feature important politicians, Zimowski apparently has the opportunity to invite influential newsmakers for live studio interviews. An example of this is his recent programme with Belarusian KGB deputy chairman Viktar Vyahera. Professionally, Zimowski models himself on controversial Russian TV journalists, Mikhail Leontyev and Maksim Sokolovskiy (Belorusskiy Rynok 23 April 2001). Despite saying that he "has never done what he does not like" (Belorusskaya Gazeta 29 Jan 2001), Zimowski is openly cynical about his political views, describing himself as "a normal journalist politically engaged by the authorities" (Belapan 16 April 2001), and about his own Belarusian TV, advising viewers to buy satellite "dishes" rather than watch Belarusian TV channels (Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta 19 June 2002). According to Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belorussii (15 December 2006), rumours are circulating that Zimowski may be parachuted in to head the Belarusian National Broadcasting Company in a bid to make Belarusian TV propaganda more refined. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 21 Dec 05 (via DXLD) ** CANADA. Quirks & Quarks Holiday Edition --- Hello and Happy Holidays! This Week on Quirks & Quarks: The Quirks Holiday Question Show Yes, it's another edition of the ever-popular, award-winning, crowd-pleasing, heart-warming, brain-teasing Annual Quirks Question Show. Find out if blind people get motion sickness, why you can't put metal in the microwave, and why cold snow squeaks when you walk on it. All that and more on Quirks & Quarks, Saturday right after the noon news on Radio One (Bob McDonald, Host, You are currently signed-up for CBC.ca's Quirks newsletter via DXLD) Check out live webcast and satellite radio air times at http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgi-bin/program.pl?programid=39 Quirks & Quarks is also podcast and available for on-demand streaming. Shortwave airtimes: Saturday 1605 RCI targeting North America 9515 13655 17820 Saturday 1705 CBC Northern Quebec Service 9625 kHz (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) ** CHINA. CRI TAMIL SERVICE ADD MORE ONE HOUR PROGRAMME From 14.12.2005 onwards China Radio International Tamil service extend one hour time. The new morning hour one hour programme is started at 0300-0400 UT on 13600 kHz (22.06 m), 13735 kHz (21.84 m). This is CRI-Tamil service fourth transmission. Other three available on following time and frequencies: 1400-1500 9665(31.04m) 11685(25.67) 1500-1600 9490(31.61) 11800(25.42) 0200-0300 11870(25.27) 13610(22.04) 13715(21.87) (K. Raja DXer, Chennai-600021, S. India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. More monitoring of R. República relays: Dec 20 was listening to 6135 from 2355; it was in the clear, and at 2357 gave frequency change announcement from 6135 to 5965, followed by standard ID mentioning 9955 only. Off at 2358:30. By the time I retuned to 5965, they were already underway at 2359, either with a repeat of 24 hours earlier or part 2 on the same subject, some October conference about Cuban human rights mentioning Miami and Spain. No sign of RHC co-channel by the time I quit around 0010. However, at retune 0057 Dec 21, RHC was on and on top, making it difficult to copy RR. I heard the 9955 announcement, but not a frequency change announcement. After 0100 a weaker Spanish continued under RHC, maybe more of the same. Later, 7110 was stronger than previously, checked at 0357 but with a SAH from co-channel with some audio under; R. República was running a devotional, and then quoting from PJP2. 0359 said it would concluir its emissions, no mention of any frequencies, and off, uncovering the co-channel, sounded Slavic, unfamiliar IS ditty twice, so maybe Belarus tho not sked to open until 0400, rather than Ethiopia. I assume the announcement meant no further broadcasts this evening on some other frequency. The habañeros, after all, imagine it is midnight. Summing up, the known schedule of R. República is: 22-24 6135 00-02 5965 02-04 7110 WHERE are these coming from? After 0000, 6135 is DW in German via Sines, but that is neither here nor there. Were it not for 7110, we could guess the spare transmitter at WHRI could be in use; it was registered for 6135 later in the night, but nothing for 5965. Assuming all three are from the same site, as is likely, has to be from Europe, probably VT or T-Systems (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1298, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio República vs Cuba: Sitting on 5965 tonight, then 7110. At about 0029, 21 December GMT, a carrier abruptly up followed by Spanish programming with a Cuban accent and Cuba references. Within five minutes, by about 0035, the "new" Radio Habana Cuba transmitter -- reportedly "testing" with 100 kW on 5965 -- was up but low level. Within about three-to-four minutes, RHC (in Spanish, parallel 6000) bumped up to big power, often mixing equally with the unidentified Cuba political programming. At 0054, two very clear "Radio República" ID's by man, along with more ID's later. Brief silence at 0000 from the Cuba transmitter (not off, just no audio -- this is the time English is up on 6000 for what it's worth). But by 0005, clearly still RHC in Spanish mixing (jamming) the channel. [I assume Terry meant 0100 and 0105 for the last two time references --- gh] Who really owns the Radio Exterior de España relay site in Costa Rica? Presume it's outsourced by REE; do they actually own it? If so, I'd be mildly surprised that they [REE] would generate a clandestine program to Cuba, being that Spain still has quite a few business ties in Cuba despite the sour relations of recent years. And I may be wrong, but I don't recall any brokered political or overt anti-government programming relayed from other REE transmitter sites. So, could this be via WYFR, Okeechobee, Florida? WYFR might just have figured out how to rip off all of Jeff White's brokered clients, if so. Just a thought. But the 7110 North American in-ham-band log (see below) channel would seemingly dispute a domestic USA (WYFR) source. No República on 7110 kHz, where they were also reported, until just after 0200 recheck when they apparently flipped from 5965 to here. Local level on 7110. No Cuba jammer (but I guess once they read this, it will happen). Audio is a bit compressed, the quasi-interval signal/ID running near bottom of hour (0228) has a rather Radio Martí-like production imaging, not that I'm implying anything here, just an aural observation. The above was co-op monitored on Internet Messaging chat with David Crawford, Titusville, Florida Directorio Democrático Cubano --- Located an English page for this org. http://www.directorio.org/# (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio República on 5965 was in the clear, near local level 0002-0012 tune-in tonight, 22 December. Recheck 0026, Radio Habana Cuba in Spanish (parallel 6000) jamming and very strong, with República weak underneath. In addition, a Cuba jammer (the same digital bubbler as used on Radio Martí shortwave) was in the mix for the first time. So, they're working hard on blocking this one evil one (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They've updated the Radio República page with the new frequencies. This only happened this afternoon, as it was not there up till noon local. http://www.radiorepublica.org/ (Terry L Krueger Clearwater, Florida USA, 0100 UT Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ha, exactly the schedule we put together above based solely on the efforts of our monitoring compañeros; well done! Still no sites. Ha! The times are obviously EST=Miami, not EDT=Habana. Are they so out of touch with today`s Cuba they don`t know what time it is there? Or is this an admission that they are really talking to the fueracubanos? (gh) ** ECUADOR. UNO DE LOS GRANDES DEL DIEXISMO HA DICHO ADIÓS He leído con asombro y tristeza la noticia que nos ha pasado el colega Henrik Klemetz sobre la muerte del querido amigo y colega diexista Björn Malm. El diexismo ha perdido a uno de sus grandes exponentes y a uno de los amigos más amables que he conocido en nuestro hobby ciencia. Mantuvimos con el colega Malm un trato muy cariñoso y colaborábamos con su sitio web enviando información desde Venezuela. Como han dicho los queridos colegas diexistas, es difícil creer esta noticia, como también es difícil creer todo el tiempo que pasó para enterarnos. Como igualmente se ha dicho, el trabajo del amigo Malm perdurará en el tiempo y en los corazones de todos nosotros. Quiero hacer llegar hasta su esposa Susanita y a todos sus familiares mis más sentidas palabras de tristeza por la partida de este amigo sueco y latinoamericano que se ganó el cariño, el aprecio y el amor de todos nosotros. Hasta luego, querido amigo Malm, estoy seguro que ahora tus DX al lado del primer diexista del universo serán mucho más emocionantes. Un abrazo cordial, querido Malm. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am sorry to hear he's gone. He was a big help with the idents he provided the DXing community. He certainly had a passion for the hobby. He will be missed (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heinrik, demás colegas y amigos: He leído todos los mensajes en relación a la pérdida física del querido Björn Malm. Todavía con el impacto y tratando de reflexionar ante la noticia, yo quisiera rendir homenaje a quien ha sabido dar un ejemplo de vida con su pasión por la radio y el amor hacia el prójimo. Pocos diexistas han demostrado tener, como Björn, un sentimiento tan profundo por la cultura universal canalizada a través del placer de investigar y descubrir el mundo escuchando la radio y compartiendo sus experiencias. Quiero decirles que para nosotros Björn no se ha ido, es imposible admitirlo. Él ha dejado en quienes tuvimos la oportunidad de tratarlo y quererlo, el indeleble recuerdo de su paso en la tierra. Nuestro querido amigo ya ocupa definitivamente un lugar en la historia de la radioafición y en nuestros corazones. Mis condolencias para Susanita. Gracias Björn por tu digno aporte al DX. Que en paz descanses (Rubén G. Margenet, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) Hola amigos, con mucha tristeza me acabo de enterar del fallecimiento de Björn Malm, gran DX-ista y gran divulgador de noticias de las emisoras latinoamericanas que transmiten en las bandas tropicales. Con su desaparición el DX-ismo de tropicales pierde a uno de sus máximos exponentes, quien día a día, y desde "la mitad del mundo", con a él le gustaba llamar a Ecuador, nos informaba de emisoras reactivadas, sonido de estas emisoras, etc. A parte de su página web, y de participar en varios foros, Malm tenía un muy interesante espacio en el Short Wave Bulletin, boletín quincenal, y en el último publicado, el 1577, de 14 de Diciembre, podemos leer su última colaboración: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/swb/1577.pdf Tres días antes de su fallecimiento, el día 26 de Noviembre, me había escrito, luego de unas escuchas mías, comunicándome que Radiodifusora Huancabamba, de Perú, se llama ahora Radio Comercial Huancabamba. Mi más sentido pésame para su esposa, Susana, y para sus seres queridos, y aquí, a título de homenaje, copio el último mail que me envió, sólo tres días antes de su fallecimiento. "Quito 26/Nov/2005 13:14 Hola Manuel, buena lista de captaciónes Latinoamericanas. Noto que usas una antena de 10 metros. Solamente quiero decirte en este mail privado que 6536, Radiodifusora Huancabamba ya no existe sino ahora se llama Radio Comercial Huancabamba "La Voz del Rondero". Puedes escuchar una grabación si visitas mi página de IDs: "Archive" 26/10 2005. http://www.malm-ecuador.com/ Saludos Cordiales, Bjorn Malm, Quito, Ecuador" (Manuel Méndez, España, Noticias DX via DXLD) No lo puedo creer. El "asunto" de tu mensaje es la mejor definición de lo que significa su desaparición física: una pérdida irreparable. Para los que lo tratamos, Björn era una persona excelentísima. Te/les aseguro que no puedo creerlo (Arnaldo Slaen, condiglist via DXLD) Me quedo totalmente apenado; realmente es una gran pérdida irreparable. No tengo palabras para expresar mi pesar, ¿quien continuará su gran trabajo desinteresado? Nos acordaremos de él muchas veces y durante mucho tiempo. Mi más sentido pésame para sus familiares y para todos los diexistas (José Bueno Jeremías, Córdoba - España, ibid.) Saludos cordiales, personalmente no llegué a conocerlo, pero la noticia de su fellecimiento me ha dejado impresionado, una pérdida irreparable como persona y como diexista. Descanse en Paz (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) Em meu nome e no de minha família, as expressões de condolências aos familiares de Björn Malm, em especial à sua esposa Susana. Uma perda irreparável (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo, SP, BRASIL, ibid.) Hola Henrik y demas compañeros, qué mala noticia acabas de dejar en el foro, ya que acaba de desaparecer uno de los mejores diexistas del mundo, que pérdida más desgraciada. Yo tuve trato personal con él, no mucho, pero tuve alguno y el que tuve fue muy agradable. ¡Vaya pérdida! Los miembros de este foro acabamos de perder un gran diexista y una gran persona, mi más sentido pésame a la esposa de Björn, por la desparicion de esta gran persona. Realmente lo siento mucho. Saludos desde Cartagena-ESPAÑA de (JOSE HERNANDEZ MADRID, ibid.) ESTIMADO AMIGO HENRIK KLEMETZ: Acabo de leer su correo donde nos informa que el colega Björn Malm falleció por un paro cardíaco. He quedado perplejo!!!! Qué pérdida irreparable. Realmente el aporte de Bjorn Malm a LA LISTA y en especial al DX es un testimonio de su dedicación al Mundo de la Radio. Quiero, en mi plano personal, hacerle llegar a su Esposa, mi más sentido pésame. ¡QUE DESCANSE EN PAZ BJORN MALM! (Oscar de Céspedes, FL, ibid.) Cuando un amigo se va --- dice la cancion de Alberto Cortez. Recuerdo hace algunos dias cuando tanto Arnaldo como Jose Elias se preguntaban dónde estaba el colega y hermano diexista Björn. Al igual que José, llegué a pensar que estaba de viaje por su madre tierra, pero el destino nos ha dado una gran sorpresa. Hemos perdido un gran amigo y colega amante de nuestro pasatiempo de la radio. Descanza en paz amigo Björn Malm ! ! ! 73 (Dino Bloise, FLORIDA, EEUU, ibid.) Bueno sería hacer una "vaquita", mantener y alimentar ese sitio, que seguro desaparecerá (NESTOR Marroni, ibid.) Un gran golpe también a nuestros corazones, que aun viven, quien sabe hasta cuando. Ubicado en una posicion geográfica muy cerca del epicentro DXista Latinoamericano, contando con muy buenos pertrechos de recepción, es solo el marco para una persona que --- aunque no la tratamos personalmente --- se había convertido en un europeo enamorado de la Latinoamérica profunda, como lo son Klemetz, Hauser, TIN, Hirahara... Ha muerto un referente... (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo - Uruguay, ibid.) Los compañeros de La Rosa de Tokio se suman al dolor que significa la desaparición de un amigo y colega y entusiasta de esto que nos une que es el DX. Sumamos nuestra oración para que Björn descanse en paz, sabiendo que su tarea perdurará en el tiempo. Un abrazo a todos y un minuto de silencio (Omar Somma, ibid.) Me sumo al dolor colectivo ante la irreparable pérdida de un auténtico amante de la radiodifusión, que desde la radio primero y luego desde su excelente sitio en Internet hizo lo que más quiso en la vida junto a su familia, la difusión del diexismo y la radioescucha testimoniándolo con grabaciones para que todos pudieran acceder a esos logros. Esto es lo que quiero valorar a la distancia. No lo conocí en persona pero siempre me enviaba algún correo para consulta o como comentario personal. No conozco a su familia pero siempre habló en voz baja, sin arrogancias, y consultando con los demás colegas. Era un coloso de la afición, pero sin embargo, nunca se comportó como una estrella. Siempre quiso trabajar en conjunto, por ello, su sitio web es el mejor testimonio de este comentario. Quedará para siempre el recuerdo en cada uno de nosotros, y su testimonio de amor a la radio permanecerá en la red de redes, como fiel testigo de una persona que hasta el final hizo lo que más quiso. Su silencio era un misterio, el misterio quedó develado y la realidad pegó otro cachetazo, como siempre ocurre. Pero, su labor perdurará para siempre, como su recuerdo, su memoria. ¡Hasta siempre Bjorn! (CLAUDIO MORALES, Argentina, ibid.) Aunque no lo conocí personalmente, seguía su actividad diexista a través de lo que publicaba en esta lista, o bien visitando su interesante página Web. Realmente se trata de una pérdida irreparable, que nadie esperaba. Su abnegada labor hará que siempre esté en nuestros pensamientos. Nuestras condolencias para su familia. Que descanse en paz (Francisco Rodríguez, Frecuencia RM, La Voz de Rusia, ibid.) Amigos, Esta é uma noticia muito triste, uma grande perda. Tive contato com Björn em diversas mensagens trocadas sobre audios e escutas latino-americanas, uma pessoa muito simpática e dedicada ao dexismo. Ficam meus sinceros sentimentos (Samuel Cássio, Brasil, ibid.) Ay! amigos. Acabo de enterarme de la pérdida del Diexista Björn Malm. Me encuentro desolado y no me salen palabras, tal es mi tristeza. Acompaño en el sentimiento a su esposa, familiares y amigos. Hasta siempre, Björn (Ángel José Nicolás Esteve (EA5-0957), Asociación Española de Radioescucha, Valencia (España) condig list via DXLD) Hola prezado José. Esta é uma muy triste noticia pois Björn Malm era um dos mais importantes Dx`s da América. O mundo do dexismo, sem dúvida está de luto, pois um dos mais importantes deixou-nos. Como tu o escreveste "Hasta luego querido amigo Malm, estoy seguro que ahora tus DX al lado del primer diexista del universo serán mucho más emocionantes." é uma sentida homenagem de todos nós. Para a sua esposa Susanita e seus familiares vão os nossos sentidos pesames por esta imensa perda (João Costa, Almada/Portugal, radioescutas via DXLD) The sad news today is that DXing community has lost one of its most well-known Latin American DXers. Björn Malm passed away November 29 after suffering from a massive heart attack. He was very well known for the past 40 years or so with a focus to Latin America DXing from his home in Quito, Ecuador. His work can be found from http://www.malm-ecuador.com/ He also regularly contributed to the Hard-Core-DX.com channel "Voces de America" and you will be able to find his loggings in http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=voces (Risto Kotalampi, HCDX via DXLD) It was a little bit sad to learn about the death of enthusiast and veteran DXer Björn Malm. I really miss him. It was such a big challenge to listen to brand new radio stations without knowing what to expect on the basis of other's experience. Also, he was able to pick up Bolivia-1590, a country very difficult to listen to on mediumwave from any part of the world. I really appreciate the .WMA audio files he took the time to prepare on his web-site. He joined LatinMWDX just a few weeks ago and didn't even had the time to contribute. May the good angels bless him! Una noticia incrediblemente triste! Yo no he tenido la suerte de comunicar mucho con ese gran DXista, pero yo aprecio mucho más su entusiasmo, su cariño por la América Latina, sus pasiones y su inteligencia. Nosotros tenemos más en comun, yo creo. Las 3 cosas que Björn quería más fue la música, el DXismo y los viajes, 3 cosas que yo quiero más también. Algunas semanas pasadas, él entró en mi club LatinMWDX después de mi invitación. Como Björn Malm fue una persona abierta sobre las otras culturas, yo creo que él es bastante perfeccionado por no tener una vida más material sobre la tierra (reincarnación) y por disfrutar el paradiso. ¡Querido amigo, tiene el buen DX con usted en paradiso! ¡Yo no voy a olvidar usted nunca! ¡Yo he perdido un gran amigo! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, PLAY DX via DXLD) Vila i frid, Björn! Rest in Peace, Björn! 73's de (Christian SM6VPU Stödberg, HCDX via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 5040.06, Voz del Upano, heard 0945 Dec 17, very low modulation, similar to TIFC-5054.6 before they cleaned it up, but better than the near total absence of modulation that I have noted before. Talk, light music; modulation seemed to improve a bit around 1000 and I finally got a readable Voz del Upano ID at 1003 with a long list of calls and frequencies, then into Rosary (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** GABON. 4777, Radio Gabon, 12/14 0616. News reports in French with OM host, ID by YL at 0620, actualities by reporters, more talk, another ID at 0650, followed by local pop music; getting noisier and weaker by 0630 but still largely intelligible until about 0655. 7270, Radio Gabon, 12/14 0800. News in French with mentions of Libreville, canned ID "Radio Gabon" by YL at 0805 (same as heard earlier on 4777), into longer reports; weak, about 40% intelligible (Ralph Brandi, NJ, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. I checked WWV 10000 again Dec 21 at 1703: just ticks and at 1704, tone, no leap second notice. Some pages about the upcoming Leap Second: http://hpiers.obspm.fr/iers/bul/bulc/bulletinc.dat http://www.npl.co.uk/time/leap_second.html http://www.livescience.com/technology/050705_leap_second.html (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1298, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cool! Google search turned up this: http://www.leapsecond.com/notes/leap-watch.htm (John Wilke, K9RZZ Milwaukee, WI USA, HCDX via DXLD) 2005'S LAST MINUTE WILL HAVE 61 SECONDS Washington : World clocks will be set back by one whole second at midnight on December 31 this year. Researchers have said that the Earth has not been able to keep up with its rotational pace. As such, December 31's last minute will have 61 seconds instead of 60. Following advice of astronomers, who use observations of stars to keep tabs on Earth's spin, the International Telecommunication Union has decided to adjust the world's clock by one whole minute to set them right. "People in North America who have shortwave radios and nothing better to do on New Year's Eve can actually hear this `leap second' correction being made," said Roger Sinnott, a senior editor at Sky and Telescope magazine. Astronomers have said that tuning into the shortwave station WWV at five or 10 megahertz, or CHU at 3.335 megahertz, will allow people to count 61 official seconds before the minute before midnight at Greenwich. If everything went right, all personal computers, GPS receivers, and radio-controlled clocks around the world will automatically adjust themselves, they said, adding that the last time a leap second was added was on December 31, 1998, before most of today's computers were manufactured. Some communications engineers have however said that the insertion of a leap second is a needless annoyance. Astronomers have on the other hand said, that it would signal the end of mankind's fundamentally Sun- and star-based timekeeping system (Technology News, New Kerala.com via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) For more about the leap-second controversy, see Save the Leap Second http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/pdf/200512134134.pdf by Belgian astronomer and engineer Christian Steyaert from the December 2005 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine. # posted by Andy @ 12:53 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** IRAN. IRAN PROHIBITS PUBLICATION OF ADVERTISEMENT ABOUT SATELLITE TV NETWORKS | Text of report by Iranian newspaper Kayhan website on 21 December The Office of Undersecretary for Press and Information at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has released a statement prohibiting the publication of any notice and advertisement about satellite TV networks. The Public Relations Department of the office of the undersecretary announced that the Persian-speaking satellite networks run by organizations or real entities abroad need to obtain a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for their activities inside Iran. The statement adds: Whereas no permit has been issued so far for such networks, we would like to stress that the publication of any employment advertisement or calls for making programmes, or notices of establishment of their offices inside Iran will be illegal and subject to prosecution. Source: Kayhan website, Tehran, in Persian 21 Dec 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) OTOH: ** IRAN. IRAN ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SET UP ENGLISH NEWS CHANNEL Iran is the latest country to announce plans for an English-language satellite news channel. Mohammad-Reza Saidabadi, Head of International Cooperation at Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, says that "Because of the Western propaganda against Iran and the manipulation of information by some Western media powers, there is a need for an English news channel." He said the new channel, scheduled to begin broadcasting around the end of 2006, would feature "direct information and access to what is going on in Islamic World, in the region and in Iran". IRIB currently carries brief daily English-language news bulletins on TV, and also operates a round-the-clock Arabic-language satellite news channel, Al-Alam. # posted by Andy @ 11:50 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Re 5-217: Ireland was allocated two blocks of Band 3 for DAB in the Wiesbaden Plan, 12C and 12A according to http://www.wohnort.demon.co.uk/DAB/ which is a reliable and frequently updated site for DAB information. Of course for the listener the frequency does not matter because all DAB tuning is done by selecting station name, the same will be true for DRM. The ease of tuning is one aspect of digital broadcasting that the general public finds attractive (Mike Barraclough, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. U.K.(non): NHK Radio Japan's Year End Party on Dec. 31 via VT Communications: 1430-1500 on 6090 SKN 250 kW / 150 deg to WeEu 9575 WOF 300 kW / 128 deg to EaAf 9750 RMP 500 kW / 080 deg to WeEu 12045 WOF 300 kW / 082 deg to SoAs 21630 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAf 1500-1700 on 6090 SKN 250 kW / 150 deg to WeEu 9575 WOF 300 kW / 128 deg to EaAf 9750 RMP 500 kW / 080 deg to WeEu 1700-1800 on 9860 WOF 300 kW / 140 deg to SoAf 1800-1900 on 7195 RMP 500 kW / 080 deg to WeEu 9795 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg to SoAs 9860 WOF 300 kW / 140 deg to SoAf (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 20 via DXLD) Very like previous listing. No doubt in addition to usual NHK via Japan, Canada, etc. (gh) ** JORDAN. 15290, Amman, noted for the first time here on this frequency, in Arabic at 1245 with fairly good signal. Talk by several OMs on democracy, government, Parliament in the Kingdom. No pause at TOH. Sudden off at 1302 in mid-sentence. At 1303 continuation of same program noted with better signal on 11810 to 1400 ID. Usual Jordan Armed Forces Radio program follows. Besides 11810, many MW frequencies announced on the air. Dec. 14 (Victor C. Jaar, QC, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Radio City - 9290 kHz - 18th December --- If anyone heard this broadcast and wants a contact for a report (spaces are intentional): citymorecars @ yahoo .ca I got this from the station (Wayne Bastow, Wyoming, NSW, Australia, 33.41 degrees S, 151.35 degrees E, ARDXC via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Radio Marabu broadcast Christmas day on 9290 kHz from 1000 up to 1600 hours UT. The program is to be presented by Marcel Fischer, Frank Göbel and female voice Julia B. Take a listen. RADIO MARABU e.V. - Postfach 1166 - D 49187 Belm - Germany Tel.: 05406/899484 -- Fax: 05406/899485 Homepage: http://www.radio-marabu.de Europe´s radio station for alternative music (via Rainer Palma, Dec 18, swpirates yg via DXLD) But the German version identifies Xmas Day as Dec 24! And the sked below says it is Dec 24 (gh, DXLD) ** LATVIA. 9290 kHz Relays this weekend Sat December 24 Radio Six 0700-0800 UT Radio Marabu Caroline 1000-1600 UT Sun December 25 KWRN 0900-1000 UT Q103 Deutschland 1000-1200 UT Radio Six 1200-1500 UT Good Listening Happy Christmas (Tom Taylor, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA [and non?]. RADIO SPACESHUTTLE's CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR! RSI will celebrate Christmas (24th and 25th Dec) and New Year's time being on air on frequencies 3927 kHz late night and early mornings, 6240 kHz morning and daytime, 9290 kHz morning times, 15810 and 13810 kHz daytime UT towards European countries (and perhaps special tests towards North-America). Special musical Season Wishes to all of you dear listeners! Merry Xmas and Happy New Year 2006! (Dick Spacewalker, (DR Tim DE), NRI yg via DXLD) In this case 9290 might not be Latvia ** MEXICO. Tim Hall, Can you tell us whether a Mexican border station still is operating on 920 kHz? Heard someone in Spanish last night and can't place it to any of the west coast domestics. Thanks Tim (Don Kaskey, San Franicsco CA, ABDX via DXLD) Hi Don -- Yes there is definitely still a station on 920. It's pretty interesting. On 920 in Ensenada, we have the real XESDD, "La Tremenda", with various forms of music (banda?) and some programming from the Radio Fórmula network. They still announce 2500 watts. This info is valid as of a few days ago when I listened to a full ID on the way in to work. On 1030, pretending to be in Ensenada but really in Tijuana, we have a second station using XESDD calls, running ESPN Deportes Spanish language sports. They're something like 5 kW days, 1 kW nights, and very low bandwidth/modulation/whatever so as not to interfere with KURS-1040, which is managed by the same induhvidual out of the same studio, transmitting from the half-toppled KSON-1240 tower at the National City/San Diego border! So, we have: * 2 stations on adjacent frequencies operating out of the same studio and feeding transmitters that are only about 10-15 miles apart, and * 2 stations using the same call letters running totally different programming from locations 50 miles apart (I bet the two XESDD's staffs have never met each other!). It's the same guy who runs the border blaster on 1700 and caused all the chaos on 550/560/780 a while back... all kinds of allegations about false transmitter locations, fake directional antennas, etc. But the guy reportedly files petitions claiming other local broadcasters are unfit! 73, (Tim Hall, Chula Vista CA, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS. Lack of RN in English on MW to UK: 1179 [Sweden] got affected by geomagnetic variations being northerly and there is also a Spanish station on the frequency. The only time available was midnight local, not the best, and also at that time it relied on automatic operation to put the Netherlands feed on which did not always happen. Radio Netherlands would have been quite happy to carry on hiring 1512 [Belgium] but when RVI closed shortwave they stopped making it available for hiring (Mike Barraclough, swprograms via DXLD) A head-scratcher why RN cannot or will not somehow obtain one hour in the evening on one of the high power MW transmitters in Holland itself. Probably could if it were a higher priority (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) An early Christmas present from RNW: The "Weekly Archive" page on Radio Netherlands' website, http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/listeningguide/weeklyarchive now includes podcast URLs for every program but Press Review. This certainly makes it easier to move Radio Netherlands audio onto personal MP3 players & other portable digital listening tools (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. 11845-DRM, Radio Netherlands 12/1 2201. Newsline; excellent signal, S/N 22 dB on T2FD, but audio sounds clipped and distorted. S/N only 16 dB on the mini Beverage. Pretty good for only 5 kW (Ralph Brandi, NJ, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) will be relaying National Radio programming on statutory holidays over the Christmas/New Year fortnight. On December 28, 29 and 30 and January 4, 5, and 6 RNZI will broadcast its own news bulletins on the hour at the normal morning, afternoon and evening times. These bulletins will include World, Pacific, New Zealand and Sports News. RNZI`s normal news bulletin service will resume on Monday 9 January, with language news bulletins added from the 16th January. Full RNZI programming – including 'Dateline Pacific' – will resume from Monday 23 January 2006. RNZI's cyclone watch service will be maintained throughout the period and special weather bulletins regarding tropical cyclones will be broadcast if required. (Source: RNZI website) # posted by Andy @ 12:14 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 89.9, "FM Central" Received via E-Skip in Bombala NSW for the first time ever - wow! Heard with end of song, ID and 2 ads in strange language with ads for "Reggae" and a gas company. PNG is incredibly hard to receive here due to it being either a very long single hop or a short double hop, between 2000 - 2500 km? 89.9 is also shared by nearby 50 kw'er ABC Regional near Wagga NSW. Lucky it was very weak today. I heard another station on 92.5 in stereo with RLG [?] programming and might have been KBBN also from PNG in Briefly. PS - Been a poor Es season but did note Ch A5 Phillipines (77.25) a couple of times (Geoff Wolfe, Bombala NSW, Australia - Sony ST-SA5ES tuner / 12 Element FM yagi and no Pre-amp either!!!, UT Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Re 5-218, RDPi schedule: The data, though in a different layout, was already subject of a previous mail I circulated --- when the RDPi started using their 4 x 300 kW transmitters only -, remember? It appeared at least in DXLD & BC-DX. By doing this, which I've seen happening too often, is, I'm sure, a duplication of work for DX bulletins editors! Curiously, such duplications are mainly with our RDP and RNZI: antipode virus? Something in the water (hi!)? (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A lot of the Observer stuff looks suspiciously like it was reworked from other DX bulletins, including DXLD, but never so credited. I usually run it anyway, since it`s less trouble to copy and paste it than to go back and check whether it is actually identical to previous info. Now when full via-via-via credits are given as they should be, one knows immediately whether something is really new (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. JOE ADAMOV, 62 YEARS WITH THE VOICE OF RUSSIA, IS DEAD [illustrated] The Voice of Russia has announced the death after a long illness of veteran broadcaster Joe Adamov, a few weeks short of his 86th birthday. He started work as an announcer at the foreign language service of Radio Moscow in 1942, and for over 40 years hosted one of the station's most popular programmes, Moscow Mailbag. In his 62 years with the station, Joe Adamov trained several generations of professional announcers, translators and journalists. Although Joe was born in Georgia, he was was actually Armenian. He will be remembered as the voice of the Cold War, but those who met him and worked with him have memories of a much nicer and kinder man than might have been imagined from some of his broadcasts. Soviet Propaganda Machine - Joe Adamov interview (PBS) http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/prop/deep/interv/p_int_joe_adamov.htm # posted by Andy @ 10:19 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1298, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia What`s New http://www.vor.ru/English/Exclusives/what_new.html PEOPLE OF UNCOMMON DESTINY (on the air on December 27th and 28th). The next edition will be dedicated to our colleague, Carl Watts [a.k.a. Yegorov], whose voice has become a visiting card of sorts of our World Service in English. Carl has indeed given much of his energy and talent to the radio. He may be truly called a born broadcaster, for he has an excellent radio voice. He will be speaking about his childhood, his experience of work at Radio Moscow, presently the Voice of Russia, and a lot more. Tune in to People of Uncommon Destiny on Tuesday, at 1745 and 1945 UT and also on Wednesday, at 0445 UT. We wish you all good listening. The text version of the program is available at http://www.vor.ru/English/People/index.phtml (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1298, DXLD) Wonder if they will change this to about Adamov now (gh, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. ANALYSIS: EDITORIAL, PROGRAMME CONTENT OF "RUSSIA TODAY" TV A one day survey of programmes broadcast by the new 24-hour English- language channel Russia Today, has shown that that Russia is very firmly at centre of the station's programming. There is a blurring of the distinction between international and Russian news. A series of set-piece news bulletins, with revolving rather than rolling news, lack a sense of spontaneity and urgency customary with the regular, unscripted updates on rolling news channels. Launched on 10 December 2005 to provide a "Russian perspective of world events", Russia Today looks and sounds like an international news channel from the UK. The presenters have names like Sasha Twining and Alicia Young and the delivery is unmistakably British. But this is Russia Today, launched to provide a "Russian perspective on world events." In remarks posted on Russia Today's website, the channel's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, has said the station's mission was to "promptly provide information about Russia to the general public abroad". Programme schedule In the period reviewed, between 0400-2200 gmt 14 December, each hour of programming consisted of a bulletin of news at the top of each hour and news headlines every 15 minutes. Alternative hours of programming contained a long feature in the second half-hour. Some news segments were clearly signposted as dealing with Russian domestic news ("top stories from Russia", "now in depth on Russia"). However, a significant proportion of news said to be international or described as the "top stories this hour" were either from Russia, had a direct Russian connection or a Russian perspective. The main broadcasting segments and slots were: - "Top stories" from Russia and abroad - News headlines (broadcast every 15 minutes) - Sport (Five minute round-up of international or Russian sports news) - "Business Today" (Four minute round-up of Russian and international business news) - Press review (Three minute account of Russian newspaper comment) - "Entertainment Today" (Five minute round-up of arts and entertainment news) - "Russian Focus" (10 minute round-up of Russian news reports) - "Spotlight with Al Gurnov" (half-hour interview-based programme) Other slots included weather reports and trails for forthcoming features. Breaking news? The presenters read headlines, provided links and introductions to correspondent reports or English-language voice-cum-video clips, and only occasionally interviewed correspondents by video or audio link. Sometimes they read out reports over video, but these were the exception and tended to be brief. There were no live studio guests. Foreign reports with no obvious Russian connection seemed no more frequent than in a domestic Russian TV bulletin. A rare example of "breaking news" [a screen caption identified it as such] came at 1323 gmt, when the studio anchor said at the end of a series of news reports that "TASS agency is reporting that 11 of the 13 Russian soldiers [sic - should be sailors] held in Nigeria for illegal oil trafficking for the past two years have now been released". But this news was already half-an-hour old: it had first been broken by ITAR-TASS in Russian at 1253 gmt, and subsequently carried by ITAR-TASS in English at 1314 gmt. Many reports broadcast in the morning were still being broadcast 14 hours later. One of the most repeated Russian domestic stories for much of the day was a video report on the Mirador mine detector for use on railway tracks. It was an English-language repackaging of an item first monitored from Russia TV at 0800 gmt the previous day. News content On 14 December, the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, approved the budget for 2006. This featured regularly among the "top stories" in the main hourly bulletins, and was included in the "international headlines." In the latter part of the day, the station's "top stories this hour" led with the release of Russian sailors accused of oil smuggling in Nigeria. The ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur was also prominent in the station's "top stories". The reporting was accompanied by details of a Russian- ASEAN cooperation accord and video of Putin lining up for a photo call with ASEAN leaders. Protests marring the WTO talks in Hong Kong were used as a peg for a commentary, repeated regularly during the day, on the background to Russia's own bid for WTO membership. Maksim Medvedkov, Russia's chief negotiator at the WTO, was interviewed by telephone on Russia's WTO bid, but merely summed up the background to and progress of negotiations. Gazprom's gas price hike to Ukraine and other countries was the subject of regularly-repeated reports and commentaries, citing Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller's ultimatum to Ukraine which he had made in Russia Today's own "Spotlight" interview programme. George Bush featured in at least two separate stories repeated during the day. First, in a report from Washington on how Iraqi expats were casting their votes in the Iraq election, he was shown praising the courage of the Iraqi people in a speech and, secondly, he was shown admitting that the intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq had been flawed. Apart from the interview with Gazprom's Aleksey Miller, it is difficult to point to exclusive material of news value broadcast by Russia Today. Focus on negative features? There were a number of reports that seemed self-consciously to focus on social and economic problems and negative features of Russian life. Reporting of the Federation Council upper house of parliament discussion of the 2006 budget highlighted the plight of underpaid health service staff who are to benefit (to a qualified degree) from higher government spending. Correspondent Oksana Boyko described the difficulties faced by hard-working but underpaid nurse Tatyana Bozhenkova, whose financial position is set to be only partially assuaged by promised pay rises. In the same report, Boyko admitted that "some observers say that by pushing for a wage increase the government is trying to win people's trust ahead of the parliamentary and presidential elections". Viewers were told the budget for 2006 provides for a big increase in government spending, "but critics say it doesn't provide enough funding for programmes tackling unemployment. They also say it doesn't adequately adjust pensions to allow for inflation." Oksana Boyko was back with a fresh report on the Federation Council vote later in the day. "Despite overwhelming support for the budget, senators also had some criticism. They said the government should do a better job spending huge oil revenues to benefit ordinary people." Portrayal of President Putin When President Putin was shown, it was as a world statesman - signing documents, meeting officials and beaming with other leaders at an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, where he was said to be a "special guest" and Russia an "important partner"; or authoritatively declaring that foreign banks should not be allowed to operate on Russian territory. Press reviews, quoting an Izvestiya article headlined "President Putin is taming Asian tigers", described Putin's attendance at the ASEAN meeting as "highly successful." Style and presentation The native English-speaking anchors regularly and openly mispronounced and even stumbled over Russian words, finding particular difficulty with personal names and newspaper titles such as "Nezavisimaya Gazeta". A feeling of timelessness was reinforced by the absence of a screen clock and the studious avoidance of references to real time by presenters, who preferred vague phrases such as "it's a quarter past the hour". Captions were displayed identifying programme segments and showing condensed headlines of current items. There was also a headline "ticker tape" running independently at the bottom of the screen. The various studio presenters consistently used British English, and transatlantic English was conspicuous by its absence, except notably in the "Americanized" voice-over of trails for forthcoming features. TV correspondents reporting from within Russia were native Russians with accented English. Correspondents reporting from abroad were a mixture of Russians and non-Russians. Russian voices in video reports were dubbed into English with, by and large, very little of the original Russian audible. Conclusion Russia Today is not afraid of reporting the difficulties of everyday life and the failings of officialdom. The stated objective of promoting a "Russian perspective" of world events is pursued in subtle forms. There is a clear mission to explain and show Russia to an international TV audience. Background reports presenting the case for Russian entry into the WTO or the Russian side of the argument in the gas row with Ukraine appear in news bulletins. Russian news is presented as part of the "top" international stories. Observers may conclude that the channel's editorial policy is going to depict ordinary Russians as downtrodden, but stoical and long-suffering. "Bureaucrats" and even ministers may be fair game for criticism, but the president is beyond reproach. Source: BBC Monitoring research 21 Dec 05 (via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. SLOVAK RADIO SERVICE TO CONTINUE IN CUT-DOWN REGIME | Excerpt from report by Slovak commercial news TV station TA3 on 21 December [Announcer] [Public service] Slovak Radio foreign service has been under threat for several moths as 55m korunas needed for its operation are missing. The government did not give radio the needed money but, on the other hand, under the valid law Slovak Radio is obliged to operate its foreign service. The government therefore dealt with the situation once again today [21 December]. As a result, Slovak Radio will receive a small amount of money, less than a fifth [of what is needed]. For comparison, Czech Radio foreign service received from the government a subsidy of 62.4m Czech korunas for this year. [Reporter] The government stated that Slovak Radio did not make any changes to improve its economic management and, as regards its foreign service the government would meet its demands only partially. [Passage omitted] Under the law, the [Slovak Radio] foreign service cannot be scrapped and therefore it will operate in the following three months in a cut- down regime. [Passage omitted] If the government fails to find money for the Slovak Radio foreign service, the situation will probably have to be resolved by an amendment to the law on Slovak Radio. [One dollar equals 31.83 Slovak korunas or 24.17 Czech korunas] Source: TA3 TV, Bratislava, in Slovak 1600 gmt 21 Dec 05 (via BBCM via WORLD OF RADIO 1298, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. COLOMBO: Long before bullets and suicide bombers gave Sri Lanka dismal global headlines, even as its tourism scene and airline brought it a special aura, Radio Ceylon pioneered a revolution in broadcasting. Emerging as a trans-national broadcaster and introducing chatty engagement with listeners, it conquered South Asia's airwaves. For aficionados from the `radio generation' spanning the 1950s and 1970s, no day was complete without tuning in to Radio Ceylon, now called the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). As it turned 80 on December 16, the SLBC had long lost its position as the ruler of the region's airwaves. It now competes with a scattering of private broadcasters and has paid the price for not keeping up with the times. SLBC's precursor, Colombo Radio, started off a few years after broadcasting made its debut in Europe. Radio Ceylon, as it was called between 1949 and 1972, was catalysed by the shifting of the Radio SEAC (South East Asia Command) to the island in 1949. "We were the radio generation. Radio Ceylon was our introduction to Ceylon," recalls Nirupama Rao, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. The SLBC's continued popularity in India was in full force a few months ago. When its Hindi service was discontinued, the Indian High Commission in Colombo was inundated with letters from India, and the programme was subsequently restored. Enthusiasts remember Tamil broadcaster Mayilvaganam for infusing life into the airwaves. A walk along the corridors of the SLBC building in Colombo --- once a mental hospital --- takes one along the bylanes of broadcasting history. Old studios retain the charm and romance of an era fast fading from memory. Massive investment is now on the cards. Sunil Sarath Perera, Chairman, SLBC, wants to digitise the collection of "over one lakh Sinhalese, Tamil, English and Hindi songs" and share them with the National Archives. Eric Fernando, who started his SLBC career as a broadcaster in the mid-1970s and was its Director-General between 1998 and 2001, is emphatic that "no radio station anywhere in the world can pride itself of such a collection of original material, including 78-rpm records of the 1920s and 1930s." These should be re-formatted digitally and form the basis for a range of attractive programmes, he said. Foray into commercial broadcasts earned Radio Ceylon a name for itself. But challenges from television, cassette-recorders and private radio stations, sliced away chunks of its audience and revenue (source? via raja raja, dx_india via DXLD) ** U K. Re: ``The Lord Carter of Coles report on public diplomacy, which includes BBC World Service has just been published on the FCO website: Full report: http://www.fco.gov.uk/publicdiplomacyreview FCO Press release: http://tinyurl.com/co6hz BBC World Service Press Release: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/12_december/15/carter.shtml Kim Andrew Elliott was among those who made submissions (Mike Barraclough, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Linx to lotsa pdf files; which one is Kim in? (gh, DXLD)`` Kim is not specifically mentioned but arguments he made are reflected in the report, the main section about the World Service is in 5. Public Diplomacy Institutions (PDF, 150K) including the question of broadcasting in Central and East European languages and television services, Annex D is a summary of responses received. Section E International Approaches to Public Diplomacy covers the US, France and Germany (Mike Barraclough, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC SLOVAK SECTION HAS ALREADY CLOSED DOWN BBC News reports that the Slovak section of the BBC World Service has fallen silent after 66 years on air - the first of eight European language sections to do so. The Slovaks' last transmission, at 2030 GMT on Tuesday, included personal farewells from journalists on "a very emotional day," BBC World Service producer Kristian Klima said. On Friday the Polish section will deliver its last broadcast. The BBC report says that the sombre song The End by the 1960s group The Doors has featured in the Polish section's final broadcasts. # posted by Andy @ 17:08 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1298, DXLD) ** U K. BBC GIVES EMPLOYEES MILLIONS OF POUNDS IN BONUSES http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20051217T140000-0500_94806_OBS_BBC_GIVES_EMPLOYEES_MILLIONS_OF_POUNDS_IN_BONUSES.asp Career & Education, AFP, Sunday, December 18, 2005 LONDON, (AFP) --- The BBC paid millions of pounds in bonuses to its employees despite cost-cutting that forced it to shed 3,700 jobs, British newspapers reported Friday. The publicly-funded broadcaster paid out 15.5 million pounds (22.9 million euros, 27.4 million dollars) to 10,000 of the 22,000 staff on the BBC payroll. The BBC said the special bonuses, which were paid earlier this year and amounted to an average 1,500 pounds per employee, were capped at 10 per cent of salary and in line with those of similar organisations. Trade magazine Broadcast unearthed the figures. The BBC said the bonuses were included in the 1.0386 billion salaries and wages figure in the corporation's annual report. That figure, however, does not include the 546,000 pounds in bonuses to members of its executive board. "The BBC has a long-standing pay policy which allows for small discretionary bonuses to be made as part of the BBC's overall budgeted annual pay bill," the BBC said in a statement. "Bonuses are only given at the discretion of line managers in recognition of exceptional performance. "This system helps ensure that the BBC attracts and retains the best staff, for the benefit of licence fee payers. "It is not unusual practice and is in line with pay policies of other media organisations and many major companies." The corporation added: "While managers are always mindful of the need to take great care with licence fee money, even during a period of cost-cutting it is vital to reward members of staff who deliver high quality work. Gerry Morrissey, assistant general secretary of trade union Bectu, hit back. "It's bad to be saying to one member of staff 'here's a bonus' and telling another member of staff that he's redundant," he told Broadcast. The BBC announced in March it was slashing 3,780 jobs over three years to cut costs. The organisation is funded by the licence fee, an annual levy on every television-owning household in Britain, which the BBC argues is a guarantee of its independence and quality. A BBC spokeswoman told AFP: "For the senior executives, one of the attractions of going outside is that you get offered much more money if you work for commercial organisations. "The media is a very competitive industry and people always try to poach quality people, so there has to be a way to keep the people you want." (via??, sorry lost credit, DXLD) ** U S A. 15250 WWRB (Manchester, TN). 16 Dec 05, 2117. Bro. Stair with typical Overcomer message. Poor (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. NPR TO OFFER CHORAL MUSIC ON SUNDAY'S [sic] CARL HARTMAN Associated Press Posted on Tue, Dec. 20, 2005 WASHINGTON - National Public Radio will offer three hours of choral music to all its 815 stations every Sunday, beginning with a sample program Christmas morning. "Sacred Classics" will explore music for choirs and choruses through the centuries, from medieval chants through 21st century gospel singing. "Every week millions of Americans join their voices in a fellowship of song in choirs, in communities, colleges and houses of worship," said Benjamin Roe, NPR's director of music initiatives. "With the acquisition of `Sacred Classics,' NPR will be able to extend that fellowship." The program is already available to 51 NPR stations that belong to the Classic Public Radio Network (CPRN), a joint venture of KUSC in Los Angeles and Colorado Public Radio. The Christmas program will include familiar carols as well as motets and cantatas, with singing by Chanticleer, the Cambridge Singers, the choir of King's College and the group Anonymous 4. Old and new Jewish music will be included. This year, Dec. 25 is the first day of Hanukkah. "It's about choral music, not about any particular theology," said Scott Henderson, managing director of the CPRN. He said he wanted the word "sacred" was to be understood in the sense of serious or solemn - "any music that an audience in a concert hall would be comfortable with." Stephanie Wendt, the host of the show, tells 30 to 40 seconds of background on each piece, about five minutes in an hour, Henderson estimated. The program is arranged so that each station can use one, two or all three hours, as it chooses. Henderson predicted that 50 to 100 stations will gradually come to use the program over the next few years. (c) 2005 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved (Mercury News via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. PRECISE FREQUENCY MEASUREMENTS ON 750 KHZ 749.9984 UnID weak with SS music at 1822 750.0020 KXL Portland, OR with talk about the Portland Blazers 1808 750.0207 KHWG Fallon, NV C&W 1807 750.0879 KOAL Price, UT Larry King at 1804 If you check my list closely, you will see that the SS station is only 1.6 Hz low. KXL is 2 Hz high, KHWG is 20.7 Hz high, and KOAL is 87.9 Hz high. So KOAL is causing most of the growling. It is too complicated to describe here, and it requires a lot of construction. An article about my PFM system appeared in the IRCA Technical Column in the hard copy DX Monitor for January 2, 1999. It is available from IRCA as Reprint T79 (Albert Lehr, CA, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Re: 96.9 Free Radio in San Diego is back on the air I meant to pass this along when I noticed them back on the air. Unfortunately, whereas before, the station aired some intelligent programming (like lectures about how to drum up support for local independent broadcasting), now they're just another station playing head-banging heavy metal junk --- still better than the usual profane "morons playing radio" you get with so many pirate stations, but the current format is just not worth listening to, and therefore doesn't do much to promote the return of independent local broadcasting... 73, (Tim Hall, CA, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Re the many names of Clear Channel: I remember when AMFM and Jacor were swallowed up by CC. I used to listen to Bob Lassiter who did PM drive on WFLA 970 (5 to 8 pm) before they brought in the unknown Glenn Beck (way pre-syndie), I guess, 1998 or 1999. Lassiter used to make many irreverent references to the "Jacor Sisters" but I really don't know if there were such. I recently saw a reference to Lassiter in the newspaper; he left radio but is still in the area. He would frequently reference various radio business insider items on the air, until FLA did not renew his contract. Glenn Beck first day on the air showed his penchant for on-air jokes. He started playing country music, saying the new format was "kickin' klassic kountry" and had fake "phone calls" from the "PD" telling him to stop it - immediately. Years later, to this day, there are millions of radio listeners - to him - unable to figure out when Beck is spoofing them. A sad commentary on the attentiveness of the typical radio listener, IMHO. (But wait -- this is the ideal HD radio customer !!) Anyways I would guess that the various stations were first incorporated under those other names, meaning who the previous owners were, and it was probably simpler just to make them a d/b/a. Then CC could be simply acting like a giant holding company. That's my guess. (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, ABDX via DXLD) I think that's correct. There are no "Jacor sisters," BTW - Jacor was the holding company funded by Chicago real estate entrepreneur Sam Zell and run by Randy Michaels, until it was swallowed by CC. The most famous "sister" owners I know of in broadcasting are the Cox sisters, who still control Cox Radio, and the late Bullitt sisters, who controlled King Broadcasting of Seattle. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) I am not surprised. I was never 100% sure but always assumed this was the cynical commentary of Mr. Lassiter who was always being critical or analytical on-air about a lot of things, sometimes pretty entertainingly, and it seemed he was perpetuating the image of a couple of old crotchety spinsters sitting in their rocking chairs and managing the business of big radio stations, not to mention himself as well. A little theater of the mind, if you will, which is why I quoted their names. I wish I had some of his old airchecks with these bits on them (Bob Foxworth, ibid.) Yeah, I used to enjoy Lassiter during my triyear in South Florida, 1984-1986?, but can`t remember which station he was on then: WJNO, WIOD, WINZ? (gh, DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. UZBEK STATE RADIO STATIONS GO ONLINE | Excerpt from report by Uzbek newspaper Tashkentskaya Pravda on 21 December The Ozbekiston and Yoshlar state radio stations have become available online since August 2005. Two other Uzbek radio stations, Mashal and Dostlik, started broadcasting on the Internet from 16 August. It is for a reason that the Ozbekiston radio station has chosen the motto "Now you can listen to us throughout the world". Indeed, you can directly listen to the radio stations - Ozbekiston, Yoshlar, Mashal and Dostlik - on the following websites: http://www.uzbekradio.uz http://www.fmyoshlar.uz http://www.mtrk.uz [Passage omitted: advantages of the Internet] Source: Tashkentskaya Pravda, Tashkent, in Russian 21 Dec 05 p4 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. MOROCCO PUTS ANONYMIZER.COM ON ITS BLACK LIST The Moroccan government has blocked the US website http://www.Anonymizer.com which allows Internet users to get around censorship, days after Reporters Without Borders recommended its use to access Saharawi websites. These websites, promoting independence for Western Sahara, have been censored since the beginning of December 2005. Reporters Without Borders released a handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents in September 2005, containing advice on a number of technical methods of circumventing Internet filtering. (Source: International Freedom of Expression Exchange) # posted by Andy @ 12:00 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. REPORTERS FORUM: THE SWRA FOOT SOLDIERS SW Radio Africa's Reporters Forum begins a new series interviewing its correspondents on the ground. They talk about their work and the risks they take to bring out the Zimbabwean story. The guest this week is Lionel Saungweme who works from Bulawayo. He was recently placed on a list of 64 Zimbabweans whose passports are to be seized at entry/exit points in the country. How does he feel about being put on such a list? Is it worth the risk given the worsening media environment? He gives us a snippet of his research article ‘Project October: The assault on the Zimbabwean media.’ Check http://www.swradioafrica.com for details of the programme. # posted by Andy @ 15:21 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Correcting some numbers in 5-215: Thu Dec 15 at 1452 I found a strong and steady open carrier on 15435. I figured it was BSKSA tuning up for the 1500 start of the Holy Qur`an Service. But at 1458 the OC continued, and a het about 0.2 kHz high came on which was obviously the HQS. This situation continued past 1600, by when the Sa`udi signal had faded down greatly in comparison. Rechecked at 1724 the OC was still on, but it went off at 1728* What could this be? One theory was Sackville, replacing the CRI relay on 15230 which was missing before {1500}; see CHINA [non]. But there were no clues, like a split second of RCI IS, that 15435 was Sackville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you very much for all your efforts in keeping all of us SWLs up to date in 2005! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (Stephen E. Foisey, KB1EWF, Stratford, CT) Hello Glenn, I'm sure you don't know me, but I've been following your fabulous work in this last two years. In fact I`ve started DX-ing when I was a teen-ager in the 70's, stopped, re-started in the 80's, and again gone QRT, until 2003, when I, again, started listening to SW radio. I'll be looking among my old papers, because I seem to recall a sample of RBSWC who had a picture of you! So if you are interested in logs from northern Portugal please drop me a line and I will gladly do so, despite the very short free time I have!! Greetings from Portugal (José Pedro Turner, Gondomar, Portugal, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t recall being involved with the Radio Budapest SW Club; maybe somewhere else? (Glenn) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ MARCH 3-4, 2006 SWL FEST Shameless cross-promotion: SWL Fest registration form now posted at the Fest website --- Thanks to deputy web lackey Ralph Brandi, the Fest registration form has now been posted at the SWL Fest website, http://www.swlfest.com Would love to see folks from the swprograms list there...so we can sit around and "talk radio". Please pass the word along to friends & others who don't frequent the Fest list or the swprograms list. FWIW, with Southwest Airlines now flying into Philly, air fares are lower than in years past. For example, Oklahoma City to Philadelphia is $99 each way booked early. Oakland/SFO to Philly is $103 each way. I'll be happy to answer any Fest questions offline. We have a analogous e-mail list for Fest related matters; visit http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/swlfest Apologize for the interruption --- now returning you to your regular list topics (Richard Cuff / co-Festmesiter / Allentown, PA, Swprograms mailing list Dec 19 via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ TIME FOR RADIO! dxer.ca Out with the old --- you know the rest. In the next month or so, I am retiring a webpage that has run from a PC in my office for over 11 years - that is a long time in Internet years! http://espresso.ts.uvic.ca started modestly enough on an IBM PS/2 "way back" in late 1994 --- running Windows for Workgroups (if memory serves me correctly). It was a mix of resources for the tech, the radio enthusiast and, of all things, the coffee lover. The server went from Windows OS running the 'very unstable' Httpd through Winsock TCP to OS2 to Slackware Linux on a 90Mhz PC, a variety of flavors of Linux, finally Red Hat and Fedora As the coffee side of things grew and grew, it split off to its own entity (to its own very popular website...) The radio and techie site remained and moved from PC to PC (the original box was, like, 50 Mhz or something) to where it rests right now on a 550 Mhz Linux workstation and server. Lacking the reliability and stability of my ISP's server cluster it was time to devote some space and a domain name to this old project. Currently: I would really like to put more energy into this project, offering -sound bytes -receiver reviews -manual and instructional downloads -guestbook and discussion forums even DX and SWL related podcasts in the New Year and some MP3 hosting (DX stuff only) for people who do not have anywhere else to place their favorite audio samples. So, may I introduce to everyone: http://www.dxer.ca For the time being, it will have most of what http://espresso.ts.uvic.ca had and will grow steadily in the year 2006 (Colin Newell in Victoria BC, Canada, HCDX via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING [DRM: see NETHERLANDS ANTILLES] ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV TRANSITION Re 5-218: You are right, Matt. That will happen to many in Kansas. I have a brother-in-law with an antenna on a farm in central Kansas. Analog reception is marginal on four channels. He will probably get one digital channel. On our next visit I will take out a STB to see. There are a lot of farms out there with no access to cable and without satellite dishes and with less than DX antennas. Now they can watch some stations (probably with snow), but I have found it takes a better antenna to have a watchable DTV signal. A marginal DTV signal is difficult to watch -- not like analog which is only snowy. Had the FCC required sets to have digital tuners when they required stations to broadcast in digital the transition would have been easier. I still see consumers carting off analog sets. Some will be hooked to cable or satellite of course, but not all. And where are they when the cable goes out. Public stations may get some help in funding the transition to digital but there are a lot of uncovered expenses. Like the power bill. At KTWU where I worked the power bill went up considerably when the station started operating digital channel 23 in addition go analog channel 11. At our summer cabin in New Mexico we rely on some mountaintop UHF translators. The signals are not the best but viewable most of the time. No cable available there and we don't want to pay for twelve months of satellite service when the cabin is habitable four months a year. Maybe we could get a funded DVD player and some free movie rentals? On the other hand, I sure love watching high definition, but it doesn't make the Chiefs look any better (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, KS, WTFDA via DXLD) True. The general public is not aware of this impending changeover. Just wait until they are forced to junk their present TV sets or buy a STB, even though the Government says it will cover about $40.00 or so. Government promises are virtually worthless. Check out Medicare Plan D for drugs: Most people are lost in trying to figure where they stand. When the public roars in 2009, I'll bet some changes will occur. A lot of people aren't aware of HDTV. You should see some of the poor pictures a lot of the public watches due to poor CRT's and other faults. I know, as I serviced TV sets for many years: as long as something moved, they were happy. My 2 cents worth (John Ebeling, Bloomington, MN, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FIXING POWERLINE NOISE Most of my nasty buzzing/QRN noise is history. The local power company sent two trucks and their RF/interference team out and found a broken lightning rod on top of the power pole closest my home. I still may have some aging wiring in my basement electric panel, but nevertheless 90% of that awful noise is gone. The guys from my power company said many times a cracked insulator on a step-down transformer or broken lightning arrestor is the source of most of this buzzing interference, but, since most people listen to FM radio or cable TV, they rarely get complaints. The guy said the complaints they do get are usually from older people who listen to AM, or "ham radio enthusiasts". I guess SWL's are included. The power company seemed very eager to fix my problem. So, any other NASWA member, if you have what you feel is extreme buzzing or electrical noise, consider calling your local power company. They seem to want to help. FYI. Merry Christmas and 73's (Tim Davisson, Norton, Ohio 44203, Icom IC-718, Off-center-fed, folded dipole (180 feet x 90 feet) NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) I`d say the desire to help varies widely. If they were doing their job, they would not wait for a complaint. But you never know till you try (gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ PCWorld news item: POWER LINE BROADBAND COMES TO TEXAS --- Fast, alternative Internet access will offered to 2 million customers. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124008,tk,dn122005X,00.asp (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) FL, Dec 20, IRCA via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ If George W. Bush (as he himself believes) was God`s chosen one to be our President then He must be a malevolent God And Lexington (born) boy George Clooney has hit us with a couple of great movies / his father, Nick, began his broadcasting career as a DJ on WLAP / ``Ideologies do not bleed they only blood the world`` --- Eugene McCarthy I have no objection to being greeted with ``Merry Christmas`` which, for me, is just a well-intentioned ritual utterance to which one may attach as little or as much meaning as one wishes / the same with ``under God`` in the Pledge / and other utterances in which ``God`` is invoked, including swearing (a ritual way of expressing disgust) (Loren Cox, Jr., Lexington KY, Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###