DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-141, September 20, 2006 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 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1329: Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRN 13865 DRM via Bulgaria Sat 1230 WRMI 9955 Sat 1430 WRMI 7385 Sat 1600 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1530 WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Wed 0930 WWCR1 9985 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml ** ALBANIA. Radio Tirana had only carrier, no audio on Sept 21, 0230 UT good signal on 6115 very weak on // 7450. Carrier suddenly went off at 0245 UT (Gilles Létourneau, Montréal, Canada, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA [and non]. I have a lot to say today, Drita. Bengt Ericson phoned me today, and we agreed to inform you that the 1395 kHz channel is now more or less blocked in western Europe. The very strong (120 kW?) Radio London "Big L" started there yesterday and they will probably operate on a 24 hours schedule. I found them after 23 hours with a very potent signal, booming in here. So the TWR transmissions etc. on that frequency will have strong interference. This is what we wanted to let you know. But experience has shown that "Big L" is even more dependent on economy than Radio Tirana - they have been on the frequency in the past but disappeared after some time. Kind regards, (Ullmar Qvick, Sweden, Sept 19, via Drita Cico, R. Tirana, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. Re: Prueba de R. Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel Saludos Arnaldo y gente del grupo, Si estoy en Buenos Aires y la he vuelto a captar el lunes 18/9 alrededor de las 1900 UT en 15476, sin ID, otra vez con música; aclaro que no pude haberme confundido con Africa Nro 1 ya que se trata de música que tranquilamente podría emitir cualquier emisora argentina en onda media. La emisión sigue siendo pobre en intensidad y limpieza, pero alegra intuir la vuelta de la emisora antártica. Abrazo radiofónico (Loco Azulado, Sept 20, condig list via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Re 1650, AM Revivir: Vos sabes que esta emisora la escuchamos en su segundo armónico [3300] si bien me parece recordar, durante nuestra estadia en Olta?? 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Sept 20, condig list via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ABC on strike in Australia? Hi Glenn, I put ABC Radio National (EST feed) on the computer at around 1920 UT Wednesday, to see what would happen with threats of a strike on their local Thursday morning. Programming was as normal until 2000 UT (6 AM in Sydney). There were a few minutes of Australian headlines, and then they switched into a rebroadcast of BBC World Service news. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, 2009 UT Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ABC STRIKE MAY TAKE THE NEWS OFF THE AIR --- 21 September 2006 ABC television and radio programs will be significantly disrupted today, with about 2500 staff across Australia expected to strike over their pay and employment conditions. The full story is available at: http://theaustralian.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,20448814%255E7582,00.html (via Bill Westenhaver, QC, DXLD) 5995 // 6080 // 7240, RA, Sept 20, 1401-1418, heard with non-stop Waltzing Matilda (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 2210 UT Sept 20, I can hear non-stop pop music with announcement of their industrial action played on 13620 (from CVC in Darwin) and Waltzing Matilda interval signal in 13630. The normal current affairs programme "AM" aren't there. They said normal service will resume at 0700 AEST on Friday [2100 UT Thu]. (Yogesh, Hong Kong, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. ABC Darwin via Shepparton still going on 6080, Sept 20 at 1304 mentioning Queensland atop another English speaking station, poor R. Singapore International (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Al contrario, véase SINGAPORE ** CANADA. CBC CHAIRMAN GUY FOURNIER RESIGNS AFTER CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS OTTAWA (CP) - CBC chairman Guy Fournier has resigned after controversial comments he made about bestiality and bowel movements. Heritage Minister Bev Oda made the announcement today during question period in the House of Commons. Fournier, 75, became the target of anger and criticism in recent days after falsely claiming in a French-language magazine article that Lebanon permits bestiality, and for granting a lengthy interview on the joys of bowel movements. Fournier, a well-known playwright and producer, apologized Sunday on French-language television but it was too late. Oda told the Commons that Fournier, who was appointed by the previous Liberal regime to a five-year term last September, "has increasingly lost the confidence of Canada's new government." The minister said she received Fournier's "voluntary resignation" effective immediately (c) The Canadian Press, 2006 (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) More! CBC CHAIR RESIGNS AMID CONTROVERSY --- FOURNIER'S COMMENTS ABOUT DEFECATION AND LEBANESE SEX CAUSED PUBLIC OUTCRY RHÉAL SÉGUIN From Wednesday's Globe and Mail QUEBEC — Guy Fournier, who was criticized by his peers and ridiculed by the public, resigned as chairman of the board of the CBC yesterday in the wake of comments that shocked some and angered many. After offending the Lebanese community in a recent column mocking sexual behaviour in Lebanon and flouting rules of good taste by expressing the joys of defecation in a radio interview, Mr. Fournier had become the target of ridicule and an embarrassment for both the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the government. "I inform this House that I have received the voluntary resignation of Mr. Fournier effective today," Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda told the House of Commons yesterday, prompting loud cheers and spontaneous applause from her Conservative colleagues. Mr. Fournier tendered his resignation after sparking a public outcry in the wake of last week's publication of his regular column in the gossip magazine 7 jours, where he made unfounded remarks about male sexual behaviour in Lebanon. "In Lebanon, the law makes it possible for men to have sexual intercourse with animals as long as they are females. To do the same thing with male animals could lead to the death penalty," he wrote. Even after the Lebanese-Canadian community vigorously protested, Mr. Fournier shrugged off the controversy, saying he couldn't understand why people were insulted by something he found to be "rather funny." Ms. Oda demanded last Friday that he "reflect on his role and responsibility as chairman of the board of the CBC." Mr. Fournier's fate was probably sealed after an appearance on Radio- Canada's television program Tout le monde en parle, where close to two million viewers heard an excerpt of a 12-minute radio interview devoted to defecation. "What is more extraordinary is that as we get older we can defecate once a day whereas making love once a day may become a problem," the 75-year old Mr. Fournier said. "Therefore the pleasure is more durable and more frequent than with the other." The interview, which was broadcast on Toronto's French language community radio station CHOQ-FM last May, had received limited public attention, but after being exposed to such a huge audience, Mr. Fournier quickly became the object of jokes and ridicule that reflected poorly on the public broadcaster's image. Liberal MP Denis Coderre couldn't resist cracking a joke when asked to comment on Mr. Fournier's resignation. "I think his performance at Tout le monde en parle was for him a decisive moment," he said. "He was the victim of his own turpitude. He flushed himself." Mr. Fournier's resignation comes less than a year after he was appointed board chairman by the former Liberal government in October of 2005. It was apparent from the outset that his reputation for making crude and controversial remarks would eventually annoy CBC executives. For instance, last May he gave an interview where he said the French- language networks lacked objectivity in reporting news, which, according to him, failed to promote national unity. CBC president Robert Rabinovitch will be acting board chairman until Prime Minister Stephen Harper appoints a new chairman. Mr. Fournier was unavailable for comment yesterday. The prolific scriptwriter and producer, whose films and television series have been broadcast on private and public French-language television for close to 50 years, could return to writing humour columns for a gossip magazine even though he quit the job last week in a last-ditch effort to hold on to his CBC position (Relaying by Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, DXLD) ** CHINA. Re: 6155, China Business R - CNR-2, 1330-1355, Aug 27, "Advanced Studio Classroom", .... Classroom is produced in Taiwan and is a regular segment of English Evening (Are you sure of that? DSWCI Ed). Website: http://studioclassroom.com (Ron Howard in DSWCI DX- Window 306). At http://www.cnr.cn/fortune/english You can listen in to the whole one hour "English Evening" program on-line. In the middle of the page you will see [2006-08-27], for the program I heard via SW, click on the icon for Windows media player. China Business Radio/CNR-2 carries English Evening seven days a week, at 1300-1400, with different announcers on the weekend. Every program that I have heard of English Evening has a 25 minute segment produced by Studio Classroom. Have listen to the Studio Classroom program many times in the past year and they often talk about Taiwan and how it is to live there. Have never heard them talk about the People's Republic of China (PRC). Studio Classroom seems to be a big organization (both radio and TV), as you can see from the number of branch offices they have. Of course most of them are in Taiwan, but there are others listed at the bottom of the page at: http://studioclassroom.com/h_help_branch.php such as the Beijing (PRC) branch. The http://studioclassroom.com/h_whoweare.php website says: "Studio Classroom is the second most popular English-teaching magazine in Taiwan. The magazine and accompanying radio and TV programs have won numerous awards over the years, including Taiwan's famous Golden Bell and Golden Tripod Awards. Studio Classroom is distributed and broadcast in Mainland China, the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand." Also note that Beijing has their own Studio Classroom website at: http://www.studioclassroom.com.cn/splash/aboutus.htm So yes, I believe Studio Classroom is produced in Taiwan and is "distributed and broadcast in Mainland China". I really enjoy listening to this one, as they always have some interesting topic to talk about and the reception is usually fair to good, so I can hear just about everything that is said. Thank you for asking. Always happy to share what I know about one of my favorite SW programs, "English Evening" (Ron Howard, CA, DSWCI DX Window Sept 20 via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake check Sept 20 at 1310 found none of it audible on 14600, 13970 or 10200; but at 1329 it had become audible, poorly on 13970, and missing again during the break at 1402 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. R. Prague, not bad already on 13580, Sept 20 at 1326 ending English broadcast with modern classical music fill instead of transmission schedule, to 1329* No problem from CODAR on this occasion, tho it often extends as far as 13600. Per HFCC this has the rather strange azimuth of 356 degrees, almost due north, for CIRAF zones 18, 27, 28, 37, i.e., N, W, C Europe and NW Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. 7345, R Prague with full data 70th anniversary QSL- card in 8 days for reception of special programming during NA and LA Services in English and Spanish on Aug 31, 2237-2312. Reported via web form - signer was illegible and included a "Radio Praha" sticker (Bruce Churchill, CA in DX-plorer, Sep 10 via DSWCI DX Window Sept 20 via DXLD) 7345, R Prague, special 70th anniversary QSL, 1936-2006, nice blimp- and-radio design on front, full-data on back with R Prague handstamp, also sent schedule and 70th anniversary refrigerator magnet; in 11 days postal mail for e-report via their web form (Jerry Berg, MA, ibid.) Same full data "This Day only" 70th anniversary QSL-card received in 9 days for listening on 5935 at 2000-2027 on Jubilee Day Aug 31 reported by letter with 1 IRC. Enclosed sticker, schedule, small Old Radio rubber souvenir and stamps (Anker Petersen, Denmark, ibid.) ** ECUADOR [and non]. VETERAN JAPANESE HCJB WORLD RADIO PROGRAM PRODUCER DIES OF CANCER --- For Immediate Release Sept. 20, 2006 Hisako Ozaki, a longtime missionary and on-air personality with HCJB World Radio’s Japanese Language Service, died Sunday, Sept. 17, in Wheaton, Ill. , after a lengthy bout with cancer. She was 81. Hisako Kawashima was born in Ebina, Japan, on Jan. 1, 1925. She married Kazuo Ozaki in Japan on March 21, 1961. The Ozakis were accepted as missionaries with HCJB World Radio in Quito, Ecuador, in 1963 to produce and air programs for Japanese immigrants in South America. Kazuo had already sent programs to Quito from Japan as directed by Dr. Akira Hatori, a radio pastor and director of the Pacific Broadcasting Association which sponsored the Ozakis’ work for many years. But the plea for Japanese personnel in Quito came after the station`s broadcast director heard a program tape played backwards. Arriving in Quito on Jan. 6, 1964, the Ozakis` first task was learning the Spanish language. Their programs in Japanese began airing on May 1, 1964. Thirty-six years later, the last regular Japanese language broadcasts from Radio Station HCJB in Quito ended on Dec. 31, 2000, with a one- hour special live broadcast. Guests in the studio (and listeners via e-mail) shared words of appreciation for the Ozakis’ untiring service to audiences in South America, Japan and the world. While that ended Japanese programming on HCJB by shortwave, programs resumed four months later via the Internet and a local satellite digital station in Japan, according to DX Listening Digest. The Ozakis also made annual appearances on the station via special programming. For the May 1, 2003, program a special concert was held in Quito to celebrate 39 years of Japanese ministry. Among those attending the event was Hiroyuki Hiramatsu, the Japanese ambassador to Ecuador who gave the opening remarks. During her ministry years in Quito, Hisako corresponded with listeners to the programs that she and her husband hosted. When in mid-1969 Kazuo was hospitalized with a gastric ulcer, he left the radio work in the hands of Hisako and a visitor --- both with experience in the office but not in the studio. After subsequent decades of on-air experience with her husband, Hisako wrote to a shortwave hobbyists` publication that although radio is mass media, each time she entered the studio she conversed with one listener at a time. ``The voice is most important,`` she wrote. ``It tells whether you’re revealing your soul.`` As a radio team, Kazuo and Hisako developed a style of their own easily recognizable by their listeners. Their on-air presence was jovial and happy, taking listeners into their family relationships and their daily life in the Ecuadorian Andes. Kazuo reinitiated Japanese shortwave programming on June 3, 2006, this time from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s station in Kununurra. When the shortwave listening boom hit Japan in the 1970s, Hisako managed replies to the ever-higher mountains of mail arriving at the Ozakis` office. The Japanese Language Service`s letter count skyrocketed from 5,572 in 1971 to 63,416 in 1976. Yet the Ozakis showed an uncanny ability to remember names of listeners and specifics they`d written about in letters. Days before Hisako’s death, her son, Michio, talked briefly of her at the mission’s annual meeting in Quito. Leading worship, he’d arranged for a picture of his mom to appear on the screen between songs. A collective sigh escaped the crowd as they viewed Hisako in her hospice bed in Wheaton with her grandchild and Michio kneeling beside. ``My mom never felt qualified to be a missionary,`` Michio said. ``She never graduated from high school; she didn’t have training in radio production. And yet God used her.`` What followed was the song, ``When It`s All Been Said and Done,” by Jim Cowan. The lyrics of the first verse state, ``When it’s all been said and done. There is just one thing that matters. Did I do my best to live for truth? Did I live my life for you?`` Hisako is survived by her husband, Kazuo; two sons, Michio and wife, Anne Marie, in Quito and Yuji and his wife, Michiho, in Tokyo; and a daughter, Joyce, and her husband, Dave Kerns, in Wheaton; as well as six grandchildren. Memorial gifts remembering Hisako will go toward the creation of a home studio to record Kazuo`s Japanese radio programs that air twice weekly from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. Gifts sent to the mission’s international headquarters in Colorado Springs should be payable to HCJB World Radio and marked, ``Japan Project - 782008.`` (HCJB World Radio/DX Listening Digest/Asia Focus) - 30 - For more information contact: Jon Hirst, Communications Director HCJB World Radio. P.O. 38900, Colorado Springs , CO 80949; (719) 590- 9800 jhirst @ hcjb.org (HCJB press via Harold Goerzen, DXLD) OBIT ** ECUADOR [non]. HCJB WORLD RADIO’S ‘RADIO PLANTS’ REAPING GLOBAL HARVEST [press release] More Than 300 Stations Established in 100 Countries COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For decades, HCJB World Radio (www.hcjb.org) sent shortwave Christian programming around the globe from its facilities high in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. But as the Iron Curtain fell and communication technologies began to change, some wondered what the future would hold for the world’s first missionary broadcasting ministry. God had new plans for HCJB World Radio, however – specifically, a groundbreaking outreach called ``radio planting`` http://www.radioplanting.com Since the early 1990s the mission has worked with local ministries and churches around the world to establish more than 300 mostly independent radio stations in about 100 countries across Euro-Asia, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific region, Latin America and North America. . . http://www.religionnews.com/press02/PR091906.html (via Artie Bigley, Mike Terry, DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. Re DW frequency change at 1400-1450 on 11645 via Kigali, ex-11810: It's in Amharic (per EiBi listing), not Swahili; // to 15410 via Sri Lanka (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. Glenn, This came out today in the Financial Times. The protesters also stormed Radio Budapest on Brody Sandor Street downtown Tuesday night, according to EL PAIS. They also damaged the Soviet obelisk that sits in the plaza between the Russian and US Embassy. Was there in July and would never thought the Hungarians could stage such a revolt. They are very peaceful people (Marty Delfín, Madrid, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: HUNGARY FACES REALITY --- Published: September 20 2006 03:00 On October 23 1956, Hungarian protesters battled riot police outside Radio Budapest. Fifty years on, and after more than a decade of democracy, a demonstration against Ferenc Gyurcsany, prime minister, turned to riots outside the state television station. Mr Gyurcsany must not be forced out by rioters. But he now has an urgent job to do fixing the Hungarian economy. The catalyst for the demonstrations was the leaked admission by Mr Gyurcsany that his party had lied morning, noon and night about the state of the economy during the campaign that led to its re-election in April. That has led to the current demonstrations, in which far- right hooligans played a prominent role. But Mr Gyurcsany was not owning up to a Hungarian Watergate: he was appealing to his own party to come clean about the dire state of Hungary's finances. In so doing, he was drawing attention to the failure of the country's entire political class. He is far from being the only Hungarian politician to have lied about the economy. The right-wing opposition party, Fidesz, was no better during the election campaign. Indeed, it promised more spending and less tax than the socialists. The paradox of Hungary is that it always seemed the Warsaw Pact state best prepared to join the west. It was relatively developed and had already seen some liberalisation before the end of communism. Hungary, it was said in Budapest, could join the euro by 2006. But this confidence in Hungary's prospects has led to collective denial, inside and outside the country, about the need for reform. Although economic growth has averaged 4.5 per cent, and standards of living have improved, budgets were consistently plundered at election time and reform endlessly postponed. When, in 1995 Lájos Bokros, incoming finance minister, proposed fiscal austerity, it was so unpopular that he was forced to resign. Those economic problems can no longer be brushed under the table. Hungary's fiscal and trade deficits have been financed by speculative investors drawn to its high interest rates. The efforts to meet European Union accession criteria made the country seem a safe and worthwhile investment destination. But further political instability and thwarted reform could cause the hot money to leave, sparking a full-blown currency crisis. That crisis has not arrived yet, but having admitted the problem, Mr Gyurscany should deliver on reform. A newly re-elected prime minister should not submit to mob rule. But Mr Gyurscany has much to do to save his government and Hungary's economy (via Delfín, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Suara Indonesia still absent from 9525, Sept 20 at 1306 check. I miss my daily dose of ``Double Eagle`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Re 6-128, WRN switching from Intelsat 1002 to PAS 10: The overlap period has been extended until Sept. 30. PAS 10 is at 68.5 degrees east. This of course concerns direct reception of WORLD OF RADIO via satellite in Africa and Asia, Saturdays at 0800 UT (Glenn Hauser, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. METROPOLITAN OPERA CHANNEL TO DEBUT ON SATELLITE RADIO By Ronald Blum Associated Press September 20, New York http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901920.html The Met will be on the air almost as much as the Mets. Sirius Satellite Radio and the Metropolitan Opera plan to announce Wednesday that they will launch a new channel to broadcast four performances a week during the company's 32-week season, as part of the company's vast media expansion under new its general manager, Peter Gelb. Metropolitan Opera Radio will debut with Monday's opening-night gala of a new production of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly." When not broadcasting live performances, the channel will air operas from the Met's archive of 1,500 radio broadcasts that date to 1931. The announcement follows deals to broadcast six live performances this season in high definition to movie theaters in North America and Europe and to stream live performances on the Met's Web site, which launched its redesign Tuesday. "The Met right now is the talk of the opera world, I would say, because of all these new initiatives," Gelb said. "All of these initiatives have one common purpose, which is to improve the Met's position by educating audiences and increasing the box office." Seventy-seven percent of the Met's available tickets were sold last season, down from 93 percent in 1999-2000. Met spokeswoman Sommer Hixson said the company had not yet determined how much overlap there would be between the radio channel and the Internet streaming, which will include at most a weekly performance. Sirius, which has about 125 channels, has a subscription price of $12.95 per month, with discounts available for long-term deals. It was available to 4.7 million subscribers at the end of June and expects to be available to 6.3 million by the end of the year, spokesman Patrick Reilly said. "There's nothing like the Met, and more importantly, there's nothing like the Met archives of the great operas that have taken place over the years," said Scott Greenstein, Sirius's president of entertainment and sports. "The idea that we could have our channel and get the best of the current stuff right now as well as the archives, it's something very unique we could bring to our subscribers." The Met's media expansion was made possible by new deals with its unions that were announced Sept. 6. Sirius will have 10 historic broadcasts per week, Hixson said. The Met also is making about 500 of its 1,500 archived broadcasts available online through RealNetworks' Rhapsody service. The Met Radio Channel will replace Classical Voices on Sirius. Greenstein would not say how many new subscribers Sirius hopes to get because of the Met channel. Instead of the original commentary by Milton Cross and Peter Allen and original intermission features, the historic broadcasts will be repackaged with new lead-ins and intermissions. The channel's announcer will be Margaret Juntwait, who replaced Allen in 2004 as host of the Met's Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts, which run from December until spring and will continue; in Washington they are broadcast on WETA-FM (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 6245, R Zamaneh, via Armavir, Russia, *1700v-2100v*, Sep 11, 12, 13, 16 and 18, New clandestine towards Iran, Farsi ID's "Radio Zamaneh", interview, news on the half hours, political comments, Iranian pop songs, 55555 in Denmark, fair in Ukraine and Massachusetts. On Sep 16 the transmitter carrier was on already at 1647. The audio was broadcast from 1701:13 till 2101:13! Reports have been sent to announced e-mail address: contact @ RadioZamaneh.com --- Website: http://www.radiozamaneh.com Direction finding indicated the Armavir area (Berg, Herkimer, Krone, Petersen and Titarev, DSWCI DX Window Sept 20 via DXLD) R. Zamaneh is received also here in Italy. I have found the following email address: contact @ radiozamaneh.com In the internet check also: http://odeo.com/sendmeamessage/radiozamaneh Radio Zamaneh (i.e. "time" or "period") should broadcast 24 hours daily but at the moment they only make experimental programs. It has been founded by some Iranian journalists formerly working in Iran and at the BBC Persian Service (like Mr Mehdi Jami) and two members of the Dutch Parliament in Amsterdam of Iranian origin (like Mrs Farah Karimi). As members of Parliament they originally succeeded in having a annual contribution and political support by Dutch Parliament also to fund PERSIAN TV INTERNATIONAL via satellite. TV was intended to young people and intellectuals in Iran. Unfortunately the TV project met some obstacles both by Iranian authorities and Western powers. Therefore they had to limit the project to R Zamaneh (Nader Javaheri, Firenze, Italy, Sep 14, ibid.) The financial support for the foundation of Radio Zamaneh comes from several public organizations, but also from the Dutch government. The Dutch government decided in 2004 to support the initiatives of Iranian journalists to set up new media. The Dutch foundation Press Now http://www.pressnow.nl that is supporting independent media in conflict situations, is also supporting Radio Zamaneh financial, technical and by means of training and advice. For all contacts: Pantea Modiri, Public Relations of Radio Zamaneh, p.modiri @ radiozamaneh.nl and Yousef Ahmed, program co-ordinator, Press Now, ahmed @ pressnow.nl telephone +31 20 5682016. Head Office Press Now, Linnaeusstraat 35-F, NL 1093 EE Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Tel +31 20 568 20 20. Fax +31 20 568 20 10. E-mail info @ pressnow.nl (Max van Arnhem, Netherlands, Sep 13, ibid.) ** JAPAN. Re 6-140, Hi Glenn, Looks like this site explains JG2XA: http://ssro.ee.uec.ac.jp/lab_tomi/HFD/index.html Thanks! (Eric Loy, Champaign IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O yes, HF Doppler project, only 200 watts on 5006 and 8006 (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Shiokaze, 9485 via Taiwan, back to English on Wednesday, Sept 20 at 1305 with news items rather than roster in quick check, poor signal; last week English was on Tuesday instead, but always on Fridays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LEBANON [and non]. | HEZBOLLAH HACKED ISRAELI MILITARY RADIO | from the how-to-kill-tanks dept. | | posted by kdawson on Tuesday September 19, @14:39 (Encryption) | | http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/19/1745200 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ florescent_beige writes, "Newsday is reporting that Hezbollah was able to monitor secure Israeli military communications, perhaps using technology supplied by Iran, during the recent Lebanon war. A former Israeli general, speaking anonymously, called the results 'disastrous' for Israel. The story reports that an anonymous Lebanese source said that Hezbollah might have taken advantage of Israeli soldiers' mistakes in following secure radio procedures. The radio gear uses frequency hopping and encryption." The article identifies the Israeli communications equipment as the US-designed Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System. Discuss this story at: http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/09/19/1745200 Links: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wocode184896831sep18,0,3091818.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print 1. http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/sincgars.htm -- BT Tracy Johnson (via BDX Sept 20 via DXLD) ** LIBYA [and non]. Warble jamming on 17650, Sept 20 at 1308 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 20 Septiembre: En el día de hoy compruebo a las 1230 que Sawt al-Amal se encuentra en la frecuencia de 17650 con una fuerte señal, SINPO 44444. Se percibe una débil señal tipo sierra de fondo, apenas inapreciable hasta las 1250 que irrumpe con fuerza y acaba anulando a Sawt Al-amal. No consigo escucharla hasta las 1303 en la frecuencia de 17660; en esos momentos estaban cantando el Cor`án. Sin embargo a las 1305 cambia bruscamente a 17650, siguen con el canto del Cor`án, cuña de identificación y segmento musical. A las 1325 se inicia una emisión musical jammer, atora [?] a Sawt Al-amal pero no acaba de anularla; esta situación se mantiene hasta las 1340 en que tengo que dejar el monitoreo (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, SANGEAN ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEXQ, 6045, identifiable for the first time in several weeks, Sept 20 at 1259 with modern classical music, fast SAH fluxuating roughly between 5 and 10 Hz, indicating this or the other transmitter is unstable, and/or Doppler effects in the ionosphere. 1300 Spanish ID with frequencies, Mexico PSA, good modulation, 1302 into news by alternating M&W. I still wonder if this is on the air every day; if so, it needs propagation, noise level and timing to be just right to hear it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. MAS DE RADIO TRAFICO --- I took the time this morning to do just as Glenn suggested. I "laboriously" researched the Grupo Acir website for the Radio Tráfico mediumwave outlets. Ugh! Disclaimer: The actual data (locations and powers) came from a recent FCC Query that I had saved to my hard drive. Here goes: XEMIA 850 San Pedro Tlaquepaque (Guadalajara), Jalisco "La Bonita" 1.0 kW-D, 0.25 kW-N XEOK 900 Monterrey, Nuevo León "OK Noticias" 10.0 kW-D, 2.5 kW-N XEZAR 920 Cholula, Puebla "La Bonita" 1.0 kW-D, 1.0 kW-N XEGV 1120 Querétaro, Querétaro "Radio Felicidad" 0.50 kW-D, 0.25 kW-N XETOL 1130 Ixtlahuaca, Toluca "Lobo 1130" 10.0 kW-D, 0.10 kW-N XEFR 1180 Magdalena Mixhuca, Distrito Federal "Radio Felicidad" 5.0 kW-D, 1.0 kW-N XEQY 1200 Cacalomacan, Toluca "QY Noticias" 2.5 kW-D, 0.50 kW-N XEL 1260 Magdalena Mixhuca, Distrito Federal "La 1260 AM" 20.0 kW-D, 5.0 kW-N XEHIT 1310 Puebla, Puebla "Radio Felicidad" 1.0 kW-D, 0.50 kW-N XEPJ 1370 San Pedro Tlaquepaque (Guadalajara), Jalisco "Súper Deportiva" 5.0 kW-D, 1.0 kW-N XEVOZ 1590 Colonia Iztacalco, Distrito Federal "Radio Tráfico 15-90" 20.0 kW-D, 10.0 kW-N There were 12 FM stations listed, but I did not research them. -- (Stephen Ponder N5WBI, Southeast TX DXer http://setxdxer.blogspot.com/ Houston TX USA, ABDX via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Rangitaiki must have broken down again. No signals at all in AM or DRM from RNZI, on 6095, 7145 or 9870 at 1256, 1305 and 1330 checks Sept 20. This is really neat, reporting on all these stations that are NOT on the air when they are supposed to be! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. On Monday afternoon Sept 18, on our way to fill up jugs for a few months` supply of free artesian water, we visited Great Salt Plains State Park, and National Wildlife Refuge, about an hour NW of Enid, whence a few weeks ago I had heard just N of Enid on the caradio, a new TIS on 1610. We were hearing it well several miles to the south, approaching on State Hwy 58. Just past the radome for NWS Vance, the entrance to the state park has a sign about the 1610 transmitter next to a short pole with solar panels, but this is not the antenna. We found that a bit further inside on a taller pole, behind the residence which is across from the park office. We parked in the shade and recorded the complete loop at local range, which lasted about 10 minutes. Here are notes, but not a verbatim transcript except for the initial ID: ``This is WQCL-720, Alfalfa County, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma State University, emergency advisory and tourism information radio, broadcasting at 1610 kHz AM.`` Hello, this is Russell Nichol, manager of Great Salt Plains State Park. GSP lake surface area is approximately 9000 acres. Has channel catfish, striped bass, among others. 11000 acres of salt flats on west side in SP NWR. GSP lake is salt water, about 1/3 that of the ocean. Makes catfish some of best-tasting anywhere. GSP SP covers approximately 850 acres. Has two RV campgrounds with 64 sites, over 100 tent camping sites, 5 picnic shelters, 6 wholly furnished cabins, community center for group meetings, park office. Hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, two equestrian trails, totaling 12 miles on N and S side of park, breathtaking views of landscape, birds and wildlife. Two equestrian campgrounds. GSP SP offers world class birdwatching, over 300 species. Additional info on park, 580 626 4731 or greatsaltplains @ oklahomaparks.com Salt Plains NWR is part of federal network of lands. Habitat for migratory birds, more than 300 species, including bald eagles. High gypsum levels produce selenite crystals with a diamond pattern, unknown anywhere elsewhere in world. April 1 to Oct 15 on SW side, free collexion of crystals is permitted; BYO shovel, buckets, and sunscreen. Off Hwy 64 just west of Jet, S of Cherokee. Stay in designated area. More info: 580-626-4794, weekdays 7:30 am to 4 pm [CDT = 1230-2100 UT]. Just N of GSP NWR is Byron State Fish Hatchery, 25-30 million fish produced every year. Established by Okla. Dept. of Wildlife Conservation in 1929 solely to produce sport fish for statewide distribution. Including walleye, saugeye, striped bass, hybrid striped bass, large mouth bass, small mouth bass, channel catfish, sunfish. Byron Hatchery wildlife area and trail has prairie grasses, building with display of birds, fish, mammals, insects, native grasses. Bring binoculars. Need tour? Call 580-474-2663. And now for your local weather: (Much louder, joined in progress from NWS weather radio); plus hazardous weather outlook as far as N Texas. Probability: 0 percent (Interrupted in progress, back to): Go west to State Hwy 11 and US 64 junxion into Cherokee, where there are several, hundred-year-old churches. One with over 60 original stained glass windows is being transformed into a community art and entertainment center. Award-winning Cherokee Nature Park, a city block of flowers, shrubs, trees, to attract birds, butterflies, wildlife. Play areas for children, swimming pool. Alfalfa County Courthouse built in 1921, beautifully restored with marble and furnishings. WWI doughboy statue on lawn, dedicated to vets. Other outstanding memorials in Helena and Jet, airplanes tanks and monuments. Carmen has two wonderful museums: Railroad Depot Museum, and Ralph Crane, Jr. Newspaper Museum. In Cherokee, tallest bldg in town, 4-story Alfalfa County Historical Society Museum, open 10-4 Tue, Thu, Fri. Cemeteries thruout county. In Amorita Cemetery resides a mysterious painter of red barns, about whom little is known. Famous gunfighter Johnny Fox is in Cherokee cemetery; settlers and homesteaders. Drug store in Amorita features art by local artists. [and then starts over with ID] We then went to the spillway below the dam and found quite a stinky fishkill of shad piled up around the edges. And not a single fisherperson in sight, unlike our previous visit. Some channel cat were visible just below the murky surface, as well as several turtles. At park HQ we met Mr Nichol himself, who explained that because of the drought the spillway pond was at low level, not aerated and apparently getting stagnant, so nothing could be done about the fishkill. He assured us there are many more healthy fish in the lake itself. And he confirmed the transmitter site for the TIS, which started some time this summer. He is glad to have it on park grounds, altho it was set up by the town of Cherokee. They wanted it in a central location where drivers on highways 11 and 64 could hear it; not sure of the power but only a few watts. The sound was rather scratchy, as M & W speakers alternated, altho playing back my tape it sounded much less scratchy than originally. I have toyed with the idea of trying a DXpedition from one of the cabins, but have my doubts that would work well due to power lines in the vicinity, not to mention the weather radar transmitter, and little room for beverages (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1120, KEOR, OK, Catoosa - CP granted to move here (from 1110 kHz) with D4 2000/0 CH 2000 co-locating their transmitter with that of KCFO-970 Tulsa, Oklahoma, and change their City-of-License (from Atoka, Oklahoma). This move will make a number of other frequency and CoL applications for moves in Oklahoma and north Texas possible (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC E-DX News Sept 18 via DXLD) This is a move approximately 125 miles almost due north (gh, DXLD) 1350, KPNS OK Duncan. 8/20 0559. Legal ID by man at 0559:50, heard during KGHF [Pueblo CO] pause: ``News Talk 1350 KPNS Duncan-Lawton- Fort Sill,`` and then promptly covered again by KGHF exactly at ToH. Heard again one hour later during KGHF pause. A needed call change here, ex-KXCD (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, DDXD West, NRC E-DX News Sept 18 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. OETA apparently chickened out at the last minute, and contrary to two versions of its own schedule still online, and printed schedules, delayed American Masters: Andy Warhol, one hour later to start at 9 pm CT instead of 8 pm Wednesday Sept 20. Is there something in the two-hour show likely to offend children or provoke calls for FCC fines, but OK if it airs after 10 pm? O yeah, of course, he was ``gay and really, really swish``! With PBS self-censorship, no telling how else the show has been altered already (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7119.97, Wantok R. Light, 1150-1204 17 Sept, English religious program to 1157, religious pop-like song, then 1201 canned English ID by M mentioning FM and SW. Instrumental music, 1203 W in Pidgin and ID given. CW Ham calling CQ QRM, but went off. Noisy (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 4965.83, R. Santa Mónica, Cusco, 1004-1006, Sep 15, talk with definite mention of Santa Ana, nice Huayno music, short unreadable canned announcement, then 1006 live man again with heavily rolled "R" in "Radio Santa Ana"!! Back to music. No doubt, it was "Ana" and not "Mónica". Signal was not bad with some weak QRM from Alvorada below. Good conditions this morning. Not heard the next morning (Dave Valko, PA, DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) I better go to Cusco and check the station name! (DSWCI Ed) ** PERU. 5024.93, R. Quillabamba --- Like Terry Krueger, found this here while Rebelde was off. 1004-1040 18 Sept, end of Campesino song, then live M starting with TC 1 minute slow and ID, mention of Quillabamba and "Amigo Amanacer", and ended with TC repeated, and into Huayno song. Huaynos and announcements by same M continued to fadeout. 1016 ID, TC, etc. 1021 Rooster crowing, TC, mention of Quillabamba, talk including "Radio Puenta de la Vega". 1028 roosters again and crows SFX at beginning of song. 1031 rooster, canned announcement by M, then live M again with TC and announcements. Fair and peaking at 1020. Fading very quickly after 1030 and extremely weak by 1040. As mentioned, Rebelde was off but did pop on suddenly at 1048:30. It`s only possible to get Quillabamba when Rebelde is off here. Glad to see it`s still going!! (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. QSL : Radiodifusión Portuguesa Internacional. QSL-card (con foto de la sede de RDP, F/D, V/S = Christiane, 21655 Hz, 11/02/2006), carta personal, revista "Portugal", esquema de transmisiones A-06, sticker, pin y neck-strap (como para un celular o mp3, muy bueno). Corresponde a un informe de recepción ingresado mediante el formulario web de RDP. En la carta además de disculparse por el error que ocasionó la demora, indican que RDP no transmite en idiomas extranjeros desde marzo de 1998 y que no lo volverá a hacer en el futuro. Demoró algo más de 7 meses. 73, (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, Sept 20, condig list via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOR news in English audible at 1403 Sept 20 on 17645 and 15605 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAIPAN [and non]. FEBC STATION IN SAIPAN FACES DRAMATIC ELECTRICITY RATE HIKE Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) has announced an urgent need for its shortwave station on the South Pacific island of Saipan. Governor Benigno R Fitial recently signed emergency regulations, dramatically increasing Saipan’s electricity rates. The cost of power required to broadcast will jump from an average of $17,000 per month to about $40,000 per month, a 135-percent increase. The station is faced with the choice of either paying the additional costs or reducing broadcast hours. FEBC is asking donors to shoulder the increased costs to avert curtailing the broadcasts. Founded in 1945, FEBC is a non- denominational, international Christian radio network that broadcasts the gospel in more than 150 languages from 32 transmitters around the world (Source: FEBC via HCJB via Media Network blog Sept 20 via DXLD) While FEBC`s situation is exceptional due to the local situation, the rising cost of oil is a problem for all international broadcasters who still use shortwave. It means that the percentage of a station`s budget that has to be allocated to programme distribution continues to increase unless alternative methods of programme distribution are found. Even the largest international broadcasters, such as the BBC and VOA, have substantially reduced their shortwave services in the past few years. Theoretically, DRM offers a significant saving in operational costs, but because very few people yet have DRM receiving capability, the cost per listener is astronomical at the moment (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ** SINGAPORE. [Cf AUSTRALIA above] Completely different what I got while checking [6080] at 1125 Sept 20. RSI was completely alone but splattered by WYFR in Spanish on 6085. Anyone would agree that ABC was off the air by then, OTH it use to override RSI (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. R. Thailand: In their 1900 UT English broadcast yesterday (Sep. 19) they started like this: "Good morning and thank you for tuning in to Radio Thailand's morning newshour, for Tuesday, September 19th, 2006, the year which marks his Majesty the King's Grand ... Jubilee." The main item was opening for traffic of the industrial ring road. Wonder at which time they record this "morning" news. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Denmark, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did anyone monitor the English to Europe/Africa 0000-0030 on 9570 broadcast or the 0030-0100 5890 broadcast to US-East? Those transmissions MIGHT have carried the music heard later in the USA and, if so, that would mean the day`s English broadcast is/was recorded (or maybe broadcast live?) from 0000 UT = 0700 in Thailand. What we in Europe must have heard was the broadcast recorded earlier in the day before the coup occurred (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) As already reported, the 0030 UT Sept 20 just had noise and music fill (gh, DXLD) I've been listening to the 1230 UT English broadcast of R. Thailand on 9835 kHz. News on the coup in detail for the first 15 minutes and other news after that. Looks like the news has been updated (Yogesh, Hong Kong, Sept 20, ibid.) I tried the next English broadcast, at 1404, but 9830 was blocked by RTTY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Thailand on now at 0030 UT Sept 21 on 5890 [Greenville] in English with news and sports. Good signal here in Montreal, SIO 444 (Gilles Létourneau, Montréal, Canada, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was listening too; why does it seem like I am tuning into the middle of a one-hour news magazine? O, because I am! It starts at 7 am Thai time, but the SW relay to NAm doesn`t pick it up till a semihour later. I guess the lucky Africans in the middle of the night get to hear the first half at 0000 --- and is that what is repeated at 0200 to NAm? I tape most of that to monitor later. At least by 0031, it was business as usual, with brief discussions of how the coup would affect tourism and a lengthy interview with an economist(?), 0037 sports, 0050 historical feature, or rather a commercial for Bangkok Airways to visit Hiroshima; etc., and precious little about the actual situation. Customs rules for tourist purchases in Thailand (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re "the staff can figure out which way the wind is blowing ..." Some comments in German A-DX NG: "I guess the staff will 'maintain a low profile' in coming days, too. The German 15 minutes lasting program is always pre-recorded at about 1000-1200 UT in the morning. Nobody really will be sitting in the broadcast studio at 0300 local time and read the latest news towards Europe. Even Thai audience heard only military march music on the local TV stations yesterday. "Foreign stations", also CNN, BBC-TV, RFI-TV and DW-TV in Bangkok have been CUT OFF totally. Thai foreign TV 'Thai Global Network' (TGN), via Eutelsat 13 degrees East in Europe brought stupid game shows instead. Has been cut off video and audio on Wed Sept 20th around 0730 UT totally. Foreign services in Thai on SW: three times daily Thai program from BBC London via Kranji/Singapore ceased earlier this year in favour of Arabic. Also R Australia program ceased on shortwave in favour of local FM re-broadcasting. These decisions by British and Australian Foreign Offices are not much clever ... Internet traffic towards Thailand is functioning, but all via CAT Telecom server. So, it would be easy to install data traffic filter ..." (Uwe Volk, and others in A-DX Sept 20 via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) A06 R Thailand BURM 6030 1145-1200 UDO 250 284 ENGL 9570 0000-0030 UDO 250 276 ENGL 5890 0030-0100 GB 250 190 ENGL 5890 0200-0230 DL 250 180 x0300 UT ENGL 17655 0530-0600 UDO 250 321 ENGL 9835 1230-1300 UDO 250 132 ENGL 9830 1400-1430 UDO 250 132 ENGL 7155 1900-2000 UDO 250 329 ENGL 9680 2030-2045 UDO 250 321 FREN 9680 2015-2030 UDO 250 321 GERM 9680 2000-2015 UDO 250 321 INDO 11870 1215-1230 UDO 250 154 JAPA 11685 1300-1315 UDO 250 54 KHME 7260 1115-1130 UDO 250 144 LAO 6030 1130-1145 UDO 250 30 MALA 11870 1200-1215 UDO 250 154 MAND 11685 1315-1330 UDO 250 30 THAI 5890 0100-0200 GB 250 190 THAI 5890 0230-0330 DL 250 180 x0330 UT THAI 11870 1000-1100 UDO 250 138 THAI 1575 1030-1100 BAK 1000 145 THAI 1575 1100-1130 BAK 1000 145 MO-FR THAI 1575 1200-1230 BAK 1000 145 MO-FR del THAI 1575 1500-1530 BAK 1000 145 MO-FR THAI 11685 1330-1400 UDO 250 54 THAI 9680 1800-1900 UDO 250 300 THAI 9680 2045-2115 UDO 250 313 THAI 1575 2230-2400 BAK 1000 145 SU-TH VIET 7260 1100-1115 UDO 250 144 and time sorted too: ENGL 9570 0000-0030 UDO 250 276 ENGL 5890 0030-0100 GB 250 190 THAI 5890 0100-0200 GB 250 190 ENGL 5890 0200-0230 DL 250 180 x0300 UT THAI 5890 0230-0330 DL 250 180 x0330 UT ENGL 17655 0530-0600 UDO 250 321 THAI 11870 1000-1100 UDO 250 138 THAI 1575 1030-1100 BAK 1000 145 VIET 7260 1100-1115 UDO 250 144 THAI 1575 1100-1130 BAK 1000 145 MO-FR KHME 7260 1115-1130 UDO 250 144 LAO 6030 1130-1145 UDO 250 30 BURM 6030 1145-1200 UDO 250 284 MALA 11870 1200-1215 UDO 250 154 THAI 1575 1200-1230 BAK 1000 145 MO-FR INDO 11870 1215-1230 UDO 250 154 ENGL 9835 1230-1300 UDO 250 132 JAPA 11685 1300-1315 UDO 250 54 MAND 11685 1315-1330 UDO 250 30 THAI 11685 1330-1400 UDO 250 54 ENGL 9830 1400-1430 UDO 250 132 del THAI 1575 1500-1530 BAK 1000 145 MO-FR THAI 9680 1800-1900 UDO 250 300 ENGL 7155 1900-2000 UDO 250 329 GERM 9680 2000-2015 UDO 250 321 FREN 9680 2015-2030 UDO 250 321 ENGL 9680 2030-2045 UDO 250 321 THAI 9680 2045-2115 UDO 250 313 THAI 1575 2230-2400 BAK 1000 145 SU-TH (via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. In 49m bandscan, Sept 20 at 1259, I heard weak ``BBC`` chimes on 6035. Looked up later, this is Thailand relay with Indonesian at 1300-1330. Of course, if Nakhon Sawan were closed due to the coup, BBC might have made a quick switch to Singapore or somewhere else (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND [and non]. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING & THE THAILAND COUP On the morning after the coup (20 September), the Voice of America Thai Service FM affiliates refrained from rebroadcasting the VOA Thai program. VOA added shortwave frequencies (not normally used for VOA Thai) at 2300-2400 UT 7215 and 9685 kHz. Because English-language international television channels were taken off Thai cable television, VOA also added shortwave frequencies for VOA News Now English: 2200-2400 UT on 9780 and 11705 kHz, and 1200-1500 UT on 17580 kHz. The coup caught VOA without a Bangkok bureau chief, that position still vacant. However, VOA is getting reports from its Bangkok stringer Ron Corben. The timing was also bad for BBC World Service, which dropped its Thai service early in 2006. In March 2006, Thailand's National Union of Journalists appealed, unsuccessfully, for BBC Thai to be revived because of political developments in the country. BBC World, the English television channel, was among the channels missing from Thailand's cable television system, later restored, but with certain reports apparently censored. "Tonight’s (20 September) BBC World transmissions are being interrupted whenever anything critical of the coup is reported. Such crude censorship might only be temporary but is certainly a step back," wrote a Thai viewer to BBC. BBC News "Have Your Say," 20 September 2006. See also BBC Monitoring, 20 September 2006. Other international channels blocked from Thai cable television include CNN International, CNBC, and Bloomberg. CNN, 20 September 2006. "Thai news media reported that the security forces seized broadcasting equipment. The military apparently fear that the deposed prime minister, who is currently in New York, could launch an appeal to his supporters." Reporters sans frontières, 20 September 2006. So how are Thais and expats in Thailand getting uncensored news? Shortwave is one option. The World Wide Web is another. Roby Alampay, executive director of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance, heard but denied reports that internet access was cut off in Bangkok. "I never felt that it was cut off. I heard reports that some websites were blocked last night, but now they seem to be accessible again," he said. INQ7, 21 September 2006. It may be that the internet in Thailand was momentarily overwhelmed by so many people seeking news. Posted: 20 Sep 2006 (from http://www.kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Only last sentence is Kim`s own italicized comment. See site for linx ** THAILAND [and non]. Andy Sennitt comments: There must be, or at least there should be, some red faces in Bush House, London today. When the BBC World Service made the decision to stop its Thai service earlier this year, World Service Director Nigel Chapman gave the reason that ``its dedicated journalists have seen Thailand emerge as an Asian democracy with an extensive choice of radio and television outlets.`` I thought then, and I am certain now, that Mr Chapman was extremely naïve and ill-informed to make such comments. Unfortunately, all Thailand`s radio and television outlets now face the threat of censorship, and the Thai population no longer have the ability to tune to London to hear what`s going on, even though it`s to London that the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has travelled. Imagine what a scoop it would have been for the BBC`s Thai Service to have the first interview with him since the coup. Other international broadcasters, such as VOA, which are planning to end broadcasts in Thai, should now be having second thoughts (Media Network blog Sept 20 via DXLD) To that extent, it was always an ill-informed decision because as far as I understand it, all radio and TV stations in Thailand are operated by Government agencies and/or under the supervision of the Government. This means that they are directly owned by the Army or a Government agency such as MCOT, and subcontract programming, which can be changed at will (see story some time ago about ``Metropolis 107``). The same does not apply to newspapers, though. A different argument is that, with a wide choice of radio stations available to the average Thai listener on MW and FM, few people bothered to buy shortwave radios on which to hear the Thai Service (Andrew Rogers, September 20th, 2006 at 20:13, ibid.) ** TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS. 101.9 FM, Grand Turk, "Radio Turks and Caicos Islands" also ID as "RTC". 2310 to 2355 ID, local music program, and advertisements "Now time to pay some bills". I had the pleasure to run up to the station building and tower and get my photo taken. No time for a studio tour. 530 KHz, Radio Vision Cristiana, religious programming and ID's, 2358 to 0030 (Steve Price, Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands, 09-15-06, DX LISTENING DIGEST) His full log also concerning BAHAMAS, CUBA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, PUERTO RICO, VIRGIN ISLANDS appears in the dxldyg ** U K. BBC COMPUTER ROLLOUT HIT BY FURTHER DELAYS Leigh Holmwood Wednesday September 20, 2006 10.45am http://media.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329581264-105236,00.html The full rollout of a new computer system in the BBC news division is facing further delays and spiralling costs despite being already more than two years behind schedule, with staff worried it may never be fully operational. The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, conceded in January that the system, known as Project Jupiter, was experiencing problems, but he said that benchmarks were being hit. However, staff have complained the system is beset with glitches and that they have still not been given a completion date, despite original plans for it to be up and running by September 2004. Costs have also jumped from about #5m when the project was first conceived five years ago to around #12m. [# must = pounds sterling] The cost was put at #11m at the BBC's news festival in January, but it is thought to have risen since then. A BBC spokesman refused to comment on the cost of the system. Jupiter was planned as a way of centralising content in the corporation's national news operation, giving 600 reporters across network programmes, News 24, online and BBC World access to the BBC archive and news feeds from their own computers. But staff who have used the system have complained about a litany of computer bugs and stoppages, with one source saying the system is taken down at least once a day because of technical problems. Many staff say they prefer to keep using the older Omnibus system because it is more reliable. "The system is still not working properly," one source said. ""People are using it but it is not reliable enough to be the only service we have. "Management can give us no time at all about when it will be working properly. We have been given a lot of promises over the past eight months and they haven't happened. It is so vast that it is never going to work properly. "It is quite stressful for people. There is a lot of pressure to use Jupiter and a lot of reputations are riding on it." Another source said the system had been "absolutely plagued with disaster". "It is a bit of a scandal with all the money being frittered away on this, particularly if you think of all the jobs being lost in the news division," the source added. Another source compared the situation to that of other huge public service IT systems that are millions of pounds over budget and regularly foul up. The National Union of Journalists broadcasting representative, Paul McLaughlin, said the delays and glitches had become a "real problem" for staff and that its full completion still looked a long way off. "People are learning new skills and are willing to work in new ways but this is something that has been flawed from day one," he said. "We are probably nearer to putting a man on Jupiter than we are at arriving at a successful conclusion of this project." The BBC originally signed a contract for the system in September 2002 when its Technology division, now owned by German firm Siemens, teamed up with Quantel for its GenerationQ news system to form the basis of the network. At the time, the Quantel chairman, Richard Taylor, described the project as the "world's largest digital integrated news production system". A BBC spokesman conceded there had been problems with the system but insisted its implementation was on track. "The rollout is proceeding along as planned, and Jupiter is now the predominant system for both [BBC] World and [the BBC] Breakfast [programme]; a position we'll look to extend to the rest of news," he said (MediaGuardian.co.uk via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** U K [and non]. VT COMMUNICATIONS TO EXPAND ON CO-OPERATION WITH BBC WORLD SERVICE --- PRESS RELEASE 20th September 2006 VT Communications has been awarded a £1.4M contract with BBC World Service for the deployment of their new Satellite Media Distribution System (SMDS). The SMDS system replaces the current satellite based Global Delivery System (GDS), with DVB based technology. As the BBC addresses the challenges of the global media environment, this technology gives them greater flexibility and better management of their programme content and distribution. The contract covers the migration of GDS to the SMDS system globally, over a 2-year period, including the shipping and installation of over 1000 new satellite receivers to BBC partner sites worldwide, as well as the re engineering of programme feeds at their shortwave, medium wave and FM relays and programme distribution hubs. Doug Umbers, VT Group Managing Director, said: ``We are delighted to be working with the World Service to deliver and support its next generation content distribution system. This also underlines our confidence in being able to provide managed distribution and transmission services to our customers, who are moving rapidly into the digital world.`` BBC World Service radio programmes are transmitted in 33 languages to around 163 million weekly listeners throughout the world, with the English and Arabic services broadcast 24 hours a day. VT Communications provides 24/7 operations, scheduling and support to BBC World Service, and is responsible for distributing their programmes globally to the BBC’s overseas relays and partners, as well as to the 10 VT Communications operated and maintained shortwave and medium wave transmission sites in the UK and throughout the world. Award of this contract is recognition of VT Communications' unique expertise and track record in providing programme delivery services to the BBC World Service over the last 9 years, and in managing innovative end-to-end solutions and system integration in over 100 countries from 29 locations around the world. Nigel Fry, Head of Transmission & Distribution, BBC World Service, commented: ``This contract builds on the very successful partnership between BBC World Service and VT Communications. The SMDS system enables us to meet the exacting standards for coverage and dependability that will result in an overall better service for all our listeners.`` NOTES TO EDITORS About VT Communications Global broadcast infrastructure owned and operated by VT Communications transmits over 1,000 hours of both short and medium wave broadcasts every day for customers including the BBC World Service, NHK (Radio Japan), Radio Canada International, Radio Netherlands, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Voice of America. VT Communications is a founder member of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), a consortium of broadcast related organisations working to bring digital AM radio to the market place. For further information about this press release, please contact: (Tereza Urbankova, Marketing Manager, VT Communications, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7969 0000, Web: http://www.vtplc.com/communications DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ever notice how these formulaic press releases always quote some official who is ``delighted?`` (gh, DXLD) BBCWS: see also THAILAND! ** U S A. VOA reacts to coup: see THAILAND ** U S A. FINALLY, SOMEONE APPRECIATES JOURNALISTS' WORK By CARL HIAASEN http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/15529495.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp Like many taxpayers, I'd always thought Radio and TV Martí was just another political boondoggle, squandering millions of dollars while fruitlessly beaming anti-Castro programming to Cuba. Now we find out that the U.S. government-run stations are actually running a charity for needy journalists, at least 10 of whom have been paid to appear on their programs. Some people might call this corrupting the press; I call it compassionate conservatism. Is there a more underpaid, ragged and dispirited sector of the American work force than reporters? At long last we've got an administration that appreciates our toil and sacrifice and reaches out to help. Look what it did for Armstrong Williams, a newspaper columnist and conservative talk-show host. Back in 2004, he got $240,000 from the government to babble wonderful compliments about President Bush's No Child Left Behind education program. Many journalists called Williams a sellout and a prostitute, but they were probably just envious. The same sort of thing is happening now to the reporters moonlighting for Radio and TV Martí. Two of those who accepted money from the stations were fired from their day jobs at El Nuevo Herald. Said Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr.: ``I personally don't believe that integrity and objectivity can be assured if any of our reporters receive monetary compensation from any entity that he or she may cover or have covered, but particularly if it's a government agency.'' Since Díaz is also my boss, I should be careful how I put this, but: Lighten up, bro! You're right: Once a reporter starts cashing a government paycheck, his or her credibility as a public watchdog is shot. But how about a teeny exception for TV Martí? Lots of folks in the newsroom could use the extra dough, and nobody will ever see them on the air because Castro jams the signals. Over the last five years, while staff reporter Pablo Alfonso wrote columns and covered Cuba for El Nuevo Herald, he was getting paid nearly $175,000 to host programs on Radio and TV Martí. During that same period, staff writer Wilfredo Cancio collected almost $15,000. The fact that it took so long to catch them tells you how puny the audience is. You've heard of Pirate Radio? This is Pipsqueak Radio. Both TV and Radio Martí broadcast from a blimp in the Lower Keys until it was popped by a hurricane last year. Then a plane from the Pennsylvania National Guard was procured to transmit to Cuba for a whopping four hours on weekends. Now the programs are being beamed by a specially equipped private aircraft flying out of Key West. After Fidel Castro underwent surgery, the broadcasts were increased to six times a week, but even that failed to kill off the Cuban leader. Some parts of the island do pick up transmissions from Radio Martí, though interviews with recent arrivals indicate that its listenership has dipped. As for TV Martí, it's basically a ghost station that few in Cuba can receive because of the electronic jamming. Since it began ''broadcasting'' in 1990, TV Martí has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $125 million. Naturally, Congress keeps shoveling money at it. Radio and TV Martí are currently funded at about $37 million annually, including $10 million for the airplane that flies around transmitting the signals, which may still be easily blocked. That leaves about $27 million lying around for executive salaries, studio production and talent. There are plenty of U.S. journalists, including me, who are eminently qualified to host TV programs that no one will ever see. Getting paid to say snarky things about Castro would be an easy gig. For years I've done it for free, characterizing El Comandante as a windbag, geezer, liar, despot and all-around phony. I never received a dime from Uncle Sam, even when my columns were properly punctuated. But now, thanks to the Bush administration's generous Outreach Initiative for Ethically Muddled Reporters, financial opportunities abound. So does temptation. According to a report last week in El Nuevo Herald, numerous magazine and newspaper journalists in the English-language press have accepted payments to appear on Voice of America radio, the government's official overseas megaphone. Among them: syndicated columnist Georgie Ann Geyer, Tom DeFrank of the New York Daily News and David Lightman, chief of The Hartford Courant's Washington bureau. These folks are probably in hot water today because of people like my boss, who cling to this old-fashioned notion that the mere appearance of sliding into bed with the institutions we cover is intolerable. Party poopers! Do they really believe that a journalist's integrity can be compromised for a lousy $175,000? Where's the trust? Where's the compassion? More important, where's my damn check? (Miami Herald via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U S A. Surprised to hear solid music on AFRTS, 12133.5-USB Saddlebunch Keys FL, Sept 20 at 1312-1321, seems a girl group singing; finally at 1321 back to a talk feature. Does not match schedule dated 23 August at http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/radio/afn/schedule.asp of Dr. Joy Browne during the 6-7 am PDT hour. It`s always fun to have music on SSB challenging one`s fine-tuning skills (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 6-140: WOR Wed 2300 on WBCQ 18910-CLSB [can anyone hear this?] --- What is CLSB (compressed LSB? If so, that's a silly mode). I'll have to try for it (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So-called compatible, meaning there is a reduced but not totally suppressed carrier, so you can listen with or without BFO. Once again I could not hear it during WOR at 2300 UT Wednesday, but Allan Weiner assures me 18910 is still on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Trying to enjoy the delightful music on R. Makedonias on 7450 kHz at 2240 UT; but experience is marred by an absolutely filthy signal spreading all over the band from WWCR on 7465 (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, 7465 is very distorted in music at 2300, and splatter extends at least down to 7380 and up to 7545. On different transmitter at 0005 audio is clear again and tho signal is extremely strong no splatter beyond +/- 10 and I can hear weak signals OK on 7450, 7475. WWCR is looking into the problem (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Jammer gets seven years (The case): http://www.scrrba.org/Enforcement/DOJ_Gerritsen.htm http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2004/DA-04-3183A1.html He gets seven years (Latest): http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006/guer091906.htm http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/09/19/100/?nc=1 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Viz.: RADIO JAMMER GETS SEVEN YEARS, FINES NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 19, 2006 -- It was a day a lot of radio amateurs in Southern California had been waiting for a long time. On September 18, US District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner sentenced convicted radio jammer Jack Gerritsen, now 70, to seven years imprisonment and imposed $15,225 in fines on six counts -- one a felony -- that included transmitting without a license and willful and malicious interference with radio transmissions. Before sentencing, Gerritsen apologized to the federal government, the FCC and the local Amateur Radio community, which had endured the brunt of Gerritsen's on-air tirades and outright jamming. "I'm sorry, and I apologize to everyone here," Gerritsen told those in the courtroom, which included more than a dozen radio amateurs and Gerritsen's family members. Gerritsen's contrition did nothing to convince Klausner toward leniency. "How many times have you said you would not do this again?" Klausner reportedly asked Gerritsen, a repeat offender who served as his own attorney during his trial last December but the court appointed Gerritsen an attorney before his sentencing. "But based on your history, you come back again and again for this. I believe you will continue to do it, and it would send the wrong message to others, that five years is not long enough either!" The sentence even exceeded US District Attorney Lamar Baker's recommended 46 months incarceration. Gerritsen's court-appointed attorney had suggested that a two-year prison term was sufficient. Gerritsen could have received up to 15 years in federal prison. Fines, Conditions Levied In addition to the prison time, he fined Gerritsen $225, payable immediately, and an additional $15,000 to be paid through the Probation Department. Klausner tacked on two years' supervised probation, but he recommended Gerritsen remain in custody in Southern California during that period. Sentences for Gerritsen's convictions on the additional lesser counts will run concurrently. Klauser further ordered Gerritsen to participate in a substance abuse program at his own expense. He told Gerritsen he could not use any identification, including his previous Amateur Radio call sign KG6IRO, other than his real name when identifying himself, and he told Gerritsen he could not own, possess or use any radio transmitting equipment. Arrested in 2005 The FCC had been investigating complaints of illegal radio transmissions linked to Gerritsen for four years. According to court documents, the FCC investigation revealed that Gerritsen transmitted both prerecorded messages and real-time harassment and profanity for hours at a time, often targeting local Amateur Radio repeater systems and precluding their use by licensed operators. In May 2005 FBI agents, accompanied by FCC staff, arrested Gerritsen without incident and seized his radio equipment. Released on $250,000 bond while awaiting trial, Gerritsen remained in home detention, barred from possessing any radio equipment. The FCC already had fined Gerritsen $10,000 for violating its rules and the Communications Act. Just days before his December 2005 trial, the Commission affirmed $42,000 in additional fines. In affirming two $21,000 forfeitures, the FCC rebuffed every argument Gerritsen had offered in response to each Notice of Apparent Liability, including insistent "freedom of speech" claims. The government has yet to collect anything from Gerritsen. Following a nearly four-day trial, Gerritsen, who lives in Bell, was found guilty of causing malicious interference with a communications system operated by the United States -- a felony. The court also found him guilty of two misdemeanor counts of willful or malicious interference with radio communications and three misdemeanor counts of transmitting radio signals without a license. The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning its verdict December 9. Gerritsen has been in custody ever since. Prior Convictions Cited In imposing the harsh sentence this week, Klausner cited Gerritsen's 15 prior misdemeanor convictions, which included transmitting from the roof of a court house and carrying a suspicious package into a federal office building. Gerritsen's actions could have caused lost lives when he interfered with US Coast Guard Auxiliary transmissions during an effort to seek a missing vessel and rescue those aboard, the judge said. Klausner also pointed out Gerritsen's interfering with transmissions that disrupted an American Red Cross disaster drill. Lengthy History In 2000, a state court convicted Gerritsen of interfering with a California Highway Patrol radio system and sentenced him to a year in prison. After his release, Gerritsen in 2001 successfully passed the Technician class examination and applied for and received the call sign KG6IRO. Just days later, however, the Commission realized its error -- granting a license to someone convicted of interfering with Public Safety radio frequencies -- and set aside the license. Claiming the FCC could not revoke his operating privileges without a hearing, Gerritsen continued to identify as KG6IRO in some of his transmissions. In addition to hearing from many Amateur Radio operators, the FCC received complaints regarding Gerrisen's activities from various agencies, including the military, the Coast Guard, local police departments and the American Red Cross. Evidence presented at trial showed Gerritsen interfered with a US Coast Guard Auxiliary Amateur Radio operator assisting the Coast Guard during a 2004 search-and- rescue operation. That charge resulted in the single felony conviction. Gerritsen also was found guilty of interfering with American Red Cross radio transmissions in early 2005 while the agency was preparing for disaster relief operations, and with causing the cancellation of a US Army Reserve homeland security training exercise in 2005 by interfering with the US Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS). He also was convicted of transmitting on Amateur Radio frequencies without a valid license on three separate occasions in 2003 and 2004, all misdemeanors. The FCC reportedly received substantial assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in pursuing the Gerritsen investigation. West Coast radio amateurs complained for months about the slow pace of enforcement action in the Gerritsen case. Los Angeles-area repeater owners took to shutting down their machines to avoid a nearly constant barrage of malicious interference and lengthy political tirades attributed to Gerritsen (ARRL Sept 19 via Bill Smith, IA, DXLD) ** U S A. PIRATE RADIO CHALLENGES FEDS --- By Martha Mendoza, AP National Writer, September 20, 2006, Oakland, Calif Stephen Dunifer, it was yet another revolutionary moment. To the untrained eye, it looked more like a geek fest. Over four days, a dozen men and women shyly bumped shoulders as they studied schematics and tinkered with romex connectors, resistors, microphone cords, meters, sockets and capacitors. In the corner of this cluttered electronics lab, hunched over a computer, sat Dunifer, their teacher, "the patron saint of pirate radio." Part rock star, part Johnny Appleseed and fully the bane of the Federal Communications Commission, Dunifer has long, gray hair, large, clear glasses and a deep commitment to what he calls "Free Radio." "We're not stealing anything. We're claiming something that's rightfully ours," he says. His goal is to create FM radio stations faster than the FCC can shut them down. . . http://www.sacunion.com/pages/california/articles/8447/ (via Artie Bigley; Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. KMHS 1420 AM (HIGH SCHOOL) - SIGNALS MIXED OVER SITING OF RADIO TOWER --- By Hallie Winchell, Staff Writer The Worldlink.com Coos Bay Oregon September 20, 2006 Finding a site for the new Pirate Radio tower has proven to be far more difficult than either managers with the Coos Bay School District, or the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, had expected. Following a series of phone calls and letters from Eastside residents opposed to proposed tower sites, the district and the port hosted a meeting last week to discuss three locations under consideration. Deputy Executive Director Mike Gaul said he hoped to gauge community support for site three, since sites one and two had raised so many issues with nearby property owners, before the issue goes to the port commission this week (see map). . . http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2006/09/20/news/news02092006.txt (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) *This* ``Pirate Radio`` is the slogan of a legal station, and not part 15, either (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I am writing to let you know that I have been following the WVON frequency change quite extensively. Because I have liked the Oldies from WRLL and I am sorry to see them go. But I do realize that it is a good move for WVON. And they do ID legally on the hour as WVON Berwyn-Chicago. WRLL did cease to exist at Midnight the 16th. After Midnight, they played a continues tape loop welcoming listeners to WVON and they would take over officially at 6 am on Monday the 18th as you said. The oldies do continue on their internet stream, but there are no announcers. I hope this information is valuable. Sincerely, (Mike Dukin, Hayward, Wisconsin, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. AM Stereo big dogs --- Even in this day and age of digital, we still have man[y?] AM stereo pilot lights out there. I thought it'd be interesting to note that we still have two "Big dogs" in C-quam out there - checked as of last night. 890 WLS Chicago, and 820 WBAP Fort Worth. Any other big-uns out there still in stereo? (Michael n Wyo Richard, ABDX via DXLD) According to what I heard on WBAP about a month also, the Sale to Citadel is likely to close soon, Under ABC/ Disney, they have been pretty AM stereo friendly, BUT with new suits running things the stereo is in question. WBAP is the only station I can get a stereo pilot at night on any kind of consistent basis. There are a couple of small stations over in Iowa with AM Stereo, but you have to drive 60 ~ 100 miles to hear them. Sad (Bill Snyder - Omaha, ibid.) ** U S A. Do Radio Disney stations ever give a legal ID? I've been listening to 1560 Radio Disney the past 30 minutes, with weak to medium strength. (KNZR, Calif. with "Coast to Coast" mostly dominant, especially on the N/S wire, where Disney is not heard). Radio Disney is easily heard underneath, on the E/W wire. Just now at 10:31 EDT [0231 UT], "Radio Disney New York" was heard. I suppose that would make it WQEW, NY at listed 50 kW power. How close to a legal ID would that be, for logging purposes? :) At any rate, first time heard, if really WQEW. (1560 also lists KOCY Oklahoma with Radio Disney, but at 1 kW days and 250 watts night, with them supposed to be on night power at this time, but why would they say "Radio Disney New York", anyway. (Steve NE Oregon Ratzlaff, R75, longwires, Sept 17, IRCA via DXLD) Yes, they have legal IDs, but not usually at exactly the top of the hour. Refer to http://dxclips.philcobill.com/01560-20051111-1956-WQEW.mp3 When WQXR occupied the channel, I used to hear them fairly regularly after KPMC signed off when I lived in Spokane. Sometimes, WQXR would be on top even with KPMC on. There is no doubt that you could have heard WQXR, especially with the "Radio Disney New York" identification. I prefer a full ID, but sometimes you have to take what you are given (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) The ID is TOH give or take. Lately, if you have great ears, you can pick out a kids voice buried in jingle music, saying "WQEW New York Radio Disney." I wish you a lot of luck getting this on tape at a distance. Radio Disney is made to be received on low fi transistor radios, boom boxes and car radios. I also hear it on XM Satellite Radio, and the compression is right up there. The stereo platform is greatly reduced, as well. Say what you will about Radio Disney. It's very repetitive, it's propaganda for Disney, it's playlist is banal. Sure. In this age of Internet audio, it is the Happy Meal of radio, and AM radio, to boot! What other station plays kid-friendly music and talk? Would you let your kid listen to a "Zoo" show on FM? My kids don't even like FM. They listen to 20 on 20, R. Disney and XM kids all on XM. And they listen to WQEW 1560 AM Radio. There's a chance they may become IRCA members yet! 73 de N2KZ (Karl Zuk, ibid.) Yes, that is WQEW all right. They do ID, but not at TOH. They generally (KAVT) ID around 0055-0058 and it is generally the voice of a little kid. If you don't listen closely, or there is a fade, it is very easy to miss, as it is all little kids and a person really is not listening to little kids that closely and the ID goes after a promo, and the little kids will say "W-Q-E-W New York", with a high squeeky voice, sometimes almost on the verge of baby talk, then right back into the kids programming. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) I just wonder why they do the format 24 hours a day. Shouldn't kids be sleeping at 2 am? (Michael Hawkins, ibid.) I asked that. They do it for continuity and to have a familiar sound there should a kid be awake (sick, whatever) at odd hours. A friend who's always there no matter what (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Aw gee, that's so special. I figure if Nyquil doesn't do the trick, peanut butter and valium probably would. I guess you can tell I don't have kids... (Mike Hawkins, ibid.) In all the time I've worked for WDDZ-550 Radio Disney in Providence, I've never heard them ID as anything but "Radio Disney, Providence". The ID's are inserted locally and not part of the satellite feed. I also can't think of a time when the RD announcer references an out-of- market station. There is a format wheel for when the local breaks and ID's are done, +/- the program content. I don't have it handy, unfortunately. Should be easy enough to figure with a bit of listening. Hire a 12 year-old to do that for you. FWIW (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Actually, there's no variation at all in Radio Disney ID times across the network, though it does move around slightly within the hour. The standard format has a short break for promos (or local ads on the handful of non-Disney-owned affiliate stations, like WOLF Syracuse) that usually hits somewhere around :56 or :57. That's roughly a two- minute break, starting with "Radio Disney will return" and ending with a Radio Disney house promo. That's when the legal ID hits. Unless something is misprogrammed at the local station, this is always a full legal ID (usually of the form, "Radio Disney, AM 1260, WMKI Boston," and usually read by a kid), and it it is always followed by the network "return", which is usually a Disney Channel personality - "Hi, I'm Hillary Duff, and Radio Disney's back." Then the live jock (in Dallas or Orlando) does a top-hour intro, followed by a Radio Disney jingle, and it's into another hour. There are no legal IDs elsewhere in the hour, but there are local IDs of the form "Radio Disney, AM 1260 Boston." The legal ID never hits any later than :03, nor before :57, and in many years of traveling around and hearing nearly the entire network, I've only heard them miss it once or twice. Usually, that seems to be during the daytime story hours for very young listeners. As for the animosity that many DXers have towards Radio Disney, I have to say that I don't get it at all. Maybe it has something to do with having a 3-year-old of my own, but the way I see it, Radio Disney has taken some fairly marginal AM facilities in a lot of communities and at least kept them active with current music. The production values are very high, and the signals do get promoted locally, with everything from billboards to bus cards to remote appearances. If we had a local Disney affiliate here in Rochester (we don't), I'd have no problem letting Ari listen to it. If AM is to have any hope of having an audience 20 years down the road, it seems to me we should welcome anything that draws young audiences to that side of the dial --- and if there's anything out there other than Disney that's doing that, I'm not hearing it. s (Scott Fybush, NY, IRCA via DXLD) I don't listen to Radio Disney but I tuned past there the other day and it is no longer a kid who IDs them in New York. It is a professional announcer and it's done anywhere between 55 and 58. Also WQEW played standards from December 2, 1992 till December 28, 1998 when Disney took over. When Disney either enters into a local marketing agreement as is the case with 1560 or buys a station, they want 24 hour access as far as running Radio Disney is concerned. It doesn't matter to them if it's 2 AM and kids should be sleeping. That format continues around the clock (Larry Stoler, ibid.) It is torture. Glad to be here rather than there to hear what's become of once alluring WQXR. How many nights did QXR's classics, all of which sounded just fine on AM, thank you, enchant during drives to/from college, work, prior to that studying in high school or driving dates to the nearest police station at their request? There was nothing so elegant as evenings driving along US-1 in southern RI, QXR's sonorous tones shimmering brighter than the full moon --- but the jug-eared Rat put a stop to all that magic, didn't he. WQXR was enchantment and erudition at once. But of course, kids come first... Proof the NY Slimes knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. =Z.= "I got my job thru the N.Y. Times..." - Fidel Castro-Ruz (Paul Vincent Zecchino, FL, ibid.) ** U S A. 710, WOR, NY, New York - CP to re-locate to three new 668' towers at N40-47-50, W75-05-24 is up and running. WOR remains U3 50000/50000. The new pattern is essentially the same, but tends to direct slightly more signal to the southeast than the former setup. (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC E-DX News Sept 18 via DXLD) NJ RADIO TOWER DEMOLITION POSTPONED 20 September 2006 New York http://www.1010wins.com/pages/85932.php?contentType=4&contentId=208801 Three giant radio towers -- that have been a fixture alongside the New Jersey Turnpike -- still stand in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. WOR radio had planned to take down the towers Wednesday. But the station says Lyndhurst police stopped the demolition because of security concerns. Station spokesman Paul Siebold says there is no new date for the demolition. The 700-foot tall towers are owned by WOR radio in New York. They've been a landmark on the turnpike for more than 40 years. The radio station says a new set of towers and transmitter site a half-mile north in Rutherford carries the station's signal (via Mike Terry, dxldyg, Artie Bigley, DXLD) Good, since I forgot to tune in at 1400 UT (gh) Hadn't all the issues been worked out previously? (Tom Dimeo, IRCA via DXLD) I guess everyone thought so. I can't for the life of me figure how a security concern would stop someone from legitimately blowing up some towers. I mean --- What worse could they do? Sheesh. I suspect Scott F. was on the scene and will have the whole story (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) However did you guess? :-) Yes, I was there - and am now back home for just a few hours before heading off to the [IRCA] convention in the morning. The story is long, complicated, and will be in next Monday's NERW at fybush.com , but in a nutshell, the developer that's taking WOR's old site was apparently responsible for getting all the necessary permits and notifying the authorities, and somewhere along the line the local police chief wasn't properly informed. The chief was legitimately concerned that drivers on the Turnpike (which runs right next to the site) would be alarmed, particularly right after the 9/11 anniversary, to see three 700-foot towers come tumbling down, and he said the appropriate authorities hadn't been notified so that they could deal with panicked drivers. He has a point there. I suspect - and this is just a guess - that when the towers are finally brought down, it'll be early on a weekend morning and they'll shut down the west spur of the Turnpike when they do it. Oh, and PS - the plan ended up not involving any explosives. They were going to tighten the guy wires on two sides of the towers to max tension, then cut the wires on the third sides to bring the sticks down. Would have been a heck of a thing to see. Wish they'd have figured this out BEFORE I spent $$$ on a plane ticket and all that time flying down and back! s (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, ibid.) Talk about timing! They should have held off and scheduled it for April 1st. Did you ever see the video about "Push Button to Destroy Building"? They had a box with a big red button with that title on a pole. Several people walked by and looked at it, shrugged and walked off. Then some sleazy guy shows up, looks around furtively, and presses the button. BOOM! In the background of the video shot, a building blows up and falls to the ground. Of course, it was all staged but it made a hilarious short movie. Hopefully there will be some advance notice. I wouldn't mind seeing that myself. That's where explosives shine. Put the correct shaped charge on the anchor, and fire them off simultaneously. It can be done from a safe distance, and the amount of explosives is trivial. They took down the major part of the Jamestown Bridge here in RI with 75 pounds. Three guy anchors probably wouldn't take more than a few pounds each, if that. Not much bang, but a lot of show! Yeah. That seems odd that the police didn't know of it. Heck, I routinely call the locals whenever I'm doing something out of the ordinary at a site. I've gotten in the habit of a courtesy call even for normal tower climbing for bulb replacements (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) ** U S A. 1610 kHz: Camp Lejeune [North Carolina] has been testing this TIS with alternating tones (sounds like a telephone key-pad) of varying sets of 2 or 3 tones in a sequence - no pattern discernible. They have also been running a tape loop with an ID for Camp Lejeune on a transient basis. 1640 kHz: Camp Lejeune's live fire exercise TIS has been running an open carrier for 4 or 5 seconds, off briefly, and back on. Might be detectable via BFO. 530 kHz: Camp Lejeune's TIS here has NOT been heard in quite some time, so I'm not certain if they're still using this frequency. The humorous part of the Camp Lejeune TIS operation is no one I've spoken with seems to know who is responsible for their operations. Doesn't surprise me, hi. Very 73 de (Mike in NC Hardester, 20 Sept, via Lynn Hollerman, Lafayette, LA, IRCA via DXLD) You are right in that no one there will "fess up" to the person(s) responsible. I heard the 1610 outlet several years back from Richmond, VA and had a heck of a time getting a reply- I eventually got an uninformative e-mail reply from an officer with Public Affairs, who said "Yes we have programming on the station you reported, but we are not responsible for any such programming" and he mentioned he did not know who was responsible or where it originated! Secure to the end! (Greg Myers, Largo, FL, ibid.) How do we know that this TIS is actually on US MCB Camp LeJeune? The FCC lists WSME-1120 as "Camp LeJeune, NC," while, in fact, it is not on US Government property. In fact, I doubt that the FCC has the jurisdiction to authorize or not authorize any transmission from another US Government agency. Such emissions are (I believe) coordinated through NTIA that also coordinates VOA emissions. So maybe TIS-1610 is actually on US GSC Camp Runamuck, DC. (GSC=Girl Scout Camp) Guess Mike Hardester got tired of fighting about the WSME-1120 fiction (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Grifton, North Carolina, ibid.) ** VATICAN [non]. VATICAN CITY STATE/ MONTE CARLO. Vatican Radio, via Montecarlo Radiodiffusion, has abandoned 1467 MW from the same site of 702 kHz. Maybe transmitter owners are testing new clients (Luigi Cobisi, Italy, Sep 08, DSWCI DX Window Sept 20 via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7425, RASD, Rabouni, Algeria, 0705-0713 and 1855-2105, Sep 18, new frequency probably to avoid QRM on ex 7460, news and comments in Arabic, music, ID's and martial songs, 44444, slight splash from Ukraine on 7420 in the morning (Noel Green, England and Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Sept 20 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4835, 0215-0230, Sep 18, spurious, distorted audio, but no carrier could be measured! Vernacular talk and songs of Middle East or Horn of Africa type, 25231 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Sept 20 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5920: Re WOR 1329: Referring to the Cuban CW letters on 5930: when Slovakia still was on 5920 (not 5930) in the UT evenings I often noted CW in AM mode (also heard after July 1st) on top of their German program, usually between 1620 and 1625 UT. At times also Russian-like conversations in AM mode were heard. Haven't checked the frequency. lately. This, of course, is definitely not Cuba. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 6-140, 6260: I also heard them yesterday; language is Hindi. Though I don't know the site, I can suppose Taiwan as happened with another religious station on near frequencies previous times (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Voice Asia confirmed by e-mail that 6260 is their new frequency to India 2230-0130 IST (1700-2000 UT). Transmitter site is "Tashkent". Website is http://www.thevoiceasia.com (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have also listened to them yesterday. Here is the report: 6260 1859 CVC with songs from Bollywood. Short talks before the TOH continued with Bolly songs after. About S9, much of QRM from a FDM on nearly same QRG . Normally better on USB. ID at 1907 as 'The voice' (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Sept 19, HCDX via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re: "Perhaps after almost 11-cubed editions of WOR, I am getting a bit tired, and it is about time to quit, and make better use of what time I have left (Glenn Hauser)" The extraordinary attractiveness of your delivery springs in part from the absence of punchiness, and in part from a natural quality that might be likened to a fine amontillado, which requires maturity. You have certainly earned a rest, but any suggestion of quitting saddens this listener. The void could not be filled (Gerald T. Pollard, NC) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ http://YES.com remodeled again And it's for the better this time! The flash design is gone, listings go back 7 days, and --- many commercials that stations are playing are now listed! The commercial feature could be very helpful during E-Skip season (Jeff Lehmann, Hanson, MA, Sept 19, WTFDA via DXLD) ###