WORLD OF RADIO #1222, produced March 3, 2004 by Glenn Hauser

*Our first airing on WWCR now back on 15825, Thursdays at 2130
*Liangas in Greece heard WWCR 12160 well Sunday at 2130, so we hope
 also Saturdays at 2130 when WOR is scheduled, all over Europe
*Pitcairn Island schedules for ham operators: VP6YL, Wed 1700 on
 21325; VP6TC, Fri 1700 21248; VP6DB, most days 2200-2300 14226.5
 or 14247; VP6TC, Tue 2330-Wed 0100 on 21348 or 14181
*R. Australia plans to replace 10 kW Brandon, Queensland transmitters
 with new 100 kW units early next year, but still run them at 10 kW
*NBC Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 4890, had perfect clarity when
 taking a telephoned report from correspondent, tho in-studio mike
 was muffled, absolutely indistinct
*Best 60m signal from Indonesia used to be RRI Ujung Pandang on 4753;
 apparently reactivated on 4750 from renamed Makassar, but difficult
 to ID for sure, heard until 1600 sign-off
*Aum Shinrikyo cult leader in Japan, Shoko Asahara finally convicted
 of chemical terrorist acts, could get death penalty; broadcast via
 Russia on shortwave
*R. Taiwan International has new program schedule:
 http://www.cbs.org.tw/English/programs/programs.asp
*All India Radio starting all-news channel [from April], and already
 testing, 0025-0430, 0700-1330, 1430-1740, on 7195/7194 Mumbai, 7270
 Chennai, 7360 Delhi, 7420 Guwahati
*A-04 schedule from last Sunday in March, for Kashi/Kashgar in extreme
 western China, both 100 and 500 kW transmitters; may be two separate
 sites. See DXLD 4-036
*Several European language services of China announcing new relays via
 Albania on MW; transmitters were originally supplied by China and
 relayed until relations were broken. More recently time for sale even
 to Christians such as TWR. Part of CRI relay schedule: 1700-1800
 Bulgarian on 1458; 0700-0900 English on 1395, starting with Real Time
 Beijing; 2230-2330 Czech on 1458; 2130 Polish on 1458; -2100
 Hungarian on 1458
*New from Monaco on 1467, MC-One testing daytimes 0530-1725, but only
 the ID may be in English
*Radio Liberty lost the FM station relaying it in Ukraine, but soon
 found another one, Kontynent. Now the owner of that station has fled
 the country after threats, and police seized the transmitter on 100.9
*Full data QSL card from Radio Marabu, via Latvia, 9290, says next
 broadcast will be Sunday March 14 from 1300 to 1700
*RTE Radio One to commence LW 252 on March 17, covering most of UK and
 Ireland; allows maintenance on MW 567, temporarily suspended July-
 October
*After 58 years, Alistair Cooke is retiring from Letter from America
 on the BBC; was 95 last November, stopped smoking in his late 80s.
 2,869 letters in all. Many are archived at BBC website and will keep
 running repeats for a few more weeks
*Standard disclaimer
*The media magazine you monitor with your mind, World of Radio 1222,
 P O Box 1684, Enid, OK 73702 USA, or woradio at yahoo.com
*Thanks this week for financial support go to Dan Srebnick
*R. Okapi, DR Congo, launching new website March 8:
 http://www.radiookapi.net
*R. Shabeelle, new Somali station on 6961, heard in Finland and
 Denmark; already has website http://www.shabele.com Schedule is
 0400-0600 and 1000-2100; QSL by e-mail from maalik @ shabele.com
*Schedules of the two Oromo clandestines for rest of March: Radio
 Voice of the Oromo Liberation Front, 7560, via Samara, Russia, on
 Mon and Thu only 1700-1800; V. of Oromo Liberation, 9820 via
 Juelich, Germany, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sun 1700-1800, both in Oromo at
 1700, Amharic at 1730
*Plans for a new clandestine, Radio Free Syria, backed 100% by Syrian
 businessmen in Washington, starting March 31 from Cyprus. On what
 frequency by whom? IBB`s Radio Sawa is on 990 there. Reform Party
 of Syria, anti-Baathist, is involved: http://www.reformsyria.com
*Unidentified on 6025 between 0025 and 0330 in American English and
 Arabic, Christian programming for Iraq, but no IDs, and site unknown
*BBC Monitoring published another comprehensive review of the media
 in postwar Iraq; see DX Listening Digest 4-037 via
 http://www.worldofradio.com
*[Two] megawatt Saudi transmitter on MW 1521 booming into New England,
 overriding WWKB and other US stations, 0200-0330 and 2230-2255
*Call and format change at KQXX 1700 Brownsville, TX: no longer oldies
 but newstalk as KVNS
*Three simultaneous MW DX tests early Sunday March 14: two in
 Jacksonville FL, WNNR 970 and WVOJ 1570, from 0500 UT for at least
 an hour; and WTOP 1500, Washington DC
*A bit later that same morning, March 14, KEVA 1240, Evanston,
 Wyoming, 0700-0800 DX test including Morse code IDs
*VOA reported not to be cutting Ukrainian in half after all, keeping
 two hours a day instead of one; February 27 was final day for ten
 other VOA languages
*AFGE Local 1812 union at VOA asks: who is Alfred J. Finch and why is
 he investigating VOA employees? For speaking to an Egyptian
 reporter about Al Hurra TV and Radio Sawa
*Pakistan paper says VOA plans to cancel 17 foreign language services
*Local 1812 also says VOA plans to cut English on shortwave this month
 to the regions where that medium is most popular: Africa, East Asia,
 Middle East, South Asia
*WSHB`s final broadcast was UT Monday March 1 on 7535 until 0800
*Ukrainian from RCI is a different story: management abolished two of
 the four positions, and another in the newsroom
*Who really gives a crap any more? From Sheldon Harvey about RCI
 mismanagement, in DXLD 4-035
*Radio Apintie, Surinam, 4990, well heard in Tennessee, 0650 ID
*Ecuadorian reactivated, on 4869.93 variable, La Voz del Upano with
 Radio Maria programming at 0745 which is also on 3279.54, La Voz del
 Napo
*La Voz del Napo, 3279.55, at 0700 praised for carrying Bizet,
 Vivaldi, classical music in good fidelity: appreciated in Ecuador,
 unlike the US
*Radio Uncia, Bolivia, 4722.89 variable, heard with programming from
 Radio Pio Doce, 5952.4, 0950-1000
*The fire at RAE, Argentina last week caused some damage to the
 antennas, but they were back on the air in less than 24 hours
*Propagation outlook from Boulder, March 2; flux range 120-95
*Glenn Hauser, concluding World of Radio 1222   ###