GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-02, Jan 9, 1999

{items from this and all our other reports may be reproduced and
re-reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all
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NEW TIME FOR WORLD OF RADIO ON WWCR. Effective immediately, UT
Sun 0330 on 5070, (accompanied by VOA Comms World at 0300). The old
time of Sat 2330 on 5070 will continue through Jan 16 as well. (Hauser)

ANGOLA. The UNITA station VORGAN, based somewhere in Jamba, has 
reactivated on SW, 5950 audible in Luanda in the mornings (Publico
Jan 8 via BBC Monitoring via Hauser) WYFR blocks here. We wonder 
if actually getting airtime elsewhere, like SENTECH (Hauser)

CHILE. The plus/minus 27 kHz spurs of Voz Cristiana we reported
on Dec 21 have not been heard since, upon occasional checks,
especially around 21550 (Glenn Hauser, OK, Jan 6)

CHINA [non]. CRI relay via Sackville at 0500 on 9560 certainly 
still exists despite omission by BBCM - loud and clear on UT Jan 
7 check. No jamming. Of course not--only the Chinese jam American 
broadcasts to them (Glenn Hauser, RIB)

FRANCE. As Joe Hanlon noted, Radio France Internationale has 
snubbed English-language listeners in the Western Hemisphere by 
completely eliminating any broadcasts in English to the Americas. 

RFI put a new shortwave frequency schedule in place on January 1, 
available only as graphics (no text equivalent) on its Web site.

Some broadcasts for other regions were heard here this morning:
12Z on 15155, very weak and multipath echoing
14Z on 17560 and 12030, both relatively strong but fluttery
16Z on 15210 and 15530, both weak, with the former a bit stronger 
than the latter.

Since the 14Z broadcasts are for Asia, I assume N Am reception 
will depend heavily on good higher-frequency propagation.

Portuguese listeners get 1 1/2 hours a day in the Americas and 
there are a few hours daily in Spanish and in French beamed to 
the Americas.

RFI's director was on French-language "Club RFI" last month and 
bemoaned budget cuts and expense of local retransmission of RFI 
in various cities. An RFI executive I met last year warned of 
drastic cuts in shortwave broadcasts to the Americas and said 
Cuba was the prime reason that any broadcasts remained.

(Mike Cooper, Atlanta GA, Jan 5, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL
BROADCASTING)

IRAN [non]. From WWCR-1 12160 posted sked since Dec 21 and again
in the Jan 7 update:

Tue 1100-1200 Perspective on Iran (K)  CHAIR/Eric Javadi
Fri 1100-1200 Perspective on Iran (Pe) CHAIR/Eric Javadi
Sat 1100-1200 Perspective On Iran (Pe) CHAIR/Eric Javadi

I was finally able to confirm this on Sat Jan 9; when 12160 came up at 
1100 it was barely audible, but built up to good level by 1125 when I 
started taping during Persian program. Certainly does not sound 
Christian-religious; mostly talks in Persian interrupted every 5-7 
minutes by same canned sesquiminute ID by woman with music bed, sounds 
like "Radyo Posesh" at 1125, 1130, 1138, 1145, 1150, 1155, and mentions 
"megahertz". This program may well be in the clandestine category, and 
needs to be monitored by Persian (and Kurdish) speakers. So far WWCR
has not posted a link to the program, and we don't know who, what,
or where CHAIR and Eric Javadi be, nor their agenda. At 1156 WWCR 
outro in English claimed the past hour had been in Ukrainian and 
Russian! -- slightly outdated. There were continuous chirps of QRM, I 
hesitate to say jamming, at the rate of 2 per second on the frequency 
(Glenn Hauser, OK)

U K O G B A N I. Lost in the shuffle of BBC WS programme changes:
From the Weeklies. This was a little gem, 15 minutes a week often
with humourous touches with excerpts from the British weekly
magazines (not so weekly over the holidays), which said goodbye
last week and indeed no longer appears anywhere on the new BBC WS
programme schedule. We'll miss it.

Gained in the shuffle: Wright Round the World. I monitored the
premiere of this Sat Jan 9 at 1205-1300 on 15220. It's supposed to
replace Anything Goes and A Jolly Good Show, but at the outset
Wright acknowledged only the latter, which I never listened to,
never being that desperate to hear British pop music. First music
played was Prince, and it appears musically this will go little
beyond that narrow genre. Pandering to youth, included bizarre
news (not that funny), phone-out to a 21-year-old Chinese, asking 
her if she is beautiful, in need of a pen pal, and a guest 
appearance by Phil Collins (yawn). Once again BBC has "fixed"
something that was much better in the first place. The dumbing-down 
marches on (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING)

U K O G B A N I [non]. I checked the new London Radio Service
show via WWCR 9475, Thu at 2230-2245 Jan 7, Pulsando las Noticias.
M&W co-hosts, and the woman, Ana Lia Guimaraes had a heavy
Brazilian accent, always amusing to Spanish speakers. At closing
indicated they also produce shows in Arabic, Russian, Portuguese.
LRS is on behalf of the British government, ironically hiring 
time on a US station since it can't programme via BBC (Glenn
Hauser, OK)

U S A. Correxion to WOR 971: I said VOA Communications World on 
WBCQ 7415 is Sat at 2100 starting Dec 26; actually it is on Sun
starting Dec 27! (Glenn Hauser, OK)                          ###