GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-15, March 29, 1999 {items from this and all our reports may be reproduced and re- reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages} WORLD OF RADIO - On World Radio Network, NEW schedule, in UT: WRN1 to North America: Sat 1600, Sun 0530 WRN1 to Europe: Sat 0330, Sat 0800 WRN1 to Africa/Asia/Pacific: Sun 1030 All evidently effective March 28, despite the fact that NAm doesn't go on DST for another week. Both Eu and Af/As/Pac have some changes, but NAm will remain at the same local times in DST areas (gh) ALBANIA. R. Tirana English to NAm confirmed on 6115 and better 7160 UT Sun March 28 for the 0145-0200 and 0230-0300 broadcasts. Main topic, not surprisingly, was Kosova (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) ANTARCTICA. LRA36 picked a below-average day propagationally for its special to the USA, Sat March 27 on 15476; already on with tone at 2311 tune-in, poor and fluttery; 2332 ID, still with tone which I now suppose is het from 15475 Russian(?). LRA36 best on USB; 2334 English anmt; 2335 giving E-mail address, woman in Spanish, man in English; 2336 IDs in Spanish and English, 2337 music and talk, 2348 vocal music, etc., etc. Copy was rather difficult due to poor signal and fading; was much better when last heard in this time period UT March 19. Taped the rest of it, and rechecked at 0101 when reception was slightly better, saying good-night in English, with 15476, address, music to 0104* after brief open carrier. BTW, this is as good a time as any to speak up on behalf of our Canadian neighbours, who must be too polite to make a fuss about it, but this is only one of a number of recent instances where overseas broadcasters say they are broadcasting to the "USA", ignoring Canada, in not using the politically correct term "North America" instead -- or do they really not care to be heard in Canada?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) AUSTRALIA. Nigel Holmes explained some of RA's major frequency changes for A-99 effective March 28: SEAs/WEu 0900-1400 21820 is new, following the test on another 21 MHz frequency a few weeks ago. But is QRP to 70 kW, due to continuing problems at Shepparton, for an indefinite period; not expected to make much difference at a loss of less than 2 dB CPac/NAm 1100-1400 9580 starts 2 hours later than before, but should still be good in NAm PNG/SWPac 0800-1200 13605 is resumed; 1200-1700 11650; 2100-0800 on 17580 ex-17715 due to QRM Japan/PNG Grandstand, weekends 0200-0800 on 21725 ex-15240, and does indeed include AFL from ABC See http://www.abc.net.au/ra for new frequency and program schedules (RA Feedback March 26 via Hauser) BELGIUM [non]. RVI's new 0400 to WNAm on Bonaire 15565 is too high, so far, with fluttery, not solid signal from first date, UT Sun March 28 -- and in see-saw of whether this is the "first" or "last" broadcast of the day we found it is indeed the first as this carried Sunday programming starting with Radio World, which later included Kulpsville interview with Larry Nebron; this was repeated Sun at 2230 on same when reception is superb; and indeed the UT Mon 0400 had something else, with the same inferior reception (Glenn Hauser, OK, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) COSTA RICA. RFPI's new Nigerian program heard Fri March 26 1231-1328 on 21460-USB (having missed the presumed original airing Thu at 2030 and first repeat Fri 0430). As I suspected, it was not in Swahili, but mostly in Yoruba, as announced in brief English portions, tho at the outset I believe it was said to be in "three languages" including Swahili -- maybe other weeks. Yoruba is a tonal language with little if any Arabic influence, nothing like Swahili which is not native to Nigeria. Possibly a few words of Swahili were thrown in somewhere, but I never caught them. Hour was mostly high-life music, with some talks in Yoruba; only frequency mentioned at one point was 15050. 1243 talk segment in Yoruba mentioned "Revolutionary United Front" at 1246 -- so is there a clandestine element to this show? English IDs were "ABS Radio International" sometimes adding, as at 1248 "...the Voice of Democracy". At 1259 gave P- and E-mail addresses during Yoruba, one ending in .net, but I missed them. Wrapup in English at 1325 mentioned "Fleet Commander", perhaps the title of the speaker or the sponsor of the program (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) RFPI is considering running 15049 later into the night with spring/ summer conditions; still on, loud and clear around 0600 March 26, but gone at 0630 recheck. I think they could safely run it all the way until 0800 or even all night, every night (Hauser, R.I.B.) CZECH REPUBLIC. Czeching R. Prague, English at 0300 March 28 on 7345, found clash with Vatican; not audible on 11615. Toward the end of the 2230 English, around 2255, found 11600 with a het on the high side until 2257* The other carrier proved to be R. Bulgaria, opening in Spanish at 2300. Prague's 15545 was also audible but weaker (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) GERMANY [non]. DW's 11810 frequency at 0100 March 29 was running interval signal continuously at 0107-0111 check and probably the entire half sesquihour, now listed via Sackville, as in RIBOLD 254. Tho this was 24 hours after the European timeswitch, somebody evidently fouled up the program feed (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) HUNGARY. R. Budapest confirmed on new 9560 for the 0100 English to NAm March 29; clear; seems a good choice (Glenn Hauser, R.I.B.) IRAN. Scanning thru RHC frequencies at 0134 March 28, came upon 13605 with VIRI giving Spanish schedule; for the 0130 hour, caught only 9650 and some 6 MHz frequencies, not 13605; also said at 0230 on 6050; 0530 to Europe on 15260, 11700. Anyhow, keep new 13605 in mind in case some of the English broadcasts are also on it (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) ITALY. Unlike Spain, if you have more than one frequency from SEu, it's a good idea to use 19m to NAm, as RAI is now doing for 0050-0110 English on 15240; barely audible, however, March 29, whilst 11800 was quite good (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) KOREA SOUTH [non]. Contrary to info from last week's RKI Multiwave Feedback, Sun March 28 at 1107 check on 9650, no English, but Korean; nor on 11715; nor at 1130. Possibly English is airing this week only at unpreviewed time of 1030?? All concern RCI relays (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) NETHERLANDS. RN's English to Africa at 1830 and 1930 now confirmed on Bonaire 21590 ex-Dutch (and still in Dutch before 1830), huge signal one could easily believe is headed for us, and which a few months back we also caught with spurs (gh, March 28-29, OK, R.I.B.) NEW ZEALAND. From RNZI's brand-new program schedule, just posted on their website, note that the new time for Mailbox per this is really UT Thu 0305 on 17675, as would be expected from previous 0205, not 0330 as Adrian Sainsbury told Mickey Delmage in item recently quoted here! (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) ROMANIA. We've yet to see RRI's A-99 schedule, but March 29 checking Brazil on 15445, we heard them stopping around 1255 though a carrier stayed on, and at 1300, RRI was here opening English. We figured, at last--two minor broadcasters have coordinated to avoid clashing, with Brazil stopping its English half an hour earlier--but at 1342 recheck 15445 had Brazil in Spanish clashing with RRI; RRI was also on //15390 and heard them announce 9690 as well, but not the 17 MHz frequencies, if any, which were not propagating this day, anyway. Nothing on former 15335 (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) SERBIA. Belatedly listened to tape of the UT Wed March 25 R. Yugoslavia 0100 on 7115, 0200 on 7130 English transmissions. At about 0125 gave new English schedule effective Sunday March 28, daily u.o.s.: Au 1900-1930 7230 Af 1830-1900 9720 Eu 1830-1900 6100 2100-2130 6100, 6185 ENAm 0100-0130 9580 exc Sun ("Eastern North America and the Midwest") WNAm 0530-0600 9580 Both the 41mb transmissions were well heard, but the 0200 on 7130 had some DW in German in the background, uncovered by 0230. A sample of the rhetoric: "...neo-Nazi policy of the United States and its satellites". Went on to criticize CNN's Christiane Amanpour as not really knowing what was happening, and CNN's objective to televize bombings a la Baghdad. (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) SERBIA. R. Yugoslavia's new sked, for English at 1900-1930 to Au is evidently on 7230, as several sources quote announcements, including Kim Elliott, Bob Thomas; we were uncertain of the third digit, due to a selective fade transforming 3 into 2 in giving it as 7220. On local Saturday night here, RY was still on old sked, with no UT Sunday English, instead Serbian at 0100 on 7115, but at 0200 English on 7130 for last time; by UT Monday the A-99 had gone into effect with new 9580 at 0100, but at 0530 when 9580 is supposed to be on to WNAm, frequency was dominated by French--ANO Gabon, I guess. RY's broadcasts are a continuous stream of anti-NATO and anti-American propaganda, with little real news on details of the war. Listening to this, you would never know the Serbs are committing genocide in Kosova (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) SERBIA [non]. Julia Glenn-Pickett, now in London, but who has worked for B-92 was interviewed by Terry Gross on the March 29 NPR Fresh Air; among other things she revealed that B-92 stands not only for Belgrade, 92.5 MHz FM, but "92" is also the Serbian equivalent of "911". She also said the bombing would do nothing but consolidate the Serbs in opposition to NATO and the west; no one there sees it as anti- Milosovic rather than anti-Serb (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) SPAIN. On REE Radio Waves March 28 around 0025-0035 on 6055, Justin Coe gave new English schedule at the last minute: 0000 and 0100 to NAm/Au/Pacific Rim [really?] new 15385 0500 to same still on 6055 2000 M-F Europe new 15285 ex-9680, and Af still 9595 2105 Sat and 2100 Sunday Europe on 15105, Africa 9595 Also announced an E-mail address for the English service new to me, which since it is based on Spanish(!) they had to spell out: lenguas_extranjeras.rne@rtve.es The wacky situation again this summer for the Eu/Af broadcasts with not only different times but different frequencies depending on day of week I think is due to the exigencies of the much higher priority Spanish programming, perhaps due to stupid weekend ballgames. Sure enough, REE was on 15385 in English at 0024 UT Monday March 29 check, but very weak and unreadable here; typical automatic timesignal at 0030, and 6055 was off; no better during the 0100 hour, and was gone at 0155 check. Joe Hanlon and I agree that REE overdid the MUF prediction for this transmission, tho it may well make it a good portion of the summer, especially further east. 11 MHz band, or 13 at the most, would have been preferable. At 2025 check Monday Mar 29, both 15285 and 9595 were audible but only fair; on a better day may indeed be an alternative in NAm to the evening broadcasts. BTW already for a few weeks, REE has expanded into the 13m band in a big way, with several frequencies most of the day in Spanish, best here being 21700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) SWITZERLAND. I can confirm that the Website is now operative under the URL http://www.swissinfo.org and http://www.sri.ch will also work. The idea of the new site is that it is not just SRI, but rather THE place to go for any and all information about Switzerland. It is full of Swiss- related links, and it also features audio files which include the latest news and current affairs program, as well as features like Capital Letters, The Name Game, and Rendezvous Tourism. The site is still being fine-tuned, so changes can be expected. Suggestions and criticisms very welcome (there's an email link on the site). I was with the SRI Internet project for four months to help initiate it, but am now back 100% with the English Service. I have not been very evident on shortwave, however, since my primary job now is hosting the new 'Mid-Morning' talk show between 0900 and 1100 CET, Monday through Friday, three weeks a month. It is carried in Europe only via Astra D and cable. (Bob Zanotti, SRI, March 27, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) U K O G B A N I. Merlin Network One, 11875, not heard UT March 28 at 0155 but instead Havana in Spanish; however, MNO was there a bit later the following date, and also on 17695 -- surely via Canada -- around 2100 on March 28 (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) U K O G B A N I. BBC WS: We are badly in need of a 9 MHz NAm relay frequency after 0200, ever more so as summer progresses, but all we've got are 6175-Canada/Delano; 6185 Delano still clashing with Mexico; and of course Antigua 5975 - all of them subject to noisy conditions. In previous seasons, the 6185 usage was on 9895 until 0330 or 0430; and 9590 itself tho providing the BEST signal here in CNAm, remains not even designated for us but for CAm/Carib (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) U K O G B A N I. Without even trying -- indeed while trying to hear/ tape certain programming as listed, we have found several instances of BBC WS NOT running its own programming as scheduled -- what we hear does not match March BBC On Air, April BBC On Air, or this particular week's sked as recently published here! -- So this does not seem to be so much a case of Week of Confusion/Transition, but BBC simply making last-minute changes without bothering to tell anyone, or realize the importance of making what actually broadcasts mesh with what it says it is going to broadcast! Viz.: Sunday March 28 taping via KMUW at 0920-0950, for My Century, we found instead the last 10 minutes of Write On which therefore started at 0915 instead of scheduled 0905, and first 20 minutes of My Century, which evidently continued until 1000 instead of 0950 scheduled Sports Roundup. (no, these are not stream feed mistakes either, as they correspond no more to Af and As than they do to AE.) Basic problem is evidently irrestible urge to force-feed us even more news on the hour due to certain world events. Monday March 29 taping via KMUW at 0920-0950 for Counterpoint, we got instead the last half hour of Concert Hall playing old Beecham recordings, with no explanation. Fine, but on AE, Concert Hall supposedly airs only Sunday at 1515. Next week's preview: the late Yehudi Menuhin. Monday March 29 at 1913 check on 12095, which was coming in well enough, the news was still in progress. Health Matters was supposed to be on at 1905-1930, but evidently did not start until 1920. At 1945 break said Discovery tomorrow (Tuesday) would be "at the slightly later time of 1920" about the secrets of Antarctica. And at 1945 Off the Shelf -- so scheduled Farming World at 1930 was shut out (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) U S A. Notes from this week's Al Weiner Worldwide, WBCQ, 7415, Fri 8-9 pm ET. Comments on programs are Al's, not ours. Since he gives times in Eastern, and is about to shift from EST to EDT, we'll follow suit here; times are pm u.o.s. Amos 'n' Andy, original politically incorrect but historical series will start March 29, M-F at midnight for 15 minutes. Did he say there would be only 10 episodes? Courtesy of Uncle Ed. Uncle Ed's Musical Memories, Mon and Wed 4-5, really fun music of the 20s, 30s and 40s. Jean Shepherd Show, raw and uncut, courtesy of Gary Bourgois, Friday 4:30-5 New Randi Steele Show, this Sat 4-5, "another whopper". She is on an anti-Giuliani crusade, to prevent him from becoming Attorney General Tom & Darryl Show, Sunday midnight, was expanded to 3 hours last week thanks to a benefactor, getting better every week, with discussions of radio history, oldtime SW, TV (via Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) U S A. From the A-99 IBB frequency list, here's one example, to show what competition WBCQ now faces: 7415.0 0430-0500 VOA PORT BOT 100 010 Afr 7415.0 0500-0530 VOA HAUS BOT 100 010 Afr 7415.0 1800-1900 VOA ENGL BOT 100 350 Afr 7415.0 1900-2130 VOA ENGL BOT 100 010 Afr 7415.0 2130-2200 VOA ENGL BOT 100 010 Afr SU-FR 7415.0 2200-2230 VOA ENGL BOT 100 010 Afr MO-FR (via John Norfolk, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) U S A. KTBK, 1700, Sherman TX, DX test, I almost forgot to check until it was too late, at 0201 UT Sun March 28, but the test was still going with MCW and voice IDs, mostly overridden by Des Moines; last heard at 0214 (Glenn Hauser, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING) ###